What is the subtitle of the first volume of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings?
Answer
The Fellowship of the Ring
The subtitle of the first volume of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is The Fellowship of the Ring.
The Fellowship of the Ring was published in 1954 as the first part of Tolkien’s three-volume novel. It begins with Bilbo Baggins’s birthday party and follows Frodo after he inherits the One Ring. Gandalf discovers the Ring’s identity, and Frodo leaves the Shire with Samwise Gamgee, Merry and Pippin.
The volume later introduces the wider company formed at Rivendell and follows its journey through Moria and Lothlórien. The Fellowship breaks apart near the end of the book after the death of Boromir and the capture of Merry and Pippin.
The other two volume titles are The Two Towers and The Return of the King. They are not separate unrelated novels, but divisions of one continuous work, a publishing arrangement Tolkien accepted despite some reservations about the volume structure.