One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them. One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

In 1997, Lord of the Rings was voted, to the chagrin of some critics, the greatest book of the twentieth century in a poll run by major British booksellers. Despite some negative criticism, Lord of the Rings has been a steady best-seller since the first volume was published in 1954, and a campus craze in the sixties and early seventies.

Despite its roots in medieval literature, Lord of the Rings places its characters and its readers on a collision course with modern moral dilemmas of knowledge and power.

Tolkien poses these modern problems with absolute ethical principles and a belief in both an overarching providence and the importance of human choice.

Although Tolkien always insisted that Lord of the Rings was not allegorical, it is apparent that the Ruling Ring and the destruction of the natural world that flows from the desire for its power are a reflection of Tolkien's concern for humanity's ability to destroy both itself and the earth. That Tolkien chooses a course of total rejection of such knowledge and power is perhaps one of the unconscious sources of some critics' reaction to the work.

1. Material: Crushed Stone
2. King Height (inch): 4 1/2
3. Base Size (inch): 1 1/2

Included: Chessmen
Not Included: Board