LOTR IV. A Matter of Judgment

A forum for our members to collaborate on scripts adapted from Tolkien's works, patterned on the massive LOTR screenplay authored by ToshoftheWuffingas.
ToshoftheWuffingas
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Post by ToshoftheWuffingas »

The episode continues with the questioning of Frodo. Perhaps readers will start to see the purpose of my change of narrative order.

Fade to a tracking shot close behind the heads of the soldiers. Some are bloody or bandaged. The camera stops and we see Frodo beyond the soldiers. He is standing, hands behind his back, before Faramir who sits crosslegged on a cloth, his weapons laid out by his side. Sam stands several paces behind Frodo. Cut to Frodo with the war-band sitting in a half circle well behind him.

Cut to Faramir: '….what concerns Boromir concerns me too. Is it Isildur's Bane that you choose to hide? Our tales tell us that Isildur was slain by an orc-arrow. How could that be a sign of Doom? '

Cut back to Frodo: 'Isildur's Bane does not belong to me or any mortal. Only Aragorn, the man who led us from Moria to Rauros, could claim it.' Cut to the two.

Faramir: 'And why not Boromir, a prince of Isildur's city?'

Frodo: 'Because Aragorn is the direct heir of Isildur. The sword he bears is the sword of Elendil; the one that threw down the Enemy at the Last Alliance.' Brief cuts of astonishment and exclamations from the nearer soldiers. Cut back to Faramir and Frodo.

Faramir: 'Such a claim needs to be tested if he comes. He was not in Minas Tirith when I left it six days ago.'

Frodo, frowning and thinking: 'I do not understand. He and Boromir intended to go straight to your city from Rauros. Boromir was satisfied of Aragorn and he knows my errand. He saw Elrond give it to me at Imladris. I cannot reveal it but enemies of Sauron should not hinder me.'

Cut to Faramir leaning back slightly and regarding Frodo closely: 'So! You bid me mind my own business and let you go? Ask Boromir, you say?' (he leans forward) 'Were you a friend of Boromir?' His eyes become gimlets.

Cut to Frodo pausing: 'Boromir was a brave member of our fellowship.' (another slight pause) 'Yes, I was his friend for my part.'

Cut to Faramir grimly smiling: 'Then you would grieve news of his death?'

Cut to Frodo nodding: 'I would indeed.' (he double-takes) 'Dead? Is he dead then? And you know it? Is this a falsehood to trap me?'

Faramir, still grim: 'I would not snare even an orc with a falsehood.'

Cut to Frodo bewildered: 'Then how did he die? How do you know?'

Cut to Faramir: 'I hoped his companion would tell me that.'

Cut to Frodo: 'B-but he was alive and well when we parted - though there are many perils in this world.'

Cut to Faramir, intensely: 'And treachery not the least!' Cut to Sam's indignant face.
Cut to Frodo and Faramir as Sam comes striding up. He stands legs astride, hands on hips, face to face with Faramir. As he speaks he wags a finger in Faramir's face.

Sam: 'Begging your pardon but he's no right to talk to you like that. See here Captain…'( a brief cut to grins from the sitting soldiers at each other) '…what are you driving at? If you think my master murdered Boromir and ran away you've got no sense. It's a pity you can't let others do their bit against the Enemy without interfering. He'd be pleased to see us quarrel like this.'

Faramir: 'I spare a brief time to judge you. I must slay all in this land who travel without our leave. I do not do this gladly or needlessly. Sit by your master who has a greater wit than you and be silent!' As Sam sits down with an ill grace and folds his arms, Faramir turns again to Frodo.

Faramir: 'Boromir was my brother.' (Frodo falters and looks around at the soldiers) 'Eight nights ago as I kept watch on the River crossings at Osgiliath I saw a strange craft float down the River towards me.' Fade to an Elven boat shining in the moonlight with Faramir standing by it in the shallow water. Cut to a view from above and we see Boromir lying peacefully in the boat surrounded by orc weapons and a broken sword resting on his chest. Cut to Faramir looking anguished as he watches the boat float away. Fade back to Faramir sitting thoughtfully.

