IMAGE: FLICKERING FIRELIGHT. The NOLDORIN FORGE in EREGION.
MOLTEN GOLD POURS from the lip of an IRON LADLE.
GALADRIEL (V.O.)
It began with the forging of the Great Rings.
IMAGE: THREE RINGS, each set with a single GEM, are received by
the HIGH ELVES - GALADRIEL, GIL-GALAD and CIRDAN.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
Three were given to the Elves: immortal, wisest ... fairest of all beings.
IMAGE: SEVEN RINGS held aloft in triumph by the DWARF LORDS.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
Seven to the Dwarf Lords: great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls.
IMAGE: NINE RINGS clutched tightly by the KINGS OF MEN ... as
if holding-close a precious secret.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
And Nine ... nine rings were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire power.
(MORE) (CONTINUED)
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
For within these rings was bound the strength and the will to govern each race.
FADE TO BLACK
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
But they were all of them deceived.
FADE UP: An ancient PARCHMENT MAP of MIDDLE EARTH ... moving
slowly across the MAP as if drawn by an unseen force the
CAMERA closes in on a PLACE NAME ... MORDOR.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
...for another Ring was made.
TEASING SHOTS: SAURON forging the ONE RING in the CHAMBERS of
SAMMATH NAUR.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret a Master Ring to control all others.
IMAGE: The ONE RING reflecting the FIERY LAVA! FIRE WRITING
emerges on the plain BAND OF GOLD.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
...and into this Ring he poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life.
IMAGE: THE ONE RING falls through SPACE and into flames...
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
One Ring to rule them all...
IMAGE: A GREAT SHADOW falls across the MAP ... closing in
around the realm of GONDOR...
IMAGE: SCREAMING VILLAGERS, MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN, RUN from
their homes, pursued by ARMIES OF HIDEOUS ORCS.
CONTINUED: (2)
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
One by one the Free lands of Middle earth fell to the power of the Ring.
FADE TO BLACK.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
But there were some ... who resisted.
FADE UP: ISILDUR, son of the KING OF GONDOR, leads an ARMY
ACROSS the PLAINS OF DAGORLAD...
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
A last alliance of Men and Elves marched against the armies of Mordor. On the slopes of Mount Doom, they fought for the freedom of Middle-Earth.
TEASING SHOTS: THE BATTLE OF DAGORLAD ... THE ELF LORD, ELROND,
commands rack after rank of ELVEN ARCHERS...
ELROND
(Elvish)
Tangado haid! Leithio i philinn!
(English)
Hold positions! Fire the arrows!
TEASING SHOTS: ARROWS FIRING ... ORCS RETREATING before the
ARMY of the LAST ALLIANCE ... ELENDIL, KING OF GONDOR, holds
aloft the great SWORD ... NARSIL!
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
Victory was near!
IMAGES: THE HUGE, DARK FIGURE OF SAURON, bearing the ONE RING
on his finger, looms over the field of battle...
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
But the power of the Ring could not be undone.
IMAGE: SAURON lays waste to the armies of the LAST ALLIANCE.
With desperate courage, ELENDIL leads a charge ... THE BLACK
MACE OF SAURON LASHES OUT!!
IMAGE: ELENDIL’S body falls like a crumpled rag doll...
IMAGE: ISILDUR cradles the body of his father in his arms. The
SHADOW OF SAURON falls over him.
CONTINUED: (3)
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
It was in this moment ... when all hope had faded, that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father's sword.
ISILDUR snatches up the BROKEN BLADE OF NARSIL ... The BLADE
severs SAURON’S FINGERS ... AND THE ONE RING FLIES from his
body.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
Sauron, the enemy of the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth, was defeated.
SAURON’S ARMOUR clatters to the ground, his body GONE ...
VAPROIZED!
CLOSE ON: ISILDUR picks up the SEVERED FINGER and removes the
ONE RING ... transfixed!
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
The Ring passed to Isildur ... who had this one chance to destroy evil forever.
IMAGE: GLADDEN FIELD ... ISILDUR leads a small column of MEN
through DARKENING WOODS ... the ONE RING glinting on a CHAIN
around his neck.
GALADRIEL (V.O.)
But the hearts of Men are easily corrupted. And the Ring of Power has a will of its own.
SUDDENLY! ARROWS FLY! They are ambushed by ORCS ... ISIDULR
is THROWN from his HORSE!
