How the last volume is built
The Return of the King holds Book V and Book VI of The Lord of the Rings, followed by the Appendices. Book V is the war in the West: Gandalf and Pippin ride to Minas Tirith, Aragorn takes the Paths of the Dead, the Rohirrim ride to the Pelennor, and the Captains of the West march to the Black Gate. Book VI goes back to Sam and Frodo in Mordor and then follows the hobbits all the way home.
Tolkien interlaces the stories again, and the timing matters. The march on the Black Gate is a feint to draw the Eye away from Mordor, so Book V ends with the host surrounded and Pippin falling under a troll, and Book VI then rewinds to Sam at the Tower of Cirith Ungol. Only at Mount Doom do the two halves meet.
Book VI is also long after the victory. The Field of Cormallen, the crowning of Aragorn, the wedding with Arwen and the journey north take four chapters before the hobbits reach the Shire, which is why so much of the book has no counterpart on screen.
Gondor, Rohan and the Pelennor
Book V is the war chapter of the whole work. Denethor, the proud Steward, has looked into a palantír and been shown only despair; when Faramir is carried back wounded, he builds a pyre in the Silent Street, Rath Dínen, and burns himself there. Gandalf saves Faramir, helped by Pippin and by Beregond of the Guard.
On the field outside, Théoden falls under his horse, Éowyn and Merry destroy the Witch-king, and Aragorn arrives on the black ships of the Corsairs with men of southern Gondor. Our guide to the Nazgûl explains the old prophecy about the Witch-king and how precisely it came true.
The Houses of Healing follow the battle, and they matter as much as the fighting. A king’s hands are healing hands, the old lore says, and when Aragorn uses athelas the people of the city recognise their king before any crown is placed on him.
The Elvish of the last book
Aragorn’s royal name Elessar is Quenya for Elfstone; the Sindarin form is Edhelharn. The herb he heals with is athelas in Sindarin, and the herb-master can also recite its Quenya name, asëa aranion, without knowing what it means. His sword, reforged in the first volume, is Andúril, and our page on Andúril’s meaning explains the name, while Aragorn’s Elvish names covers Estel, Elessar and the rest.
On the Field of Cormallen the host greets the Ring-bearers in Sindarin: Cuio i Pheriain anann! Aglar’ni Pheriannath! Pheriain is the plural of the word for halfling, and Pheriannath is the collective, all the halflings as a people. It is one of the few complete Elvish sentences in the book.
If you want to read lines like these yourself, the free Elvish course starts with the sounds and the first words, and the English to Elvish translator shows how a short phrase is built from attested words.
Where the book and the film part ways
Several answers in this quiz are book-only. The Dead fight at Pelargir, not on the Pelennor. Denethor dies on his pyre in Rath Dínen holding a palantír, not by running burning from the Citadel. The Grey Company that rides with Aragorn includes Rangers of the North and the sons of Elrond, Elladan and Elrohir, who never appear in the films.
The Black Gate plays out differently as well. The Mouth of Sauron, who parleys there, appears only in the extended film, where Aragorn kills him; in the book Gandalf takes from him the tokens he brought, Sam’s sword, the elven cloak and the mithril coat, and the Messenger flees back to the Gate.
The largest difference is the Scouring of the Shire. In the book Saruman, now calling himself Sharkey, has taken over the Shire through Lotho and a band of ruffians, and Merry, Pippin and Sam raise the hobbits against them. Frodo draws no sword and spares even Saruman. The film ends the story at the Grey Havens without it, so a reader and a viewer remember quite different endings.
The Appendices, briefly
The Appendices are part of the published volume. Appendix A gives the annals of the kings and includes the tale of Aragorn and Arwen; Appendix B is the Tale of Years, a dated chronology of the ages; Appendix C holds the hobbit family trees; Appendix D explains the calendars; Appendix E covers writing and pronunciation, including the Tengwar; and Appendix F discusses the languages and peoples.
They also finish stories the main text leaves open. The Tale of Years records what became of Sam, Merry and Pippin, and Appendix A tells how Aragorn died and how Arwen went to Lórien to end her days. Our guide to the Appendices walks through each one in more detail.
For a quiz player the Appendices are a trap and a gift. They hold dates and names that the main story never states, such as the year Sam left the Shire, but they are also where most of the book’s Elvish is explained, from the Tengwar in Appendix E to the notes on Quenya and Sindarin in Appendix F. This quiz uses them sparingly and always says so in the source line.
Frequently asked questions
What happens in The Return of the King book?
Is the Scouring of the Shire in the book?
Do the Army of the Dead fight at Minas Tirith in the book?
Who kills Saruman in the book?
What is in the Appendices of The Return of the King?
Answer key (10 questions)
- Who slays the Lord of the Nazgûl on the Pelennor Fields? Éowyn The Return of the King, Book V ch. 6 “The Battle of the Pelennor Fields”
- Who falls into the Cracks of Doom with the Ring? Gollum The Return of the King, Book VI ch. 3 “Mount Doom”
- Whose service does Pippin swear himself to in Minas Tirith? Denethor’s The Return of the King, Book V ch. 1 “Minas Tirith”
- Which herb does Aragorn use in the Houses of Healing? Athelas The Return of the King, Book V ch. 8 “The Houses of Healing”
- In the book, where do the Dead fight for Aragorn? At Pelargir, against the Corsairs The Return of the King, Book V ch. 9 “The Last Debate”
- Under what name does Saruman rule the Shire? Sharkey The Return of the King, Book VI ch. 8 “The Scouring of the Shire”
- What does Aragorn’s royal name Elessar mean? Elfstone The Return of the King, Book V ch. 8 “The Houses of Healing”
- Who kills Saruman at the door of Bag End? Gríma Wormtongue The Return of the King, Book VI ch. 8 “The Scouring of the Shire”
- Which battle ends the War of the Ring in the Tale of Years? Bywater The Return of the King, Book VI ch. 8 and Appendix B “The Tale of Years”
- According to the Appendices, what does Sam do after Rosie dies? Rides to the Grey Havens and sails West The Return of the King, Appendix B “The Tale of Years”
