The answer by DistrubedNeo documents all four times that Frodo wears the Ring in the movies, I’ll try to do the same for the books. Of course it’s quite possible that, before he learned that it was the One Ring, Frodo wore the ring several times just as Bilbo did.

‘It was the Sackville-Bagginses that were his downfall, as you might expect. One day, a year before the Party, I happened to be walking along the road, when I saw Bilbo ahead.

Bilbo slowed down, and then hey presto. he vanished.

but I got through the hedge and walked along the field inside. I was peeping through into the road, after the S.-B.s had passed, and was looking straight at Bilbo when he suddenly reappeared.

The Lord of the Rings Book One, Chapter 5: A Conspiracy Unmasked Page 104-5 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Single Volume 50th Anniversary Edition).

Tom asks to see the Ring, Frodo hands it to him and Tom puts it on but doesn’t disappear, then he hands the Ring back to Frodo. Frodo puts it on to make sure it really is his Ring.

It was the same Ring, or looked the same and weighed the same: for that Ring had always seemed to Frodo to weigh strangely heavy in the hand. But something prompted him to make sure.

He waited for an opportunity, when the talk was going again, and Tom was telling an absurd story about badgers and their queer ways – then he slipped the Ring on. The Lord of the Rings Book One, Chapter 7: In the House of Tom Bombadil Page 133 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

2: In the Prancing Pony. Frodo “accidentally” puts on the Ring at the end of the song he sings in the Prancing Pony.

Frodo suddenly felt very foolish, and found himself (as was his habit when making a speech) fingering the things in his pocket. He felt the Ring on its chain, and quite unaccountably the desire came over him to slip it on and vanish out of the silly situation.

Single Volume 50th Anniversary Edition). At the end of his song, he falls and disappears, much to the astonishment of his audience.

Frodo felt a fool. Not knowing what else to do, he crawled away under the tables to the dark corner by Strider, who sat unmoved, giving no sign of his thoughts.

How it came to be on his finger he could not tell. He could only suppose that he had been handling it in his pocket while he sang, and that somehow it had slipped on when he stuck out his hand with a jerk to save his fall.

perhaps it had tried to reveal itself in response to some wish or command that was felt in the room. The Lord of the Rings Book One, Chapter 9: At the Sign of the Prancing Pony Page 160 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

During the attack on Weathertop. When the Nazgûl attack the hobbits and Aragorn on Weathertop, Frodo succumbs to the temptation to put on the Ring.

He could not speak. He felt Sam looking at him, as if he knew that his master was in some great trouble, but he could not turn towards him.

but resistance became unbearable, and at last he slowly drew out the chain, and slipped the Ring on the forefinger of his left hand. The Lord of the Rings Book One, Chapter 11: A Knife in the Dark Page 195 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

After looking in the Mirror of Galdriel, Frodo asks why, as the Ring-bearer, he can’t see the other rings and know the thoughts of those that wear them. In her answer, Galadriel confirms that, at that point, Frodo has worn the Ring three times since he learned what it was.

‘Only thrice have you set the Ring upon your finger since you knew what you possessed. The Lord of the Rings Book Two, Chapter 7: The Mirror of Galadriel Page 366 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

To escape from Boromir on Amon Hen. Boromir asks Frodo to lend him the Ring so he can use it to defeat Sauron.

Frodo dodged aside and again put the stone between them. There was only one thing he could do: trembling he pulled out the Ring upon its chain and quickly slipped it on his finger, even as Boromir sprang at him again.

The Lord of the Rings Book Two, Chapter 10: The Breaking of the Fellowship Page 399 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Single Volume 50th Anniversary Edition).

To leave the Fellowship without being seen. After escaping from Boromir, Frodo goes to the summit of Amon Hen and becomes aware of the Eye searching for him.

Frodo decides he must leave the Fellowship and travel alone to Mordor. He knows that his friends won’t let him go alone, so he puts on the Ring to get away without being seen.

‘I wonder how long I have been away. Hours, I should think.’ He hesitated.

’ he muttered. ‘I must go now or I shall never go.

I hate leaving them, and like this without any explanation. But surely they will understand.

And what else can I do. ’.

He vanished and passed down the hill, less than a rustle of the wind. The Lord of the Rings Book Two, Chapter 10: The Breaking of the Fellowship Page 402 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

At the Sammath Naur. When Frodo finally reaches the Cracks of Doom, he fails his mission and claims the Ring for himself.

‘I have come,’ he said. ‘But I do not choose now to do what I came to do.

The Ring is mine. ’ And suddenly, as he set it on his finger, he vanished from Sam’s sight.

Single Volume 50th Anniversary Edition).

Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power—the latest TV adaption of J. R.

Tolkien’s popular fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings—recently announced a release date of September 2, 2022. The series will take place thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will cover the Second Age of Middle-earth history, particularly Sauron’s rise to power and Númenor’s fall.

In The Lord of the Rings, we only really get to see one ring. This ring was created by the Dark Lord Sauron to rule Middle-earth.

The Lord of the Rings then follows the development of a fellowship to destroy the powerful ring once and for all.

Before Sauron ever created The One Ring, he disguised himself as the entity Annatar and convinced the Elven-smiths of Eregion to create 19 Rings of Power in total. These magical artifacts were supposed to preserve Middle-earth and invoke it with the light of Valinor.

The Rings of Power are summarized in this poem, penned by Tolkien:.

Let’s dive into everything we know from the books and movies.

It is also known by other names such as Ruling Ring and Isildur’s Bane. Sauron created this ring in the Mount of Doom in the Second Age of Middle-earth, after tricking the Elven-smiths to create the 19 Rings of Power.

Hence, he bound his fate with The One Ring. In addition to control of the Rings of Power, the ring also grants its wearer invisibility.

However, his terrifying reign came to an end during the War of the Last Alliance, when Isildur of Gondor cut the One Ring from Sauron’s hand. However, the ring sought to return to its master and betrayed Isildur, exposing him to a band of Orcs.

The ring corrupted Gollum, leading him to kill his relative to obtain it and to become obsessed with the ring’s power. However, the Ring abandoned Gollum, too, and was lost once more until it was discovered by Bilbo and eventually passed down to Frodo.

Its destruction means that Sauron will never be able to reclaim it and regain his Dark lordship of the Middle-earth. It destroys Sauron’s power, as well as that of all the Rings of Power.

And wield a great amount of power.

While Sauron aided the Elven-smiths in the creation of the other sixteen Rings of Power, the three Elven rings were created solely by Celebrimbor. This separation from the other Rings of Power made the three Elven rings slightly more resistant to the corruption of the One Ring.

Narya is adorned with a ruby and gives its wearer fire manipulation abilities and resistance to weariness. Nenya boasts a white stone and preserves/protects its wearer from evil.

Its power has never been explicitly revealed, but it was implied that the Vilya ring can preserve and heal. In Lord of the Rings lore, once the Elves recognized Sauron’s intentions, they hid the three rings.

The three managed to keep the three rings out of Sauron’s grasp until his defeat in the War of the Last Alliance. Galadriel kept Nenya, while Círdan gave Narya to Gandalf and Gil-galad gave Vilya to Elrond.

Seven of the Rings of Power that Sauron directly helped the Elven-smiths create, were given to the leaders of the Seven Houses of the Dwarves. However, these rings weren’t specifically fashioned for Dwarves.

