The Fellowship of the Ring - Annotated Transcript (part 2)

Gandalf reenters the house, and stands looking down at the ring. Slowly he bends down to pick it up – but as his fingers come near it, there is a flashing vision of a lidless red eye wreathed in flame. He withdraws his hand. Sitting in a too-small chair near the hearth, he smokes with great concentration.
Voice of Bilbo: It’s mine. My own. My preciousss…
Gandalf (mutters, around his pipestem): Riddles in the dark…

The Hobbit: Title – Chapter 5

Frodo (from outside): Bilbo! (Frodo bursts in, leaving the door open behind him) Bilbo!
He nearly steps on the ring, and stoops to pick it up.
Gandalf (muttering): My precious… Precious…
Frodo (sees Gandalf; sadly-): He’s gone, hasn’t he?

Book 1: Chapter I – A Long-Expected Party 35) Frodo came in soon afterwards, and found him sitting in the dark, deep in thought. ‘Has he gone?’

Gandalf does not reply, continuing to mutter to himself (‘My Precious…’), but exhales another cloud of smoke. Frodo comes in to stand beside Gandalf. The ring is cupped in the palm of his hand.
Frodo: He talked so long about leaving. I didn’t think he’d really do it… Gandalf?
Gandalf turns almost absentmindedly, to see the ring on Frodo’s palm. He smiles at Frodo, but it is not a very convincing smile.
Gandalf: Bilbo’s ring. He’s gone to stay with the Elves. He’s left you Bag End.
He holds out an envelope to Frodo, who puts the ring into it. Gandalf quickly takes the envelope back, closes it, and seals it firmly with red wax.
Along with all his possessions. The ring is yours now.
He hands the sealed envelope back to Frodo, who takes it, looking a bit bemused.

Book 1: Chapter I – A Long-Expected Party 35) ‘You are the master of Bag End now … He left a packet for you. There it is!’

(whispers) Put it somewhere out of sight.
Gandalf rushes toward the entry hall.
Frodo (following): Where are you going?
Gandalf (gathering his staff and hat): There are some things that I must see to.
Frodo: What things?
Gandalf: Questions. Questions that need answering.
Frodo (going after him): You’ve only just arrived. I don’t understand.
Gandalf stops and turns around.
Gandalf: Neither do I.

Book 1: Chapter I – A Long-Expected Party 40) ‘I don’t understand,’ said Frodo.
‘Neither do I.’ answered the wizard.
Book 1: Chapter I – A Long-Expected Party 40) ‘I am going off at once: so this is good-bye for the present,’ he got up.
‘At once!’ cried Frodo….

He ducks under the chandelier to put his hand on Frodo’s shoulder.
Keep it secret. Keep it safe.

Book 1: Chapter I – A Long-Expected Party 36) ‘But keep it secret, and keep it safe!’

He leaves, shutting the door behind him, leaving Frodo looking at the envelope in his hand.
Barad-dûr, set amid rivers of molten flame. Roads and bridges are filled with the lights of torchbearers. The tower is swarming with figures, torches burn everywhere, and there is a smith noise of industry.
Gollum’s Voice (in agony): No! Shire! Baggins!

Prologue 12) His enemy’s cries of hate and despair: Thief, thief! Baggins! We hates it forever!

The huge Gates of Minas Morgul open, and from out of a sickly green light nine horsemen gallop out.
Gandalf is riding hard, but pauses on a hill where he can see in the far distance a red glow of flame in the black lands of Mordor. He is visibly alarmed. In Gondor, he makes his way in haste to a library, where he is led into a dusty, crowded, cluttered room by a black-robed man with a torch. His hat sitting beside him on a pile of books, Gandalf searches through dusty papers, scrolls, maps, and books. He sets his mug aside when he finally comes upon what he is looking for.
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 245) Gandalf: ‘Grudgingly [Lord Denethor] permitted me to search among his hoarded scrolls and books.’
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 246) ‘And Boromir, there lies in Minas Tirith still, unread I guess, by any save Saruman and myself since the kings failed, a scroll that Isildur made himself.’
Gandalf (reads): The year 3434, of the Second Age. Here follows the account of Isildur, High King of Gondor, and the finding of the Ring of Power.
It has come to me, the One Ring, which shall be an heirloom of my kingdom. All those who follow in my bloodline shall be bound to its fate, for I will risk no hurt to the Ring. It is precious to me, though I buy it with great pain… The markings upon the band begin to fade. The writing, which at first was as clear as red flame, has all but disappeared, a secret now that only fire can tell.

Appendix B 1059) The Second Age year 3434 The host of the Alliance crosses the Misty Mountains. Battle of Dagorlad and defeat of Sauron. Siege of Barad-dûr begins
SA Year 3441 Sauron overthrown by Elendil and Gil-galad, who perish. Isildur takes the One Ring. Sauron passes away and the Ringwraiths go into the shadows. The Second Age ends.
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 246) For this scroll concerns the Ring, and thus wrote Isildur therein:
The Great Ring shall go now to be an heirloom of the North Kingdom; but records of it shall be left in Gondor, where also dwell the heirs of Elendil, lest a time come when the memory of these great matters shall grow dim.
It was hot when I first took it, hot as a glede, and my hand was scorched, so that I doubt if ever again I shall be free of the pain of it. Yet even as I write it is cooled, and it seemeth to shrink, though it loseth neither its beauty nor its shape. Already the writing upon it, which at first was as clear as red flame, fadeth and is now only barely to be read. It is fashioned in an Elven script of Eregion, for they have no letters in Mordor for such subtle work, but the language is unknown to me. I deem it to be a tongue of the Black Land, since it is foul and uncouth. What evil it saith I do not know, but I trace here a copy of it lest it fade beyond recall. The Ring misseth, maybe, the heat of Sauron’s hand, which was black and yet burned like fire, and so Gil-galad was destroyed; and maybe were the gold made hot again, the writing would be refreshed. But for my part I will risk no hurt to this thing: of all the works of Sauron the only fair. It is precious to me, though I buy it with great pain…

