There are some actors that are prepared to sacrifice their bodies, their social life, and their relationships with friends and relatives just to make their performances more convincing. One of them is Val Kilmer. He took method acting to the extreme while preparing for the role of Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors.
He wanted to make his performance as authentic as possible when he was cast to play the role of Jim Morrison in the film The Doors. For a start, he decided to learn 50 of Morrison’s songs. Kilmer allegedly spent many hours in the studio listening to Doors songs and learning in depth Morrison’s approach to each song.
publicity-photo-of-jim-morrison
The Doors is a biographical film about the band with the same name and in its focus is the life of their lead singer, Jim Morrison. It depicts 1960s rock and roll and the hippie lifestyle. And, of course, the controversial life of Jim Morrison up to his death at the age of 27. Although the film itself received mixed reviews, Kilmer’s performance was praised as one of the best performances of the year. Val Kilmer was chosen to play the part of the larger-than-life rock star of the 1960s, while Meg Ryan was cast as his life partner, Pamela Courson.
Val Kilmer admits he’d never been a real Doors fan but he still wanted to get the role. He had a meeting with Oliver Stone and he managed to impress him. Oliver Stone thought that the actor had the right look for the role.
The Doors logo, designed by an Elektra Records assistant, first appeared on their 1967 debut album.
Prior to the audition, Val Kilmer spent thousands of dollars to produce his own video, shot in his rented Laurel Canyon home with professional assistance in order to get the role. Oliver Stone wasn’t impressed with the video, but the producer Paul Rothchild found the home video more intriguing and he convinced Oliver Stone that Val was the right person for the role.
Prior to production, Val Kilmer lived just like Jim Morrison for a year, dressing in his clothes and listening to his music. He even copied the way he walked and behaved. The actor also spent hundreds of hours interrogating Paul Rothchild, a producer for the iconic rock band and a consultant on the film. Eventually, he knew more about Jim than anybody in the film crew.
Val Kilmer was getting so obsessed with the role that, by the end of filming, he had everyone on set referring to him as “Jim,” all of the time.
When members of The Doors heard Kilmer singing their songs, they could not tell the difference between his voice and Morrison’s.
When he finished filming he had to go to therapy because it was hard for him to get out of the character. That is how far he went just to “get it right.”
Having taken her first steps into a larger world in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Rey continues her epic journey with Finn, Poe and Luke Skywalker in the next chapter of the saga. THE LAST JEDI is written and directed by Rian Johnson and produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman and executive produced by J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski.
Meetings with Remarkable Men is a 1979 British film directed by Peter Brook and based on the book of the same name by great mystic, G. I. Gurdjieff, first published in English in 1963. Shot on location in Afghanistan (except for dance sequences, which were filmed in England), it starred Terence Stamp, and Dragan Maksimović as the adult Gurdjieff. The film was entered into the 29th Berlin International Film Festival and nominated for the Golden Bear.
The plot involves Gurdjieff and his companions’ search for truth in a series of dialogues and vignettes, much as in the book. Unlike the book, these result in a definite climax—Gurdjieff’s initiation into the mysterious Sarmoung Brotherhood. The film is noteworthy for making public some glimpses of the Gurdjieff movements.
The film recounts the life of a young député who joins the Freemasons in order to relaunch his career. He thus learns of how the Freemasons are conspiring with the Jews and the Anglo-american nations to encourage France into a war against Germany. Following WW2, the film’s writer, Jean-Marie Rivière, was imprisoned. Its producer, Robert Muzard, and director, Paul Riche (the pseudonym of Jean Mamy), were executed (+1949) for their part in the production of this film. “Occult Forces” was the last film Riche directed before his unjust execution.
Tagline: Les mystères de la francomaçonnerie pour le premier fois dévoilés à l’écran. (The mysteries of Freemasonry revealed for the first time on screen)
Plot: The film recounts the life of a young député who joins the Freemasons in order to relaunch his career. He thus learns of how the Freemasons are conspiring with the Jews and the Anglo-american nations to encourage France into a war against Germany.
