The Lord of the Rings Nazgûl, to seize it. The story begins in the Shire, where the hobbit Frodo Baggins inherits the Ring from Bilbo Baggins, his cousin and guardian. Neither hobbit is aware of the Ring's nature, but Gandalf the Grey, a wizard and an old friend of Bilbo, suspects it to be Sauron's Ring. Seventeen years later, after Gandalf confirms his guess, he tells Frodo the history of the Ring and counsels him to take it away from the Shire. Frodo sets out, accompanied by his gardener, servant and friend, Samwise "Sam" Gamgee, and two cousins, Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck and Peregrin "Pippin" Took.
Conan Meriadoc the Rohans, according to the "Life of Saint Meriadoc", the protagonist of which is said to have been descended from him. Meriadoc appears in one of the genealogies from Jesus College MS 20, which traces the descent of Geraint mab Erbin, king of Dumnonia in the West Country, back to "Cynan map Eudaf Hen". In the Cornish miracle play "Beunans Meriasek", Conan is a kinsman of Saint Meriasek who tries (unsuccessfully) to dissuade Meriasek from pursuing a religious life. In the 15th century the Bretons used the Conan story as it appears in the "Life of Saint Meriadoc" to establish