The Return of the Shadow. Christopher Tolkien

      

      J. R. R. TOLKIEN

      The Return of the Shadow

      The History of

      The Lord of the Rings

      PART ONE

      Christopher Tolkien

       COPYRIGHT

      HarperCollinsPublishers

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      This edition 2015

      1

      First published in Great Britain by Unwin Hyman 1988

      Copyright © The Tolkien Estate Limited and C.R. Tolkien 1988

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      Source ISBN: 9780261102248

      Ebook Edition © DECEMBER 2019 ISBN: 9780007348237

      Version: 2019-12-09

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       DEDICATION

       To

       RAYNER UNWIN

EPIGRAPH

      I met a lot of things on the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree. Strider sitting in the corner at the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than had Frodo. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlórien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there. Far away I knew there were the Horselords on the confines of an ancient Kingdom of Men, but Fangorn Forest was an unforeseen adventure. I had never heard of the House of Eorl nor of the Stewards of Gondor. Most disquieting of all, Saruman had never been revealed to me, and I was as mystified as Frodo at Gandalf’s failure to appear on September 22.

      J. R. R. Tolkien, in a letter to

      W. H. Auden, 7 June 1955

      CONTENTS

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraph

Note on Accessibility

Illustrations

Foreword

THE FIRST PHASE

I A LONG-EXPECTED PARTY

II FROM HOBBITON TO THE WOODY END

III OF GOLLUM AND THE RING

IV TO MAGGOT’S FARM AND BUCKLAND

       V THE OLD FOREST AND THE WITHYWINDLE

       VI TOM BOMBADIL

       VII THE BARROW-WIGHT

       VIII ARRIVAL AT BREE

       IX TROTTER AND THE JOURNEY TO WEATHERTOP

       X THE ATTACK ON WEATHERTOP

       XI FROM WEATHERTOP TO THE FORD

       XII AT RIVENDELL

       XIII ‘QUERIES AND ALTERATIONS’

       THE SECOND PHASE

       XIV RETURN TO HOBBITON

       XV ANCIENT HISTORY

       XVI DELAYS ARE DANGEROUS

       XVII A SHORT CUT TO MUSHROOMS

       XVIII AGAIN FROM BUCKLAND TO THE WITHYWINDLE

       THE