Lord of the Rings book report. Plot outline and themes.

The lord of the rings door J.R.R. Tolkien

Part one

First book

September 22nd 3001, Bilbo Baggins celebrates the birthday of himself and his cousin Frodo. On this occasion, he insults nearly all his relatives and acquaintances and suddenly he vanishes. Frodo inherits all of his property, including the ring. Frodo worries but realises that Bilbo will be alright. For Bilbo it's very difficult to part from the ring but after some angry words by wizard Gandalf he lets it go. Nearly 17 years later, Gandalf returns to the Shire and tells Frodo the history of the ring. He tells Frodo that it is dangerous to use or even possess the ring. He says it is Frodo task to go on a quest to Orodruin, the fire-mountain. There is the only place where it is possible to destroy the ring which, so Gandalf tells, is the one ring created by Sauron the great himself. So Frodo sets out, along with Sam and Pippin, Merry has gone ahead, for Crickhollow and later to Rivendel, an elf-home. On their way they encounter an black dressed rider which sniffs as if he is looking for something. They also meet some elves, but they will not tell Frodo much because they are afraid he would not dare to go on his quest if he knew the danger that lay ahead. After trying to take a shortcut they meet farmer Maggot who takes them on the way to the ferry over the brandywine river. There they meet merry and they decide to leave the Shire right the next day. They will pass through the old forest, where a great old willow tries to kill them, but right in time Tom Bombadil, master of the forest, comes and saves them. Later as they travel through the barrow-downs and Tom has to save them again, this time from the barrow-wights. Without further delays they go on to Bree. In Bree they go to the inn "the prancing pony" where they meet Strider, a ranger who convinces them to take him along on their journey. Together they leave for Rivendel. And after a close escape from the Black riders, from which Frodo got saved by Elrond and Gandalf, they reach rivendel.

Second book

In Rivendel a council is called upon by Elrond to discuss who will take on the quest and who will join him. Frodo will be the ring bearer and his followers (for the time they choose) will be Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Strider, now called Aragorn and surprisingly, it seems that he an heir of a great king, Boromir, a powerful human warrior, Gimli, a dwarven warrior and the son of an old friend of Bilbo and Legolas Greenleaf, an elf with swift, light feet. They set out for Mordor and they want to pass through the Redhorn-Gate on top of Caradhras, the snowy mountain. But Caradhras doesn't intend to let them pass and attacks them with snow and even an avalanche. Gandalf suggests to take a route through a dark place, called Moria. In Moria they get attacked by orcs but suddenly the orcs run away ,they find out why when they get attacked by a balrog. While fighting the balrog, Gandalf falls down a deep crack and everybody thinks that he is dead. Now the fellowship will follow Aragorn, and they follow him to Lothlorien, the fairest elf-haven of all and the heart of elvendom on earth. Here they are the guests of the fair lady Galadriel and lord Celeborn who feed them. Galadriel offers Frodo and Sam a chance to take a glance in her "mirror," in fact it is only a pool which reflects the light of the stars and the moon but when Sam looks, he sees the gaffer (his father, Ham Gamgee) and great evil in the Shire. But he can't return to set it right. Bilbo sees only one thing, an eye looking for hem and he knows that it is the sauron's eye and he gets scared. When the fellowship leaves, they all receive very valuable gifts and food for travelling, called lembas and they get grey elven-cloaks that make the carrier almost invisible. They leave lothlorien and head for Emyn Muil over the great river. They suspect that they are being followed by a creature named Gollum, the creature that "gave" Bilbo the ring. But when they get there Boromir tries to take the ring from Frodo to save his home-town Minas Tirith which is being attacked by orcs. Frodo decides to leave on his own because he can't trust some members of the fellowship and he loves the others too much to put them in the danger where he is going. But Sam sees what Frodo is doing and goes Back to the boats where he finds Frodo. While they are looking for Frodo, Merry and Pippin are being attacked by orcs, Boromir tries to save them but is killed. Merry and Pippin are captured and taken away.

