#but that whole bit in osgiliath WHY.. WHY

[norr106]

Okay I need to preface that I love the movies but what the fuck is happening with denethor's family in the two towers why are they all done so dirty

Yall were right about Faramir oh my god what did they do to him 😭

[trothplighted]

re your 'why did Snape change' post where you talked about Alan Rickman's casting, could you share any more thoughts about how you see the movies impacting the later books in terms of things Jo (might have) changed?

Sure! I don’t have many of them, but sure!

I want to start by saying that, just very bluntly, the movies aren’t good adaptations of the source material. Not even slightly, not even a little bit. They aren’t even good as movies - compare something like 2007’s Stardust, or How to Train Your Dragon, to the HP films, especially post-PoA. Both Stardust and HTTYD are very different from the books they’re based on (the first being close enough to be recognizable as an adaptation with a few substantial changes made to make the script more exciting and movie-shaped, and the second being essentially a completely original idea that’s borrowed place and character names and bare concept from a preexisting story) while still being entertaining and satisfying in their own right, and you don’t have to have read the original books to have a good experience with the movie. In fact, in both cases, familiarity with the book might hurt your feelings on the adaptations, since they’re generally regarded as good or at least fun films and they have very different priorities than the things they’re based on.

This was, and is, because movies that are based on books tend to be movies first and foremost and primarily intended for audiences who aren’t familiar with the source material. Even really stellar adaptations like Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) have substantial changes to the plot made specifically to prioritize the viewing experience of Average Joe, who’s never read Tolkien and probably never will. These tend to be highly polarizing among book fans and liked or at least tolerated by everybody else - examples include Faramir kidnapping Frodo and Sam and taking them to Osgiliath, replacing a minor-IN-THIS-BOOK-DON’T-@-ME fan-favorite character named Glorfindel with Arwen in Frodo’s escape from the Ringwraiths, Gollum tricking Frodo into sending Sam away, and the complete restructuring of all of the Rohan plot in the second installment. The whole point is that audiences who never read the books will go and see the movies, and so there’s usually some kind of commitment to making a story at the very least coherent and complete on its own without having to reference what’s going on in a book or a Wikipedia article every five seconds.

The Harry Potter movies were… very different. They were different because for the first time in essentially forever, audiences going to see a movie adaptation of a popular book were more likely to have read the book than not. Big blockbuster books of the past like Gone with the Wind (blech) and Ben-Hur and to a lesser extent Valley of the Dolls (yes, really, some of this book’s successes were only beaten out by the Bible and the Quran and later by Harry Potter) were smash hits that everyone was reading, but they were single installments without a lasting decade-long cultural movement and they were still outshone in the public consciousness by their film adaptations. A lot of people hadn’t read the books these movies were based on and went to see the movie as a replacement for reading. Most people seeking out these movies now aren’t doing it for love of their source material, they’re doing it because of the reputation the films gained as sweeping epics or cultural touchstones or the equivalent of watching two incompetent clown train engineers fail to successfully cause a wreck.

Why am I talking about this on a post about the HP films? Because the HP films weren’t intended, after - I’d say - the first two installments, to be movies that you could watch as a non-fan and follow and enjoy. The HP films from 2003 onward were made first and foremost for fans of the books, who already knew the story backwards and forwards and didn’t have to have any of the connective tissue around important scenes. Key plot-critical details are ignored or omitted (the identities of the Marauders are never disclosed onscreen, for one thing) and important events are changed only to be immediately dropped in the next movie (BCJR is alive at the end of film!GoF, but never plays a part in any of the events of film!OotP) and a lot of little pointless changes are made all the time (sex-segregated Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, Apparition being a visible spell you can follow, Ron being actively incompetent while Hermione is a perfect supergenius).

This is relevant to the question of Rowling’s involvement and inspiration for two reasons.

First, her personal involvement with development peaked in the late 90s/early 2000s. She went from helping write the flashback of Voldemort’s attack on Godric’s Hollow and being able to insist that all the actors in the films be British to maybe putting a good word in for Evanna Lynch to play Luna, and then once the books were finished she seems to have entered into a more honorary role, one where she was rubber-stamping the films and showed up occasionally but didn’t really do much else. Her decrease in involvement corresponds with the amount of fidelity to the source material, too - I heard unverified reports that from ~2004-2006, a lot of her contributions to script development were essentially “you cannot cut that it is going to be important later”, and then of course quite a lot of it was cut anyway. That had to be personally frustrating for her, so if she withdrew largely for her own peace of mind I can’t say I blame her.

Second and perhaps more important is the fact that there just wasn’t really enough time for her to get seriously inspired by the films past a certain point. Snape had the privilege of being well cast and a character who was only going to become more important when he was cast, and that much is obvious even from PS-CoS; everybody else wasn’t really in that position. Even Albus stays about as important as ever from book to book. By 2007, her work was done, completely, and the movies were just over the halfway point, and the final four films (OotP-DH2) are incoherent to the point of being literally impossible to watch without having read the books.

That being said I do think there were a few places that she might have drawn inspiration and that’s primarily fancasting/wishcasting. She was in a unique position - she had a decent chance of being able to get whoever she wanted to play the roles she was writing. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if she wrote Umbridge while imagining Imelda Staunton, or Bellatrix while imagining Helena Bonham-Carter, or Slughorn while imagining Jim Broadbent. I think a lot of the post-GoF characters probably formed around her conception of who would play them, which is why we have so many cases of “were you grown in a lab to embody this role” (though their book versions, as always, are more substantial).