Faramir: 'Clasped around him was a finely wrought golden belt.'
Cut to Frodo in increasing distress: 'Then it was Boromir. That belt was given to him by the Lady Galadriel in Lothlórien. Now I am full of dread for if Boromir is slain then all my companions have perished too.' (he looks down then up again) 'They were my kinsmen and my friends.' (he turns to Sam then back to Faramir) 'I am weary, full of grief and afraid. Go back to your city and defend it and let me go where my doom takes me. If we are all that remains of our fellowship then I have a deed to attempt before I too am slain.' Frodo sinks to the ground and Sam looks from Frodo to Faramir.

Cut to Merry and Pippin running through trees calling for Frodo. Cut to them running out of bushes and coming to a horrified halt. Cut to a group of armed orcs turning around to look at them. Cut back to Merry and Pippin turning to flee and running into more orcs behind them. The hobbits draw their swords. As one orc tries to grab Merry, Merry strikes his hand off. Orcs circle them trying to take hold of them. Then we hear a great cry, 'Gondor! Gondor!' and the orcs and hobbits look up. Cut to Boromir running into a crowd of orcs and striking left and right. The survivors run away and Merry and Pippin run up to him and grab his legs like children as he stands there panting. Cut to another direction and we see scores of orcs running up. Cut to Boromir blowing his horn again and again. Cut to Boromir running into the orcs and cutting them down. Cut to him surrounded by dead orcs as arrows start to strike him. Cut to Merry and Pippin facing a tall armoured orc with the sign of a white hand on his back. He knocks the swords from their hands with a club and their arms are seized from behind. Merry and Pippin look at each other desperately. The great orc stands before Merry and clubs the side of his head and he crumples to the ground. The orc stands before Pippin who looks up defiantly and then he too is clubbed and collapses. The camera draws in a little way to their small bodies on the moss then pans around to Boromir against a tree with more orc bodies around him. Arrows stick from him at all angles. He holds a broken sword in one hand and blows weakly on his horn. The camera pans away from him and we see scores more orcs arriving. Fade out.
Last edited by ToshoftheWuffingas on Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by ToshoftheWuffingas »

And the episode finishes....

Fade in to Frodo and Sam blindfolded, walking with heads bowed between Faramir, Damrod and Mablung alongside a fast rocky stream. Cut to the soldiers carrying the hobbits over their shoulders like sacks into a cleft in a rock cliff. Cut to a cave system. The camera follows the hobbits as they are carried past soldiers being bandaged, sharpening weapons, rolling barrels and carrying trays of food. Cut to them being laid down gently on a wet rock floor. We hear the musical sound of falling water and the rock is glowing with red and golden light and multi-coloured speckles. The hobbits reach out and grope the air until they touch hands. The camera draws back to show Faramir walking up.

Faramir: ‘Let them see.’ The guards pull off the blindfolds and the hobbits turn round and face the light. Cut to the end of the tunnel and a shimmering curtain of ever changing light. Cut to the hobbits and the light playing on their faces.

We hear Faramir’s voice: ‘This is The Window of the Sunset, the fairest of all the waterfalls of Ithilien and our secret refuge.
Cut to Faramir who dismisses the guards and speaks softly: ‘Here I must question you further Frodo. You were not fully frank with me.’

Frodo turns to face him: ‘I told all the truth I could.’

Cut to Faramir: ‘You spoke with skill in a hard place but I guessed much. You did not leave Boromir in friendship. Was Isildur’s Bane the reason for argument? It is a thousand years since Gondor’s last king and Boromir thought it time his father was more than mere Steward of the Kingdom. I have read some of the oldest documents in the White Tower. I believe Isildur took a weapon of great power from the Enemy and I can believe that Boromir would want such a weapon. I know my brother.’ (he pauses and remembers for a moment) ‘ But fear not. I would not take this thing even if it lay by the highway. I wish not for some foul weapon. I wish only for the White Tree to flower again and the Silver Crown of the King to return and Minas Tirith in peace again. I do not love bright sword or swift arrow but only that which they defend; the last city in Middle-earth of the Men of Westernesse.’ (another brief pause) ‘But come, like us you are weary and hungry. I must hear reports and prepare our return to the city but first break bread and drink wine with us and then you may rest.’
Cut to a large cavern with flickering torches on the walls and long tables filling up with plates, jugs and simple foods. Cut to the jugs being filled from barrels. Cut to men washing their hands in basins. Cut to a soldier holding a basin in front of the hobbits.

Sam: ’It will be easier if you put it on the ground.’ When it is down Sam kneels down and dunks his head into the bowl and splashes water over his neck. He looks up, hair all wet, to see the soldiers at table turning and laughing and he grins himself.

