Reconstructed from working manuscripts, this volume completes the editor's account of how the final movement of a landmark fantasy epic was composed. It gathers the drafts covering the climax and conclusion of the great quest, following the two hobbits across a desolate land of shadow, through a perilous tower, and on to the volcano where the burden they carry must finally be destroyed. From there the drafts trace the aftermath: the crowning of a king, long-delayed reunions and partings, the journey home, and a markedly different version of the troubles the travelers find waiting there. The collection also preserves an abandoned epilogue, set years later, in which a now-settled hero answers his children's questions about all that came before. Throughout, the editor's commentary compares each draft with the published text, revealing the choices, hesitations, and revisions that shaped the ending readers know. Illustrated with the author's own changing sketches of key landscapes, it offers a close look at the craft of completing an enormous narrative. For those drawn to the making of the larger work, it provides an intimate record of a beloved story finding its final form, including roads not taken and scenes ultimately set aside.