"Long ago  in the early years of the Second Age  the great Elven-smiths forged Rings of Power." "Nine for mortal Men." "Seven for the Dwarf-lords." "Three for the tall Elf-kings." "But then, the Dark Lord learned the craft of ring-making  and made the Master Ring." "The One Ring to rule them all." "With the One Ring, Middle-earth is his and he cannot be overcome." "As the last alliance of Men and Elves fell beneath his power  he did not notice the heroic shadow who slipped in." "It was Prince Isildur  of the mighty kings from across the sea  who took the Ring." "But because he did not destroy it, the spirit of the Dark Lord lived on  and began to take shape and grow again." "But the Ring had a will of its own, and a way of slipping from one hand  to be found by another, so that it might at last get back to its master." "And there the Ring lay, at the bottom of the Great River Anduin  for thousands of years." "During those years  the Dark Lord captured the nine Rings that were made for Men  and turned their owners into the Ringwraiths:" "Terrible shadows under his great shadow  who roamed the world, searching for the One Ring." "In time, the Ring was found." "Two friends were fishing in the Great River one day." " Give us that, Déagol, my love." " Why, Sméagol?" "Because it's my birthday, my love, and I wants it." "I have already given you more than I could afford." "I found this, and I'm going to keep it!" "Are you indeed, my love?" "He used the Ring for thieving, and to find out secrets." "His own people began to despise the wretched creature  and to call him Gollum." "Tortured and driven by the Ring, he hid in dark caves  under deep mountains." "But the Ring slipped off Gollum 's finger, too." "And so it was that Bilbo found it, during his travels with the Dwarves." "Thief, Baggins." "Thief!" "It stole our precious, our precious..." "Our birthday present." "Thief, Baggins!" "We hates it forever!" "It was Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit  who took the Ring back to the Shire, his home." "Years later  Gandalf the Wizard, visited Bilbo on his going-away birthday party." "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." "Frodo, I can see your uncle Bilbo hasn't changed much." "And though 111 years is far too short a time to live among such admirable Bagginses and Boffinses, Grubbs Chubbs, Brace-girdles, Goodbodies Bolgers, Hornblowers and Proudfoots..." " Proudfeet!" "...I regret to announce that this is the end." "I'm going away." "I'm leaving." "Now." "Goodbye." "Where did he go?" "Oh, Gandalf." "Have you left the Ring for Frodo, as we agreed?" "It's mine, I tell you!" "It's my own." "My precious!" "It's mine now, and I shall keep it." "I won't give my precious away, I tell you." "Do not say that again!" "Give it to Frodo, and I will look after him." "All right, I will." "Seventeen years passed sleepily in the Shire." "All right, just a minute!" "Gandalf!" "Greetings, Frodo." "Gandalf, it's really you!" "Oh, it's been so long!" "Seventeen years since Bilbo left." "You look the same as ever, Frodo." "You look older, Gandalf." "Oh, I've been on a long journey." "It's the Ring, isn't it?" "Bilbo's funny magic ring." "You always used to look like that when you talked about it." "Bilbo's "funny" ring, that makes you invisible?" " Give it to me, Frodo!" " Give you the Ring?" "For a moment only." "Can you see any markings on it?" "There are none." "It's quite a plain ring, really." "Well, then, look!" "Wait." "Do you desire it so much already?" "No, but why ruin it?" "Because it is altogether evil." "It will corrupt and destroy anyone who wears it until he passes into the World of Shadows under the power of Sauron:" "The Dark Lord of Mordor!" "Not Bilbo?" "You are the one who has the Ring now." "It's not even warm." "No." "Not even a dragon's fire could harm that Ring." ""One Ring to rule them all" ""One Ring to find them" ""One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."" "I wish it need not have happened in my time." "So do I." "The Enemy still lacks one thing to give him strength of knowledge to break all resistance, and cover all the lands in darkness." "He lacks the One Ring." "Maybe he doesn't know that it was found." "He knows, Frodo." "Gollum left his cave to follow the Ring himself and the Dark Lord caught him in Mordor." "The Dark Lord knows what ring it was Gollum found, and how he lost it again." "And he has heard of Hobbits at last, and of the Shire." "And he even has a name to think about the name of Baggins." "Because of Gollum!" "Oh, Gandalf, what am I to do?" "What a pity that Bilbo didn't kill that vile creature when he had the chance!" "Yes, it was pity." "Pity and mercy." "And now, Frodo, the decision lies with you." "What will you do with the One Ring?" "I'll give it to you, Gandalf!" "You're wise and powerful." "Well, will you not..." "No!" "Do not tempt me!" "I would wish to turn it to good, and it cannot be used so." "Meaning to be kind, I would become as terrible as the Dark Lord himself." "Do not tempt me!" "I shall have such need of strength so soon." "Then I suppose I must keep the Ring and guard it." "I ought to go away somewhere, alone." "But they won't bother the Shire if the Ring isn't here." "My dear Frodo I am afraid you are right." "You'll have to go and leave the name of Baggins behind you." "That name is no longer safe." "Your new traveling name shall be:" "Mr. Underhill." "What have you heard, and why did you listen?" "Mr. Frodo, sir, don't let him hurt me, sir!" "Don't let him turn me into anything unnatural." "Well?" "Answer him, Sam." "Well, I heard a deal that I didn't rightly understand about an enemy and rings, and about Elves, sir." "Why, I would dearly love to see Elves, Mr. Frodo." "And so you shall, Sam." "So you shall." "Indeed, you should go to the Elves first, to Rivendell." "Tell everyone you are moving away to live