The Life of Middle Earth

The Life of Middle Earth
By Marcus De Iulio

                          Differences and Similarities:

Through out my life of watching the Lord of the Rings as well as reading the books, I have noticed and wondered about the differences and similarities of the movies from the book. After a week of reading the books and watching the movies straight after again, and asking the director of the wonderful movies, Peter Jackson, about it, I finally found the most important differences and similarities from the books too the movies.

The Fellowship of the Ring:

·      In the prologue, Elrond is shown leading Isildur into the fiery mountain, Mount Doom, and bidding him throw the Ring into the Cracks of Doom. In the book, Elrond and the Elf-lord Círdan standing with Isildur beside their dead counseled him to take the Ring into the mountain and throw it into the Cracks of Doom near at hand, but Isildur refused and took the Ring instead as wergild for the death of his father.

·      In the movie, the mischief of Merry and Pippin in launching Gandalf's best rocket was a fabrication of the screenplay. This did not occur in the book.

·      In the book it was Glorfindel not Arwen who came to rescue Strider and the hobbits from the Nazgul.

·       The uruk Lurtz who mortally wounds Boromir and is killed by Aragorn does not exist in the book.

·    When the Fellowship was at the Gates of Moria, Merry and Pippin threw rocks in to the water and Aragorn stopped them. In the books, Boromir threw rocks and Frodo stopped him.

The Two Towers:

·      When questioned by Faramir in the book, Frodo said, "I told you no lies, and of the truth all I could." In the movie, Frodo lied to Faramir when he was asked about "the gangrel creature" that had been seen with them.

·       In the movie, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum were brought to Osgiliath on the western shore of Anduin, which they could only reach by openly crossing the river exposing them all, and especially the Ring, to capture. In the book, the hobbits and Gollum were sent on their way from Henneth Annun and were not taken to Osgiliath. After the events at Osgiliath in the screenplay, the three were shown the tunnel, which did not exist in the book, and allowed to take their journey. (In the book, a bridge joined the two parts of the city and there was no mention of a tunnel).

·       The outcome of the Entmoot in the book was that the Ents chose to go to war, but in the movie, they chose not to. They were later manipulated by Pippin into doing so anyway.

·       The screenplay has Théoden sending his people to Helm's Deep for refuge even though that is exactly where he expects the battle to be fought. In the book, he sends them to the equal safety of Dunharrow.

The Return of the King:

·      One of the most unaccountable changes in the story made by the screenplay is Frodo casting Sam away after Sam offers to carry the One Ring once they had reached the top of the Stairs of Cirith Ungol. This did not happen in the book. Frodo and Sam remained together and did not part until Frodo was taken into the Tower of Cirith Ungol.

·      In the movie, the conversation between Eowyn and the Witch King on the Fields of Pelennor is significantly changed from the book's version. The version in the book is one of the best examples of Tolkien's dialogue and many fans were disappointed to see it cut so dramatically.

·      In the movie, Merry fights at the battle at the Black Gates, whereas in the book, he is at the Houses of Healing, recovering from the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

·       In the book, Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth comes to aid Minas Tirith during its siege. In the movie, there was no Dol Amroth force.

And to my conclusion is that there are many differences and similarities between the movie and books, for better or worse.