The Grey Wizard Gandalf has always been suspicious of his old friend Bilbo Baggin’s magical ring which he found in Gollum’s cave in Erebor. The rising action occurs when, on his Eleventy-first birthday, the eccentric Hobbit uses the ring to vanish during his final speech as a final trick on his friends and neighbors. Bilbo had intended to leave the Shire and pass his possessions to his nephew Frodo, but he proved too attached to the ring and unwilling to give it up. When Bilbo calls the ring his “Precious,” this catches Gandalf’s attention, making him suspicious, as he recalls the name being connected with Sauron’s Ring. Leaving the ring in Frodo’s care, Gandalf soon leaves to learn more about it.
I consider Gandalf to be the most pivotal character in “The Fellowship of the Ring” as the bulk of the success of the Ring Quest is owed to his vigilance and unfailing commitment to swift action. This vigilance afforded them the chance they needed to stay ahead of the Nazgul and the agents of Saruman.
Returning to the Shire some years later, Gandalf reveals to Frodo that the ring is the One Ring, forged by the Dark Lord Sauron in the Second Age to enable him to dominate and enslave all of Middle-earth. Gandalf tells Frodo that the Ring must be destroyed to defeat Sauron’s evil, but he also warns him that the Enemy has learned of the Ring’s whereabouts from the creature Gollum and will seek to find it and kill its bearer. Despite the danger and hopelessness of the quest, Frodo accepts the burden and resolves to take the Ring to the safety of the Elven stronghold of Rivendell.
Frodo sets off with three companions, fellow Hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam. After a series of close calls and misadventures, saved only by the timely intervention of the mysterious Tom Bombadil, they reach the town of Bree. The innkeeper delivers a letter from Gandalf recommending a weather-beaten Ranger known as Strider as their guide to the Elves.
Strider leads them cross-country, hoping to avoid the Black Riders who are watching the road, but they are attacked at the ancient watchtower of Weathertop. Frodo puts on the Ring, revealing himself to the Black Riders as the Ringbearer. Their leader, the Witch King of Angmar, stabs him with a Morgul Blade, a powerful weapon that poisons and kills their targets, even from non-fatal wounds, and he nearly dies as they race for Rivendell. The Nine Riders try to force Frodo’s surrender, but Gandalf and Elrond call up a flood that sweeps them away, destroying their horses even as Frodo becomes unconscious.
Frodo wakes in the House of Elrond in Rivendell, where the wise Elf Elrond has worked his healing magic to save him. Frodo reunites with his uncle Bilbo, grown very old now that he is free of the Ring’s influence. Soon Elrond calls a council of the representatives of Elves, Men, and Dwarves to respond to the growing darkness in the world. The council reviews the history of the Ring, from its forging to the recent discovery that Frodo’s ring is the One.
Although Boromir, the representative of Gondor, the greatest kingdom of Men, argues that the Ring should be used as a weapon against the Enemy, the Council resolves to destroy it. Someone must throw the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom, where it was first created, deep in Mordor, Sauron’s country. Frodo accepts the task of carrying the Ring to Mordor, and a company is selected to help him on the quest: the Wizard Gandalf, Boromir, and Aragorn, revealed as the true king of Gondor, Legolas the Elf; Gimli the Dwarf; and Frodo’s Hobbit companions, Merry, Pippin, and Sam. They are called the Fellowship of the Ring.
This was one key advantage the Free Peoples had over Sauron and his minions; they had no desire to use the ring in a contest of might against him. The One Ring answered to Sauron alone and even if its power was used to destroy him, it would corrupt the wielder and turn them to evil.
The Fellowship considers several paths through the Misty Mountains, but the roads are all watched by Sauron’s agents. A new threat also arose in the form of Saruman the White, once the wisest of the Wizards, who has allied himself with Sauron and seeks the Ring for himself. When they attempt to cross the pass of Caradhras, an unnatural snowstorm nearly buries them, and they are forced to turn back.
Finally, they resolve to brave the perilous Dwarven Mines of Moria, now overrun by goblins and even darker creatures. Pippin alerts by mistake the Orcs of Moria of their presence when he throws a stone into a well, making loud bangs. In the climax of the story, the Fellowship is attacked by a legion of Orcs led by a Balrog, a terrible demon of fire and shadow. Gandalf confronts it at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm and breaks it as the Balrog tries to cross, throwing it into the chasm, but it catches Gandalf with its whip, dragging him down with it.
There is an ongoing debate among Tolkien fans about the reason why Sauron did not call on the Balrog of Moria as he prepared for war against the Free Peoples. With the Balrog at the head of Sauron’s armies, like Gothmog commanding the armies of Angband, Minas Tirith would have fallen before the Rohirrim arrived.
Devastated by the loss of Gandalf, the Fellowship flees to the Elven wood of Lothlórien in the falling action. Lady Galadriel shelters them for a while and offers wise counsel. Frodo offers the Ring to Galadriel, but she resists the temptation. When the Fellowship leaves, she gives them many powerful gifts and boats to continue their journey down River Anduin. Orcs attack them on their way downriver, and they feel the presence of a winged Black Rider overhead, but they make it to Parth Galen unharmed.
There, they must decide whether to turn for Mordor and Mount Doom or to go to Minas Tirith, Boromir’s city in Gondor. At the turning point of the story, Boromir tries to force the issue by trying to seize the Ring from Frodo, but he puts the ring on and vanishes. Phased into the Spirit Realm by the power of the Ring, Frodo runs up to the summit of Amon Hen where he is given a vision at the Seat of Seeing. The story reaches its resolution when Frodo decides to leave for Mordor alone.
Boromir’s story shows that even a brave and valiant he to can fall into temptation. It also shows a number of the core themes like forgiveness and salvation.
Meanwhile, Boromir recovers his senses when Frodo vanishes and becomes remorseful about his behavior. He sets off to search for Frodo, but the camp is attacked by an Orc warband. In the chaos of the attack, Frodo slipped away from the camp, reluctantly accepting Sam’s steadfast refusal to stay behind.
Boromir blows his horn frantically as he fends off the Orcs alone. He tries to protect Pippin and Merry, but he is soon shot by many arrows and falls. By the time Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas arrive, Boromir lies dying. He tells them with his last breath Merry and Pippin have been taken by the Orcs. As the Fellowship disintegrates, Aragorn decides that the three remaining companions will chase after the Orcs to rescue Merry and Pippin and allow Frodo and Sam to continue to Mordor on their own.