I also do think there were a pair of pretty drastic pivots she made in plot and character structure, regarding Sirius first and then Lupin and Tonks second, but I think that’s something she did in response to fans and fan culture rather than external pressures around the adaptations. But that’s kind of another post, whoops…

[borom1r]

take whatever boromir hc or experience you would like (one you rlly love) and just. gush abt it!! I don't know a whole lot but I do know you love him ;v; (ily and I hope you feel at least a bit better soon 💖💖 lmk if there's anything I can do!!)

heurgh thank u dude life just keeps happening so much all the time + im. Fed Up — ily2 tho fr this means a lot;;;;

uuuuuuuuuuuummmm immmm very partial to just. Boromir Is A Good Big Brother. fundamentally, he Cares. he cares so so much. I love him??? I love how much he loves. He wears a ranger’s vambraces, archer’s vambraces bc he loves his baby brother and he’s carrying a piece of Faramir into unfamiliar territory. + obviously there’s his relationship w/ Merry and Pippin and his “give them a moment, for pity’s sake!” line but also the fact that he’s the one to restrain Gimli from running back into the mines, who’s comforting Gimli. + his “don’t carry the weight of the dead” line to Frodo. and just. ARGH im gnawing on things abt Sean Bean’s acting in the Osgiliath flashback.

the bowed head as he steels himself to face Denethor, “the victory belongs to Faramir also” + the encouraging little nod, the disbelieving shake of his head at Denethor’s “I know his uses and they are few” ITS SO!!!!!!!!!! like he is absolutely playing a part. Boromir, Golden Son of Gondor is absolutely an act put on for his father’s sake. and i just. dude I feel so normal abt the fact Boromir rocks up to Rivendell in EXTRAVAGANT clothing for a nation constantly at war, neighboring the source of all fucking evil. he has silver stars on his gambeson, a garment nobody will EVER fucking see!!!! all this finery and he’s wearing vambraces his baby brother 110% gave him. and he’s using the under-layer which he has No Reason to use bc he’s not an archer (except sentimentality. bc that’s the way Faramir wears HIS, bc he IS an archer.)

the very core of him is caring and I get so. skfhshhfhd I’ve blocked two ppl in the boromir tag for being like “I don’t like him” ok for one worstie why the fuck are you posting this IN HIS TAG then????? and for two what do you MEANNNNNNNN you don’t like him????????? “he’s morally grey” “he’s a villain” did we READ the same BOOKS?????? watch the same films??????? he’s a MAN. he’s a man who loves SO MUCH that this ring, which is so evil literally fucking everybody with even an ounce of power + real understanding is scared to touch it, can ONLY corrupt his love and even then only for a moment. he is a TRAGIC character because he is a good man!!! and even good men when driven to extremes of desperation can do things they regret. external influence and evil magic bullshit or not Boromir was at his breaking point mentally and saw one path forward and regretted it instantly!!!!! I can’t stand Boromir slander I will key your fucking car over Boromir slander.

also this is silly but I was talking w a beloved friend abt how everyone gets their autism from their dad. and Faramir absolutely got his autism from Boromir. undiagnosed KING we stan a legend who managed to fly completely under the radar for Weird but can talk at length for hours about obscure battles and legendary warriors if u get him started. also he has to leave the room if he smells eggs cooking and he makes his bed/packs his bedroll Perfectly every morning so his routine always Starts The Same, but that’s fine :) that’s just Boromir for ya :)

Faramir bemoaning the fact he got all the verbal + sensory issues meanwhile Boromir got Encyclopedic Knowledge Of Obscure Military Facts and Stubborn About Routine (“I MUST blow my horn every time I leave on a quest bc I REFUSE to set out like a thief in the night. now we can sneak around tho!” <- he is so fucking silly I love him)

[loopy777]

Eh i wouldn't say that Tolkien is necessarily against technological advancement.

Plenty of his characters are defined by their virtue being their drive to better themselves and make their craft better. Feanor was regarded as the greatest craftsman of all time, and his marvels are always portrayed as wondrous things that should be appreciated.

Similarly, tolkien portrays the loss of marvels such as Gondolin, Khazad-Dum, Osgiliath(all defined by techological and economic progress for their age), as a great and terrible loss to the world.

If tolkien was truly against techonology, he would not have Gloin talk sadly of how the Dwarves never really managed to reach the level of metal crafting that they had before Smaug came, nor would he have had Gloin talk so so happilu about the advancement in construction and canals.

And lets not forget that time and again he portray fortresses(and highly advanced ones at that) as very good things.

No what i think tolkien hated so much was industry, greed, and losing sight of why surplus and economic wealth is a good thing(namely the way it makes peoples lives better).

Tolkien hated how industry would destroy the nature he so loved, and how in turn it was fueled by greed, another thing he absolutely hated.

I think the best way to determine Tolkien's thoughts on the matters is to compare the best and worst of each.

Tolkien did not hate wealth in and out of itself, if he did, he would not have his protagonists be the baggins family, who were wealthy even before the hobbit. However, With Bilbo we see someone who is rich, but doesnt sit on his wealth, doesnt refuse to interact sith his "lessers", and probably most importantly, did not dream of getting more, and more, and more wealth.

Bilbo was satisfied with what he had, and that is the anthethisis to greed.