It was the elves’ resistance to his corruption, that resulted in seven of the rings being distributed to the dwarves. Unfortunately, Tolkien wrote the least about the seven Dwarf rings.

This ring was gifted to Durin III by Celebrimbor and remained in the House of Durin for years, before being inherited by Thrór and passed down to his son Thráin. However, Thráin was captured by Sauron who was able to recover the ring from him.

Hence, the Dwarves largely used the seven rings to attain wealth and foster greed. Of the seven rings, four were destroyed by dragons, while the other three were recovered by Sauron.

Nine of the Rings of the Power were distributed to nine mortal men. It was in this group that Sauron found solid success with his corruption.

They eagerly accepted Sauron’s gifts and used the rings’ magical abilities to gain great power, prestige, and wealth. However, the power came at a price as these men were doomed to die.

The nine mortal men became known as Ringwraiths, or the Nazgûl. Once they transformed into the Nazgûl, they became Sauron’s slaves.

It is only known that three were Númenóreans and one was an Easterling. The only Ringwraiths given names were Khamûl and Witch-king of Angmar.

When the Witch-king of Angmar was slain, Khamûl briefly became leader of the Ringwraiths. It will be interesting to know more about the Ringwraiths when they were living (if the show delves into them).

Ultimately, what happened to the nine rings of mortal men is a mystery. It is unclear if Sauron repossessed the rings, if the rings remained with the Ringwraiths, or if the rings remained with the physical remains of the mortal men.

So, while we know quite a bit about the history of these rings, there is so much more story to tell and many directions The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power can go. One thing is for sure though, learning the properties and powers of these rings will be a fascinating expansion to Tolkien’s (already magnificent) world.

(featured image: New Line Cinema). Have a tip we should know.

After the survivors of Númenor arrive in Middle-earth and establish new kingdoms (one of which is Gondor, by the way), it doesn’t take long for them to get into yet another tussle with Sauron. They form the Last Alliance with the elves, and the motley crew of legendary heroes proceeds to attack Mordor, slowly wearing Sauron’s forces down over the next seven years.

During the fight, Isildur uses the shards of his fallen father’s sword, Narsil, and manages to cut the One Ring off of Sauron’s hand. The sudden loss of his potent knickknack immediately deflates the Dark Lord, destroying his physical body and leaving him once again as little more than a wandering spirit.

Instead, Isildur keeps the Ring and then goes back to rule his fledgling kingdoms. At his first stop in Gondor, he fills out the scroll that Gandalf later finds, detailing his new Ring and its engravings.

I’m in tears. All I can say is…YES.

💔❤️💔❤️💔❤️. LikeLike.

LikeLike. Ah, Rachel.

Truly beautiful reflections on woundedness, heroism, virtue, purity, and the mysteriously satisfying climax of the LotR. The fellowship is such a marvelous portrait of human communion.

Grace–that ineffable quality of God in us and around us–make much, much possible. And that grace includes the wondrous gift of true (steadfast) friendship.

LikeLiked by 1 person. Thank you for your new wonderful post and reflections about Frodo and The Lord of the Rings mio fratello.

You expressed it so beautifully about the humanity of The Lord of the Rings. You expressed wisdom in your beautiful thoughts about it.

Thank you again for this wonderful post mio fratello.

I feel so grateful to have you as my friend.

LikeLiked by 1 person. This is so beautiful.

It always made sense to me. But I never did delve into the burden that Frodo was truly carrying.

LikeLiked by 1 person. This is how I’ve always felt about Frodo.

LikeLiked by 1 person.

Frodo arguably makes a huge mistake when he sends Sam away in “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.” How can he do such a terrible thing to such a loyal companion. But looking at it from a different angle, it might be one of the best things that Frodo does.

In the movie, Gollum leads Sam and Frodo up the steep, hazardous steps of Cirith Ungol. Day by day, Frodo’s control over his faculties is waning as the Ring exerts its power over him.

After Gollum throws away the last of the hobbits’ food and frames Sam, things between Sam and Gollum reach a breaking point. Sam attacks Gollum, and Frodo quickly sends Sam away, much to Gollum’s delight and Sam’s detriment.

While his actions might seem cruel, it could be that Frodo is making one last-ditch effort to protect his dearest friend. He knows how difficult the journey has been for Sam, and he is afraid that his loyal sidekick will also fall victim to the Ring’s power.

Whether his actions are motivated by selflessness or anger is debatable, but we must also consider the outcome: if Frodo does not send Sam away, Sam might also fall victim to the monstrous Shelob and not be able to come to Frodo’s rescue.

Frodo Baggins was a hobbit of the Third Age, the most famous of all Hobbits in the histories for his leading role in the Quest of the Ring. During this epic quest, he bore the One Ring to Mount Doom and there destroyed it, giving him renown like no other Halfling throughout Middle-earth.

Frodo, child of the respectable Drogo Baggins and Primula Brandybuck, was born on 22 September of T.A. 2968.

He grew up under the guardianship of the Master of Buckland Rorimac “Goldfather” Brandybuck, who was his uncle. Frodo was caught several times stealing mushrooms from Farmer Maggot, who, on the last incident, thrashed Frodo and set his three dogs to chase Frodo from Bamfurlong to Bucklebury Ferry.

Frodo stayed in Buckland until his “uncle” Bilbo adopted him and took him in to live in Bag End, Bilbo’s house in Hobbiton. He enjoyed life with Bilbo, with whom he shared the same birthday – though others often called the old hobbit “queer.” Bilbo taught him to read, and told him stories of the past, even giving him some instruction in the elvish tongue.

Bilbo made Frodo his heir, frustrating the attempts of the disagreeable Sackville-Bagginses, who coveted the estate of Bag End.

they were sometimes seen by Wandering Companies of Elves, though the hobbits did not see them. When they returned home, Bilbo would tell Frodo that the Road is like a massive river, and all porches are its “springs” and all paths are its “tributaries”.

Frodo and Bilbo were comfortable and well off until T.A. 3001.

At this party Bilbo gave his farewell speech, and made his long-planned “disappearance” and withdrawal from the Shire. Frodo, who had been informed beforehand of the “joke”, as Bilbo called it, was spared the shock that afflicted the other assembled Hobbits.

He was greeted there by Gandalf, who informed him that, among other things, Frodo had inherited Bilbo’s magic ring.

Then Gandalf the wizard, who had come for the festivities, warned Frodo not to use the magic ring, and to keep it secret and safe. Then he left, Frodo knew not where, with his mind full of curiosity about the ring.

Frodo, meanwhile, was quite well off. He continued honouring Bilbo every year along with his own birthday.

His closest friends at this time were Merry and Pippin, also Folco Boffin and Fredegar Bolger, and other cousins from the family of the Old Took. Like Bilbo, Frodo continued to look robust and energetic even in his forties, and dreamed of one day seeing mountains and wilderness.

His friends were worried, and suspected that he met Elves and other strangers that had begun to be more common sights in the Shire. These strangers bore strange tales of unrest from lands far-off.

Still, he lived in peace and respectability for seventeen years, until Gandalf returned with the dreadful revelation that the “magic ring” was really the One Ring, weapon of Sauron, a thing of evil power thousands of years old. Furthermore, the Dark Lord was now aware of its survival, and would be searching for it, as Gollum had revealed – under torture – that it was to be found in the Shire.

