“From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak, I fought him, the Balrog of Morgoth. Until finally, we cast down my enemy and destroyed his ruin upon the mountainside. Darkness took me, and I was far from thought and time. The stars wheeled above me and every day was as long as a life on earth. But it was not the end. I felt life returning to me. I have returned... until my task is completed.”

Following their Hobbit friends, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli enter the darkness of the ancient forest of Fangorn. Dark and perilous is this old wood, a remnant of the great forest that once covered much of the wild lands east of the mountains. As the gnarled trees that loom overhead begin to creak ominously, the three hunters are warned of the presence of a mysterious, hulking figure.

“The White Wizard approaches,” warns Legolas, and waiting for their enemy Saruman to appear, the trio draws sword, axe, and arrow, only to be repelled by a blinding magic. Quickly overwhelmed, the friends' thoughts turn to the worst, and in desperation and fear, they demand their foe to reveal himself.

But the end did not come this day, as the bright light fades and the gray cloak falls away, before them stands not a fallen Wizard, but a friend from beyond the boundaries of the mortal world; Gandalf has returned. “I am Gandalf the White, and I return to you now at the turn of the tide.”