47. The Pyre of Denethor
[Denethor pours oil over himself and a rousing Faramir.]
Denethor: "Set a fire in our flesh!"
[Soldiers, with lit torches, approach Denethor.]
[Gandalf bursts through the mausoleum door.]
Gandalf: "Stay this madness!"
[The guards stop, but Denethor grabs a torch.]
Denethor: "You may triumph in the field of battle for a day, but against the power that has risen in the east, there is no victory."
[Denethor tosses the torch on the pyre. As the fire lights, Gandalf takes up a spear and charges Denethor, knocking him off the pyre.]
[Pippin leaps from Shadowfax onto the pyre and rolls Faramir down off it.]
[A burning Denethor rises and attacks Pippin.]
Denethor: "No! You will not take my son from me!"
[Shadowfax knocks Denethor onto the burning pyre.]
[Faramir opens his eyes and looks at his father.]
Denethor: "Faramir… my son. Ah!"
[Engulfed in flames, Denethor runs out of the mausoleum.]
Gandalf: "So passes Denethor, son of Ecthelion."
[Denethor falls from the edge of Minas Tirith.]
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