Journey to the Cross-Roads - The next morning, Faramir, Frodo, and Sam join in a farewell breakfast. He gives them some advice and some gifts, including food for their journey and walking sticks. Then he has his Men lead Frodo, Sam, and Gollum—all blindfolded—away to continue on their quest.

The three journey for several days, once more walking by night and hiding by day. Gollum begins disappearing for hours at a time, and Sam becomes even more suspicious of and irritated by him. One day, as they are resting, Gollum suddenly tells them they must "go at once." He leads them to a crossroad, at which they must take the path leading to Cirith Ungol.

The Forbidden Pool - In the middle of the night, Faramir wakes Frodo up and takes him to look at a pool of water nearby. There seems to be some sort of creature catching fish in the pool. The creature is Gollum who followed them all this way, drawn by the Ring, unable to leave Frodo because of it. Faramir's Men are ready to shoot Gollum with arrows, but Frodo asks them not to, telling them the creature is his guide. With Frodo's help, they capture Gollum.

Faramir questions Gollum about where he intends to lead Frodo and Sam. When he finds out that Gollum's planned path is a pass called Cirith Ungol, he is disturbed. He later tells Frodo that going to Cirith Ungol is a bad idea, because the pass has an evil reputation and will take them very close to the city of Minas Morgul, which used to be Minas Ithil—a city of Gondor. Now, however, it is the home of the Nazgûl. Frodo feels that because he can't abandon the quest, and this is the only option that has presented itself, he must try it.

The Window on the West - Faramir returns from battle and questions Frodo more, especially about Isildur's Bane. Frodo tells him that Isildur's Bane, if it belongs to anyone, belongs to Aragornas the heir of Elendil. This seems to be significant news to Faramir.

Then Faramir asks Frodo if he considers Boromir a friend, and would be sad to find out he was dead. Frodo says he would be sad, but then realizes Faramir is telling him Boromir is dead. Faramir says Boromir was his brother, and he believes him to be dead because of a strange dream he had in which the corpse of Boromir floated down the river in a strange boat. In addition, he'd heard the horn of Boromir sounding several days before, and the pieces of it had washed up on the bank of the Entwash River. Frodo realizes all of this must have happened just after he left the Fellowship.

Faramir, having curtailed his curiosity about Isildur's Bane so as not to speak more of it in front of his Men, takes Frodo aside and presses him for more information. He reveals he and Boromir are of the line of Stewards of Gondor—leaders who rule the land in the absence of a king. Boromir, for all his virtues, was ambitious, and may have resented that Aragorn might claim the kingship. Faramir, however, tells them he does not share this ambition.

Frodo and Sam are led to the place where Faramir's Men live. They must go blindfolded, because it is the law that any outsider who knows the way must be killed. But Gollum sneaks behind, following them.

Later, after dinner, Faramir, Frodo, and Sam again discuss matters, and Sam accidentally divulges that Isildur's Bane is the One Ring, and that Boromir had tried to take it by force. Frodo and Sam, afraid Faramir might try to take the Ring as well, get ready to defend themselves. But Faramir "show[s] his quality" by refusing to take the Ring, and by pledging to help Frodo and Sam in any way he can. Frodo is relieved.

Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit - As they get nearer to the River Anduin, the hobbits feel a little better as the landscape becomes greener and a little less oppressive. Even Gollum seems to feel less fearful, and when Sam asks him to hunt some rabbits, he complies. When Gollum finds out Sam intends to cook the rabbits into a stew with some herbs and roots, though, he is horrified. Not only does the thought of cooked meat disgust him, but the idea of a fire frightens him. He tells Sam it will alert any spies in the area to their presence. Sam is dismissive, cooks the rabbit stew, and he and Frodo enjoy a hot meal.

But as Sam is cleaning up, he sees the fire is actually giving off some smoke, and rushes back to put it out. He's too late, however: They have been spotted by a group of Men, led by a Man named Faramir. The Men do not know what to do with the hobbits, and they can't seem to find Gollum who has gone off to hide. Frodo, worried the Men might kill Gollum if they do find him, asks them not to hurt him.

Faramir questions Frodo, who tells of leaving Rivendell with the Fellowship, and reveals that Aragorn is the bearer of the "sword that was broken" from the prophetic dream of Boromir. When the conversation gets around to "Isildur's Bane"—the Ring—however, Frodo is reluctant to tell any more.

Leaving guards to watch Frodo and Sam, Faramir and his army go off to battle some Southrons who have been recruited by Sauron and are passing through Gondor on their way to join him.

The Black Gate is Closed - Frodo, Sam, and Gollum arrive at the Black Gate of Mordor, the main entrance to Mordor, which is heavily guarded. They sit and try to figure out how to get through, and then Frodo decides to just march straight for it, thinking this is his only option. Gollum stops him, saying it is crazy to go toward the Black Gate—they'll certainly be caught and the Ring taken. Gollum suggests going by a different way, a secret way.

Suddenly, the Black Gate opens and a large number of soldiers pass into Mordor—Men who have come to help Sauron wage war.

