J.R.R. Tolkien published The Return of the King in 1955.
The third volume of The Lord of the Rings appeared in the United Kingdom on 20 October 1955. It followed The Fellowship of the Ring, published in 1954, and The Two Towers, also published in 1954. The three-volume arrangement was a publishing format for one large novel, not evidence that Tolkien originally conceived three unrelated stories.
The Return of the King concludes the War of the Ring and follows the final stages of the struggle against Sauron. Its title points toward Aragorn’s restoration as king, while the book also covers the destruction of the One Ring and the consequences for Frodo, Sam, and the Shire.
The title has sometimes been criticized as revealing too much about Aragorn’s fate. Tolkien reportedly preferred The War of the Ring, but the published title remained The Return of the King.