10 Movie Facts You Probably Don’t Know
2. Frodo Leaves The Shire 17 Years After Getting The One Ring - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
If you've never read J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels, here's something you'll almost certainly not be aware of - an entire 17 years pass between Frodo (Elijah Wood) taking receipt of the One Ring from Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and beginning his journey to destroy it.
Indeed, the source material makes it unambiguously clear that the better part of two decades goes by between Bilbo's (Ian Holm) farewell party and Gandalf returning to Bag End to check that the Ring is still safe.
Peter Jackson's film makes no such inference, however, instead seeming to imply that a much shorter, non-specific span of time has passed between the two scenes.
While the film's refusal to mark the 17-year time jump might rankle Rings purists, this was likely an attempt on Jackson's part to streamline the establishing aspects of the narrative, rather than bog it down in additional complexity for those totally unfamiliar with Tolkien's novels.
And yet, if we're going to Tolkien's word, a whole lot of living happened between Frodo receiving the ring and setting off on his epic journey.