The Foundations of Stone

The Foundations of Stone
Scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Scene number	1
Duration	4:06
Event	Gandalf falls with the Balrog under Moria
Characters	Gandalf, Balrog, Frodo, Sam
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The Foundations of Stone is the first scene of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (extended edition).

Snyopsis

The film begins with an aerial view of the Misty Mountains. We then see a recap of Gandalf's confrontation with the Balrog in the scene The Bridge of Khazad-dûm from The Fellowship of the Ring. Gandalf tells the Balrog it cannot pass, then breaks the bridge, sending it falling into the abyss. However, as it falls, it swings its whip upwards and pulls Gandalf over the edge.

Gandalf and the Balrog fall together, fighting, into a seemingly bottomless chasm, until finally they plunge into water. At that moment, the scene switches to Frodo and Sam in the Emyn Muil, where Frodo jerks awake, calling Gandalf's name. Reassuring Sam that nothing is wrong, just a dream, Frodo lies down again.

Differences

The confrontation at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm follows the account in the chapter The Bridge of Khazad-dûm from The Fellowship of the Ring fairly closely. Gandalf's fall into the abyss with the Balrog reflects the beginning of Gandalf's account in the chapter The White Rider from The Two Towers: "Long I fell, and he fell with me. His fire was about me. I was burned. Then we plunged into the deep water and all was dark." The main deviation from the source material is presenting this fall separately from the Battle of the Peak, which will be shown later.

Frodo does not dream about Gandalf's fight with the Balrog in the book. However, in The Fellowship of the Ring, he has what appears to be a visionary dream about Gandalf's imprisonment in Orthanc.