It is late in the day in Dol Guldur, where rain and mist envelop all in a perpetual storm, the bleakest of the bleakest places in Middle Earth, holding a dark and menacing secret, still hidden in the shadows from all who venture there. One who has sensed the evil has gone to investigate.

Gandalf:

"Foul it is. Something is hiding the truth. Daznu Anithil Thurinan “Aslunian!"

Gandalf pauses seeing a shadow move

In its dungeons an old dwarf is chained to walls in a pool of his own filth and blood. His head hangs low upon his chest. How long had he been there, he did not know. Where was he from, he could not remember. He is an unmade whole with one eye missing, a finger severed and a mind in pieces from constant beatings and torture. Half conscience, the prisoner mumbles repeated words in Dwarvish over and over again….

The Prisoner: “HEF THO SEEN DATH?” he shouts to no one. (“Have you seen it?”)

His rantings are punctuated by outbursts… “BAKURN THO THAR?” (“Where you there?) He is haunted by delusions with flashes of battles, snippets of faces, memories mired in loss… “GONE, GONE, GONE! GONE, Gone, gone… (“Zulgvarin, zulgvarin, zulgvarin, lurlom zulgvarin!”) as his voice trails off.

Gandalf: Hears a voice but can not see clearly. "Anuita Illumina" A BRIGHT LIGHT SURROUNDS HIM

The Prisoner is lost in fitful thought, but hears the footsteps approach, keeping his head bent down upon his chest. This time he will surprise the Orc guard returning to leave his garbage scraps upon the floor to watch him eat like a feral animal.

Gandalf sees a pitiful figure chained to the walls, bloodied and filthy, but a dwarf by all appearance. He approaches keeping his distance.

The Prisoner will let the guard come closer and strain hard against his chains to tear the flesh from his bones risking the beatings that follow that fade into nightmares. He lunges at the approaching figure emitting low guttural sounds, clawing against the iron constraints that have worn his wrists down to bone until what little energy he has is expended, leaving his body hanging limp on the chains once more.

Gandalf steps quickly back to avoid the reach of the deluded creature. He does not recognize the dwarf and studies him for any markings or identification, but his head is bent low on his chest.

The Prisoner raises his head as one eye scans a blurred vision in front of

him, while his brain is lost in an answer which alludes him. It then drops down on his chest, but has been raised far enough for Gandalf to make out a faded but familiar marking on his face.

Gandalf: "THRAIN! IS that you? My old friend!"

Thrain hears no words as a dark panic sweeps over him reliving the loss of what he once prized most. That’s when the dark Lord emerges from the shadows of his mind in a fearful and flaming countenance. Speaking to him in black tones and raising his sword to cut parts of him away… “AGGGHHHHHHHH! He cries out remembering the searing pain once again.

Gandalf: "THRAIN IT IS ILLUSION! " But Thrain lapses back into a mumbling state of confusion.

Gandalf: "Thrain Focus your mind." Gandalf presses his hand against Thrains head and recites a spell none will know.

Thrain shakes his head violently to and fro as the wizard tries to force an opening into his unhinged mind, until Gandalf utters an incantation so secret it sounds like the Dwarfs own rantings.

Gandalf forces Clarity into Thrains mind removing a dark veil placed there. One of great magic. How could this be?

Thrain feels a calming warmth unknown for many years begins to flow through him. Like the rays of the sun bleaching away the dark fog, bringing shapes into clearer focus. Slowly lifting his head higher, he looks hard at the stranger before him, as words of recognition begin to form…

“G….G….Gand……alf? Gandalf? GANDALF!

Followed by tears, before random images burst forward in a rapid string of thoughts, one running into the other… “MY FATHER!....THE BATTLE....OUR PEOPLE!"

Gandalf: "Yes Thrain, it is Gandalf, Remember and look only at the light." He pauses... feeling a foul feeling. "How are you here in Dol Guldur?"

Thrain feels a wave of relief cross his face and tries his best to tell Gandalf of his lost years....The journey from the battlefield....wounded and wandering blinded by grief and blood from a missing eye....His capture by Sauron’s forces...And taking the Last Ring Of Power…

“He cut it from my hand Gandalf! But now I am free!”

Gandalf: "The ring? Gandalf looks at his hand...

And sees the missing finger.

"The pale orc? He took the ring?" This is concerning to Gandalf.

Thrain: "No the Necromancer sliced it from my hand, once captured."

HIs head bobs up and down trying to remember his most important secret, and pulls Gandalf close…. “I NEVER TOLD HIM!” whispers Thrain. “ITS STILL SAFE!”

Gandalf Looks at him strangely not sure what he means. Perhaps the ring was not lost.

Thrain: “The KEY Gandalf, the KEY to the back door to Erebor, and the MAP to find it! You must take it!”

Gandalf: "The key, the map? You have it? Where?"

Thrain carefully guides Gandalf to where they lay hidden…

“Count the stones. Turn and walk three stones in front of me, then turn left and walk to the Wall, On the first row of stones, look for the one with warn edges. Move it down. Behind is the hidden map and key!”

Gandalf walks the stones and looks for the stone Thrain described

Gandalf: " I have found it Thrain. The map and the Key to EREBOR!"

Thrain: "Yes then you must hurry and take the map and key, if he finds us here, you too will be imprisoned." Thrain Shakes his head, “I cannot leave. HE will never allow it. These chains are unbreakable and my tomb is sealed with the darkest of magic!”

Gandalf: "You must try or it will consume you again! These chains are an Illusion friend. Iluminar shauni n- lelya-!!!!" Gandalf breaks the chains and keeps light in the area, their are illusions here and they can warp the mind. "Something is not right here."

Thrain: Slowly the chains begin to disappear, leaving Thrain in the same position held now by invisible cuffs. When he realizes there is nothing holding him to the wall, he falls forward then slowly stands.

But the joy of freedom is only for a moment.

Gandalf: "Thrain look at the light - I feel shadow coming!"

Thrain: : “NOW LEAVE MY FRIEND! There is

great danger here! GO, GO! Before HE finds you! HE will kill you! Let him kill me! I can die willingly now! But you must LIVE and take it (the map and key) TAKE

IT and GO…TAKE IT TO….TO…MY SON!

The one and true King Under The Mountain!”

Gandalf: : "THRAIN COME!"

Thrain sees the wall before then begin to crumble, and a portal open, revealing the shadowy figure of a foe Gandalf once thought long vanquished. Thrain feels pulled towards the dark void.

Gandalf: "It can not be "THRAIN RUN!!!!!"

Thrain tries to reach for Gandalf's hand but is being raised into the air beyond his control…

“Thank you my dear friend, now LEAVE. LEAVE AT ONCE! Before HE imprisons YOU, and we loose this chance to reclaim Erebor!” As THRAIN pleads with Gandalf to depart, he yells “TELL THORIN…..TELL HIM… I LOVE HIM!” and is then pulled into the void.

Gandalf: "THRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

GANDALF FLEES FROM DOL GULDUR, FEARING HIS FRIEND IS LOST.

VOID VIDEO

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THRAIN TATTOO

I would like to think it was Thrain’s signature facial tattoo (seen in extended editions of the Hobbit) that allowed Gandalf to recognized him. Although it appears as a stylized image of the Lonely Mountain, it's fun to imagine it coming in a vision to Thrain as prophetic mark foretelling the fate of Durin's Folk: