Post by Lady Arwen on Mar 26, 2009 16:57:26 GMT -5
Plot Summary Written by JRR Tolkien
Bilbo Baggins has a splendid birthday party for his nephew, Frodo, and himself. He disappears without warning, using a magic ring he found many years ago. His friend, the wizard Gandalf, convinces him to leave the ring behind with his nephew before he leaves. Years later, Bilbo has not returned and Gandalf calls on Frodo to tell him what he has learned about the ring: the wielder is given ultimate power and Sauron, the harbinger of destruction, is searching for it endlessly. The ring is ancient and was ripped from Sauron many generations before, only to be lost by the victors. It was found by a wretched being named Gollum, from whom Bilbo acquired it. Frodo accepts the task of bearing the ring to a council in the east. His friend Sam, and his nephews, Merry and Pippin, elect to accompany him.
The group travels out of their homeland and into a dangerous forest. Here they are captured by a rogue willow tree and freed by a kind spirit, Tom Bombadil. They leave the house of Tom and enter the forest again. They fall into the trap of a ghostly creature and Tom helps them again. Their journey comes to a brief pause at the city of Bree. In an inn there, they meet with Gandalf's friend Strider, who is to help them on their way. Frodo makes a fool of himself in the common room of the inn and during the night their ponies are stolen. They head back on the road, on foot. The journey is hard and they must stick to the forest. Black riders, emissaries of Sauron, wound Frodo with a terrible sword and he must be carried. An elf joins their group and they come to a river where all nine of the black riders oppose them. Frodo is sent across the river on the elf's horse and a flood sweeps the riders away.
They arrive at Rivendell and hold a council on what is to be done with the ring. After much discussion, it is decided that the ring should be destroyed. To do this, it must be taken to a mountain in the evil land of Mordor, home of Sauron. Frodo volunteers to bear the ring there and a company is chosen to go with him. After two months, a company of nine (to match the nine black riders) is assembled. They toil through the winter weather for many days and try to ascend a mountain. It becomes apparent that their only recourse will be to travel forty miles underground. Giant wolves (wargs) pursue them until they find the entrance into ancient mines. Once inside, they travel for a couple days until creatures of Sauron pursue them. Gandalf falls into a pit of darkness while battling an evil creature; he succeeds in making the way safe for the others. They exit the mines.
Now without Gandalf, they wander into Lothlorien, an elf forest where its leader Galadriel helps them. She speaks to them and tells them how to get to Mordor. She also provides them with gifts and supplies. They continue down the river for many days. Eventually they are pushed into rapids as the armies of Sauron gather on one side of the river. They come to a point where they need to make a crucial decision: are they to travel straight into Mordor or go to Gondor, Boromir's home, first? Frodo is torn by the question and the burden of the decision falls on him. Boromir tries to convince him otherwise, but when he doesn't agree, he tries to take the ring by force. Frodo uses it to become invisible and he decides to go to Mordor alone. Sam finds him first and the two hobbits set off without the others.
Frodo and Sam depart for Mordor with the Ring of Power. Boromir dies trying to stop a band of orcs from kidnapping Merry and Pippin. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli pursue the orcs. They travel into the land of Rohan and see that the band of orcs is traveling very quickly toward Isengard, the fortress of the once good wizard, Saruman. They meet Eomer, a marshal of Rohan who hears their tale and offers them horses to look for the hobbits even though his men just killed the orcs.
Merry and Pippin are hauled around by the orcs for several days. When the Riders of Rohan surround them, one of the orcs tries to get away with them but is killed. They escape and flee into the forest. There, they meet the ent, Treebeard, who takes them to his home and listens to their stories. He is enraged by the tale of the evils around and gathers the long dormant ents. They elect to rouse the forest and attack Isengard themselves.
Aragorn and the others pursue the hobbits' prints into the forest and meet an old man. It turns out to be Gandalf whom they had assumed dead after his fall in Moria. He tells them what has transpired and urges that they all go to Edoras, the capital of Rohan. There they release King Theoden from the evil lies of Grima, a servant of Saruman. Theoden rallies his people to go fight Saruman and they ride tirelessly to the aid of their countrymen. They make a desperate stand against Saruman's armies and finally overcome them with the help of the ents' trees.
Gandalf rides to Isengard and the Company of the Ring is almost united, excluding the two other hobbits and Boromir. Merry and Pippin recount their tale and the defeat of Isengard. Saruman has retreated to the inner stronghold. Gandalf ascends the stairs to speak to him. Saruman tries to get Gandalf to join him. Gandalf breaks Saruman's staff and announces that he is cast from the council of wizards. They ride off towards Rohan. When it becomes apparent that the forces of Sauron are afoot, Gandalf rides off in the other direction to prepare to fight the lord of darkness.
