Riders of Rohan ... what news from the Mark?
What business does an Elf, a Man and a Dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly!
Give me your name, horse-master, and I shall give you mine.
I would cut off your head, Dwarf ... if it stood but a little higher from the ground.
You would die before your stroke fell.
I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. This is Gimli, son of Gloin, and Legolas of the Woodland Realm. We are friends of Rohan and of Theoden, your king.
Theoden no longer recognizes friend from foe. Not even his own kin. Saruman has poisoned the mind of the king ... and claimed lordship over these lands. My company are those loyal to Rohan. And for that, we are banished. The White Wizard is cunning. He walks here and there, they say. As an old man hooded and cloaked. And everywhere, his spies slip past our nets.
We are no spies. We track a party of Uruk-hai westward across the plain. They have taken two of our friends captive.
The Uruks are destroyed. We slaughtered them during the night.
But there were two Hobbits. Did you see two Hobbits with them?
They would be small. Only children to your eyes.
We left none alive. We piled the carcasses and burned them.
I am sorry.
Hasufel! Arod! May these horses bear you to better fortune than their former masters. Farewell.
Look for your friends. But do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands. We ride north!
It's one of their wee belts.
Hiro hyn hîdh … ab 'wanath. (May they find peace in death)
Aaaaargh!
We failed them.
A Hobbit lay here. And the other.
They crawled. Their hands were bound.
Their bonds were cut.
They ran over here. They were followed.
The belt! Run!
Tracks lead away from the battle ... into Fangorn Forest.
Fangorn? What madness drove them in there?
Did we lose him? I think we lost him.
I'm going to rip out your filthy little innards!
Come here!
Trees. Climb a tree!
He's gone.
Merry!
Hrum!
Aaaargh!
Let's put a maggot hole in your belly!
Run, Merry!
Little Orcs.
It's talking, Merry. The tree is talking.
Tree? I am no tree! I am an Ent.
A tree-herder. A shepherd of the forest.
Don't talk to it, Merry. Don't encourage it!
Treebeard, some call me.
And whose side are you on?
Side? I am on nobody's side, because nobody's on my side, little Orc. Nobody cares for the woods anymore.
We're not Orcs! We're Hobbits!
Hobbits? Never heard of a Hobbit before. Sounds like Orc mischief to me! They come with fire. They come with axes. Gnawing, biting, breaking, hacking, burning! Destroyers and usurpers! Curse them!
No! You don't understand. We're Hobbits! Halflings! Shire-folk!
Maybe you are ... and maybe you aren't. The White Wizard will know.
The White Wizard?
Saruman.
See? See? We've led you out. Hurry, Hobbitses. Hurry! Very lucky we find you. Nice Hobbit.
It's a bog. He's led us into a swamp.
A swamp, yes, yes. Come, master. We will take you on safe paths through the mist. Come, Hobbits! Come! We go quickly. I found it. I did. The way through the marshes. Orcs don't use it. Orcs don't know it. They go around for miles and miles. Come quickly. Soft and quick as shadows we must be.
I hate this place. It's too quiet. There's been no sight nor sound of a bird for two days.
No, no birdses to eat. No crunchable birdses. We are famished! Yes! Famished we are, precious!
Here.
What does it eats? Is it tasty?
It tries to chokes us! We can't eats Hobbit food! We must starve!
Well, starve, then. And good riddance!
Oh, cruel Hobbit. It does not care if we be hungry. Does not care if we should die. Not like master. Master cares. Master knows. Yes. Precious. Once it takes hold of us ... it never lets go.
Don't touch me!
There are dead things! Dead faces in the water.
All dead. All rotten. Elves and Men and Orcses. A great battle long ago. Dead Marshes. Yes. Yes, that is their name. This way. Don't follow the lights.
Careful now! Or Hobbits go down to join the dead ones......and light little candles of their own.
Frodo!
Gollum?
Don't follow the lights.
Gollum!
Mr. Frodo! Are you all right?
So bright. So beautiful.
Our precious.
What did you say?
Master should be resting. Master needs to keep up his strength.
Who are you?
Mustn't ask us. Not its business. Gollum. Gollum.
Gandalf told me you were one of the river-folk.
Cold be heart and hand and bone, cold be travellers far from home
He said your life was a sad story.
They do not see what lies ahead, when sun has failed and moon is dead.
You were not so very different from a Hobbit once. Were you? Smeagol.
What did you call me?
That was your name once, wasn't it? A long time ago.
My name. My name. Smeagol. Aaaargh!
Black Riders!
Hide! Hide!
Aaaargh!
Come on, Frodo. Come on!
Quick! They will see us! They will see us!
I thought they were dead.
Dead? No, you cannot kill them. No.
Wraiths! Wraiths on wings! They are calling for it. They are calling for the precious.
Mr. Frodo! It's all right. I'm here.
Hurry, Hobbits. The Black Gate is very close.
Orc blood.
These are strange tracks.
The air is so close in here.
This forest is old. Very old. Full of memory ... and anger.
The trees are speaking to each other.
Gimli! Lower your axe.
Oh!
They have feelings, my friend. The Elves began it. Waking up the trees, teaching them to speak.
Talking trees . What do trees have to talk about? Except the consistency of squirrel droppings.
Aragorn, nad no ennas (something’s out there)
Man cenich? (What do you see?)
The White Wizard approaches.
Do not let him speak. He will put a spell on us.
We must be quick.
You are tracking the footsteps of two young Hobbits.
Where are they?
They passed this way the day before yesterday. They met someone they did not expect. Does that comfort you?
Who are you? Show yourself!
It cannot be.
Forgive me.
I mistook you for Saruman.
I am Saruman. Or rather, Saruman as he should have been.
You fell.
Through fire ... and water. From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak ... I fought with the Balrog of Morgoth.
Until at last I threw down my enemy......and smote his ruin upon the mountainside.
Darkness took me......and I strayed out of thought and time. Stars wheeled overhead., and every day was as long as a life age of the Earth. But it was not the end. I felt life in me again.
I've been sent back ... until my task is done.
Gandalf.
Gandalf? Yes. That was what they used to call me. Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
Gandalf.
I am Gandalf the White. And I come back to you now, at the turn of the tide.
One stage of your journey is over. Another begins. We must travel to Edoras with all speed.
Edoras? That is no short distance!
We hear of trouble in Rohan. It goes ill with the king.
Yes, and it will not be easily cured.
Then we have run all this way for nothing? Are we to leave those poor Hobbits here ... in this horrid, dark, dank tree-infested ... I mean, charming, quite charming forest.
It was more than mere chance that brought Merry and Pippin to Fangorn. A great power has been sleeping here for many long years. The coming of Merry and Pippin will be like the falling of small stones ... that starts an avalanche in the mountains.
In one thing you have not changed, dear friend. You still speak in riddles.
A thing is about to happen that has not happened since the Elder Days. The Ents are going to wake up ... and find that they are strong.
Strong?! Oh, that's good.
So stop your fretting, Master Dwarf. Merry and Pippin are quite safe. In fact, they are far safer than you are about to be.
This new Gandalf's more grumpy than the old one.
That is one of the Mearas, unless my eyes are cheated by some spell.
Shadowfax. He is the lord of all horses ... and has been my friend through many dangers.