Compare that to the posterboy for greedy boys, Smaug.

Smaug took his fortune from others who had earned it fair and square through their own hard work. He sits on his gold and loves and lusts for it for no other reason that he has it. He does not use it for anything, he does not interact with anyone, and when he does interact with the outside world, he brings nothing but suffering to other people.

He is Tolkien's ultimate take on everything wrong with greed.

Similarily, we can compare his takes on industry and see which he portrays as good and bad.

Tolkien portrays techonological developments at their best, when they are related to the rise of great and magnificent, rich cities such as Minas Tirith post sauron, the lonely mountain, Dale, Khazad-Dum, Every single elf city in the setting. Or when they are used for wonders such as the Palantiri, statues, canals and so on.

Meanwhile, he portrays it at its worst when used in industrial manners, such as with the empire of Saruman, which deliberately destroys massive forests, spitefully destroys what is naturally beautiful, or Morgoth, who used his incredibly knowledge and resources at the end of his age to invent tanks and bred forth terrible monsters, when he could have used that creativity and capacity to make wonders.

Similarily, his servant Sauron was basically Morgoth light, only replacing the deliberate hatred for the beautiful with a much more mechanical, calous, industrious, and imperial desire for conquest.

There is a massive contrast here, and it's a bit more complicated than simply saying Tolkien hated technological development.

Tolkien loved wonders. He regarded Humanity's ability to create(stories above everything else) great an amazing things as humanity's only real way of reaching the heights from before the first sin. He also loved surpluses and the joys of life, such as food and drink enough for everyone.

However, he also understood perfectly well how easily great things could corrupted to something perverse. He was after all a man who was proud of his country, who signed up ww1 willingly, and with great enthusiasm, only to later describe the whole endeavor as "we were all Orcs in the great war."

There's also the way that he portrays the march forward as inevitable, and overall a good thing... But also with sadness and bittersweet melancholy.

Every age of his legendarium ended eith some grand change, and overall they were all for the better, but there was always magnificently sad about it.

The age of the lamps, the Tolkien equivelant of the primordial age of dinosaurs was cut short almost immediately, and whatever plans there would have been for it was crushed... But it lead to the age of stars, which was the Elves golden age, where for thousands of years the children of the stars would rule the world, free from morgoth.

The first age ended in a cataclysmic destruction of Beleriand, and the destruction of so many lives and lands... But it also dealt with Morgoth for good and all(at least until ragnarok), and ushered in a new age for Numenor, and the rest of the world...

The second age ended with the numenorians squandering their great gifts, and destroying the world of old, sinking their island into the sea, and bending the world into a ball... But it also lead to the creation of new continents, took out Sauron for a long, long time, and gave everyone time to breathe and recover...

The third age ended sauron, and ushered in another era of peace and recovery under a resurgent Gondor... But also ended the age of magic for good, and just like Numenor, we know Gondor would eventually fall too, setting the stage for the Bronze age that would follow... that would in turn fall, and be replaced by a new age afterwards, and so on.

Time and advancements move forward, wheter we like it or not.

Fair point, along with some good quotes I'd never seen before. However, I'm not sure I agree with your examples of 'technology' which Tolkien admired. Or perhaps he was idealizing the process of invention so much that it basically becomes divorced from actual technology. And for all his admiration of Gondor and the Dwarf cities and the like, there's an implication in there that they achieved those heights by losing something, making their end inevitable. I think Tolkien unabashedly admires the Shire above everything else in the setting, and I think he considers the greatest tragedy not to be the passing of the ages, but Frodo having to give up the Shire in order to save it. It's one of the few places or things to be actively restored in the story, which I think shows a special affection above what he had for the others.

But my reading might be wrong. I am admittedly approaching LotR form the perspective of a Computer Scientist who would be miserable in anything but the Information Age, so that's probably coloring my interpretation. XD

I will grant that my earlier statement was an oversimplification, though.

[lovely-v]

LOTR (films) Review

So I finally watched the LOTR films (20 years later). I’m super excited to review these because I read the books very recently so I feel at least a little prepared to voice some opinions. Overall I loved the films, here’s a very long (but by no means exhaustive) compilation of my thoughts, which are of course, totally subjective:

(Warning: a lot of me saying “well, actually, in the book...”)

THINGS I LIKED

- Casting! not much to say here, I thought the casting was great. One of my favorite actors that I didn’t think i’d have a huge opinion on was David Wenham as Faramir. I was kinda ambivalent on him when I saw pictures but i thought he did a great job. he showed his quality.

- Music. so much has been said about the films on the music front. I can’t offer too much original insight but when a bit of the Shire theme started to play as Frodo tries to make his way up Mount Doom I cried a little.

- Boromir and Aragorn. I liked the scene where they interact a little in Rivendell. I also like how Aragorn saves Boromir in the Moria battle and gives him this little nod of friendship. I think the films did a great job portraying the dynamic they have where Aragorn is clearly suspicious of Boromir’s motivations but grows to respect him to the point where he doesn’t even blame Boromir for being corrupted by the ring because he understands that, at heart, Boromir is a good person. 

