The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Gandalf the White:
The Grey Pilgrim, that's what they used to call me. Three hundred lives of men I've walked this earth and now I have no time. With luck, my search will not be in vain. Look to my coming at first light on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the East.

Gandalf the White:
Sauron's wrath will be terrible, his retribution swift. The battle for Helm's Deep is over. The battle for Middle Earth is about to begin. All our hopes now lie with two little hobbits, somewhere in the wilderness.

Saruman the White:
The world is changing. Who now has the strength to stand against the armies of Isengard and Mordor? To stand against the might of Sauron and Saruman and the union of the two towers? Together, Lord Sauron, we shall rule this Middle-Earth. The old world will burn in the fires of industry. The forests will fall. A new order will rise. We will drive the machinery of war with the sword and the spear and the iron fist of the Orc. We have only to remove those who oppose us.

Saruman the White:
[Addressing his Uruk-Hai army] A new power is rising! Its victory...is at hand! This night, the land will be stained with the blood of Rohan! March to Helm's Deep! Leave none alive! TO WAR! There will be no dawn... for Men!

Galadriel:
The power of the enemy is growing. Sauron will use his puppet Saruman to destroy the people of Rohan. Isengard has been unleashed. The Eye of Sauron now turns to Gondor, the last free kingdom of Men. His war on this country will come swiftly. He senses the Ring is close. The strength of the Ringbearer is failing. In his heart, Frodo begins to understand. The quest will claim his life. You know this. You have foreseen it. It is the risk we all took. In the gathering dark, the will of the Ring grows strong. It works hard now to find its way back into the hands of men. Men, who are so easily seduced by its power. The young captain of Gondor has but to extend his hands, take the Ring for his own and the world will fall. It is close now, so close to achieving its goal. For Sauron will have dominion of all life on this Earth, even unto the ending of the world. The time of the Elves is over. Do we leave Middle-earth to its fate? Do we let them stand alone?

Théoden:
I have not seen my niece smile for a long time. She was a girl when they brought her father back dead, cut down by Orcs. She watched her mother succumb to grief, and she was left alone to tend her king in growing fear, doomed to wait upon an old man who should have loved her as a father.

Théoden:
So it begins.

Aragorn:
Legolas, what do your Elf-eyes see?

Sam:
[to Faramir] Do you want to know what happened to Boromir? You want to know why your brother died? He tried to take the Ring from Frodo! After swearing an oath to protect him, he tried to kill him! The Ring drove your brother mad!

Sam It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something…. That there's some good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.

Uglúk:
Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!

Sam:
Mordor. The one place in Middle-earth we don't want to see any closer, and the one place we're trying to get to. It's just where we can't get. Let's face it, Mr. Frodo, we're lost. I don't think Gandalf meant for us to come this way.

Frodo:
He didn't mean for a lot of things to happen, Sam... but they did.

Gollum:
[Sam has him tethered with the Elven rope] IT BURNS! IT BURNS US! It freezes! Nasty Elves twisted it. TAKE IT OFF US!

Sam:
Quiet, you! [to Frodo] It's hopeless! Every Orc in Mordor's gonna hear this racket! Let's just tie him up and leave him.

Gollum:
NO! That would kill us! Kill us! [groans and writhes on the rocks]

Sam:
It's no more than you deserve!

Frodo:
Maybe he does deserve to die. But now that I see him, I do pity him.

Gollum:
[gets up, trying to be polite] We be nice to them, if they be nice to us. Take it off us! We swears to do what you wants! We swears...

Frodo:
There's no promise you can make that I can trust.

Gollum:
We swears to serve the master of the precious. We'll swear on... on the precious! Gollum, gollum.

Frodo:
The Ring is treacherous. It will hold you to your word.

Gollum:
Yes... on the precious. On the precious.

Sam:
[brief silence] I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! [Gollum tries to flee, but Sam pulls him back by the rope] Get down! I said DOWN!

Frodo:
Sam!

Sam:
He's trying to trick us! If we let him go, he'll throttle us in our sleep!

[Gollum gasps, clutching at the rope around his neck; Frodo approaches him]

Frodo:
You know the way into Mordor?

Gollum:
[afraid] Yes...

Frodo:
You've been there before?

Gollum:
Yes...

Frodo:
[removes the rope] You will lead us to the Black Gate.

Legolas:
Come, Gimli! We're gaining on them!

Gimli:
I'm wasted on cross-country! We dwarves are natural sprinters! Very dangerous over short distances!

Éowyn:
Your son is badly wounded, my lord. Will you not go to him? Uncle?

Éomer:
He was ambushed by Orcs. If we don't defend our country, Saruman will take it by force.

Gríma Wormtongue:
That is a lie. Saruman the White has ever been our friend and ally.

Théoden:
Gríma... Gríma...

Éomer:
Orcs are roaming freely across our lands. Unchecked, unchallenged, killing at will. Orcs bearing the White Hand of Saruman. [tosses an Orc helmet at Théoden's feet]

Gríma Wormtongue:
Why do you lay these troubles on an already troubled mind? Can you not see your uncle is wearied by your malcontent? Your warmongering?

Éomer:
Warmongering? [grabs Gríma by the throat] How long is it since Saruman bought you? What was the promised price, Gríma? When all the Men are dead, you'll take your share of the treasure? Too long have you watched my sister. Too long have you haunted her steps.