Samwise Gamgee, the gardener, was selected to travel with him. Gandalf recommended Rivendell as a destination, as the road was likely safe and the valley well-protected.

Frodo was reluctant, but wisely followed the wizard’s advice. He bought a house in Crickhollow as an excuse to head east.

Gandalf stayed for two months while Frodo worked out the details. At the end of that time the wizard left to “get some news”, as rather disturbing tidings had come to his ears.

Meanwhile, Frodo was not aware that some of his closest friends were watching him – Fredegar “Fatty” Bolger, his cousin Peregrin “Pippin” Took, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck, and Sam himself knew that Frodo and Gandalf were in some trouble concerning the Ring, and that Frodo was preparing for some adventure.

As autumn passed, Frodo was waiting for Gandalf, but did not return and Frodo grew quite anxious. Merry and Fatty drove the cart of Frodo’s belongings ahead, while Frodo still waited for Gandalf.

Less than a day into their journey, Frodo, strangely nervous, requested that the threesome hide upon the approach of a horseman. The rider was dressed in black, riding upon a black horse, and making queer sniffling noises.

Samwise then remarked upon the “Black Rider” that had spoken to his father, Gaffer Gamgee, some time earlier. This made Frodo wish that he had waited for Gandalf.

That night, they were again overtaken by a Black Horseman. This time it seemed to be able to sniff out their hiding place.

Their leader, Gildor, greeted the hobbits warmly, and lauded Frodo for his knowledge of their tongue. Frodo tried to get information from Gildor on the Black Riders, but the elf would tell him very little.

He and his party left the Hobbits before daybreak, while the three slept.

After a brief scare when Sam sighted a Rider, they worried about losing their way. That evening they heard a terrible wail, and Frodo distinguished words in it.

Although Pippin knew Maggot, Frodo recalled a scare he had received at a young age after caught stealing the farmer’s mushrooms, being threatened with the dogs. He froze when the dogs came forth from the house, but Maggot’s hospitality soon won him over.

Maggot took them to Bucklebury Ferry in his wagon. There they joined up with Merry.

When they reached the house in Crickhollow, the other hobbits revealed their knowledge of the One Ring and promised to stick with Frodo on the road to Rivendell. The next morning, leaving Fatty to housesit, they passed into the Old Forest.

Rescued by Tom Bombadil, the hobbits came to his house. There they met Tom’s wife, Goldberry, and Frodo was moved to poetry over her loveliness.

That night he dreamed of a white-haired figure on a pinnacle of stone, borne away by an eagle.

Not subject to the Ring’s power, Tom nevertheless could see Frodo. That night Frodo dreamed once more, a dream he never forgot.

Frodo heard a sweet singing running in his mind: a song that seemed to come like a pale light behind a grey rain-curtain, and growing stronger to turn the veil all to glass and silver, until at last it was rolled back, and a far green country opened before him under a swift sunrise.—The Fellowship of the Ring, “Fog on the Barrow-downs”.

Becoming lost in the mist, they were taken by the barrow-wights, Frodo last of all. Frodo woke in the barrow to find the barrow-wight bending over his three friends.

Then he summoned Bombadil with a song Tom had taught him. Bombadil drove the wight away and helped Frodo wake the others.

The hobbits continued along the road to Bree, where they took lodging at The Prancing Pony inn as Bombadil had recommended, with Frodo registering under the name of Underhill as Gandalf had suggested.

Frodo asked if Gandalf was present in Bree, only to learn that he had not yet arrived. While Pippin and Sam enjoyed the drink and conversation, Frodo remained withdrawn, soo.

One of the most beloved, enduring fantasy series of all time is the Lord of the Rings series by J. R.

Tolkien. The trilogy was written as a sequel of sorts to Tolkien’s previous fantasy work, The Hobbit.

Here are answers to all your burning questions about Frodo, the furry-footed folk, friendships, and, of course, some wicked powerful jewelry. Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

in fact, he might even be called the main character, since it is his journey that drives the story. The three entries in the trilogy are The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.

Frodo is described by Gandalf as “taller than some and fairer than most, [with] a cleft in his chin: perky chap with a bright eye.” He has thick, curly brown hair like most other hobbits but lighter than usual skin. And he is shy.

At the age of 12, after his parents drowned in a boating accident on the Brandywine River, Frodo was adopted by his cousin, Bilbo Baggins. His best friend is his gardener, Samwise Gamgee.

Frodo was born in 1368. When he sets off from the Shire on his journey, he is 50 years old.

But it’s possible they looked similar in age, since the ring keeps the bearer from aging. As far as how old Frodo is when he dies, the answer is..well, we don’t know.

He could be dead, he could be alive—he’s the Schrödinger’s cat of Hobbits.

Gandalf, a wizard, advises Frodo to hide the ring and keep it a secret. 17 years later, Gandalf returns and tells him he has learned that it is the One Ring, perhaps the most powerful artifact ever known in Middle-earth.

Gandalf tells Frodo that Sauron is looking for the Ring, so he can use it to destroy Middle-earth. As Gandalf explains, the Ring is made from such strong materials and imbued with such powerful enchantments that the only thing that can destroy it are the fires from the Cracks of Doom where it was made.

Accompanying him on his trip are three fellow Hobbits, his gardener Samwise Gamgee, Peregrin “Pippin” Took, and Frodo’s cousin, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck. The journey to Mount Doom is fraught with danger.

So, a Fellowship, comprised of nine heroes including Frodo, is tasked with making the perilous journey together to ensure that the Ring is destroyed once and for all. Frodo, his friends, and the Fellowship are trailed much of the way by Gollum, a creature who was once a Hobbit named Sméagol but was corrupted by the Ring.

Because the Ring has power over the one who owns it, Frodo gets weaker the closer he gets to Mount Doom. Ultimately, Frodo cannot resist the Ring’s pull, and instead of destroying the Ring, he puts it on to claim its power for himself.

Frodo returns home after his difficult trip to find the Shire is in disarray. A group of men and Hobbits, led by the evil wizard Saruman, have started the destructive process of industrialization.

Traumatized by the violence and hardship of his recent journey and the events upon his return home, Frodo leaves the Shire for the earthly paradise of Valinor with Gandalf, Bilbo, Galadriel, and Elrond, and he never returns to Middle-earth. It is also not known if Frodo ever finds love or gets married.

The Lord of the Rings shows how someone even as pure and kind as Frodo can be seduced by power and evil, but it also demonstrates Frodo’s generosity in giving up all he has and taking on a task that may cost him his life. Contrary to popular belief, Frodo was not a character in The Hobbit, which came out before the trilogy, but he is mentioned briefly at the end of The Silmarillion, which was released after.

He took Frodo in when he was 12, after his parents drowned in a boating accident on the Brandywine River. Bilbo loved Frodo like the son he never had and, despite being his cousin, referred to him as his nephew.

The friendship between Frodo and Sam is the ultimate bromance of classic literature. Sam, a Hobbit, is also one of the greatest sidekicks in fantasy.

Frodo,” and thinks the world of him. He is delighted to be asked to accompany Frodo on his quest to destroy the One Ring, and is a source of inspiration and a cheerleader for Frodo along the way.

A powerful wizard who only uses his powers for good, Gandalf is the bearer of a Ring of Power. However, he refused to carry the Ring to Mount Doom himself, worried it would corrupt him.

