Ultimate Fantasy Creator, J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien, The Man. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was a major scholar of the English language, specialising in Old and Middle English. Twice Professor of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) at the University of Oxford, he also wrote a number of stories, including most famously The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955), which are set in a pre-historic era in an invented version of the world which he called by the Middle English name of Middle-earth. This was peopled by Men (and women), Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, Orcs (or Goblins) and of course Hobbits. He has regularly been condemned by the Eng. Lit. establishment, with honourable exceptions, but loved by literally millions of readers worldwide.



Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a fantasy saga consisting of three books totaling over a thousand pages. The story takes place during the Third Age of Middle-earth, long ago when magic was still practiced and Elves still dwelt among mortal men. At the story's beginning there is Bilbo the hobbit, in possession of a magic ring which he had found decades earlier, and which in truth was the One Ring forged thousands of years ago by the Dark Lord Sauron the Great. Much of Sauron's powers of sorcery were locked within the otherwise ordinary looking ring of gold, and should the ring's deathless maker ever recover it and place it upon his finger, all that was good and fair in Middle-earth surely would perish under a shadow of evil. Gandalf the White, a wizard most wise and of kind heart, learnt of the One Ring's whereabouts and perilous aspect. Not trusting himself enough to take personal possession of the ring, he left it in the hands of Bilbo, whose innocence and humble nature he reckoned would protect the hobbit from the ring's corrupting influences long enough until the time was right to move against the Dark Lord. It was not too long, however, before Sauron began stirring once again in the land of Mordor a thousand miles away. The ring would not be safe in the shire of the hobbits for too many years more, Gandalf knew. In the meantime the ring passed from Bilbo to Frodo, a younger hobbit who established himself in Bilbo's home at Bag End while the older hobbit went away on one final adventure. The time to act arrives sooner than expected. The One Ring must be taken away from the Shire by Frodo lest it fall into the hands of the Enemy. At Gandalf's instigation Frodo leaves, accompanied by Sam, Merry, and Pippin. Sauron's nine Black Riders, or Ringwraiths, pursue them as the four hobbits head eastward, and perilous adventure leads them to places beyond even the most dimly remembered legends of hobbit lore. New allies are found in Elves, Men, Ents, and Dwarves, and new enemies in Orcs, Trolls, a horrific spider, and a misbegotten wretch going by the name of Gollum. The greatest of Gandalf's Order of Istari, Saruman the White, reveals his true colors at the most crucial of moments. Wars ravage Middle-earth as the Enemy's armies begin to assail all who refuse to swear fealty to the Land of Shadow. Final defeat of Gondor, the strongest opponent of Mordor, seems imminent. There is only one way to destroy the One Ring and so dispel the threat of Sauron and his wicked servants once and for all. Cast it into the Crack of Doom within the heart of the very volcano, known as Mount Doom, in whose fires Sauron himself had forged his One Ring so long ago. No heat is hotter, and none could long use the ring against Sauron without becoming a Dark Lord himself. Yet Mount Doom lies in the heart of Mordor, the Black Land in which Sauron even now dwelt. A fool's hope, Gandalf called it. Yet it was the only hope in all Middle-earth. Who should bear the dreadful ring into the land of ultimate dread? None other than Frodo, a hobbit not four feet tall. A fool's hope indeed . . .

