Strider leads the Hobbits east through the Chetwood north of the Road.
Gandalf leaves Bree before dawn upon Shadowfax, riding east in pursuit of the five Riders who passed through during the night.
Strider and the Hobbits travelling east come out of the Chetwood and enter the Midgewater marshes. While walking during the day they are tormented by flies and midges, and their sleep in camp is distrubed by the drone of loud insects.
Gandalf continues riding east from Bree in pursuit of the Black Riders.
Another day of travel through the Midge-water Marshes brings Strider and the four Hobbits to another uncomfortable and insect-tormented night of camping
Gandalf reaches the summit of Weathertop in the afternoon; the Nine Riders withdraw until sunset, then attack the wizard amidst the foundations of the ancient watch-tower.
The land across which Strider and the Hobbits travel begins to rise, leaving behind the Midge-water Marshes and raising the Weather Hills into sight to the east. They are again approaching the Road, which had turned south in a wide loop to avoid the marshes. For the first time they set a watch overnight, in addition to Strider's usual watchfulness.
From their camp in the Midge-water Marshes, Strider and Frodo see flashes of lightning to the east: distant beacons of the battle Gandalf wages on Weathertop against all nine of the Nazgûl. The wizard survives the night and flees to the northeast, successfully drawing four Riders after him and away from the road.
Morning frost and pale blue sky refresh the four Hobbits, who with Strider begin another day of travel that brings them to the feet of the Weather hills where they camp.
Another day of Gandalf's fourteen-day trek from Weathertop to Rivendell, by way of the Ettenmoors one hundred miles to the north. Once the four Riders break off their pursuit a few days into the journey, Shadowfax departs for Rohan since he cannot assist Gandalf in the rocky troll-fells.
Strider leads the Hobbits south along the old fort-path that hugs the west side of the Weather Hills. From the summit of Weathertop, Frodo and Merry for the first time see the Misty Mountains. Strider finds a G-rune left by Gandalf, and correctly deduces that the flashes he and Frodo saw in the eastern sky three nights ago were a battle atop this hill between the wizard and the Nine Riders. They see five Riders on the road below them, which attack them at night in a dell north of the summit. During the attack Frodo succumbs to the temptation to wear the Ring, which while hiding him from mortal eyes makes him visible to the Ring-wraiths in whose minds the living are otherwise vague shadows. The Witch-lord charges him and stabs his shoulder with a Morgul-knife whose tip will remain in the wound, working its way inward.
Following the attack upon the party last night in which the Lord of the Nazgûl wounded Frodo, Strider leads the Hobbits into the empty lands south of the Road through which they continue to press east toward Rivendell. Though they hear the distant cry and answer of two Nazgûl as they pass across the Road itself, there is no further indication that they are being pursued; they hope to again escape ambush by avoiding the East-West Road, and they thread amongst the shelter of thickets and small stands of trees — and at night they light a campfire both to discourage another attack and to keep Frodo warm. Though he hides the fact from his friends, the pain in his shoulder starts growing by the end of the day.
The news has reached Elrond from the wandering company of Gildor that Frodo the Hobbit is moving east from the Shire and is carrying some great burden, without the guidance of Gandalf. Elrond dispatches those of his household able to contest the Nine; the Elf-lord Glorfindel is sent west along the great road.
The Elven-lord Glorfindel reaches the bridge over the river Mitheithel after two days of travel along the road from Rivendell, and finds it guarded by three Nazgûl. While this suggests that the Ringbearer has not yet been captured, it also indicates that he has probably not yet reached the Bridge. As Glorfindel approaches, the three guards flee westward; before pursuing them he leaves a beryl to mark his passage.
Five days after leaving Weathertop and passing south of the road, Strider leads the Hobbits out of the shallow valley through which they have been travelling east, and they angle towards the north to return to the Road, on which they will reach the river Mitheithel and cross upon the Last Bridge.
On the sixth day since Strider lead the Hobbits from Weathertop, they reach the top of a slope from which they command a wide view of the lands around them. The East-West Road is visible to their north, to which they will now return so that they can use the Last Bridge to cross the river Mitheithel — which is also visible, to the east. Many miles to the south they can see both the Hoarwell and the Loudwater.
