The Fellowship of the Ring: Prologue

by J.R.R. Tolkien
In the first part of The Lord of the Rings, nine representatives of different races band together for a dangerous quest to destroy the Ring of Power and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue, Book One: Chapters 1-4, Book One: Chapters 5-8, Book One: Chapters 9-12, Book Two: Chapters 1-4, Book Two: Chapters 5-10

Here are links to our lists for other works by J.R.R. Tolkien: The Two Towers, The Return of the King, The Hobbit
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. unobtrusive
    not undesirably noticeable
    Hobbits are an unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today; for they love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt.
  2. inimitable
    matchless
    But Hobbits have never, in fact, studied magic of any kind, and their elusiveness is due solely to a professional skill that heredity and practice, and a close friendship with the earth, have rendered inimitable by bigger and clumsier races.
  3. comely
    very pleasing to the eye
    Thus, the only craft little practised among them was shoe-making; but they had long and skilful fingers and could make many other useful and comely things.
  4. estrangement
    separation resulting from hostility
    It is plain indeed that in spite of later estrangement Hobbits are relatives of ours: far nearer to us than Elves, or even than Dwarves.
  5. vale
    a valley
    Their earliest tales seem to glimpse a time when they dwelt in the upper vales of Anduin, between the eaves of Greenwood the Great and the Misty Mountains.
  6. dearth
    an acute insufficiency
    There for a thousand years they were little troubled by wars, and they prospered and multiplied after the Dark Plague (S.R. 37) until the disaster of the Long Winter and the famine that followed it. Many thousands then perished, but the Days of Dearth (1158-60) were at the time of this tale long past and the Hobbits had again become accustomed to plenty.
  7. forsake
    leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
    For the Elves of the High Kindred had not yet forsaken Middle-earth, and they dwelt still at that time at the Grey Havens away to the west, and in other places within reach of the Shire.
  8. misgiving
    painful expectation
    Most Hobbits regarded even rivers and small boats with deep misgivings, and not many of them could swim.
  9. imbibe
    take in, also metaphorically
    There is another astonishing thing about Hobbits of old that must be mentioned, an astonishing habit: they imbibed or inhaled, through pipes of clay or wood, the smoke of the burning leaves of a herb, which they called pipe-weed or leaf, a variety probably of Nicotiana.
  10. nominal
    existing in name only
    The Thain was the master of the Shire-moot, and captain of the Shire-muster and the Hobbitry-in-arms, but as muster and moot were only held in times of emergency, which no longer occurred, the Thainship had ceased to be more than a nominal dignity.
  11. portend
    indicate by signs
    There were many reports and complaints of strange persons and creatures prowling about the borders, or over them: the first sign that all was not quite as it should be, and always had been except in tales and legends of long ago. Few heeded the sign, and not even Bilbo yet had any notion of what it portended.
  12. annals
    a chronological account of events in successive years
    Yet, though before all was won the Battle of Five Armies was fought, and Thorin was slain, and many deeds of renown were done, the matter would scarcely have concerned later history, or earned more than a note in the long annals of the Third Age, but for an ‘accident’ by the way.
  13. assail
    attack someone physically or emotionally
    The party was assailed by Orcs in a high pass of the Misty Mountains as they went towards Wilderland; and so it happened that Bilbo was lost for a while in the black orc-mines deep under the mountains, and there, as he groped in vain in the dark, he put his hand on a ring, lying on the floor of a tunnel.
  14. treachery
    betrayal of a trust
    And Bilbo pressed him to keep his word; for the thought came to him that this slimy creature might prove false, even though such promises were held sacred, and of old all but the wickedest things feared to break them. But after ages alone in the dark Gollum’s heart was black, and treachery was in it.
  15. annotation
    the act of adding notes
    In Minas Tirith it received much annotation, and many corrections, especially of names, words, and quotations in the Elvish languages; and there was added to it an abbreviated version of those parts of The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen which lie outside the account of the War.
Created on Fri Jan 26 13:27:29 EST 2018 (updated Fri Aug 01 13:25:20 EDT 2025)

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