Alright kids, we got another film franchise to start! The last couple of weeks we have been continuing franchises such as Mission: Impossible and Alien v. Predator, but today we are going to start a brand new series and if you couldn’t tell by the title, we are watching Lord of the Rings! This movie is super long and at times I started to get a little bored, BUT I made it through and I am going to try my best to explain this movie without making it too long, so, you know, you don’t have to watch it. Anyway, here is Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
So we start off with a little narration about what’s going on in the world. Our setting is “Middle-earth”, what does that mean? I’m not 100%, but I guess you could say it’s like mediveal times because there are kings, dwarves, wizards and elves. So here’s what’s going on: the lords of Elves, Dwarves and Men are given Rings of Power and unbeknownst to them, the Dark Lord Sauron these names are going to be ridiculous so just bare with me here forges the One Ring in Mount Doom, instilling into it a great part of his power, in order to dominate the other Rings so he might conquer Middle-earth. So in short, this guy made a bunch of rings for these other people that have power and then said F you guys I made myself an even BETTER ring that puts your rings to shame.
A final alliance of Men and Elves battles Sauron’s forces in Mordor. That’s like the name of the place. Islidur of Gondor Men severs Sauron’s finger and the Ring with it, vanquishing Sauron and returning him to spirit form. But don’t worry, we’re not done, the Ring’s influence corripts Islidur, who takes it for himself and is later killed by Orcs. The Ring is lost in a river for like 2,500 years until it is found by Gollum, you know, “my precious” and all that jazz who owns it for over four and a half centuries. The ring abandons Gollum and it is subsequently found by a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who has no idea what the significant of this ring is. So, let the adventure begin.
60 years later, it is Bilbo’s 111th birthday I don’t know how they age and he reunities with his wizard friend Gandalf the “You shall not pass” guy. Bilbo reveals that he wants to leave his home for one more adventure and leaves all of his inheritance, including the Ring, to his nephew Frodo. Gandalf ain’t no idiot, so he investigates the Ring and discovers its true nature and learns that Gollum was captured and tortured by Sauron’s Orcs, revealing two words during his interrogation: “Shire” which is where the Ring is and “Baggins”. Thanks Gollum. Gandalf returns and warns Frodo to leave the Shire, so he actually listens and leaves with his friend Sam literally the only normal name in this whole movie. Gandalf rides to Isengard to meet with the wizard Saruman, but finds out his alliance with Sauron, I mean. Their names are pretty much the same what did you expect who has dispatched nine undead Nazgul servants to find Frodo.
So, if Sam wasn’t enough, now Frodo is traveling with two other hobbits named Merry and Pippin and Pippin is a fricken moron, like the fact that he makes it through this movie is beyond me. Anyway, they evade the Nazgul before arriving in Bree, where they are supposed to meet Gandalf, but this guy never shows up since Saruman took him prisoner. The hobbits are then aided by a Ranger named Strider, who promises to escort them to Rivendell. Side note, every time Frodo puts this Ring on he goes invisible, but it also shows Saruon where he is, so it’s like a win-lose situation. They are then ambushed by the Nazgul and their leader, the Witch-King, stabs Frodo with a Morgul blade, this is like a poisonious blade. Arwen, an Elf and Strider’s like wife or girlfriend I don’t know, locates Strider and rescues Frodo, summoning flood-waters that sweep the Nazgul away.
Arwen takes Frodo to Rivendell, where he is healed by the Elves and Frodo meets with Gandalf who escaped Isengard on an Eagle. Yup. That night, Strider reunites with Arwen and they affirm their love for each other. I guess this is like their wedding I don’t know. So now that they got both Sauron and Saruman after them, Arwen’s father, Lord Elrond, decides against keeping the Ring in Rivendell and holds a council of Elves, Men and Dwarves. Frodo and Gandalf are there too. At the meeting they decide the Ring must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom and Frodo volunteers to take the Ring, accompanied by Gandalf, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Legolas, Orlando Bloom and an Elf Dwarf Gimli, Boromir of Gondor and Strider, who, it turns out, is actually named Aragorn, Islidur’s heir and the rightful King of Gondor. Bilbo, who now lives in Rivendell, gives Frodo his sword Sting, which glows whenever there is evil close by and a chainmail shirt made of mitrhil, which is like pretty strong.
The Fellowship of the Ring name drop! sets off over the mountain Caradhras, which is like this mountain full of snow but Saruman summons a storm that forces them to travel through the Mines of Moria. After finding the Dwarves of Moria dead, the Fellowship is attacked by Orcs and a cave troll. They hold them off, but are confronted by Durin’s Bane: a Balrog residing within the mines. While the others escape, Gandalf casts it into a vast chasm, this is the “You shall not pass scene” but the stupid Balrog takes Gandalf with him! So, basically Gandalf is dead, like wtf. Anyway the crew reaches Lothlorien, ruled by the Elf-queen Galadriel, who privately informs Frodo that only he can complete the quest and that one of his friends will try to take the Ring. Meanwhile, Saruman is creating an army of Uruk-hai in Isengard to find and kill the Fellowship.
The Fellowship travels by river to Parth Galen where Frodo wanders off and is confronted by Boromir, who tries to take the Ring as Galadriel predicted. Come on people! Uruk-hai scouts ambush the Fellowship and basically kill Boromir and then capture Merry and Pippin. honestly good, they have caused nothing but problems in this movie. I know I haven’t mentioned them, but trust me. Aragorn arrives and comforts Boromir as he dies, promising to help the people of Gondor in the coming conflict. Fearing the Ring will corrupt his friends, Frodo decides to travel to Mordor alone, but allows Sam to come with him. As Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli set out to rescue Merry and Pippin, Frodo and Sam make their way down the mountain pass of Emyn Muil, journeying on to Mordor. The end.
For a three hour movie, I think I did pretty good with explaining the whole movie. As I always say, the blog never does the movie justice, so if this interested you, go ahead and watch the movie. It’s available on HBOMAX. There is also an extended cut of this film, but I was not about to sit through four hours of this movie haha. I’m excited to see the rest of the franchise and see what happens with this crew. I haven’t seen the movies in a long time, so I don’t really remember anything. However, the lesson I learned from this film: If you see a ring and it makes you feel some type of way, get rid of it.
Next movie: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Gabriella Dragone 