The Unbroken Covenant

One of my fans kept begging me to do a Lord of the Rings piece, and after thinking it over for a bit, I decided it was worth a try. I do love Lord of the Rings, after all.

Interestingly enough, I used to avoid LOTR like the plague for the longest time. Then, about two years ago, I slowly became interested, and ultimately I was persuaded to watch the first movie (and the extended edition, at that) all the way through, just to see what I thought of it. To my own great amazement, I loved it! I actually lasted till the very end, and when it was over, I was left deeply satisfied. Now I'm almost as big a fan of LOTR as I am of Narnia! I don't know if I'll ever read the books (I might, but I'm not confirming anything), but the movies are out of this world! The visual effects and the music and everything just blew me out of the water, and Elijah Wood and Sean Astin are now on my list of top ten favorite celebrities.

And, of course, I was convinced to watch the other two movies as well after that!

As this is my first LOTR piece, I'd appreciate it if you took it easy on me. Tolkien's world is an extremely complicated one, with so many plots and names and places to keep in mind.

I'm starting out small and simple for this, and I'll do my best to keep the facts straight. Wish me luck!

Characters © J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson

Story © unicorn-skydancer08

All rights reserved.

Part 1

They always said loyalty was a gemstone, and one that was not very easily found in the world. And, as far as anyone knew, no one had the loyalty that quite compared to Sam's loyalty for Frodo. Sam, otherwise known as Samwise Gamgee, was really just a humble Hobbit, who served as Frodo Baggins' gardener—having inherited the position a number of years before from his father, who also served as gardener for Bag End. But Sam would ultimately prove to be more than just Frodo's gardener, and servant.

Fate was always full of unexpected surprises. And, just as fate would have it, the One Ring—a simple yet malevolently powerful ring of pure gold, forged by the Dark Lord Sauron—wound up in Frodo's possession. That One Ring retained dark powers beyond all mortal comprehension; some folk claimed it contained the very essence of Lord Sauron himself.

According to legend, Sauron had created the One Ring during the Second Age, in order to gain dominion over the free people of Middle-Earth. He did it deep within the core of Mount Doom, a volcanic mountain that was alive with constant fire. The Ring was made after the manner of the Rings of Power: three Rings were bestowed upon the Elves, who were immortal by nature, and the fairest and the most intelligent of all earthly beings; seven Rings were bequeathed to the Dwarves, who were creatures of the earth, and specialized in soil and stone; and nine Rings were granted to Men, who were mortal and the weakest and most pathetic of all creatures, hungering and thirsting incessantly for power.

Sauron intended this One Ring to be the most powerful of all the Rings, to be able to control those who wore the others.

He was compelled to pour much of his inborn power into the One in order to achieve his evil purposes.

The One proved to be Sauron's greatest achievement, and his greatest folly at the same time. On one hand, so long as he had the One, he was the most dominant and prevailing figure in all of Middle-Earth, and the Ring preserved his immortality in addition to his strength. In other words, as long as the Ring was safe, Sauron could never die. But on the other hand, by sealing his power within the Ring, the Dark Lord became greatly dependent on it—without it, his power would diminish exceedingly. And while he would not truly die, he would no longer be considered among the living, either. He would be beyond life, beyond a ghost…beyond even the lowest and the meanest of spirits.

This ring bore no jewel or special stone of any kind; it was really quite plain in its design. Most would take it for any ordinary ring. But a person could determine the One Ring's identity, by heating it. When placed in fire, a blazing Tengwar inscription would emerge into view, within the heart of the gold, written in the Black Speech of Mordor:

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

These were the words to a wicked spell that imbued the One Ring with all its power.

It fell upon Frodo to destroy that ring, before it fell into the wrong hands. The only way the Ring could be truly destroyed was in the flaming depths of Mount Doom, where it had been born in the beginning. It was a long, perilous journey, fraught with countless dangers, the greatest danger being the Nine Riders—otherwise known as the Black Riders, the Ring-wraiths, or simply the Nazgûl. Once the Nine Men who accepted the Nine Rings from Sauron, and succumbed entirely to the Dark Lord's power, they now dwelled forever in perpetual shadow, and death and destruction followed them wherever they went. Never sleeping, never eating, neither completely dead nor fully alive, they spent all their time hunting down the bearer of the One Ring, and they would stop at nothing until they had fulfilled their grim task, and obtained the Ring for their master.

At first Frodo was intended to take on this dangerous, life-threatening quest alone, but Sam ended up tagging along, partly because the Great Wizard Gandalf had caught Sam eavesdropping on him and Frodo when the two were discussing the potential evils of the Ring. At Sam's own request, Gandalf appointed the Hobbit as Frodo's traveling companion, and guardian.

Sam undertook this responsibility in all seriousness. He had always been considered Frodo's friend, but this journey would prove to put the Hobbits' friendship to the test.

On the beginning of their expedition, Sam had a temporary scare when he lost track of Frodo in the middle of a thick, ripe cornfield. Frantic, he began pawing his way through the dense rows of vegetables, crying out, "Mr. Frodo? Frodo! Frodo!" And just as he was on the verge of completely panicking, Frodo met with him on a path in the field, completely unharmed.

Seeing that Frodo was all right, Sam dared to breathe freely again. When Frodo questioned Sam about his seemingly unnecessary concern, Sam's answer was, "It's just something Gandalf said."

"What did he say?" Frodo queried.

"'Don't you lose him, Samwise Gamgee.' And I don't mean to."

Frodo just smiled at his dear friend, and replied heartily, "Sam, we're still in the Shire!" ("The Shire" was the name of the Hobbits' native land; it was where both Frodo and Sam had been born, and spent their entire lives.) "What could possibly happen?" Had Frodo known in advance, however, the very perils that lay in store for them, he would not have spoken so casually.