The film was commissioned in 1942 by the Propaganda Abteilung, a delegation of Nazi Germany’s propaganda ministry within occupied France by the ex-Mason Mamy. It virulently denounces Freemasonry, parliamentarianism and Jews as part of Vichy’s drive against them and seeks to prove a Jewish-Masonic plot. On France’s “liberation” its writer Jean Marquès-Rivière, its producer Robert Muzard and its direction Jean Mamy were purged for collaboration with the enemy. On 25 November 1945, Muzard was condemned to 3 years in prison and Marquès-Rivière was condemned in his absence (he had gone into self-imposed exile) to death and degradation. Mamy had also been a journalist on L’Appel under Pierre Constantini (leader of the Ligue française d’épuration, d’entraide sociale et de collaboration européenne) and on the collaborationist journal Au pilori, and was thus condemned to death and executed at the fortress of Montrouge on 29 March 1949.
10 Psychedelic movies that will alter your perception of reality
Some movies are fun, some movies are emotional, others are beautiful, these 10 movies will change the way you see the world. These 10 psychedelic movies will shake your grasp of reality.
A few words before we begin. This list of psychedelic movies can look different. Each and every one of you would have chosen differently. There can be different themes. This list could have been of a 100 films instead of 10. But we think you can safely say that each movie here does what we were looking for when we set to compile it. Feel free to leave your own thoughts and suggestions in the comments to benefit others of your own experiences.
The Matrix
Directed by The Wachowski Brothers, 1999.
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss.
The Wachowski brothers (turned sisters since…) first part of the trilogy, became the unofficial movie of the 90s youngsters generation and we can also say that it has became the unofficial movie of the Goa Trance and Psytrance movement in a way (it was surely sampled the most!). A movie challenging your perception of reality and a true eye opener for many. Because the Matrix is there! All around us. Always. The Matrix exposed the problem. Another Wachowskis’ movie offers the answer to it. It’s also on this list.
A scanner darkly
Directed by Richard Linklater, 2006. Based on a book by Philip K. Dick.
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr.
Another film that does justice to the book it was based on. A Scanner Darkly is based on Philip K. Dicks book, and is probably the best adaptation to screen of his books, even if far from being the famous one. It is also made in an amazing technique that as far as we know wasn’t used in any other major film which makes it even more surreal and trippy, and Dick’s writing are as surreal and trippy as it gets in their own right. It is not a fun movie, and like all of his stories it is a melancholic and not very optimistic introspective look into the present and future of the human race. It’s is a movie that explores the boundaries of reality and of psychedelics and from someone who experimented a lot with the subject. Be warned: It is a movie that you leave feeling stoned even if you watch it sober.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Directed by Terry Gilliam, 1998. Based on a book by Hunter S. Thompson.
Starring: Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro.
The movie version of Hunter S. Thompson’s psychedelic classic book about his road trip across Western America as he and his Samoan lawyer searched desperately for the American dream with the help of a lot of mind altering substances is a rare example of a movie that does a great book justice. Johnny Depp does a wonderful job as Thompson, a true legendary character, and there are times when you just feel that reality melts around you while watching. Beyond that the film also supplies a real introspective and critical look on the 60s and its psychedelic culture, though many viewers tend to miss that.
Enter the Void
Directed by Gaspar Noé, 2009.
Starring: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta
Gaspar Noé’s frightening, hallucinatory masterpiece is loosely based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Shot as one continuous take through the eyes of the hero, a low-level Tokyo drug dealer, the film is a journey through the Bardo experience. It’s a sensory overload of bright lights and neon colors, with vertigo soundscapes, and unreal visual effects. A real trip in through the mind that transports you into a hallucinatory world of life, death, and what is between them.
Every psychedelic film list that respects itself will have Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain in it. A true cult movie, and a real trippy experience, The Holy Mountain demands to be viewed again and again and yet seems to make less and less sense each time. It supplies an experience that is whole and yet beyond the rational, very much like a drug induced trip. The film uses entrancing music, a lot of symbolism and mysticism and amazing visual aesthetics to create an alternate reality and immerse you in it.
Altered States
Directed by Ken Russel, 1980. B
Ken Russell’s venture into the field of science fiction genre centers around the mystical experiences of a psychologist experimenting with psychedelic drugs and sensory deprivation which lead him to slowly degenerate down the ladder of evolution. The surreal imagery and suspense during the transformations that the psychologist undergoes totally blends the imaginary and the real making you lose your hold on reality. This movie will make you think. Also about what connects us all.
Cloud Atlas
Directed by the Wachowski brothers & Tom Tykwer, 2012. Based on a book by David Mitchell.
Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant.