From the Beginning

Morgoth (aka Melkor)
In a time before time Eru, the One, known also as Ilúvatar, created the angelic race of the Ainur, and chief among these were Melkor and Manwë, who were brothers in the mind of Eru. Melkor was the most powerful of the Ainur and early on sought for the Flame Imperishable throughout the Void so that he might create beings of his own to rule over as a lord. The quest was in vain, for the Flame burned within Eru himself, and anger grew in Melkor as he begat wicked thoughts unlike any found among his bretheren who knew not what evil was. When Eru bade the Great Music to be sung Melkor contested it with strains of his own making. Some Ainur, rather than continue with the song that was theirs, chose instead to attune themselves to Melkor; others, gloomed by the dissonance that followed, ceased to sing at all. Thrice Eru began the Music, and thrice Melkor willed it to run awry. Then the music that had been sung was given form by the Flame Imperishable, and a universe of stars was brought forth with one behest: Eä! And within Eä the world called Arda was birthed. Many of the Ainur then lowered into Arda as Valar with the wish to shape it further, and Melkor went with them as the master of darkness and cold. He lusted to take all of Arda by might, and rule it as a god unto himself. Long did the Valar labor in shaping a world of unmatched fairness, but without letup Melkor strove to sunder what they wrought until at last the First War came to pass, and with the aid of Tulkas the Strong the Valar caused Melkor to forsake Arda and brood awhile in the outer darkness. Though marred now, the shaping of the seas and lands resumed at the hands of the godlike Valar, and two lamps were crafted by them and set upon lofty pillars so that all the world would be bathed in light and warmth. By and by the Valar settled upon the Isle of Almaren in the Great Lake, in the very middle of the land of Middle-earth, and they spelled themselves as Arda lived out the springtime of its history in peace. Unbeknownst to them, however, the wiles of Melkor were at work beyond the scope of their ken, for now more than ever Melkor hated them and was jealous of the paradise they had made for themselves; and driven by his anger he had gathered to his side with webs of lies many Maiar from the halls of Eä. The light of the lamps washed out the shadow which grew in the north and would have told the Valar of the return of their old enemy, for Melkor had become as dark as the Void and his hatred was a blackness unbottomed. So it was that Melkor dug out his deep stronghold named Utumno, and the blight of his evil spread outward from this far northern place to sicken, twist, and haunt all living things it touched. Ere much longer the Valar grew aware of the waxing wanion, but before they could find the Dark Lord's hideaway or forearm themselves, Melkor made war upon them, threw down the lamps, brought about earthquakes and floods, and amidst fell wrack and waste put an end to all the symmetry of Arda's waters and lands forever. As one outcome of this Second War is so happened that Melkor slipped the grasp of Tulkas and stole his way to the nethermost den of Utumno to weather the onslaught of the wrathful Valar whose strength was not enough to overcome its defenses. Giving up the fight, the Valar left the ruins of Almaren and crossed the Great Sea to begin life anew in the land of Aman, also known as Valinor. Meanwhile darkness reigned in all Middle-earth and Melkor's foul demons and beasts roamed free and answered only to the will of the Dark Lord who was their supreme master. Long did the Valar mourn the loss of their heaven on Earth, and they were loathe to wield their full strength to undo Melkor since they knew that the Children of Ilúvatar were to come soon and indeed may have already awakened somewhere in the East. Another war now may cause the killing of these Firstborn, the Elves, who would be helpless against the rages of grappling gods. Yet they feared that by not acting, the Elves would swiftly fall into the clutches of cruel Melkor and be either destroyed or perverted. Melkor also knew about the coming of the Elves, and his servants searched for them tirelessly throughout Middle-earth in hopes of finding them before the Valar could, and make them subjects of the Dark Lord, add to his might, and do battle against his hated kin. Oftentimes Melkor himself would stride upon the land under the twilight of the faraway stars which the Vala named Varda had wrought in Eä ere the shaping of the world. Many of the Maiar whom he kept nearest to him in the pits of Utumno grew so hot with the undying hatred of their master they became spirits of fire wielding whips of flame, in later days to be called Balrogs by those who knew of them. Not far from the northwest shore of Middle-earth the foundation of Angband was laid, and Sauron, mightiest of all Maiar and first lieutenant of Melkor, was sent to command that stronghold.

Balrogs
Balrogs were Maiar spirits who were drawn in by the lies and hatred of Melkor, and did the bidding of the Dark Lord throughout the days of his greatness until his final downfall and banishment into the Void. The Elves called them Valaraukar, the "demons of might", often to be found at the forefront of fell armies in times of war. Their most horrific weapon was the many-thronged whip of fire whose reach was far and striking power most deadly. Towering terrors, Balrogs had manes of flame, were shrouded in shadows, and might well have had wings (though this is a matter of much speculation). It was a swarm of Balrogs who answered the cry of Morgoth in the ice waste to the north of Middle-earth when he was beset by Ungoliant. So furious was their attack and so great their number, the Great Spider had no choice but to turn away and flee Middle-earth without the Silmarils she lusted to consume. The worst of this race of demons was Gothmog, Lord of the Balrogs and High Captain of Angband. It was Gothmog who slew three High Elven-lords on the field with fiery whip or sword of flame. Fearsome was he, till at last he was slain during the sack of the Noldor kingdom of Gondolin by the high-captain Ecthelion, whom he nevertheless killed as his final deed as a thing of flesh. When the War of Wrath fell upon the realm of Morgoth, the Balrogs fought their last great battle, and some of the few who were not slain fled and hid themselves deep beneath the roots of Middle-earth's highest mountains. Thousands of years then passed without any spoor of them to be found, until the Dwarves of Moria in the Misty Mountains, in their zeal to mine a rich vein of mithril, roused one from its slumber and caused catastrophe to befall them all. This Balrog, awakened and loose within the mines, gathered to itself hosts of Orcs and Trolls, and two hundred years later set upon the Fellowship of the Ring at the bridge of Khazad-dûm ere it could make its way to freedom unscathed. Then Gandalf the Grey, an Istari and himself a Maia spirit, bade the Balrog to return from whence it came. It did not, but rather leapt forth, and the bridge was broken by the power of the wizard and both plunged down into an abyss. Gandalf then pursued the Balrog to the summit of Zirak-zigil at the top of the Endless Stair, grappled with it, and cast it down the side of the mountain to its doom.