In the morning Strider leads the Hobbits back to the East-West Road, which they abandoned seven days ago in order to travel through the wilds to its south and so avoid the searches of the Nazgûl. They reach the Last Bridge, across which the Road crosses the river Mitheithel, and find the beryl-stone which Glorfindel left two days ago when he drove off the three Riders guarding the bridge. Correctly interpreting this as meaning that crossing the bridge is safe, Strider leads the Hobbits across, then they again abandon the road, turning north into Troll-fells.
Strider leads the Hobbits for a second day amongst the valleys and ridges of Troll-fells north of the Road as they travel farther from the river Mitheithel and toward the Bruinen, on the far side of which lies Rivendell.
On their third day of clambering among the Troll-fells, rains begins to pour upon Strider and the Hobbits. For probably the first evening since leaving Bree more than two weeks ago, they are unable to even light a fire for warmth despite the fact that Frodo's wound continues to worsen.
As the hills rise higher in front of them, Strider and the Hobbits must turn farther northwards into the Troll-fells — detouring away from both the Road to the south and the river Bruinen which they are trying to reach to their east. The wound that Frodo received on Weathertop ten days ago for the first time tonight prevents him from sleeping because of the pain.
The Elf-lord Glorfindel, who since crossing the Last Bridge five days ago has been searching for the Hobbits back west of the river Mitheithel, finds their trail which leads him back east across the Bridge and toward Rivendell. He sees their trail turn north into the Troll-fells, but travels straight east along the road hoping to encounter them when they return to it.
The rain clears that has been soaking Strider and the Hobbits, and they are able to turn south again toward the Road and they camp atop a ridge. Frodo is becoming very weak, which is making progress through the fells very difficult.
Strider and the Hobbits leave their camp on the ridge in the Troll-fells, enjoying the clear morning after more than two days of steady rain. Frodo is succumbing to the wound of the Morgul-knife he received twelve days ago; a mist occasionally obscures his sight as his perception of the lighted world begins to dim. Winding downhill to the south, back toward the Road, they discover the trolls — long since turned to stone — that Bilbo encountered on his own journey east seventy-seven years ago. Late in the evening they reach the Road, and meet the Elf-lord Glorfindel. After attending to Frodo's wound, Glorfindel leads them in a night march eastward along the road.
After a journey of fourteen days from Weathertop, Gandalf reaches the safety of Imladris. He assists Elrond in preparing a flood of the river Bruinen should the Riders attempt to cross the Ford.
After walking all night, Glorfindel and Strider halt at dawn and allow the Hobbits five hours of sleep. Through the day they accomplish three further long marches, covering almost twenty miles, and reach a point where the road bends right and turns into valley.
Early in the morning Glorfindel and Strider wake the Hobbits and set out on a final march east along the Road toward the Fords of Bruinen. As they reach its floodplain, they are overtaken from behind by five mounted Nazgûl, and then four more emerge from ambush as the white horse of Glorfindel carries Frodo toward the Ford. They make it across the Ford; the Lord of the Nazgûl begins to cross after them; and then all Nine are swept away as Elrond and Gandalf release the flood they have been preparing, and Glorfindel and Strider attack from behind and panic the horses of those who remain on the west bank.
Boromir, in the late evening of his hundred and eleventh day of travel, reaches Imladris, the valley of Rivendell, of which he knew only legend, and begins to search for the house of Elrond.
In the early hours Boromir, who yesterday entered the valley of Rivendell itself after more than a hundred days of travel from his home in Minas Tirith, finally reaches the house of Elrond.
With Frodo safe in Rivendell and having regained consciousness yesterday, the Council of Elrond is now called, and decides to attempt the destruction of the Ring in the heat of the mountain in which it was forged.
Through the afternoon following the Council of Elrond, scouts begin leaving Rivendell to determine whether the Nine Riders still linger west of the Mountains. Aragorn leaves with the sons of Elrond, who will head southeast across the Misty Mountains and down the Silverlode while Aragorn himself goes West and hunts with his Rangers.
With Frodo recovered and the Council of Elrond complete, the Hobbits find themselves free to enjoy the feasts and songs and autumn starlight of Rivendell, and the company of their old friend Bilbo. While Sam has already been given permission to accompany his master on his quest, Elrond has not yet decreed whether Merry and Pippin will be allowed to accompany them.
Gandalf and Elrond continue to consult with one another about arrangements for the impending quest. Among the other guests of Elrond who remain at Rivendell through the close of autumn are Boromir of Gondor, the wood-elf Legolas, and Gimli, son of the dwarf Glóin with whom Bilbo adventured seventy-seven years ago.