The Wachowskis (here as brother and sister) second visit in our list is for us the real sequel to the “problem” exposed by The Matrix, much more than the two official sequels to the movie. We’ll leave it to you to think what is the answer that we see in it. The answer is always more complex than the problem, and Cloud Atlas is not an easy film, it’s long, it’s confusing and you’re never really sure what is happening even in the second time you watch it. And very quickly you realize you’ll have to watch it a second time, and during the second time you realize that it won’t be enough. Maybe it will never be enough. Cloud Atlas is a very ambitious film, one of the most ambitious ever made, and does things never done on film before. It will leave you confused. But thinking.
This Russian cult movie is a true must watch, and an added benefit is that it will make you friends instantly whenever you mention you watched it to ex-USSR born psychedelia lovers. While every Russian will tell you that a lot is lost when you do not speak Russian and aware of the complexities of Soviet times, Kin Dza Dza has a deep universal message and leaves you with a lot to think about, with it’s minimalism and surreal atmosphere. The aesthetics and design here show you don’t really need special effects to create an out of this world atmosphere and it is rivaled in that aspect only by David Lynch’s Dune. There’s no other movie like Kin Dza Dza. Ku!
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, 1984.
This list must include a Miyazaki film. Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle are legitimate choices as well, but we decided to go with Nausicaä because of its message and because it is less known than the other two. Like all of Miyazaki’s films it shakes your perception in the way it manages to be both very of this world yet different. That gap is what enables Miyazaki to make us think. And all that is done in a very un-hollywood way, in a world that is not a dichotomic black and white, good and bad, but acknowledges the whole wide spectrum of human behaviour. As such the insights it offers are real and a lot can be learned of them. Miyazaki’s unreal and totally whole animation makes it into a complete sensory wonder.
The Fountain
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky.
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Sean Patrick Thomas.
One can think of at least two other Aronofsky films that can be on this list (Pi & Requiem for a Dream). The Fountain weaves three stories, from the past, present, and future about men in pursuit of eternity with their love and eternal life. The stories intersect and parallel and thus gain extra dimensions. While the film talks about eternal life, it is actually a film about the human inevitable failing struggle with death. Like all films chosen here, this film is about what it leaves in your mind, not just about what you see.
Lemnos is an island in the northern Aegean Sea. The people of Lemnos are called Lemnians, but the island’s first inhabitants were the Thracian Sinties or Sintians, who some say were the same as the Saii who lived in Samos in earlier times and also held the adjacent mainland.
Sacred to Hephaestus
Lemnos is sacred to Hephaestus; for when Zeus cast him out of heaven, the god of the smiths fell on this island, and having broken his legs, was taken care by the Sintians. Also his sons and daughters by Cabiro (a Thracian woman daughter of Proteus )—the so called CABIROI and the NYMPHS CABIROIDES—were honoured in Lemnos, and sacred rites were instituted for them.
Visit of the ARGONAUTS
When the ARGONAUTS, in their way to Colchis, came to Lemnos, they found out that all males had been murdered. For the Lemnian women, having learned that their husbands had taken Thracian wives, resolved to kill all men in Lemnos. King Thoas was then deposed, and he should have died along with the other men, but his daughter Hypsipyle, who became queen after him, secretly spared her father. When the ARGONAUTS arrived to the island, Hypsipyle fell in love with their captain Jason, and had children by him. But later, when the other women learned that Hypsipyle had spared his father, they sold her as a slave and killed Thoas . Hypsipyle reappeared years later when the SEVEN, while marching against Thebes, learned from her the way to a spring in Nemea, where she served as nurse of the king’s son. The ARGONAUTS consorted with the Lemnian women, and their descendants were called Minyans, since some among them had previously emigrated from Minyan Orchomenus to Iolcus. Later, these Minyans were driven out from the island, and came to Lacedaemon.
Philoctetes
Lemnos is also remembered for being the island where the Achaean army abandoned Philoctetes, who had a wound that would not heal. During the Trojan War, Lemnos sent ships with cargoes of wine for the Achaeans, being at that time ruled by Jason’s son Euneus .
Lemnos is also remembered for being the island where the Achaean army abandoned Philoctetes, who had a wound that would not heal. During the Trojan War, Lemnos sent ships with cargoes of wine for the Achaeans, being at that time ruled by Jason’s son Euneus.
Rey took her first steps into a larger world in ‘Star Wars : Episode VIII’ and will continue her epic journey with Finn, Poe, and Luke Skywalker in the next chapter of the continuing Star Wars saga.
Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise, centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”.