Frodo and Sam move closer to Mordor with great difficulty. They find Gollum, a creature who once bore the Ring, and who has been following them for some time. The hobbits force him to lead them into Mordor. The journey is long and grueling. First, Gollum leads them to the main gates that cannot be entered. He tells them that there is another way, and they begin another long walk. They run into a group of men from Gondor and slowly begin to trust them. Faramir, the brother of Boromir, shows them hospitality in a wilderness fortress and they exchange their tales. From this encounter, the hobbits receive enough food to continue their quest.
They leave the company of Faramir and journey to the other gate to Mordor. There they watch a great army march out to wage war on the world. Gollum leads them up seemingly endless staircases and into a secret tunnel. In the tunnel, he abandons them and they find themselves attacked by a wretched spider-like beast. Frodo is overcome and Sam eventually beats the creature away. He weeps when he finds that Frodo is no longer breathing and takes the Ring, meaning to continue on with the quest. He overhears a couple of orcs as they carry away Frodo's body and realizes that the poison of the spider merely makes the victim appear to be dead. He follows the orcs and is closed out of their fortress as he watches them carry Frodo away.
Gandalf and Pippin ride away from Merry and Aragorn and go to Minas Tirith. Here they share their tale with the Steward of the city, Denethor, and they speak of his two sons Boromir and Faramir. Pippin pledges himself to the Steward and offers his services. Aragorn's kin join him and tell him that he should follow the paths of the dead. Aragorn leaves with Legolas and Gimli and refuses to take Merry or Eowyn with him. Theoden rallies the men of Rohan to go to war. He tells Merry that he cannot come with him. Merry is very upset, but a quiet rider tells him that he will secretly bear him to war.
Pippin speaks to Denethor again and then begins his duty as a guard of the city. With another guard, they watch bands of warriors file into the city from every region of Gondor. The number is too small. Faramir returns but is sent by his father to defend another part of Gondor. The enemy comes and besieges the city. Faramir is badly wounded and Denethor retires to a chamber of the dead to end the lives of his son and himself. Pippin gets Gandalf to stop him. Just as the attacking army breaches the door of the city, the riders of Rohan appear and attack with voracity. The Lord of the Nazgul kills Theoden. Merry wounds the Lord and Eowyn kills him. Both fall terribly ill because of this attack. Aragorn arrives from the south with reinforcements and the armies of Mordor are repelled. He heals Faramir, Merry and Eowyn and then makes plans to leave for Mordor with an attacking force. They march to the gates of Mordor and demand Sauron's surrender, but the Lord of the Dark refuses. He unleashes his trap and they are embroiled in a giant battle.
Sam is tempted by the ring but he resists it and returns to Minas Ithil. He finds Frodo and he frees his friend from the torture of the orcs. They begin to make their way slowly into Mordor. The land is desolate. There is no water to be found. With each step it becomes more hopeless. They are mistaken as orcs and forced to march. When they slip away they come to the edge of the mountain. Sam carries Frodo part of the way up. They encounter Gollum again and Sam tries to contain him as Frodo goes on the last step of the journey. Frodo is taken over by the power of the ring and it is destroyed only because Gollum bites it off his finger and falls into the pit of doom. When the ring is destroyed Sauron dies and the armies of Mordor fall apart. Gondor is triumphant. Gandalf takes three great eagles and flies to Mount Doom. There he finds Frodo and Sam awaiting their deaths. He rescues them and takes them to Ithilien where Aragorn and the armies honor them as heroes.
They return to Minas Tirith and Aragorn is crowned king. They linger here until he is wed to his love Arwen. They all travel to Rohan and have a funeral feast for Theoden. The marriage of Faramir and Eowyn is announced. They head towards Rivendell. Frodo is reunited with his uncle Bilbo. From here they travel back toward the Shire, and Gandalf leaves them. Merry, Pippin, Frodo and Sam, the four original companions, return to find their home overrun by large men led by a man named Sharkey. They raise the hobbits around them and defeat the men in a battle. When they find Sharkey, they find the fallen wizard Saruman who gets killed by his own servant. Sam gets married and they rebuild the Shire. Frodo gets increasingly weaker as the years pass. Eventually he decides to leave and meets Bilbo and some elves on the road. They take him with them across the sea where elves go when they tire of the earth. Sam returns home to his wife and children.
