(quietly) I miss the Shire...I spent all my childhood pretending I was off somewhere else...off with you, on one of your adventures... (Looks at Bilbo) But my own adventure, turned out to be quite different...I'm not like you, Bilbo.
BILBO:
My dear boy...
CUT TO:
EXT. RIVENDELL TERRACE -- EVENING Sam busily tries to stuff more and more things into his already full pack...pots and pans, blankets, cooking utensils, provisions, clothes.
SAM:
No, what have I forgotten? Pull back to reveal Frodo, hands in his pocket, watching Sam.
FRODO:
Packed already?
Sam looks up, startled.
SAM:
(slightly embarrassed) No harm in being prepared. Frodo strolls to the edge of the Balcony.
FRODO:
I thought you wanted to see the Elves, Sam?
(CONTINUED) 68.
SAM:
I do...
FRODO:
More than anything.
SAM:
I did. It's just...we did what Gandalf wanted, didn't we? We got the Ring this far, to Rivendell...and I thought... seeing as how you're on the mend, we'd be off soon. Off home.
FRODO:
You're right, Sam. Frodo looks at Sam... FRODO (CONT'D) ...we did what we set out to do. Frodo opens his hand, the Ring sits in his Palm.
FRODO (CONT'D) The ring will be safe in Rivendell. I am ready to go home.
CUT TO:
EXT. ELROND'S CHAMBER, RIVENDELL -- DAY Gandalf and Elrond watch Frodo and Sam from Elrond's balcony,
ELROND:
His strength returns.
GANDALF:
That wound will never fully heal. He will carry it the rest of his life.
ELROND:
And yet to have come so far still bearing the Ring...the hobbit has shown extraordinary resilience to its evil.
GANDALF:
It is a burden he should never have to had to bear. We can ask no more of Frodo.
ELROND:
Gandalf, the enemy is moving. Sauron's forces are massing in the east. His eye is fixed on Rivendell. And Saruman, you tell me, has betrayed us. Our list of allies grows thin.
(CONTINUED) 69.
GANDALF:
His treachery runs deeper than you know.
By foul craft, Saruman has crossed Orc with Goblin Men...he is breeding an army in the caverns of Isengard. An army that can move in Sunlight and cover great distance at speed. Saruman is coming for the Ring.
Elrond turns and walks away...
ELROND:
This evil cannot be concealed by the power of the Elves...We do not have the strength to fight both Mordor and Isengard...Gandalf...the ring cannot stay here.