Sam: ‘When you’re short of sleep and almost nodding off, cold water on the neck is like rain on a wilted lettuce.’
Cut to Frodo and Sam sitting on barrels at the tables with Faramir and the men. They are eyeing the food.

Faramir: ‘Before we eat we look towards Westernesse that was and beyond it to Elvenhome that is and beyond to what will ever be.’
Frodo and Sam look at each other and seem a little unsure then they face in the direction of the others. Cut to the hobbits eating eagerly to the amused look of the men. Sam drinks the goblet of wine like beer and fills up again.
Cut to Faramir sitting in an alcove with a flickering torch on the wall. There is a simple bed by one wall and Frodo and Sam sit on stools.

Faramir: ‘You may sleep after your food settles a little. Would you like to talk a little?’ Sam is grinning foolishly and looking around just a little enebriated. Frodo looks sideways at Sam and kicks him.

Frodo: ‘Tell me something of Gondor and your city.’

Faramir: ‘The city was built by Elendil when he escaped the wrath that deluged Westernesse, the lost island of Númenor. Our last king rode away to challenge the Nazgûl King a thousand years ago and since then Gondor has been ruled by Stewards. My father, Denethor is the twenty sixth Steward. Our days of strength are past but still we hold the River against the Enemy and protect the lands of the West. And still we have friends too; the folk of the southern coasts and the mountain valleys. And fiercest of all, the horse warriors to our north, the Rohirrim who protect the grassy plains between the mountains all the way to the wizard’s tower at the gap of Rohan. But you have met Mithrandir and Elrond and the lady of the Wood. Tell me about Elves. In these days they are shunned and feared and few know of them.’

Sam, hearing Elves, becomes alive: ‘Elves sir? You should see the Lady of Lórien. I’m no poet – gardening is my job back home – but I wish I could make a song about her. Like a white daffydowndilly, soft as moonlight, hard as diamonds and as merry a lass with daisies in her hair as I ever saw. Er, forgive my nonsense.’

Faramir, smiling at Sam’s exuberance: ‘She sounds perilously fair.’

Sam, switching swiftly to seriousness: ‘I don’t know about perilous. Aragorn said you bring your peril in with you. Now Borom……..’ Sam realises and clams up.

Faramir leans forward: ‘Now Boromir what? Did he bring his peril in with him?’

Sam: ‘Yes sir, begging your pardon. Boromir was a brave man but I watched him from Rivendell and all the way down the River; not meaning harm but looking after my master. I think it was in Lórien he first saw clearly what he wanted, the Enemy’s Ring.’

Frodo, in sudden alarm:’ Sam!’

Sam: ‘There I go again! Oh dear! Oh dear! Don’t you take advantage of my master because his servant is a fool. You’ve spoken handsome, talking of Elves and putting me off my guard. Now is the time to show your quality.’ Cut to Faramir smiling slowly. Cut to Frodo and Sam looking at each other.

Cut back to Faramir: ‘So that is the answer to all the riddles! The One Ring did not perish at all. And Boromir tried to take it and you ran all the way to me. And here in the wild I have you: two halflings and a host of men at my call. A pretty stroke of fortune!’ (he stands up) ‘ A chance for Faramir, Captain of Gondor, to show his quality.’

Frodo and Sam rise clumsily, knocking over their stools and back away to the wall of the alcove. They both draw their swords. The torch on the wall flickers shadows around that grow and the screen fades to black.
Closing credits.
Last edited by ToshoftheWuffingas on Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ToshoftheWuffingas
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Post by ToshoftheWuffingas »

Liddy makes a fleeting entrance in this episode! :) This chunk is a bit longer than usual. So, a new episode starts.....


A waterfall is seen and the camera travels slowly towards it. It halts before the curtain of water. The opening credits come up: JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: Episode Fourteen The Crossroads etc.
The camera goes through the water and on into a cave lit by flickering torches and full of soldiers at rest. The camera continues to a curtain across an alcove.

Cut to Faramir: ‘So! The One Ring did not perish when Sauron fell after all. And Boromir tried to take it and you ran all the way to me. And here in the wild I have you; two halflings and a host of men at my call.’ (he stands up) ‘A chance for Faramir, Captain of Gondor, to show his quality.’
Cut to Frodo and Sam against a wall, their swords out, looking desperate.
Cut back to Faramir. His intense look passes and he gestures with his hand and he sits down. He shakes his head and smiles sadly.

