The Fellowship of the Ring: book report and analysis

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Lord of the Rings

The Balance of Power in the Fellowship of the Ring

J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has many themes found on its pages, one of the most important being the concept of power and its allures to all those who live in Middle-Earth. Throughout the story, different characters are mentioned who want the Ring for themselves, for the Ring possesses a great power. As Gandalf explains to Frodo, the Ring is "far more powerful than I ever dared to think at first, so powerful that in the end it would utterly overcome anyone of mortal race who possessed it. It would possess him." The Fellowship of the Ring shows us that power -- especially great power -- has the tendency to corrupt even the most innocent of hobbits and most strong-willed of men. No one is safe from the allures of power.

The Fellowship of the Ring follows Frodo Baggins, a simple-living hobbit whose cares in Middle-Earth are limited to the Shire. When Gandalf, a family friend and a powerful wizard, gives him a strange ring to keep safe, Frodo's world gets turned upside down. Instead of looking forward to friendly visits in his hobbit home in the Shire, Frodo must watch the shadows and hide from the monsters out to steal the One Ring. Confused and scared, Frodo is sent off on a journey with three of his hobbit friends, in search of a man who could possibly help Frodo in his quest. This adventure takes Frodo on a perilous journey to Rivendell, the home of the elves; there, he realizes that his quest is not over. With a fellowship of nine warriors -- including three hobbits, two humans, an elf, a dwarf, and a wizard -- Frodo must face a more dangerous path: to rid Middle-Earth of the One Ring by casting it to the fires of Mount Doom. The problem with this is that Mount Doom is in the very heart of Mordor, where the evil Sauron -- forger of the One Ring -- watches and waits for his creation to return to him.

The Ring is the ultimate symbol of power for all of the races in Middle-Earth. It is also the symbol of the failure to resist this power, and all of the races -- especially men -- are corrupted at the ownership of the Ring. While Frodo is more resistant to this Ring's power, it is still obvious that the temptation of wielding the Ring remains, and like the others before him, he is drawn to this Ring and begins to yearn for its use. In The Fellowship of the Ring, many characters are mentioned to have been tempted by the Ring: Gandalf avoids touching it for fear of succumbing to its powers, Aragorn ultimately refuses the burden of carrying it to Mount Doom for fear of a repetition of his ancestry's failure, and Galadriel exposes Frodo to a possibility of what would occur if she, a high elf, would gain possession of such a ring. There are also those tempted by power, those who are prone to succumb to it to the worst degree: Isildur keeps the Ring and is murdered on his journey home, Boromir aims to steal the Ring from Frodo and is killed in a horrid battle afterward, and Gollum becomes a monstrous creature after possessing the Ring for centuries on end. All of these people are aware of the power held within the Ring, and none are resistant to this temptation.