Dragons
Dragons were created during the First Age of the Sun by Morgoth in the pits of Angband through the use of fire and sorcery. The first kind of these Great Worms to be unleashed upon the luckless folk of Middle-earth were the slithering Cold-Drakes who fought with fangs and coiled grip, and their sheer size, numbers, and malevolent intelligence saw to it that much havoc was wrought throughout the land for centuries to come. Yet Morgoth sought ever to hone the edges of his evil works, and so it was that he later loosed Cold-drakes that could walk, run, and even fly upon great wings as the Eagles do. Then, at some time known by none the Dark Lord wrought in secrecy his most masterful terror, the mighty Fire-drake which could throw deadly flames from its own weasand. The eldest of these Urulóki was Glaurung the Golden, the Father of Dragons. Much sorrow and ruin did Glaurung cause in his days, and he was to be found at the Battle of the Sudden Flame as well as the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, and was the undoer of the armies of Nargothrond and dwelt long thereafter in the great hall of his smitten foes amidst a hoard of gold and other treasures. As with many other Dragons, Glaurung's eyes could cast spells of forgetfulness upon those that beheld them, and even enthrall the wills of others and so bring them to commit ill deeds or suffer an evil end. Túrin, Nienor, and Finduilas were all gravely wronged by means of this bewitchment, but the march of events came at last full circle when sheer cunning gave Túrin the opening to drive the blade of his sword into the beast's belly up to the hilt, and so put an end to his wicked earthly life. The mightiest Dragon ever to rend the skies of the world was one Ancalagon the Black, the first of the winged Fire-drakes. Ancalagon came forth at the van of a host of other Dragons of like breed to muster the last defense of Angband during the War of Wrath. Yet the hosts of the West were mightier still, and after a bloody battle Ancalagon was slain as he flew, and his tremendous body fell upon Thangorodrim and laid it to waste. For long while was naught heard of Dragons after the Valar bound Melkor and cast him forevermore into the Void. Then, during the Third Age of the Sun, Dragons were known to be lurking in the icy wasteland north of the Grey Mountains of Middle-earth. Strongest of these was Scatha the Worm, a Cold-drake who led is brood of lesser kin into the Dwarf kingdoms of the mountains, killed many of the inhabitants and scattered the rest, and took hold of their piles of gold, mithril, gems, and other glittering riches. After time the Dwarves returned to wrest back what was theirs and slay Scatha and many of the others. Later in the Third Age there came from the North one Smaug the Golden, a Fire-drake most magnificent with wings of a bat and scales which could not be bored through by any weapon of Men at the time. He had only one soft spot, the underbelly, which was crusted with gemstones. Swooping down upon Erebor, he lit afire and sacked the town of Dale, then went on to the Dwarf kingdom which nestled at the foot of the Lonely Mountain and either smote or drove away all who dwelt there. For two hundred years what became known as the Desolation of Smaug reigned over a wide swath of Middle-earth ere a band of treasure-hunting Dwarves accompanied by one Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins roused him from his slumber. Wroth by the theft of a part of his hoard as well as his inability to deal a swift death to the thieves, Smaug took flight and brought the fight to the Lake Men of Esgaroth. A well-aimed arrow from Bard the Bowman struck him in the one place where his belly was not shielded by a gemstone, however, whereafter the Dragon plunged into the Long Lake and his life was forever quenched by its waters.