[Guards seize Éomer from behind]

Gríma Wormtongue:
You see much, Éomer, son of Éomund. Too much. [guards begin to drag Éomer out] You are here forth banished from the Kingdom of Rohan and all its domains, under pain of death.

Éomer:
You have no authority here! Your orders mean nothing!

Gríma Wormtongue:
This order does not come from me. It comes from the King. [holds up a sealed decree] He signed it this morning.

Orc Captain:
I'm starving! We ain't had nothing but maggoty bread for three stinking days!

Snaga:
Yeah! Why can't we have some meat? [staring at Merry and Pippin] What about them? They're fresh.

Uglúk:
They are not for eating!

Grishnákh:
What about their legs? They don't need those. Ooh, they look tasty...!

Uglúk:
[pushing Grishnákh away] Get back, scum! The prisoners go to Saruman, alive and unspoiled!

Grishnákh:
Alive? Why alive? Do they give good sport?

Uglúk:
They have something. An Elvish weapon. The Master wants it for the War.

Pippin Took:
[whispering to Merry] They think we have the Ring.

Merry Brandybuck:
Shh! As soon as they find out we don't, we're dead.

Snaga:
[approaching the Hobbits with a blade] Carve them up! Just a mouthful! A bit off the flank!

Uglúk:
No! [decapitates Snaga] Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!

Éomer:
What business does an Elf, a Man, and a Dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly!

Gimli:
Give me your name, Horse-master, and I shall give you mine.

Éomer:
[gets off horse] I would cut off your head, Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground.

Legolas:
[quickly draws his bow] You would die before your stroke fell!

[Rohirrim point spears at Legolas, Aragorn signals for Legolas to bring down his weapon]

Aragorn:
I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. This is Gimli, son of Glóin, and Legolas of the Woodland Realm. We are friends of Rohan, and of Théoden, your King.

Éomer:
Théoden 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.

Aragorn:
We are no spies. We track a party of Uruk-Hai, Westward across the plain. They have taken two of our friends captive.

Éomer:
The Uruks are destroyed. We slaughtered them during the night.

Gimli:
But there were two Hobbits! Did you see two Hobbits with 'em?

Aragorn:
They would be small. Only children to your eyes.

Éomer:
We left none alive. We piled the carcasses and burned them.

Gimli:
Dead?

Éomer:
I am sorry. [whistles] Hasufel! Arod! [two riderless horses approach] 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!

Treebeard:
Little Orcs! Bru-rah-rhum!

Pippin Took:
It's talking, Merry! The tree is talking!

Treebeard:
Tree?! I am no tree! I am an Ent.

Merry Brandybuck:
A tree-herder. A Shepherd of the forest!

Pippin Took:
Don't talk to it, Merry! Don't encourage it!

Treebeard:
Treebeard, some call me.

Pippin Took:
And, whose side are you on?

Treebeard:
Side? I am on nobody's side, because nobody is on my side, little Orc. Nobody cares for the woods anymore.

Merry Brandybuck:
We're not Orcs! We're Hobbits!

Treebeard:
Hobbits? Mmm... 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!

Merry Brandybuck:
No! You don't understand! We're Hobbits! Halflings! Shire-Folk!

Treebeard:
Maybe you are, and maybe you aren't. The White Wizard will know.

Sam:
It's a bog! He's lead us into a swamp!

Gollum:
Swamp, yes. Yes. Come master, we will take you on safe path through the mist. I found it, I did. A way through the mashes. Orcs don't use it. Orcs don't know it. They go around, for miles and miles! Come quickly. Soft and swift as shadows, we must be.

Sam:
There are dead things. Dead faces in the water!

Gollum:
All dead. All rotten. Elves, and Men, and Orcses. A great battle long ago... The Dead Marshes. Yes, yes, that is their name! This way. Don't follow the lights. [Sam slips and almost ends up in the water] Careful now! Or Hobbits go down to join the Dead Ones, and light little candles of their own.

Gollum:
[to himself] So bright... so beautiful... ahh, precious...

Frodo:
What did you say?

Gollum:
Master should be resting. Master needs to keep up his strength.

Frodo:
Who are you?

Gollum:
Mustn't ask us, not it's business. Gollum, gollum.

Frodo:
Gandalf told me you were one of the River-folk.

Gollum:
[ignoring him] Cold be heart and hand and bone. Cold be travelers far from home.

Frodo:
He said your life was a sad story.

Gollum:
They do not see what lies ahead, when Sun has faded and Moon is dead!

Frodo:
You were not so very different from a Hobbit once, were you... Sméagol?

Gollum:
What... what did you call me?

Frodo:
That was your name once, wasn't it? A long time ago.

Gollum:
My name? My name... [smiles] Sméagol.

White Wizard:
You are tracking the footsteps of two young Hobbits.

Aragorn:
Where are they?

White Wizard:
They passed this way, the day before yesterday. They met someone they did not expect. Does that comfort you?

Aragorn:
Who are you? Show yourself! [the White Wizard reveals himself to be Gandalf] It cannot be!

Legolas:
Forgive me. I mistook you for Saruman.