Bilbo Baggins has a splendid birthday party for his nephew, Frodo, and himself. He disappears without warning, using a magic ring he found many years ago. His friend, the wizard Gandalf, convinces him to leave the ring behind with his nephew before he leaves. Years later, Bilbo has not returned and Gandalf calls on Frodo to tell him what he has learned about the ring: the wielder is given ultimate power and Sauron, the harbinger of destruction, is searching for it endlessly. The ring is ancient and was ripped from Sauron many generations before, only to be lost by the victors. It was found by a wretched being named Gollum, from whom Bilbo acquired it. Frodo accepts the task of bearing the ring to a council in the east. His friend Sam, and his nephews, Merry and Pippin, elect to accompany him.
The group travels out of their homeland and into a dangerous forest. Here they are captured by a rogue willow tree and freed by a kind spirit, Tom Bombadil. They leave the house of Tom and enter the forest again. They fall into the trap of a ghostly creature and Tom helps them again. Their journey comes to a brief pause at the city of Bree. In an inn there, they meet with Gandalf's friend Strider, who is to help them on their way. Frodo makes a fool of himself in the common room of the inn and during the night their ponies are stolen. They head back on the road, on foot. The journey is hard and they must stick to the forest. Black riders, emissaries of Sauron, wound Frodo with a terrible sword and he must be carried. An elf joins their group and they come to a river where all nine of the black riders oppose them. Frodo is sent across the river on the elf's horse and a flood sweeps the riders away.
They arrive at Rivendell and hold a council on what is to be done with the ring. After much discussion, it is decided that the ring should be destroyed. To do this, it must be taken to a mountain in the evil land of Mordor, home of Sauron. Frodo volunteers to bear the ring there and a company is chosen to go with him. After two months, a company of nine (to match the nine black riders) is assembled. They toil through the winter weather for many days and try to ascend a mountain. It becomes apparent that their only recourse will be to travel forty miles underground. Giant wolves (wargs) pursue them until they find the entrance into ancient mines. Once inside, they travel for a couple days until creatures of Sauron pursue them. Gandalf falls into a pit of darkness while battling an evil creature; he succeeds in making the way safe for the others. They exit the mines.
Now without Gandalf, they wander into Lothlorien, an elf forest where its leader Galadriel helps them. She speaks to them and tells them how to get to Mordor. She also provides them with gifts and supplies. They continue down the river for many days. Eventually they are pushed into rapids as the armies of Sauron gather on one side of the river. They come to a point where they need to make a crucial decision: are they to travel straight into Mordor or go to Gondor, Boromir's home, first? Frodo is torn by the question and the burden of the decision falls on him. Boromir tries to convince him otherwise, but when he doesn't agree, he tries to take the ring by force. Frodo uses it to become invisible and he decides to go to Mordor alone. Sam finds him first and the two hobbits set off without the others.
Frodo and Sam depart for Mordor with the Ring of Power. Boromir dies trying to stop a band of orcs from kidnapping Merry and Pippin. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli pursue the orcs. They travel into the land of Rohan and see that the band of orcs is traveling very quickly toward Isengard, the fortress of the once good wizard, Saruman. They meet Eomer, a marshal of Rohan who hears their tale and offers them horses to look for the hobbits even though his men just killed the orcs.
Merry and Pippin are hauled around by the orcs for several days. When the Riders of Rohan surround them, one of the orcs tries to get away with them but is killed. They escape and flee into the forest. There, they meet the ent, Treebeard, who takes them to his home and listens to their stories. He is enraged by the tale of the evils around and gathers the long dormant ents. They elect to rouse the forest and attack Isengard themselves.
Aragorn and the others pursue the hobbits' prints into the forest and meet an old man. It turns out to be Gandalf whom they had assumed dead after his fall in Moria. He tells them what has transpired and urges that they all go to Edoras, the capital of Rohan. There they release King Theoden from the evil lies of Grima, a servant of Saruman. Theoden rallies his people to go fight Saruman and they ride tirelessly to the aid of their countrymen. They make a desperate stand against Saruman's armies and finally overcome them with the help of the ents' trees.
Gandalf rides to Isengard and the Company of the Ring is almost united, excluding the two other hobbits and Boromir. Merry and Pippin recount their tale and the defeat of Isengard. Saruman has retreated to the inner stronghold. Gandalf ascends the stairs to speak to him. Saruman tries to get Gandalf to join him. Gandalf breaks Saruman's staff and announces that he is cast from the council of wizards. They ride off towards Rohan. When it becomes apparent that the forces of Sauron are afoot, Gandalf rides off in the other direction to prepare to fight the lord of darkness.
