The Lord of the Rings is a fantasy novel published in three parts by J.R.R. Tolkien between 1954 and 1955. It tells the story of a magic ring forged in evil to command the inhabitants of a fantasy land called Middle Earth, and the journey of those who would stand against it.
According to biographer Brian Jay Jones, in the early 1970s, Jim Henson had "briefly flirted with the idea of adapting" the Lord of the Rings book series, but ultimately dropped the concept as he considered the narrative "too big to handle" in only one film.
