The Mines of Moria Challenge

Mines of Moria Virtual Challenge follows The Fellowship as they brave the Dwarven city, now overrun by Orcs and even darker things. Trying to protect The Fellowship, Gandalf falls to his apparent death, locked in combat with a Balrog demon.

Will you brave the darkness of Mines of Moria for 40mi (64km) and continue the journey towards Mordor?.

[Gasps and heavy breathing echo in the darkness.]

Gandalf: "We now have but one choice."

[Light appears from Gandalf's staff, showing the startled and frightened faces of the Fellowship.]

Gandalf: "We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than Orcs, in the deep places of the world. Quietly now. It's a four-day journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed.

[Time passes. The Fellowship enters a great cavern.]

[Gandalf rests his hand upon a rock with a dark, silver veins running through it.] "The wealth of Moria was not in gold… or jewels…" [The wizard tilts his staff down towards a pit.] "…but Mithril."

[The lights illuminates the Fellowship's faces. A vast rock wall drops into the depths below. Row upon row of ladders and scaffolding, old and disused, disappear into the mining shafts below. Merry leans forward slightly to look closer. Pippin puts a warning hand in front of him.]

[Frodo stares down until the light fades.]

Gandalf: "Bilbo had a shirt of Mithril rings that Thorin gave him."

Gimli: "Oh, that was a kingly gift."

Gandalf: "Yes! I never told him, but its worth was greater than the value of the Shire."

[Frodo looks surprised.]

[The Fellowship climbs another flight of stairs to a crossroads in the mine: three doorways loom before them. Gandalf glances from one to the other and back.]

Gandalf: "I have no memory of this place."

[The Fellowship rests. Aragorn sits beside Boromir.]

Aragorn: "Hmm."

Pippin: "Are we lost?"

Merry: "No."

Pippin: "I think we are."

Sam: "Shh! Gandalf's thinking."

Pippin: "Merry?"

Merry: "What?"

Pippin: "I'm hungry."

[Frodo looks down into the cavern and sees a small figure leaping from stone to stone. Startled, he walks over to where Gandalf is sitting.]

Frodo: "There's something down there!"

Gandalf (without surprise): "It's Gollum."

Frodo: "Gollum?"

Gandalf: "He's been following us for three days."

Frodo: "He escaped the dungeons of Barad-Dûr!"

Gandalf: "Escaped? Or was set loose? And now the Ring had drawn him here. He will never be rid of his need for it. He hates and loves the Ring, as he hates and loves himself."

[Dark and dirty fingers clasp a stone implement. From the distance below, Gollum looks up, his large eyes piercing the darkness.]

Gandalf: "Sméagol's life is a sad story. Yes, Sméagol he was once called. Before the Ring found him… before it drove him mad."

Frodo: "It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance!"

Gandalf: [glancing sharply at Frodo] "Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death, and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo?"

[Frodo looks down, silently.]

Gandalf: "Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise can not see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill…"

[Gollum pulls back into the darkness, wrinkling his nose.]

Gollum: "Gollum."

Gandalf: "…before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many."

[Frodo sits down next to Gandalf.]

Frodo: "I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened."

Gandalf: "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought." [looks towards one of the doorways] "Oh! It's that way."

Merry: "He's remembered!"

[The Fellowship starts down a dark stairway. Gandalf puts on his hat.]

Gandalf: "No, but the air doesn't smell so foul down here." [The wizard rests a hand on Merry's shoulder.] "If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose."

[The Fellowship comes to a more open space. Broken columns lie tumbled across the floor. Gandalf lifts his staff.]

Gandalf: "Let me risk a little more light."

[His staff illuminates a giant stone hall with tall pillars and arched ceilings. Gimli gasps.]

Gandalf: "Behold: the great realm and Dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf."

Sam: "Now there's an eye opener and no mistake."

[The Fellowship walks forward through the hall, peering around a column. Gimli sees a ray of sunlight shining through a chamber.]

Gimli: "Haugh!"

Gandalf: "Gimli!"

[Gimli runs into the chamber. Bodies and weapons scattered about it. The Dwarf stops and kneels by a crypt in the center of the room. A shaft of light illuminates it. Gandalf walks forward and peers at the tomb's surface.]

Gimli: "No! No!" [sob] "No!" [sob]

[Boromir places his hand on Gimli's shoulder.]

Gandalf: [translating the runes on the tomb] "'Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria.' He is dead then. It's as I feared."

Gimli: [wails]

[Gandalf gives his staff and hat to Pippin, bends down, and takes a large and battered book from a corpse's hands. He opens it and clears the dirt from its pages.]

Gimli: [chanting softly, sobbing] "Kilmin malur ni zaram kalil ra narag. Kheled-zâram… Balin tazlifi."

