• The Return of the King

  • Book Three in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy
  • By: J. R. R. Tolkien
  • Narrated by: Rob Inglis
  • Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (27,261 ratings)

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The Return of the King  By  cover art

The Return of the King

By: J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Rob Inglis
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Publisher's summary

The Return of the King is the towering climax to J. R. R. Tolkien’s trilogy that tells the saga of the hobbits of Middle-earth and the great War of the Rings. In this concluding volume, Frodo and Sam make a terrible journey to the heart of the Land of the Shadow in a final reckoning with the power of Sauron.

In addition to narrating the prose passages, Rob Inglis sings the trilogy’s songs and poems a capella, using melodies composed by Inglis and Claudia Howard, the Recorded Books studio director. This recording also contains Tolkien’s preface to the trilogy, including a prior history of the ring, and shire habitat, history, and folkways.

©1983 Christopher R. Tolkien, Michael H.R.Tolkien, John F.R. Tolkien, and Priscilla M.A.R.Tolkien (P)1990 Recorded Books

Featured Article: Sauron—A Lord of the Rings Character Guide


Mairon, Annatar, the Necromancer—the evil Dark Lord Sauron has gone by many names. But who is he, really, and what is his impact on J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth? Sauron is the trilogy's primary antagonist and the one who forged the One Ring to Rule Them All in the fires of Mount Doom. Sauron is storied throughout Tolkien’s lore and mythos. Here's what we know about the powerful and evil Sauron—his character, his history, his powers, and more.

Continue Your Journey Through Middle earth

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What listeners say about The Return of the King

Average customer ratings
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    24,435
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Fantastic Overall

I’ve always loved Lord of the Rings, but wow... listening to the books was a whole different experience. For a lack of a better word, I loved the entire thing. The performance was fantastic, and of course the story is legendary. I would recommend this series to anyone interested in the movies.

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Greatest Trilogy ever written.

The narration is done with skill and subtlety oft missed in works of fiction. The skill here matched that of the author. This perhaps is the greatest work of fiction this world has ever known.

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amazing read

love the book, it was very captivating and detailed. the development of the story is very well-thought-out and the narrator is amazing

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A Masterful Reading of a Tale Without Equal

The Lord of the Rings is a powerful story, a work of the imagination that seems as large as life. It is an epic tale of good versus evil and a grand morality tale about honor and courage and loyalty and perseverance. It is not the Greatest Story Ever Told, the story of God and His Christ, His Salvation and the defeat of the evil one, but that's a story still being written and enacted in the world. In addition, I cannot imagine a better dramatic reading of Mr Tolkien's opus than that given by Mr Inglis. It's as close to hearing the story told around some cozy fire at an inn in the Shire as we're likely to get.

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Exactly how you would expect and want LOTR to be read

Fantastic book. And people have said negative comments about the narrator but I feel he did really well! He gave voices so I was never confused at who was talking, he would sing the songs, very well done.

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Great narrator

Rob Inglis was wonderful for Tolkien. Singing the songs, coloring the voices for the different characters, wonderful is the word.

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Great

Would you listen to The Return of the King again? Why?

Yes I love Lord of the Rings.

What did you like best about this story?

That they everything worked out in the end.

Have you listened to any of Rob Inglis’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes

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Perfect classic!

This classic story with the expert, awesome and suburb performance by Rob Inglis. This is what listening to a book is all about in my opinion, almost as good as an all cast reading for the narrator did a great job preforming all the different characters. It would be awesome to hear an all star rendition! Like by the actors who play their characters in the movie, could be the characters in the audible. (Just a perfect idea thrown in the air). This ones gets a two thumbs up!

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Excellent narration

loved everything but the songs sung by the narrator. other than that, Rob Inglis has done the best narration of LOTR that I have ever heard.

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Worth listening to

What did you love best about The Return of the King?

The book is long but worth listening to. There are so many aspects of the book that it is hard to say what I lvoe the best. This is a classic that can be listened to over and over and loved each time.

What does Rob Inglis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I cannot read the book but to listen to Rob read it helps me to hear the characters and story so clearly. He did a great job reading and expressing the emotions and meanings.

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