The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Movie Analysis

At the end of his one hundred and eleventh birthday, Bilbo Baggins mysteriously disappears, or so he citizens of Hobbiton had thought. Bilbo merely slipped his most prized possession on his finger; a golden ring that he won through a game of riddles from the creature Gollum, nearly sixty years before. Being of special powers unknown to Bilbo except for it being able to transform him invisible, the ring was used occasionally and kept at his house in Bag End. After Bilbo slips away from the crowd he gets his belongings and leaves for Rivendell, an ancient Elvish residency. Bilbo therefore leaves his house at Bag End to his nephew Frodo, along with most of his possessions, including the ring, although this is no ordinary ring. This is a ring of power. A ring in which only the Dark Lord Sauron can use to obtain its fullest capacity. On the ring, in elvish script it is written: One ring to rule them all. One ring to bind them. One ring to find them all, and in the darkness bind them. With this ring Sauron can mold all of Middle-Earth to his will. Middle-Earth would be an extremely dark and dangerous place. It is up to Frodo, along with eight other companions to take a journey to the fiery depths of Mount Doom to cast the ring into the fiery chasm whence it came and destroy evil from enduring forever.

In the movie, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo Baggins makes countless decisions on what to do with this situation that he has found himself in. Hes not an adventurous person. In fact, he has never been out of the Shire, (the place where all of the hobbits live) before he was given the ring. But he decides to take the ring to Mount Doom to destroy the ring. Being only three and a half feet tall hobbits this says a lot about hobbits and Frodo in general; the size of their hearts are what make them so unique not the size of their bodies. Frodo has a pure heart to go along with the tremendous amount of strength that it carrys as well. In the movie other people, including his Uncle Bilbo were corrupted by this ring. Even if the ring was never placed in the hands of these people the power of the ring can still corrupt you, so it says a lot about Frodos will and determination. He is by far the strongest of heart in the movie, backing up the statement that size doesnt necessarily matter. Frodo endures a lot of pain and suffering because of this ring, but show s that the integrity in him is too much to give in and give up. Even the smallest of creatures can change the course of the world.

Gandalf the Grey, the wandering wizard as he is known to the hobbits in the Shire, is one of two wizards in this movie. Gandalf is the undeclared leader of the Fellowship and the chief advisor to Frodo on this quest. This immortal wizard is about nine feet tall and has unimaginable power. His power is not only in his wizardry, but also in the uncountable amount of knowledge that he has available whenever or wherever needed. He ends up saving the Fellowship numerous times by his powers and knowledge. After saving his own self once, while being held prisoner by the evil wizard Saruman, Gandalf the Grey cant save himself again when a Balrog ( a very large and extraordinarily powerful, ancient demon) drags Gandalf into the depths of Khazad-dum (an ancient dwarf mine). Gandalf has a very kind face and disposition to go along with a compassionate heart. He turns down the chance to be the keeper of the ring, inevitabley stopping an even greater power from ruling than even the Dark Lord could let loose. Gandalf rarely changes as the movie goes on but remains constant in his intentions to destroy the ring.

Of the nine companions, one has a part that will compel him to be the king of men in Middle-Earth, if the one ring and the Dark Lord are destroyed. Aragorn, son of Arathorn or as he is introduced in the book, Strider, is the rightful heir to the throne of Gondor. Gondor is the main kingdom and most powerful city that inhabits Middle-Earth. Aragorn was the nine and thirtieth heir to the right line of Isildur, the one who cut the ring from Saurons hand. Isildur had this one chance to destroy the ring and Sauron forever, but he decided to keep the ring for himself, not being able to pass up this possibility for inconceivable power. But while agents of the Dark Lord try to get the ring from Isildur, the ring gets lost in the great river Andrudin , while Isildur is attempting to swim to safety. Evil is allowed to endure. Its because of this error that shapes Aragorn into the man he is. Aragorn feels that because he has the blood of Isildur flowing through his veins he will be doomed to the same fate as well. But as we see in the movie, Aragorn uses that fear as a source of motivation and strength to overcome the persistence of evil. Aragorn is highly intelligent and extremely gifted in size as well as his ability to use that size in fighting. He is the captain of the Dunedain, or Rangers who patrol and roam many northern lands as guardians to many borders. He is uncontested my favorite character in this movie. He portrays the type of man every person of the male sex would want to be compared to. His mannerisms and the kindness towards all that is good in Middle-Earth truly make him very righteous and noble. He also intends to marry Arwen, an elf, daughter of Elrond a lord of elves, head of the elves of Mirkwood and Rivendell. Aragorn shows his true strength; his strength of heart when Frodo offers Aragorn to take possession of the ring, but Strider denies this offer to show his strength of strong will. Strider will have a tough task ahead of him to keep the determination of completing the task appointed to him as well as the eight others. Decisions that he will have to make along the journey will prove his worth to the throne of Gondor.

Samwise Gamgee is the definition of what a true friend is. Even after Frodo secretly leaves the group to take the One Ring to Mordor himself, Samwise chases after him to make there not an ounce of doubt that he will stick with Frodo no matter what the stakes. Samwise, or Sam as he is called by his companions, is another hobbit who happens to be Frodos best friend. He is a stout hobbit who proves to be filled with courage in battle, as well as on the journey, that could take the place of ten hobbits. Sam was Frodo and Bilbos gardener at Bag End when they still lived there. Since they were kids Sam and Frodo were great friends, always hanging out together doing the things young hobbits did at their age. Sams strength of courage is something that he never realized he had, until this perilous journey. Sam helps to save Frodo a few times in this movie. The most memorable was in the mines of Moria when Sam helped to defeat numerous Orcs as well as a Cave Troll. He is not the brightest of hobbits, but make no mistake that he is one of the truest and strong willed of the companions, especially to Frodo. As the movie progresses we see Sam getting stronger, and hungrier. He has a big appetite for food, as do all hobbits. Not to mention his love for a drink of good ale!

Nine determined companions on a perilous journey to determine the outcome of Middle-Earth. The One Ring to be destroyed. Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Merriedoc Brandybuck, Perigrin Took all hobbits from the Shire, Gandalf the Grey, Strider, Boromir from Gondor, Legolas an elf from Mirkwood, and Gimli the dwarf all are in the most incredibly challenging pursuit of defeating evil that anyone has ever had to face to date. Only time will tell how these nine comrades deal with the problems and stumbles they encounter along their way to Mordor.

I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had ever happened, said Frodo. So do all who live to see such times, replied Gandalf reassuringly, but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.