Frodo, accompanied by his loyal hobbit friends Sam, Merry, and Pippin, flees the Shire, pursued by the terrifying (Black Riders or Nazgûl)—Sauron’s most fearsome servants. After a harrowing journey and a near-fatal wound from a Morgul blade at the ford of Bruinen, Frodo reaches the elven haven of Rivendell.
El Señor de los Anillos: La Comunidad del Anillo is not merely a beginning. It is a complete literary experience in itself: a journey from innocence to wisdom, from peace to sacrifice, and from a united fellowship to a broken but determined band of heroes. It sets the stage for the greatest epic of good versus evil ever written, reminding us that even in the darkest of times, "aun la más pequeña persona puede cambiar el curso del futuro" (even the smallest person can change the course of the future).
With the wise wizard Gandalf el Gris (Gandalf the Grey), Frodo learns the horrifying truth: Sauron has returned and is seeking the Ring. If he reclaims it, all free peoples of Middle-earth will be enslaved. The Ring cannot be used by any other, for it would corrupt its wielder; nor can it be hidden or destroyed by any conventional means. The only solution is to take it into the heart of Sauron’s dark land, Mordor, and cast it into the Cracks of Doom, the volcanic chasm where it was forged.
