Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age is the fifth and last part of The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien. It is relatively short, consisting of about 20 pages. Tolkien's first draft of this was written before June 1948 as he refers to it in a letter then.
The work is a fictional historical essay dealing with the preamble to the events described in Tolkien's epic novel The Lord of the Rings, and the events themselves, in the style of The Silmarillion. As the name implies, the events of the essay are focused around magical artefacts: the Rings of Power, and also the history of the Second and Third Ages of Middle-earth. The fact that those events are explored in a mere handful of pages suggests that if the events described in the rest of The Silmarillion had been written in the style of The Lord of the Rings they would have filled hundreds of volumes.
After Tolkien's death in 1973, his son Christopher completed this part, assisted by Guy Gavriel Kay. Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age bears some similarities to Elrond's narrative in The Fellowship of the Ring during the chapter "The Council of Elrond"; both do not divulge any details about how Arnor was destroyed and how Gondor became kingless.
Information on the background and development of this essay can be found in The Treason of Isengard.
Read more about Of The Rings Of Power And The Third Age: The Second Age, The Third Age
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