Company of the Ring

The Company of the Ring, also called the Fellowship of the Ring and the Nine Walkers, is a group of nine representatives from the free peoples of Middle-earth: Elves, Dwarves, Men, and Hobbits; and a Wizard. The group is described in the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, itself titled The Fellowship of the Ring. The number nine is chosen, as the book's author J. R. R. Tolkien states, to match and oppose the nine Black Riders or Ringwraiths.

Scholars have commented that Tolkien saw community as the right way to live. They note, too, that the Fellowship is diverse both in culture and in personal qualities, and bound together by friendship, a model very different from the western image of the lone hero. Tolkien uses the term "company" far more often than "fellowship", the word coming from Latin companio, a person who shares bread, suggesting a co-traveller on the road or a group with a shared purpose. The Company of the Ring has been likened to the Arthurian order of the Knights of the Round Table, a group that has many points of similarity including a person carrying the burden of a quest, a returning King, an accompanying Wizard, and a treacherous knight.

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) was an English Roman Catholic writer, poet, philologist, and academic, best known as the author of the high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.^[1] Set in Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling books ever written, with over 150 million copies sold.^[2]

The main plot of The Lord of the Rings is a quest to destroy the One Ring, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the dark lord Sauron.^{[T 1]} A council is held in Rivendell to decide how to achieve this. A hobbit, Frodo Baggins, is to bear the Ring to the land of Mordor to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom. He is to be assisted by a Company representing the Free Peoples of Middle-earth.^{[T 1]} Elrond announces that

The Company of the Ring shall be Nine; and the Nine Walkers shall be set against the Nine Riders that are evil...^{[T 1]}

The Company sets out on the quest at the beginning of winter.^{[T 2]} It is led by the Wizard Gandalf;^{[T 1]} he takes the company south through the wild lands of Eriador. They attempt to cross the Misty Mountains, but are driven back. Instead, they travel through the mines of Moria.^{[T 3]} Gandalf falls while fighting a Balrog there, allowing the others to escape.^{[T 4]} Aragorn leads the Fellowship to Lothlórien,^{[T 5]} and then in boats down the River Anduin.^{[T 6]}

After some days on the river, the Company camp at Parth Galen to decide what to do. The next day, the Company is broken. While the others argue about the route to take, Frodo slips away and Boromir follows him. Boromir demands the Ring from Frodo. To escape, Frodo puts on the Ring.^{[T 7]} Merry and Pippin are captured by a group of Orcs. Boromir is killed defending them.^{[T 8]} Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli give Boromir's body a boat burial;^{[T 9]} they then set off in pursuit of Merry and Pippin.^{[T 10]} Sam catches up with Frodo as he, still invisible, sets out to cross the river in one of the boats; the two of them set out together to Mordor.^{[T 7]} Frodo and Sam manage, after many hardships, to reach Mount Doom. The Ring is destroyed, and Sauron is utterly vanquished. The Company of the Ring is victorious.^[3]

The Inklings scholar Ariel Little writes that Tolkien saw community as the "ideal model for life". The type of community is specifically diverse, in culture and in personal qualities, a team bound together by friendship and relying completely on the strengths of each individual member to forward the common cause. This is the reverse of the character of what Tolkien states is the opposing group, the Nine Riders, who are "homogeneous, discordant, and intensely individualistic."^[4] Little comments that the model of community is radically unlike the western image of the lone hero.^[4] The Christian commentator Ralph C. Wood writes that "the greatness of the Nine Walkers lies in the modesty of both their abilities and accomplishments. Their strength lies in their weakness, in their solidarity as a company unwilling to wield controlling power over others."^[5] Rebecca Munro notes that in the Company, "no one acts alone without dependence on the deeds of others".^[6] Little adds that even when the Company is split into smaller groups, it is not destroyed; the three smaller groups—Frodo and Sam on the way to Mordor; Merry and Pippin supporting each other; Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli acting as a team—continue to function as communities.^[4]

Martina Juričková writes in Mallorn that Tolkien uses the term "company" far more often than "fellowship" to describe the group: "company" appears more than 130 times, against just 9 for "fellowship".^[7] She notes that Tolkien was a philologist, fully aware of the etymologies of these terms, and the resulting slight differences in their meanings. "Company" and "companion" are from the Latin companio, in turn from con ("with") and panis ("bread"), hence "person who shares bread [with you]", such as a co-traveller or a member of a group with a shared purpose.^[7] "Fellow", on the other hand, derives from Old English feolaga, "a fee-layer", a person who joins in a financial venture. Juričková comments that this could mean an equal, "a peer with whom I have something in common"; but that in modern English it can equally well mean someone "of lower rank or considered to be of little importance or worth" (as in "that fellow over there"). That would explain, she suggests, why Tolkien could use "fellowship" with its positive connotations, while avoiding the loosely-used word "fellow".^[7]

Tolkien scholars note that while Tolkien criticised the mythology of King Arthur, and disliked its explicit mentions of Christian themes, there are multiple parallels in his writings, not least of Aragorn to King Arthur, suggesting that Tolkien certainly made use of the mythology.^[9][10][11] Laura Gálvez-Gómez specifically likens the Company of the Ring to the Arthurian order of the Knights of the Round Table. In both, there is "a chosen hero who carries the main burden" on a quest, a returning King with the gift of healing, an accompanying Wizard, a treacherous knight, and "a hero without courtly manners who finally becomes a knight".^[8]

All the members of the Company of the Ring are portrayed in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.^[12] A consensus of critics described the casting as "pitch-perfect".^[13] The Company was played by the following actors:^[12]

• Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins
• Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey
• Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn
• Sean Bean as Boromir
• Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee
• Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc Brandybuck
• John Rhys-Davies as Gimli
• Orlando Bloom as Legolas
• Billy Boyd as Peregrin Took

• v
• t
• e

The Lord of the Rings

• J. R. R. Tolkien
• Constructing The Lord of the Rings

About

• Volumes
  • The Fellowship of the Ring
  • The Two Towers
  • The Return of the King
• Stories
  • "The Shadow of the Past"
  • "The Council of Elrond"
  • "The Scouring of the Shire"
  • "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen"
• Translating
  • List of translations
  • Swedish
• Reception
  • Impact
  • Literary
  • Fandom
    • Fan fiction
    • Oxonmoot
    • Tolkienmoot
  • Works inspired
  • Tolkien's impact on fantasy

Analysis

Elements	Artwork Company of the Ring Family trees Heraldry Languages Black Speech Elvish Quenya Sindarin Khuzdul Maps Poetry A Elbereth Gilthoniel Namárië Song of Eärendil The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late The Road Goes Ever On A Walking Song Proverbs
Themes	Addiction to power Ancestry as guide to character Architecture Christianity Death and immortality Decline and fall Dreams and visions Economy England Environmentalism Evil Forests Hell Heroism Luck and fate Magic Mental illness Moral dilemma Music Naming of weapons Northern courage Paganism Plants Psychological journeys Quests Race Sexuality Sound and language Time Trees Women
Influences	Antiquarianism Beowulf Celtic Classical world First World War Norse Medieval Modern sources Modernism A mythology for England Philology Shakespeare
Techniques	Anachronism Character pairing Editorial framing Frame stories Pseudotranslation Impression of depth Narrative structure Interlacing Storytelling Prose style Ambiguity Epic Pooh

Peoples

Maiar	Balrogs Sauron Wizards Gandalf Radagast Saruman
Free peoples	Dwarves Balin Gimli Elves Galadriel Glorfindel Half-elven Arwen Elrond Legolas Thranduil Ents Treebeard Hobbits Bilbo Frodo Merry Pippin Sam Men Beornings Drúedain Dúnedain Aragorn of Gondor Boromir Denethor Faramir of Rohan Éomer Éowyn Théoden Wormtongue
Monsters	Barrow-wight Gollum Nazgûl Witch-king of Angmar Old Man Willow Orcs Shelob Trolls Wargs Watcher in the Water
Other	Eagles Goldberry Tom Bombadil

World

Geography	Eriador Bree Old Forest Rivendell The Shire Bag End Gondor Harad Lothlórien Mirkwood Moria Mordor Rohan Isengard
Battles	Helm's Deep Pelennor Fields Morannon
Objects	Mithril Palantírs Phial of Galadriel Rings of Power One Ring List of weapons and armour

Related
works

• The Hobbit
• The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
  • Errantry
  • Fastitocalon
  • The Sea-Bell
• The Road Goes Ever On
• Bilbo's Last Song
• The Silmarillion
• Unfinished Tales
• The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien
• The History of Middle-earth
• The Children of Húrin
• The History of The Hobbit
• Beren and Lúthien
• The Fall of Gondolin
• The Nature of Middle-earth

Adaptations and derivative works
Books	Bored of the Rings (1969) The Last Ringbearer (1999) Muddle Earth (2003)
Illustrations	A Map of Middle-earth Pauline Baynes Barbara Remington John Howe Alan Lee Margrethe II of Denmark Ted Nasmith
Theatre	Fellowship! (2005) Lord of the Rings (2006)
Music	Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings (1972) Symphony No. 1 The Lord of the Rings (1988) Led Zeppelin "Ramble On" (1969) "Misty Mountain Hop" (1971) "The Battle of Evermore" (1971)
Radio	The Lord of the Rings (BBC, 1955) The Lord of the Rings (NPR, 1979) Hordes of the Things (1980) The Lord of the Rings (BBC, 1981) Der Herr der Ringe (1992)
Film	Animated The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi, 1978) The Return of the King (Rankin/Bass, 1980) The War of the Rohirrim (2024) Peter Jackson series The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) The Two Towers (2002) The Return of the King (2003) Music "Concerning Hobbits" "Into the West" "May It Be" Approach Production Hobbiton Movie Set Peter Jackson's interpretation Picturing Tolkien Tolkien on Film Other Sagan om ringen (1971) Khraniteli (1991) Hobitit (1993) The Rings of Power (2022) music Fan-made The Hunt for Gollum (2009) Born of Hope (2009)
Video games	Journey to Rivendell Game One Game Two: Shadows of Mordor War in Middle Earth Vol. I (1990) Vol. I (SNES) Riders of Rohan Elendor Vol. II: The Two Towers The Fellowship of the Ring The Two Towers The Return of the King War of the Ring The Third Age Game Boy Advance The Battle for Middle-earth Tactics The Battle for Middle-earth II The Rise of the Witch-king Conquest Aragorn's Quest War in the North Lego The Lord of the Rings Guardians of Middle-earth Shadow of Mordor Shadow of War Gollum Return to Moria The Lord of the Rings Online Mines of Moria Siege of Mirkwood Rise of Isengard Riders of Rohan Helm's Deep Mordor Minas Morgul War of Three Peaks Fate of Gundabad Before the Shadow
Tabletop role- playing games	Middle-earth Role Playing The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game The One Ring Roleplaying Game Adventures in Middle-earth
Board games	Middle Earth War of the Ring Gondor: The Siege of Minas Tirith Sauron Lord of the Rings War of the Ring
Card games	Middle-earth Collectible Card Game The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game
Other games	Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game Lego The Lord of the Rings