Fellowship of the Ring (characters)

The Fellowship of the Ring, or Company of the Ring, as described in the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, which bears the same name, is a union of nine representatives from each of the free peoples in Middle-earth, the number chosen to match against the nine Ringwraiths. The Fellowship is entrusted with the task of assisting and protecting Frodo Baggins as he bears the One Ring to the land of Mordor where he can destroy it by throwing it into Mount Doom. They set out on their quest at the beginning of winter on December 25, T.A. 3018 after their Fellowship was formed at the Council of Elrond in Rivendell.

Membership

The members of the Fellowship are:

• Dwarf:
• Gimli - Dwarf of the Lonely Mountain
• Elf:
• Legolas - Prince of Mirkwood
• Hobbits:
• Frodo Baggins - Ring-Bearer
• Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry) - Heir to the Brandybuck Clan
• Peregrin Took (Pippin) - Heir to the title of Thain
• Samwise Gamgee (Sam) - Frodo's Gardener
• Men:
• Aragorn - Dúnedain of the north
• Boromir - Man of Gondor
• Maia (Wizard):
• Gandalf - Guide of the Company

The Fellowship is led at first by Gandalf, but after his fall in the mines of Moria, Aragorn leads them until Boromir's seduction by the Ring coupled with the attack of the Orcs effects the breaking of the Fellowship.

Breaking of the Fellowship

On February 25 the Fellowship camped at Parth Galen. The next day, the Fellowship was broken. While the others argued about the route to take, Frodo slipped away and Boromir followed quietly. When the others noticed, it was too late. Boromir frightened Frodo by demanding that he give him the One Ring so that he could save his people, of Gondor. Merry and Pippin ran off to find him but were captured by a group of Uruk-hai and orcs, including Grishnákh and Uglúk. Boromir was slain defending them. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli brought Boromir's body to Parth Galen. They prepared his body, placing it in a boat with the Horn of Gondor, his sword and the weapons of his slain enemies. They set the boat adrift on the lake of Nen Hithoel and it went over the Falls of Rauros; they then left Parth Galen in pursuit of Merry and Pippin. Sam caught up with Frodo at Parth Galen and they set out together across Nen Hithoel on their journey to Mordor.

Later history

Although the Fellowship disbanded after Boromir's death, having passed only half of the way to Mordor, it succeeded in assisting Frodo through the first, extremely perilous part of the journey. Following that, the remaining members of the Fellowship (including the resurrected Gandalf) succeeded in aiding the Free Peoples along the banks of the Anduin against the menace of Sauron and causing him to be distracted from Frodo and Sam, which aided Frodo in completing his mission.

Name origin

As evidenced in Robert Foster's The Complete Guide to Middle-earth, Tolkien actually mostly referred to the Fellowship as "the Company of the Ring", or "the Company" for short, with more page references to these terms than "Fellowship of the Ring" or "Fellowship"' given in the Guide. However, Fellowship of the Ring was used in the title of the first volume of the book, so it became the familiar term.