Gandalf:
I am Saruman. Or rather, Saruman as he should have been.

Aragorn:
You fell.

Gandalf:
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 everyday 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.

Aragorn:
Gandalf...

Gandalf:
Gandalf? Yes... that's what they used to call me. Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.

Gimli:
[surprised] Gandalf!

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. War has come to Rohan. We must ride to Edoras with all speed.

Gríma Wormtongue:
[finds Éowyn crying over Théodred's body] Oh, he... he must have died sometime in the night. What a tragedy for the king to lose his only son and heir. I understand his passing is hard to accept, especially now that your brother has deserted you.

Éowyn:
Leave me alone, snake!

Gríma Wormtongue:
Oh, but you are alone! Who knows what you've spoken to the darkness? In bitter watches of the night, when all your life seems to shrink, the walls of your bower closing in about you, like a hutch to trammel some wild thing in! [putting a hand to her cheek] So fair, so cold, like a morning of pale spring still clinging to winter's chill...

Éowyn:
Your words are poison! [pulls away and leaves]

Gríma Wormtongue:
Late is the hour in which this conjurer chooses to appear! Láthspell I name you. Ill news is an ill guest.

Gandalf:
Be silent! Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth! I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm. [Points his staff at Grima]

Gríma Wormtongue:
[Terrified] The staff! [To guards] I TOLD YOU TO TAKE THE WIZARD'S STAFF!

[The guards attempt to restrain the group, and a fight breaks out; Gandalf approaches Théoden]

Gandalf:
Théoden! Son of Thengel! Too long have you sat in the shadows.

Gimli:
[Pinning down Gríma] I would stay still if I were you!

Gandalf:
[To Théoden] Harken to me! I release you from this spell... [Attempts to remove Saruman's influence, seemingly to no avail]

Théoden:
[Laughs cruelly] You have no power here, Gandalf the Grey! [Continues to laugh]

Gandalf the White:
[Removes his grey cloak, stunning Théoden with the white robe beneath] I will draw you, Saruman, as poison is drawn from a wound!

Saruman:
[Speaking through Théoden] If I go... Théoden dies!

Gandalf the White:
[Casts a spell, knocking Théoden back] You did not kill me... you will not kill him!

Saruman:
[Speaking through Théoden] Rohan is mine!

Gandalf the White:
[Casts another spell] Begone! [Théoden lunges in anger, but Gandalf successfully casts Saruman's influence out. Slowly, he becomes himself again. Éowyn rushes to his side.]

Éowyn:
Uncle?

Théoden:
I... I recognize your face. Éowyn. Gandalf?

Gandalf the White:
Breathe the free air again, my friend.

Théoden:
[stands up from the throne] Dark have been my dreams of late. [looks at his hands]

Gandalf the White:
Your fingers would remember their old strength better... if they grasped your sword.

[Grima's treachery is revealed and he is thrown out of the hall]

Gríma Wormtongue:
[pleading as he crawls away] I've only ever served you, My Lord!

Théoden:
[furious, advancing on Gríma with his sword in hand] Your leech-craft would have had me crawling on all fours like a beast!

Gríma Wormtongue:
[pleading] Send me not from your sight! [Théoden raises his sword to kill when Aragorn intervenes]

Aragorn:
No, my lord! No, my lord. Let him go. Enough blood has been spilled on his account.

Théoden:
Simbelmynë. Ever has it grown on the tombs of my forebears. Now it shall cover the grave of my son. Alas that these evil days should be mine. The young perish, and the old linger. That I should live to see the last days of my house.

Gandalf the White:
Théodred's death was not of your making.

Théoden:
No parent should have to bury their child. [begins to sob]

Gandalf the White:
He was strong in life. His spirit will find its way to the halls of your fathers.

Samwise Gamgee:
[to Gollum] Hey, Stinker! Don't go getting too far ahead.

Frodo Baggins:
Why do you do that?

Samwise Gamgee:
What?

Frodo Baggins:
Call him names, run him down all the time.

Samwise Gamgee:
Because... because that's what he is, Mr. Frodo. There's naught left in him but lies and deceit. It's the Ring he wants; it's all he cares about.

Frodo Baggins:
You have no idea what it did to him. What it's still doing to him! I want to help him, Sam.

Samwise Gamgee:
Why?

Frodo Baggins:
Because I have to believe he can come back.

Samwise Gamgee:
You can't save him, Mr. Frodo.

Frodo Baggins:
[angrily] What do you know about it?! Nothing! [instantly remorseful] I'm sorry, Sam. I don't know why I said that.

Samwise Gamgee:
I do. It's the Ring. You can't take your eyes off it. I've seen you. You're not eating; you barely sleep. It's taken hold of you, Mr. Frodo. You have to fight it!

Frodo Baggins:
[angry again] I know what I have to do, Sam. The Ring was entrusted to me! It's my task! Mine! My own!

Samwise Gamgee:
Can't you hear yourself? Don't you know who you sound like?!

Gollum:
We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little hobbitses! Wicked, tricksy, false!

Sméagol:
No. Not Master.

Gollum:
Yes, precious. False! They will cheat you, hurt you. Lie!

Sméagol:
Master's my friend!

Gollum:
You don't have any friends! Nobody likes you!

Sméagol:
Not listening... I'm not listening...

