'Fellowship of the Stone of Destiny' facing epic Lord of the Rings-style quest (to Perth?!)

In the fantasy novel Lord of the Rings, the “Fellowship of the Ring” is formed to escort Frodo Baggins on the perilous journey to Mount Doom. An active volcano, it is the only place where the evil ring can be destroyed.

Now a “Fellowship of the Stone” has been formed, in real life, by 18 people whose families were given fragments of the Stone of Destiny after it was, er, stolen from Westminster Abbey by nationalist students in 1950, and then, er, dropped not once, but, ahem, twice.

READ MORE: Hunt for the ring: A new Stone of Destiny mystery 75 years on from famous heist

The Stone of Destiny is displayed during a Beating Retreat ceremony at Edinburgh Castle (Picture: Mike Boyd/pool) | Getty Images

After the fellowship met to share stories, one said they were now “less fearful of telling our tiny part of the story” and had started to think about “what we might do with our fragments in the future”.

Given few Scots will doubt the Stone of Destiny’s magical powers, this sounds like the start of a truly epic adventure. Might they find a reason for a quest to extinct volcano Arthur’s Seat? Then again, perhaps they could just make the non-perilous journey to Perth Museum and reunite their stones with the original.