Book 2 Chapter 5

The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

 * The Company searches the room for more clues to Balin's fate.
 * Gandalf finds a chronicle of Balin's expedition, but it's tattered and difficult to make out.
 * It definitely contains the nasty news that Balin, Óin, and Ori died in battle in the mines.
 * Worst of all are the last words of Ori: " We cannot get out. We cannot get out. The end comes drums, drums in the deep; they are coming (2.5.11).
 * Once Gandalf has finished his reading, they hear a loud booming noise echoing through the Mines.
 * It is the drums in the deep: the Enemy is coming.
 * Gandalf insists that they not block the eastern door – they cannot risk getting trapped like Ori and his friends.
 * Coming toward the Company, Gandalf sees huge numbers of Orcs, including some Uruks from Mordor, and at least one cave troll.
 * Boromir tries to barricade the door shut, but it opens slowly under the force of a "great, flat, toeless foot" (2.5.31).
 * To everyone's surprise, Frodo leaps forward and stabs the foot.
 * It jerks back, and Boromir gets the door shut.
 * Still, the Orcs outside break it down, and the battle begins.
 * A "huge Orc-chieftain, almost man-high" (2.5.38) stabs at Frodo with a spear that leaves him pinned to the wall.
 * Aragorn picks Frodo up and they run for the eastern door.
 * Frodo tells Aragorn to put him down; he can walk. Aragorn is stunned: he thought Frodo was dead.
 * They find a dark passage where they crouch in wait for Gandalf.
 * Gandalf stays behind to guard the door; they can hear him muttering something.
 * Soon, Gandalf rejoins them to say that he has done all he can, but he has met his match.
 * They have to run as fast as they can, seven flights of stairs down into the Mines.
 * Gandalf thinks they have reached the level of the Gates. Now, they must head east.
 * Still confused, Gandalf asks how Frodo survived the spear stabbing.
 * Frodo says he's fine – just bruised.
 * They press on.
 * But Gandalf notices something wrong: there is a mysterious glow ahead, and it's not daylight. It's fire.
 * Fortunately for the Company, they are on the right side of the fire: they are facing the way out, and the Orcs trying to kill them are on the other side of whatever is burning.
 * They reach a narrow bridge across a fifty-foot-wide chasm. They begin to cross.
 * Legolas turns back to fire his arrows at the Orcs when he sees something that frightens him: a Balrog.
 * Gandalf sends the Company ahead and stands in the middle of the Bridge of Khazad-dûm to face the Balrog.
 * He breaks the bridge with a sheet of flame, sending the Balrog into a deep pit, but the Balrog catches Gandalf's foot with his whip and Gandalf falls, too.
 * His last words are: "Fly, you fools!" (2.5.95). And just like that, he's gone. He falls into the abyss and it not seen again (for a time).
 * Aragorn shouts, "I will lead you now! [...] We must obey his last command" (2.5.96).
 * The Company follows Aragorn in a daze. They emerge under the sky, looking out over Dimrill Dale. It is 1:00 in the afternoon, and the sun is high.
 * The drum-beats fade and the Company falls into grief.