Sauron’s finger with the Ring falls to the ground, and Isildur rolls over on to his side where he lies to stare at it. He picks it up, wondering, and crumbles the brittle finger to coarse powder. The shining Ring, with a mutter that may be Isildur, shrinks between his fingers. The fire of the lettering begins to gutter.
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A hobbit man is chopping wood in front of his house, his dog by him.
The dog suddenly turns at a sound and begins to bark. A shadow spreads to cover the small house. The dog is barking frantically, bouncing a little with it. The hobbit looks around to see what the commotion is about, and takes a few steps backward. The barking turns into a whine as a black horse with bloody hooves stops restlessly in front of the house. The dog backs quickly through the open door, whining and never taking its eyes from the apparition on the road. The black hooded head of the rider turns slowly toward the hobbit. Nothing can be seen of a face – only blackness.
Rider (in a hissing whisper): Ssshire. Baggins.
Farmer Maggot (obviously frightened, but standing his ground for the moment): There’s no Bagginses around here. They’re all up in Hobbiton. That way…

Book 1: Chapter IV – A Short Cut to Mushrooms 92) Maggot: ‘Well … he came riding on a big black horse in at the gate … and right up to my door. All black he was himself, too, and cloaked and hooded up, as if he did not want to be known. … When Grip came out, he took one sniff and let out a yell as if he had been stung: he put down his tail and bolted off howling. The black fellow sat quite still.
‘ “… Have you seen Baggins? ” he asked in a queer voice, and bent down towards me. I could not see any face, for his hood fell down so low, and I felt a sort of shiver down my back….
‘ “Be off!” I said. “There are no Bagginses here. You’re in the wrong part of the Shire. You had better go back to Hobbiton – but you can go by the road this time.”’
‘He gave a sort of a hiss. It might have been laughing, and it might not. Then he spurred his great horse …. And rode through the gate and up the lane towards the causeway like a bolt of thunder…’
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 250) Gandalf quoting Radagast: ‘”I have been told that wherever they go the Riders ask for news of a land called Shire.”’

He points off down the road in the direction the rider was heading, and follows the dog’s excellent example by very quickly backing through his door, never looking away from the road. He closes the door hastily against the night as the Rider gallops off. The shadows show two more racing after.
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In Hobbiton, laughter and song are in the air.
Merry and Pippin are standing on a table, singing loudly with accompaniment from several others, including Frodo, who picks up five mugs of ale from the bar and dances in circles around their table. He deposits two mugs somewhere and continues around the table with the rest.
Merry and Pippin: Hey, ho, to the bottle I go
To heal my heart and drown my woe
Rain may fall and wind may blow
But there still be… many miles to go
Sweet is the sound of pouring rain
And the stream that falls from hill to plain
Better than rain or rippling brook
Pippin alone: Is a mug o’ beer inside this Took!

Book 1: Chapter IV – A Short Cut to Mushrooms 88) Frodo, Sam, and Pippin:
Ho! ho! ho! To the bottle I go
To heal my heart and drown my woe
Though rain may fall and wind may blow,
And many miles be still to go,
Under a tall tree I will lie,
And let the clouds go sailing by…
Book 1: Chapter V – A Conspiracy Unmasked 99) Pippin:
O! Sweet is the sound of falling rain,
And the brook that leaps from hill to plain;
But better than rain or rippling streams
Is Water Hot that smokes and steams!

They and their audience laugh.
Sam sits at a table with his Gaffer, Ted Sandyman, and another old hobbit man. All four puff away on their pipes. Sam sits silent, oddly distracted as the others discuss events.
Old Man: There’s been some strange folk crossing the Shire. Dwarves, and others of a less than savoury nature…
Gaffer: War is brewing.
Old Man: The mountains are fair teeming with goblins.
Sam is staring off toward the bar… the pretty barmaid, Rosie, catches his eye as she dries a mug, and smiles. Abashed, Sam looks down. A barrel behind her bears the label “The Golden Perch”.
Book 1: Chapter IV – A Short Cut to Mushrooms 86) Pippin: ‘I had counted on passing The Golden Perch at Stock before sundown: the best beer in the Eastfarthing, or it used to be…’
Sandyman: Far off tales and children’s stories, that’s all that is! You’re beginning to sound like that old Bilbo Baggins! Cracked, he was…
Gaffer (seeing Frodo approaching out of the corner of his eye): And young Mr. Frodo here – he’s crackin’!
Frodo comes to sit at the end of the table with a pair of mugs, in high spirits (in more ways than one).
Frodo: And proud of it! Cheers, Gaffer!
He slides a tankard down the table to the old Hobbit, along with another to Sam. Sam catches it and lifts it to take a drink without ever taking his eyes from the bar.
Gaffer: Aye, cheers!
Sandyman: Well, it’s none of our concern what goes on beyond our borders. Keep your nose out of trouble, and no trouble’ll come to you!
Frodo lifts his mug in half-mocking agreement and drinks with a grin.