ISILDUR stumbles to his feet and in a PANIC, puts on the the
RING and DISAPPEARS!
INVISIBLE ISILDUR flees from the BATTLE and jumps into
the RIVER ANDUIN.
ISILDUR MATERIALIZES UNDER WATER ... as the RING slips slowly
from his finger. He grasps for it, desperately.
ORCS on the RIVERBANK spot him in the WATER. They fire a
BARRAGE OF ARROWS into him.
ISILDUR JERKS. Ripples of light play across ISILDUR’S PALE FACE
... he is DEAD.
CONTINUED: (4)
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
It betrayed Isildur to his death.
IMAGE: ISILDUR floats down the RIVER, ARROWS lodged in his
back.
IMAGE: THE RING falls through the MURKY WATERS of the RIVER
ANDUIN ... and into OBLIVION...
GALADRIEL (V.O.)
And some things that should not have been forgotten ... were lost.
FADE TO BLACK
GALADRIEL (V.O.)
Thus a Third Age of Middle-Earth began. History became legend ... legend became myth.
FADE UP: The waters of the ANDUIN RIVER lie dark and
undisturbed.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
And for two and a half thousand years, the Ring passed out of all knowledge.
IMAGE: SILT SWIRLS ... A THIN WHITE HAND reaches down ...
grasping the RING...
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
Until, when chance came, it ensnared a new bearer.
IMAGE: THE THIN WHITE HAND opens to reveal the ONE RING.
GOLLUM (V.O.)
My Precious...
IMAGE: MIST SHROUDED MOUNTAINS...
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
The Ring came to the creature Gollum, who took it deep into the tunnels of the Misty Mountains.
CONTINUED: (5)
IMAGE: THE GLOOM of a MOUNTAIN CAVERN ... a MURKY POOL of
WATER ... in the DARKNESS the SHADOWY OUTLINE of an EMACIATED
FIGURE.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
And there it consumed him.
A RASPY VOICE mutters in the half light...
GOLLUM
It came to me. My own. My love...
(ecstatic whisper)
My preciousness.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
The Ring gave to Gollum unnatural long life. For five hundred years it poisoned his mind. And in the gloom of Gollum's cave...
FADE TO BLACK
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
It waited.
FADE UP: Bathed in COLD MOONLIGHT, the WORLD lies DARK and
STILL ... the unsettled quiet before the storm...
GALADRIEL (V.O.)
Darkness crept back into the forests of the world. Rumor grew of a Shadow in the East ... whispers of a nameless fear. And the Ring of Power perceived ... its time had now come. It abandoned Gollum.
SLOW MOTION: Unseen by its KEEPER, THE RING falls to the MUDDY
FLOOR of a MOUNTAIN TUNNEL...
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
But something happened then the Ring did not intend...
FADE TO BLACK
IMAGE: FUMBLING in the dark, a SMALL HAND closes over the
RING.
CONTINUED: (6)
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT’D)
It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable...
BILBO
(to himself)
What’s this?
A YOUNGISH LOOKING BILBO BAGGINS peers down at what lies in
his hand ... PERPLEXED by what he has found.
GALADRIEL (V.O.)
A Hobbit ... Bilbo Baggins of the Shire.
BILBO
(surprised)
A Ring.
SUDDENLY! A VOICE SCREAMS ... ITS ANGUISH RINGING through the
COLD, DANK TUNNELS...
GOLLUM (V.O.)
Lost! Lost! My Precious is lost!!
Frightened, BILBO quickly POCKETS the ONE RING and hurries on.
DISSOLVE TO:
WIDE ON: THE CAMERA SOARS AWAY FROM THE MOUNTAINS. MOVING
FASTER AND FASTER ... THEIR DARK GREEN FORESTS AND JAGGED
WHITE PEAKS RECEDING INTO THE SHROUD OF MIST
GALADRIEL (V.O.)
For the time will soon come when Hobbits will shape the fortunes of all.
DISSOLVE TO:
CLOSE ON: A MAP OF MIDDLE-EARTH. WE MOVE from the MISTY
MOUNTAINS to HOBBITON.
BILBO (V.O.)
The 22nd day of September in the year 1400 by Shire-reckoning. Bag End, Bagshot Row, Hobbiton, Westfarthing, the Shire, Middle- earth. The Third Age of this world.
PULL BACK ON THE MAP TO REVEAL: