Fellowship of the ring how many

Tolkien didn't mind balancing a loaded cast of characters throughout The Lord of the Rings. From multiple villains to kings, stewards, innkeepers, and so on, the story is absolutely brimming with familiar faces.

But there's one group that stands above all of the rest. Dubbed "the Nine Walkers" by Elrond, this posse of heroes is commonly known to fans simply as "the Fellowship of the Ring" — the titular group from the first installment of the trilogy.

Every member of this intrepid band serves an instrumental role during the War of the Ring. However, some of them tend to contribute in more powerful ways than others. So which members of the Fellowship are the strongest? Well, never fear. We're here to figure that out. We've taken into consideration things like political prowess, muscle, leadership capabilities, raw charisma, and that deep yet quiet internal strength.

And after factoring in some magical abilities, we've come up with our official rankings of the members of the Fellowship of the Ring, from the strongest to the weakest in the company. The Lord of the Rings story hinges on the fact that the Dark Lord Sauron is attempting to conquer all of Middle-earth. However, he lacks the one trinket that can truly help him crush all resistance.

This is, of course, the One Ring that he himself forged and filled with unfathomable power. This ring is possessed by Frodo Baggins, who sets out on a quest to destroy the shiny bauble before its dark owner can reclaim it. Not too far into the story, the Fellowship of the Ring is formed in the Elvish stronghold of Rivendell. The Fellowship is designed to represent all of the major groups of the Free Peoples that are actively resisting Sauron's dominion.

They set out together, but no one is required to stay with the company for any predetermined amount of time. Only Frodo is bound to the ultimate ring-wrecking quest.

While the group does eventually splinter, they go on to each perform critical tasks in the war before they mostly find each other once again at the end of the adventure. Okay, so we've gone over who it is that we're ranking, but how exactly are we going to rank them? After all, there are a lot of different factors that could go into considering "weakest to strongest.

Aragorn is a single, wandering dude, but he ultimately wields unprecedented political power. Boromir is a war hero. Sam Gamgee is a water-and-food-deprived gardener who carries his friend up a mountain when push comes to shove.

The point is, there are a lot of ways to come at this thing, and choosing just one benchmark would be a bit unfair. For instance, pure spiritual strength would easily set Gandalf above everyone else. Physically, everyone would beat out the hobbits, hands down. So while it's a tricky business, we're going to primarily rank each member based on four major categories — their raw physical prowess, their battlefield skill, their political power and reputation, and their inner spiritual strength.

All four of these are major factors at different times in the story. Tolkien includes plenty of head-to-head action scenes, reputations and politics dramatically affect how events unfold, and inner spiritual strengths and struggles are a deciding factor in more than one scenario. In addition, we're going to consider the entire career arc of each character, not just their actions during the primary narrative.

Alright, are we ready to do this thing? Let's rank the Fellowship of the Ring from weakest to strongest, shall we? Starting off the list, we have Peregrin Took. The spunky hobbit is one of the last members to join the Fellowship and he doesn't even know where exactly it's headed.

Still, there's no doubt that his friendship and loyalty to Frodo is unwavering. In addition, Pippin saves Faramir's life, helps convince the Ents to attack Isengard, and serves as both a knight of Gondor and the honorary Thain of the Shire later in life.

While he does some pretty important stuff, though, the Took doesn't do too much when it comes to fighting — with the notable exception of taking on a troll in the final battle in the book The Return of the King. He's also totally blindsided by Sauron when he looks in the Palantir even if his hobbit innocence ultimately saves him , and he's unable to disconnect from the spell by his own willpower.

The plain fact of the matter is that everyone on this list is made of hero material in one way or another. That's why they're in the freaking Fellowship of the Ring. When push comes to shove, though, the Tookish halfling just isn't a "powerful" character in Tolkien's world.

On the contrary, much of what his presence boils down to is a combination of small yet timely actions and some pretty great comic relief. He attempts to take the Ring from Frodo, believing he can use it to defeat the Dark Lord Sauron and restore peace and security. After Frodo runs off, betrayed and frightened, Boromir realizes his grave mistake and is immediately guilt-stricken. He achieves some redemption in his defense of Merry and Pippin, whom he attempts to protect from Uruk-hai and Orc enforcements.

He is fatally struck by arrows from an Orc archer, and is laid to rest. Though each member of the Fellowship has their unique strengths, Gandalf is inarguably the strongest member of the Fellowship of the Ring.

While wizards are quite commonplace in other fantasy universes, wizards, or the Istari, in Middle-earth are not merely magic users: they're Maiar: powerful, supernatural, ancient beings akin to angels in terms of mythology. A select group of Maiar, Gandalf among them, was sent to Middle-earth in the form of mortal wizards to defend the land from Sauron's reign by supporting and guiding the people of the realm.