Faramir: ‘Alas for Boromir. You two wanderers have increased my sorrow. “Not if I found it on the highway would I take it.”, I said; so sit at peace. But do not name this thing again.’ A brief cut to the hobbits. They cautiously relax and resheath their swords.

Cut back to Faramir: ‘I marvel at you; to keep it hid and not use it. You are a new people to me.’ (he laughs lightly) ‘Gardeners must be in high honour in your land. Sleep now in peace for in the morning we must go our separate paths. Tell me where you wish to go and what you mean to do.’

Cut to Frodo, desperately tired: ‘I was trying to find a way into Mordor. I must find the Mountain of Fire and cast this thing into the Crack of Doom. Gandalf said so. I do not think I shall ever get there.’
Cut to Faramir’s face as he takes this in. Incredulity, respect then compassion show on his face. Cut to Faramir laying down a sleeping Frodo on to a mattress while Sam watches.

Sam: ‘You took the chance sir.’

Faramir looks down: ‘ I did? ‘

Sam: ‘Yes sir, and you showed your quality; the very highest.’ Cut to Frodo’s sleeping face. Fade out and fade in to Frodo sleeping in a different position. A hand gently shakes his shoulder. Cut to Frodo sitting up and Faramir standing nearby.

Faramir, softly: ‘It is almost dawn. Follow me, I need your counsel.’
Cut to them outside below a night sky looking over the edge of a cliff.

Faramir: ‘It seems we have been discovered. I have archers ready. Shall we shoot?’
Cut to a view of a raging pool at the bottom of the cliff, the waterfall pounding into it. Cut to a closer view and we see Gollum dive into the water. Cut to Frodo’s face and he looks divided and tempted.

Cut to Faramir’s face: ‘You said nothing of your gangrel companion. When we took you he escaped but by coming here his life is forfeit. Why has he come?’ Cut to the two.

Frodo: ‘I don’t think he knows you are here. His desire draws him.’

Faramir: ‘Does he know of your burden?’

Frodo: ‘He bore it himself for hundreds of years and still lusts for it but I meant fish. Look.’ Cut to Gollum squatting by the pool eating a fish with more by his side. Cut back to Faramir and Frodo.

Faramir: ‘Why should we spare him?’

Frodo: ‘He is wretched and hungry and Gandalf, your Mithrandir, would have asked you to. He told the Elves not to slay him. He is bound up with my errand and has been my guide.’

Faramir: ‘Your guide? I cannot grant this. He must be either slain or captured.’

Frodo: Let me go down to him. I shall not run away.’
Cut to Frodo climbing down steps past hidden archers. Cut to Gollum in the foreground eating a fish with both hands, pausing to talk to himself. Frodo’s face is seen in the background appearing from behind a rock.

Gollum: ‘Fissh. We can eat nice fissh in peace. No not in peace precious. Precious is lost, yes lost, sob, gollum. Dirty hobbits, nassty thieving hobbits. Only poor Sméagol left alone. No Precious.’ (cut to Frodo’s face that shows his disgust and weariness as Gollum continues) ‘Nassty men, they’ll take it, steal my Precious. Thieves! We hates them. Nice fissh makes us strong. Makes eyes bright and fingers tight. Yes! Yes! Throttle them! Throttle them all! Yes if we gets chances.’ Frodo shakes his head at the dreary talk, looks up at the archers wistfully then squares his shoulders.

Frodo, softly: ‘ Sméagol. Master is here. We are in danger. Men will kill you if they find you here.’

Cut to Gollum looking around: ‘No. Master can wait. Sméagol hasn’t finished yet ‘

Cut to Frodo stepping into view before Gollum: ‘Sméagol! Precious will be angry. Precious will say choke on fish and never taste nice fish again.’ Gollum goes down on all fours.

Gollum: ‘Nice master, come back to poor Sméagol. We can go away quickly through the trees.’

Frodo: ‘Yes but not yet. I will save you but you must trust me.’

Gollum, looking suspicious and looking around: ‘Why not now? Where is the cross rude hobbit.?’

Frodo points up with his thumb: ‘Up there.’ (he looks uncomfortable) ‘ Come or the Precious will be angry. Go on in front of me.’ Cut to Gollum climbing steps with his fish and stopping and sniffing.