Legolas: [to Aragorn] "We must move on, we cannot linger!"

Gandalf: [reading] "'They have taken the bridge… and the second hall.'"

[Gimli stops sobbing, and looks up blankly.]

Gandalf: "'We have barred the gates… but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes.'"

[Pippin, still holding hat and staff, backs away.]

Gandalf: "'Drums… drums… in the deep.'"

[He looks up slowly, and turns the smudged, bloodstained page. The Fellowship begins to glance around uncomfortably.]

Gandalf: "'We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark.'"

[Pippin stumbles back and sees a corpse with an arrow in its chest, sitting by a stone well. He turns towards it.]

Gandalf: "'We cannot get out…'" [He glances at the last, single line, a scrawl fading out at the bottom of the page. Gandalf looks up in the uncomfortable silence.] "'They are coming!'"

[The Fellowship runs out the chamber into a hall of pillars. The Fellowship is closely pursued by an army of Orcs. Other Orcs spring out from the floor or crawl, like spiders, from the ceiling and down the pillars. They surround the Fellowship, who have drawn their weapons outward in a circle. The Orcs snarl and leer. Gimli lets out a yell. A fiery light appears at the end of a hall followed by a thunderous rumble. The Orcs flee in all directions. Gimli laughs, thinking he has scared off the Orcs. The Fellowship are left alone. The weary wizard stares down the hall.]

Boromir: "What is this new devilry?"

[Gandalf does not respond for a moment. He closes his eyes, concentrating. The rumble is heard again. Gandalf opens his eyes.]

Gandalf: "A Balrog — a demon of the ancient world."

[The thing growls, still hidden around a corner of the vast hall, throwing fiery light on the pillars. Legolas's eyes show fear.]

Gandalf: "This foe is beyond any of you… Run!"

[Around a great pillar in a fiery hall comes Gandalf, leading the Fellowship. A wall of flame whirls behind them.]

Gandalf: "Over the bridge! Fly!"

[The Fellowship flees. Gandalf does not follow, but turns, looking into the wall of fire. A great form of black shadow leaps through the flames, its eyes of white fire, great ash-black horns curling around a bull-like head. It opens its maw, rippling heat pouring out with a rumble. Gandalf turns, running after the Fellowship. A great, black, cloven foot stomps down into the hall, bursting into flame. A narrow bridge of stone appears in the fiery light, and the Fellowship crosses the bridge. Gandalf turns to face the Balrog.]

Gandalf: "You cannot pass!"

Frodo: "Gandalf!"

Gandalf: "I am the servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. The dark fire will not avail you! Flame of Udûn!"

[The Balrog strikes down on Gandalf, who parries the blow with his blade, shattering the Balrog's sword. Glowing embers run off the circle of light around the wizard. The monster bellows at the wizard. Frodo gasps. Aragorn runs forward.]

Gandalf: [clenching his teeth] "Go back to the Shadow!"

[The Balrog steps onto the bridge. It brandishes a flaming whip.]

[Gandalf raises his sword and staff together into the air.]

Gandalf: "You — shall not — pass!"

[Gandalf drives his staff into the bridge, causing a bright flash of blue light to appear. Flaring its nostrils, the Balrog steps forward onto the bridge. The bridge collapses from under it as it moves towards Gandalf, and breaks before the wizard's staff. The demon plunges backward into the chasm, still wielding its glowing whip. Gandalf, exhausted, leans on his staff and watches the Balrog fall. He turns to follow the others. The flaming whip lashes up from the depths of the abyss and winds about Gandalf's ankle, dragging him over the edge. He clings onto the bridge but strains to keep his grip. Frodo rushes forward but Boromir restrains him.]

Boromir: "No, no!"

Frodo: "Gandalf!"

[The wizard grasps the bridge, looking into Frodo's eyes. He stops struggling.]

Gandalf: "Fly, you fools!"

[The Fellowship exits Moria. Boromir tries to restrain Gimli as the Dwarf vents out his rage and sorrow.]

[Merry consoles Pippin, who lies crying.]

[Legolas wears a look of shock and disbelief; the immortal elf's eyes show puzzlement.]

[Sam sits on the ground, bows his head onto his hands, and begins to weep.]

[Aragorn wipes his sword clean, sheathes it, and turns to the others.]

Aragorn: "Legolas, get them up."

Boromir: "Give them a moment, for pity's sake!"

Aragorn: "By nightfall these hills will be swarming with Orcs! We must reach the woods of Lothlórien. Come, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, get them up. On your feet Sam. Frodo? Frodo!"

[Frodo stands alone upon the hillside. Weeping silently, he turns towards Aragorn, a single tear running down his chin.]