Frodo Baggins

Frodo shows up at the very start of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It's the day Bilbo, now old, turns 111 and starts writing down the adventure he lived decades earlier.

Frodo nails the "no admittance except on party business" sign to the door of Bag End, brings in the mail, chats with his cousin and heads off to meet Gandalf on the road. It's the frame for the story: everything else in the movie is Bilbo remembering.

At the party, Bilbo vanishes in front of everyone and leaves the ring to Frodo. Gandalf gets suspicious, goes off to dig, and when he comes back he throws the ring into the fireplace: letters that only fire reveals appear. It's Sauron's One Ring, and the enemy already knows where to look, because he squeezed two words out of a creature called Gollum: "Shire" and "Baggins."

Frodo leaves home with Samwise Gamgee, whom Gandalf catches eavesdropping. Merry and Pippin join along the way, and the four run from the Black Riders all the way to Bree. At the Prancing Pony, Gandalf never shows, and the one who helps them is a Ranger called Strider.

On Weathertop, the Nazgûl attack. Frodo puts on the ring and their leader stabs him with a Morgul blade. Arwen rides the hobbit to Rivendell, and the river sweeps away the riders behind them.

In Rivendell, Elrond heals Frodo and calls a council. Nobody can agree on what to do with the ring until Frodo says he will take it to Mordor, even though he doesn't know the way. The Fellowship is born: four hobbits, Gandalf, Strider (who turns out to be Aragorn), Boromir, Legolas and Gimli. Bilbo gives him the sword Sting and a mithril shirt.

In Moria, a cave troll spears Frodo, and the mithril saves him. Soon after, Gandalf falls with the Balrog. In Lothlórien, Galadriel shows Frodo her mirror and refuses the ring when he offers it.

At the end, Boromir tries to take the ring by force. Frodo realizes the ring will tear the Fellowship apart and decides to go on alone. Sam won't have it, nearly drowns chasing the boat, and the two set off for Mordor together.

Lost in the rocks of the Emyn Muil, Frodo and Sam catch Gollum, who has been following them. Frodo pities him and makes him swear on the "precious" to guide them. Gollum leads the hobbits through the Dead Marshes to the Black Gate, too well guarded to get in, and offers another way.

In Ithilien, Faramir's men capture all three. Faramir finds out about the ring and takes Frodo to Osgiliath, where a Nazgûl on a winged beast nearly grabs the hobbit. Frodo even turns his sword on Sam. Sam answers with his speech about the stories that really matter, and Faramir lets them go.

Frodo trusts Gollum more and more, and the ring gives him less and less peace.

On the climb to Cirith Ungol, Gollum throws away the lembas and makes it look like Sam ate it. Frodo, deep under the ring's hold, sends Sam home and goes on alone with the guide.

Gollum leads Frodo into Shelob's lair. The spider stings the hobbit and wraps him in her web. Sam gets back in time, fights her off with Sting and the Phial of Galadriel and, thinking Frodo is dead, takes the ring. Orcs carry the body to the tower of Cirith Ungol, and Sam finds out his friend is alive. He storms the tower, rescues Frodo and gives the ring back.

Disguised as orcs, the two cross Mordor with no water and almost no food. Frodo can barely walk, and Sam carries him up the mountain.

At the edge of the fire, Frodo can't let go of the ring and claims it as his own. He puts it on and vanishes. Gollum attacks, bites off Frodo's finger and falls into the lava with his precious. The ring is destroyed, Sauron falls, and the Eagles pull Frodo and Sam off the erupting mountain.

Frodo wakes up in Minas Tirith surrounded by his friends and watches Aragorn's coronation. The four hobbits go back to the Shire, where life goes on as if nothing happened. Sam marries Rosie. Frodo can't go back to who he was: the Weathertop wound still hurts.

He finishes the book Bilbo started and sails from the Grey Havens with Bilbo, Gandalf and the elves. He leaves the last pages for Sam to write.

In Tolkien's books, Frodo inherits the ring at 33 but doesn't leave the Shire until 17 years later, at 50. Along the way he goes through the Old Forest, meets Tom Bombadil and crosses the Barrow-downs, all cut from the movies.