(Back in Bag End)

Frodo: (opening the gate) G'night, Sam.

Sam: Good night, Mr. Frodo.

(Frodo walks inside, looking into Bilbo's study which shows evidence that someone has been inside. Frodo eyes it suspiciously as a hand appears over his shoulder. Frodo gasps as it spins him around)

Gandalf: (whispering frantically) Is it secret?! Is it safe?!

(Frodo opens a trunk and rummages through his things. Gandalf hears something and turns around nervously. Frodo grasps an envelope and gives it to the wizard. Gandalf snatches it and tosses it into the fireplace)

Frodo: What are you doing?!

(The envelope begins to burn, revealing the Ring within. Gandalf takes a pair of tongs and removes it)

Gandalf: Hold out your hand, Frodo. It's quite cool.

(Frodo takes it and starts a little at the heat, staring at the gold band)

Gandalf: What can you see? Can you see anything?

Frodo: (examining the ring) Nothing. There's nothing.

(Gandalf sighs in relief)

Frodo: Wait. There are markings. It's some form of Elvish. I can't read it.

Gandalf: There are few who can. The language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here.

Frodo: (bewildered) Mordor!

Gandalf: In the common tongue, it says: 'One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.'

(The Ring lays resting on the kitchen table)

Gandalf: (staring at it) This is the One Ring, forged by the Dark Lord Sauron in the fires of Mount Doom, taken by Isildur from the hand of Sauron himself.

Frodo: Bilbo found it- in Gollum's cave.

Gandalf: Yes. For sixty years, the Ring lay quiet in Bilbo's keeping, prolonging his life, delaying old age. But no longer, Frodo. Evil is stirring in Mordor.The Ring has awoken. It's heard it's master's call.

Frodo: But he was destroyed. Sauron was destroyed.

(Gandalf eyes the Ring nervously and hushes Frodo)

Gandalf: No, Frodo. The Spirit of Sauron endured. His life force is bound to the Ring, and the Ring survived. Sauron has returned. His Orcs have multiplied. His fortress of Barad-dur is rebuilt in the land of Mordor. Sauron needs only this Ring to cover all the lands in a second darkness. He is seeking it- seeking it. All his thought is bent on it. The Rings yearns above all else to return to the hand of its master. They are one- the Ring and the Dark Lord. Frodo, he must never find it.

Frodo: (grabbing the Ring off of the table and walking into the hallway) All right. We put it away. We keep it hidden. We never speak of it again. No one knows it's here, do they? (realization slowly creeps over him as he turns around to look at Gandalf) Do they, Gandalf?

Gandalf: There is one other who knew that Bilbo had the Ring. I looked everywhere for the creature Gollum, but the enemy found him first. (voiceover- shows Gollum between orcs, raising his hands and screaming) I don't know how long they tortured him. But amidst the endless screams and inane babble, they discerned two words.