The Silmarillion (Quenya: [silmaˈrilliɔn]) is a collection of mythopoeic stories by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977 with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay.[T 1] The Silmarillion, along with many of J. R. R. Tolkien's other works, forms an extensive though incomplete narrative of Eä, a fictional universe that includes the Blessed Realm of Valinor, the once-great region of Beleriand, the sunken island of Númenor, and the continent of Middle-earth, where Tolkien's most popular works—The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings—take place. After the success of The Hobbit, Tolkien's publisher Stanley Unwin requested a sequel, and Tolkien offered a draft of the stories that would later become The Silmarillion. Unwin rejected this proposal, calling the draft obscure and "too Celtic," so Tolkien began working on a completely new story, which would eventually become The Lord of the Rings. The Silmarillion has five parts. The first, Ainulindalë, tells of the creation of Eä, the "world that is." The second part, Valaquenta, gives a description of the Valar and Maiar, supernatural powers of Eä. The next section, Quenta Silmarillion, which forms the bulk of the collection, chronicles the history of the events before and during the First Age, including the wars over the Silmarils that gave the book its title. The fourth part, Akallabêth, relates the history of the Downfall of Númenor and its people, which takes place in the Second Age. The final part, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, is a brief account of the circumstances which led to and were presented in The Lord of the Rings. The five parts were initially separate works, but it was the elder Tolkien's express wish that they be published together.[T 1] Because J. R. R. Tolkien died before he finished revising the various legends, Christopher gathered material from his father's older writings to fill out the book. In a few cases, this meant that he had to devise completely new material, though within the tenor of his father's thought, in order to resolve gaps and inconsistencies in the narrative.

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction. The book remains popular and is recognized as a classic in children's literature. The Hobbit is set within Tolkien's fictional universe and follows the quest of home-loving Bilbo Baggins, the titular hobbit, to win a share of the treasure guarded by Smaug the dragon. Bilbo's journey takes him from light-hearted, rural surroundings into more sinister territory. The story is told in the form of an episodic quest, and most chapters introduce a specific creature or type of creature of Tolkien's geography. Bilbo gains a new level of maturity, competence, and wisdom by accepting the disreputable, romantic, fey, and adventurous sides of his nature and applying his wits and common sense. The story reaches its climax in the Battle of Five Armies, where many of the characters and creatures from earlier chapters re-emerge to engage in conflict. Personal growth and forms of heroism are central themes of the story, along with motifs of warfare. These themes have led critics to view Tolkien's own experiences during World War I as instrumental in shaping the story. The author's scholarly knowledge of Germanic philology and interest in mythology and fairy tales are often noted as influences. The publisher was encouraged by the book's critical and financial success and, therefore, requested a sequel. As Tolkien's work progressed on the successor The Lord of the Rings, he made retrospective accommodations for it in The Hobbit. These few but significant changes were integrated into the second edition. Further editions followed with minor emendations, including those reflecting Tolkien's changing concept of the world into which Bilbo stumbled. The work has never been out of print. Its ongoing legacy encompasses many adaptations for stage, screen, radio, board games, and video games. Several of these adaptations have received critical recognition on their own merits.

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic[2] novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It is followed by The Two Towers and The Return of the King. It takes place in the fictional universe of Middle-earth. It was originally published on 29 July 1954 in the United Kingdom. The volume consists of a foreword, in which the author discusses his writing of The Lord of the Rings, a prologue titled "Concerning Hobbits, and other matters", and the main narrative in Book I and Book II.

The Two Towers is the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. It is preceded by The Fellowship of the Ring and followed by The Return of the King. Tolkien wrote, "The Two Towers gets as near as possible to finding a title to cover the widely divergent Books 3 and 4; and can be left ambiguous."[3] At this stage he planned to title the individual books. The proposed title for Book III was The Treason of Isengard. Book IV was titled The Journey of the Ringbearers or The Ring Goes East. The titles The Treason of Isengard and The Ring Goes East were used in the Millennium edition.

The Return of the King is the third and final volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, following The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. It was published in 1955. The story begins in the kingdom of Gondor, which is soon to be attacked by the Dark Lord Sauron. Tolkien conceived of The Lord of the Rings as a single work comprising six "books" plus extensive appendices. The original publisher split the work into three volumes, publishing the fifth and sixth books with the appendices into the final volume with the title The Return of the King. Tolkien felt the chosen title revealed too much of the story, and indicated he preferred The War of the Ring as a title.[2] The proposed title for Book V was The War of the Ring. Book VI was to be The End of the Third Age.[3] These titles were used in the Millennium edition. The Return of the King was in the end published as the third and final volume of The Lord of the Rings, on 20 October 1955 in the UK.

