Which volume of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings concludes the trilogy?

The Return of the King is the volume that concludes J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

It is the third and final volume of the novel, following The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. The book covers the final stages of the War of the Ring, including the siege of Minas Tirith, Aragorn’s emergence as king, the destruction of the One Ring, and the restoration of peace in much of Middle-earth.

Tolkien completed the manuscript during the 1940s, but publication was delayed by production and paper shortages. The complete work appeared in three volumes between 1954 and 1955. The title refers to Aragorn, whose royal identity becomes central near the end of the narrative.

Readers sometimes treat the three volumes as separate novels, but Tolkien regarded The Lord of the Rings as one novel divided for publication. The title The Return of the King also served as the name of the third volume and the later film adaptation.