Behind the events that befall the Ring-bearer and the Fellowship, the reader begins to sense an awakening of the true nature of the story. Turner commented that reading the book is to "find oneself gently rocked between bleakness and luxury, the sublime and the cosy. Further, they are similar in having a character – Gandalf or Elrond – recapitulate the past so as to explain the present situation. When they reach the house at Crickhollow, Merry and Pippin reveal they know about the Ring and insist on travelling with Frodo and Sam. Steeped in unrivalled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy and epic adventure has touched the hearts of young and old alike.

IX · At the Sign of the Prancing Pony — The hobbits reach the Prancing Pony inn at Bree, where Frodo uses a false name, Underhill.The Arts and Crafts polymath William Morris was a major influence, [T 9] and Tolkien undoubtedly made use of some real place-names, such as Bag End, the name of his aunt's home. The wizard Gandalf confirms that this is the One Ring, lost by the Dark Lord Sauron long ago, and urges Frodo to spirit it to the elven stronghold of Rivendell. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring – the ring that rules them all – which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. When an itinerant wizard and a company of dwarves come knocking, Bilbo is swept into their expedition to the Lonely Mountain, where the dwarves intend to recapture their people’s vast treasure from the dangerous dragon Smaug. I started the First Lines and First Pages series in November 2017 as a homage to National Novel Writing Month.

Some commentators have criticized the book for being a story about men for boys, with no significant women; or about a purely rural world with no bearing on modern life in cities; of containing no sign of religion; or of racism. Delays in producing appendices, maps and especially an index led to the volumes being published later than originally hoped – on 29 July 1954, on 11 November 1954 and on 20 October 1955 respectively in the United Kingdom. The literary critic Edmund Wilson however wrote an unflattering review entitled "Oo, Those Awful Orcs! Gandalf informs Frodo that the Black Riders are the Nazgûl, Men from ancient times enslaved by Rings of Power to serve Sauron.IV - A Short Cut to Mushrooms - They meet Farmer Maggot while taking a short cut, and he gives them some of his prized mushrooms.

V - The Bridge of Khazad-dûm - Attacked by Orcs, trolls and a Balrog of Morgoth, they make their way to the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, where Gandalf and the Balrog fall. The others escape and find refuge in the timeless Elven forest of Lothlórien, where they are counselled by the Lady Galadriel.g., Tom Bombadil) they eventually come to Bree, where they meet Strider, another friend of Gandalf who leads them the rest of the way to Rivendell, through further hardships. Tolkien's influences Beowulf 's eotenas [ond] ylfe [ond] orcneas, "ogres [and] elves [and] devil-corpses" helped to inspire Tolkien to create the Orcs and Elves of Middle-earth. Sauron seeks the One Ring that will allow him to control the Bearers of the nineteen Lower Rings and control the three major races of Middle-earth: the Elves, the Men and the Dwarves. Galadriel's husband Celeborn gives the Fellowship boats, elven cloaks, and waybread (Lembas), and they travel down the River Anduin to the hill of Amon Hen. Homely Houses" are shown with house icons; dangers, with or without actual violence, with crossed-swords icons.