Prologue 10) At the time when this story begins the Bounders, as they were called, had been greatly increased. There were many reports of complaints of strange persons and creatures prowling about the borders.
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past42-3) There were rumours of strange things happening in the world outside …Away far east and south there were wars and growing fear.
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past43) ‘Queer things you do hear these days, to be sure,’ said Sam.
‘Ah,’ said Ted, ‘you do, if you listen. But I can hear fireside tales and children’s stories at home, if I want to.’
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past44) ‘All the same,’ said Sam, ‘you can’t deny that others…have seen queer folk crossing the Shire – crossing it, mind you: there are others that are turned back at the borders. ….
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past42) There were, however, dwarves on the road in unusual numbers.
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past44) Re Frodo and Bilbo: ‘Oh, they’re both cracked,’ said Ted. ‘Leastways old Bilbo was cracked, and Frodo’s cracking.’
Book 1: Chapter I – A Long-Expected Party 21) ‘It isn’t natural, and trouble will come of it!’
Book 1: Chapter I – A Long-Expected Party 24) The Gaffer: ‘Don’t go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you’ll land in trouble too big for you, I says to him…’

Frodo and Sam are leaving the Green Dragon Inn. In the doorway, drying another cup, is Rosie Cotton.
Rosie (smiling): ‘Night, lads.
Frodo: Good night.
Sam leaves with a little smile on his face.
The hobbit leaving behind them feels the need to be more eloquent.
Hobbit (going to one knee before Rosie): Good night, sweet maiden of the golden ale!
Frodo and Sam pause to look back to see Rosie laughing, then continue on.
Sam (mutters): Oi, mind who you’re sweet-talking…
Frodo: Don’t worry, Sam, Rosie knows an idiot when she sees one!
Sam (stopping and looking after Frodo in great concern): Does she?
Frodo and Sam walk together down the road (Sam weaving slightly), and at Bag End Frodo turns aside.
Frodo: Good night, Sam.
Sam: Good night, Mr. Frodo.
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While Sam continues on his way home, Frodo enters a dark Bag End, leaving the door open behind him. A window is also open in the study, and a breeze is sending papers fluttering. Abruptly cautious, Frodo quietly moves into the dark room, trying to see if there is anything amiss. A hand quite suddenly comes out of the dark behind him to clamp on the shoulder – with a gasp he spins. It is Gandalf, looking disheveled and wild.
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past45) But secretly he thought that Gandalf looked older and more careworn.
Gandalf: Is it secret? Is it safe?
Frodo opens a painted trunk and begins rummaging among scrolls and papers. As he searches, Gandalf hears something outside and jumps, spins, staff at the ready and held as a weapon.
Frodo: Ah.
Successful, Frodo holds up the envelope into which Gandalf sealed the ring. In the same second, Gandalf snatches it from his hand and throws it into the fire.
Frodo (in dismay): What are you doing?

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past48) To Frodo’s astonishment and distress the wizard threw it suddenly into the middle of a glowing corner of the fire. Frodo gave a cry and groped for the tongs.

Gandalf does not answer, but stays ready with tongs as the envelope burns away. When the paper is all but gone, he reaches into the fire to pick up the ring with the tongs.
Gandalf (staring at the ring): Hold out your hand, Frodo. It’s quite cool.

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past49) For a moment the wizard stood looking at the fire, then he stooped and removed the ring from the hearth with the tongs, and at once picked it up. Frodo gasped. ‘It is quite cool,’ said Gandalf. ‘Take it!’ Frodo received it on his shrinking palm….

Frodo holds out his hand, trusting Gandalf but clearly wondering why. Gandalf drops the ring onto his palm, and he flinches under it. Gandalf gets up from beside the hearth, moves away a little to stand with his back to Frodo. It is more evident now that he is travel-stained, muddy and weary.
Gandalf: What can you see? Can you see anything?

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past48) Gandalf: ‘Can you see any markings on it?’
‘No. There are none.’
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past49) ‘Hold it up!’ said Gandalf. ‘And look closely!’

Frodo (turns the ring between his fingers): Nothing. There’s nothing.
Gandalf lets out a relieved breath.
Frodo: Wait…
Gandalf freezes, his eyes turning toward Frodo. All the relief drains away from him in an instant. On the ring, bright lettering begins to emerge.
Frodo: There are markings. It’s some form of Elvish. I can’t read it.

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past49) …He now saw fine lines, finer than the finest pen-strokes, running along the ring, outside and inside: lines of fire that seemed to form the letters of a flowing script. They shone piercingly bright, and yet remote, as if out of a great depth.
‘I cannot read the fiery letters,’ said Frodo in a quavery voice.

Gandalf (with dread): There are few who can. The language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here.
Frodo (in disbelief): Mordor?!
Gandalf: In the common tongue, it says ‘One Ring to Rule them all, One Ring to find them. One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.’

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past49) ‘No,’ said Gandalf, ‘but I can. The letters are Elvish, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here. … But this in the Common Tongue is what is said, close enough.
One Ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them.
It is only two lines of a verse long known in Elven lore:
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them.
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.’.

