1. As a teenager I liked Tolkien's writing on Middle-earth becouse I found it fascinating.

The Lord Of The Rings trilogy is only a small part of Tolkien's writing on Middle-earth, and I didn't get round
to reading the books before the films were screened.
I really enjoyed the films, and knew I would enjoy them as they are based on the novels by Tolkien.
I like Tolkien's virtual reinvention of our world by giving it a mythic prehistory in an imaginary time.
I think the history of the Rings of Power is interesting, as are the Battles of the War of the Ring, and I like
Minas Tirith. I like the characters, preferring the good ones over evil, but they all make the fantasy world come
to life.
2. Backstory
The backstory of The Lord of the Rings begins thousands of years before the action in the book.
In the Second Middle Age, the Dark Lord Sauron wanted to rule Middle-earth.
He disguised himself as Annatar, the "Lord of Gifts", and pretended to be good.
As Annatar he told the elves how to make magical rings which give power to their wearers.
Sauron and the elves together made sixteen rings.
The Elves also made three rings by themselves, called Vilya, Nenya and Narya.
These nineteen rings were the Rings of Power.
But Sauron secretly forged a Great Ring of his own, the One Ring.
In this Ring Sauron put half of his power. He planned to control the wearers of the other rings with this One
Ring.
But the Elves finally realized that Annatar really was the evil Sauron and hid the Rings of Power.
Sauron then started a war. During this war he took back the sixteen rings which he had made together with the
Elves. Seven of these rings he gave to the kings of the dwarves, and nine rings he gave to human kings. These
human kings became the Nazgl, the Ringwraiths, ghostly servants of Sauron.
Led by Gil-galad and Elendil, the Elves and the Men of Gondor and Arnor formed the Last Alliance of Men and
Elves to fight Sauron. There was a long war and siege of Sauron's fortress Barad-dr. In the last battle, Gil-galad
and Elendil were killed by Sauron. After his father's death, Elendil' son Isildur cut off the One Ring from
Sauron's hand. Sauron was defeated and the war ended.
Because half of Sauron's power was in the One Ring, Sauron did not die fully. His spirit still existed as long as
the Ring existed. The elves told Isildur to destroy the One Ring, but Isildur did not want to and kept it.
The One Ring was lost when Isildur was attacked by Orcs. Isildur tried to escape, but he was killed when he lost
the Ring. I
n the Third Age, the Ring was found by the Stoor hobbit Dagol, who was killed by his friend Smagol over the
Ring. Smagol went to live under the Misty Mountains, where he kept the Ring for five hundred years, and he
became known by the name Gollum.
In The Hobbit the Ring is found by the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. He thinks it is an unimportant 'magic ring' that
simply makes its wearer invisible. Bilbo keeps it, and brings it back with him to the Shire at the end of his
journey. There the One Ring stayed until the beginning of the story of The Lord of the Rings.

3. The story
Book I The Fellowship of the Ring
Book II The Two Towers
Book III The Return of the King