in Buckleberry, with those cousins of yours, Pippin and Merry." "However you manage it, do it soon, by your birthday at the latest." "I should be back by then." "I must go south, to consult with the Wizard Saruman the head of my order." "Be careful, Frodo." "Me, go, sir?" "Me, go and see the Elves?" "Oh, my!" "Hooray!" "I have come for your aid, Saruman the White, in troubled times." "The Nine are abroad." "Darkness approaches, the Black Riders!" "Is that all the news you have for me then?" "Is that not enough?" "Sauron is moving at last!" "We can deal with Sauron ourselves." "You and I, one way or another." "What talk is this?" "What are you saying, Saruman?" "It is time for us to choose." "A new age is upon us." "A new power is rising." "Nothing that Men or Elves or Wizards can do will avail against it." "Its enemies are utterly doomed, but its friends..." "You are saying that we should join with Mordor?" "With him?" "Does that displease you?" "Where is the Ring, Gandalf?" "Why do the Black Riders search for it in the Shire?" "Have you hidden it there?" "Would you rather see the Dark Lord have it or Saruman of many colors?" "Neither of you will have it." "There is a third choice." "It is to remain here until you tell me where the Ring may be found." "Saruman, if you do this if you delay me here, Sauron will surely get it then." "Then he will know his good servants and his enemies." "Saruman!" "Saruman!" "I don't feel right going off without Gandalf, Mr. Frodo." "I wish we could've waited, that I do." "So do I, Sam, but he said to leave as soon as we could." "And Merry and Pippin insisted on coming with us, as far as Bree, for the fun of it." "There's someone coming up ahead, Mr. Frodo." "I can hear a horse." "Good." "I'm tired of looking at my cousins all day." "I think we should get off the road." "I don't want to be seen leaving the Shire." "But it might be Gandalf." "Then we'll surprise him." "Hurry!" "We're going with you, Frodo." "With me?" "But how do you..." "Sam?" " But you gave your word." " They already knew so much, Mr. Frodo." "Sam didn't tell us about the Ring, Frodo." "I saw Bilbo use it once, before he left, to hide from the Sackville-Bagginses." "And after that, Pippin and I kept on the lookout and we followed you." "We asked questions everywhere." "And we even wormed a few things out of Gandalf." "And you spied on me." "And Sam helped you." "And we spied on you." "But we meant no wrong to you, Mr. Frodo." "Don't you remember what Mr. Gandalf said?" ""Take someone you can trust," he said." " It doesn't seem that I can trust anyone." " It all depends on what you want." "You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin, to the bitter end." "But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone and go off without a word." "We're your friends, Frodo." "Bless you, you deceitful scoundrels." "Hooray!" "Will we be stopping at Bree tonight, Mr. Frodo?" "I think so, Sam." "We all need a fireside and a bath, and a proper night's sleep in a real bed." "I do wish Gandalf were with us." "Maybe he'll be at the inn when we get there." "Maybe." "I think I'll go out for a sniff of air." "Mind yourselves." "Don't forget:" "You're supposed to be escaping in secret." "Oh, mind yourself!" "Don't get lost." "Be careful, Merry." "Quiet!" "Quiet, all!" "We have some visitors with us tonight, all the way from the Shire." "What was your name again, sir?" "Mr. Underhill." "Mr. Underhill and his party." "Yes, Mr. Underhill, sing us a Shire song!" "Well, a short one, then." ""There is an inn, a merry old inn Beneath an old gray hill" ""And there they brew a beer so brown" ""With a fol-de-doo and a fol-de-da" ""Hobbits all of the Shire are we"" "Who's there?" "Who's there?" ""With a ping and a pang The fiddle-strings broke" ""The cow jumped over the Moon"" "Where did he go?" "What's going on here?" "Take your magic tricks back to the Shire!" "What's this place coming to, I'd like to know?" "Well, Mr. Underhill frightening my customers and breaking my crocks with your acrobatics!" "Very sorry, it's quite unintentional, a most unfortunate accident." "Well, you have put your foot in it this time." "Who are you?" "I am called Strider." " Everyone knows me here." " Well, we don't!" "You've been very careless so far, Mr. Frodo Baggins." "My name is Mr. Underhill." "After your performance tonight, it won't matter what you're called." "The Black Riders will know who you are by morning." "They already know what you bear." "Who are you really?" "I am Gandalf's friend." "He asked me to watch out for you." "Gandalf?" "Have you seen him?" "Where is he?" "I do not know." "We were supposed to meet him here, but I've had no word, no message." "It is the first time that I've ever feared for him." "Then we will have to go on by ourselves tomorrow." "To Rivendell?" "You'd never get there." "The Black Riders are watching the road night and day." "They will come on you in the wild, in some dark place, where there's no help." "I know the wild country." "I can take you to Rivendell by paths that are seldom trodden." "Will you have me?" "With your leave, Mr. Frodo, I'd say no." "This Strider, he says be more careful, I say, let's start with him." "How do we know he's from Gandalf?" "More likely, he's a playacting spy, working for..." " For them." " I don't know, Sam." "I think one of the Enemy's servants would, well seem fairer and feel fouler, if you understand." "While I look foul and feel fair, is that it?" "Well, no, I meant..." "Frodo!" "Frodo, I've seen them!" "I've seen them, Frodo!" "I've seen them!" "Black Riders!" "My men found him lying in the street." "There were two of them." "They were hissing to each other." "I seemed to be drawn towards them." "You do need looking after, all of you." "There's been strange folk about for days." "That Ranger Strider coming and going and..." "Strider!" " They've come from