Part two

Third book

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Part two

Third book

When Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas return, they find the body of Boromir surrounded by dead orcs, and decide to give him a decent funeral to give him a decent burial instead of leaving him for the vultures and wargs, wolves who serve Sauron, and then they go after the orcs that took Merry and Pippin. They follow them until it gets dark and they have to stop to rest and, more important, because they are afraid to loose the trail of the orcs. The next day they find a brooch from an elven-cloak and Legolas sees an eagle-like bird high in the air but their first concern is the pursuit of their friends. The next day they meet a group of riders from Rohan, Rohirrim, that almost didn't see them because of their cloaks. Aragorn asks them if they have seen the orcs, the leader of the group who calls himself Éomer, third Marshal of Riddermark and sister-son of king Théoden answers that the orcs have been killed and that they didn't see any halflings but in the heat of the fight they could have mistaken the hobbits for orcs and killed them as well. Aragorn asks if he can borrow three horses to go look for their friends. Once they get to the spot, the find nothing but body's from orcs, no hobbits. The horses they borrowed are stolen by an old man of whom they think it was Saruman. Merry and Pippin are taken away by the orcs and they notice that they are thought to be very valuable to Saruman. When the argument seems to get out of hand, a big, strong orc named Uglúk kills several orcs from another tribe, and then Pippin gets a chance to cut the ropes around his wrists. Later he runs away and throws away his brooch, which is the brooch that Aragorn found. The orcs from the north fear the riders of Rohan and try to escape them, but Grishnákh, their leader leads them back. When the riders come Grishnákh tries to search the hobbits for something but the hobbits see that he is looking for the ring, he doesn't now Frodo took the ring away, and Merry and Pippin get him to run away, taking them along. But when Grishnákh tries to escape from the riders, he gets killed along with the other orcs. Merry and Pippin are saved by their cloaks. Because Pippin has his hands free, he can get a dagger from a dead orc and cut Merry's ropes. They eat some lembas and walk to the nearby forest where they meet Treebeard, the Ent, and Treebeard takes them to his home and gives them food and shelter. They tell him about Gandalf's death and he reacts strangly and they tell him about Saruman's betrayal and he gets very angry. The next day they to the entmoot where ents come together and discuss what they should do about Saruman, and they decide that they will destroy Isengard; Saruman's citadel and Orthanc; his tower. They head for Isengard with plans to destroy it. Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn have found traces of the hobbits' escape but they can't solve the riddle, and they go to the forest Fangorn where they see an old man, at first they think it's Saruman, but when the old man comes nearer they notice that it is Gandalf! Gandalf managed to escape from Moria. And he is no longer Gandalf the grey, he is Gandalf the white, he now is that what Saruman should be. He tells them how he was caught in Isengard but escaped with the help from Gwaihir, the lord of the eagles. He returns their horses to them the horses fled when Saruman chased them away and they encountered Shadowfax, the horse Gandalf loaned from Rohan, is the best and most valuable horse of Rohan. Then they went to see King Théoden from Rohan in his fortress Meduseld. When they get there they are not very friendly greeted because Théoden's counsellor, Gríma, or as everybody calls him: Wormtongue, whispers evil in his ear but Gandalf strikes him down. Gandalf tells the king about how he has been betrayed. The king then gets enthusiastic about the idea of going out on a quest and all the weights Gríma piled up drop off his shoulders. In gratitude king Théoden gives shadowfax to Gandalf, and Éowyn, sister-daughter of king Théoden and sister of Éomer will lead the people to Edoras while the king is away. They ride to the fords of the Isen where they hoped to meet Théoden's men under command of Erkenbrand holding back the hosts of Saruman. They urge them to come back to helm's deep, a strong fortress which has never been conquered, they go there too. When they get there, they're attacked by orcs, but there's no Erkenbrand. All fear that the orcs got him. They manage to hold them back until dawn, and then king Théoden decides to attack for the last time, and just when they ride, Gandalf returns with Erkenbrand just in time. The orcs flee into the nearby forest and they all die there. They ride to Isengard where they see ents, and Merry and Pippin! Merry and Pippin are very happy to see Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas again, but they're amazed to see Gandalf for they thought he was dead. They tell their story to Gimli, Aragorn, and Legolas, about how they got there and how the ents destroyed Isengard but not Orthanc, which contains a greater magic then Saruman's. And they get back their swords the orcs took from them. Gandalf, who talked to Treebeard for a while goes into Orthanc with the king, Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn and a couple of riders from Rohan. In Orthanc they see Saruman who tries to persuade the king, by using his enchanting voice, to make allies with him, but the king knows his tricks and refuses. Then Saruman tries to enchant Gandalf but Gandalf breaks his wand and casts him from the order and from the council of wizards. When they leave, Wormtongue tries to throw a stone at Gandalf, or at Saruman, nobody really knows. The stone rolls down the stairs of Orthanc and almost into the river, but Pippin picks it up and gives it to Gandalf. But at night Pippin can't sleep because he has to think of the stone, which is called palantir, and decides to go and take a look. When he looks in it he's overwhelmed by the power of the dark lord of the nazguls who looks in another palantir but luckily he isn't forced to tell everything he knows, Gandalf decides to take Pippin to Gondor and to give the palantir to Aragorn. Fourth book After they left the camp, Frodo and Sam go through a desert place, Emyn Muil, and they hope they're not being followed by Gollum anymore, but after they climb down a steep edge, they see Gollum following them. Sam tries to attack him but Gollum is too strong, Frodo uses his sword Sting to keep Gollum calm. Gollum promises that he will help them to get to Mordor. However he behaves strangely but Sam and Frodo think nothing of it. He leads them over mountains and swamps which contain corpses. They can't travel by light because Gollum is afraid of it. When they reach the gates to Mordor, they can't continue, so they ask Gollum to lead them around it. Gollum first refuses and tries to get the ring again. When Sam cooked some coneys that Gollum caught, a couple of men who saw the smoke, come to check it out. Their leader, Faramir, who is the brother of Boromir Comes to talk to them and decides to take them to their hideout, but Gollum follows them. At first Faramir wants to kill Gollum but Frodo doesn't want that to happen. They take Gollum to lead them to Mordor, they have to climb a steep stairway to get to the top. Once at the top they go through a dark cave, but Gollum tried to lure Frodo and Sam into a trap, in that cave lives Shelob, a huge spider-like monster which has lived there before Sauron came to Mordor, she used to feed on innocent passer-by's, but not many of them come round these days, so every now and then Sauron sends an orc to her for her food and for his entertainment. Gollum met her and made a deal with her, he would bring her food and she would let him live. So when Sam and Frodo were in the cave, Shelob chased them but they managed to escape using the gift they got from Galadriel, and sting and when they think they lost Shelob, she comes back and jumps Frodo who can just get to her with sting but Shelob Bites him and injects her venom in him. Sam thinks Frodo is dead and takes the ring and sting, Then he sees an orc patrol coming out of the watch-tower which is located on the top, on the border of mordor. The orcs take Frodo but Sam just hears that Frodo is still alive.

