J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was completed in 1955 with publication of The Return of the King.
The trilogy’s third volume, The Return of the King, was published on 20 October 1955 by George Allen & Unwin. The first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring, appeared in 1954, followed by The Two Towers later that year. Together, the three volumes tell one continuous story.
Although commonly called a trilogy, The Lord of the Rings was conceived as a single large novel and divided for publication. Tolkien had worked on it for many years, revising its plot, languages, appendices, and historical details.
The title The Return of the King refers chiefly to Aragorn’s return to his royal role, although the book also concludes Frodo and Sam’s quest and the fading of the Third Age. Some editions were printed in different years, so the completion date here refers to the original English publication sequence.