Sword of Destiny (Polish: Miecz przeznaczenia) is the second (in its fictional chronology; first in Polish print) of the two collections of short stories (the other being The Last Wish), both preceding the main Witcher Saga. The stories were written by Polish fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski. The first Polish edition was published in 1992;[1] the English edition was published in the UK by Gollancz in 2015. The anthology consists of several stories, loosely linked in a chronology. The short stories in this collection take place before the events of the novels and introduce characters that become major players in the novels. The titular story, The Sword of Destiny, is the first to introduce the character of Ciri. The following story, Something More, which also features Ciri, is a direct prequel to the Witcher Saga, describing events that take place shortly before those in the Saga (such as the fall of the Kingdom of Cintra).

The Witcher (Polish: Wiedźmin, pronounced [ˈvʲɛd͡ʑmʲin]) is a series of fantasy novels and short stories written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the titular "witcher", Geralt of Rivia. In Sapkowski's works, "witchers" are beast hunters who develop supernatural abilities at a young age to battle wild beasts and monsters. The books have been adapted into a film (The Hexer), two television series (The Hexer and The Witcher), a trilogy of video games (The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt), and a graphic novel series. The series of novels is known as the Witcher Saga. The short stories and novels have been translated into numerous languages, including Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Lithuanian, Spanish and Ukrainian. The books have been described as having a cult following in Poland and in Central and Eastern European countries.[1][2] The video games have been very successful; as of 28 May 2020, The Witcher series has sold over 50 million copies worldwide.

Blood of Elves (Polish: Krew elfów) is the first novel in the Witcher Saga written by the Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski, first published in Poland in 1994.[1] It is a sequel to the Witcher short stories collected in the books The Last Wish (Ostatnie życzenie) and Sword of Destiny (Miecz przeznaczenia) and is followed by Time of Contempt (Czas pogardy). The book won the Janusz A. Zajdel Award in 1994[2] and the David Gemmell Legend Award in 2009.[3] An English translation was published in the United Kingdom in 2008 (Gollancz)[4] and in the United States in 2009 (Orbit). About a year before the beginning of the novel (as chronicled in the preceding short story "Much More"), the Empire of Nilfgaard attacks the Kingdom of Cintra. Queen Calanthe, mortally wounded, commits suicide and her granddaughter, Cirilla, called Ciri and nicknamed the "Lion Cub of Cintra" manages to flee from the burning capital city. Emhyr var Emreis, Emperor of Nilfgaard, sends his spies to find her. He knows that this young girl has great importance, not only because of her royal lineage, but also because of her elven blood which gives her immense magical potential. The war ends with Nilfgaard's defeat by a coalition of the Northern Kingdoms, though the Empire retains much of its power.

Time of Contempt (Polish original title: Czas pogardy, early title was translated less literally as Time of Anger) is the second novel in the Witcher Saga written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski, first published 1995 in Polish, and 2013 in English (under the title The Time of Contempt). It is a sequel to the first Witcher novel Blood of Elves (Krew elfów) and is followed by Baptism of Fire (Chrzest ognia). Following their secret conclave (in Blood of Elves), the monarchs of the Northern Kingdoms are secretly preparing to create a pretext for war with Nilfgaard, not knowing that the Emperor of Nilfgaard is aware of their plans and preparing his own.

Baptism of Fire (Polish original title: Chrzest ognia) is the third novel in the Witcher Saga written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski, first published in 1996 in Polish and in English in 2014. It is a sequel to the second Witcher novel Time of Contempt (Czas pogardy) and is followed by The Tower of the Swallow (Wieża Jaskółki). In the aftermath of the Thanedd incident, war is still raging between Nilfgaard and the Northern Kingdoms. The elf sorceress Francesca Findabair has been installed by Nilfgaardian Emperor Emhyr as client queen of Dol Blathanna. In exchange for her throne, however, she is obliged to withhold aid from the elven Scoia'tael commandos, who supported Nilfgaard's initial advance into the North, but now find themselves alone and unsupported as the Northern Kingdoms retaliate.

The Tower of the Swallow, published as The Tower of Swallows in the United States (Polish original title: Wieża Jaskółki) is the fourth novel in the Witcher Saga written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski, first published in Poland in 1997. It is a sequel to the third Witcher novel Baptism of Fire (Chrzest ognia) and is followed by the final entry in the series, The Lady of the Lake (Pani Jeziora). Vysogota, an old philosopher living alone in the Pereplut swamp, comes upon an injured Ciri near his retreat and takes her in, caring for her until she is ready to continue her journey. During her recovery, Ciri recounts the events of the last few months, in which she was parted from a gang of young bandits known as "the Rats" and captured by a cruel bounty hunter working for Nilfgaard, named Leo Bonhart. After remembering her connection to Cintra, Ciri - having been using the name "Falka" - initially intended to return to her homeland and claim her birthright, dispelling the lie that the Empire has found a girl they claim is Ciri, who is actually a fake. Instead of doing so, however, she decided to return and help the Rats after learning Bonhart was pursuing them. She arrives at the village too late, and sees Bonhart kill her friends, including her lover, Mistle. Ciri tries to fight Bonhart, but he is too skilled and defeats her. Instead of killing her as instructed, he intends to make a profit off of her, while also seeking to prove her true identity as a witcher and a princess of Cintra, which he suspects but cannot confirm. He takes her to the home of a boorish nobleman named Houvenaghel, who runs an arena in which animals and monsters - and sometimes people - fight for sport. Here, Bonhart has Ciri fight for her life in the arena, proving her witcher skills and confirming who she really is.

