(Gandalf rides off. The Hobbits walk through forests, over hills and in a field far off from Hobbiton, Sam stops.)

Sam: This is it.

Frodo: This is what?

Sam: I take one more step, it’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been.

Frodo: Come on Sam. Remember what Bilbo used to say: “It’s a dangerous business… (voice over of Bilbo)…Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

(Treebeard comes to talk to the hobbits again.)

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

Merry: How can that be your decision?

Treebeard: This is not our war.

Merry: But your part of this world! (Looking around at the other Ents) Aren’t you? You must help! Please! You must do something.

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

(Merry puts on his jacket dejectedly, getting ready to go.)

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

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

(Frodo walks out onto a bridge as the Winged Nazgûl flies up just in front of him. Frodo takes the ring, still on the chain around his neck and seems to offer it to the Nazgûl. Faramir watches, as the Ringwraith gets closer. Sam runs out to him and knocks Frodo down just as Frodo tries to put on the ring. Faramir shoots the flying beast in the neck with an arrow. The beast rears up and screeches as Sam and Frodo tumble down some stairs. Frodo turns Sam over and draws his sword, putting it at Sam’s neck. Sam is crying)

Sam: It’s me. It’s your Sam. Don’t you know your Sam?

(Frodo puts it harder against Sam’s neck, and then in realization releases Sam. He leans against the wall behind him and lets go of the sword. It clangs to the ground. Sam starts to get up.)

Frodo: I can’t do this Sam.

Sam: (crying) I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here, but we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy. (Scene goes to Gandalf and the Rohirrim fighting the Uruks as the Uruks flee) How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened?

Théoden: Victory! We have victory!

Sam: (voiceover) But in the end, it’s only a passing thing. This shadow, even darkness must pass.

(Aragorn goes up to Éowyn, who puts her hands on his face and then hugs him, tears running down her cheeks. The last of the orcs are washed away at Isengard with the flood from the dam, Saruman retreats back inside Orthanc.)

Sam: A new day will come, and when the sun shines it’ll shine out the clearer. Those are the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now, folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding onto something.

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

(Sam goes over and gets Frodo up)

Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.

(Gollum looks on at the two. Faramir approaches them, kneeling in front of Frodo.)

Faramir: I think at last, we understand one another, Frodo Baggins.

Soldier: You know the laws of our country, the laws of your father. If you let them go, you life will be forfeit.

Faramir: Then it is forfeit. Release them.

（Théoden rides in front of the horses, banging his sword against their lowered spears.)

Théoden: Ride now! Ride now! Ride! Ride for ruin, and the world’s ending! Death!

Rohirrim: Death!

(Éowyn gulps, looking nervous.)

Théoden: Death!

Rohirrim: Death!

Théoden: Death!

Merry and Éowyn: Death!

Théoden: Forth, Eorlingas!!

(Horns sound. The Rohirrim charge. ）

(Uncountable numbers of Orcs march toward the Host of the West. The soldiers are starting to lose heart and courage.)

Aragorn: Hold your ground! Hold your ground.

(The Men stare at him, fear and uncertainty written on their faces. Aragorn rides back and forth in front of them, trying to shore up their courage.)

Aragorn: Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

(The Men draw their swords. We cut back to Frodo and Sam, struggling up the side of Mount Doom. Frodo slips and falls, and Sam stumbles to a halt beside him. Back at the battle, Aragorn and the others watch as they are surrounded by Sauron’s forces. The scene shifts back to the Hobbits, and Frodo looks up at the fiery peak above him, looking utterly defeated. He finds some strength within him, and begins pulling himself slowly and painfully up the mountainside with his bare fingers, trying to complete his quest. His strength finally gives out, and he collapses.)

Gimli: Never thought I’d die fighting side by side with an elf.

Legolas: What about side by side with a friend?

Gimli: Aye, I could do that.

(Sam climbs up to Frodo and takes him in his arms, rocking him back and forth. He looks down at his master.)

Sam: Do you remember the Shire, Mister Frodo? It’ll be spring soon, and the Orchards will be in blossom. And the birds will be nesting in the hazel thicket and they’ll be sowing the summer barley in the lower fields. (Frodo opens his eyes, and stares blindly at Sam.) And eating the first of the strawberries with cream. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?

Frodo: (gasping for breath) No, Sam, I can’t recall the taste of food. Nor the sound of water. Or the touch of grass. I’m naked in the dark. There’s nothing…no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I can see him with my waking eyes! (His eyes widen in pain and fear.)

Sam: (in tears) Then let us be rid of it, once and for all! Come on, Mister Frodo. I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you! Come on!

(Sam staggers to his feet, placing Frodo over his shoulder. He continues slowly up the mountain, carrying Frodo and the Ring forward one step at a time. Meanwhile, the Eye of Sauron is now completely focused on Aragorn.)

Sauron’s voice: Aragorn…Elessar…

(Aragorn is motionless and stares off at the Eye in the distance. He then turns to the army behind him.)

Aragorn: For Frodo…

(Aragorn runs towards the Orcs, with Merry and Pippin right behind him, then the rest of the army following behind them.)