Mordor." " Save us!" "They won't trouble you once I am gone." "Strider came to offer me his help." "You know your own business, maybe but in your place, I wouldn't take up with a ranger out of the wild." "They have no choice." "There is no one else for them except a fat innkeeper who only remembers his name because people shout it at him all day!" "I'll do what I can to help, Mr. Baggins." "Mr. Underhill." "I'm no hero, but I'll do what I can." "Keep watch tonight, you and your folk." "There is a hill called Weathertop about half way between here and Rivendell." "We will make for it tomorrow." "So will Gandalf, if he can." "I still don't know if we can trust him, Mr. Frodo." "I said, you have no choice, Sam." "Because, if I wanted the Ring for myself I could have it, now." "My name is Aragorn, son of Arathorn." "If by life or death I can save you, I will." "How long will we be in these marshes, Aragorn?" "At least two days." "I'm being eaten alive!" "What do these things live on when they can't get Hobbits?" "Easy there, Bill, easy." "Slow." "That is Weathertop." "We shall be there by nightfall, if we set a good pace and don't stop for lunch." "If this continues I'll become a wraith." "Don't speak of such things." "Aragorn!" "Aragorn!" "And Beren was a mortal man but Luthien Tinúviel was the daughter of a king of Elves and she was the fairest maiden that has been among all the children of this world." "Yet she chose to be mortal, for him." "And when he died, she followed him." "And so he was her doom but he was her love as well." "I thought I saw something!" "Or maybe just shadows in the moonlight, I don't know." "Just stand close to the fire." "Make a circle." "What's that?" "The Ring, Frodo!" "Take off the Ring!" "Cold..." "It's so cold." " Like a poisoned icicle." " It is the cold of their world, Frodo." "When you put on the Ring, you entered the world of the Black Riders." "Gandalf said not to." "Why is it so misty here?" "I can't see very well." "Well, what's the matter with him?" "It was only a little wound." "It was an evil knife that struck him, Sam." "I think that a piece broke off in the wound and is working inward." "If it reaches his heart..." "Can you do anything?" "We must get to Rivendell very soon." "He can't go no further." "He must!" "Do you want them to take him?" "Wait, listen." "Legolas!" "Yes, Sam, that's an elf." "So, there has been no word of Gandalf in Rivendell?" "No message at all?" "None." "My Lord Elrond has sent every rider he could spare to seek for you knowing that you bore a great burden without guidance." "I have been on the road for nine days." "Well, Mr. Frodo has been on the road a lot longer than that." "And he's sick and he needs a rest." "Just for a while." "No resting can help your Mr. Frodo now." "Only the hands of Elrond in Rivendell can do that." "There are five Black Riders close behind us and we may well find the other four waiting at the ford." "If we lose even a little time, we lose, Frodo, the Ring and Middle-earth." "Do you understand me, Sam?" "There is the ford of Rivendell." "Fly!" "The Enemy is upon us!" "Come back." "To Mordor we will take you." "Gandalf!" "Come back, come back." "To Mordor we'll take you." "Come back, come back." "To Mordor, we'll take you." "Go back!" "Run, you fool, run!" "The Ring!" "The Ring!" "Go back to the land of Mordor, and follow me no more." "Come back." "Come back." "To Mordor we will take you." "Come back." "Come back." "Go back!" "The Ring." "The Ring!" "By all the Shire, you shall have neither the Ring nor me!" "No, never." "Verily, I come." "I give it unto you." "No, never!" "Gandalf!" "Yes." "I am here, and you are lucky to be here, too after all the absurd things you've done since you left home." "Where's Sam?" "And are the others all right?" "They've hardly left your side for three days." "Three days?" "What happened at the ford?" "It all seemed so dim, somehow." "You were beginning to fade, my remarkable friend." "The knifepoint had almost worked its way to your heart." "Oh, I didn't know." "Would I have..." "You would have become like them." "One of the Ringwraiths the servants of the Dark Lord if you had not resisted to the last." "The river, it rose up against them." "It is Elrond's river." "This is his house and it was Elrond himself who healed you." "If I may say so, I added a few touches of my own." "The white horses and so on." "If you noticed." "Then that is the end of the Black Riders?" "Not so long as the Ring itself exists." "They will fly back to their master in Mordor, empty and crippled until they find new shapes to wear and new beasts to ride." "We have beaten them, just for a while, Frodo." "That's sort of a relief." "I wish that were the truth, Frodo." "I'm afraid we have a new and closer problem at hand." "You have not asked me why I was late getting back to the Shire." "I forgot." "When I was certain that yours was indeed the Master Ring  I rode at once to Isengard, and I thought  that if anyone could know what was best to do with the One Ring  it would surely be Saruman the White." "The great eagle, Gwaihir  came in answer to my call, and bore me away." "Saruman has never paid enough attention to animals." " But if he should seize the Ring..." " He will become master of all Middle-earth." "The War of the Ring has begun, Frodo." "You will hear the rest in Council when you are well enough." "Rest now." ""The leaves were long, the grass was green" ""But the hemlock-umbels tall and fair" ""And in the glade a light was seen" ""Of stars in shadow, shimmering" ""Tinúviel was dancing there."" "Bilbo!" "Hello, Frodo, my lad." "Where have you been?" "Why haven't I seen you before?" "I've seen a good deal of you, sitting by your side with Sam each day." "Bilbo, have you been here all the time?" "All these years?" "There didn't seem much reason to be anywhere else, after all." "The food's very