Third in a series of hardcover boxed sets celebrating the literary achievement of Christopher Tolkien, featuring double-sided dustjackets. Set 3 contains The Return of the Shadow , The Treason of Isengard , The War of the Ring , and Sauron Defeated (Books 6-9 of The History of Middle-earth). The Return of the Shadow is the story of the first part of the history of the creation of The Lord of the Rings , a fascinating study of Tolkien''s great masterpiece, from its inception to the end of the first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring . The Treason of Isengard continues the account of the creation of The Lord of the Rings started in the earlier volume, tracing the great expansion of the tale into new lands and peoples south and east of the Misty Mountains: the emergence of Lothlorien, of Ents, of the Riders of Rohan, and of Saruman the White in the fortress of Isengard. The War of the Ring takes up the story with the Battle of Helm''s Deep and the drowning of Isengard by the Ents, continues with the journey of Frodo, Sam and Gollum to the Pass of Cirith Ungol, describes the war in Gondor, and ends with the parley between Gandalf and the ambassador of the Dark Lord before the Black Gate of Mordor. Sauron Defeated completes Christopher Tolkien''s fascinating study of The Lord of the Rings , beginning with Sam''s rescue of Frodo from the Tower of Cirith Ungol, and giving a very different account of the Scouring of the Shire, with many additional scenes and the unpublished Epilogue in its entirety. Published together for the first time, these four books collect a fascinating period of Christopher Tolkien''s forty-year career devoted to presenting his father J.R.R. Tolkien''s writings on Middle-earth, a unique accomplishment that celebrates the greatest invented world in all of fantasy literature. ...

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Christopher Tolkien, born on 24 November 1924, was the third son of J.R.R. Tolkien. As his father's literary executor, he devoted over forty years to the publication of his father's unpublished works, from The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales to Beren and Lúthien and The Fall of Gondolin, and within 'The History of Middle-earth' series, and was awarded the Bodley Medal for his services to literature in 2016. He died in January 2020 at the age of 95.