指环王英文原版

The Lord of the Rings was first published in three volumes - The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King - each of which is divided into two 'books', making six books in total, successively numbered by Roman numerals. There is also a Foreword and a Prologue in The Fellowship of the Ring and six Appendices at the end of The Return of the King. The Prologue includes information on the nature and customs of Hobbits, and a brief synopsis of The Hobbit in which the Ring played a seemingly minor role.Book I in The Fellowship of the Ring begins with Bilbo's hundred-and-eleventh birthday party, about 60 years after the end of The Hobbit, and his subsequent disappearance using his magic ring. Departing to journey once more, he left many of his belongings, including the ring, to his cousin and adoptive heir, Frodo Baggins.After seventeen years of investigating, their old friend Gandalf the Grey revealed that this ring was in fact the One Ring, the instrument of Sauron's power, for which the Dark Lord had been searching for most of the Third Age, and which corrupted others with desire for it and the power it held.Sauron sent the Ringwraiths, in the guise of riders in black, to the Shire, Bilbo and Frodo's native land, in search of the Ring. Frodo escaped, with the help of his loyal gardener Samwise "Sam" Gamgee and three close friends, Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck, Peregrin "Pippin" Took, and Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger. While Fatty acted as a decoy for the Ringwraiths, Frodo and the others set off to take the Ring to the Elven haven of Rivendell. They were aided by the enigmatic Tom Bombadil, and by a man called "Strider", who was later revealed to be Aragorn, the heir to the kingships of Gondor and Arnor, two great realms founded by the Númenórean exiles. Aragorn led the hobbits to Rivendell on Gandalf's request. However, Frodo was gravely wounded by the leader of the Ringwraiths at the hill of Weathertop. With the help of his companions and the Elf-lord Glorfindel, Frodo managed to enter Rivendell's borders by crossing the Ford of the river Bruinen. The Ringwraiths, in close pursuit, were swept away by an enchantment of the river when they entered its waters. Book I ends with Frodo losing consciousness.Book II in The Fellowship of the Ring reveals that Frodo managed to recover under the care of the Half-elven lord Elrond, master of Rivendell. Frodo met Bilbo, now living there in retirement, and saw Elrond's daughter Arwen, Aragorn's betrothed. Later, much of the story's exposition is given during a high council, attended by representatives of the major races of Middle-earth (Elves, Dwarves, and Men) and presided over by Elrond. Gandalf told them of the emerging threat of Saruman, the leader of the Order of Wizards, who wanted the Ring for himself. In order to fulfill an ancient prophecy about the return of the King of Gondor and Arnor, Aragorn was going to war against Sauron armed with Narsil, the royal sword that had been used by Isildur to cut off Sauron's finger that wore the ring in the great battle at the end of the prior age. The shards of the sword had been kept safe in Rivendell through the intervening years, and were now reforged there and renamed Andúril, meaning "Flame of the West". After pondering several options, the Council decided that the only course of action that could save Middle-earth was to destroy the Ring by taking it to Mordor and casting it into Mount Doom, where it was forged. Frodo volunteered for the task, and a "Fellowship of the Ring" was formed to aid him, comprising his three Hobbit companions, Gandalf, Aragorn, Boromir of Gondor, Gimli the Dwarf, and Legolas the Elf, and with Frodo himself they were nine companions to go against the nine Ringwraiths.The company journeyed through plains and over mountains, and ultimately to the Mines of Moria, where they were followed by the wretched creature Gollum, whom Bilbo had met years before (as detailed in The Hobbit). Gollum was once "of hobbit-kind" but the Ring had corrupted him while he had possessed it, and Gollum desperately sought to regain what he called his "Precious". When they were almost through the mines the party was attacked by Orcs. Gandalf battled a Balrog, an ancient demon creature, and fell into a deep chasm, apparently to his death. Escaping from Moria the Fellowship, now led by Aragorn, took refuge in the Elvish wood of Lothlórien, the realm of the Lady Galadriel and the Lord Celeborn.The Fellowship then travelled along the great River Anduin, and Frodo decided to continue the trek to Mordor on his own, largely due to the Ring's growing influence on Boromir; however, the faithful Sam insisted on going with him. At the end of the book, the Fellowship was attacked by orcs and, during the confusion, Sam and Frodo made their escape. Unbeknownst to them, Boromir was killed and Merry and Pippin were kidnapped by the orcs because their commander, the traitor Saruman, had ordered them to capture the hobbits and bring them to him alive, knowing that one of the hobbits had the Ring.The second volume, The Two Towers, deals with two parallel storylines, one in each of its books. Book III details the exploits of the remaining members of the Fellowship who aid the country of Rohan in its war against Saruman. At the beginning of the book, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli went off in pursuit of Merry and Pippin's captors. The three met Gandalf, who had returned as "Gandalf the White". He had defeated the Balrog at the cost of his life, but had been sent back to Middle-earth, with enhanced powers, to aid the forces of good. Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli helped defeat Saruman's armies at the Battle of the Hornburg. Meanwhile Merry and Pippin, freed from captivity, helped the tree-like Ents and Huorns attack Saruman at his stronghold of Isengard. The two groups were reunited in the aftermath of battle, and after Saruman refused to repent of his folly, Gandalf cast him from the Order of Wizards.Book IV tells of Frodo and Sam's exploits on the way to Mount Doom. They managed to capture Gollum and forced him to show them a way to enter Mordor secretly (as opposed to the Black Gate), albeit through the dreaded valley of Minas Morgul. At the end of the volume, Gollum betrayed Frodo to the great spider Shelob, and though Frodo survived he was captured by orcs. Meanwhile, Sauron launched an all-out military assault upon Middle-earth, precipitating the War of the Ring, with the Witch-king (leader of the Ringwraiths) leading a large army from Minas Morgul into battle against Gondor.The further adventures of Gandalf, Aragorn and company are related in the first book of the third volume, The Return of the King. As told in Book V, the Fellowship assisted in the final battles against the armies of Sauron, including the siege of the tower-city of Minas Tirith in Gondor and the climactic all-or-nothing battle before the Black Gate of Mordor, where the alliance of Gondor and Rohan fought desperately against Sauron's armies in order to distract him from the Ring, and hoped to gain time for Frodo to destroy it.In Book VI, Sam rescued Frodo from captivity. After much struggle, they finally reached Mount Doom itself, tailed by Gollum. However, the temptation of the Ring proved too great for Frodo, and he claimed it for himself, but Gollum struggled with him for it and managed to bite the Ring off Frodo's finger. Crazed with triumph, Gollum slipped into the fires of the mountain, and the Ring was destroyed.Thus, Sauron was banished from the world and his realm ended. Aragorn was crowned king and married Arwen, the daughter of Elrond. The conflict was not over, however, for Saruman had managed to escape his captivity and enslave the Shire. Although he was overthrown by the Hobbits and the four heroes helped to restore order and beautify the land again, it was not the same Shire that they had left. At the end, Frodo remained wounded in body and spirit and, accompanied by Bilbo, sailed west over the Sea to the Undying Lands, where he could find peace.The Appendices contain much material concerning the timeline of the story, and information on the peoples and the languages of Middle-earth. Notably, Arwen, physically absent for much of the book, is dealt with in full here; her backstory and future with Aragorn are related.