Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien’s poem The Fall of Arthur, which explores the fall of the legendary King Arthur, has finally been published.

Imagine one of the most iconic fantasy authors of all time writing his version of the legend which arguably served as the backbone of modern literature. It seems like every lit nerd’s wildest fantasy, but now, it is a reality.

J.R.R. Tolkien, who defined the fantasy genre as we know it with The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, worked on a poem about the fall of King Arthur back in the 1930s. And today, you can finally read the finished version.

The Fall of Arthur has been painstakingly assembled by his son Christopher Tolkien, who has taken old drafts and fragments and edited them into what is now the finished work.

The poem takes root in classic Arthurian Legends, and explores what happened to Arthur as Queen Guinevere and his traitorous son Mordred betrayed him and Camelot fell.

The Miami Herald has an extract from the poem, which describes King Arthur:

From the West comes war that no wind daunteth, Might and purpose that no mist stayeth; Lord of legions, light into darkness, East rides Arthur!’ Echoes were wakened The wind was stilled. The walls of rock ‘Arthur’ answered.

The poem also describes Mordred, who lusts after Guinevere and eventually leads Arthur and his kingdom to ruin:

In her blissful bower on bed of silver Softly slept she on silken pillows With long hair loosened, lightly breathing, In fragrant dreams fearless wandering, Of pity and repentance no pain feeling, In the courts of Camelot queen and peerless Queen unguarded. Cold blew the wind. His bed was barren; there black phantoms of desire unsated and savage fury In his brain had brooded till bleak morning.

Aside from the poem itself, the book also contains three essays that explore the literary world of King Arthur, analyse the meaning of the verses, and detail the many parallels between The Fall of Arthur and Tolkien’s Middle Earth.

Aside from being an author of fiction, J.R.R. Tolkien was also a linguist, and very well-versed in ancient British myths and legends. It is widely accepted by Tolkien fans that the Lord of the Rings character Aragorn is modeled on King Arthur, while some believe that Galadriel can be compared to Arthur’s sister Morgan le Fay.

With the recent surge of popularity of Arthurian Legends and the many retellings (see Merlin, Camelot, and the 2004 King Arthur movie), Christopher Tolkien has spoken out about his father’s depictions of the characters and the events in the poem.

“It would lie far outside my intention here to enter into any account of the ‘strains’ or ‘streams’ of mediaeval Arthurian legend, the ‘pseudo-historical’ or ‘chronicle’ tradition on the one hand, and the vast ‘romantic’ development of the ‘Matter of Britain’ in French prose and poetry,” he writes.

The original manuscript can also be viewed at Oxford Library, where it will be on display from today (May 23) through October 1.

You can purchase The Fall of Arthur for $25, and it is available both in hardcover and in Kindle format on Amazon.