- Sam and Frodo in Osgiliath. I expected to be kind of annoyed with the way this plot point played out (I knew ahead of time that it strayed from the book), but I actually liked it a lot. As I’ll say later, there’s some gripes I have with the way the films extremely play up the disagreements between Frodo and Sam, but I loved the scene where Frodo pulls the sword on Sam and then seems so defeated when he realizes what he’s done. I was pleasantly surprised by how emotional this scene made me. It’s admittedly A Lot, but it was done nicely, especially in conjunction with Sam’s “there’s good in this world” speech.

- Treatment of the ending. I almost think I should dislike the ending as it is in the movies, but my heart is soft and I like that they sugarcoated it a bit. I know the whole point of the Scouring of the Shire and Frodo’s depression conveys a lot about war and trauma and I think that is important, but after watching these things for twelve hours I just wanted Frodo & co. to be happy and I was kinda relieved that they cut the Scouring. Does that make me weak and perhaps bad at film analysis? yes. do I care? no. I was also very glad that the movies didn’t portray how depressed Sam was about losing Frodo in the end. Yes, he cries, but when he walks home to his family he seems happy and in the books that scene came off so much bleaker. I definitely liked the lighter tone.

THINGS I WAS NEUTRAL ON/DIDN’T LIKE

- Arwen. (Neutral) I don’t hate her, I don’t love her. I think the story she and Aragorn have is compelling and I 100% get why the filmmakers decided to add it to give her character more depth, but it felt misplaced at times. maybe it’s just because it was the only storyline I didn’t know in depth, but the scenes with the Arwen/Aragorn flashbacks felt a bit confusing and disorienting. Don’t have anything against Arwen as a character though, I think she’s pretty alright.

- Gimli. (Complicated thoughts) I want to start off by saying I don’t dislike Gimli. I like him a lot! I just think the movies did him a bit dirty. He had some good movie-exclusive moments, but I think his character really fell into this place of being the butt of too many jokes. Would have liked to see some more serious Gimli development, especially with his relationship to Legolas. Their friendship felt too much like subtext here, whereas it’s explored far more in the books.

- Two Towers Pacing. (Didn’t really like). The pacing of TTT was...weird. maybe I’m going into this with a closed mind because of the books, but it was odd to have the movie begin with Frodo and Sam and then have them only appear for a few rapid scenes after that. I think the fact that a WHOLE LOT of what happens to Frodo and Sam in TTT is moved to RotK is what makes it feel that way? In the books, Two Towers ends with Sam discovering that Frodo isn’t dead from Shelob’s sting, and I was surprised by how long it took the movies to get to that part. However, I will give the films a little leeway because I think they needed Frodo & Sam content for RotK, since most of what happens in that book is them walking through Mordor basically starving and dying. Doesn’t make for great cinema I guess, so they had to put the whole Shelob/Cirith Ungol saga into the final film. Still, I think there’s a weird lack of Frodo and Sam’s presence in TTT.

- The go home/missing bread arc. (Full of rage abt this one) yeah. so. my criticism of this is gonna sound pretty tired because people complain and complain about this part of RotK. but I’m gonna complain some more!! I don’t think the split between Frodo and Sam does anything for the plot. I really don’t. I guess it emphasizes the fact that Sam doesn’t understand how much Frodo is projecting onto Gollum, but it’s just. unnecessary angst? They had enough angst in the Osgiliath scene! Which I actually liked! And it simply doesn’t make a lot of sense for Frodo to suspect Sam of eating the bread when Sam had already offered Frodo his own food and made it clear that he would very much starve if it meant making sure Frodo could eat. But what I hate most about this scene is not that Frodo gets mad and tells Sam to go home. No. It’s that Sam actually... thinks about doing that? he actually? goes down the staircase? emotionally this is bad because Sam clearly cared enough about Frodo to follow him this far, to nearly drown for him, so why would he leave now. Practically this is bad because 1. how would Sam get out of Mordor alone and 2. where would he go. He turns around almost immediately, yes, but what was his plan. where was he going. why.

THINGS I LOVED

- For Frodo! This line, and every other shoutout to Frodo. In the books, they didn’t really actively talk about/worry about Frodo (and Sam) as much as they do in the movies. I like that they talk about Frodo more in the movies! I like that they’re thinking about him! I know it was implied that they were in the books, but I really like how it’s shown here. I think it gave a more complete picture of how much they all care about him on a personal level in addition to just needing him to succeed from a pragmatic standpoint. 

- Merry and Pippin! I feel like Merry and Pippin were so well rounded in the films. I’ve heard criticism about them being turned into comic relief characters (which they always were a little bit) but it honestly didn’t feel that way to me. They had a bit of a rough start because the films didn’t make their motives for going with Frodo as deep as the books did, but I think that by TTT they were absolutely amazing characters in every scene. In RotK their respective arcs hit really well and the scene where Pippin is singing to Denethor? *chef’s kiss* poetic. beautiful. sad. idk man I just feel like I have such a newfound appreciation for Merry and Pippin.

- Parallels! people have pointed out the parallel of Frodo and Sam’s hands before (drowning scene/mount doom scene) and I love how the movie did that. Just stunning. Also! The moving of the Smeagol & Deagol scene to RotK surprised me because in the books it was like,,,at the beginning of Fellowship, but I think the placement of it in the movies really helped emphasize the similarities between Smeagol & Deagol and Frodo & Sam (and how much Frodo fears this similarity.) There were a lot of other well done parallels between storylines and a few bits of dialogue that were repeated with great timing, but I can’t remember all of them at the moment.  