Trolls
Trolls are thought to have been created by Melkor in the nethermost pits of Angband, or perhaps earlier in Utumno, so that his fell legions could have within their ranks a kind of warrior whose size and strength were a match for the Ents. Indeed, Trolls may well have been made from Ents whom the Dark Lord had captured and twisted in body and mind, much like Orcs had derived from corrupted elvish stock. Ever hungering for meat and voracious man-eaters, Trolls can stand over ten feet tall and have hides nigh as hard as rock; their weakness, however, lay ever in their stupidity and fear of light. The spells which had brought Trolls forth into the world are said to have been uttered in uttermost darkness, so in darkness these beings had always to dwell, and keep themselves in caves during the daytime lest a single shaft of sunlight in their eyes literally turn their bodies into lifeless stone forever. How this happened may have had something to do with the natural armor of their outsides growing into their innards and crushing them to the core. During the Ages of Starlight, Trolls openly roamed Middle-earth alongside Orcs, Wolves, Balrogs, and other wicked minions of the fallen Vala whom the Noldor named Morgoth. Lumbering brutes who lusted for raw flesh and the thrill of a kill, they took to no tongue save broken shards of the Black Speech and perhaps grunts and growls understood only between their own kind. To throw them down by dint of might was nearly an impossible feat to achieve; however, those with some wits about them could oftentimes take advantage of a Troll's blunt intelligence and beat them through sheer guile and trickery. Only upon the advent of the First Age of the Sun did Trolls have to beware of when they were out and where the nearest shelter was, and they could no longer take part in conflicts which happened during the day. During the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, Trolls in great numbers made up the bodyguard which begirded the dreaded Gothmog, Lord of the Balrogs. Having no weapons other than the use of their huge arms as clubs, Trolls fought with a savagery and recklessness which to a great degree made up for their lack of skill and cunning. Trolls lived on in Middle-earth after the War of Wrath and the overthrown of Melkor in Angband. As with all the other fell beasts and minions of the first Dark Lord, they hid themselves principally in the east of the land beyond Beleriand, keeping themselves in caves, mountains, the snowbound northern wastelands, and faraway hills. Having no master, they fended for themselves either alone or in small bands, until in the Second Age the new Dark Lord Sauron came forth and summoned to himself all evil things which would bow to his will. Trolls were among the hordes which mustered in Mordor and marched against Elves and those among Men who were the friends of Elves. To make the hulking brutes more suited to the needs of an organized military campaign, the Lord of the Rings bestowed to them wits markedly better honed than in days of yore, so that they presented a greater peril than ever to those who were their foes. Their language skills improved, and as a rule they did not lend themselves quite so easily to being tricked. Yet still, even in the Third Age, it was possible for Gandalf the Grey to set three Trolls who dwelt in the Trollshaws of Eriador to quarreling amongst themselves until they were caught by the light of the rising sun and turned to stone. These Trolls both understood and spoke the Westron tongue used commonly by men and hobbits. Still, shortly before the outbreak of the War of the Ring, Sauron further enhanced the old Troll formula until he wrought what he called the Olog-hai. Capable of amazing wiliness and deft in battle despite their great bulk, they spoke fluently the Black Speech and bore enormous shields and crushing hammers. Most revolutionary of all, this new race of Trolls was unafraid of sunlight and could face it openly without being harmed in any way. Forth into war these berserkers went, and no blade save those steeled with an Elvish magic could cut through their armor-like hides and visit death upon them. Once they slew a foe it was their wont to use fang and claw to drink the blood and eat the meat of the body. Their terrific mental acumen, however, was born of a spell uttered by the Dark Lord in the Barad-dûr, and once the One Ring was cast into the Cracks of Doom and melted to nothing, the spell was broken and all the Olog-hai were stripped of their senses. None are thought to have survived for long thereafter, though it is likely that some Trolls of the ordinary kind still lived well into the Fourth Age.

Orcs
After the Awakening of Elves at the beginning of the First Age of the Stars, it is said that Melkor's dark servants stole many of them away to the Pits of Utumno so that their master could commit a deed that would prove to be his greatest sin against Eru. He took these newborn, pure-hearted Elves and over many years of torment and terror came to twist them into creatures foul in body and fell in spirit. Thus was the race of Orcs forged in the fiery smithy of the Dark Lord's eternal hatred, deep beneath Middle-earth beyond the ken of the other Valar far away in the West. Having been wrought from the flesh and souls of the Children of Iluvatar, it is unclear whether Orcs were physically immortal as the Elves were. They could well be slain, however; and in light of the unmatched swiftness at which they bred it seems unlikely their hideously perverted frames were made so as to be able to stave off wear and death for more than a few decades. Indeed, it may well have been that the Orcs gained their stunning aptitude for multiplying from forced hybridizations with those among the mortal race of Men whom Melkor undoubtedly ensnared soon after their Awakening when the First Age of the Sun dawned. As for the spirits of Orcs, whether they go to the Halls of Mandos after death as Elves do when a fatal mischance befalls them is wholly a matter of speculation. Black-blooded, swarthy, and crooked in build as much as savage in behavior, Orcs were unstinting besteaders of evil so long as they lived, and their fierce hosts were the mainstays of the Great Enemy Morgoth's armies thoughout the Elder Days. They hated their master, but fear of him ruled their every deed and drove them time and again to slaughter by the thousands under the blades of their foes. Warriors they were through and through, destruction and killing being the only joys they knew during their usually brief and brutal lives. All Orcs hated Elves, and the speech of Elves could oft nigh cause their ears to bleed as fast as lembas could bring them to vomit. When an Elf met one of these irredeemable ghouls upon the field he never stayed the mortal blow. No one Orc was ever a match for an Elven warrior, though their vast strength in numbers proved on many occasions to be the deciding factor in a contest of arms. Orcs typically were afraid of the sun, for its bright light burnt their skin easily and struck pain into their nighttime eyes. Because of this they tended to dwell at first mainly in the underground fortresses of Utumno or Angband to the north; but later on they dug for themselves sprawling networks of tunnels and caverns in the hearts of mighty mountains off to the east and south of Middle-earth. Even before the birth of the sun, however, Orcs were already posing a grave threat to the land of Beleriand off to the west, where the kingdom of Thingol and Melian held sway. Then in the Fourth Age of the Stars, though Utumno had long since been undone by the Valar and Melkor chained and removed to the Undying Lands, the Orcs tirelessly championed his cause by waging a waxing war against the Elves. Armed with scimitars, pikes, arrows, and daggers, they came forth as an onrushing horde bearing shields of steel and sturdy helmets, and the Elves were hard-pressed to drive them away though drive them away they handily did once Dwarves bedighted them with the needed weaponry.

