Black rain sifts over torches as the Dead Marshes exhale in the dark. Here, we find Frodo, trembling as spectral corpse lights sway, anchored only by Samwise Gamgee, the gardener who refuses to quit. Their guide is a war unto himself; Smeagol’s gentle promise hardens into Gollum’s covert vow to deliver his master to a spider in the shadows. This internal conflict mirrors the splintered state of...
