J.R.R. Tolkien completed the manuscript of The Lord of the Rings in 1949.
The work had taken many years to write. Tolkien began developing it after the success of The Hobbit, but the project expanded far beyond a simple sequel. He drafted, revised, and reworked major episodes while balancing university duties, teaching, family life, and wartime conditions.
Completion of the manuscript did not mean immediate publication. Tolkien continued revising the text, and disagreements with his publisher and questions about printing and production delayed its appearance. The first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring, was finally published in 1954, followed by the other two volumes in 1954 and 1955.
Readers sometimes confuse the manuscript-completion date with the publication date of the full work. The manuscript was completed in 1949, while the complete three-volume publication concluded in 1955. That distinction explains why different dates appear in biographies and bibliographies.