good, and I listen, and I think." "A remarkable place altogether." "Yes." "And now, of course, there's all this bustle about that ring of mine." "Fancy the little thing causing such a disturbance." "Have you got it here?" "Yes, I have." "I'd very much like just to peep at it again, just for a moment." "Put it away." "I understand now." "I'm sorry." "Sorry about everything." "Don't adventures ever have an end?" "The Council of Elrond is beginning." "Come with me." "Both of you." "All that morning, the Council of Elrond debated the history of the One Ring  and its master, Sauron." "Gandalf also told all present of Saruman  the traitor, and his desire for the power of the Ring." "Elves and Dwarves, in their turn, told what they knew of Sauron's  preparations for conquest, and so did Boromir of Gondor." "In Gondor, we are already under attack by the forces of Mordor." "I am Boromir." "In a dream, I heard a voice crying to me, saying:" ""Seek for the sword that was broken."" "Here is the sword of Elendil of Gondor who fought the Dark Lord long ago and was slain." "So, Frodo learned at last  the true heritage of Aragorn, the son of Arathorn  descendent of Isildur, who cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand." "Then it belongs to you, and not to me at all?" "Bring out the Ring, Frodo." "The time has come." "Isildur's Bane." "The Halfling." "What shall we do with it then, this mightiest of all weapons?" "We cannot keep it, we cannot destroy it." "Sauron, who forged it looks for his Ring and Saruman who envies it, searches for its power, too." "I see no other road for us but the most fearful:" "The road into Mordor." "We must send the Ring to the fire where it was made:" "To Mount Doom." "What foolishness is this?" "Why do you speak of hiding and destroying?" "The Ring could save all Middle-earth." "Have you heard nothing?" "It is Sauron's Ring." "To wield it you would have to become Sauron." "I will not touch it!" "Nor I." "Our one hope lies in foolishness, Boromir." "The Dark Lord cannot conceive of anyone wishing to destroy his Ring." "He will wait until one of us tries to use it follow every move we make." "And it is just possible that he may not notice the small, quiet feet, walking into peril into Mordor." "Very well." "It's plain enough what you're pointing at." "Bilbo, the silly Hobbit, started this affair, and had better finish it, or himself." "When ought I to start?" "It has passed beyond you, Bilbo." "This last journey must be for others to make." "Who are they to be?" "That is what they're trying to decide here." "I will take the Ring though I do not know the way." "I think that this task is appointed for you, Frodo." "This is the hour of the Shire-folk, at last." "But you won't send him off alone, surely?" "You, at least, shall go with him, Master Samwise." "It is impossible to separate you, even when he is summoned to a Council and you are not." "A nice pickle we've landed ourselves in, Mr. Frodo." "I thought perhaps you might care to have these." "Bilbo, I don't think I should look right." "You can wear the shirt under your clothes." "It's as light as anything." "But I fancy it might turn even the knives of the Black Riders." "I named the sword Sting, long ago." "It's silly, but there you are." "It shines when there are enemies about." "Orcs and things." "There." "Now you look just a plain Hobbit on the surface, but..." "Well, take care." "Bring back any old songs and tales you hear." ""I sit beside the fire" ""And think of all that I have seen."" "Our only hope is in speed and secrecy." "The Company of the Ring shall be nine." "Nine walkers against the nine Riders of Mordor." "With Sam and Frodo, Gandalf will go." "For the other Free Peoples  Legolas shall be for the Elves  and Gimli, son of Glóin, for the Dwarves." "For Men shall go the valiant Boromir of Gondor  and Aragorn, son of Arathorn." "And for the last two places, we will trust to friendship  rather than to great wisdom." "Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck may also go." "When did you ever know such a storm, so far south?" "The Dark Lord's arm has grown long ...if he can hurl snow at us all the way from Mordor." "His arm has grown long." "No, Gandalf, not that dark way, I beg you!" "And what would you suggest?" "Returning to Rivendell to wait there for the end?" "We have no choice, Aragorn!" "We might go by way of the Gap of Rohan." "That'd take the Ring too close to Isengard and Saruman." "We dare not risk it." "Yet you would risk the mines of Moria." "Where both you and I have walked before and come out again alive." "The memory is very evil." "I do not wish to enter Moria a second time." "And I don't wish to enter it even once." "Nor me." "The question is not who wishes to go, but who will?" "There is no other way to pass the mountains." "I will go with you." "My cousin Balin led a company of Dwarves there, many years ago." "There has been no word of them in all that time." "Elves do not walk in the dark earth." "I will go, but I fear for you, Gandalf." "I will not go, not unless the vote of the whole company is against me." "What does the Ring-bearer say?" "I do not wish to go." "But I will go, if Gandalf advises it." "Steady, easy, Bill." "Old Gandalf will have that gate open in a minute." " What if he can't?" " I've never seen anything he couldn't do." "Sam!" "Fireworks are all very nice, but this is elf magic." "What a people you Dwarves are for hiding things." "On the gates of your most wondrous, ancient kingdom you write:" ""Speak, friend, and enter," and no spell in any language can open the door." "Why do you keep looking at the lake, Frodo?" "I'm afraid of it." "And there sits our quest." "If we had to bring a wizard at all, it should have been Saruman." "Be still, Boromir!" "Why?" "There are other ways to turn, if our Wizard's balked." "I said, from the beginning..." "Gandalf, you