Some days later, Elrond gathered all important persons present in Rivendell, who had business with the ring, to a council. They talked the whole day and discussed the matter of the ring. Many people had something to add, and in the end they had completed the story of the ring, since it got lost.
After the great battle to defeat Sauron the first time, Isildur, the King of the Northern Men, took the ring as a kind of weirtax for his killed Father. He journeyed back to the north, but he was shot by Orcs (evil creatures, created by the evil foe himself) and lost the ring in the great stream of Anduin. Years later the ring was found by a creature called Gollum. He took the ring under the mountains and it vanished from the surface. The Bilbo found it by chance and took it out of the deep caverns. So the ring was on the surface again and the dark lord began again to search for it. Bilbo possessed the ring many years and used it many times and so the evil powers of the ring began to get control of Bilbo. This was shown as he wanted to left it for Frodo. Gandalf nearly had to use his powers to calm him down. Bilbo began to call the ring his precious, as Gollum had before. After the birthday-party Frodo got the ring and his story is written above.
The council discussed what they had to do with the ring, and they decided to destroy it. So a small group of nine people was chosen to bring the ring to Mount Doom in Mordor, where it was made, and only could be destroyed. The party consisted of at least one person for the free nations of Middle-Earth: Frodo the ringbearer and his three friends Sam, Pippin and Merry for the Hobbits, Aragorn (Strider) for the men of the north, Legolas of Mirkwood for the elves, Gimli, son of Gloin, for the Dwarfs, Boromir, envoy of Minas Tirith, for the men of south and Gandalf for the wizards.
Bilbo gave Frodo secretly his mithril-chainmail, which was a present of the Dwarfs and he gave him his magical sword sting. Frodo wore his chainmail under his normal clothes and talked to noone of this armour.
Gandalf was the leader of the party and they left Rivendell soon after the council.
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