Frodo and Sam move closer to Mordor with great difficulty. They find Gollum, a creature who once bore the Ring, and who has been following them for some time. The hobbits force him to lead them into Mordor. The journey is long and grueling. First, Gollum leads them to the main gates that cannot be entered. He tells them that there is another way, and they begin another long walk. They run into a group of men from Gondor and slowly begin to trust them. Faramir, the brother of Boromir, shows them hospitality in a wilderness fortress and they exchange their tales. From this encounter, the hobbits receive enough food to continue their quest.
They leave the company of Faramir and journey to the other gate to Mordor. There they watch a great army march out to wage war on the world. Gollum leads them up seemingly endless staircases and into a secret tunnel. In the tunnel, he abandons them and they find themselves attacked by a wretched spider-like beast. Frodo is overcome and Sam eventually beats the creature away. He weeps when he finds that Frodo is no longer breathing and takes the Ring, meaning to continue on with the quest. He overhears a couple of orcs as they carry away Frodo's body and realizes that the poison of the spider merely makes the victim appear to be dead. He follows the orcs and is closed out of their fortress as he watches them carry Frodo away.
Gandalf and Pippin ride away from Merry and Aragorn and go to Minas Tirith. Here they share their tale with the Steward of the city, Denethor, and they speak of his two sons Boromir and Faramir. Pippin pledges himself to the Steward and offers his services. Aragorn's kin join him and tell him that he should follow the paths of the dead. Aragorn leaves with Legolas and Gimli and refuses to take Merry or Eowyn with him. Theoden rallies the men of Rohan to go to war. He tells Merry that he cannot come with him. Merry is very upset, but a quiet rider tells him that he will secretly bear him to war.
Pippin speaks to Denethor again and then begins his duty as a guard of the city. With another guard, they watch bands of warriors file into the city from every region of Gondor. The number is too small. Faramir returns but is sent by his father to defend another part of Gondor. The enemy comes and besieges the city. Faramir is badly wounded and Denethor retires to a chamber of the dead to end the lives of his son and himself. Pippin gets Gandalf to stop him. Just as the attacking army breaches the door of the city, the riders of Rohan appear and attack with voracity. The Lord of the Nazgul kills Theoden. Merry wounds the Lord and Eowyn kills him. Both fall terribly ill because of this attack. Aragorn arrives from the south with reinforcements and the armies of Mordor are repelled. He heals Faramir, Merry and Eowyn and then makes plans to leave for Mordor with an attacking force. They march to the gates of Mordor and demand Sauron's surrender, but the Lord of the Dark refuses. He unleashes his trap and they are embroiled in a giant battle.
Sam is tempted by the ring but he resists it and returns to Minas Ithil. He finds Frodo and he frees his friend from the torture of the orcs. They begin to make their way slowly into Mordor. The land is desolate. There is no water to be found. With each step it becomes more hopeless. They are mistaken as orcs and forced to march. When they slip away they come to the edge of the mountain. Sam carries Frodo part of the way up. They encounter Gollum again and Sam tries to contain him as Frodo goes on the last step of the journey. Frodo is taken over by the power of the ring and it is destroyed only because Gollum bites it off his finger and falls into the pit of doom. When the ring is destroyed Sauron dies and the armies of Mordor fall apart. Gondor is triumphant. Gandalf takes three great eagles and flies to Mount Doom. There he finds Frodo and Sam awaiting their deaths. He rescues them and takes them to Ithilien where Aragorn and the armies honor them as heroes.
They return to Minas Tirith and Aragorn is crowned king. They linger here until he is wed to his love Arwen. They all travel to Rohan and have a funeral feast for Theoden. The marriage of Faramir and Eowyn is announced. They head towards Rivendell. Frodo is reunited with his uncle Bilbo. From here they travel back toward the Shire, and Gandalf leaves them. Merry, Pippin, Frodo and Sam, the four original companions, return to find their home overrun by large men led by a man named Sharkey. They raise the hobbits around them and defeat the men in a battle. When they find Sharkey, they find the fallen wizard Saruman who gets killed by his own servant. Sam gets married and they rebuild the Shire. Frodo gets increasingly weaker as the years pass. Eventually he decides to leave and meets Bilbo and some elves on the road. They take him with them across the sea where elves go when they tire of the earth. Sam returns home to his wife and children.
