Fellowship of the Ring
Topic: The Breaking of the Fellowship
Hullo! Good Morning! This is our last section for Fellowship of the Ring. There is a lot happening... Frodo, Boromir, and Aragorn are all working their way up to major decisions on what to do next.
Next week we shall begin a new thread for The Two Towers! This is a good time to let me know whether you would like to be on or off - the ping list!
Pertinent Chapters - Book II
Chapter 9 The Great River
Chapter 10 The Breaking of the Fellowship
Wandering aimlessly at first in the wood, Frodo found that his feet were leading him up towards the slopes of the hill. He came to a path, the dwindling ruins of a road of long ago. In steep places stairs of stone had been hewn, but now they were cracked and worn, and split by the roots of trees. For some while he climbed, not caring which way he went, until he came to a grassy place. Rowan-trees grew about it, and in the midst was a wide flat stone. The little upland lawn was open upon the East and was filled now with the early sunlight. Frodo halted and looked out over the River, far below him, to Tol Brandir and the birds wheeling in the great gulf of air between him and the untrodden isle. The voice of Rauros was a mighty roaring mingled with a deep throbbing boom.
He sat down upon the stone and cupped his chin in his hands, staring eastwards but seeing little with his eyes. All that had happened since Bilbo left the Shire was passing through his mind, and he recalled and pondered everything that he could remember of Gandalf's words. Time went on, and still he was no nearer to a choice.
Suddenly he awoke from his thoughts: a strange feeling came to him that something was behind him, that unfriendly eyes were upon him. He sprang up and turned; but all that he saw to his surprise was Boromir, and his face was smiling and kind.
`I was afraid for you, Frodo,' he said, coming forward. `If Aragorn is right and Orcs are near, then none of us should wander alone, and you least of all: so much depends on you. And my heart too is heavy. May I stay now and talk for a while, since I have found you? It would comfort me. Where there are so many, all speech becomes a debate without end. But two together may perhaps find wisdom.'
`You are kind,' answered Frodo. 'But I do not think that any speech will help me. For I know what I should do, but I am afraid of doing it, Boromir: afraid.'
Of course, as we know, Frodo has good reason to be afraid . Hullo! Good Morning! Talk amongst yourselves!
Check out Penny's Movie Pictures for a lot of great movie pics from this section.
And here is The map of Middle-Earth So we don't get lost!
Index to thread
click link to find the start of each prior chapter discussion:
(First Five chapters are re-posts of highlights from the old forum)
Prologue and Chapter One A Long-Expected Party
Chapter Two - The Shadow of the Past
Chapter Three Three is Company
And also here double post! ugh!
Chapter Four A Shortcut to Mushrooms
Chapter Five A Conspiracy Unmasked
End of re-posts
Chapter Six The Old Forest
Chapter Seven In The House of Tom Bombadil
Chapter Eight Fog on the Barrow-Downs
Chapter Nine At the Sign of the Prancing Pony
New "section" format:
Bree (chapters 9-11)
Journey from Bree to the Ford (chapters 11-12)
Rivendell (Book 2 - chapters 1-3)
The Ring goes South (chapters 3-4)
Moria (chapters 4-5)
Lothlorien (chapters 6-8)
The Breaking of the Fellowship (chapters 9-10)
p.s. Will we be going back to the chapter-a-week format when we start TT?
Ok, done bashing Boromir. We really get a chance to see the character of certain members of the Fellowship here, mostly that of Boromir - in his failing and later redemption - Frodo, and Sam. I like that. It was very well handled in the Movie, but we got an additional glimpse at Aragorn, Merry and Pippin that really fits them well. Kudos to Jackson for this scene.
Sam's struggle is heartbreaking, both in the book and on film. One of his finest moments, and a lot easier to see than Frodo's choice to go on alone. Does it make sense to say that both of them made the right decision - Frodo to leave alone, and Sam to go along?