The franchise began in 1977 with the release of the film Star Wars (subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981), which became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. It was followed by the successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983); these three films constitute the original Star Wars trilogy. A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005, which received mixed reactions. A sequel trilogy began in 2015 with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. All seven films were nominated for Academy Awards (with wins going to the first two films) and have been commercial successes, with a combined box office revenue of over $7.5 billion, making Star Wars the third highest-grossing film series. Spin-off films include Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) and Rogue One (2016), which is the first in an upcoming series of anthology films.
The series has spawned an extensive media franchise—the Star Wars expanded universe—including books, television series, computer and video games, and comic books, resulting in significant development of the series’s fictional universe. Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the “Most successful film merchandising franchise. In 2015, the total value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $41.9 billion, making Star Wars the second highest-grossing media franchise of all time.
In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion and earned the distribution rights to all subsequent Star Wars films, beginning with the release of The Force Awakens in 2015. The former distributor, 20th Century Fox, retains the physical distribution rights to the first two Star Wars trilogies, owning permanent rights for the original 1977 film and holding the rights to Episodes I–III, V, and VI until May 2020. Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films, excluding A New Hope.
The story begins in the Shire, where the hobbit Frodo Baggins inherits the Ring from Bilbo Baggins, his cousin and guardian. Neither hobbit is aware of the Ring’s nature, but Gandalf the Grey, a wizard and an old friend of Bilbo, suspects it to be Sauron’s Ring. After Gandalf confirms his suspicions, he tells Frodo the history of the Ring and counsels him to take the Ring away from the Shire. Frodo leaves the Shire, in the company of his gardener and friend, Samwise (“Sam”) Gamgee, and two cousins, Meriadoc Brandybuck, called Merry, and Peregrin Took, called Pippin. They are nearly caught by the Black Riders while in the Shire, but they shake off pursuit by cutting through the Old Forest. There, they are aided by Tom Bombadil, a strange and merry fellow who lives with his wife Goldberry in the forest. Surprisingly, the Ring has no power over him.
The Hobbits leave the Old Forest and reach the town of Bree, where Gandalf is expected to meet them. Instead, they meet a Ranger named Strider, whom Gandalf had mentioned in a letter. Strider persuades the hobbits to take him on as their guide and protector. Together, they leave Bree after another close escape from the Black Riders. On the hill of Weathertop, they are again attacked by the Black Riders, who wound Frodo with a cursed blade. Strider fights off the Black Riders with fire and leads the hobbits towards the Elven refuge of Rivendell. Frodo falls deathly sick from the wound. The Black Riders nearly overtake Frodo at the Ford of Bruinen, but flood waters summoned by Elrond, master of Rivendell, rise up and overwhelm them.
Frodo recovers in Rivendell under the care of Elrond. The Council of Elrond speaks of the history of Sauron and the Ring. Strider is revealed to be Aragorn, the heir of Isildur. Gandalf reveals that Sauron has corrupted Saruman, chief of the wizards. The Council decides that the Ring must be destroyed, but that can only be done by sending it to the Fire of Mount Doom in Mordor, where it was forged. Frodo takes this task upon himself. Elrond, with the advice of Gandalf, chooses companions for him. The Company of the Ring are nine in number: Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli the Dwarf, Legolas the Elf, and the Man Boromir, son of the Ruling Steward Denethor of the land of Gondor.
After a failed attempt to cross the Misty Mountains through the Redhorn Pass across the flank of Caradhras, the Company are forced to try a dangerous path through the Mines of Moria. They are attacked by the Watcher in the Water before the doors of Moria. Inside Moria, they learn of the fate of Balin and his colony of Dwarves. After surviving an attack, they are pursued by Orcs and by an ancient demon called a Balrog. Gandalf faces the Balrog, and both of them fall into the abyss. The others escape and find refuge in the Elven forest of Lothlórien, where they are counselled by Galadriel and Celeborn.
With boats and gifts from Galadriel, the Company travel down the River Anduin to the hill of Amon Hen. Boromir tries to take the Ring from Frodo, but Frodo puts on the Ring and disappears. The Company is scattered in the panic to find Frodo, and they are attacked by Orcs. Frodo chooses to go alone to Mordor. Sam guesses Frodo’s mind, and goes with him.