Spiders
Ungoliant was the first and most fearsome Spider that ever strode upon Arda. It is said that long ago she was among those whom Melkor had corrupted into his service, and so it may well be that she was a Maia spirit; but after awhile she spurned her master and went whithersoever she would in a quest to fill a great emptiness within her. Out of the darkness which ensphered Arda she descended unseen at a time marked by none, settling in a ravine in the waste land of Avathar far to the south of Aman where the cold sea met sheer cliffs lost in endless twilight. There she took on the shape of an eight-legged monster to be later called a Spider in the speech of Men. Long she abode in her crack in the earth, weaving webs of Dark out of Light and remaining beyond the ken of the Valar who watched ever toward the North for the evils of the world. Then Melkor came at a time when she had consumed all light around her and was drawing nigh starvation, and he promised to give her all she could ever want if she would bestead him in a terrible act of revenge against the Lords of the West. So once again Ungoliant went into the service of the Dark Lord, and she took part in the destruction of the Trees of the Valar called Telperion and Laurelin. Darkness and great fear then fell upon Valinor, and try as the Valar might the Shadow about their city threw them into despair and rendered useless all sight. The Enemy escaped with his accomplice across the Ice Waste to the north and returned to Middle-earth. It was then that Ungoliant made it clear to Melkor that the lifeblood of the Trees had not been enough to sate her hunger, and she demanded that he feed her the jewels he had stolen from the house of Feanor. This Melkor did freely until he was asked finally to relinquish the three Silmarils as well, at which point he balked and the Spider whom he had given so much of his own power beset him. The Vala's roar echoed throughout all the land, whereupon Balrogs swarmed about the vast black monster and drove her away southward. So it was that Ungoliant settled in a place called Nun Dungortheb (the Valley of Dreadful Death) and birthed many daughter Spiders lesser than herself in size and might, but dreadful still in the reckoning of Elves and Men. When the War of Wrath broke out and Melkor's final undoing was worked by the Lords of the West, Beleriand was flooded by the sea and few Spiders survived to carry on the line. Nevertheless survive some of them did, the most terrific being one known as Shelob the Great. Throughout the Second and Third Age Shelob lurked in a pitch-black den in Cirith Ungol, the pass through the Mountains of Shadow which led to the Land of Mordor. There she preyed on anyone—good or bad, mortal or no—who dared to try entering or leaving Sauron's realm by that perilous passage. Many offspring did she have, all lesser than herself, and almost all to be found haunting either the forest of Mirkwood or the mountains begirding Mordor. Around the year 3000 of the Third Age she struck a deal with Gollum in which the latter was to lead unwary wayfarers to the lair of the former either in return for his own life or perhaps nothing at all. Why Gollum was spared the fate of so many others who had haplessly fallen into the Great Spider's webs is not wholly known, and it may have been that he had sought her out or she had bewitched him with some evil spell. Whatever may be the truth of the matter, Gollum stayed true to his word at least this one time and led the hobbits Frodo and Sam to Cirith Ungol where they nearly met their doom. Yet death did not visit the hardy hobbits when Shelob beset them in the darkness of her lair as a deed of blackest malevolence. Her poison paralyzed Frodo, but before she could feed upon his flesh Master Samwise came upon her in a rush of rage. He hewed at her several times with an elven blade until the terrible monster withdrew at last, and what happened to her afterward is largely a matter of speculation. In all likelihood, however, she died of her wounds in the selfsame lightless cavern in which she had dwelt for so many millennia. As for the spawn of Shelob, only those which infested a broad swath of Mirkwood enter into the tale of the hobbits who bore the One Ring in the years before and during the final war against Sauron. They were lesser Spiders in both girth and strength, and many of them, too, fell to a hobbit (this time Bilbo) running amock with a weapon of elven keenness. After the slaying of Smaug, the triumph of good during the Battle of Five Armies, the flight of the Necromancer out of Dol Guldur, and the rise of the Wood Elves of Mirkwood, it may well be that all these Spiders were put at last to an end.

