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	The Lord of the Rings is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.
	This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on October 5, 2006.
Article milestones Date Process Result January 16, 2006 Peer review Reviewed April 17, 2006 Good article nominee Not listed April 29, 2006 Peer review Reviewed June 18, 2006 Featured article candidate Promoted September 29, 2008 Featured article review Demoted Current Status: Former featured article

This article is written in British English, which differs from American English in some ways. See American and British English differences. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

edit · history · watch · refresh  To-do list for The Lord of the Rings:
Return to FA level; don't let the article grow too much or have unnecessary detail get slipped in. Get a reference in Influences on Fantasy Genre section regarding Magic: The Gathering. Citations needed regarding Milton's Lucifer for Sauron check external links for spam Remove vandalism: it is said that Sauron made his ring in Downing Street.
Priority 1 (top)

Archives
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

[edit] FA status

This article, overall, appears to be well-written, well-referenced, and comprehensive. What is keeping it from regaining Featured Article status? Or, to put it another way, if it was nominated for FA status, why would it fail? I don't think that it needs much work, and could perhaps be a FA by the end of the year. Mario777Zelda (talk) 15:46, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Some things I think the article needs: analysis of the fairy-tale and mythic sources Tolkien used, discussion of: literary themes, gender issues, the prose style, the use of poetry, use of invented languages, the books economic impact. A google scholar search[1], lazy research I know, but it does show there is a lot of writing out there, including commentaries from people like Ursula le Guin, which should be covered. Also more detail on the actual writing process Tolkien undertook (much of which can be sourced from the History of Middle Earth series). An editor with a cool mind, keen eye and steady hand needs to edit the synopsis, it is forever accruing detail and becoming overly long (at least in my opinion, and I think the opinion of the people who hang out at literature FAs). I'd love to see this article get to FA status. Davémon (talk) 18:19, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

[edit] David Day - The World Tolkien

In the section Further reading is the title: David Day, "The World Tolkien: The Mythological Sources of The Lord of the Rings" (2004). Is this correct? Is it related to Tolkien's Ring? Wiki-uk (talk) 15:15, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

In the meantime I found out that it should be "The World of Tolkien...". This has been corrected now. Wiki-uk (talk) 05:45, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Picture?

Why is there a picture of what appears to be a mismatched set of the LoTR books? It doesn't seem to add anything to the article. Nave.notnilc (talk) 22:48, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

It's not a mismatched set. As the caption says, those are JRRT's own original designs for the book covers. Elphion (talk) 00:11, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Nave might be referring to the second image (displayed at right). I'd agree that this image seems unnecessary. —Mrwojo (talk) 00:52, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Oh -- Yes, I'm sure you're right. I'd agree that that image doesn't contribute much. Elphion (talk) 02:42, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

I say take it out. If we are going to have a picture of a set of the books, the volumes should at least match—and the picture should not include The Hobbit. –The Fiddly Leprechaun · Catch Me! 22:54, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Tidy up of Legacy section

I'd like to reduce the 'Music' subsection of the 'Legacy' section to a single paragraph and merge it into the following 'Impact on popular culture' subsection, as a more detailed cataloguing of this information is already available on the 'Works inspired by...' page. Some of the other minor details in the Legacy section I think are unnecessary also, for the same reason. I will wait a few days for comment before I proceed with this. Genedecanter (talk) 10:07, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Anything that reduces trivia is good IMO, and the music sub-section certainly does seem to be angling uncomfortably toward trivia. But we must be careful not to reduce the Legacy section too much, as LOTR has had a noteworthy effect on many fields of art and culture. –The Fiddly Leprechaun · Catch Me! 23:15, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Synopsis

Davémon suggested above that some work should be done on the synopsis to move the article back toward FA status, and I agree. I was wondering what you all though of splitting it into three sub-sections, one for each volume of the novel? It could be a way to make it more visually appealing. –The Fiddly Leprechaun · Catch Me! 23:10, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

My own opinion is to keep it as a single synopsis (indeed I removed the book subheadings long ago). My main reason is that some elements from the appendicies should be placed in the beginning (we're not bound to Tolkiens narrative order - and it makes sense to explain the forging of the rings and a bit about Aragorn first). I think the problem about the lack of visual appeal is simply a symptom of the plot summary being too long. Also the 3 books structure is an accident of publication rather than authorial intention. Davémon (talk) 19:43, 27 December 2009 (UTC)