old fool!" "So, all you had to do was say, "friend," and enter." "Those were happier times." "Let us go." "I'm coming, Mr. Frodo!" "I'm coming!" "Into the gateway!" "All of you!" "Poor old Bill!" "Gandalf, what was the thing in the water?" "I do not know." "There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world." "Whatever it was, it grabbed Frodo first, out of all of us." "Be quiet, Pippin!" "We have gone far enough for today." "Let us stop here for the night." "Seems to have been a guardroom." "Yes, there's even a well." "We had better rest here." "It's hard to believe that even Dwarves could have lived in this half-drowned dungeon!" "It was a great realm once." "Be still!" "Both of you!" "Which way do we take tomorrow, Gandalf?" "I have not decided." "The path to the left smells foul, and I am too weary to choose." "The way ahead feels wrong, somehow." "At least the middle way goes up." "It's time we began to climb again." "Perhaps." "I cannot remember." "What's that?" " Pippin!" " Just a stone." "I dropped a stone." "Fool of a Took!" "Throw yourself in next time!" "Be quiet!" "Fool of a Pippin!" "Yes, this way." "We should find our way down to the Great Gates by tonight." "I shall be glad." "I doubt now that Dwarves ever came back here." "Why should they have come back?" "What was left for them to mine?" "Mithril silver!" "The most precious metal in the world." ""Balin, son of Fundin..." ""..." "Lord of Moria."" "They did come back." "It seems to be a record of the colony." "Orc swords." "There was a great battle here." "Yes." ""Balin is now Lord of Moria."" "Here it says, "We found Mithril."" "Now it says:" ""Yesterday, Balin, Lord of Moria, fell." ""An Orc shot him from behind a stone." ""We slew the Orc, but many more..."" "Then it says, "We have barred the gates."" "And something about, "The Watcher in the Water."" " What do you hear?" " Nothing." "But I feel." "It is grim reading." ""They have taken the bridge." "They are coming!" ""We cannot get out!" "Drums." ""Drums in the deep!"" "There is nothing more." "Gandalf?" "I don't want to stay here." "We are going now, Pippin." "There is nothing more." "They are coming." "Slam the doors and wedge them." "Keep the east door ajar." "We must not get shut in." "Orcs and something else." "A great Cave-troll, I think." "Out this way!" "For Shire!" "For the Shire!" "Now is the last chance!" "Run for it!" "I'm all right." "I can walk." "I thought you were dead." "All of you, down the stairs!" "Lead the way, Gimli!" "Pippin and Merry next." "Come no closer!" "I warn you!" "Balrog!" "Fly, all of you!" "Fly!" "Up the stairs and straight on." "Fly!" "You cannot help me." "You cannot pass." "I am a servant of the Secret Fire." "You cannot pass." "Go back to the shadow." "You cannot pass." "Fly, you fools!" "Come." "Follow me." "Obey him!" " There may be a bit of a scar, Sam." " I don't care." "Now it is your turn, Frodo." "I'm all right." "What does it matter now?" "It matters." "We still have a long road, and much to do." "Why?" "We've no hope without Gandalf." "You know that, Aragorn." "Then we must do without hope." "There is always vengeance." "Mithril shirt!" "That's what saved you." "I have never seen one so beautiful." " There!" " What is it?" "The footsteps, I heard them in Moria, following." "The Orcs will not come after us until dark." "It never sounds like an Orc." "They're bare feet and they flap." "Whatever creature it is, it won't follow us where we're going." "Nothing evil passes through Lothlorien." " That is not what we say in Gondor." " Then you know nothing in Gondor." "Out of Moria into the Golden Wood." "Is there no way less perilous?" "I would almost rather face the Balrog again, than the Lady." "Lothlorien is a place of healing." "There is no evil in it unless a man brings evil there with him." "Welcome to Lothlorien." "I am Galadriel and this is my lord, Celeborn." "The forests have told us of your loss." "We sorrow for you, and for all of Middle-earth." "Rest here now for a little, until you are healed." "Your quest is known to us." "We will do what we can to aid you." "Frodo Baggins of the Shire?" ""Let the night never cease to call you" ""Let the day never more be the same"" "It is a song about Gandalf, isn't it?" "Yes, Mithrandir was the Elves' name for him." "It means, Grey Pilgrim." "We knew so little of him in the Shire, Aragorn." "He was just Gandalf, to us." "We never knew he had so many names." "I think he was fondest of Gandalf." ""We're still guided by your light" ""You're walking beside us" ""A prayer in the night" ""With the fear rushing thru the shadows" ""Like a star shining deep in his heart" ""You will know in your hearts forever" ""Never more" ""Will we stand" ""Alone"" "This is the mirror of Galadriel." "It shows things that were, and things that are and things that yet may be." "Do you wish to look?" "I'd not mind a glimpse of what's going on at home." "It seems a terrible long time I've been away." "Come then, you shall look and see what you may." "I got to go home!" "They've dug up Bagshot Row and thrown my poor old Gaffer out in the street." "I've got to go home." "The mirror shows many things, Sam, and not all have yet come to pass." "Some never come to be, unless those that behold the visions turn aside from their path to prevent them." "Do you wish to leave Frodo now, and go home?" "No." "Gandalf?" "No, it must be Saruman." "Do not touch the water." "He is looking for you." "But he cannot find you, not here, not yet." "The door is closed." "Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky." "Yes." "We hid those three from him, and he has never touched them." "If your quest fails then nothing can stand against him and we are defenseless." "Yet, if you succeed, if the One Ring is destroyed all we built with the three will fade." "Time will come here, and Lothlorien will fade." "You are the