Although he dies in the middle of the first audiobook, he returns later in the series as Gandalf the White and helps the Fellowship complete Frodo’s task. Gollum is a frightening, pale creature with a strange voice and unusual way of talking.

Frodo and Gollum are seen as linked, since both of their fates have been altered by the Ring. Gollum is also touched by Frodo’s actions, since Frodo is the first one to show Gollum any kindness since his transformation.

Gollum ultimately succeeds in securing the Ring—after biting off Frodo’s finger—but falls into the Cracks of Doom and dies in the process. The Fellowship was created to help Frodo achieve his goal of getting the Ring to Mount Doom and destroying it, since practically every step is fraught with danger.

Aragorn: While human, Aragorn is not a mortal. He is a descendent of the Men of Númenor, who had a lifespan many times longer than ordinary men.

His concern for Frodo and the task of destroying the Ring becomes his main focus in his life. Aragorn is in love with the immortal Elf Arwen.

Legolas: Legolas is a Sindar Elf of the Woodland Realm. He is the Fellowship’s archer and a close friend of Gimli.

After the destruction of the Ring, he and Gimli travel through Fangorn Forest and to the Glittering Caves of Aglarond. Gimli: A Dwarf warrior who previously appeared in The Hobbit, Gimli takes his task of protecting Frodo very seriously.

After the One Ring is destroyed, he and Legolas take a trip through Fangorn Forest and to the Glittering Caves of Aglarond. Boromir: Also human, Boromir was a very noble soldier and the heir to a kingdom.

Boromir does redeem himself for his actions, fighting to save his companions, and is mortally wounded by Orc archers. The screen adaptation of the series is comprised of three epic films directed by Peter Jackson: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003).

In all three films, Frodo Baggins is played by actor Elijah Wood. Although the films were well received by fans, one major complaint is that movie-Frodo seems a lot weaker than book-Frodo.

We all love Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Its amazing visuals and incredible storytelling helped put speculative fiction on the mainstream map, paving the way for countless stories to come.

That still blows my mind. How often do you see a blockbuster film franchise that’s not based on, say, a widely popular book from over 50 years ago.

But if you’ve ever been curious what The Lord of the Rings would be like in book form, you’re in luck. It turns out there’s a brand new novelization of the films, written by someone named John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.* I have to say, it’s a risky move giving such a huge franchise to a relatively unknown author, but it seems to have paid off.

I just finished the trilogy, which weighs in at a respectable 481,103 words,* and it’s pretty good. It has a lot of small changes you’d expect, like more worldbuilding details and a slower pace, but I was honestly surprised by how many major alterations Tolkien made.

That’s a lot of freedom to give such an untested author, and it creates a fundamentally different experience than watching the films. Here are some of the biggest changes I noticed in this novelization of an original film franchise.

The novelization follows the film pretty closely for the first few chapters. There’s a bit more time devoted to Frodo’s backstory,* but otherwise not much has changed.

First, they have an adventure where they nearly get eaten by a barrow-wight, and then they meet Tom Bombadil. I do not understand Tom Bombadil or why Tolkien added him to the story.

He sort of saves the hobbits from the barrow-wight, but Frodo already had that situation mostly in hand. In fact, the only thing Bombadil accomplishes is to make the plot less interesting because he treats the Ring of Power like it’s no big deal.

Bombadil is entirely invented by Tolkien. I guess Bombadil does provide an opportunity for more worldbuilding details, but it’s not like the book is short on those elsewhere.

He feels like a character from a different story inserted into the plot so he can sing a few songs and then leave again.

I wondered how Tolkien would resolve Boromir’s temptation arc without the redemption of protecting Merry and Pippin from the orcs. What if the fellowship’s most tragic figure didn’t get his due.

Turns out I didn’t have to worry. Tolkien did a great job.

Not only does the book give us a deeper look at his emotional state, but we also find out more about why he wants the Ring so much: Gondor is slowly being overrun, and he’s desperate for a way to turn back the tide. At the same time, Tolkien uses the offscreen battle to build tension.

When he arrives on the scene to find a field of slain orcs and a dying Boromir, it’s more powerful than a description of the battle. This isn’t to say it was a mistake to put the battle onscreen in the film, just that as a written work, the novelization has different capabilities.

In the films, Legolas is a great character portrayed with the grace and stature befitting a son of Mirkwood, but there’s just one problem: power creep. In the first film, he’s a really good archer, shooting orcs dead from point-blank range.

By Return of the King, he’s become a one-elf army, dealing death as he pleases and taking down a building-sized monster like it’s nothing. This damages the battle’s tension because it seems like nothing can hurt Legolas.

The novelization handles this much better. Instead of a mile-high kill count, Legolas’s elven heritage lets him perform incredible feats like seeing by moonlight and walking on snow.* This helps Legolas feel otherworldly and strange without making him seem overpowered.

In fact, for most of Fellowship, it’s Aragorn and Boromir who do the bulk of the fighting. Legolas mostly plays support, taking down enemies who are out of the humans’ reach.

He even loses to Gimli in a contest of who can kill more orcs.

The Moria sequence in Fellowship always struck me as odd. Gimli talks about how his cousin will throw them a feast when they arrive, and yet the mines look like they’ve been abandoned for centuries.

And how did Gandalf know that they had dug too greedily and too deep if it only happened recently.

It turns out that Moria was abandoned centuries ago when the dwarves dug up some ancient evil, but in recent years, a group of dwarves came from the Lonely Mountain to reclaim it. I’m guessing Tolkien got an advanced copy of the Hobbit trilogy script, which would explain how he knew to reference the adventures of Bilbo and Thorin.

They’ve been quiet for a while, but not long enough to convince him there’s something seriously wrong. After all, they’re some of the Lonely Mountain’s best warriors.

Sadly, the LotR films weren’t kind to either women or people of color. Arwen gets a cool moment when she rescues Frodo with water magic, and Eowyn triumphantly slays the Witch-king, but that’s about it for female characters.

Did they not get the memo about him wanting to turn all of Middle-earth into a blasted hellscape.

Arwen doesn’t rescue Frodo. it’s some other random elf we never see again.

Eowyn still takes down the Witch-king, but that victory is tainted by what comes after: turns out Eowyn was only fighting because she was sad,* and once she finds a man, she gives up all that unwomanly nonsense. So that’s not great.

In the films, it was heavily implied that dark-skinned people are on Sauron’s side. In the books, it’s explicit, with Tolkien spending a lot of time talking about “swarthy” skinned enemies and directly conflating skin color with an allegiance to the Dark Lord.

I can only hope that Tolkien’s bad ideas won’t influence fantasy writers for generations to come or anything like that.

He’s constantly sweaty, his default posture is coiled up like a snake, and you can hear the cackle in his voice. But that’s actually the problem: he’s too perfect.

The royal guard should have knifed him in a back room long before Gandalf and co arrived. In the novelization, Grima is presented as a charismatic advisor to the king and respected by all after many years of loyal service.

He talks about how Saruman has always been a valuable ally and that Gandalf only ever shows up when he wants something, often bringing trouble in his wake. This version of Grima nearly had me convinced.

While the novelization still has Grima exerting supernatural influence over the king, it’s much subtler than in the film, and it makes sense that only a wizard of Gandalf’s talent could spot it. This makes Grima’s defeat much more satisfying because it was actually difficult.

it’s just what his enemies call him. Well done, Tolkien.