Edit: here’s one I remembered! when Frodo wakes up after being rescued and sees Gandalf, he says Gandalf’s name in a very similar tone to the one he used at the very beginning of Fellowship. It was a nice little subtle connection.

- I can’t carry it for you...alright this is self-indulgent. everyone knows I love this line. I’m just so glad it made it into the movie intact. Sean Astin’s delivery was amazing. I cheered. My mom cheered. It’s a raw line and it makes me feel secret emotions...like if shrimp colors were feelings. that line makes me feel shrimp feelings. idk i’m so tired i just watched twelve hours of movies this review is decreasing in quality by the minute but i’m about done for now anyway

Various silly afterthoughts

- I would have liked to see Sam kiss Frodo’s hands at least once. This happens 50 thousand times in the books, they could have given me one scene. one little extended edition scene. Please Peter Jackson I’m dyin’ out here

- They literally made Gollum so hateable. kinda the point yes, but I was so on board with Sam’s murderous rage. I know why Gollum’s a profoundly complex character, I know why Frodo pities him, I know why murder is bad, but I too would throw hands with that creature. also he literally body shamed Sam so much what was that skdjksdjksd. Sam is lovely. let him commit a small homicide. 

- the scene where merry and pippin drink the tall boy juice (as someone once referred to it in the tags of one of my posts)... not accurate to the books (since they don’t ever drink it with the end goal of getting tall) but so accurate to life. if I found some water that made me taller than my friends? let me at it

- Frodo panicking when he falls into the spider webs. so real bestie. i felt just as panicked watching that. i am terrified of spiders and Elijah Wood did an amazing job doing exactly what i’d do in the situation. yelping a lot and falling down.

- I feel like it’s never stated that Sam’s a gardener (or at least that he’s specifically Frodo’s gardener) until he tells Faramir he is. Did I miss this. Or do they really never say.  are you just meant to know. are you just meant to pick up gardener vibes from him.

*

This has been a very chaotic lotr movie review. Thanks for reading.

[alliterative-albatross]

My dear, your reblog about Boromir death just broke my heart a little bit more 😭 gotta watch Lotr again !

Let me sink the arrows a little deeper. 

Boromir, son of Denethor was a whole-ass man.

Often Boromir is compared to his father in contrast to Faramir, but he’s actually described as being like Denethor in “face and pride, but little else.” That right there tells you a lot about his character. 

He grew up on Sauron’s back porch, at the end of the decline of Gondor, with a younger brother who idolized him and a father who was slowly spiraling into severe mental illness. As the oldest son of the steward, Boromir has a lot to live up to and not much to work with.

Gondor had been circling the drain for 1000 years. Not only was there the looming threat of Sauron - obviously significant - but there’s the decline of the men of the west to consider, too. Since the fall of Numenor, each generation of men had grown successively weaker, their lifespans and wisdom diminished. Add to that the rise of Mordor: the corruption of Minas Ithil (Minas Morgul), the orcs running around killing people, the fall of Rohan and the treason of Orthanc, plus the back-and-forth taking and retaking of Osgiliath... well, Boromir is a man with a lot to worry about.

Then there’s the personal problems. A dead mom and an ailing, asshole father. A sweet little brother to protect (remember that Faramir really cared nothing for battles and weapons, so of course Boromir, being the Big Brother/Badass Warrior that he was, would worry over him). A city on the edge of ruin, a people on the edge of war they cannot hope to fight, an army of actual monsters living at your doorstep. Boromir’s entire world is literally falling apart at the seams. This is a man who is utterly without hope, a man with the weight of the entire world on his shoulders.

Talk about pressure, am I right?

So, let’s hit on Osgiliath a little bit. It’s not made clear in the films, but Osgiliath is actually the capital city of Gondor. It’s also a major tactical stronghold - he who controls Osgiliath controls passage across the river Anduin. As Captain of the White Tower, Boromir spent pretty much his entire adult life defending this city from constant attack - at one point, he and Faramir held the west side, and Mordor held the east side, and they battled for the bridge in the middle. Like, for months, I think (you may want to fact check my timelines on this, though, because I am too lazy). I’m pretty sure he and Faramir eventually just said “fuck it” and collapsed the bridge behind them (if we can’t have it then you can’t either, Sauron, please go suck a giant cock) and ended up swimming to safety with maybe just a couple of other dudes? Not many. 

So. Boromir the Protector. Boromir the Warrior. 

Now, Boromir the Captain. His soldiers loved him - they looked for him daily when he was gone. He was a good leader and a good man. He was missed, and he was mourned. Even Eomer mentions him fondly, saying that he was a lot like a man of Rohan. High praise, if you ask me.

Now, let’s talk about Boromir the Big Brother.

It is made clear time and time again, in both the books and the films, that even though Boromir may not have understood Faramir, he loved him. Boromir is described as his brother’s defender and protector. He defends Faramir physically in battle man times, and also emotionally, from Denethor the Dickhead.

In the books, Boromir and Faramir both dream of Imlardis and Isildur’s Bane, but it’s Boromir who volunteers to take the journey to Rivendell, solely to protect his brother from the dangerous journey.

And it is dangerous. At one point, he loses his horse crossing a ford - which means he lost most of his supplies, too. He had to walk to Rivendell with the clothes on his back. It took him nearly four months. 