footstep of doom to us, Frodo." "Lady Galadriel, I will give you the One Ring, if you ask for it." "It's too great a matter for me." "And I came to test your heart." "You will give me the Great Ring freely and in place of the Dark Lord you will set up a queen." "And I shall not be evil, but beautiful and terrible as the morning and the night." "Stronger than the foundations of the earth." "All shall love me and despair!" "I pass the test." "I will diminish and go into the west and remain Galadriel." "And you must depart in the morning." "For Gondor and the House of Isildur." "For Gondor and the city of Minas Tirith." "In a few days, we will have to choose:" "Shall we turn west with Boromir and go to the wars of Gondor or turn east to Mordor and its Dark Lord?" "Or shall we break our fellowship?" "I'm going with Mr. Frodo." "I know that, Sam." "What a place." "What a horrible place!" "Behold the Argonath, the pillars of the kings." "They are Isildur and Anarion, my fathers of old." "If Gandalf were here..." "The day has come at last, the day of choice, which we have long delayed." "What shall now become of our company?" "I am not Gandalf." "I have tried to guide you as he would've done, but if he had any plan for this moment, he never told me." "Even if he had, if he had lived I think the burden would still have fallen on you, Frodo." "You alone can choose your way now." "The burden is heavy." "Give me an hour longer, and I will speak." "Let me be alone!" "You shall have your hour." "And you shall be alone." "Who's there?" "Boromir." "I was afraid for you, Frodo." "The Orcs may be on this side of the river by now." "May I stay and talk to you, just for a while?" "You're kind, but there's nothing to be said." "I know what I should do, but I'm afraid of doing it, Boromir." "I wish I could help you." "Will you hear my counsel?" "I know what your advice would be:" "To go with you to Gondor and use the Ring to defend Minas Tirith." "And is that such ill counsel?" "Why should we fear to use the Ring in a just cause?" "Whatever is done with the Ring turns to evil." "Gandalf and Elrond refused to touch it, and Galadriel herself..." "Yes, I know all that." "And for themselves, they may be right, these Elves and half-Elves and Wizards!" "But truehearted Men will not be corrupted." "We, of Minas Tirith, do not seek power." "Only the strength to defend ourselves." "Where is the evil in that, Frodo?" "You cannot answer me, none of them can." "It's folly not using the Enemy's power against him." "Think what Aragorn could do with the Ring in this hour." "Or if he refuses, why not Boromir?" "How I would drive the hosts of Mordor, until I stood face to face with Sauron." "And they tell us to throw it away!" "Come with me, Frodo." "My city is not far." "You can go to Mordor from there, if you must." "Only, trust me, let me try my plan." "Lend me the Ring." "No, Boromir." "No!" "Fool, obstinate fool!" "It is only yours by chance." "It might have been mine." "It should be mine." "Give it to me!" "Miserable trickster!" "You'll sell us all to Sauron." "Traitor!" "Curse you to death and darkness, all you Halflings!" "What have I done?" "Frodo, come back!" "A madness took me, but it has passed." "Come back!" "This waiting's horrible." "Where have you been, Boromir?" "Have you seen Frodo?" "I tried to convince him to come to Minas Tirith." "I grew angry and he vanished." "Is that all you have to say?" "He put the Ring on." "But where did he go?" "Where is he?" "Mr. Frodo!" "Gimli, Legolas, stop them!" "I don't know what part you've played in this mischief, but help now!" "Go after Merry and Pippin and guard them, even if you cannot find Frodo." "Go on!" "Follow me, Sam." "Stay close." "Sam Gamgee, your legs are too short, so use your head." "The boats." "Coming, Mr. Frodo." "Coming!" "It's only water, now." "I'm here, Sam." "Save me, Mr. Frodo." "Help, I'm drowning!" " Take my hand." " Where's your hand?" "Here." "Here it is." "Of all the confounded nuisances I ever knew." "Mr. Frodo, that's hard." "If I hadn't guessed right, where would you be now?" "Safely on my way." ""Safely"?" "All alone and without me to help you?" "But I am going to Mordor." "Well, of course you are, Mr. Frodo, and I'm coming with you." "It's no good trying to escape you." "I'm glad, Sam." "May the others find a safe road." "Aragorn will look after them." "I don't suppose we shall see them again." "Yet we may, Mr. Frodo." "We may." "This way!" "Frodo!" "Halfling." "Boromir." "Boromir." "I tried to take the Ring from Frodo." "I'm sorry." "I have paid." "Aragorn, go to Minas Tirith." "Save my people." "Aragorn..." "I will go I promise you." "The Halflings, Orcs took them." "I think they are not dead." "Either we take the last boat and follow Frodo or we follow the Orcs on foot." "Pippin and Merry may be dead by now." "We don't know." "We cannot forsake them." "The fate of the Ring-bearer is in my hands no longer." "The company of the Ring has played its part." "We follow the Orcs." "Filth!" "Maggots!" "Can't run." "Hello, Pippin." "So you've come on this expedition, too?" "When do we get bed and breakfast?" "Bed and breakfast in Isengard, understand?" "They are alive." "One of them, anyway." "Pippin, I think, by the footprints." "How far ahead of us are they, Aragorn?" "Almost a day." "Shall we rest by night, or go on while our strength holds?" "Do you think the Orcs will rest?" "Yet, in the dark we may lose the trail, or miss a sign, like that brooch." "There will be no more signs." "I cannot run all the way to Isengard." "Thank goodness for that rope the Elves gave you." "We'd never have gotten down that last cliff without it." "There's Mount Doom again, Mr. Frodo." "See it?" "What a fix!" "The one place that we don't want to see any closer and that's the one place we're trying to get to." "We're plain lost, Mr. Frodo." "I'm tired, Sam." "I don't know