What was J.R.R. Tolkien’s final major novel published during his lifetime?

The Lord of the Rings was J.R.R. Tolkien’s final major novel published during his lifetime.

Its three volumes appeared between 1954 and 1955: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. Tolkien had spent years writing and revising the work after the success of The Hobbit. It became his defining literary achievement and one of the most influential fantasy works of the twentieth century.

The Silmarillion is often mistaken for the answer because it contains much of Tolkien’s most important mythology. However, it was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977. Unfinished Tales and The Children of Húrin were also published after Tolkien’s death.

The Lord of the Rings is therefore distinct both as a completed novel and as Tolkien’s last major fictional work published while he was alive. Its appendices provide additional historical, linguistic, and genealogical material about Middle-earth.