Gandalf was quite literally otherworldly in terms of ability, and he demonstrates that immense power time and again throughout the trilogy, whether it be defeating the Balrog in the Mines of Moria or destroying Saruman's staff at Orthanc. By the end of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, two members of the Fellowship have passed on.

At the conclusion of The Fellowship of the Ring , the camp is attacked by the Uruk-hai, vicious warrior Orcs bred by Saruman the White. At the start of the second installment, The Two Towers , Boromir dies after sacrificing himself in an attempt to save Merry and Pippin from the Uruk-hai. His death is in vain; after he is struck by arrows from Orc archers, the two Hobbits are captured. Aragorn finds Boromir, and as he takes his last breaths, Boromir explains that Merry and Pip have been apprehended but are still alive.

Boromir's body is sent off on a funeral raft, serenaded with a moving mourning song performed by Legolas and Aragorn. In the middle of The Fellowship of the Ring , the Fellowship loses another key member, although he does make a reappearance later in the trilogy.

As the Fellowship makes the treacherous journey through the Mines of Moria, they are attacked by a cave troll and a host of Orcs, escaping quite narrowly. Gandalf urges the rest of the Fellowship to flee, facing the Balrog himself. While he defeats Durin's Bane, casting him into the chasm, Gandalf the Grey is also dragged into the abyss. The immense loss of Gandalf is felt throughout the Fellowship, but the old wizard has another trick up his sleeve: early in The Two Towers , Gandalf reemerges as Gandalf the White, having been resurrected and sent back to Middle-earth.

He encounters Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas, who at first do not recognize the elderly white rider, and continues his journey alongside the Fellowship. Revisit the adventure that started it all with The Hobbit. Follow along with everyday Hobbit Bilbo Baggins as he takes off on a rather unexpected journey alongside Gandalf and a baker's dozen of Dwarves.

This time, it's Bilbo's nephew, Frodo Baggins, who sets out from the Shire, and the stakes could not be higher. Frodo is tasked with taking the dangerously powerful One Ring to the fires of Mount Doom and casting it into the flames. He's joined by eight other heroes, and the Fellowship is forged. With the Fellowship cleaved, Sam and Frodo continue the perilous journey to Mordor alone while great battles are waged at Helm's Deep and Isengard. Hear the thrilliing conclusion of the Lord of the Rings saga in The Return of the King , which ultimately finds our heroes victorious, the Ring destroyed, and the evil Dark Lord Sauron defeated.

Ask any Tolkien fan and they'll tell you: the Lord of the Rings is only the tip of the iceberg. Tolkien was a world-builder like no other, and The Silmarillion explores the ins-and-outs of Middle-earth's history, mythos, and lore.

The late Christopher Lee was exceptional in his turn as the devious Saruman the White, and luckily for audiobook fans, he also lent his talents to this performance of Tolkien's The Children of Hurin.

Constructed from various drafts of this story by Tolkien's son Christopher, this listen is set long before the events of Lord of the Rings, when the greatest threat was not Sauron but Morgoth. After a long and difficult journey south from Rivendell, and a near-catastrophic attempt to cross over the Misty Mountains via the Pass of Caradhras , the Fellowship descended into Moria.

In the former Dwarf-kingdom, they found evidence that Orcs had slain Gimli's kinsman Balin and other Dwarves who had returned there. They were soon confronted by the Balrog known as Durin's Bane , who had many Orc and Troll minions under his control. Gandalf fell facing this menace, and the company was forced to go on without him. This route was quicker than an overland march, but the group was attacked by Orc archers and shadowed by Gollum , who had begun following them in Moria.

Forced to portage their boats around the rapids of Sarn Gebir and preparing to take the North Stair to avoid the waterfall of Rauros , the Fellowship soon ran into difficulties. Boromir finally succumbed to temptation, and attempted to seize the Ring from Frodo. This led to Frodo using the Ring to escape and he and Sam leaving to spare the others the lure of it.

The repentant Boromir died trying to defend Merry and Pippin against a large force of Uruks from Isengard. The Fellowship was dissolved on the banks of the Anduin that day. Frodo and Sam carried on towards Mordor; Boromir was given funerary rites and sent floating over the falls, and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli departed on their way to save Merry and Pippin.

After Boromir died the Fellowship split into three paths. Upon arriving at the site of the battle, Aragorn discovered that the hobbits fled deep into Fangorn Forest. Gandalf assured them that Merry and Pippin were safe knowing they were in the hands of Treebeard. Frodo and Sam continued their journey, getting closer to Mordor.