The Sunday Times review of The Lord of the Rings said what has gone on to become one of the most famous quotes about it- “the English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them”, and this monumental work of high fantasy deserves every bit of that extravagant-sounding popularity. This is a story about the journey of a hobbit, also known as a ‘halfling’, Frodo Baggins, from his village called the Shire to the deadly bourns of Mount Doom. He undertakes this exacting, nearly-fatal journey across Middle Earth (the parallel world in which the story is set) in order to destroy the One Ring which was forged by the Dark Lord Sauron, and which must be flung into the fires of the mountain where it was made in order to destroy it, and with it the power of Sauron who is preparing to reclaim his position of power after his defeat in earlier days. Frodo’s journey is helped (and hindered) by a number of his companions and adversaries, and among them number such memorable, cult characters like Gandalf, Aragorn, Sam, Bilbo, et al.