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  • How To Reach The Bell Tower
  • How To Gather Food For Mell
  • How To Escape The Purple Wisps
  • How To Solve The Ritual Stone Puzzle

Mirkwood is a scary place, and you'll get just a fraction of how dangerous it can be in Chapter Eight of The 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 by following the path forward until Mell asks you to find some lairel. Keep going as the trail winds around to the right, and you'll see a climbable tree with purple flowers on your left.

Climb the vines clockwise around the trunk until you can lift yourself up onto the branches, then jump forward and up to 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, while Smeagol wants to refuse it.

Continue down the path and wait 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 hill to the Bell Tower.

How To Gather Food For Mell

Examine the paintings inside, then start climbing by jumping to the platform above the image of the Eye of Sauron. Jump across to the broken platform in the center of the room and run up the wall that you find there. Grab the ledge at the top and jump backward.

From there, jump across to the small ledge on the opposite wall. Climb up and collect the egg, then go back and crawl through the tunnel to 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 right shortly after the drop. Continue forward and enter the cave to the right; at the back, you'll be able to climb up and retrieve a snail.

Return to the main path and use the swing bar to 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 tower using the same route as before. When the path is blocked by one of the purple wisps, throw a stone at a nearby bell to make it vanish. Make your way through the trees back to the bottom of the hill, timing your jumps so as not to hit any of the wisps.

Hitting a wisp will cause it to disappear, but will drain 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 it then start climbing.

When you make it to the first branch, take a running jump to the left and grab the trunk there. Jump to the ledge above and climb 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 middle when 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 tree and 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 tree for 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 to identify which elf stood at which stone for the spell.

Elf

Trait

Investigation Steps

Stone

Eristor

Staff

  • Inspect the broken staff behind Mell

Behind Mell and to her right.

Dondopher

Knife

  • First, inspect the blood on the shore of the northwestern pond.
  • Follow the trail to the knife blade.
  • Dive into the pond and find the hilt at the bottom.

Directly in front of Mell.

Turien

Barefoot

  • Check near the stone bridge south of the ritual circle to find Turien's Boots.
  • Look in the middle of the small pond to the east to find two petrified elves.
  • Follow the trail across the stepping-stones to find Turien's footprints.

Directly to Mell's left.

Priann

Feathers

  • From the petrified elves, follow the trail to the right.
  • Mell will mention that only one of the she-elves didn't wear feathers, and you already know where Turien was standing.
  • The stone that the feathers lead to must therefore be Priann's

Behind Mell and to her left.

Celon

Bow

  • Check under the arch at the rear of the area to find a group of arrows.
  • Climb the tree overhanging to north edge of the large pond, where you found the knife hilt to find the bow.
  • Follow the trail from the bow to Celon's stone.

Directly to Mell's right.

Cethil

Braids

  • With all the other elves accounted for, there is only one stone remaining, so it must be Cethil's

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 mist until you trigger another cutscene and end the chapter.

Next: The History Of The Elves In The Lord Of The Rings