Lord of the Rings: The story so far

By JIM EAGLES

Draw nearer the fire, for the night is dark and strange things seem to move in the shadows, and I will tell you the tale of the Lord of the Rings, the Dark Lord Sauron, who made the one great ring, with all its terrible power, the ring spoken of in the ancient verse.

In the fires of Orodruin, or Mt Doom, the ever-burning volcano, he forged the ring, pouring into it much of his strength, planning thereby to multiply his power and dominate the world.

But the forces of good were stronger in those days, Sauron was defeated by the armies of men and elves, and the great ring cut from his black fingers by men foolishly hoping to use its power to benefit all.

Alas for them, the ring always had a will of its own and it brought only ill to its would-be masters, finally slipping from their hands and disappearing into the dark caves under the great mountains.

There it was found by a sad creature named Gollum, whose feeble mind was overwhelmed by its power, causing him to shun all other living things, delighting only in what he came to call his Precious.

Many generations passed before the ring was able to re-enter the affairs of men, after passing from Gollum into the hands of an adventurous hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who took it home as a souvenir of his travels.

But while Bilbo smoked his pipe and grew merrily old, evil slithered back into the world, the Dark Lord re-established himself in Mordor and began to search for his lost ring and the power he craved.

Now the remaining wise folk of the earth, who knew the secret of Bilbo's trophy, met in council and decided the only way to end the evil power of the ring and its Dark Lord was to destroy it.

So Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's nephew, and a company of elves, dwarves, wizards and men were sent into the heart of Mordor to cast the ring into the raging belly of Mt Doom, annihilating it in the white-hot heat whence it was originally forged.

In the first book of the Lord of the Rings, you will recall, this Fellowship of the Ring travelled far through lands made dangerous by the growing power of Sauron, heading always towards the dark shadows of Mordor.

In the second book, The Two Towers, the fellowship was split asunder, with Frodo and his loyal servant, Samwise Gamgee, continuing the journey to Mordor, along with a tortured Gollum, drawn by his continued craving for his Precious. Meanwhile the rest of the company found themselves caught up in a mighty battle to overcome the forces of the evil Saruman, once the leader of the council of white wizards, but transformed by pride and arrogance into a tool of the Dark Lord.

Now in the third book, The Return of the King, we will reach the climax of all that has gone before.

The remains of the fellowship, led by the great wizard Gandalf, must go with their allies to the legendary city of Minas Tirith, built by the men of Gondor as a barrier across the entrance to Mordor. There, as so many times before, the forces of good must confront the might of Sauron.

They face a daunting task, for Sauron has assembled a vast horde, and over the generations his subtle evil has stealthily undermined the power of good. But the city will be strengthened by the arrival of the fellowship and above all by one who is descended from the ancient line of Gondor's kings and destined to sit again on its long-vacant throne.

Inevitably the greatest armies seen for many a lifetime will clash in a ferocious battle to decide the fate of the world, and many noble deeds will be done and many mighty warriors will give their lives for the cause.

But those involved will know full well that the outcome will be determined not by mere force of arms, but by whether two humble hobbits are able to sneak into the very heart of Sauron's realm to destroy the ring in which so much of his power is vested, or whether the Dark Lord will regain his lost treasure and acquire the strength to sweep all before him.

So amid the clash of steel and the stink of blood, the shouts of triumph and the cries of agony, all must wait to see if Frodo and Samwise and Gollum - for we must not forget Gollum - are able to accomplish their awesome task.

And whether they do or not, we should all be aware that the world will never be the same again.

* It's a Lord of the Rings weekend at nzherald.co.nz. Join us throughout this weekend for updates from Wellington as the city prepares to host Monday's world premiere of Part 3 in the Rings trilogy: The Return of the King.

Herald Feature: Lord of the Rings

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