The Two Towers
Orcs sent by Saruman and Sauron kill Boromir and take Merry and Pippin. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas debate amongst themselves which pair of hobbits to follow. They decide to follow the Orcs bearing Merry and Pippin to Saruman. In the kingdom of Rohan, the Orcs are slain by a company of the Rohirrim. Merry and Pippin escape into Fangorn Forest, where they are befriended by Treebeard, the oldest of the tree-like Ents. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas track the hobbits to Fangorn. There they unexpectedly meet Gandalf. Gandalf explains that he slew the Balrog; darkness took him, but he was sent back (to Middle-earth). He is clothed in white and is now “Gandalf the White”, for he has taken Saruman’s place as the chief of the wizards. Gandalf assures his friends that Merry and Pippin are safe. Together they ride to Edoras, capital of Rohan. Gandalf frees Théoden, King of Rohan, from the influence of Saruman’s spy Gríma Wormtongue. Théoden musters his fighting strength and rides with his men to the ancient fortress of Helm’s Deep, while Gandalf departs to seek help from Treebeard.
Meanwhile, the Ents, roused by Merry and Pippin from their peaceful ways, attack Isengard, Saruman’s stronghold, and trap the wizard in the tower of Orthanc. Gandalf convinces Treebeard to send an army of Huorns to Théoden’s aid. Gandalf brings an army of Rohirrim to Helm’s Deep, and they defeat the Orcs, who flee into the waiting shadow of the trees. Gandalf visits Saruman, offering him a chance to turn away from evil. When Saruman refuses to listen, Gandalf strips him of his rank and most of his powers. Pippin picks up a palantír, a seeing-stone that Saruman used to speak with Sauron and through which Saruman was ensnared, and is seen by Sauron. Gandalf rides for Minas Tirith, chief city of Gondor, taking Pippin with him.
Frodo and Sam capture Gollum, who had been following them from Moria. They force him to guide them to Mordor. They find that the Black Gate of Mordor is too well guarded, so instead they travel to a secret way Gollum knows. On the way, they encounter Faramir, who, unlike his brother Boromir, resists the temptation to seize the Ring. He provides Frodo and Sam with food. Gollum — who is torn between his loyalty to Frodo and his desire for the Ring — betrays Frodo by leading him to the great spider Shelob in the tunnels of Cirith Ungol. Frodo falls when pierced by Shelob’s sting. But with the help of Galadriel’s gifts, Sam fights off the spider. Believing Frodo to be dead, Sam takes the Ring in the hope of finishing the quest alone. Orcs find Frodo, and from their words Sam becomes aware that Frodo is yet alive. The Orcs take Frodo’s body, and Sam chases after them, entering Mordor alone.
The Return of the King
Sauron sends a great army against Gondor. Gandalf arrives at Minas Tirith to warn Denethor of the attack, while Théoden leads the Rohirrim to the aid of Gondor. Minas Tirith is besieged. Denethor is deceived by Sauron and falls into despair. He burns himself alive on a pyre, nearly taking his son Faramir with him. Aragorn, accompanied by Legolas, Gimli and the Rangers of the North, takes the Paths of the Dead in the hopes of bringing the Dead to his aid, for the Dead Men of Dunharrow are bound by a curse by which they are given no rest until they fulfil their oath to fight for the King of Gondor. With the coming of Aragorn, the Army of the Dead fulfil their oath and strike terror into the Corsairs of Umbar invading southern Gondor. Aragorn defeats the Corsairs and takes their ships, which he uses to bring the men of southern Gondor up the Anduin, coming just in time to the aid of Minas Tirith. Éowyn, Théoden’s niece whom he loves as a daughter, slays the Lord of the Nazgûl with help from Merry. Théoden is slain and Éowyn and Merry are injured. Together Gondor and Rohan defeat Sauron’s army in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
Meanwhile, Sam rescues Frodo from the tower of Cirith Ungol. They set out across Mordor. Aragorn leads an army of men from Gondor and Rohan to march on the Black Gate of Mordor, so as to distract Sauron from his true danger. His army is vastly outnumbered by the great might of Sauron. Frodo and Sam reach the edge of the Cracks of Doom, but Frodo cannot resist the Ring any longer. Frodo claims the Ring for himself and puts it on his finger. Gollum suddenly reappears, having caught up with the hobbits. He struggles with Frodo and bites off Frodo’s finger with the Ring on it. Celebrating wildly, Gollum loses his footing and falls into the Fire, taking the Ring with him. The Ring is destroyed, and Sauron loses his power forever. The Nazgûl perish, and Sauron’s armies are thrown into such disarray that Aragorn’s forces emerge victorious.
