FRODO
[Slowly and with despair] I can’t do
this, Sam.
SAM
[Getting up slowly] I know. It’s all
wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be
here. But we are. [He stands and leans
against a wall, looking out into the
distance.] 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? [Images of the riders winning
the battle against the Uruk-hai at Helm’s
Deep] How could the world go back to
the way it was when so much bad had
happened?
THÉODEN
Victory! We have victory! [He raises
his sword with a victorious cry]
SAM
But in the end, it’s only a passing
thing, this shadow. [The women and children
welcome the men as they return. Éowyn
runs up to Aragorn and embraces him,
crying tears of relief.] Even darkness
must pass. A new day will come. [Isengard
is flooded. Merry and Pippin looks on
from their perch on Treebeard. On the
balcony, Saruman stumbles back into
his chamber] And when the sun shines
it will shine out the clearer. Those
were 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
on to something.
FRODO
What are we holding on to, Sam?
SAM
There’s some good in this world, Mr.
Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.
[Standing in a corner, even Gollum seems
moved.]