Gollum continues to try to convince Frodo to follow him to this secret pass. He notes Sauron's attention is focused on the Black Gate, so he won't notice a couple of hobbits sneaking in a back way. Frodo wonders if the secret way is guarded, and Gollum hesitates a little. Although he claims he escaped that way from Mordor, it is clear he was allowed to escape. And although neither hobbit fully trusts Gollum, they decide going along with his plan is their only real option.

The Passage of the Marshes - Walking by night, and hiding by day, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum brave the Dead Marshes. Frodo and Sam are able to eat the lembas provided by the Elves, but this food causes Gollum to choke, so he finds his own food, to the disgust of Sam. They must pick their way carefully through the marshes, avoiding the little lights that seem to flicker like lit candles. Frodo falls, and must be rescued from a pool of muddy water. When he is helped up, he describes seeing faces of corpses. Gollum tells them there was once a great battle here, in which Orcs, Men, and Elves fought, and the graves are now covered in the marsh.

At several points, a dark, winged shape flies overhead, inspiring terror in Gollum. After the marshes, they emerge into a dead landscape, and Frodo and Sam get some much-needed sleep. Sam, half awake, overhears Gollum having a conversation with himself, as if the Gollum part of him, ruined by desire for the Ring, disagrees with the Sméagol side, who retains some of his pre-Ring personality. The Sméagol side doesn't want to violate the oath to help Frodo, but the Gollum side answers, "She might help. She might, yes." Sam isn't sure what this means, but he definitely trusts Gollum less and less as time goes on.

The Taming of Sméagol - While Aragorn and Company have been chasing Orcs and fighting Saruman's army, Frodo and Sam have been making their way toward Mordor. They come to a cliff and must use a rope to scale down it. As they do so, they see Gollum is still following them, and Sam decides to ambush him. Sam and Gollum wrestle, but Gollum is surprisingly strong, so Frodo intervenes, threatening Gollum with Sting.

In Sam's opinion, they should tie Gollum up and leave him to die. But Frodo doesn't think this would be right.

Suddenly, Gollum makes an escape attempt, but Frodo and Sam capture him and tie him up with the Elven rope. However, the rope seems to hurt Gollum, and he begs them to take it off. They do, but not before they exact an oath from Gollum to help them get to Mordor.

They head off toward the Dead Marshes with Gollum (also called Sméagol) acting as guide.

The Palantír - Later that night, Pippin becomes restless, thinking about the round object he had briefly held. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he sneaks the object away from Gandalf, and looks into it. But as he does, a fiery glow emanates from the ball, and suddenly Pippin collapses with a cry. Gandalf wakes and begins to question Pippin, asking what he saw and what happened. Pippin reports he saw towers and nine winged creatures, and a voice asked him who he was. Pippin had answered, "a hobbit."

Gandalf is relieved after talking to Pippin, saying the hobbit had come out of the encounter without being corrupted. Gandalf then decides to give the ball to Aragorn for safekeeping, and kneels as he hands it over. Aragorn accepts this responsibility because the object is a palantír that once belonged to Elendil.

Gandalf decides Pippin will accompany him to Minas Tirith. The two ride to Gondor on Shadowfax, and Gandalf tells Pippin the palantír is one of seven seeing stones that came with the Men of Westernesse and were used in the past to communicate between different locations. Now, however, they seem to be controlled by Sauron. Gandalf deduces that Saruman was corrupted because he used the very one Pippin had his hands on. It is clear the finding of the palantír is a game-changer, with the benefit of causing Sauron to act hastily, thinking he can now easily take the Ring from the hobbit (he incorrectly assumes Pippin has the ring). However, this means war with Sauron is on its way.

The Voice of Saruman - Gandalf needs to speak to Saruman. He lets the others come along, and they go together to Orthanc. Saruman, whose voice can mesmerize, tries to win over Théoden with his beautiful voice. When this is unsuccessful, he tries to convince Gandalf to join him. Gandalf is having none of it, however, and casts Saruman out of the Council of the Wise, and breaks his staff.

As they turn to leave, Wormtongue throws a large, round object out of the window at them. Pippin picks it up, but Gandalf immediately takes it away.

Gandalf, Aragorn, Pippin, Merry, Gimli, Legolas, and those from Rohan prepare to leave for Edoras, leaving Treebeard in charge of making sure Saruman does not escape. The Ents promise to watch Saruman carefully.

Flotsam and Jetsam - Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli, and Legolas spend time with Merry and Pippin, catching up on what has been going on during their separation. They also seem to have grown a few inches—something Legolas attributes to drinking the waters of the Ents. Among the other goodies, the hobbits have also found some Longbottom Leaf, which is produced in the Shire.

Aragorn gives the hobbits the things of theirs he picked up along the way, and the hobbits fill the other three in on what has happened since they were captured by the Orcs. They explain the Ents "roused" themselves and began to march on Isengard to destroy it, and the huorns followed behind. At Isengard, the Ents tore into the rock and laid waste to the place—all except for the tower of Orthanc, which is protected by some magic Ents cannot overcome. The Ents then changed the flow of the Isen to fill in all the tunnels under Saruman's stronghold, and make escape impossible. Gandalf came and spoke with Treebeard about the situation at Helm's Deep, and when he left again, the huorns silently went toward Helm's Deep to form the mysterious forest.

The hobbits also note Wormtongue did indeed make it to Isengard and is currently trapped in Orthanc with Saruman.