Now, I kind of think this is a huge sacrifice. I mean, Boromir who cared nothing for lore or culture, volunteering to leave his men and take on a journey to Rivendell to see some elves about a dream? It smacks of desperation, sure, which Boromir obviously felt in spades. But also, I think displays that no-hold-barred, sacrificial kind of love that he held for Faramir. Boromir would do literally anything to keep his baby bro safe. 

Boromir’s relationship with the hobbits is special, too. One of my favorite moments in The Fellowship of the Ring is Boromir teaching Merry and Pippin to spar, which is why I chose the gif up top. Just, all of the Feels, am I right? 

This isn’t the only time Boromir acts in the interests of the hobbits, though. Upon crossing Caradhras, it was Boromir who was wise enough to suggest the Fellowship carry firewood with them. This foresight single-handedly saved the lives of the hobbits; they would have frozen otherwise. The next day, Boromir and Aragorn carried them down the mountain. 

So, Boromir was a good guy. He was brave, noble, kind, wise in his own way. He had a good head for strategy, and he could kick some serious ass on a battlefield (I didn’t talk too much about that one because I thought it was kind of obvious).

Now, to address the elephant in the room (or, the ring around the halfling’s neck? too much?) 

Remember that the One Ring preys on our vulnerabilities. I think film!Gandalf said it most succinctly: “I would use this ring for the desire to do good, but through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.”

Boromir’s greatest desire is to protect what he loves - his brother, his men, and more broadly, his city and its legacy. Tactically, his argument to return to Minas Tirith and strike out from a position of strength is a sound one: rest up, make a plan, defeat Sauron at the front door, restore Gondor to her former glory. It makes sense. Remember that this is a man who has made a study of military history - he’s not an idiot by any means. But the Ring corrupted this noble desire until all Boromir could think about was this driving need to get the Ring to Gondor. 

Boromir’s story, more than absolutely anybody’s - yeah, even Smeagol’s - illustrates the dangers of the One Ring. The corruption of Boromir wasn’t inevitable, it was unthinkable. This was a good and noble man. He was a badass warrior, a friend, a brother. Boromir’s death proves that nobody is above the power of the Ring. His loss is a fucking tragedy, both to the Fellowship and to his people. 

tl;dr: Boromir is one of my very favorite characters in all of the Tolkien pantheon, he doesn’t get near enough credit, and I mourn his passing just like those White Tower bros. 

[morwensteelsheen]

WIP wednesday thoughts:

willow cabin is utterly fucked because i changed my intended ~moral~ halfway through and now im stuck trying to integrate this shitty political intrigue plot into what should’ve been a more interesting story about éowyn adapting to life in gondor. hugely fucking annoyed by it and just totally unsure how to proceed. i could significantly increase the chapter count, but im worried that because the initial framing device was this bandits shit that closing out that plot and then still going for ages afterwards would be really shitty? i honestly don’t know, it’s so difficult. really i just need someone to read my outline and tell me if im being a dumb twat about it lol

meanwhile I know exactly where I want to go with AFTA but for some unaccountable reason im stressed that my ass is gonna get roasted for the direction i want to take it in. it’s all based in both tolkien’s personal politics and (some) historical precedent, but im worried people are gonna see it as a marysue-ification? but also im hoping to do sthg of a sequel to afta to practice the political intrigue writing so i don’t make the same mistakes i did in wc, and to do that it would require this specific set up in AFTA. im gonna put my AFTA thing under the cut so don’t click read more unless you’re gucci with potential AFTA spoilers!!

this royal affair au is definitely gonna get published at some point but im trying to decide if i want to do ~tasteful~ smut that drives a longer narrative or if im really just gonna do a whole 3,000 word build up to some run of the mill, old fashioned PWP lmao

okay so i have spent a Lot of time thinking about what impact i think éowyn and faramir would have on each other in a pre-ring war setting, and the honest to god conclusion ive come to is that they would somewhat inadvertently egg on each other’s (wildly divergent) idealism.

faramir’s an idealist politically in ways that, as Big D rightly points out, are not super productive in a wartime scenario. but so far as im concerned, the war doesn’t feel as warlike until they have to blow the bridge at osgiliath. until that point, there’s not really anything to say that faramir’s whole throwback optimism isn’t a perfectly justifiable position to have.

but what that idealism is and how it manifests are two really important considerations. the crux of his idealistic politics is that he looks at númenor and sees something valuable in it, and looks at gondor and sees a lot that he thinks is fucked up. outside of articulating a general angst towards the glory hunting, it’s not like he’s spending time talking about his specific policy prescriptions. however, we do know a few things that can guide us to a more coherent reconstruction of his politics:

he’s pretty rigidly hierarchical (when it’s convenient for him). as seen in: him basically telling sam to fuck off and stay in his lane in WOTW, and in how and when he chooses to refer to his father as ‘father’ vs ‘my lord’ or ‘lord of the city’ in the aftermath of the osgiliath retreat and then before he gets his ass sent back there. i don’t want to go into too much detail here but if i go with this i’ll definitely justify it more thoroughly in the footnotes.

so we’ve got faramir’s emphasis on hierarchy and his occasional (when convenient) belief that the upper echelons of a hierarchy are there because they’re intellectually and/or morally better. or, maybe to remove the causation from that instance, because they are in those upper echelons, they have an obligation to be more morally/intellectually upstanding, and the people in the structure below them have an obligation to show deference. unless you’re faramir and you’re dealing with denethor in which case that all goes out the window. classic.