Gandalf sits smoking at Frodo’s table, upon which the Ring site, plain gold again. Both of them watch it for much of the conversation. Frodo pours hot water into the teapot on the table.
Gandalf: This is the One Ring, forged by the Dark Lord Sauron in the fires of Mount Doom, taken by Isildur from the hand of Sauron himself.

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past51) This is the Master-ring, the One Ring to rule them all. This is the One Ring that he lost many ages ago, to the great weakening of his power.’
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past51) Gandalf: ‘…And Isildur’s son cut the Ring from Sauron’s hand and took it for his own.’

Frodo (cradling his cup in his hands): Bilbo found it. In Gollum’s cave.

Book 1: Chapter I – A Long-Expected Party 39) ‘I have heard his story, how he found it, and how he used it.’

Gandalf: Yes. For sixty years the Ring lay quiet in Bilbo’s keeping, prolonging his life, delaying old age. But no longer, Frodo. Evil is stirring in Mordor. The Ring has awoken. It’s heard its master’s call.
Frodo: But he was destroyed. Sauron was destroyed.
There is a harsh whisper from the Ring, a few unintelligible words – both Frodo and Gandalf look down at it in horror.
Gandalf: No, Frodo. The spirit of Sauron endured. His life force is bound to the Ring, and the Ring survived. Sauron has returned. His orcs have multiplied, his fortress of Barad-dur is rebuilt in the land of Mordor. Sauron needs only this Ring to cover all the lands in a second darkness. He is seeking it, seeking it, all his thought is bent on it. The ring yearns above all else to return to the hand of its master. They are one … the Ring and the Dark Lord. Frodo … he must never find it.

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past43) …The evil power in Mirkwood had been driven out by the White Council only to reappear in greater strength in the old strongholds of Mordor. The Dark Tower had been rebuilt, it was said. From there the power was spreading far and wide, and away far east and south there were wars and growing fear. Orcs were multiplying again in the mountains.
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past51) Gandalf: ‘He is seeking it, seeking it, and all his thought is bent on it.’
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past50) Gandalf: ‘[Sauron] has indeed arisen…’
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past50) Gandalf: ‘The Enemy still lacks one thing to give him strength and knowledge to beat down all resistance, break the last defences, and cover all the lands in a second darkness. He lacks the One Ring.’ … ‘He let a great part of his own former power pass into it, so that he could rule all the others. … [He has] returned to his ancient fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor.’
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past49) ‘He greatly desires it – but he must not get it.’
Book 3: Chapter V – The White Rider 487) Gandalf, of Saruman: ‘His thought is ever on the Ring.’
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past 54) Gandalf: ‘There was more than one power at work, Frodo. The Ring was trying to get back to its master. It had slipped from Isildur’s hand and betrayed him; then when a chance came it caught poor Déagol, and he was murdered; and after that Gollum, and it had devoured him…. So now, when its master was awake once more and sending out his dark thought from Mirkwood, it abandoned Gollum. Only to be picked up by the most unlikely person imaginable: Bilbo from the Shire!’

Frodo picks up the Ring from the table and moves quickly into the next room, looking about wildly for a possible place. Gandalf follows more slowly.
Frodo: All right. We put it away. We keep it hidden. We never speak of it again. No one knows it’s here, do they? (When there is no response, he turns, slowly, with dread in his face.) Do they, Gandalf?
Gandalf (clearly hating to say it): There is one other that knew that Bilbo had the Ring. I looked everywhere for the creature Gollum. But the enemy found him first.

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past57) ‘Together we sought for Gollum down the whole length of Wilderland, without hope, and without success. … But I am afraid there is no possible doubt: he had made his slow, sneaking way, step by step, mile by mile, south, down at last to the Land of Mordor.’
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond Aragorn: ‘I went with Gandalf on the long and hopeless search.’
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 246) Gandalf: ‘…He had found the creature called Gollum.’
Aragorn: ‘But now the trail was fresh and swift, and it led not to Mordor but away.’

There is what can only be a machine of torture, tended by quite a large number of Orcs. There is fire involved. All that is visible of Gollum are his hands, reaching out in agony as he screams.

I don’t know how long they tortured him for. But amidst the endless screams and inane babble, they discerned two words.
Gollum (in torment): SHIRE! BAGGINS!

Prologue: Of the Finding of the Ring 12) …his enemy’s cries of hate and despair: Thief, thief! Baggins! We hates it forever!
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past 56) Gandalf: ‘He hated Bilbo and cursed his name. What is more, he knew where he came from.…He whined and cringed, and rubbed his long hands, licking his fingers as if they pained him, as if he remembered some old torture.’

Frodo: Shire! Baggins?! But that will lead them here!

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past58) ‘And [Sauron] has at last heard, I think, of hobbits and the Shire! . … the long-unnoticed name of Baggins has become important.’

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Two Black Riders gallop along a road in the night – a road in the Shire, for a hobbit, one of the Bounders, steps out, holding up a lantern.
Hobbit: Who goes there?
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past58) Sam: ‘The Bounders have never been so busy before.’
As the lead horseman rides him down, a sword descends.
Book 1: Chapter XI – A Knife in the Dark 173) [The Black Riders] ran down the guards at the gate and vanished from the Shire.
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Frodo runs up to Gandalf, holding the Ring up urgently.
Frodo: Take it Gandalf! Take it!
Gandalf stumbles backward out of reach.
Gandalf (with fear in his voice): No, Frodo!
Frodo: You must take it!
Gandalf (more firmly): You cannot offer me this Ring.
Frodo (cries out): I’m giving it to you!
Gandalf (in a not-quite-steady voice): DON’T … tempt me, Frodo!
Frodo closes his fingers around the Ring, and drops his hand.
Gandalf: I dare not take it. (whispers) Not even to keep it safe. Understand, Frodo, I would use this Ring from a desire to do good. But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.