Sauron
So it is written that of old there was Sauron the Maia, known also at other times by sundry races as the Enemy, the Dark Lord of Mordor, the Black Hand, the Lidless Eye, the Lord of the Rings, and the Nameless One. Sauron, meaning "the abhorred", was a master deceiver and so was even called for a time Annatar, "the giver of gifts". All these names are names of dread in the lore of the wise, for they belong to a dread spirit whose everlasting fall into the orbit of Melkor's undying evil came to pass ere the world was first shaped by Eru. At first a Maia spirit of the Vala called Aulë, Sauron became Melkor's foremost lieutenant during the Ages of Darkness, and had full command of the icy realm of Angband in the north of Middle-earth on into the Ages of Stars. Over thousands of years Sauron besteaded his forold master with a loyalty none could sway, and was to be seen at the van of many a fell thrust upon the field in time of warfare against the enemies of the Arda's original Enemy. Yet open battle was not where Sauron worked his worst; rather, it was under cloak of shadow and lie, looking as one who is fair whilst wiles of wickedness wheeled within. Of all the Maiar Sauron was the most mighty, a shapeshifting sorceror who has taken on the most forms and shades, donning the body of wolf, serpent, and vampire as well as the aspects of Elf, friend, ally, and unseen specter. When the War of Wrath was unleashed and Melkor (now known as Morgoth) was defeated and cast forever out into the Void by the Valar at the end of the First Age, Sauron at first seemed repentant and willing to make amends for his long history of misdeeds. When told, however, that he must betake himself to Valinor and face the judgement of Manwë, he grew afraid and slipped away to the far east of the mortal lands to hide in shadows until it became evident that the Valar had largely removed themselves from the affairs of Middle-earth. Perceiving a vacuum he yearned to fill, he emerged again in the fifth century of the Second Age in the shape of a mysterious Elf going by the name Annatar. After a thousand years of walking among the Noldor, he taught the Elven-smiths dwelling in Eregion the craft of ringmaking, and got them to forge waxingly cunning rings harboring magical abilities until at last the art was honed to uttermost keenness and the Rings of Power were wrought. Sauron then made himself lord of these Great Rings through the creation of the One Ring using the fires of Mount Doom in the land of Mordor. The Rings of Power were to be used, or so the Elves had hoped, to lift Middle-earth above barbarism and want, and shape it as a land whose richness and beauty would rival that of Valinor itself. Soon they sensed the treachery, however, and took off their rings lest they become thralls to the One Ring made to rule them all. Angered by the unyielding Elves of Eregion, Sauron made war upon them with an unwithstandable onslaught of beastly hosts, and recovered the Nine Great Rings as well as the Seven, but the Three which he had no hand in forging and so were still pure were hidden beyond his grasp and never used so long as the Dark Lord possessed the One. The Nine he gave to mortal Men doomed to die. These Men became great sorcerors in their time, wielding powers which they could not resist so that after long centuries their spirits succumbed wholly to the will of the One, and they faded from the world of the living to walk as wraiths whose very breath was of pure terror. The Seven the Dark Lord gave to the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, and though he reaped some behoof from the seeds of dissent his influence sowed between Dwarves and other folk, he nonetheless found them to be stubborn and hard to bend to his will. The Dwarf-lords used the powers of their rings to build hoards of treasure which the Dragons later plundered, and four of the Seven were consumed by their fire while the rest Sauron gathered back to himself. The One Sauron kept upon his own finger, and he used it to consolidate his power in Mordor and expand his dominion over the barbarians dwelling in the lands of Middle-earth which were far from the seashores. At last the Númenóreans launched a massive invasion which forced his surrender and resulted in his capture and imprisonment. Foolishly these long-lived and mighty Men brought the sorcerous Maia back to the island of Westernesse, and their king often lent him his ear and so over time became seduced by Sauron's webs of trickery. Though a prisoner, Sauron was nonetheless in a better position to undo his foes than he ever was as a sovereign tyrant in the heart of Middle-earth. He convinced the Númenóreans to set sail for the land of Aman which was forbidden to mortals, and so brought upon them the wrath of Iluvatar which sunk all the island of Númenor to the bottom of the sea. Sauron's body was also destroyed during this cataclysm, and ever after he lost the ability to assume fair form, and so instead appeared in forms foul, burnt, and encased in armor. Taking up again the reins of terror in the Black Land, he strove to conquer all Middle-earth by attrition over the course of centuries, but the Last Alliance of Men and Elves broke him, and the One Ring was cut from his hand while his spirit was borne by a gale of thwarted lusting toward the south of Mirkwood where he became known as the Necromancer of Dol Guldur throughout much of the Third Age by those who did not recognize him for what he was. Two thousand years passed before Sauron arose once again and took its place within the bitter crown of the newly rebuilt Barad-dûr in Mordor. The War of the Ring was swift and bloody, and ended in the final defeat of Melkor's most terrible commander.

