“Dad! You can’t stop there!”
I feel wistful tears well up as my son’s protests tell me that the story has captured him like it captured me so many years ago. Smiling, I collect myself. and continue, “He stepped down and vanished. When they opened their eyes Bilbo was nowhere to be seen. One hundred and forty-four flabbergasted hobbits sat back speechless…”
Tolkien’s words weave an atmosphere of tension and mystery, moving from the petty, parochial concerns of the Shirefolk to the broader drama of Bilbo’s mysterious ring and the journey unto which Frodo is about to be called. And then we’ll again exhale, and Tolkien will ask us to stop and “smell the roses,” literarily, if not literally. He’ll regale us with descriptions of flora and fauna and history, hoping that we’ll come to love this world as he does, so that we later feel the stakes of the adventure as he must. Sometimes he’ll go on for quite a long time, and our passage through the roughly 480,000 words that is The Lord of the Rings will begin to seem impossible without a dear friend to carry us through.
“Samwise the Stouthearted” by Marko Manev
For many, reading The Lord of the Rings is a daunting task, promising to demand too much time and too much patience (and even in film form, director Peter Jackson asks three hours of our time thrice over for even the shorter theatrical cuts of the films!). With Magic’s new set, Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth, many players may find themselves mystified or at least only vaguely familiar with the cards, and even fans that have read the books (perhaps long ago) or watched Jackson’s films may not catch every reference. In this article series, I endeavor to put the cards in narrative order and in so doing, summarize Tolkien’s mythic tale so that we can all be “in” on the story of Magic’s most recent foray into Universes Beyond. A summary, of course, must leave things out, and even this retelling will omit cards, references, and some plot points for the sake of creating a readable article series. That said, I will endeavor to include as many images and links to cards as I am able, with a strong enough summary to give even greenest beginner solid footing. Thus, without further ado…
The Fellowship of the Ring
being the first part of
The Lord of the Rings.
Book One
Don’t miss Book Two, Book Three, Book Four, Book Five, and Book Six!
Chapter 1: A Long-Expected Party
Livia Prima’s art depicting six cards representing the events of “A Long-Expected Party”
The opening chapter of The Lord of the Rings picks up roughly sixty years after The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, establishing Bilbo’s mystique in The Shire as a nearly infinitely wealthy, eternally young hobbit. (If you’ve read The Hobbit, you’re in on a lot of the goings on here, but if you’re not, you have to bear with the narration here a bit and trust that you’ll learn what you need to know – and you will – eventually). Bilbo is approaching his eleventy-first (that is, 111th) birthday, which he shares with his relative and adopted heir, Frodo Baggins, who is coming of age at thirty-three. The pettiness of Bilbo’s relatives is on display here, as Otho and Lobelia Sackville-Baggins seethe over not inheriting Bag End. Despite all that, Bilbo and Frodo still invite them and other Delighted Halflings to their massive birthday party, which the mysterious (but exciting! …to the younger hobbits, at least) Gandalf, Friend of the Shire attends as well.
At the party, under The Party Tree, Bilbo gives a farewell speech, during which he uses his ring to vanish into thin air, causing an uproar. Gandalf meets the retired burglar back at Bag End, and argues with Bilbo when the old hobbit resists leaving the magic ring behind for Frodo, which raises Gandalf’s suspicions about its true nature. Bilbo finally relents, and with a couple of dwarves, steals off into the night. When Frodo returns, Gandalf warns him to keep the ring secret and safe, and departs himself the next day after reiterating his words of caution.
Chapter Two: Shadows of the Past
“The One Ring” by Veli Nyström
Years pass. Frodo nears fifty years old, but just like Bilbo, seems never to age. Also like Bilbo, he experiences a growing yearning for adventure. We are told that he often tromps over hill and dale with his dear friends Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry) and Peregrin Took (Pippin), though more recently often ventures far and away by himself. One April day, after a nine-year absence, Gandalf pays Frodo a visit. He reveals to Frodo that he suspects that the ring is in fact The One Ring, and casts it into Frodo’s hearth to reveal the Fiery Inscription, encircling the band:
One Ring to Rule them All; One Ring to Find Them
One Ring to Bring them All and in the Darkness Bind Them
Suspicions confirmed, Gandalf tells the story of how the Sauron, the Dark Lord forged the rings of Power, making Three Rings for the Elven-Kings, seven for the Dwarf Lords, and nine for mortal men. He tells Frodo how Sauron betrayed them, but how the human warrior Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron’s hand, but refused to destroy it, already corrupted by the ring’s influence. He tells Frodo how the ring was lost, and then found again by one named Deagol, whose brother Smeagol coveted the ring immediately, and killed Deagol to take it from him. Smeagol fled beneath the mountains and came to be called Gollum, coming to love and hate the ring that twisted him, until Bilbo found it on his adventure.