In the original Two Towers film, the Battle of Helms Deep is a desperate defense against overwhelming odds. The defenders are badly outmatched and sure to fall.

None of this is true in the novelization. Though Tolkien nearly overloads the page with a description of the battle, none of it makes the Uruk-Hai seem dangerous.

Even when the Uruk-Hai breach the Deeping Wall, there’s no sense of danger. In the film, when the defenders make their final charge, it’s clearly a doomed last stand.

Frodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R.

Tolkien’s writings, and one of the protagonists in The Lord of the Rings. Frodo is a hobbit of the Shire who inherits the One Ring from his cousin Bilbo Baggins, described familiarly as “uncle”, and undertakes the quest to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor.

Frodo is repeatedly wounded during the quest, and becomes increasingly burdened by the Ring as it nears Mordor. He changes, too, growing in understanding and compassion, and avoiding violence.

two years after the Ring’s destruction, he is allowed to take ship to the earthly paradise of Valinor.

Commentators have written that he combines courage, selflessness, and fidelity, and that as a good character, he seems unexciting but grows through his quest, an unheroic person who reaches heroic stature.

Frodo spent the next nine years living with his maternal family, the Brandybucks in Brandy Hall. At the age of twenty-one he was adopted by Bilbo, who brought him to live at his home, Bag End.

Bilbo introduced Frodo to the Elvish languages, and they often went on long walking trips together.[T 1]. Frodo came of age as Bilbo left the Shire.

Gandalf, uncertain about the origin of the ring, warned Frodo to avoid using it and to keep it secret.[T 1] Frodo kept it hidden for the next seventeen years, and it gave him the same longevity it had given Bilbo. Gandalf returned to tell him that it was the One Ring of the Dark Lord Sauron, who was seeking to recover and use it to conquer Middle-earth.[T 2].

He left with three companions: his gardener Samwise Gamgee and his cousins Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took. They were just in time, for Sauron’s most powerful servants, the Nine Nazgûl, had entered the Shire as Black Riders, looking for the Ring.

The hobbits escaped into the Old Forest. They were waylaid by the magic of Old Man Willow, but rescued by Tom Bombadil,[T 6] who gave them shelter and guidance.[T 7] They were caught in fog on the Barrow Downs by a barrow-wight and put under a spell.

At the Prancing Pony inn, Frodo received a delayed letter from Gandalf, and met a man calling himself Strider, a Ranger. his real name was Aragorn.

This attracted the Nazgûl, who ransacked the hobbits’ empty rooms in the night.[T 9] Strider led the group through the marshes.[T 10]. While encamped on Weathertop, they were attacked by five Nazgûl.

The Council of Elrond resolved to destroy the Ring by casting it into Mount Doom in Mordor, Sauron’s realm. Frodo, realizing that he was destined for this task, stepped forward to be the Ring-bearer.

Bilbo, living in Rivendell, gave Frodo his sword Sting and a coat of Dwarf mail made of mithril.[T 14] The company, unable to cross the Misty Mountains by a pass, entered the mines of Moria.[T 15] Frodo was stabbed by an Orc with a spear, but his mithril mail-shirt saved his life.[T 16] Gandalf was killed battling a Balrog.[T 17] Aragorn led them out to Lothlórien.[T 18] There Galadriel gave Frodo an Elven cloak and a phial carrying the Light of Eärendil to aid him on his quest.[T 19].

Frodo escaped by putting it on. This broke the Fellowship.

Frodo chose to continue the quest alone, but Sam followed him.[T 21]. Frodo and Sam made their way through the wilds, followed by the monster Gollum, who had been tracking them, seeking to reclaim the Ring, which he had lost to Bilbo (as portrayed in The Hobbit).

He took pity on Gollum and spared his life, making him promise to guide them through the dead marshes to the Black Gate.[T 22][T 23] They found the gate impassable.

They passed Minas Morgul, where the pull of the Ring became overwhelming, and climbed the Endless Stair to cross into Mordor.[T 29] At the top they entered a tunnel, not knowing it was the home of the giant spider Shelob. Gollum hoped to deliver the hobbits to her and retake the Ring after she had killed them.

Soon, however, he overheard Orcs taking Frodo for questioning, saying that he was still alive.[T 31]. Sam rescued Frodo and returned the Ring.[T 32] Dressed in scavenged Orc-armour, they set off, trailed by Gollum.[T 33] At Mount Doom, Frodo entered the chasm where Sauron had forged the Ring.

Gollum attacked the invisible Frodo, biting off his finger and reclaiming the Ring. As he danced in elation, Gollum fell with the Ring into the fiery Cracks of Doom.

Frodo and Sam were rescued by Great Eagles as Mount Doom erupted, destroying Mordor.[T 34]. After Aragorn’s coronation, the four hobbits returned home.[T 35] They found that the fallen wizard Saruman and his agents had taken over the Shire and started to industrialize it.

Even after Saruman attempted to stab Frodo, Frodo let him go, only for Saruman to be killed by his henchman Gríma Wormtongue.[T 36] The hobbits restored the Shire to its prior state of peace and goodwill. While successful in his quest, Frodo never recovered from the physical and emotional wounds he suffered on the quest.

“The Sea-Bell” was published in Tolkien’s 1962 collection of verse The Adventures of Tom Bombadil with the sub-title Frodos Dreme. Tolkien suggests that this enigmatic narrative poem represents the despairing dreams that visited Frodo in the Shire in the years following the destruction of the Ring.

He descends into despair and near-madness, eventually returning to his own country, to find himself utterly alienated from those he once knew.

In the poem Bilbo’s Last Song, Frodo is at the Grey Havens at the farthest west of Middle-earth, about to leave the mortal world on an elven-ship to Valinor.

The Tolkien scholar Jason Fisher notes that Tolkien stated that hobbits were extremely “clannish” and had a strong “predilections for genealogy”. Accordingly, Tolkien’s decision to include Frodo’s family tree in Lord of the Rings gives the book, in Fisher’s view, a strongly “hobbitish perspective”.

Frodo’s family tree is as follows:[T 40].

Set against the heroic Sam, we have Frodo Baggins. Mr.

He also has a little more flare than his gardener. He’s from an important family and has some wealth and valuable connections.

When you peel back the curtain a bit, there actually isn’t much about Frodo’s character arc that screams “incredible champion” or “savior of the world.” On the contrary, from start to finish, Frodo shows plenty of flaws that undermine his campaign for the title of the greatest. Take his Ring-bearer status, as a perfect example.

His cousin Bilbo did. Frodo just inherited the darn thing.

Once Frodo stumbles into his adventure, he needs a lot of help along the way from warriors, counselors, and his fellow Hobbits. And when he gets to the end of his quest.

Sam has to carry him up to the Cracks of Doom, and Gollum has to literally bite off his finger and trip into the fiery depths for the story to have a happy ending. It’s also worth pointing out that Frodo’s task is dull, exhausting, and introspective.

As the weight of the Ring gets heavier, the actor tends to look more melancholic and self-absorbed, none of which exudes heroic qualities.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings contains countless heroes and villains, many of which fans don’t even realize exist.

Undoubtedly the face of Middle Earth and The Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) is one of the most critical figures in Tolkien’s beloved story. Now, let’s take a closer look at who exactly this character is.