Book 1: Chapter I – A Long-Expected Party 34) ‘No, don’t give the ring to me,’ said Gandalf.
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past60) ‘Will you not take the Ring?’
‘No!’ cried Gandalf, springing to his feet. ‘With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a power still greater and more deadly.’ His eyes flashed and his face was lit as by a fire within. ‘Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me! I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe, unused. The wish to wield it would be too great for my strength. I shall have such need of it. Great perils lie before me.’

Frodo: But it cannot stay in the Shire!

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past61) Frodo: ‘I cannot keep the Ring and stay here. I ought to leave Bag End, leave the Shire, leave everything and go away.’
… Gandalf: ‘The ring will not be able to stay hidden in the Shire much longer.’

Gandalf: No! – no it can’t.
Frodo (swallows hard and closes the Ring tightly in his hand: realizations are coming painfully. Very quietly): What must I do?
Frodo opens a cupboard, pulls out a shirt, stuffs it into a backpack.
Gandalf: You must leave. And leave quickly.

Book 1: Chapter III – Three Is Company 65) ‘You ought to go quietly, and you ought to go soon.’

Frodo: Where? Where do I go?

Book 1: Chapter III – Three Is Company 65) ‘For where am I to go?’

Gandalf: Get out of the Shire. Make for the village of Bree.
Gandalf neatly rolls up another shirt. Frodo takes it from him, unrolling it in doing so, and stuffs it in his bag.
Frodo: Bree… What about you?
Frodo moves quickly into the kitchen.
Gandalf (following): I’ll be waiting for you, at the Inn of the Prancing Pony.

Book 1: Chapter VIII – Fog on the Barrow-downs 144) Tom Bombadil: ‘Tom will give you good advice, till this day is over …: four miles along the Road you’ll come upon a village, Bree under Bree-hill, with doors looking westward. There you’ll find an old inn that is called The Prancing Pony. Barliman Butterbur is the worthy keeper. There you can stay the night…’
Book 1: Chapter X – Strider 166) THE PRANCING PONY: BREE…Leave a message for me here, if you pass through Bree…. – Gandalf

Frodo puts a pair of apples into his bag, wraps up a seed cake in a cloth.
Frodo: And the Ring will be safe there?
Gandalf: I don’t know, Frodo. I don’t have any answers. I must see the head of my order. He is both wise, and powerful. Trust me, Frodo. He’ll know what to do.
Frodo hurries into the study and pulls on his coat. Gandalf helps him on with his backpack.
You’ll have to leave the name of Baggins behind you, for that name is not safe outside the Shire. Travel only by day, and stay off the road.

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past47) ‘[Saruman] is great among the Wise. He is the chief of my order and the head of the Council.’
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 250) ‘For Saruman the White is the greatest of my order.’
Book 1: Chapter III – Three Is Company 61) ‘Leave the name of Baggins behind you; that name will not be safe to have outside the Shire or in the Wild.’
Book 1: Chapter III – Three Is Company 75) ‘… I think we will move on now,’ said Frodo; ‘but not on the road – in case that rider comes back, or another follows him.’
Book 1: Chapter V – A Conspiracy Unmasked 105) Frodo: ‘I am starting tomorrow, as soon as it is light. But I am not going by road: it would be safer to wait here than that.’

Gandalf passes a staff to Frodo.
Frodo: I can cut across country easily enough.

Book 1: Chapter IV – A Short Cut to Mushrooms 86) Frodo: ‘I am going to cut straight across country from here.’

He tucks the Ring into the breast pocket of his coat, and faces Gandalf, ready to go.
Gandalf (with great fondness): My dear Frodo. Hobbits really are amazing creatures. You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years, they can still surprise you.

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past61) ‘My dear Frodo. Hobbits really are amazing creatures, as I have said before. You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years, they can still surprise you at a pinch’

Frodo smiles back up at him.
There is a rustling outside the open window. Both look over in alarm.
Gandalf: Get down.
Frodo drops immediately, his staff thumping to the floor with him. Gandalf slaps his staff to the ready in his right hand, and stalks to the window, where the rustling continues, and the flowers are shaking. He strikes with his staff, out the window and down, and there is a thump and a cry in a voice Frodo may recognize. Gandalf reaches out and hauls Samwise in through the window to drop him on the table.
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past61) Suddenly he stopped as if listening. … Gandalf crept to one side of the window. Then with a dart he sprang to the sill, and thrust a long arm out and downwards. There was a squawk, and up came Sam Gamgee’s curly head hauled by one ear.
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past62) …Putting out both his arms [Gandalf] lifted the astonished Sam, shears, grass clippings and all, right through the window and stood him on the floor.
Gandalf: Confound it all, Samwise Gamgee! Have you been eavesdropping?
Sam (talking fast, obviously scared, hands up in surrender and supplication): I haven’t been dropping no eaves, sir. Honest. I was just cutting the grass under the window there, if you follow me.
Gandalf: A little late for trimming the verge, don’t you think?