we know there is some sort of nascent pseudo-democratic tradition of popular sovereignty in gondor. we know this because faramir asks the masses at aragorn’s coronation if they’ll accept him as king. faramir is a lot of things, but he is certainly not a progressive political radical, and i cannot imagine any situation in which he cooked up that rigmarole himself. that then implies to me that it’s building on some sort of political/cultural expectation in gondor. so: some sort of relationship to popular legitimacy. the people of gondor are subjects, but perhaps not as totally passive and unconsidered in the power structure as we might assume given the comparability to feudal europe/asia.

given those two things, i want to use AFTA to argue:

that faramir, in looking to assign blame for the faults he sees in gondor, would not directly assign blame to the lower classes, but rather to the aristocracy, because he will have seen them as failing in their moral obligations to the people they rule over. this is not to say that he isn’t fucked off about The People™ valorising war, but i think he’d take the position that they couldn’t possibly be expected to form those values and opinions of their own volition, and the fault lies in their rules. faramir: not gramscian.

faramir lacks any power that is non-military, and even that is of questionable worth because the rangers seem to be fairly distinct to the general structure of the army, and are not exactly a huge force.

faramir lacking any political power isn’t necessarily a huge concern for him (as in, he’s not actively trying to change that), because he knows he’s not going to lead a moral revolution and isn’t interested in taking up the responsibilities having political capital would engender because he’s stuck dealing with this war, that he fucking hates btw has he mentioned that he hates it?

however, given that he is apparently eminently versed in lore and scholarship, he is probably keenly aware that there is this incipient notion of popular legitimacy somewhere in gondor’s culture. it’s not, for most of his life, knowledge that actually does anything for him, but it is there.

éowyn, meanwhile, doesn’t really have many strong political convictions (yet). not because she’s a dumbass or whatever, but because she looks at court politics as kind of a farce, and doesn’t believe that power legitimately emanates from anywhere that isn’t a Big Fucking Army. and why, strictly speaking, would she not think that? the event that brought about the creation of her kingdom was not careful, soft spoken negotiation, it was her ancestors being in the right place at the right time with a Big Fucking Army.

and the internal politics of the Riddermark actually seem to be fairly stable, all things considered. i sincerely doubt that Théoden or Théodred are having to negotiate complex politicking in the way Denethor and Boromir are. so where, then, would éowyn see that kind of political behaviour outside gondor? with gríma.

éowyn, then, will see the immediate contrast between gríma (backroom dealer, manipulator extraordinaire) and théoden (owner of Big Fucking Army). and gríma goes and fucking wins that fight. that forces éowyn to confront the fact that, jesus christ, maybe there are different types of power.

at the same time, she’s going to be in minas tirith and needing to cover for théoden letting his shit get wrecked. not just because she’s prideful, which of course she is, but because if denethor/gondor think that théoden is too weak to hold up his end of the bargain, why would they ever go help the Mark? éowyn, seeing that théoden’s f-f-fucked, knows that there’s a very very good chance the Mark will need help.

against her feelings about courtly politics, she starts to accept that she’s going to need to do something to get power in gondor. not anything substantial, it’s not like she’s trying to overthrow anybody, but enough that when push comes to shove she can force denethor to help out the Mark (if he doesn’t do so willingly).

but, as ive sort of already shown in AFTA, she’s a bit of a dogshit diplomat. good for a little big-brawny-enforcer stuff, but not exactly brimming with cultural sensitivity. by the time she realises théoden + the Mark are fucked, she’ll have burnt quite a few bridges with the gondorrim nobles, and it’s not like she’s the sort of person to go running cap-in-hand begging for mercy.

so: she has to look elsewhere. and wow! a chance for faramir to do his favourite thing — talk about his opinions! and by god, his weird idealistic politics are… actually kind of helpful? because he’s like, look, you’re never gonna be a diplomat, but there are other ways of consolidating power. and one of those ways is by appealing to The People™. so why not work that angle?

and actually, we know that this is a viable route for éowyn because hama, in arguing for her to take up the mantle of théoden’s heir when théoden and éomer fuck off to helm’s deep, basically says that The People™ love her and would have willingly chosen her to lead them.

we also know, based on faramir’s middle men speech, that the people of gondor and the mark have grown alike in nature. not totally unreasonable to then think that the people of gondor would take to her like the people of the mark did.

éowyn, then, in various ways begins to try to win over the people of minas tirith. i need to do a little more research on this bc what ive got on the practicalities of that so far are a bit, uhhh, sketchy, but the least jargony way to describe this is to point to when natalie dormer’s character in GOT gets out of the carriage to go hug and kiss some babies. (marc bloch, eat your heart out)

this would later segue into a potential sequel where, while trying to secure the way for aragorn’s coronation, éowyn actually plays an interesting role because she’s fallen into this incidental Diana, People’s Princess™ role and so is better positioned than almost anyone to go advocate on his behalf. wow! cool! éowyn getting to be politically useful in more ways than just getting hitched!

so yeah. that’s how i am thinking it might play out. this would obviously have a rolling impact on the remainder of AFTA and how certain (🔥) events pan out later, but i think that building up part has to begin pretty much now, narratively. also this lets me get in a reference to “and then her heart changed, or else at last she understood it” and have it not be almost entirely about wanting to shag faramir, but actually about her gradual evolution from valorising war above all else to being like, hmm, maybe there are other ways of being powerful. which i think still largely captures the “no longer I will vie with the great riders” stuff, but more subtly and without feeling quite so… deferential, I guess? Like it’s not that she’s swapping one form of power (violence) for nothing (gardening?? healing?? tolkien accidental articulation of necropolitics??) but swapping violence for a different type of more sustainable power.

yeah. that’s the take, basically. who fucking knows.