Tolkien’s most famous and popular Rings character, making his mark on pop culture since his introduction to the world in 1954. Having spent his youth at Brandy Hall in Buckland with his family, Frodo lost both of his parents in a boating accident on the Brandywine River at age 12.

At 21, Frodo’s “uncle” Bilbo Baggins adopted the young hobbit (hobbits aren’t at their full adult age until 33) and brought him back to Bag End, sharing his home, treasure, and love as the two grew older and became a close pair. Lord of the Rings Wiki writes:

He is commonly considered Tolkien’s most renowned character for his leading role in the Quest of the Ring, in which he bore the One Ring to Mount Doom, where it was destroyed. He was a Ring-bearer, best friend to his gardener, Samwise Gamgee, and one of three hobbits who sailed from Middle-earth to the Uttermost West at the end of the Third Age.

As the Ring-bearer, Gandalf the Grey — a long-time family friend and mentor to Frodo — enlisted Merry Brandybuck, Pippen Took, and Samwise Gamgee — Frodo’s future best friend and savior — to travel with Frodo to Bree. Of course, their course took a big turn.

Frodo was nearly captured by a Black Rider on the road, but was saved by Gildor Inglorion, whom he asked for advice. Leaving the roads to cut across country, Frodo and Sam reached Farmer Maggot’s farm, who helped them to evade the Riders.

On arrival at Crickhollow, Frodo found that Merry and Pippin already knew about his “secret” journey. Frodo was left with no alternative but to bring the two youngsters with him.

They met other troubles in those places though, at the hands of Old Man Willow and the Barrow-wights, but were rescued twice by Tom Bombadil, a mysterious being who dwelt in a glade in the middle of the Old Forest. Finding refuge in Bree, the hobbits sheltered in the famous Prancing Pony, the stomping grounds of countless Shire-folk and travelers.

Aragorn, future King of Gondor and forsaken Ranger of the North, took the wayward hobbits into his care and delivered them from harm’s way — eventually making their destination in Rivendell. But, Frodo would receive a near-deadly wound from the Witch-king Angmar that would stay with the hobbit until his sailing towards the West with the elves:

In the presence of the Nazgûl, Frodo made the mistake of putting on the Ring. He was able to resist their attempt to take him by drawing his sword and invoking the name of one of the Valar, Elbereth Gilthoniel.

If it had caught him in the heart, Frodo would have become like the Nazgûl, only weaker and under their control. The Ringwraiths were driven away by the appearance of Aragorn and his martial skill.

Tainted by the dark powers of Mordor, Frodo’s corruption of the One Ring began its course and dwindled down the young hobbit. Though Middle Earth praised Frodo for being the bearer and destroyer of the One Ring at Mount Doom in the land of Mordor, every Tolkien fan knows that Samwise Gamgee is the true hero of The Lord of the Rings.

Courageous and loyal to the end, Samwise Gamgee showed the same spirit as Aragorn while protecting Frodo throughout the Rings trilogy. When the burden of the Ring grew too great to carry, Frodo fell to the temptations of Sauron at the end of their journey.

Inside the Crack of Doom, Frodo finally had the chance to destroy the Ring, and rid himself of his burden, but the power of the Ring was at its strongest due to it being in the place of it’s making. It was here that Frodo finally yielded to the temptation and power of the Ring.

Gollum attacked Sam, who fell and hit his head on a rock, temporarily knocking him unconscious. When he came to he saw Gollum fighting with an unseen foe (Frodo, having put on the Ring).

The two hobbits tried to escape as the volcano erupted. Just as it looked as though they were doomed, Gwaihir the Lord of Eagles saw them, and with his Eagle companions Landroval and Meneldor rescued Sam and Frodo and flew them to safety.

While Frodo’s spirit was never corrupted by Sauron, his will and demeanor changed considerably after letting go of the One Ring, resulting in the necessary sailing towards the Undying Lands: Following the scouring of the Shire and end of the War of the Ring in November TA 3019, Frodo, went on to serve as Deputy Mayor of the Shire.

On May 1st, TA 3020, Frodo attended the wedding of his best friend Sam and his wife Rosie Cotton and they moved in with him at Bag End. On mid-years day later that year, Frodo retired from his post as Deputy Mayor, letting the office revert to Will Whitfoot.

Frodo was still troubled by his shoulder wound, which pained him on each anniversary of the attack at Weathertop, in addition to falling sick on each anniversary of being stung by Shelob. As such, October 6th of that year, he would suffer from his wounds again.

While living with Sam and Rosie he would witness the birth of their oldest daughter Elanor twelve days later. Prior to departing Middle-earth, he also wrote his own story “The Lord of the Rings” along with Bilbo’s “There and Back Again” in the Red Book of Westmarch.

He was allowed passage across the sea to the Undying Lands, as he was a ring-bearer, with the hope of healing the damage to his spirit that bearing the Ring had caused. Frodo would forever more be remembered as one of the greatest heroes of Middle Earth and the War of the Ring, as well as Tolkien’s crowning achievement for character creation and more.

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne in the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

Dark Lord Sauron is set to have a massive role in The Rings of Power. Still, the series features a relatively unknown cast of lead and supporting actors that are set to play some of the most formative names in Elrond (Robert Aramayo), Lady Galadriel of Lothlórien (Morfydd Clark), and Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur), replacing Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, originally published in three parts in 1954 and 1955, remains a beloved and timeless fantasy classic to this day.

As Amazon’s The Rings of Power has released new episodes on Prime Video, fans of the famous fantasy franchise have found themselves considering the canon of Middle-earth. Rings of Power is not, however, the first to interpret and change things from Tolkien’s work.

One of the first and most significant differences between the books and movies is the timing of Frodo’s departure from the Shire in The Fellowship of the Ring. In both the book and the movie, Bilbo makes his dramatic exit from his birthday party.

In the book, Frodo’s departure from the Shire with the Ring does not take place until 17 years after his dear uncle makes his way to Rivendell. Changing this timeline for the movie was effective for pacing.

Despite being one of the most beloved segments in The Fellowship of the Ring, Jackson’s choice to skip over Tom Bombadil entirely was the right one. In the book, the Hobbits first encounter Tom Bombadil on their way to Bree.

He resists the temptation of the Ring and can even see Frodo when he puts the Ring on. While this segment is nothing short of a delight to read, it would have created pacing issues.

While this can comfortably exist within the context of a book, it might have provided challenges to more casual moviegoers. Arwen’s increased role and presence is one of the major changes to the trilogy as a whole.

Strider and the Hobbits make their way to Rivendell after Frodo is stabbed on Weathertop. In the book, they encounter an elf named Glorfindel.

When it becomes clear that they can no longer outrun them, Glorfindel places Frodo on his horse, Asfaloth. The white horse, who remains in the movie, outpaces the Nazgûl and crosses the Ford of Bruinen.

She stays with Frodo the entire time, safely delivering him to to the shores of Rivendell. This change allows an important character increased visibility and provides a feminine counterbalance to the male-dominated story.

His imposing gaze shows up in the Palantir, flashes across Frodo’s mind, and perches atop the tower of Barad-dûr. In the book, Sauron’s piercing gaze is more of a concept than a literal physical presence.