Nazgul
To nine mortal men doomed to die the Dark Lord Sauron gave Rings of Power as gifts; however, these Rings were wrapped in a great lie which would cost the takers their bodies and souls. The story of the Ringwraiths is a long one, and is woven into the tale of the One Rings itself through and through. The Rings of Power were wrought under the eye and oftentimes helping hand of Sauron around the year 1500 of the Second Age of the Sun, and nine of these were given to Men by the wicked-hearted Maia nigh two hundred years later as he cast his great shadow toward the east and south of Middle-earth, upon the lands where benighted Easterling and Haradrim warrior tribes strove and throve amid barbarism and cruelty. Those unto whom the Nine were bestowed became great kings and sorcerors who lived many times the span of their kith, kin, and foes, and at first their wills could have their way with the craft harbored within each Ring, and they wielded them as tools to reap behoof for themselves and slake every thirsting, selfish want. Centuries crept by, and so slowly it slipped the ken of mortals the Rings bent the will of their wearers toward a new bearing that served only one master: the Lord of the Rings who bore the One Ring to rule them all, Sauron. As the wills of the Nine faded under the power of the One, so too faded their bodies of flesh which had so long thwarted death. These Nine became wraiths unseen by the eyes of the living, themselves neither truly alive nor truly dead. Naught stirred in them save an unwavering zeal to bestead the Dark Lord in every war and misdeed he spun in his dark mind. Utterly evil and beyond redemption they became, with no hue of sorrow or taint of pity left in whatever shreds of manhood which the winds of hatred hadn't fully stripped from the bones of their being. Having fallen under the shadow of the Dark Lord, they were no more than shadows themselves. In the Black Speech they were called the Nazgûl, or Ringwraiths in the common tongue. By the twenty-third century of the Second Age the nine Nazgûl became known to the world and reached their way into the lore of fair folk of many lands. Those who beheld them were often stricken by fright, for neither helm nor cloak seemed held up by flesh and bone. Only emptiness was there to see where a head was looked for, save for the blood-red glow of two eyes that burned with a hatred that would not die. As wraiths the Nine could not be touched by living hand or slain by workaday weaponry, and indeed to be touched by a wraith was to catch the chill of death itself, and all arms of mortal make shattered when they smote upon them. The Black Breath of the Nazgûl could overwhelm their foes with horror and woe, and sap them of all will to either fight or take flight. None could withstand them, and their deadliness was worst when all of them were together. Only Elves, immortal and skilled in what Men called magic, stood any chance of undoing them; but the Ringwraiths were cunning and would not allow themselves to be drawn into any such match out in the open.