Aragorn is crowned Elessar, King of Arnor and Gondor, and weds Arwen, daughter of Elrond. The four hobbits make their way back to the Shire, only to find out that the Shire has been enslaved by bad men. The hobbits raise a rebellion and overthrow the men, who turn out to be led by Saruman. Frodo does not allow the hobbits to kill Saruman, but Gríma turns on Saruman and kills him in front of Bag End (Frodo’s hobbit-hole). He is slain in turn by hobbit archers, and the War of the Ring comes to its true end on Frodo’s very doorstep.
Merry and Pippin are celebrated as heroes. Sam marries Rosie Cotton and uses his gifts from Galadriel to help heal the Shire. But Frodo is still wounded in body and spirit, having borne the Ring for so long.
A few years later, in the company of Bilbo and Gandalf, Frodo sails from the Grey Havens west over the Sea to the Undying Lands to find peace.
In the appendices, Sam gives his daughter Elanor the Red Book of Westmarch, which contains the story of Bilbo’s adventures and the War of the Ring as told by the hobbits. Sam is then said to have crossed west over the Sea himself, the last of the Ring-bearers.
The Lord of the Rings is an epic high-fantasy novel written by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien’s 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit, but eventually developed into a much larger work. Written in stages between 1937 and 1949, The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling novels ever written, with over 150 million copies sold.
The title of the novel refers to the story’s main antagonist, the Dark Lord Sauron, who had in an earlier age created the One Ring to rule the other Rings of Power as the ultimate weapon in his campaign to conquer and rule all of Middle-earth. From quiet beginnings in the Shire, a hobbit land not unlike the English countryside, the story ranges across Middle-earth, following the course of the War of the Ring through the eyes of its characters, not only the hobbits Frodo Baggins, Samwise “Sam” Gamgee, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck and Peregrin “Pippin” Took, but also the hobbits’ chief allies and travelling companions: the Men Aragorn son of Arathorn, a Ranger of the North, and Boromir, a Captain of Gondor; Gimli son of Glóin, a Dwarf warrior; Legolas Greenleaf, an Elven prince; and Gandalf, a Wizard.
The work was initially intended by Tolkien to be one volume of a two-volume set, the other to be The Silmarillion, but this idea was dismissed by his publisher. For economic reasons The Lord of the Rings was published in three volumes over the course of a year from 29 July 1954 to 20 October 1955. The three volumes were titled The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. Structurally, the novel is divided internally into six books, two per volume, with several appendices of background material included at the end of the third volume. Some editions combine the entire work into a single volume. The Lord of the Rings has since been reprinted numerous times and translated into 38 languages.
Tolkien’s work has been the subject of extensive analysis of its themes and origins. Although a major work in itself, the story was only the last movement of a larger epic Tolkien had worked on since 1917, in a process he described as mythopoeia.[citation needed] Influences on this earlier work, and on the story of The Lord of the Rings, include philology, mythology, religion and the author’s distaste for the effects of industrialization, as well as earlier fantasy works and Tolkien’s experiences in World War I. These inspirations and themes have often been denied by Tolkien himself. The Lord of the Rings in its turn is considered to have had a great effect on modern fantasy; the impact of Tolkien’s works is such that the use of the words “Tolkienian” and “Tolkienesque” have been recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Thousands of years before the events of the novel, the Dark Lord Sauron had forged the One Ring to rule the other Rings of Power and corrupt those who wore them: the leaders of Men, Elves and Dwarves. Sauron was defeated by an alliance of Elves and Men led by Gil-galad and Elendil, respectively. Isildur, son of Elendil, cut the One Ring from Sauron’s finger, causing Sauron to lose his physical form. Isildur claimed the Ring as an heirloom for his line, but when he was later ambushed and killed by the Orcs, the Ring was lost in the River Anduin at Gladden Fields.
Over two thousand years later, the Ring was found by one of the river-folk called Déagol. His friend Sméagol fell under the Ring’s influence and strangled Déagol to acquire it. Sméagol was banished and hid under the Misty Mountains. The Ring gave him long life and changed him over hundreds of years into a twisted, corrupted creature called Gollum. Gollum lost the Ring, his “precious”, and as told in The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins found it. Meanwhile, Sauron assumed a new form and took back his old realm of Mordor. When Gollum set out in search of the Ring, he was captured and tortured by Sauron. Sauron learned from Gollum that “Baggins” of the Shire had taken the Ring. Gollum was set loose. Sauron, who needed the Ring to regain his full power, sent forth his powerful servants, the Nazgûl, to seize it.
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