In the movies, however, a physical representation of the eye allows the main villain to be tangible and frightening. In both the book and the movie The Two Towers, the people of Rohan seek refuge at Helm’s Deep as Saruman’s army of Uruk-hai march forth.

In the movie, however, the forces of Rohan are joined by an army of Elves led by Haldir of Lothlórien. Whether or not the Elves were included, the odds remain staggering and the ensuing victory remains a feat for the ages.

It also shows that despite their impending departure, the Elves still have a loving investment in the fate of Middle-earth. The Elves of Middle-earth are known for their longevity, their hardiness, and their grace in both the books and the movies.

Jackson takes these Elvish attributes a step further with Legolas in The Two Towers and The Return of the King. During the Battle of Helm’s Deep, Legolas surfs down a stone staircase on an Uruk-hai shield.

Jackson recognizes that battles require a certain degree of spectacle and uses Legolas to great effect. Elrond convinces Arwen that she should depart Middle-earth with the rest of her people.

Arwen watches him as a vision unfolds before her eyes. She sees a gray-haired Aragorn in Minas Tirith scoop the child up.

The child and Arwen hold eye contact before the vision disappears. Arwen recognizes that she saw a vision of a possible future for herself.

The love Arwen had for Aragorn is certainly a major motivating factor to keep Arwen in Middle-earth. The addition of this vision of a child and a happy future, however, makes her choice to forego her immortality even more understandable.

As the Ring begins to take a stronger hold in Frodo’s heart and mind, it changes him. In the book, the two companions are only parted after Frodo is taken to the Tower of Cirith Ungol.

Sam learns that Frodo was tricked, and Frodo quickly realizes he made a mistake when Gollum abandons him. As Frodo is wrapped up in Shelob’s web, Sam comes into frame.

Sam is ultimately triumphant against the giant spider. While this change is one that many book fans struggle with, the choice made cinematic sense.

When Frodo despairs in the Mines of Moria, Gandalf tells him that he believes Gollum has a part to play in the fate of the Ring. In both the book and movie for The Return of the King, Gandalf’s prediction comes to pass.

He dances and rejoices as he is reunited with his Precious, ultimately losing his footing and falling into the fires of Mount Doom. However, the movie plays out differently.

The two go over the edge together. Frodo is rescued by Sam, and Gollum falls into the lava below.

The Scouring of the Shire is perhaps one of the most important parts of Frodo’s journey. When the Hobbits return to the Shire, they find that Saruman had taken up residence there and had ravaged the Hobbits’ homeland.

The Hobbits defeat Saruman and reclaim and heal their home in the end. This portion of the story shows that war’s far reach harms everything it touches.

Between the destruction of the Ring, the Fellowship reunited, Aragorn’s coronation, the Hobbits’ return to the Shire, and their farewell at the Grey Havens, there were already many stories to end. The Scouring of the Shire would have created the pacing issues that Peter Jackson managed to deftly dodge as he wrapped up The Return of the King.

Even the very best books, however, end up benefiting from some changes during the translation from page to screen. Peter Jackson did what seemed like an impossible task.

What is your favorite change from page to screen in The Lord of the Rings. Share your thoughts with other LOTR fans at side.show/geekgroup, and don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow.

The Lord of the Rings timeline is a long, sprawling chronology that can be fairly difficult to figure out – but there’s no better time to get up to speed than now, following the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The show takes place in the Second Age, which is long before the events depicted in Peter Jackson’s trilogy.

We’ve taken a deep dive into the key events from the Lord of the Rings timeline, so you’ll be a Tolkien expert in no time.

For the Second Age, in which The Rings of Power takes place, we have kept to the dates from the book and not added what happens in the TV series. That’s because the show condenses events massively, meaning that Tolkien’s do not line up with what happens on screen.

The same goes for Jackson’s trilogies – we’re sticking with the books, not the movies. In our The Lord of the Rings timeline (which is more than a match for the Star Wars and Star Trek timelines when it comes to complexity), we’ve focused on the events that are most pivotal to the movies and books – so don’t expect a complex explanation of the Silmarils.

Slightly confusingly, Tolkien’s Middle-earth time-keeping during the First Age is split across the Years of the Trees (YT) and Years of the Sun (YS). YT 1050: The supreme deity Eru awakens the first Elves and Ents, as well as the Fathers of the Dwarves.

The Valar live in Aman, also known as the Undying Lands. YT 1080: Another Valar called Melkor (later known as Morgoth and effectively the Satan/fallen angel of Tolkien’s mythology) captures Elves, and tortures and corrupts them to create the first Orcs.

YT 1100: Sauron (a Maia formerly known as Mairon who was originally created to help the Valar) helps his master, Melkor/Morgoth, breed more Orcs and Trolls from their fortress, Angband. YT 1362: Future The Lord of the Rings icon Galadriel is born.

YT 1500: The Moon and the Sun are created. The Years of the Trees conclude.

YS 532: Future The Lord of the Rings icon Elrond is born. YS 590: Morgoth is cast out of Arda into the Void.

And so, the First Age of Middle-earth concludes.

Skip ahead if you don’t want potential spoilers.

SA 32: The human kingdom of Númenor (home of the long-living Númenóreans or Dúnedain) is founded by the Edain (“fathers of Men”) on an island raised from the Great Sea (which lies to the west of Middle-earth) by the Valar. SA 500: It turns out you can’t keep a good minion down as Morgoth’s former sidekick, Sauron, makes his Middle-earth comeback.

SA 1000: Sauron begins construction on a Barad-dûr (AKA the Dark Tower), a purpose-built fortress in what will later be rebranded as the land of Mordor (where the shadows lie). Spectacular views of volcanic wastelands come as standard.

They’re designed to carry “the strength and will to govern each race” but – perhaps inevitably – there’s a catch. Sauron taught Celebrimbor and the Elven smiths of Eregion the skills required to make the infamous jewelry, with an ulterior motive….

Thanks to his impressive forward-planning, this One Ring has dominion over all the other Rings of Power and becomes a crucial weapon in his ongoing mission to conquer Middle-earth.

SA 2251: The Nazgûl (AKA the Black Riders, AKA the Ringwraiths, AKA the nine human ringbearers corrupted by the One Ring) are sighted for the first time.

SA 3209: Isildur, future ring bearer and vanquisher of Sauron, is born. Although Tolkien generally refers to them as “mortal men”, humans in this era frequently live for centuries.

SA 3319: Under the influence of Sauron, Ar-Pharazôn attacks the Undying Lands of Aman. As divine retribution, Númenor is drowned in classic Atlantis-style.

SA 3320: Exiled from their sunken homeland, the humans of Númenor found the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor in the vast region of Middle-earth known – at this point – as Eriador.

It’s an epic team-up between Elven high king Gil-galad and Elendil, a Man of Númenor who’s subsequently crowned the first High King of the Dúnedain. (As a result, he’s the ruler of Gondor and Arnor.

SA 3441: The war reaches its endgame on the slopes of Mount Doom. Seemingly at the height of his powers, Sauron kills Elendil and Gil-Galad, but Isildur refuses to accept defeat.

Sauron’s physical form is obliterated, but his spirit lives on in the Ring. Isildur’s subsequent decision to keep the trinket for himself, rather than destroying it in the fires of Mount Doom, is one of the most pivotal in the history of Middle-earth – though, to be fair, the Ring does have an uncanny gift for self-preservation.

