The Breaking of the Fellowship

The Fellowship of the Ring chapters
Book I A Long-expected Party The Shadow of the Past Three is Company A Short Cut to Mushrooms A Conspiracy Unmasked The Old Forest In the House of Tom Bombadil Fog on the Barrow-downs At the Sign of the Prancing Pony Strider A Knife in the Dark Flight to the Ford
Book II Many Meetings The Council of Elrond The Ring goes South A Journey in the Dark The Bridge of Khazad-dûm Lothlórien The Mirror of Galadriel Farewell to Lórien The Great River The Breaking of the Fellowship

The Breaking of the Fellowship is the tenth and final chapter of book two in The Fellowship of the Ring.

Summary

That night the company rested on the West-bank of the river at the foot of Amon Hen. The next day, the task of choosing the path was laid on Frodo's shoulders. He had to decide whether to return with Boromir to Gondor and defeat Sauron, or proceed with the plan to destroy the Ring.

Frodo took a walk in order clear his mind and further consider the issue. Boromir followed him and tried to persuade him to return with the ring to Gondor. Frodo refused and said that if he did not take the difficult path to Mount Doom and destroy the Ring, every good battle would ultimately be lost.

In desperation, Boromir tried to sieze the Ring from him. Frodo slipped it on and escaped Boromir, who then came to his senses and realized what he had done.

Frodo was aware that the others were looking for him. He put on the Ring again and went toward the foot of the Amon Hen, realizing that he must proceed alone to avoid further complications. The company learned from Boromir part of what had happened and in chaos they ran off to find him. Merry and Peregrin ran off in one direction, as Legolas and Gimli searched for him in another. On a hunch, Sam went to the river where he saw a supposedly empty boat floating. He jumped towards it, but missed and nearly drowned in the water. Frodo took off his Ring and helped Sam ashore, thus saving him. After some arguing, Frodo agreed that Sam should accompany him and the two of them continued the journey toward the Land of Shadow.