The first movie in the Lord of the Rings order is The Fellowship of the Ring. The story begins with Bilbo Baggins finding the most powerful of all the rings. After he returns to his home to celebrate his 111th birthday, he makes a speech in front of the town. During this speech he discusses his plans to leave and never return. He puts on the ring, disappears, and the tale of the ring has started.
He leaves the ring to his relative Frodo at the request of Gandalf and begins on his journey. Frodo is told of the great evil the ring possesses and is tasked with bringing it to Rivendell where they will decide what to do with it. Sam overhears this conversation and Gandalf makes Sam commit to helping Frodo on his journey telling him to never leave his side.
Along the journey Frodo and Sam run into many problems including the Dark Riders. These were humans that once wore rings and are forever attached to the power it provides. They are neither dead nor alive and will forever seek to kill whoever steals the ring so that they can possess it.
Gandalf seeks advice from Saruman about what to do with the ring. However, Saruman has plans for the ring himself. He holds Gandalf hostage in his tower hoping he will reveal where the ring is. Gandalf escapes the tower and flees to Rivendell where he meets Frodo and Sam. They come up with a plan to destroy the ring and thus destroy Saruman’s power forever. The ring can only be destroyed where it was created – the fires of Mordor. Sam and Frodo and select others take the task of going to Mordor to destroy the ring.
On the way to Mordor, they have to take a path through the mountain mines. Gandalf is killed by Balrog while helping the others escape. Eventually they make it out of the mines alive. Boromir tries to take the ring for himself but fails and dies because of it. It is then decided that only Sam and Frodo will take the ring to Mordor. The Fellowship of the Ring ends with Sam and Frodo within view of Mordor.
The Fellowship of the ring is the first in the Lord of the Rings series. It’s important to watch this movie series in order because rather than being three movies, it’s one giant movie in three parts. The Lord of the Rings order starts with Fellowship and ends with Return of the King.