Part 3/8:

On March 1st, 3019, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum commence their treacherous journey into the Dead Marshes. As night descends, they encounter a bewildering spectacle of ghostly lights hovering above the pools. Frodo's reaction is one of confusion and fascination as he begins to see palely illuminated faces beneath the water’s surface—“faces of the dead,” he notes, both noble and grotesque, once belonging to men, elves, and orcs.

This haunting vision is evoked by Frodo’s description of seeing “many fallen noble and sad faces” interspersed with decay—an unsettling reminder of the battles that had taken place there. Frodo’s eyes, perhaps enchanted, draw him toward these spectral figures just as Gollum warns him about the deceptive nature of these lights, referring to them as “lights of the dead.”