Gollum:
You're a liar. And a thief.

Sméagol:
No.

Gollum:
[with relish] Murderer!

Sméagol:
[miserable] Go away.

Gollum:
"Go away?" [laughs cruelly]

Sméagol:
[begins to cry] I hate you. I hate you!

Gollum:
Where would you be without me?! Gollum! Gollum! I saved us! It was me. We survived because of me!

Sméagol:
[stops crying] Not anymore.

Gollum:
[puzzled] What did you say?

Sméagol:
Master looks after us now. We don't need you.

Gollum:
What?

Sméagol:
Leave now, and never come back.

Gollum:
[hisses] No!

Sméagol:
Leave now, and never come back! [Gollum snarls] LEAVE NOW, AND NEVER COME BACK! [Gollum is silent] We... we told him to go away. And away he goes, Precious! Gone, gone, gone! Sméagol is free!

[Sam is cooking rabbits that Gollum caught]

Sméagol:
What's it doing?! Stupid, fat hobbit! You ruins it!

Samwise Gamgee:
What's to ruin? There's hardly any meat on them. What we need is a few good taters.

Sméagol:
What's "taters", precious? What's "taters", eh?

Samwise Gamgee:
Po-ta-toes! Boil em, mash em, stick 'em in a stew. Lovely big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish. [Sméagol spits in disgust] Even you couldn't say no to that.

Sméagol:
Oh yes, we could! Spoiling nice fish! Give it to us raw, and wriggling! You keep nasty chips!

Samwise Gamgee:
You're hopeless.

[Frodo and Sam have just been captured by Faramir and his Ithilien Rangers]

Samwise Gamgee:
Wait! We're innocent travellers!

Faramir:
There are no travellers in these lands. Only servants of the Dark Tower.

Frodo Baggins:
We are bound to an errand of secrecy. Those who claim to oppose the enemy would do well not to hinder us.

Faramir:
The enemy? [turns over the body of a fallen Haradrim soldier] His sense of duty was no less than yours, I deem. You wonder what his name is. Where he came from. If he was really evil at heart. What lies or threats led him on this long march from home? And he'd not rather had stayed there, at peace. War will make corpses of us all.

Gimli:
[to Éowyn] It's true you don't see many Dwarf women. In fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they're often mistaken for Dwarf men.

Aragorn:
[whispers] It's the beards.

Gimli:
This in turn had lead to the belief that there are no women. And that Dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground! Which is of course ridiculous.

Éowyn:
My uncle told me a strange thing. He said that you rode to war with Thengel, my grandfather. But he must be mistaken.

Aragorn:
King Théoden has a good memory. He was only a small child at the time.

Éowyn:
Then you must be at least sixty. Seventy? But you cannot be eighty!

Aragorn:
Eighty-seven.

Éowyn:
You are one of the Dúnedain. A descendant of Númenor, blessed with long life. It was said that your race had passed into legend.

Aragorn:
There are few of us left. The Northern Kingdom was destroyed long ago.

Elrond:
[in Elvish] Arwen, it is time. The ships are leaving for Valinor. Go now before it is too late.

Arwen:
I have made my choice.

Elrond:
He is not coming back. Why do you linger here when there is no hope?

Arwen:
There is still hope.

Elrond:
If Aragorn survives this war, you will still be parted. If Sauron is defeated, and Aragorn made king and all that you hope for comes true, you will still have to taste the bitterness of mortality. Whether by the sword or the slow decay of time, Aragorn will die. And there will be no comfort for you. No comfort to ease the pain of his passing. He will come to death, an image of the splendour of the kings of men in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world. But you, my daughter, you will linger on in darkness and in doubt, as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Here you will dwell, bound to your grief, under the fading trees, until all the world is changed and the long years of your life are utterly spent. Arwen, there is nothing for you here... only death. [in Elvish] Do I not also have your love?

Arwen:
[in Elvish, crying] You have my love, father.

Faramir:
My men tell me that you are Orc spies.

Samwise Gamgee:
Spies?! Now wait just a minute!

Faramir:
Well, if you're not spies, then who are you? Speak!

Frodo Baggins:
We are Hobbits of the Shire. Frodo Baggins is my name and this is Samwise Gamgee.

Faramir:
Your bodyguard?

Samwise Gamgee:
His gardener.

Faramir:
And where is your skulking friend? That gangrel creature. He had an ill-favoured look.

Frodo Baggins:
[reluctant] There was no other. We set out from Rivendell with seven companions. One we lost in Moria. Two were my kin. A Dwarf there was also, and an Elf, and two Men: Aragorn, son of Arathorn, and Boromir of Gondor.

Faramir:
[solemn] You are a friend of Boromir?

Frodo Baggins:
Yes, for my part.

Faramir:
It would grieve you, then, to learn that he is dead.

Frodo Baggins:
[shocked] Dead?! How? When?

Faramir:
As one of his companions, I had hope you would tell me. He was my brother.

[Frodo has allowed Faramir to take Gollum prisoner]

Gollum:
Sméagol... Why does he cry, Sméagol?

Sméagol:
[sobbing] Cruel men hurts us. Master tricksed us...

Gollum:
Of course he did! I told you he was tricksy. I told you he was false.

