![]() When he wakes, Sam hears an argument between the two sides of Gollum.Plus, to be fair, he and Frodo are thirsty and totally tuckered out. Sam feels sick at the sight of this sickly, ruined land.Somehow, it's even worse than the Dead Marshes: "Even to the Mere of Dead Faces some haggard phantom of green spring would come but here neither spring nor summer would ever come again" (4.2.86). They struggle on for two more days and nights in the dreary waste of Noman-lands.When the sun rises, the hobbits see how close they are to the mountains of Mordor. Poor Frodo is also growing more and more affected by the Ring.After that, Sam notices that Gollum keeps looking at Frodo strangely, and that he keeps returning to his old (creepy) mode of speaking.Not good! Gollum is sure that they are visible in the light of the moon, and makes them stay still for quite a long time after the dark shape has passed overhead.That's when they see it: a great dark shape comes flying over the Dead Marshes.Finally, they reach the end of the marshes, but there's no time for celebration because Gollum suddenly pulls them down and refuses to move.Over the ages, the marshes have crept over the land and swallowed their graves, so that you can only see the dead and never touch them.Apparently, there was a great battle here between orcs, elves, and men, which raged for months. Frodo has got the goods: They are, "Many faces proud and fair, and weeds in their silver hair.Sam looks down and sees dead faces in the water he wants to know who or what they are.Frodo, meanwhile, keeps lagging behind.Sam notices bright lights appearing over the marshes, and Gollum shares this lovely tidbit: those lights are the "Candles of corpses, yes, yes" (4.2.56).It's super dreary and cold, and then, as they enter the middle of the marshes, it gets really dark: "the air itself seemed black and heavy to breathe" (4.2.54).Unfortunately, this is the only way into Mordor that is not "hard cold roads to the very gates of His country" (4.2.45).The hobbits have to rely totally on Gollum, because they have absolutely no clue about how to get through the marsh safely.They continue on to a land filled with reeking marsh and bog.He's chewing something-what, Sam does not even want to know.Sure enough, Gollum does come back, smeared with mud.Discovering that Gollum has disappeared, he tells Sam not to worry. Despite his best intentions, Sam dozes off.Sam wants to sit up and watch Gollum while Frodo sleeps, but Frodo thinks that's a waste, and tells Sam to do what he wants. ![]()
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