The Lord of the Rings

In J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the armies of man are at the brink of ruin, ravaged and preparing to make their last stand against the evil that assails them, when suddenly their courage and salvation arrive in the form of Gandalf leading an army to save them. “There suddenly upon a ridge appeared a rider, clad in white, shining in the rising sun. … Behind him, hastening down the long slopes, were thousands of men on foot; their swords were in their hand” (J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers [New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994], 528).