Sméagol:
Master is our friend... our friend...

Gollum:
Master betrayed us!

Sméagol:
No, not it's business! Leave us alone!

Gollum:
Filthy little hobbitses, they stole it from us!

Sméagol:
No... No...

Faramir:
What did they steal?

Gollum:
My... PRECIOUSSS! [screams with rage]

Saruman:
Gandalf the White. Gandalf the Fool! Does he seek to humble me with his newfound piety?

Gríma Wormtongue:
There were three who followed the wizard. An Elf, a Dwarf, and a Man.

Saruman:
[sniffs] You stink of horse. [Gríma walks away] The Man, was he from Gondor?

Gríma Wormtongue:
[Saruman regains Grima's attention] No, from the North. One of the Dúnedain Rangers, I thought he was. His cloth was poor. And yet, he bore a strange ring. Two serpents with emerald eyes, one devouring, the other one crowned with golden flowers.

Saruman:
The Ring of Barahir. So Gandalf Greyhame thinks he's found Isildur's heir? The lost king of Gondor? He is a fool. The line was broken years ago. It matters not. The World of Men shall fall. It will begin at Edoras.

[Camera slowly zooms in at the drainhole at Helm's Deep]

Gríma Wormtongue Helm's Deep has one weakness. It's outer wall is solid rock, but for a small culvert on its base, which is little more than a drain.

[Scene changes to Isengard, where Saruman is seen pouring gunpowder]

Gríma How? How can fire undo stone? What kind of device will bring down the wall?

[Saruman holds Gríma's hand back, which has a candle]

Saruman:
If the wall is breached, Helm's Deep will fall.

Gríma:
Even if it is breached, it would take a number beyond reckoning, thousands to storm the keep.

Saruman:
Tens of thousands.

Gríma:
But, my lord, there is no such force.

[Saruman walks Gríma outside as they are talking. At this point, Saruman reveals to Gríma the massive army]

Saruman:
A new power is rising! Its victory is at hand! [the Uruks cheer] This night, the land will be stained with the blood of Rohan! March to Helm's Deep! Leave none alive! To war! There will be no dawn...for Men!

Théoden:
A great host, you say?

Aragorn:
All Isengard is emptied.

Théoden:
How many?

Aragorn:
Ten thousand strong at least.

Théoden:
[astonished] Ten thousand?

Aragorn:
It is an army bred for a single purpose: to destroy the World of Men. They will be here by nightfall.

Théoden:
Let them come.

Théoden:
They will break upon this fortress like water on rock. Saruman's hordes will pillage and burn, we've seen it before. Crops can be resown. Homes rebuilt. Within these walls we will outlast them.

Aragorn:
They do not come to destroy Rohan's crops or villages; they come to destroy its people. Down to the last child.

Théoden:
[whispered] What would you have me do? Look at my men. Their courage hangs by a thread. If this is to be our end, then I would have them make such an end as to be worthy of remembrance.

Aragorn:
Send out riders, my lord, you must call for aid.

Théoden:
And who will come? Elves? Dwarfs? We are not so lucky in our friends as you. The old alliances are dead.

Aragorn:
Gondor will answer.

Théoden:
[angrily] Gondor?! Where was Gondor when the Westfold fell?! Where was Gondor when our enemies closed in around us?! Where was Gon-? [suddenly regains hold of himself] No, my lord Aragorn. We are alone.

Aragorn:
Farmers, ferriers, stable boys. These are no soldiers.

Gimli:
Most have seen too many winters.

Legolas:
Or too few. Look at them. They're frightened. You can see it in their eyes. [in Elvish] And they should be. Three hundred... against ten thousand!

Aragorn:
[in Elvish] They have more hope of defending themselves here than at Edoras.

Legolas:
[in Elvish] Aragorn. They cannot win this fight. They are all going to die!

Aragorn:
[in common tongue] Then I shall die as one of them!

Gimli:
Well, lad, whatever luck you live by, let's hope it lasts the night.

Legolas:
Your friends are with you, Aragorn.

Gimli:
Let's hope they last the night.

Gimli:
[failing to see over the wall] What's happening out there?

Legolas:
Shall I describe it to you? Or would you like me to find you a box?

[Gimli is silent for a moment, then laughs]

Gimli:
[kills two Uruk-Hai warriors] Legolas! Two already!

Legolas:
I'm on seventeen!

Gimli:
Huh? I'll have no pointy-ear outscoring me! [kills another one]

Legolas:
[shoots two more] Nineteen!

Treebeard:
We have just agreed... [falls asleep]

Merry Brandybuck:
Yes?

Treebeard:
[wakes up] I have told your names to the Entmoot and we have agreed... you are not Orcs. [smiles]

Pippin Took:
Well, that's good news.

Merry Brandybuck:
What about Saruman? Have you come to a decision about him?

Treebeard:
Now, don't be hasty, master Meriadoc...

Merry Brandybuck:
Hasty? Our friends are out there! They need our help! They cannot fight this war on their own!

Treebeard:
War, yes. It affects us all, tree, root and twig. But you must understand, young Hobbit, it takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say.

Gimli:
Oh, come on! We can take 'em!

Aragorn:
It's a long way.

Gimli:
[reluctantly] Toss me.

Aragorn:
What?