Hearing of the great evil of the ring, Frodo resolves to take it out of the Shire. Just then, it becomes apparent that Samwise Gamgee has been eavesdropping, and Gandalf tasks Sam with journeying with Frodo as he begins his adventure.
Chapter Three: Three is Company
Frodo hides from the Black Rider in “Frodo, Sauron’s Bane” by Andreas Rocha
In the coming months, Frodo prepares to leave The Shire with Sam and Pippin. He sells Bag End, and late September, mere days after his birthday, sends Merry ahead to prepare a house in a town called Crickhollow, that will, unknown to any but Frodo and Sam, serve as a temporary ruse to hide Frodo’s true destination: Rivendell, an elven settlement.
On the road, they encounter a Black Rider, who seems to sniff the air, as if hunting like a hound. Sam reports hearing of this back in Hobbiton, and they decide to leave the road behind. Before they get far, the rider doubles back, and begins to crawl toward them, until the sound of elves singing prompt it to retreat. The elf Gildor Inglorian warns the hobbits of the danger of the riders, and urge them to take caution. The hobbits drift to sleep.
Chapter Four: A Shortcut to Mushrooms
“Shortcut to Mushrooms” by Jonas de Ro
The hobbits awake refreshed, and resolve to take a shortcut to avoid the road and the Black Rider. After another near encounter with the figure, the hobbits cut through the woods into a field belonging to Farmer Maggot and his Mushroom Watchdogs, Grip, Fang, and Wolf. Farmer Maggot had seen the Black Rider, who stopped to ask after “Baggins,” and deduces that the trio could use his help. He feeds them and takes them east by wagon down the road toward Bucklebury Ferry, where they reunite with Merry.
Chapter Five: A Conspiracy Unmasked
The Hobbits sing The Bath Song on “Harmonize” by Jason Kang
Having crossed the Ferry, Frodo looks back over the Brandywine river, and thinks he sees the shadow of the Black Rider on the opposite bank. The four hobbits swiftly make their way to the house that Merry had prepared, and have a bath. As the hobbits rest and prepare for the next day, it is revealed that Merry and Pippin know about Bilbo’s ring, and Frodo’s plans to leave the Shire. They assert that they’re coming with him, and will take a secret route through the Old Forest.
Chapter Six: The Old Forest
“Old Man Willow” by Miklós Ligeti
In the morning, the hobbits make their way into The Old Forest, a dreary and humid wood said to be haunted. As they move further and further in, a gloomy fatigue takes hold, and they find them selves lulled to sleep by the magic of the forest. As Frodo awakes, he finds Merry and Pippin captured by Old Man Willow, an ancient, sentient willow tree. As Frodo and Sam frantically try to think of ways to free their friends, they are enchanted by the melody of a song drifting through the air. Tom Bombadil arrives in the knick of time and scolds the tree, who relents and frees the hobbits. Bombadil invites them back to his house, where his beloved Goldberry, River-Daughter awaits them.
Chapter Seven: In the House of Tom Bombadil
“Tom Bombadil” by Dmitry Burkmak
Tom and Goldberry refresh the hobbits, and Tom’s mystical, other-worldly nature becomes apparent when he examines the ring of power, tries it on, and it has no effect on him. The hobbits stay two nights, and Bombadil warns them to avoid the barrow mounds in the nearby downs.
Chapter Eight: Fog on the Barrow Downs
“Fog on the Barrow Downs” by Marco Gorlei
From a hilltop, Goldberry sees the hobbits off on a sunny morning. Heartened by their clear view of their next day’s journey, Frodo and his friends start across the Barrow Downs toward the East Road. As they walk, however, a thick, chilly fog rises, and Frodo loses sight of the others. Thin cries of “help!” on the air are extinguished as a Barrow-Wight seizes him and he loses consciousness.
When Frodo awakes, he finds himself in a tomb, and he sees his friends dressed in the burial raiments of noble warriors, their faces pale and cold. An eerie chant fills the air. Suddenly, Frodo remembers a rhyme that Tom Bombadil had taught him, and recites it, pleading for help. Sure enough, Bombadil’s Song summons the otherworldly figure, and he vanquishes the Wights and revives the hobbits from a sleep that would surely have made wights of them. Tom Bombadil recovers their ponies, and bids them to take Barrow Blades before taking his leave of them a final time. The hobbits make their way down the road to the gates of Bree.