what's to be done." "We must find a place to camp, I suppose." "Maybe there'll be a path tomorrow." "Cautious, my precious." "Don't turn!" "It's him." "That Gollum?" "That thing who had Mr. Bilbo's ring?" "He's been following us since Moria." "My precious!" "More haste, less speed." "Well, he'll be sorry he found us again." "Be careful!" "He's much more dangerous than he looks." "Where is it, my precious?" "It's ours, it is, and we wants it." "Got you, you spying..." "Let go, Gollum!" "Let go, or I'll cut your throat!" "Don't hurt us!" "Don't let them hurt us, precious." "Cruel little Hobbitses." "Jumps on us like cats on poor mices, Gollum." "We'll be nice to them if they'll be nice to us, won't we, precious?" "Pity Mr. Bilbo didn't kill the creature when he had the chance." "I will not touch him." "Now that I see him, I do pity him." "Yes, Hobbits won't kill us, not Hobbits, huh?" "No, we won't." "But we won't let you go, either." "You will have to come with us and help us, if you can." "Yes, indeed!" "Nice Hobbits!" "And where are they going in these cold, hard lands, we wonder?" "We are going to Mordor." "You know that." "Lead us to the gates of his land." "No, precious." "Hobbits mustn't go there." "Gollum!" "Leave us alone!" "Gotcha!" "I think your rope might prove useful again." "Tie one end to his ankle." "We want him to walk." "Don't hurt us!" "No!" "It burns!" "It bites!" "It freezes!" "Take it off us." "It hurts us." "Don't you do it!" "It hurts us." "What promise can you give me that I can trust?" "Sméagol will be very good." "Sméagol will swear never to let him have it." "Sméagol will save it." "The precious is before you, Sméagol." "Speak your promise!" "We promises, yes, I promise I will serve the master of the precious." "Good master, good Sméagol." "Take the rope off, Sam." "Off we go." "Follow Sméagol." "Sméagol knows a secret way, he does, across the marshes." "Follow Sméagol." "I said, "No shooting."" "You're wasting arrows, dunghill swine!" "Snaga, Lugdush, stand guard." "Bind their legs." "White-skins break through." "Understand?" "You and your stinking Wizard." "You got us into this." "When I tell them in Mordor..." "They are far, far away." "If stinking Wizard doesn't get you, the white-skins will." "You won't get it that way." "It isn't easy to find." "Get it?" "Get what?" "Nothing, my precious." "It's no good groping in the dark." "Ugluk will be back any minute." "Nothing for Mordor." "Nothing for poor Grishnakh and Gollum." " Untie us, my precious." " I said to be quiet!" "Wait." "You can't find it without our help." "You help me?" "I don't know what to do now." "I don't even know where we are." "You should have studied maps more and played less in Rivendell." "This is Fangorn Forest." "Then we're no safer than we were with the Orcs." "We've no blankets and almost no food." "It looks like nothing to eat for 100 miles." "We don't even know where we're trying to go." "Let's climb up there." "Maybe we can find out where we are, at least." "It's nice here." "The forest looks so different in the sunlight." "I know." "It's funny, but, well, I almost feel I like the place." "Almost felt you liked the forest?" "That's uncommonly kind of you." "The Orcs made us run here, and when we tired they carried us, cut our ropes, ran into the forest and we came to your hill..." ""Hill?"" "A hasty word for something that has stood here since the world was shaped." "You may call me Treebeard." "We thought you were a tree, standing there." "Not a tree, a tree herder." "Please, Treebeard now that you know our story whose side are you on?" "I am not altogether on anybody's side because nobody is altogether on my side." "But I am no friend of these tree-killing Orcs and their masters." "They were here, no doubt of it." " But where they went?" " I don't understand these other marks." "Look!" "Your bow, Legolas!" "It's Saruman." "Shoot before he puts a spell on us, fast!" "Elf Man and Dwarf together?" "A rare sight in these times." "Stop him, Legolas!" "Gandalf?" "Beyond all hope." "Gandalf!" "Yes." "That was my name." "But where have you..." "Gandalf!" "What happened?" "A long time I fell." "Long I fell and he fell with me." "His fire was about me." "I was burned." "Ever he clutched me, and ever I hewed him, far under the living earth  until at last, he fled back up the secret ways of Moria." "There we fought, above the mists of the world  and the mountain was wreathed with lightning." "I threw down my enemy and his fall broke the mountainside." "Then darkness took me  and I wandered far, on roads that I will not tell." "Naked, I was sent back for a brief time until my task was done." "And it is time I was about it." "You come with me to Edoras, my friends, to the city of the Riders?" "To Edoras, now?" "But to leave Merry and Pippin?" "They are in no danger, believe me." "The great danger is to Edoras." "Saruman's Orcs will attack there within two days, and Theoden has need of us." "Theoden has grown old." "He shivers by his fire now  and leaves everything in the hands of his new minister:" "Grima Wormtongue." "Those Riders you followed, who rescued Merry and Pippin  they were led by Theoden's nephew, Eomer." "He is all but an outlaw in Rohan these days." "He hunts the Orcs wherever he finds them  defying Wormtongue's orders to let them pass." "So Wormtongue calls him traitor and renegade  and Theoden believes..." "Gandalf, the Riders of Rohan are the bravest fighters I've ever knew  but they were never many." "If Saruman strikes now, he'll overrun Edoras in a single night." "Our time is at hand." "Theoden's hundreds will face your tens of thousands." "When all of Rohan, your ancient oppressor, lies vanquished then shall we fly eastward and sweep all of Middle-earth beneath our feet." "We cannot be defeated!" "Halfway between Edoras and Isengard, there lies a fortress called Helm 's Deep." "If we