Part three

Fifth book

Gandalf and Pippin reach Gondor, where Pippin is questioned by Denethor, the father of Boromir and Faramir. Moved by the Greatness of Denethor Pippin swears his loyalty to him. Pippin is shown around by Beregond and his son. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas will ride the paths of the dead. Merry will go to Rohan with Théoden. The next day Théoden leaves Rohan for Gondor, and tries to leave Merry behind, but a knight lifts him on his horse and takes him along. Outside the gates of Rohan, Faramir fights for his life and his horse runs to get to Rohan. Gandalf saves him, and Faramir tells him about his meeting with Frodo. The next day the enemy attacks under the leadership of the king of Angmar which is the lord of the nazgul, Faramir is wounded in the fight and his father goes crazy and tries to kill himself and Faramir Gandalf is able to stop it just in time. Then Rohan arrives. Théoden rides to the lord of the nazgul but he strikes him down, then Éowyn appears and tries to attack him and she kills the animal he rides upon, when he directs his attention to Éowyn, Merry attacks him from behind and kills the lord of the nazgul. Théoden is dead and Éowyn and Merry are wounded. Then Aragorn arrives with hordes of undeads, and the fight is soon over. Aragorn heals Faramir, Merry and Éowyn, and there is decided that Gondor will attack Mordor.