Gimli:
I cannot jump the distance, you'll have to toss me! [Aragorn nods] Don't tell the Elf.

Aragorn:
Not a word.

Treebeard:
The Ents cannot hold back this storm. We must weather such things as we have always always done.

Merry Brandybuck:
How can that be your decision?!

Treebeard:
This is not our war.

Merry Brandybuck:
But you're part of this world! Aren't you? You must help! Please! You must do something.

Treebeard:
You are young and brave, Master Merry. But your part in this tale is over. Go back to your home.

Pippin Took:
Maybe Treebeard's right. We don't belong here, Merry. It's too big for us. What can we do in the end? We've got the Shire. Maybe we should go home.

Merry Brandybuck:
The fires of Isengard will spread. And the woods of Tuckborough and Buckland will burn. And all that was once green and good in this world will be gone. There won't be a Shire, Pippin.

[Having gone south at Pippin's request, Treebeard sees the devastation of Fangorn]

Treebeard:
[horrified] Many of these trees were my friends. Creatures I had known from nut and acorn.

Pippin:
I'm sorry, Treebeard.

Treebeard:
They had voices of their own... [angrily as he looks at Isengard] Saruman... A wizard should know better! [he lets out a howl of rage that echoes across the forest] There is no curse in Elvish, Entish or the tongues of Men for this treachery!

Pippin:
Look, the trees! They're moving!

Merry:
Where are they going?

Treebeard:
They have business with the Orcs. My business is with Isengard tonight, with rock and stone! [More Ents emerge from the forest]

Merry:
Yes...!

Treebeard:
Come, my friends. The Ents are going to war. It is likely that we go to our doom...the Last March of the Ents!

Théoden:
The fortress is taken. It is over.

Aragorn:
You said this fortress would never fall while your men defend it! They still defend it! They have died defending it! [to Gamling] Is there no other way for the women and children to get out of the caves? Is there no other way?!

Gamling:
There is one passage, it leads into the mountains. But they will not get far, the Uruk-Hai are too many!

Aragorn:
Send word for the women and children to make for the mountain pass and barricade the entrance!

Théoden:
So much death... what can Men do against such reckless hate?

Aragorn:
Ride out with me. Ride out and meet them.

Théoden:
For death and glory?

Aragorn:
For Rohan. For your people.

Gimli:
The sun is rising... [Sunlight enters through a window, illuminating the room]

Gandalf the White:
[narration] "Look to my coming at first light on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the East".

Théoden:
Yes...yes! The Horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in the Deep...one last time!

Gimli:
Yes!

Théoden:
[to Aragorn] Let this be the hour when we draw swords together! [to his men] Fell deeds awake. Now for wrath, now for ruin and the red dawn! [the Uruks break down the doors] FORTH EORLINGAS! CHARGE!

[Frodo attacks Sam with his sword]

Samwise Gamgee:
It's me. It's your Sam. Don't you know your Sam?

[Frodo snaps out of the spell, horrified, and drops his sword]

Frodo Baggins:
I can't do this, Sam.

Samwise Gamgee:
I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. [watching the Nazgûl flying away] It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo; the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end... because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo Baggins:
What are we holding on to, Sam?

Samwise Gamgee:
That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for.

Samwise Gamgee:
I wonder if we'll ever be put into songs or tales.

Frodo Baggins:
What?

Samwise Gamgee:
I wonder if people will ever say, "Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring," and they'll say, "Yes, that's one of my favorite stories." "Frodo was really courageous, wasn't he, Dad?" "Yes, my boy. The most famousest of Hobbits. And that's saying a lot."

Frodo Baggins:
You left out one of the chief characters: Samwise the Brave. I want to hear more about Sam. [Frodo stops walking and turns around to face Sam] Frodo wouldn't have got far without Sam.

Samwise Gamgee:
Now Mr. Frodo, you shouldn't make fun. I was being serious.

Frodo Baggins:
[smiling] So was I. [walks ahead]

Samwise Gamgee:
[to himself] Samwise the Brave.

[last lines]

Sméagol:
Master... Master looks after us. Master wouldn't hurt us.

Gollum:
Master broke his promise!

Sméagol:
Don't ask Sméagol. Poor, poor Sméagol...

Gollum:
Master betrayed us! Wicked, tricksy, false. We ought to wring his filthy little neck. Kill him! Kill him! Kill them both! And then we takes the precious... and we be the master!

Sméagol:
The fat hobbit, he knows. Eyes always watching.

Gollum:
Then we stabs them out! Put out his eyeses! Make him crawl!

Sméagol:
Yes! Yes! Yes!

Gollum:
Kill them both.

Sméagol:
Yes! No, no! It's too risky, it's too risky.

Gollum:
[sly] We could let her do it.

Sméagol:
Yes... she could do it!

Gollum:
Yes, precious, she could. And then we takes it once they're dead.

Sméagol:
Once they're dead...

Gollum:
Shhhh...

Sméagol:
[to Frodo and Sam] Come on, hobbits. Long ways to go yet. Sméagol will show you the way.

Gollum:
Follow me.

The Battle for Middle-earth Begins.

The Journey Continues.

The Fellowship Is Broken.

A New Power is Rising.

Save the Precious.