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past62) ‘Well, well, bless my beard! Sam Gamgee, is it? Now what may you be doing?’
‘Lor bless me, Mr. Gandalf, sir!’ said Sam. ‘Nothing! Leastways I was just trimming the grass-border under the window, if you follow me…’
‘… How long have you been eavesdropping?’
‘Eavesdropping, sir? I don’t follow you, begging your pardon. There ain’t no eaves at Bag End, and that’s a fact.’

Sam: I heard raised voices…
Gandalf: What did you hear? SPEAK!

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past62) ‘What have you heard, and why did you listen?’ Gandalf’s eyes flashed and his brows stuck out like bristles.

Sam (stammering badly): N-n-n-nothing important. That is I heard a good deal about a Ring, a Dark Lord, and something about the end of the world, but, please Mr. Gandalf, sir, please don’t ‘urt me. (Gandalf’s eyebrows rise) Don’t turn me into anything – unnatural…

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past62) ‘Mr. Frodo, sir! Don’t let him hurt me, sir! Don’t let him turn me into anything unnatural! My old dad would take on so…. I heard a deal that I didn’t rightly understand, about an enemy, and rings, and Mr. Bilbo, sir, and dragons, and a fiery mountain, and – and Elves, sir. I listened because I couldn’t help myself, if you know what I mean. Lor bless me, sir, but I do love tales of that sort. …’

Gandalf: Nooo…? (looks up at Frodo, who smiles back, faintly) Perhaps not… (softly and ominously) I’ve thought of a better use for you…
Sam does not appear to be reassured.

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past62-3) ‘Get up, Sam!’ said Gandalf. ‘I have thought of something better than that. Something to shut your mouth, and punish you properly for listening. You shall go away with Mr. Frodo.’
‘Me, sir!’ cried Sam, springing up like a dog invited for a walk. ‘Me go and see Elves and all! Hurray!’ he shouted, and then burst into tears.

******************************************************************************************************************
Dawn: Gandalf leads his horse along a fence line, Frodo beside him. Another figure, heavily laden, hurries to catch up.
Gandalf: Come along, Samwise, keep up. (He leads them into the trees) Be careful, both of you. The enemy has many spies in his service: Birds, beasts… (to Frodo) Is it safe?

Book 1: Chapter XI – A Knife in the Dark 179) Strider: ‘Not all the birds are to be trusted, and there are other spies more evil than they are.’
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 245) Gandalf: ‘Soon I became aware that spies of many sorts, even beasts and birds, were gathered round the Shire. …’
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 253) Saruman: ‘For I have many eyes in my service.’

Frodo presses his hand to his breast pocket.
Gandalf (crouches to look Frodo in the face): Never put it on. For the agent of the Dark Lord will be drawn to its power. (staring at that pocket and what it holds) Always remember, Frodo. The Ring is trying to get back to its master. It wants to be found.

Book 1: Chapter I – A Long-Expected Party 40) ‘But if you will take my advice you will use it very seldom, or not at all. At least I beg you not to use it in any way that will cause talk or rouse suspicion. …I say again: keep it safe, and keep it secret!’
Book 1: Chapter III – Three Is Company 66) ‘Let me impress on you once more: don’t use it!’’
Book 1: Chapter XI – A Knife in the Dark 185) ‘Also,’ [Strider] added, and his voice sank to a whisper, ‘the Ring draws them.’

With a final clasp of Frodo’s shoulder, Gandalf is off, riding fast into the trees.
Frodo and Sam hear a bird with amazing timing screeching as it goes through the branches. Frodo looks about nervously, then back to exchange a long look with Sam, who looks more resigned than anything else. With a deep breath, Frodo starts off, with Sam following closely (and clanking softly). Frodo’s pack is of a respectable size, but Sam’s is quite huge.
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past69) Frodo: ‘I suspect you have taken more than your share, Sam, and I shall look into it at our next packing.’
They make their way through countryside, until Sam stops suddenly in the middle of a field.
Sam: This is it.
Frodo: This is what?
Sam: If I take one more step, it’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been.

Book 1: Chapter III – Three Is Company 70) Sam knew the land well within twenty miles of Hobbiton, but that was the limit of his geography.
Book 1: Chapter III – Three Is Company 72) [Pippin] sat down on the bank at the side of the road and looked away east into the haze, beyond which lay the River, and the end of the Shire in which he had spent all his life. Sam stood by him. His round eyes were wide open – for he was looking across lands he had never seen to a new horizon.

Frodo (Walks back towards Sam): Come on, Sam.
Sam takes that step stiffly, as though over a physical obstacle. Frodo puts his hand on Sam’s shoulder as they walk on.
Frodo: Remember what Bilbo used to say? ‘It’s a dangerous business…’ The voice changes to Bilbo’s
Bilbo: ‘Frodo, going out your door. You step out onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.’

Book 1: Chapter III – Three Is Company 72) He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its spring were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing here you might be swept off to. Do you realize that this is the very path that goes through Mirkwood, and if you let it, it might take you to the Lonely Mountain, or even further and to worse places?”’