Gollum: ‘Something’s there – not a hobbit!’ ( he turns and his eyes light up with fury) ‘Wicked, tricksy, false!’ He launches himself on Frodo and men run out and pull him off Frodo. A man comes up with a short bow. The men bind Gollum roughly. Gollum starts weeping.

Cut to Frodo: ‘Easy with him please. He has not your strength.’ (he bobs down) ‘Sméagol I will go with you. They will not hurt you unless they kill me too. Trust master.’
Gollum looks poisonously at Frodo and spits in his face. A hood is pushed over his head. Cut to the rock chamber where Sam stands waiting. As the limp body of Gollum is carried past him he watches it and turns to Frodo.

Sam: ‘They got him then?’

Frodo: ‘I hate this business. He came to me because he trusted me and they fell on him and bound him.’

Sam: ‘Nothing will ever be right with that piece of misery.’
Cut to Faramir’s alcove. He sits alone and Frodo and Sam sit to one side. Gollum is tossed down and his hood is pulled off. He still holds a fish.

Gollum: ‘We’ve done nothing.’

Faramir: ‘Nothing? To come here is death. That fish was dearly bought.’

Gollum tosses the fish aside: ‘Don’t want fish.’

Faramir: ‘To look upon this pool brings death. You have only been spared so far at the prayer of Frodo. What is your name?’

Gollum: ‘No name, no business, no Precious. Only hungry. A few bony fish and they say death. So wise they are; so very just.’
Faramir hands a knife to Frodo and nods towards Gollum who squeals and crouches down.

Frodo, cutting Gollum’s cords: ‘You must trust me. I will not desert you. Answer him truthfully.’

Faramir looks fiercely at Gollum: ‘Look at me! Have you been here before?’

Cut to Gollum unwillingly looking up at Faramir for a moment then his eyelids droop and he sinks down.

Gollum: ‘We doesn’t know and we doesn’t want to know. Never came here, never come again.’ (he looks at Frodo pathetically) ‘Save us nice master. We will promise to Precious never to come again; never speak, never, precious, no.’

Cut to Frodo, sadly: ‘You will not get any more. I promised him he would not be harmed. I would not be proved faithless.’

Cut to Faramir. He looks from one to the other: ‘Very well Frodo. You are free throughout the realm of Gondor for a year and a day. All that you protect, I shall protect too.’ (he turns to Gollum) ‘And you are only safe from my doom of death while you walk with Frodo. Whither were you leading him?’ Cut to Gollum who remains silent.
We hear Faramir continue: ‘ I will not have this secret!’ Cut to the four.

Frodo: ‘I asked him to take me to the Black Gates of Mordor but it was impassable. He is taking us to a high pass above Minas Morgul.’

Faramir: ‘Cirith Ungol!’ He turns to Gollum and stares.

Gollum, unwillingly: ‘Master says he must get in. There is no other way.’
Faramir continues to stare at Gollum then beckons a guard.

Faramir: ‘Take him away but treat him gently.’ Gollum grabs the fish and is led away at the point of a sword.
Cut to Faramir pulling the curtain across and turning to face the hobbits.

Faramir: ‘You should not trust this creature for malice eats him like a canker. He has done murder before now. I read it in him. Do not follow him to Cirith Ungol. He has told you less than he knows. There is some dark terror up there.’ (a very brief flash of the cave entrance. The camera zooms up to it) ‘ To even get there you must pass Minas Morgul that is full of lidless eyes.’

Cut to Frodo looking up at him: ‘But where else would you direct me? We are the last of the fellowship that set out from Rivendell. I am solemnly bound by the Council to find a way or perish. If I turn back, would you have me come to Gondor with this Thing, this Thing that drove your brother mad with desire? What evil would it do in Minas Tirith? Would you have two cities of Minas Morgul grinning at each other across a land filled with rottenness? Since Mithrandir has fallen I must take such paths as I find. We have no time left for long searching.’

Cut to Faramir sombrely: ‘You have no need for soft words. It is a hard doom and a hopeless errand. I do not hope to see you again on any other day under this sun but go with my blessing.’
Fade to Faramir standing as the hobbits sit at a table and wolf down more food. He smiles at the sight and places two staves on the table.