The Lady of the Lake (Polish original title: Pani Jeziora) is the fifth and final novel in the Witcher Saga written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski, first published in Poland in 1999. It is a sequel to the fourth Witcher novel, The Tower of Swallows (Wieża Jaskółki). The story opens with Ciri bathing in a lake from another world. As she does so, Sir Galahad, King Arthur's knight, stumbles upon her. After mistaking her for the Lady of the Lake, they then talk and Ciri recounts her story, but warns him it doesn't have a happy ending. She is shown sad and coping with her pain, after confessing to Galahad that the blood of her clothes is because in recent times, she tried to save her friends but they died in her arms.

Angels & Demons is a 2000 bestselling mystery-thriller novel written by American author Dan Brown and published by Pocket Books and then by Corgi Books. The novel introduces the character Robert Langdon, who recurs as the protagonist of Brown's subsequent novels. Angels & Demons shares many stylistic literary elements with its sequels, such as conspiracies of secret societies, a single-day time frame, and the Catholic Church. Ancient history, architecture, and symbology are also heavily referenced throughout the book. A film adaptation was released on May 15, 2009. The book contains several ambigrams created by real-life typographer John Langdon.[1] Besides the "Angels & Demons" and "Illuminati" designs, the title of the book is also presented as an ambigram on the hardcover book jacket (see illustration at right on this page), and on the inside cover of the paperback versions. The book also contains ambigrams of the words Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, which has served to bring the art of ambigrams to public attention by virtue of the popularity of the book.[2] The "Illuminati Diamond" mentioned in the book is an ambigram of the four elements that are arranged in the shape of a diamond.

The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon: the first was his 2000 novel Angels & Demons. The Da Vinci Code follows "symbologist" Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu after a murder in the Louvre Museum in Paris causes them to become involved in a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene having had a child together. The novel explores an alternative religious history, whose central plot point is that the Merovingian kings of France were descended from the bloodline of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, ideas derived from Clive Prince's The Templar Revelation (1997) and books by Margaret Starbird. The book also refers to The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982) though Dan Brown has stated that it was not used as research material. The Da Vinci Code provoked a popular interest in speculation concerning the Holy Grail legend and Mary Magdalene's role in the history of Christianity. The book has, however, been extensively denounced by many Christian denominations as an attack on the Catholic Church, and consistently criticized for its historical and scientific inaccuracies. The novel nonetheless became a massive worldwide bestseller[1] that sold 80 million copies as of 2009[2] and has been translated into 44 languages. In November 2004, Random House published a Special Illustrated Edition with 160 illustrations. In 2006, a film adaptation was released by Columbia Pictures.

The Lost Symbol is a 2009 novel written by American writer Dan Brown.[2][3] It is a thriller set in Washington, D.C., after the events of The Da Vinci Code, and relies on Freemasonry for both its recurring theme and its major characters.[4] Released on September 15, 2009, it is the third Brown novel to involve the character of Harvard University symbologist Robert Langdon, following 2000's Angels & Demons and 2003's The Da Vinci Code.[2] It had a first printing of 6.5 million (5 million in North America, 1.5 million in the UK), the largest in Doubleday history. On its first day the book sold one million in hardcover and e-book versions in the U.S., the UK and Canada, making it the fastest selling adult novel in history.[5] It was number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction[6] for the first six weeks of its release,[7] and remained on the list for 29 weeks. As of January 2013, there were 30 million copies in print worldwide.

Inferno is a 2013 mystery thriller novel by American author Dan Brown and the fourth book in his Robert Langdon series, following Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol. The book was published on May 14, 2013, ten years after publication of The Da Vinci Code (2003), by Doubleday.[1] It was number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction and Combined Print & E-book fiction for the first eleven weeks of its release, and also remained on the list of E-book fiction for the first seventeen weeks of its release. A film adaptation was released in the United States on October 28, 2016.

Origin is a 2017 mystery thriller novel by American author Dan Brown[1] and the fifth installment in his Robert Langdon series, following Inferno. The book was released on October 3, 2017 by Doubleday.[2][3] The book is predominantly set in Spain and features minor sections in Sharjah and Budapest.