can decoy Saruman's Orcs there  the fortress will stop them longer than the wooden halls of Edoras." "We are buying time, Aragorn." "Time?" "Time for what?" "Perhaps for a miracle." "Perhaps only for Frodo to get a little further on his way while the armies that should be hunting for the Ring waste their own time destroying us." "I have returned." "The storm comes swiftly, and it is time for all friends to gather together." "And do you expect me to welcome you here Master Gandalf?" "Troubles follow you like crows." "Why should I welcome you, Gandalf Stormcrow?" "Justly spoken, Lord." "In the east, the Dark Lord is stirring in Lorien, the Sorceress of the Golden Wood weaves deceit." "And such is the hour in which this wanderer chooses to return." "It is I who counsel the King now." "He hears you no longer." "No, Grima Wormtongue." "He hears nothing but your voice telling him that he rules here only because Saruman is kind to old men and that the best thing for a sickly, feeble king is to let Wizards and Orcs do as they will in Rohan." "I am my own man, Gandalf as I was." "It is true that Grima advises me often to leave Aruman in peace..." "Hear, my Lord, you tire yourself." "You are still unwell." "And he does remind me that it would be safest for Rohan to seek their friendship no matter how I may feel!" "Dear Lord, let me deal with these troublesome guests." "How long has it been, Grima Wormtongue?" "How long since Saruman bought you?" "For I saw you at Isengard." "Did I not counsel your doorkeeper to forbid his staff?" "Down, snake." "Down on your belly." "Grima is often at Isengard." "I sent him there with messages." "And he returns with poison Aruman's poison in your ears, Theoden." "Chilling your heart, making you old." "Take courage, Lord of Rohan!" "Grima is this so?" "I will not harm you, Grima." "Is it so?" "Let him go!" "My sister-daughter, Eowyn." "My only loyal kin since her brother has disobeyed my commands." "Wormtongue's command, Theoden." "If Eomer had not defied him, their cause might be already lost." "Tell me, Gandalf what I must do now." "We cannot wait here for Saruman's attack." "Every man that can ride must be sent immediately to the old fortress of Helm's Deep." "When Saruman learns that we have gone there and he will we will have the Riders of Rohan." "I will find Eomer and his Riders." "My armor!" "Look for me at Helm's Deep." "That's all, Theoden." "And he's gone again like a wind in the grass." "Stormcrow." " Aragorn?" " My Lord?" "Is there any hope for us?" "Sam, you simpleminded..." "You fell asleep." "Mr. Frodo, he's gone." " Sméagol?" " He's gone." "I didn't mean to sleep." "Well, he'll come back." "Promise will hold him a while yet." "He won't leave his precious, anyway." "Are we rested?" "Ready to go on?" "Nice Hobbitses." "Trust Sméagol now?" "Stop!" "Shivery light." "Nasty." "Look!" "Wraiths!" "Wraiths on wings!" "The precious is calling them!" "Gollum, wait, Mr. Frodo can't keep up!" "Slow down, I tell you." "No time, no time." "The precious is heavy, yes." "Very heavy, Sméagol knows." "If it's too heavy for nice Master little Sméagol will carry it." "Sméagol doesn't mind." "Give it to Sméagol." "Do not say that again." "Do not think it." "Before you touched the precious again, Sméagol I would put it on and have you leap off a cliff, or into a fire and you would do it, Sméagol." "Nice, Master." "Nice, Master." "Gollum!" "Sméagol promised." "Yes, we promised to save our precious, never to let him have it but it's going to him my precious is nearer every step." "I can't help it." "Sméagol promised to help nice Hobbit." "He took cruel rope off our leg." "He speaks nicely to me." "He's a Baggins, my precious." "A Baggins stoled it." "We hates Bagginses." "Must have the precious." "Must have it." "We wants it." "But there's two of them." "Yes." "We needs help, precious." "She might help, yes." "She might help us but Sméagol promised nice Hobbit." "Nice Hobbit." "Hey, you what are you pawing at him for?" "Where've you been anyway, sneaking off and sneaking back?" ""Sneaking?"" "Hobbit's always so polite, yes." "Tired, thirsty Sméagol, he finds a secret way through the mountain a tunnel with no Orcses anywhere, and they say "sneak."" ""Sneak?"" "Well, you startled me." "I'm sorry." "Hello, Sméagol." " Where have you been?" " Sneaking!" "I like this place." "There is good rock here." "This country has tough bones." "Up on the ridge!" "They're coming!" "There they are!" "Fire of Isengard!" "We're breached!" "Retreat to the caves!" "The caves!" "Theoden King." "I will not end here taken like an old badger in a trap." "When dawn comes I will bid men sound Helm's horn and I will ride forth." "Will you ride with me then, son of Arathorn?" "At least, we may make such an end as will be worth a song." "I will ride with you." "We're there, Sam." "Another day, maybe two." "When light comes tomorrow, the mountains will be near." "Well, it's a good thing, Mr. Frodo, because we're running awful low on food." "I reckon we've got enough left to see us to this Mount Doom." "After that I don't know." "Samwise Gamgee." "My dearest Hobbit friend of friends "after that," if the Ring goes into the fire, and we are at hand?" ""After that," dear Sam." "I wouldn't worry." "Just to get there." "Just to get there." "The Ring is so heavy now, Sam." "We must go." "Mustn't rest here, silly Hobbits." "Orcs find us." "Ringwraiths find us." "Must go on to safe, secret place." "Sméagol's secret way!" "The straight stair and the winding stair." "Up, up through black, sharp mountains." "Follow good Sméagol." "Straight stair, winding stair?" "What comes after that?" "We shall see, yes we shall see." "Gandalf!" "The forces of darkness were driven forever from the face of Middle-earth  by the valiant friends of Frodo." "As their gallant battle ended  so too ends the first great tale of The Lord of the Rings."