Faramir: ‘There is more food stowed in your packs. The streams of Ithilien will fill your bottles but those that flow from the Morgul Vale are poisoned. There is something else strange too. My scouts have come back and they tell me all Ithilien is empty and still. Nothing is on the road and there is a waiting silence. The storm of war is coming so hasten while you can. I will have your creature Sméagol brought out.’
Cut to first Gollum and then the hobbits being unhooded in woodland in bright sunshine. Gollum goes behind Frodo to avoid Faramir. The hobbits are handed their walking staves.

Faramir: ‘This is the last parting of our ways. If beyond hope you return to living lands, we may sit by a wall in the sun and tell our tales and laugh at old grief.’ ( a brief cut to Frodo accepting this optimism politely) ‘Do not take the high road under the mountains yet, you will be seen too easily. Keep under the trees until you reach the crossroads. The eastern way leads up to the Morgul Vale. This land dreams for a while in a false peace. Until some time beyond the vision of the old seeing-stones of Númenor, farewell.’
Cut to Faramir walking towards his men standing near the trees. A brief cut to the three travellers watching them. Cut back to the trees and they have all gone.
A series of fades of the three walking in woods with early spring flowers, filling their bottles in little streams, sheltering within a great hollow tree and walking between golden gorse bushes. Cut to the hobbits sitting under a tree and drinking from their bottles.

Sam: ‘Look up at the mountains. There’s a murk of some sort spreading from them.’ (cut to the mountain tops and a brown bank of hazy cloud is visible above them. Cut back to the hobbits) ‘Is there another storm coming?’ A rumble is heard.

Frodo: ‘But that’s not thunder. I felt the ground shake.’

Sam : ‘And Gollum’s not back yet. I hope he’s not up to any more tricks. I’ve never taken anything on a journey I’d be less sorry to lose on the way. In fact I can’t abide him.’

Frodo: ‘He helped us through the marshes.’ Sam shrugs.

Cut to Gollum hurrying back: ‘Make haste! No time to lose!’ Cut to the hobbits as Gollum pulls at Frodo.

Sam : ‘What’s your hurry? It isn’t even tea-time in decent places.’

Gollum: ‘Silly hobbit. We are not in decent places. No time to lose. He is moving.’
A few brief cuts of the hobbits walking through bushes as the light gets dimmer and drearer. Cut to a medium distance view of a line of tall trees. Cut to the hobbits entering the gloom of the circle of the crossroads with ruined walls and buildings around it. They look up at the high canopy of trees. Thick trunks of trees make archways of the exits. It is almost like night. Cut to a closer view of the travellers.

Sam: ‘All day it has been getting darker. What is happening? ‘ They look around. Cut to a great seated statue. The head has gone and a rounded boulder has been placed on its shoulders, painted with a single slit eye and below it a grotesque grinning mouth. The statue and plinth has roughly painted graffiti in an alien script all over it. Cut back to the travellers and Frodo suddenly glows golden. He turns towards the light. Cut to an avenue of trees and at the end is a view of snowcapped mountains and the sun sinking down beyond them. The underneath of the boughs are lit up with gold. Above the sun are the stretched out fingers of a bank of brown cloud now covering the sky. Cut to Frodo turning. Cut to the great fallen head of the statue, bearded and crowned. Cut to a close-up of it. White flowers scramble and froth in the carved crown and yellow stonecrop spreads in the folds of the beard. The sun falls on the head and the flowers light up. Cut to Frodo and Sam.

Frodo: ‘Look Sam! The king is crowned again.’ He turns to the light again that gleams on his face. Cut to a close-up of his sunlit face.

Frodo: ‘They cannot conquer for ever.’ Then the light fades and his face dulls and dims.
A slow fade to black.
Last edited by ToshoftheWuffingas on Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

Still reading; still enjoying. Not finding much to say, which is just an indication that I am liking the choices you are making.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
ToshoftheWuffingas
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Post by ToshoftheWuffingas »

Thanks Voronwë.
I inserted a short line in my last post for Faramir at the request of someone elsewhere. I normally split each episode into 3 of roughly 10 minutes duration (though I will respond to different suggestions) but this one has been split into two so is a bit longer. I recap a few lines to start it off.


Cut back to the travellers and Frodo suddenly glows golden. He turns towards the light. Cut to an avenue of trees and at the end is a view of snowcapped mountains and the sun sinking down beyond them. Above the sun are the fingers of a bank of brown cloud now covering the sky. Cut to Frodo turning. Cut to the great fallen head of the statue, bearded and crowned. Cut to a close-up of it. White flowers scramble and froth in the carved crown and yellow stonecrop spreads in the folds of the beard. The sun falls on the head and the flowers light up. Cut to Frodo and Sam.
Frodo: ‘Look Sam! The king is crowned again.’ He turns to the light again that gleams on his face. Cut to a close-up of his sunlit face.