Pippin Took:
Merry? Merry! Wake up. [to the Uruks] My friend is sick. He needs water. Please!

Uglúk:
Sick is he? Give him some medicine, boys!

[The Uruks pour Orc-liquor down Merry's throat, which he coughs and spits out]

Pippin Took:
Stop it!

Uglúk:
Can't take his draught! [laughs cruelly]

Pippin Took:
Leave him alone!

Uglúk:
Why? You want some? Huh? Then keep your mouth shutt.

Pippin Took:
Merry.

Merry Brandybuck:
Hello, Pip.

Pippin Took:
You're hurt.

Merry Brandybuck:
I'm fine. It was just an act.

Pippin Took:
An act?

Merry Brandybuck:
[smiles] See? Fooled you too. Don't worry about me, Pippin.

[Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are tracking Merry and Pippin through Fangorn Forest]

Aragorn:
These are strange tracks.

Gimli:
The air is so close in here!

Legolas:
This forest is old. Very old... full of memory... and anger.

[the trees groan, Gimli holds up his axe]

Legolas:
The trees are speaking to each other.

Aragorn:
[whispers loudly] Gimli! Lower your axe.

Legolas:
They have feelings, my friend. [Gimli lowers his axe] The Elves began it. Waking up the trees, teaching them to speak.

Gimli:
Talking trees? What do trees have to talk about, hm? Except the consistency of squirrel droppings.

Legolas:
[in Elvish] Aragorn, something's out there.

Aragorn:
[in Elvish] What do you see?

Legolas:
[in common tongue] The White Wizard approaches.

Aragorn:
Do not let him speak. He will put a spell on us. [Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli ready their weapons] We must be quick.

[They turn to confront the White Wizard, who appears before them enveloped in a blinding light. Gimli hurls his axe, and Legolas shoots an arrow, which the White Wizard deflects with his staff. Aragorn holds up his sword, which burns hot in his hand, forcing him to drop it]

White Wizard:
You are tracking the footsteps of two young Hobbits.

Aragorn:
Where are they?

White Wizard:
They passed this way, the day before yesterday. They met someone they did not expect. Does that comfort you?

Aragorn:
Who are you? Show yourself! [the White Wizard reveals himself to be Gandalf] It cannot be!

Legolas:
Forgive me. I mistook you for Saruman.

Gandalf:
I am Saruman. Or rather, Saruman as he should have been.

Aragorn:
You fell.

Gandalf:
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 everyday 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.

Aragorn:
Gandalf...

Gandalf:
Gandalf? Yes... that's what they used to call me. Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.

Gimli:
[surprised] Gandalf!

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. War has come to Rohan. We must ride to Edoras with all speed.

[Extended Edition only, Gimli is getting desperately worried about the fates of Merry and Pippin]

Gimli:
Are we going to leave those poor little Hobbits here in this horrid, dark, dank, tree-infested–! [reacts to the sound of the trees] I mean...charming, quite charming, forest?

Gandalf:
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.

Aragorn:
And one thing you have not changed, my friend.

Gandalf:
Hmm?

Aragorn:
You still speak in riddles.

Gandalf:
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.

Gimli:
Strong?! Oh, that's good.

Gandalf:
So stop your fretting, Master Dwarf! Merry and Pippin are quite safe! In fact, they are far safer than you are about to be!

Gimli:
[to himself] This new Gandalf's more grumpy than the old one.

Frodo Baggins:
[about to enter the Black Gate] I do not ask you to come with me, Sam.

Samwise Gamgee:
I know, Mr. Frodo. I doubt even these Elvish cloaks will hide us in there.

Frodo Baggins:
Now!

[Frodo and Sam lunge forward to make a run for the Black Gate, but Sméagol grabs them and pulls them back]

Sméagol:
NO! No, Master! They catch you! They catch you! Don't take it to him! He wants the precious! Always, he is looking for it! And the precious is wanting to go back to him. But we mustn't let him have it.

[An Orc horn sounds in the distance, and the Black Gate begins to close. Frodo tries again to run toward it, but Sméagol grabs his arm, holding him back.]

Sméagol:
No! There's another way. More secret, a dark way.

Samwise Gamgee:
Why haven't you spoken of this before?!

Sméagol:
Because Master did not ask.

Samwise Gamgee:
[to Frodo] He's up to something!

Frodo Baggins:
Are you saying there's another way into Mordor?

Sméagol:
Yes. There's a path, and some stairs, and then... a tunnel.

Frodo Baggins:
[after a brief pause] He's led us this far, Sam.

Samwise Gamgee:
Mr. Frodo, no.

Frodo Baggins:
He's been true to his word.

Samwise Gamgee:
No.

Frodo Baggins:
Lead the way, Sméagol.

Sméagol:
Good Sméagol always helps.

[Extended Edition only, Pippin is drinking water from a spring in Fangorn Forest]

Pippin Took:
I had the loveliest dream last night. There was this large barrel full of pipe-weed. And we smoked all of it. And then... you were sick. I'd give anything for a whiff of Old Toby.

Merry Brandybuck:
[hearing a tree moan] Did you hear that? [hearing it again] There it is again! Something's not right here, not right at all. [Pippin stands up and groans, sounding much like a moaning tree] You just said something...treeish!