Saruman
Saruman the White was the head of the Istari, known to Men as the Order of Wizards. Of old a Maia spirit named Curumo in the service of Aulë the Smith, Saruman was one of five Maiar chosen by the Valar to jouney to the Mortal Lands around the year 1000 of the Third Age in order to influence events and help rally the folk who dwelt there to rise up against the sorceror Sauron, also once a Maia of Aulë, and his many dark minions. For centuries he wandered far and wide in robes white as fleece, and came to be known as wise and fair among Elves, Men, Dwarves, and even Ents. Ever he sought to find a means by which Middle-earth might overcome the Dark Lord who was known to still exist and was sure to take shape again and make war whether he possessed the One Ring or not. Of all the Wizards (of which there were five) Saruman studied most deeply the forgotten lore of the ancient Rings of Power. He became bewitched by the might and mastery which the One seemed to offer to its bearer, and thereafter grew waxingly obsessed with the idea of having it for himself should it ever be found again. In time he gave up his wanderings and took to dwelling high up in the Tower of Orthanc at Isengard, weaving dreams of using the One against its maker in Mordor and setting himself up as the new Lord of the Rings. Though still lost to history, the One began already to gnaw on a Maia of high stature atop an impregnable tower even as it had gnawed for uncounted years upon a lowly wretch of hobbit stock named Gollum beneath the Misty Mountains. It was Saruman, indeed, who spoke out against moving in on the Necromancer in Dol Guldur once it was learnt by the Istari that this evil being lurking amonst the trees of southern Mirkwood was none other than Sauron the Ring Lord creating for himself a new though misbegotten body. Unbeknownst to Gandalf or anyone else at the time, Saruman wished for Sauron to be left alone only so that his spies might track the movements of the Dark Lord's servants; for the Wizard was aware that the Ringwraiths, especially, were drawn by the One Ring, and it was his secret hope that if he waited and watched long enough, he may happen to uncover the Ring before its shadowy maker could. However, as Sauron gathered strength with each year and the Ring's whereabouts continued to elude all who undertook to seek it, it became clear even to him that to postpone action any further was to the advantage of none save the Enemy. So at last the Istari struck at Dol Guldur, and Sauron fled from there to his ancient stronghold in Mordor Giving himself to pride and ambition, Saruman strayed from his ordained mission in heart and mind, and, turning instead to evil, became in time the unwitting thrall of Sauron upon gazing once too often into the Seeing Stone of Orthanc and encountering the glare of the Lidless Eye. The true colors of Saruman the White were revealed shortly before the onset of the War of the Ring. He held captive Gandalf the Grey, who had come to warn him of the urgency of their once common cause against the Enemy. He raised armies of Orcs under the banner of the White Hand, and with them waged war against the Men of Rohan. However, Saruman had paid scant heed to Middle-earth's natural forces and spirits, and so it was that an Eagle came and bore Gandalf away beyond his grasp. Later the Huorns helped destroy his faltering armies while the Ents issued out of Fangorn forest and threw down the defenses begirding the Orthanc, thereby making him a prisoner within his own walls. In the end, indeed, it was his own downtrodden lackey Grima Wormtongue, a mortal man, who slit his throat from behind and so finished his physical existence. Saruman only saw danger from high places before him, and ever and again underestimated or discounted altogether the capabilities of those upon whom he stepped. The voice of Saruman was known for having a special power which could cast a spell upon the unwary or weak-willed. In some ways Wormtongue could be regarded as the "Mouth of Saruman", for he was a servant of the Wizard, and it was his weaseling words which had sapped King Theoden of his self-will and fighting strength for so long a time. Even after Saruman's staff was broken by a victorious Gandalf the White, he continued to wield a potent force of persuasion which won him in short order control of all the Shire for a brief while after the destruction of the One Ring.

Image #1 — Across Gorgoroth (John Howe)
Image #2 — Cirith Ungol (Hildebrandt)
Image #3 — In Mordor (John Howe)
Image #4 — Lieutenant of Brad-Dur (John Howe)
Image #5 — Dark Tower (John Howe)
Image #6 — The Messenger of Sauron (Douglas Beekman)
Image #7 — Sauron

Image #8 — The Great Goblin (John Howe)
Image #9 — Sauron's View
Image #10 — Eowyn and the Lord of the Nazgul (John Howe)
Image #11 — The Nazgul (Ted Nasmith)
Image #12 — Witch King and Eowyn
Image #13 — At the Ford (John Howe)
Image #14 — At the Ford (Ted Nasmith)
Image #15 — Nazgul
Image #16 - Nazgul and Gandalf
Image #17 - Nazgul Soldiers
Image #18 - Master Nazgul
Image #19 - The Nazgul in the Shire
Image #20 - Nazgul challenging Gandalf
Image #21 - Wandering Nazgul
Image #22 - An Unexpected Party
Image #23 - Gandalf and Shadowfax (Ted Nasmith)
Image #24 - Gandalf and the Balrog (Ted Nasmith)
Image #25 - Gandalf and the Balrog (John Howe)
Image #26 - Gandalf comes to the Guarded City (John Howe)
Image #27 - Gandalf
Image #28 - Gandalf The Istari (John Howe)
Image #29 - The Healing of Eowyn (Hildebrandt)
Image #30 - The Ring of Galadriel (Hildebrandt)
Image #31 - Fingolfin's Challenge to Morgoth (John Howe)
Image #32 - Minas Tirith at Dawn (Ted Nasmith)
Image #33 - Saruman's Tower, Orthanc
Image #34 - Gandalf the White Confronts with corrupted Saruman
Image #35 - Saruman at Orthanc (Hildebrandt)
Image #36 - Smaug over Esgaroth (John Howe)
Image #37 - Tuor reaches the Hidden City of Gondolin (Ted Nasmith)
Image #38 - Ulmo appears before Tuor (Ted Nasmith)

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