And so, the Second Age of Middle-earth concludes.

We’ve highlighted the bits that correspond to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings – and, because so much happens so quickly in the latter, we’ve included months as well as years. TA 2: Isildur’s reign as king is cut short when his party is attacked by Orcs near the Anduin river.

Proving it has a will of its own, the Ring slides off his finger, making its wearer visible to the attacking Orcs. After Isildur’s death, it settles onto the riverbed to be forgotten for millennia.

TA 1000: Five Wizards (among them Gandalf the Grey, Saruman the White and Radagast the Brown) are sent to Middle-earth to counter the growing threat of Sauron. Despite looking like old men, they’re actually Maiar spirits who were originally created to help the Valar.

TA 1601: The Shire is founded on the banks of the Brandywine river. TA 1980: The Dwarves of Khazad-dûm (subsequently known as Moria) awaken a Balrog, an ancient evil dating back to the Years of the Trees.

TA 2460: Now going under the alias of “the Necromancer”, Sauron takes up residence in the fortress of Dol Guldur in Mirkwood.

When a big fish pulls him into the water, he finds the One Ring on the river bed, but the surprise gift quickly becomes the stuff of nightmares. His cousin, Sméagol, is so captivated by the corrupting power of the jewellery that he kills Déagol to keep it for himself.

Although the Ring prolongs his life for centuries, he’s a shadow of his former self, and becomes known as Gollum.

The Dwarves who called it home leave to find new accommodation. TA 2850: Gandalf realises the Necromancer is actually Sauron in a new guise.

TA 2941: The White Council – a think tank boasting Galadriel, Elrond, Gandalf, Radagast and (until he goes bad) Saruman – ejects Sauron from Dol Guldur. (While nearly a century passes between the identification of Sauron and his departure from Mirkwood in the books, The Hobbit movies compress these events into a matter of weeks/months.).

Along the way, he finds himself playing a game of riddles in the dark with Gollum, where the One Ring senses its moment of opportunity and slips itself into Bilbo’s possession. Gollum is somewhat miffed.

“The Fellowship of the Ring” does a great job slowly ratcheting the intensity during its first half. Frodo and Sam’s quest initially seems simplistic: Head to Bree and await further instruction from Gandalf.

The leader of the black-cloaked villains, known as the Witch-king, stabs Frodo but is summarily driven away by Aragorn before he can inflict more damage. Aragorn then passes Frodo to his love interest Arwen (Liv Tyler), who makes for the elf land of Rivendell on horseback.

Editor John Gilbert cuts the scene to bits but never allows the action to overcome the characters or story. We just met Arwen, but the young warrior quickly draws our compassion thanks to deft casting, strong performances, and Peter Jackson’s immaculate direction.

Tolkien was a World War I veteran who was in the Battle of the Somme, and spent a lot of time in the hospital recovering from typhus. I am sure he saw many “burnt out cases” there….

The fact that he “failed” would only make this worse…. The fact that Frodo “failed” after his mind and soul were eaten up by the power of the ring is linked by Tolkien to what we now would call “brainwashing”, that even the strongest minds can be broken by an outside evil force.

As a good Catholic, Tolkien was probably more aware than the left wing writers of the time that many of the confessions at Stalin’s “show trials” were the result of psychological manipulation…. Comments are closed.

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The scene where Sauron immediately ‘finds’ Frodo when he puts the ring on in Bree exists only in the films. but while it’s an invention, it’s a good way to visually express a broader idea, that the Ring does not grant invisibility against the more powerful servants of Sauron.

‘Can the Riders see. ‘ asked Merry.

But you made us lie down flat when you saw them down below. and now you talk of being seen, if we move.’.

‘I was very anxious to find some sign of Gandalf. but it was a mistake for three of us to go up and stand there so long.

They themselves do not see the world of light as we do, but our shapes cast shadows in their minds, which only the noon sun destroyed. and in the dark they perceive many signs and forms that are hidden from us: they they are to be most feared.

Senses, too, there are other than sight or smell. We can feel their presence — it troubled our hearts, as soon as we came here, and before we saw them.

Also,’ he added, and his voice sank to a whisper, ‘the Ring draws them.”. Later, we see the behaviour of the Nazgûl, both before and after Frodo puts on the ring.

They strained their eyes, and the shadows seemed to grow. Soon there could be no doubt: three or four tall black figures were standing there on the slope, looking down on them.

Frodo thought that he heard a faint hiss as of venomous breath and felt a thin piercing chill. Then the shapes slowly advanced.

Immediately [upon putting the Ring on], though everything else remained as before, dim and dark, the shapes became terribly clear. He was able to see beneath their black wrappings.

In one hand he held a long sword, and in the other a knife. both the knife and the hand that held it glowed with pale light.

Each time the Nazgûl come close to Frodo, he feels the desperate urge to put on the ring. And we see here what happens when he does — he immediately stands out to them, glowing like a beacon, and they go from slow, careful advance to leaping forward to strike him and seize the Ring.

In the internal logic of the film, though, there are probably several combined reasons for why that happened in Bree but did not happen when Bilbo wore the ring. First, when Bilbo kept the ring, Sauron had no idea where it was.

His eye was not yet turned toward the Shire. Second, once Sauron was aware and looking for the Ring in the Shire, searching from afar, Frodo never put the ring on.

Third, the Nazgûl were there, in and around Bree, hunting for the ring. They are mindless puppets, slave to their master’s will, and at the same time an extension of that will.

The Lord of the Rings started out with one big party. It was Bilbo Baggins’ birthday, and everyone had a grand time celebrating the old Hobbit.

But when it was all said and done, there was rejoicing because the Dark Lord was defeated, Aragorn became king, and the Age of Men began in peace. However, not everything was perfect.

For Frodo, that wasn’t possible. After two years of trying to resume his life, Frodo was ready to sail into the Undying Lands of Valinor.

But what were the logistics behind his departure, and who granted him permission to go.

Valinor was located on the continent of Aman, far to the West of Middle-earth. It was the realm of the Valar and a place of bliss and perfection.

Thanks to the corruption of Sauron, Ar-Pharazôn decided that he wanted to challenge the Valar for dominion, so he sailed into the West with an armada of his Númenórean soldiers. In response to his insolence, Eru Ilúvatar opened a chasm in the sea and drowned everyone.

The god of Middle-earth destroyed the island of Númenor and took Valinor out of the reach of the Earth. That meant only Elves could make it to Valinor by sailing on the Straight Road, but even they couldn’t just travel to Valinor on a whim.

RELATED: The Hobbit Introduced Middle-earth’s Strangest Type of Man. Because only Elves were allowed in Valinor, it took some divine authority to let Frodo sail to the Undying Lands.

After he got stabbed at Weathertop, Arwen took Frodo to Rivendell, but he was close to death. So, she prayed that the Grace of the Eldar would be upon Frodo.

Arwen had already given up her immortality, so it was as if she gave her place so that Frodo could survive and eventually go to Valinor. However, that’s not exactly what happened.

It turns out it was her idea that he should go to Valinor and be healed, but she didn’t actually have the authority to make that happen. In a 1963 letter to Eileen Elgar, Tolkien explained that Arwen “could not, of course, just transfer her ticket on the boat like that.

As a Maia, Gandalf would have had communication with Manwë, and he was the one who officially granted Frodo permission to go to Valinor.