Breaking of the Fellowship

The Breaking of the Fellowship was the sundering of the Fellowship of the Ring at Amon Hen, above the falls of Rauros on the river Anduin, which brought the first stage of the quest to destroy the One Ring to an end and scattered the nine companions upon separate paths. It marked the close of the first part of the War of the Ring and set in motion the divided struggles that would carry the war to its end.

Background

The Fellowship of the Ring, formed at the Council of Elrond, had already suffered grievous loss before reaching Amon Hen. In the mines of Moria the wizard Gandalf had fallen into the abyss locked in battle with a Balrog, leaving Aragorn to lead the company onward through Lothlórien and down the Anduin. As they neared the borders of Mordor, the company had to choose their road: east toward the Dark Land, or west toward Minas Tirith.

The Breaking

The strain of the Ring's nearness had worked upon Boromir of Gondor, whose longing to use the Ring to defend his people had grown into a fey desire to take it. At Amon Hen he came upon Frodo alone and tried to seize the Ring by force. Frightened and despairing of his companions, Frodo put on the Ring to escape and resolved that he must go on to Mordor alone, lest the Ring corrupt those he loved.

In that same hour a war-band of Saruman's Uruk-hai fell upon the company. Boromir, repenting of his lapse, died valiantly defending the hobbits Merry and Pippin, who were nonetheless carried off captive. Sam, guessing Frodo's purpose, refused to be left behind and followed him, so that the two set off together for Mordor. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli were left to bury Boromir and pursue the orcs who had taken Merry and Pippin.

Aftermath

The Fellowship was broken into three: Frodo and Sam bound for Mordor and the Ring's destruction; Merry and Pippin captives of the Uruk-hai, soon to rouse the Ents; and the three hunters who turned their feet toward Rohan and the war in the West. Though sundered, each strand of the broken Fellowship would prove essential to the final victory.

Significance

The Breaking of the Fellowship demonstrates the corrupting pull of the One Ring even upon the noble, in Boromir's fall, and the lonely resolve of Frodo to spare his friends that peril by going on alone. Out of the company's sundering came the very campaigns -- in Rohan, at Isengard, and before Gondor -- that drew Sauron's eye away and made the secret quest possible.