The Fellowship of the Ring Summary: Plot, Characters and Key Facts
The Fellowship of the Ring follows the hobbit Frodo Baggins, who inherits the One Ring and sets out with eight companions to destroy it in the fires of Mordor.
It is the first of three volumes of The Lord of the Rings, published in 1954.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Published | 1954 |
| Genre | High fantasy |
| Series | Volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings |
| Setting | Middle-earth: the Shire, Rivendell, Moria and Lothlórien |
| Next volume | The Two Towers |
What is The Fellowship of the Ring about?
The book begins in the Shire, home of the hobbits. Bilbo Baggins celebrates his 111th birthday with a party, which is also the day his nephew Frodo comes of age at 33. Bilbo secretly leaves and gives Frodo his belongings, including the magic ring he found in The Hobbit. Years later the wizard Gandalf learns that it is the One Ring, made by the Dark Lord Sauron to rule Middle-earth, and that Sauron is searching for it.
Frodo leaves the Shire with his friends Sam, Merry and Pippin. Black Riders hunt them, and on the way they meet Tom Bombadil and, in the town of Bree, the Ranger called Strider. The hobbits reach Rivendell, where the elf-lord Elrond heals Frodo.
↑ Back to the topWhere is it set?
The story crosses the western lands of Middle-earth: the Shire, the Old Forest, Bree, Rivendell, the Mines of Moria and the elven woods of Lothlórien. The book begins sixty years after the events of The Hobbit, and it has a prologue that explains the background for readers who have not read it.
↑ Back to the topWho are the nine members of the Fellowship?
The Fellowship is formed at the Council of Elrond: Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin (hobbits), Gandalf (a wizard), Aragorn (the Ranger Strider, heir to the thrones of Gondor and Arnor), Boromir (a man of Gondor), Legolas (an elf) and Gimli (a dwarf). Others who matter include Bilbo, Elrond, Galadriel and the wizard Saruman.
↑ Back to the topHow does The Fellowship of the Ring end?
At the Council of Elrond the delegates decide the Ring must be destroyed in Mount Doom in Mordor, and Frodo volunteers to carry it. The Fellowship tries to cross the mountains and is forced into the Mines of Moria. There orcs and a Balrog attack. On the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, Gandalf faces the Balrog, and both fall into the abyss.
The company reaches Lothlórien, where Galadriel tests each member and gives gifts. Further down the river Anduin, Boromir, who has wanted to use the Ring against Sauron, tries to take it from Frodo. Frodo escapes by putting on the Ring and decides to go on alone, but Sam follows him. The Fellowship is broken, and Frodo and Sam continue toward Mordor together.
↑ Back to the topKey facts about the book
The Lord of the Rings was published in three volumes, though Tolkien had hoped for one. The Fellowship of the Ring is followed by The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Each volume holds two of the six books into which Tolkien divided the story.
↑ Back to the topMore about The Fellowship of the Ring
This guide covers the book only. Events in film or TV versions differ in places.