National Geographic Beyond the Movie
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Explore your questions about The Lord of the Rings

Author and HistoryLanguage and CultureMyth and StorytellingPhoto Gallery
J.R.R. Tolkien Time Line
 
The Battle of the Somme, WW I
1892 text 1915 text
 1917 text1937 text
The Hobbit
1954 through 1956 text
1916 text1925 text1939-1945 text
J.R.R. Tolkien
1973 text

 
Influences on The Lord of the Rings
 


Photographs, clockwise:
World War I battle, Corbis
First Edition of The Hobbit, courtesy Houghton Mifflin
Author J.R.R. Tolkien, Corbis