Sixth book

Sam decides he has to save Frodo and goes into the tower, it seems there was a fight and almost all the orcs are dead. Sam reaches Frodo but has to fight several orcs, they leave the tower and they start the last part of the journey. They are lucky, because they have to wear orc clothing the orc-patrol they meet doesn't recognise them. They continue and Gollem who has followed them attacks them, claiming the ring as his own. Frodo scares him off but doesn't kill him. They reach the top of Orodruin but once there Frodo refuses to destroy the ring, the ring has control over Frodo, Frodo puts it on his finger and disappears, but at that moment Gollem comes back and attacks Frodo again. He bites off Frodo's finger and the ring and is overwhelmed with joy. He dances and jumps but jumps to far, he falls in the doom crack taking the ring along. Meanwhile, in front of the gates of Mordor the armies of Gondor and Mordor fight each other and Mordor seems to be winning, the nazguls cause great fear with the attackers. But suddenly they turn around and rush away, back into the shadows of Mordor. The attackers gain their courage and crush the armies of Mordor. Gandalf asks the king of the eagles to take him to Orodruin to retrieve Sam and Frodo. After the celebrations everybody goes home. Sam, Frodo, Merry and Pippin go back to the Shire but once they get there, they realise a lot has changed. A lot of villains rule the Shire, they organise a revolt and win the last battle, but when they return to Bag-end, Saruman is there, he has caused this. Saruman is killed by Wormtongue which is killed by the Hobbits. They can start rebuilding the Shire.

Title-explanation

The title refers to Frodo, who has the power over the ring and has to bear it to Mordor.

Setting

The Lord of the Rings is set in a sort of medieval sort of setting in a fantasy world, Middle Earth. Technology isn't very advanced, and the world is a mystical fairytale sort of world with all kinds of strange creatures in it: Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins and werewolves (wargs) and lots more.

Main charachters and their relation to each other

The story is about a group of travelers who set out to destroy the ring. The main character is Frodo, he is the ring-bearer, there is his best friend Sam and his other friends Merry and Pippin, they are all hobbits. There is the great wizard Gandalf, the mighty man Aragorn, or Strider as he is introduced to the hobbits. Then there is another man, called Boromir, an Elf called Legolas and a dwarf whose name is Gimli. These travelers set out against the evil Sauron, ruler of the Ring and lord of many evil things. On their way they also come up against Saruman, a mighty wizard who once was a good wizard, but now has turned evil. They are also followed by a creature called Gollum who once possessed the Ring and now wants it back.

Main characters in detail

As said, the most important person in the story is Frodo, because he has to carry the Ring and take it into the land of lord Sauron to the only place where it can be destroyed. At the beginning of the story he is an ordinary hobbit fond of and used to a lot of comfort and extensive meals. Although he is more of an adventurer than most of his kind, he would have never taken part in this adventure, had he known what it entailed. He is of a wealthy and respectable family, the Baginses. As the story proceeds he becomes more and more a brave little hobbit. He is of gentle character and very loyal to his friends. Gandalf the Wizard is also a very important character, his full name is Gandalf the Grey, or as the elves call him: Mithrandir. He is an old and wise man but also very mysterious and closed to others. He tends to speak in riddles and he is a solemn character who will not soon indulge in small talk like the hobbits do, but he has humor and he is very fond of the hobbits and their particular ways. The others all have the deepest respect for him and he is the leader of the company. Sam, as well as Merry and Pippin kind of follow Frodo in his experiences and they too grow more and more adventurous as the story goes on. Legolas remains almost the same person he is the entire book, he is smart, light on his feet and never jumps to conclusions, though his opinion about dwarfs changes a bit. Gimli is the opposite of Legolas, he is a dwarf, very short tempered and he too remains that way, it's only his opinion of elves that changes

Minor charachters

Unfortunately there are too many of these to try and explain them.

Theme

This story is mainly about courage, I think, the courage of Frodo, the little hobbit. It is also about not underestimating the little things, as Sauron did with the hobbits. And finally it is about the fight between good and evil.

Perspective

I think the writer looks with a medieval perspective, he does this very well, when you read it you have.