History TheLordOfTheRings / TropesSToU

---> …the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings.

* TakenDuringTheEnding:
** At the end of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', [[spoiler:as part of the climactic BreakingTheFellowship, Merry and Pippin are kidnapped by Saruman's Uruk-Hai. Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas spend the next book trying to find them]].
** ''The Two Towers'' also ends this way, with [[spoiler:Frodo being seemingly killed by Shelob and Sam realizing at the end of the book that he is actually alive and has been taken by Sauron's forces]].
* TangledFamilyTree: The Hobbits. Thanks to generations worth of intermarrying between the [[http://www.tuckborough.net/took.html#genealogy Tooks]], [[http://www.tuckborough.net/baggins.html#genealogy Bagginses]], [[http://www.tuckborough.net/otherhobbits.html#Bolger-Tree Bolgers]], and [[http://www.tuckborough.net/brandybuck.html#genealogy Brandybucks]] (all of them among the most respected families in the Shire), Frodo is Bilbo's first ''and'' second cousin, Pippin's second ''and'' third cousin, Merry's first, second, ''and'' third cousin, '''and''' his ''own'' third cousin! Sam, in fact, is the only major hobbit character who ''isn't'' related to any of the others - although once his children reach marriageable ages...

-->‘Yes sir, and showed your quality: the very highest.’ Faramir smiled. ‘A pert servant, Master Samwise. But nay: the praise of the praiseworthy is above all rewards. Yet there was naught in this to praise. I had no lure or desire to do other than I have done.’

-->'Hurray!' cried Pippin, springing up. 'Here is our noble cousin! Make way for Frodo, Lord of the Ring!'\\
'Hush!' said Gandalf from the shadows at the back of the porch. 'Evil things do not come into this valley; but all the same we should not name them. The Lord of the Ring is not Frodo, but the master of the Dark Tower of Mordor, whose power is again stretching out over the world. We are sitting in a fortress. Outside it is getting dark.'

* TookALevelInBadass: The main hobbit characters start out as mild-mannered rustics, and by the end have become some of the greatest heroes of the Age.

* SequelEscalation: ''LOTR'' expands the relatively small-scale, personal adventure of ''Literature/TheHobbit'' to world-scale peril.

* ShiningCity: Minas Tirith.

* SamusIsAGirl: Dernhelm aka [[spoiler:Éowyn]]. The character does appear previously in the story, but when she disguises herself, she is referred to as a new male character, mainly because the reader sees her through Merry's point of view, until the reveal. This isn't attempted in the movies, it's clear the whole time that it's Eowyn and that Merry knows it.

* SamusIsAGirl: Dernhelm aka [[spoiler:Éowyn]]. The character does appear previously in the story, but when they disguise themself, they're referred to as a new male character, until the reveal.

** The warg attack on the slopes of Caradhras strikingly resembles the werewolf attack in the Breton forest in ''Literature/TheBlackDouglas''.

::'''Tropes from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' (the book)'''

::TheLordOfTheRings/TropesAToC -- TheLordOfTheRings/TropesDToF -- TheLordOfTheRings/TropesGToI -- TheLordOfTheRings/TropesJToL -- TheLordOfTheRings/TropesMToO -- TheLordOfTheRings/TropesPToR -- TheLordOfTheRings/TropesVToZ

* SidenoteFullStory: Sauron was briefly alluded to in ''Literature/TheHobbit.''

** To a lesser extent, Sam seems to be tougher and has a bigger inclination towards violence than Frodo, but this might be due to the ferocity with which he protects [[TheNotLoveInterest him]].

-->'''Gimli:''' That was the sound of a hammer, or I've never heard one.
-->'''Gandalf:''' Yes, and I do not like it. It may have nothing to do with Peregrin's foolish stone; but probably something has been disturbed that would have been better left quiet.

* SteelMill: Saruman runs one at the basement of Isengard. Instead of coke, he uses charcoal made from trees as the iron reducing agent. Which, of course, the Ents find less than amusing, considering the sheer number of trees he's cut down.

* TheStrategist: Gandalf

%%* TalkingInYourDreams

-->'Hurray!' cried Pippin, springing up. 'Here is our noble cousin! Make way for Frodo, Lord of the Ring!'
-->'Hush!' said Gandalf from the shadows at the back of the porch. 'Evil things do not come into this valley; but all the same we should not name them. The Lord of the Ring is not Frodo, but the master of the Dark Tower of Mordor, whose power is again stretching out over the world. We are sitting in a fortress. Outside it is getting dark.'

** InUniverse Gollum and Bilbo both give altered versions of how the ring came into their possession, subconsciously attempting to assert their claim over it. Gollum in particular has spent so long insisting the ring was his birthday present that it borders on a case of BelievingTheirOwnLies. The similarity in their stories was what first clued Gandalf in that it was no ordinary magic ring.