Who captures and then releases Frodo, Sam and Gollum at the end of The Two Towers?

Captain Faramir captures and then releases Frodo, Sam, and Gollum at the end of The Two Towers. Faramir is a captain of Gondor and the younger son of Denethor II, the Steward of Gondor.

In the film, Faramir’s rangers discover the travelers in Ithilien and take them prisoner. Faramir initially considers bringing Frodo and the One Ring to Gondor, hoping the Ring might help his people resist Sauron. Frodo eventually explains how the Ring corrupted Boromir, Faramir’s older brother, and this persuades him to reject the temptation.

Faramir therefore releases the three prisoners and allows them to continue toward Mordor. A common mix-up is Boromir: he captures no one in this scene and has already died by the time of The Two Towers. The Elves and the Dúnedain are also unrelated to this capture.