Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring

Lord of the rings, Fellowship of the ring

By: J.J.R Tolkin, print date: Oct, 1965

The story starts with the 33rd birthday-party for Frodo Baggans, and the 111th birthday party for Bilbo Baggans, Hobbits who live in a mythical land called the Shire. Frodo's best friend is his gardner Sam. Frodo owns a magic Ring which makes him invisible when he wears it, a gift from his cousin Bilbo who stole it from Gollum years ago.

One day the old wizard Gandalf comes to the Shire, and he tells Frodo of an evil named Sauron who wants to capture the Ring for himself. In ages long past Sauron stole the Ring from the Elves, to protect him from the Powers of Good; but the Ring was stolen from him by a creature named Gollum, and then stolen from Gollum by Bilbo, who finally gives it freely to Frodo. "Sauron has been searching for the Ring for years," Gandalf tells Frodo, "and now he has sent his nine Black Riders, to the Shire to look for it." Frodo and Sam consult with their loyal friends Merry and Pippin, and when the Black Riders appear, the hobbits trick them into going into a mushroom-patch, disorienting the Black Riders just long enough to escape the Shire.

But the tone of the book rapidly becomes more serious as the Black Riders pursue the hobbits through the forest. The hobbits come to the village of Bree, and arrive at the home of Tom Bombadil. Frodo meets a man named Aragorn, or 'Strider', who convinces him to go to the city of Rivendell. "In Rivendell you will be safe from their magic," Aragorn tells him, "for Elrond is a sensible man, and does not believe in it." With that Aragorn leads them rapidly to Rivendell, with the Riders in hot pursuit. As they ford the last river between them and Rivendell there is a spell cast on the river-water, causing it to rise up and wash away the Black riders, and our heroes make it to the safety of Rivendell.

At Rivendell, Elrond holds a Council where the fate of the Ring is discussed. The only way to keep Sauron from recovering the Ring, they decide, is to throw it into the volcano of Mount Doom where it will be destroyed. During the Council Gandalf arrives late, saying that he had been held prisoner in the tower of Orthanc, the Wizards' Tower. Curiously, he refuses to describe how he escaped. "But it is more important than ever that we destroy the Ring,"