Chapter Nine: At the Sign of the Prancing Pony
“Butterbur, Bree-Inkeeper,” by Ryan Yee
The Hobbits arrive at Bree, and the Prancing Pony, to rumors of more and more strange folk about. All the same, the Innkeeper, Butterbur, welcomes them with hospitality. As the hobbits join the crowd in the common room, they meet Strider, Ranger of the North. Pippin begins to draw too much attention and say too much about their identities, and in Frodo’s attempt to disrupt Pippin’s story, he falls and accidentally slips the ring onto his finger. This causes a commotion, and Strider chastises Frodo, revealing to him that he knows who he is, and requesting they speak about serious matters.
Chapter Ten: Strider
“Strider, Ranger of the North,” by Jarel Threat, depicts Chapter 11’s events
Strider reveals that he is aware of their mission and knows of the Black Riders. While the hobbits deliberate over whether to trust him, Butterbur delivers a letter from Gandalf from months ago, revealing that Strider is in fact Aragorn, Son of Arathorn, and trustworthy, and urging them to leave the shire a full two months before they had. Merry is found to be missing, so Butterbur sends a man after him, and they find him unconscious. Merry is revived; Strider suspects Bill Ferny, Bree Swindler has or will soon sell them out.The hobbits agree to let Strider be their guide, and they make plans to head for Weathertop. Fearing the Black Riders, the company puts decoys in their beds, and sleeps elsewhere.
Chapter Eleven: A Knife in the Dark
“Morgul-Knife Wound” by Axel Sauerwald
In the dark of night, the Black Riders come to Crickhollow searching for Frodo. Back in Bree, Strider and the Hobbits learn their bedroom was ransacked in the night, just as they had feared. In addition, all the horses and ponies in Bree are missing but for one sad pony that Bill Ferny wants an exorbitant amount for. Butterbur pays for the pony for the company as they prepare to make haste to Weathertop, and as soon as they were packed, they set out, leaving the road, again in the hopes of outmaneuvering the Black Riders.
As they approach the ancient ruin, Sam recalls a song that tells the story of the Fall of Gil-galad, a great elf hero who Elendil once awaited at the tower that once stood on the hill. As they explore the hill, they see Black Riders in the distance. Making ready to face the wraiths, Strider tells the hobbits the Tale of Tinúviel, of Beren and Luthien and their great love, and ultimately their deaths.
Soon after Strider’s tale ends, the shadowy figures of the riders crest the hill, and Frodo’s fear overwhelms him. Wanting to disappear, he is tempted by the ring, and slips it onto his finger. With the ring upon his finger, Frodo can see the forms of the riders, ancient kings of old. The tallest of them moves toward Frodo, and as Frodo dives to the ground, the wraith plunges his dagger into Frodo’s left shoulder. Strider leaps out of the darkness wielding flaming brands of wood, driving the Black Riders back, and as he slips from consciousness, Frodo removes the Ring from his finger.
Chapter Twelve: Flight to the Ford
“Glorfindel, Dauntless Rescuer” by Viko Menezes
Strider fears that Frodo’s wound will kill him and put him under the control of the wraiths unless he can treat it. Using what healing skill he possesses, Aragorn slows the wound’s poison, and the company makes haste toward Rivendell. As they neared Rivendell, they are met by Glorfindel, who, seeing Frodo’s plight, puts him onto his horse. As they near the ford of Rivendell, the Black Riders fall upon them. Glorfindel sends Frodo onward on his horse, which is swifter than the dark horses of the Black Riders, but other Riders had waited ahead in ambush. Glorfindel’s white horse is swifter still, and bounds across the river and up the path. The Nine Riders came after him, but as they were about to leave the ford, rushing waves, with crests like white flames, crashed upon them like white horses and riders, and swept them away. Frodo, overwhelmed by the power and influence of Mordor, again loses consciousness.
The Story Continues…
So ends Book One of Lord of the Rings. Each of the essays is this series will summarize another of the six books of Lord of the Rings, placing the corresponding cards in narrative order so that you, the player and reader, can better enjoy the lore of a set based on one of the most – if not the most – influential fantasy narratives since the legends of King Arthur. Until next time, “the road goes ever, ever on…”
Jacob W. Torbeck, Ph.D. (he/him) is a researcher and lecturer in philosophy and theology. Jacob hails from the Greater Chicago area, and loves playing Commander and Limited Magic, especially his Old School (93/94) and spooky cubes.