This analysis of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' (2001), will consider how the screenplay's five plot points create the story's deep structure. These discrete story points include the 'Inciting Incident' in Act 1, 'Turning Points 1 and 2' in Act 2, and the 'Crisis Decision' and 'Climax' in Act 3. Spoiler alert: this structural analysis will reveal crucial plot moments; you may prefer to read this after viewing the film.
This movie was of course an adaptation of the well-known J.R.R. Tolkien classic of the same name. The film's back story is as follows: at the ancient struggle over the Elf-fashioned ring', the one ring that bound and held the power of the original nine rings, the human warrior chieftain, Isildur (Harry Sinclair), had won the ring. But alas, he had kept it instead of destroying it, thus breaking his sacred oath. This had begun the trail of destruction that was to follow in the wake of an object of such power. Much later the hobbit who would become Smeagol, or Gollum (Andy Serkis), would steal it, and kill to do so. Later still, the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) would find it, and keep it, just as Gollum had. Bilbo possessed it still, there in the Shire, a fact until now unknown to the dark forces at large in the world of Middle Earth.
In any Hollywood movie the 'Inciting Incident', occurring usually in the first 1/2 hour, challenges the hero to respond to a new development or opportunity. To achieve that response, the hero must internally expand, irrevocably changing his life. The hero is then thrown into a series of escalating accommodations on his journey to understand and solve the Inciting Incident's original problem. This film's Inciting Incident occurs when Bilbo Baggins reluctantly attends his birthday party. Unknown to anyone in the Shire, he has in fact, and perhaps unworthily, grown tired of his quiet, suffocating life there. He has secretly decided to leave the Shire, and does so in a most surprising way, by putting on the one 'ring'. This one act caused him to disappear to mortal eyes, but it also caused him to become visible to the non-mortal, non-human, single, malevolent eye of the dark Lord of Mordor Sauron (Sala Baker). The moment Bilbo slipped the ring on his finger, Sauron knew beyond all doubt that the ring still existed, he also knew the kind of creature who possessed it, and he knew approximately where it was. Bilbo had made a grievous error. The wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), soon due to arrive in the Shire, would be appalled at Bilbo's action.
After Bilbo had been relieved of the ring by Gandalf, and had left on his trek to live among the Elves; and after the ring had passed to Bilbo's nephew, Frodo (Elijah Wood), Gandalf charged the same with the task of carrying it safely to Rivendell. Frodo set out on the journey, accompanied by three hobbit companions and their new protector, a human, Strider, the future Lord Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen).
Turning Point 1. The Council of Elrond (Hugo Weaving), an Elf Lord, has been called to decide what is to be done about the one ring, which all had believed was destroyed. They conclude that it must still be destroyed; and that the only way of doing so is to cast it into the fiery pit at Mount Doom. Several present at the Council step forward to carry out this task, but suspicions between dwarfs, elves, and humans make any choice all but impossible. Moreover, Gandalf reminds them of the ring's endless power to corrupt any who possess it. Into the clamor that follows Frodo sends his small voice, volunteering to be the one who will carry it. Gandalf sighs, deeply pained. He does not want to see the ring's odious power again taint his favorite folk in the world, the Halflings, or hobbits. Moreover, Frodo and Bilbo are his favorites among the hobbits. He sighs, and accedes. A vote is taken and it is decided: Frodo shall be the ring-bearer. Several step forward to rally round Frodo as his protectors in this quest, and form a Fellowship of this ring: a dwarf, Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) , an elf, Legolas (Orlando Bloom), two human