They are camped at evening, Sam, pipe in mouth, cooks at a small fire as Frodo relaxes on a broad tree branch with his own pipe.
Book 4: Chapter IV – Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit 638) Sam was a good cook, even by hobbit reckoning, and he had done a great deal of the camp-cooking on their travels, when there was a chance…
Sweet voices catch Frodo’s ear, and he props himself up on his elbow to listen. He smiles.
Frodo (whispers): Sam! (Sam looks up, then hears the music himself) Wood elves!
They go together to covertly watch a company of Elves traveling through the woods. It is a beautiful company, clad in flowing robes and cloaks of white and silver and blue; some, including the leader, carry filmy banners; others ride on white horses; around all of them shines a soft white light.
Frodo (quietly): They’re going to the harbour, beyond the White Towers – to the Grey Havens.
Sam: They’re leaving Middle-earth.
Frodo: Never to return.
Sam: I don’t know why … it makes me sad.

Book 1: Chapter III – Three Is Company 77) Sam and Pippin crouched behind a large tree-bole….
‘Elves,’ exclaimed Sam… ‘Elves, sir!’
Prologue 6) Three Elf-towers of immemorial age were still to be seen on the Tower Hills beyond the western marches. They shone far off in the moonlight…
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past44) ‘And I’ve heard tell that Elves are moving West. They do say they are going to the harbours out away beyond the White Towers.’ Sam waved his arm vaguely… it was an old tradition that away over there stood the Grey Havens, from which at times elven-ships set sail, never to return. ‘They are sailing, sailing, sailing over the Sea, they are going into the West and leaving us,’ said Sam, half chanting the words, shaking his head sadly and solemnly.
Book 1: Chapter III – Three Is Company 77) One clear voice rose now above the others. It was singing in the fair elven tongue…
Book 1: Chapter III – Three Is Company 78) They passed slowly, and the hobbits could see the starlight glimmering on their hair and in their eyes. They bore no lights, yet as they walked a shimmer, like the light of the moon above the rim of the hills before it rises, seemed to fall about their feet.
Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past 42) Elves … could now be seen passing westward through the woods in the evening, passing and not returning, but they were leaving Middle-earth and were no longer concerned with its troubles.

Frodo is apparently asleep … beyond him on the other side of the fire Sam is not so lucky. He is shifting uncomfortably on the ground.
Sam: Everywhere I lie, there’s a dirty great root sticking into my back.
Frodo (soothingly, not opening his eyes): Just shut your eyes, and imagine that you’re back in your own bed, with a soft mattress, and a lovely feather pillow.

Book 1: Chapter III – Three Is Company 71) Frodo woke up first, and found that a tree-root had made a hole in his back…‘And all my beautiful feather beds are sold to the Sackville-Bagginses! These tree-roots would do them good.’

Sam puts his head back down, closes his eyes, and dutifully tries it. For a moment.
Sam (plaintively): It’s not working, Mr. Frodo… I’m never going to be able to sleep out here.

Book 1: Chapter III – Three Is Company 71) The fox: ‘I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree.’

Frodo (very quietly, with an amused smile): Me neither, Sam.
Sam spots something by the fire, picks it up, and puts his head back down, popping a piece of it in his mouth.
They are unaware that a dark rider surveys the Shire from a crest: danger is closer than they know.
Book 1: Chapter IV – A Short Cut to Mushrooms Through an opening in the trees [Sam] caught a glimpse of the top of the green bank form which they had climbed down … on the edge high above them they saw against the sky a horse standing. Beside it stooped a black figure.
*****************************************************************************************************************
Gandalf gallops along an arrow-straight path amid lush trees, pulling up at the base of a dark tower. A figure in white is descending a long stair: Saruman. Gandalf dismounts, winded, and removes his hat.
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 251) ‘…Isengard is a circle of sheer rocks that enclose a valley as with a wall, and in the midst of that valley is a tower of stone called Orthanc….it is very tall and has many secrets. … But I rode to the foot of Orthanc, and came to the stair of Saruman, and there he met me and led me up to his high chamber. He wore a ring on his finger.’
Book 3: Chapter VIII – The Road to Isengard 541) A peak and isle of rock it was, black and gleaming hard: four mighty piers of many-sided stone were welded into one, but near the summit they opened into gaping horns, their pinnacles sharp as the points of spears, keen-edged as knives.
Saruman: Smoke rises from the mountain of Doom, and the hour grows late, and Gandalf the Grey rides to Isengard, seeking my counsel. For that is why you have come, is it not? My old friend. (Saruman smiles.)

Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 239) Boromir: ‘Smoke rises once more from Orodruin, that we call Mount Doom.’
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 252) ‘ “So you have come, Gandalf,” he said to me gravely.’

Gandalf: Saruman. (bows his head)
Gandalf and Saruman walk on the lawn of Orthanc, surrounded by trees in bloom.
Book 3: Chapter VIII – The Road to Isengard 540) Once it had been fair and green.
Book 3: Chapter VIII – The Road to Isengard 541) Once it had been green and filled with avenues, and groves of fruitful trees…
Saruman: You are sure of this?
Gandalf: Beyond any doubt.
Saruman: So the Ring of Power has been found.
Gandalf: All these long years, it was in the Shire, under my very nose.
Saruman: Yet you did not have the wits to see it. Your love of the Halflings’ leaf has clearly slowed your mind.

From UT: The Hunt for the Ring: “…Saruman had long taken an interest in the Shire – because Gandalf did, and he was suspicious of him; and because (again in secret imitation of Gandalf) he had taken to the ‘Halflings’ leaf’, and needed supplies, but in pride (having once scoffed at Gandalf’s use of the weed)”

Gandalf: But we still have time. Time enough to counter Sauron if we act quickly.