Frodo: ‘They cannot conquer for ever.’ Then the light fades and his face dulls and dims.
A slow fade to black.
The screen stays black for a while and we hear a mass of pounding feet and heavy panting and creaking leather and snorts and snarls. The sound fades away again.
Fade in to a side view of Pippin’s face on the ground in the gloom, his eyes are closed. His eyes flicker and he turns his head to one side and we see a lurid bruise on the side of his face and one eye puffed up and closed. He raises his head. Cut to a full view of Pippin flat on the ground. His legs are bound and his wrists tied in front of him. His head sinks back and he looks to one side. Cut to silhouettes of dozens of orc shapes moving about against a dawn sky. Cut back to Pippin and he looks to his other side. Cut to more orcs more clearly visible in the growing light and closer to him lies Merry, also bound and unmoving.

Cut back to Pippin’s face. He whispers to himself: ‘Poor Boromir. All I’ve been is a passenger; a piece of luggage and just a nuisance to the others. Now I’m luggage for the orcs if they don’t come over and cut my throat. What good have I been?’
The orcs get noisier and Pippin turns his head to listen.
Cut to two orcs facing one another. One is tall and well armoured with the emblem of a white hand on black on him. The other is shorter and has the red slit eye on his back. The tall orc growls out.

Ugluk: ‘My orders are to take any halflings alive to Isengard. I don’t want any rebel talk.’ The shorter orc is silent for a moment then replies quietly.

Grishnakh: ‘Who is the Master? The dirty little wizard Saruman or the Great Eye? These captives must go at once to Mordor.’

Ugluk: ‘We are the servants of Saruman, the White Hand. He who gives us man-flesh. We came from Isengard and killed and we shall go back there. You may run with us if you wish; you are too few to fight us’

Grishnakh: 'The Dark Tower will hear of this. So Saruman sets up on his own? I, Grishnakh, say that Saruman is a dirty treacherous fool and the Great Eye is upon him.’

Ugluk: ‘Enough! No more rebel talk. Any more and I shall have to kill. I am Ugluk of the fighting Uruk Hai. I have spoken!’ Grishnakh slips away and two small orcs run up.

Orc#1: ‘We are from the mountains, we have killed and had our revenge and we want to go back. We will not go to Isengard’
Ugluk growls and sweeps a sword down on the orc’s head. The other one squeals and runs away. Ugluk takes a short javelin and throws it and we hear a choked scream. The shouting and noise get louder and Ugluk roars out.

Ugluk: ‘Any more rebels? We go due west to the forest where we have friends waiting for us. And we march under the sun as well. That clear?’ He goes around cuffing orc heads and the shouting subsides.
Cut to a terrified Pippin with the speared orc lying across his legs. He sits up nervously then cautiously saws the rope around his wrists against the blade of the javelin. Cut to him quickly knotting the rope into a loop and twisting it over his wrists again. Then he puts on an innocent schoolboy look, grins to himself and lays back again.
Cut to Grishnakh talking quietly to a small orc with the mark of the Eye on its back.

Grishnakh: ‘Get word to Mordor that two halflings are being taken to the wizard at Isengard. I will stay with these bandits and wait for a chance to seize them.’ The orc turns and runs off.
Cut to two orcs dragging Merry and Pippin over the ground by the arms. Fade to the orc band running over grassland. Cut to Pippin bouncing on an orc’s back. The camera tracks forward past running orcs until it draws level with an orc carrying an unconscious Merry. All we hear is the pounding of feet and the laboured breathing. Cut to a distant view of the orc band again on the grassland and the camera pulls back to show a fair-haired man on his belly watching them. Cut to him running down a slope and leaping on to a horse and galloping off.
Cut to Pippin being thrown down on the grass and then Merry who groans. We hear orcs laugh and jeer. Ugluk walks up and lifts Merry to his feet by his hair. He collapses to the ground to more jeers. Cut to him pulled up the same way to a sitting position. He looks dazed and a bloody gash is across his forehead. Ugluk holds his nose and forces him to drink from a flask and he splutters and coughs. Ugluk sprinkles more liquor over the cut and rubs over it roughly with his hand and Merry bellows, thrashes about and cries to more jeering.

