Lord of the Rings Timeline

Tolkien is well known as the father of modern fantasy. See his books, their adaptations, and other stories told within Middle-earth.

What’s on the Lord of the Rings Timeline?

This is the unofficial Lord of the Rings timeline for the books, films and film tie-in material, such as video games like Shadows of Mordor.

The rights to create tie-in materials like video games for Lord of the Rings used to be rather limited. The rights for the books and films were separate, so Warner Brothers could only make games based on the films and only on the films. Thankfully, the rights were consolidated and other tie-in works can be made based on the books or pieces of the books that didn’t appear in the films.

This timeline includes the books, their primary adaptations, and a number of other tie-in materials. It might not include every adaptation ever, but we’ve got the most important ones (remember this is a curated timeline).

Where to start reading Tolkien’s work?

While it comes chronologically, the Silmarillion is definitely not the best place to start. Generally, we recommend starting with The Hobbit, and then moving on from there.

The books can be somewhat large and tough to get through for some, so pace yourself. Of course, the films are a nice way to understand what happens and build up interest in reading the books.

Of course, if you just want to read Tolkien’s work in a rough chronological order, without all the other fluff, we recommend reading them in this order:

• The Silmarillion
• The Children of Hurin
• Beren and Luthien
• The Unfinished Tales
• The Hobbit
• The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Two Towers
• Return of the King

Note: For another unique look at a Lord of the Rings timeline visit the Lord of the Rings chapter by chapter reading order.

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#	Amazon	Name	Media	Author/Director	Series	Date	Notes
1		The Silmarillion	Novel	J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien	Silmarillion	1977-09-15
2		The Children of Hurin	Novel	J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien	Silmarillion	2007-04-17
3		Beren and Luthien	Novel	J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien	Silmarillion	2017-06-01
4		Unfinished Tales	Novel	J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien	Silmarillion	1980-01-01
5		The Hobbit	Novel	J.R.R. Tolkien	Hobbit	1937-09-21
6		The Hobbit (audio)	Audio Drama	Michael Kilgarriff, J.R.R. Tolkien	Hobbit	1968-01-01
7		The Hobbit (animated)	Film	Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass	Hobbit	1977-11-27
8		The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	Film	Peter Jackson	Hobbit	2012-12-14
9		The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug	Film	Peter Jackson	Hobbit	2013-12-13
10		The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies	Film	Peter Jackson	Hobbit	2014-12-17
11		Shadow of Mordor	Game	Michael de Plater	Shadow of Mordor	2014-09-30
12		Shadow of War	Game	Michael de Plater	Shadow of Mordor	2017-10-10
13		The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring	Novel	J.R.R. Tolkien	LOTR	1954-07-29
14		The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (audio)	Audio Drama	J.R.R. Tolkien	LOTR	1981-08-30
15		The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (film)	Film	Peter Jackson	LOTR	2001-12-19
16		The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	Novel	J.R.R. Tolkien	LOTR	1954-11-11
17		The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (audio)	Audio Drama	J.R.R. Tolkien	LOTR	1981-08-30
18		The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (film)	Film	Peter Jackson	LOTR	2002-12-18
19		The Lord of the Rings (animated)	Film	Ralph Bakshi	LOTR	1978-11-15	An adaptation of the films Fellowship of the Rings, and The Two Towers
20		The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (game)	Game	Hudson Piehl	LOTR	2002-10-21	An adaptation of the films Fellowship of the Rings, and The Two Towers
21		The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King	Novel	J.R.R. Tolkien	LOTR	1955-10-20
22		The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (audio)	Audio Drama	J.R.R. Tolkien	LOTR	1981-08-30
23		The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (film)	Film	Peter Jackson	LOTR	2003-12-17
24		The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (game)	Game		LOTR	2003-11-03	An adaptation of the film Return of the King
25		The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (animated)	Film	Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass	LOTR	1980-05-11
26		Battle for Middle-Earth	Game		War in the North	2004-12-06	An adaptation of the film Return of the King
27		Battle for Middle-Earth II	Game		War in the North	2006-02-28	Covers the War in the North during the films.
28		War in the North	Game	Scott Crawford	War in the North	2011-11-01	Also covers the War in the North during the films
29		Aragorn's Quest	Game	Tancred Dyke-Wells	Post-LOTR	2010-09-14	The frame story takes place 15 years after ROTK.