Pippin Took:
No, I didn't, I was just stretching. [he 'groans' again, growing slightly]

Merry Brandybuck:
You're taller!

Pippin Took:
Who?

Merry Brandybuck:
You!

Pippin Took:
Than what?

Merry Brandybuck:
Than me!

Pippin Took:
I've always been taller than you!

Merry Brandybuck:
Pippin, everyone knows, I'm the tall one, you're the short one.

Pippin Took:
Please, Merry. You're, what, three foot six? At the most? Whereas me, I'm pushing three-seven. [groans and grows more noticeably] Three-eight! [drinks more water]

Merry Brandybuck:
Three foot eight? [realizing] You did something.

[Pippin smiles innocently and places the bowl of forest water down. Merry, realizing the water is making Pippin taller, steals a pot and drinks some himself]

Treebeard:
The trees have grown wild and dangerous. Anger festers in their hearts. Black are their thoughts. Strong is their hate. They will harm you if they can. There are too few of us now. Too few of us Ents left to manage them.

Pippin Took:
Why are there so few of you, when you've lived so long? Are there Ent children?

Treebeard:
Bru-ra-hoom. There have been no Entings for a terrible long count of years.

Merry Brandybuck:
Why is that?

Treebeard:
We lost the Entwives.

Pippin Took:
Oh, I'm sorry. How did they die?

Treebeard:
Die? No. We lost them, and now we cannot find them. I don't suppose you've seen Entwives in the Shire?

Merry Brandybuck:
Can't say that I have. You, Pip?

Pippin Took:
What do they look like?

Treebeard:
I don't remember now.

[Gríma's treachery is revealed and he is thrown out of the hall]

Gríma Wormtongue:
[pleading as he crawls away] I've only ever served you, my lord!

Théoden:
[furious, advancing on Gríma with his sword in hand] Your leech-craft would have had me crawling on all fours like a beast!

Gríma Wormtongue:
[pleading] Send me not from your sight! [Théoden raises his sword to kill when Aragorn intervenes]

Aragorn:
No, my lord! No, my lord. Let him go. Enough blood has been spilled on his account. [Aragorn offers his hand to Gríma, who spits on it in insult]

Gríma Wormtongue:
[pushing his way through the crowd] Get out of my way!

Háma:
Hail, Théoden King!

[The people of Rohan bow before Théoden, who looks around him anxiously]

Théoden:
Where is Théodred? Where is my son?

Gollum:
We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little hobbitses! Wicked, tricksy, false!

they're taking the hobbits to isengard!

Orc Captain:
We’ve been wearing this prosthetic face for 3 stinkin days!

Gandalf The White:
The Grey Pilgrim, that’s what they used to call me.

Saruman The White:
It will begin in Rohan. Too long have these peasants stood against you...but no more. Rohan, my lord, is ready to fall.

Gimli :
Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?

Gollum:
The thieves! The thieves! The filthy little thieves! Where is it?

[Gollum reaches out his hand towards the hobbits. Suddenly, the hobbits are spring up, grab hold of Gollum's arms and pull him down. Frodo draws his sword and puts it to Gollum's throat]

Frodo:
This is Sting. You've seen it before, haven't you... Gollum. Release him or I'll cut your throat!

Aragorn:
[on the ground, listening to the thundering dash of the sprinting Uruks] Their pace has quickened. They must have caught our scent. [to Gimli and Legolas] Hurry!

Legolas:
Come on, Gimli!

Gimli:
[struggling to catch up] Three days and nights pursuit. No food, no rest! Nor a sign of a quarry of what a bare rock can tell!

[Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, now known as the Three Hunters, run across the plains, pursuing the Uruks who have Pippin and Merry. The Hunters soon stop upon seeing a Lorien leaf pin, which was dropped by Pippin to leave a mark for his rescuer]

Aragorn:
[picking up the leaf] Not idly do the leafs of Lorien fall.

Legolas:
They may yet be alive.

Aragorn:
Less than a day ahead of us.

[As they sprint, Gimli, exhausted, falls down]

Legolas:
Come, Gimli! We're gaining on them!

Gimli:
I'm wasted on cross-country! We dwarves are natural sprinters! Very dangerous over short distances!

[The Hunters then stop upon seeing the sight of a wide plain familiar to the Hunters]

Aragorn:
Rohan, realm of the horse lords. There is something evil at work in these lands. Something evil gives speed to these creatures and sets its will against us. [ascending a rock to get a further look. He then notices Legolas using his farsight powers] Legolas! What do your Elf eyes see?

Legolas:
The Uruks turned northeast! They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard!

Aragorn:
[realizing something] Saruman.

[An eored of Rohirrim under Éomer, the nephew of King Théoden, have just arrived in the aftermath of the Battle of the Fords of Isen]

Éomer:
Théodred. [to the Rohirrim] Find the king's son!

[The Rohirrim search through the corpses of both orcs and Rohirrim]

Soldier:
[angrily] Mordor will pay for this!

Éomer:
[kicks an orc corpse to get a better look on its armor's sigil and sees a white hand mark] These orcs are not from Mordor.

Soldier:
My lord Éomer! Over here!

Éomer:
[races to the waters where the soldier finds a familiar soldier who is wounded and barely alive, Éomer recognizes who he is] He's alive!