We hear: ‘Doesn’t like his medicine.’ And ‘We’ll have good sport later.’

An orc runs up to Ugluk: ‘All is clear. Just one horseman in the distance.’

Ugluk knocks the orc sprawling: ‘Clear, you fool? The filthy horse-breeders will hear of us by morning. Now we have to run double-quick.’ (he points at the hobbits) ‘You will have to use your legs’ He bends and slashes the ropes from their legs. Cut to Merry staggering a little and trying to keep control of himself.

Merry: ‘Hullo Pippin. So you’ve come on this little expedition too. Where do we get bed and breakfast?’ A brief cut to Pippin smiling.

Cut to Ugluk: ‘You’ll get more than you can stomach at the other end. Now run! Curse you all run!’
Several short cuts of Merry and Pippin running and staggering and being whipped by orcs as they pass over grassland. Cut to a sunset scene as the orcs halt panting, cursing and eating quickly. Cut to Pippin on his hands and knees. He sits back on his haunches and feels the Lórien brooch for comfort. Cut to a close-up as he looks down on it and smiles through tears then looks left and right quickly. Cut to a shot where he detaches the brooch unobtrusively then rises and ducks and runs through the orcs. Cut to a shot where Pippin runs to camera. We hear surprised shouts and snarls. As Pippin reaches camera he stops and deliberately drops the brooch then runs off to the side.
Cut to the orcs dragging Pippin back by the hair. Cut to Ugluk in front of him. The orc whips Pippin on the back three times and the young hobbit whimpers.

Ugluk: ‘You’ll get more later but first you have to run.’
Cut to the war band running in daylight with mountains and forests in the far distance. Cut to Pippin sprawling over as he runs. Cut to him bouncing on the back of an orc. Cut to a jerky handheld view from over Pippin’s shoulder of the orc column running ahead. Flecks of saliva fly back in his face. We hear the constant rumble of their pounding feet.
Fade in to Ugluk running at the head of the orcs; the foreshortened mass clustered behind him.
A call is heard: ‘The Whiteskins! The horse breeders have found us!’ Ugluk steps to one side of the column and turns to look back. Cut to a few spaced out horsemen galloping along the top of a crest in the distance. Cut to the other side and a few more appear along the crest galloping along.

Cut back to Ugluk running back to the front of the column: ‘Run you maggots! Run for the forest!’ Brief cut to the forest eaves, now closer. Cut to a mounted archer galloping up to the back of the orc column, shooting an arrow and dipping below his horse and galloping away again.
Cut to Merry jolting on the back of an orc. An arrow hits an orc in front of him and the wounded orc loses speed and drops out of the column. Cut to him getting smaller in the distance as mounted spearmen ride towards him.
Cut to the orcs cresting a hill and Ugluk raises his arm to halt them. Cut to the nearby forest and a large band of mounted horsemen trot along the eaves. Their shadows stretch off to the right.

Cut to Ugluk: ‘Guard the halflings. Kill them only if the filthy horse-breeders break through. They are not to be rescued. Bind their legs tight. We will hold this hill tonight until our friends come from the forest.’ Grishnakh sidles up next to him.

Ugluk: ‘This might be easier if you had brought along one of your precious Nazgûl.’

Grishnakh: ‘ Sss! Nazgûl! They are beyond your feeble thoughts. They are the apple of the Great Eye but he won’t let them cross the river yet. Not until the war starts. Then they’ll all be in for a big surprise.’
Cut to a ring of orc-shields around the hill as the evening darkens. The camera pans around to a line of watchfires. Cut to spearmen on horseback in the dark riding past fires as other mail-clad men on foot hurry around making preparations.
Cut to the rim of the sun rising above a green horizon. A horn calls and is repeated by two other calls. A low chant by many voices starts. Cut to a company of horsemen riding up to one side of the orc shields and the horsemen stab down with spears. Cut to orcs running in different directions as horsemen ride them down. Cut to a long shot of the hill top scattered with corpses as horsemen ride slowly among them. One man is slamming an orc head on a stake. Cut to a burning heap of corpses, the camera follows the smoke rising up against the forest canopy.
Cut to Ugluk’s head upon the stake.
Fade to black.
Closing credits.
Last edited by ToshoftheWuffingas on Sun May 25, 2008 10:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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