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past47) Gandalf: ‘But I said to myself … there is time yet. Wait!’

Saruman: Time? (They stop) What time do you think we have?
In a high chamber, obviously Saruman’s workroom, Saruman sits in a high-backed chair. Gandalf stands near, staff in one hand, a glass of red wine in the other.
Saruman: Sauron has regained much of his former strength. He cannot yet take physical form, but his spirit has lost none of its potency. Concealed within his fortress, the Lord of Mordor sees all. His gaze pierces cloud, shadow, earth and flesh. You know of what I speak, Gandalf. A Great Eye, lidless, wreathed in flame.

Book 4: Chapter II – The Passage of the Marshes 616) The Eye: that horrible growing sense of a hostile will that strove with great power to pierce all shadows of cloud, and earth, and flesh, and to see you…
Book 2: Chapter VII – The Mirror of Galadriel 355) But suddenly the Mirror went altogether dark, as dark as if a hole had opened in the world of stars, and Frodo looked into emptiness. In the black abyss there appeared a single Eye that slowly grew, until it filled nearly all the Mirror. So terrible was it that Frodo stood rooted, unable to cry out or to withdraw his gaze. The Eye was rimmed with fire, but was itself glazed, yellow as a cat’s, watchful and intent, and the black slit of its pupil opened on a pit, a window into nothing.

Gandalf (softly, with dread): The Eye of Sauron.
Saruman: He is gathering all evil to him. Very soon he will summon an army great enough to launch an assault upon Middle-earth.
Gandalf: You know this? How?
Saruman turns his head to look through an archway into another room. He smiles faintly.
Saruman: I have seen it.
Gandalf strides into the adjoining room, followed by Saruman. There is a pedestal in the center of the room, which holds a shrouded spherical object. Gandalf stops beside it.
Gandalf: A palantir is a dangerous tool, Saruman.
Saruman: Why? Why should we fear to use it? Pulls the cloth away to reveal the palantir, black and clouded.
Book 3: Chapter X – The Voice of Saruman 569) A globe of crystal, dark, but glowing with a heart of fire.
Gandalf: They are not all accounted for, the lost Seeing-stones. We do not know who else may be watching.
He takes the cloth from Saruman’s hand and throws it over the sphere again. There is a growling mutter and a flash of the Eye as Gandalf pulls his hand away. Saruman walks away to seat himself in a chair like a throne.
Saruman: The hour is later than you think. Sauron’s forces are already moving. The Nine have left Minas Morgul.
Gandalf (whispers): The Nine?
Saruman: They crossed the River Isen on Midsummer’s Eve, disguised as riders in black.

Book 1: Chapter II – The Shadow of the Past 60) Gandalf: ‘The Enemy is moving.’
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 250) Gandalf quoting Radagast: ‘”Nazgûl,” he whispered. “The Nine are abroad again. They have crossed the River secretly and are moving westward. They have taken the guise of riders in black.”’
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 251) Gandalf quoting Radagast: ‘”I was told to find you before Midsummer, and that is now here.”’
Appendix B 1066) September 18 – Gandalf escapes from Orthanc in the early hours. The Black Riders cross the Fords of Isen.

Gandalf: They’ve reached the Shire –

Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 251) Gandalf quoting Radagast: “Even if you set out from this spot, you will hardly reach [Saruman] before the Nine discover the land that they seek.”

Saruman: They will find the Ring, and kill the one who carries it.
Gandalf (softly): Frodo!

Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 254) ‘Fear was ever in my heart for my friends in the Shire….’

He turns and starts for the door, but before he takes three steps toward it, it closes in his face. He begins to move toward another of the four doors ranged along the four walls, but takes only one step before it slams. The third closes to him as well, as does the fourth. Saruman has simply glanced at each in its turn. Gandalf slumps, leaning on his staff.
Saruman: You do not seriously think that a Hobbit could contend with the will of Sauron? There are none who can. (Gandalf’s eyes widen and his head lifts, and he turns in shock to face Saruman) Against the power of Mordor, there can be no victory. We must join with him, Gandalf. We must join with Sauron. It would be wise, my friend.

Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 252) Gandalf quoting Saruman ‘”And listen, Gandalf, my old friend and helper! I said we, for we it may be, if you will join with me…. A new Power is rising. Against it the old allies and policies will not avail us at all.”’
Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 253) ‘We may join with that Power. It would be wise, Gandalf.’

Gandalf: Tell me, ‘friend’. When did Saruman the Wise abandon reason for madness?

Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 253) ‘I cannot think that you brought me so far only to weary my ears.’ )

With a flare of his eyes and a shout, Saruman sends Gandalf flying to pin him against the wall, high above the floor – and then lets him drop. There follows a pitched battle using their staves and voices, and they seem nearly evenly matched, though Gandalf is soon bleeding and obviously in pain. Than with a sharp gesture and a word Saruman pulls the staff from Gandalf’s hand, across the room into his own hand. With a staff in either hand, he stalks slowly toward where Gandalf lies bleeding.
Saruman: I gave you the chance of aiding me willingly, but you have elected the way of pain!

Book 2: Chapter II – The Council of Elrond 253) ‘…I gave you the chance of aiding me willingly, and so saving yourself much trouble and pain. The third choice is to stay here, until the end.’

Saruman gestures with both staves, and Gandalf falls upward, plummeting to the top of the tower. Gandalf’s shout echoes as he vanishes from sight …