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Mirkwood is a scary place, and you’ll get just a fraction of how dangerous it can be in Chapter Eight ofThe Lord Of The Rings: Gollum. Traveling with Mell, you’ll need to solve several puzzles and make your way through the trees to reach the site of Gwendil’s magic ritual.
Related:The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum - Chapter Seven Walkthrough
Chapter Eight ends with a deduction puzzle where the clues aren’t always directly laid out for you. This guide has the solution to that puzzle and all the challenges leading up to it as you make your escape from the Elf-King’s halls!
How To Reach The Bell Tower
Start the chapter byfollowing the path forwarduntil Mell asks you to find some lairel. Keep going as the trailwinds around to the right, and you’ll see a climbable tree with purple flowerson your left.
Climb the vines clockwise around the trunk until you can lift yourself up onto the branches, then jumpforward and upto the upper part of the tree and retrieve the lairel. Climb back down and give it to Mell.
Smeagol and Gollum will argue over whether to eat the lariel as Mell asks. However, the text on the choices is incorrect;Gollum wants to take the medicine, whileSmeagol wants to refuse it.
Continue down the path andwait for Mell to create a bridge over the river.Beyond, enter the caves and walk straight through. At the other end,lead Mell up the hillto the Bell Tower.
How To Gather Food For Mell
Examine the paintings inside, then start climbing byjumping to the platform above the image of the Eye of Sauron.Jump across to the broken platform in the center of the room andrun up the wallthat you find there. Grab the ledge at the top andjump backward.
From there,jump across to the small ledge on the opposite wall.Climb up and collect the egg, then go back andcrawl through the tunnelto the right of where the egg was.
At the end of the branch, use a running jump to make it to the ledge opposite. Follow the path,picking the large mushroom on the rightshortly after the drop. Continue forward andenter the cave to the right;at the back, you’ll be able toclimb up and retrieve a snail.
Return to the main path anduse the swing barto reach the trees; climb through the branches to find a caterpillar, then keep going to find yourself back at the base of the hill. Return to Mell and give her the food you’ve collected.
Related:The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum - Chapter Five Walkthrough
How To Escape The Purple Wisps
After the cutscene,flee through the top of the towerusing the same route as before. When the path is blocked by one of the purple wisps,throw a stone at a nearby bellto make it vanish. Make your way through the trees back to the bottom of the hill,timing your jumpsso as not to hit any of the wisps.
Hitting a wisp will cause it to disappear, but willdrain half your health.
Climb back up the hill,ringing the bells to drive away wisps as you do so.There will be food to collect on the way up, so that you can replenish any health you lose. When the path is blocked by a pair of stationary wisps,look to the right. A third wisp is blocking a swing bar that leads into the trees;throw a rock at the bell beyond itthen start climbing.
When you make it to the first branch, take arunning jump to the leftand grab the trunk there. Jump to the ledge above andclimb to the right.Carefully drop onto the branch and use it to get back to the hill. A trio of wisps ahead will slowly move back and forth;sprint through the middlewhen there is an opening and climb the wall beyond them.
Next, a narrow path is blocked by a wisp;follow it and wait for it to move slightly upward,then run underneath it. You’ll find more trees to climb; the third branch up is tricky to land on since it’s rounded, but you need to use it to reach the climbing wall beyond it.
Stay near the top of the wall as you climb to the left to avoid the wisp. At the end,jump backward, then down to Mell.In the next area,follow the path to the large treeand talk to Mell once she arrives.
How To Solve The Ritual Stone Puzzle
Use heightened senses to follow the path highlighted in blue. First,check the treefor a broken staff, then follow the blue path to a runestone at the eleven o’clock position around the tree (if noon is directly behind Mell). You’ll need toidentify which elf stood at which stonefor the spell.
Behind Mell and to her right.
Behind Mell and to her left.
Directly behind Mell.
You’ll hear whispers when you approach one of the elves' belongings.
Once you’ve found the correct pattern,follow Mell into the purple mist.Gollum and Smeagol will argue over whether to eliminate Mell now that she’s served her purpose; afterward,walk straight through the mistuntil you trigger another cutscene and end the chapter.
Next:The History Of The Elves In The Lord Of The Rings
