The Return of the King (also known as The Return of the King: A Story of the Hobbits), is a 1980 animated musical television film created by Rankin/Bass and Topcraft. The film is an adaptation of the The Return of the King, the third book in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.

Due to marketing by Warner Bros., the film is often credited by fans as the unofficial sequel to Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, which is based on the first two volumes of the book. According to rumors, Rankin/Bass decided to do the project upon hearing that Bakshi's sequel finishing The Lord of the Rings was going to be left unmade. However, Rankin/Bass had always planned on making a sequel based on The Return of the King as their follow-up project to The Hobbit.[1]

The special aired on ABC on Sunday, May 11, 1980. Critical and fan reaction to The Return of the King was lukewarm.


The film garnered mixed reviews. Charles Cassidy, of Common Sense media gave it a score of 3/5, and said, "Cartoon tale is darker, more complex than others in series".[citation needed] Steven D. Greydanus of Decent Films Guide gave it a C, and said, "Works even less well than The Hobbit, which really is a children's story… overbearing folk-ballad soundtrack doesn't even gesture lyrically to Tolkien's poetry".[citation needed] It currently holds a score of 67% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The second of Rankin/Bass' animated TV specials based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Return of the King plots the quest to defeat the evil wizard Sauron. Frodo, nephew of The Hobbit protagonist Bilbo Baggins, vows to destroy the Ring, even if it costs him his own life. He carries the Ring to the volcanic innards of Mount Doom. All this he does on behalf of good-guy Aragon, who will never be able to escape the dreaded land of Sauron so long as the Ring retains its evil powers. Orson Bean, who'd been the voice of Bilbo Baggins in the 1977 Hobbit cartoon special, returns to portray Frodo. Return of the King originally aired May 11, 1980