Return of the King

The Return of the King is the third base set of the Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game, and the seventh set overall. It was released on November 5, 2003. The table below describes the distribution of cards in booster packs; it does not include the two starter-only companions.

	Ring											Sites	Total
Common	1	3	5	8	7	20	20	14	15	6	22	0	121
Uncommon	0	4	2	5	6	13	11	16	9	1	19	35	121
Rare	1	5	9	9	13	17	14	18	16	5	14	0	121
Total	2	12	16	22	26	50	45	48	40	12	55	35	363

This was the first base set to not introduce a new culture. Instead it focused on previously established cultures, especially , , , and . Two prominent cultures from the previous block, and , do not appear in the set.

The Return of the King did not introduce any new loaded keywords.

The Return of the King introduced two new unloaded keywords:

• Besieger, on Sauron minions
• Engine, on Sauron conditions

The Return of the King introduced several other new mechanics:

• Intitiative
• Threats
• A new site path, which completely replaced the Two Towers sitepath

• The One Ring, The Ruling Ring** (previously 1C2 and 4C2)
• Dagger Strike (previously 1C102)
• Defiance (previously 1C37)
• Desert Soldier (previously 4C220)
• Desert Spearman (previously 4C221)
• Elite Rider (previously 4C265)
• Have Patience (previously 4C93)
• Hobbit Sword** (previously 1C299 and 4C306)
• Intimidate (previously 1C76)
• Noble Intentions (previously 1C304)
• Orc Butcher (previously 3C94)
• Orc Pursuer (previously 5C108)
• Their Power is in Terror (previously 1U226)
• Wizard Staff (previously 2C29)

• The One Ring, Such a Weight to Carry
• Aragorn, Driven by Need
• Eomer, Valiant Warchief