[hopelesstvaddict]

A Case for Boromir

There is never enough praise for Boromir so here are some thoughts :

First and foremost, he’s not a villain. He was never portrayed as much. His character served as a living example of the destructive power of the Ring.

He was a good man, good-natured with plenty of qualities.

He was a skilled warrior with good experience in leadership. Among the members of the Fellowhip, he was probably the one who was the most versed in the art of commanding men, strategy and battle planning, having done it for most of his life. He would have been a formidable asset during the Battle at Helm’s Deep or at the Pelennor Fields.

He is most probably familiar with Gandalf already since Faramir says he took lessons with him when he was younger.

Boromir starts off as a very skeptical man, hesitant to trust other races for his own fate and the fate of Gondor. That’s because he was always alone in defending both Osgiliath and Minas Tirith against Mordor; they never got any help from anyone and they were left to fend for themselves essentially. That certainly takes a toll on the mind. Plus, Mordor was literally their neighbour so the Gondorians must feel a little pressured. That probably hardened him to the point of second-guessing everything and being just a tad cynical.

As a result, Boromir has learned that he can only rely on himself in life BUT at the same time, his role as a commander implies that he bears responsibility for the men he leads. See the contradiction here ? And Boromir must have lost countless men.

That’s how he knows how Frodo must feel after Gandalf’s death and why he tries to tell him not to blame himself. He has been there before. Countless times. Not to say that the others haven’t - Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli probably have lost friends too - but Boromir probably was the one who had the most experience in death and mourning because he was a leader of dozens of men. That’s also why he begs Aragorn to let the Hobbits rest and mourn right after they exit Moria. He has been there before.

His military background also makes him practical and quick thinking. After Gandalf falls, he is fast in retrieving the Hobbits and forcing them to move on - while Aragorn is still in shock - because he knows that seeing men die does not mean those who still live are safe. He only thinks of mourning once they're out of Moria when he thinks they're safe - which Aragorn points out is not the case.

Speaking of the Hobbits, he loves them so much. Merry and Pippin especially. Perhaps because he feels they’re the ones that need protecting most. And that speaks about Boromir’s character so much. He takes it upon himself to teach them basic swordfights - meaning he’s a patient man. He probably has done this before.

He would have been good with children.

He loves too much in general but he has had to learn not to show it.

And like mentioned beforehand, he was a skeptical man at first but he gradually has to change his mind and learn to respect, value and rely on the others as they are all forced to do. His mind opens gradually and he accepts that he can count on others in life.

This is perhaps Boromir's first real adventure that's completely different from the military campaigns and battles that he is familiar with. As he goes through this journey and is forced to rely on this group of strangers, he can't help but appreciate them more and more and admire them for skills and resilience he didn't think they could necessarily have.

He is an honorable man. He doesn’t like to lie and tries to speak the truth whenever possible. When Denethor sent him to the Council, he was not willing to go and it was Denethor who put the idea of using the Ring for good in his mind and to bring it to Minas Tirith. So he went to the Council and joined the Fellowship with kind of a double purpose - because if we’re being honest, he was all about protecting the city so his joining a quest he doesn’t really believe in and leaving the defense of his beloved city to ... ? “Ah baby brother will take care of it, Father will be so happy about it” - anyway, a double purpose, but he was never really ok with it. Thus why he kept suggesting going to Minas Tirith so that maybe the others would agree and then he’d feel better about it. Not the best way to cope with secrets and lies, but hey, he was only human. Headcanon that the more he travelled with the Fellowship, the more he became against the idea. Basically he struggled with this internal conflict during the whole time he traveled with them.

But the pressure from his father was too much so that’s why he could never go against his wishes. I’m not going to dwell very long on the relationship between Denethor and his sons because he loved them for sure, but the pressure he put on both was detrimental to their mental states.

He loved his brother to bits. Above anything else. Always defended him against his father and called his father out when he judged he was being too harsh.

Though his father was the prominent parental figure, Boromir didn’t take after him and grew into his own person and had the sense of loving both his father and brother even though his family was completely dysfunctional.

They lost their mother when they were very young. They had to grow up very fast and the hard way. They had no choice but becoming men before their time, no choice other than becoming strong, brave and valiant.

His whole relationship with Aragorn. He never disliked the man. At first, his initial reaction is totally understandable - I mean, when you think about it, you’ve been fighting your whole life for your city on your own, you’ve probably learned when you were younger that your role as Steward was to wait for the King to return ONE DAY but that said King has never appeared in what? Centuries? And then, a stranger is suddenly revealed to be that King ? Are you really going to say ‘Well, here are the keys to the kingdom” ? No. Of course you’d be wary of the whole situation. He needs to judge and feel the man before making a decision. His very nature called for that reaction.

But he doesn’t stick to that view. Like I said, he is not close-minded. His journey with Aragorn shows him that yes, the man is capable, a good man, a skilled warrior and a potentially great leader of men. That’s why he comes to bond with him - or at least tries to - about Gondor and the strength of men. Because he thinks that Aragorn would do well with his role. He sees this, and Aragorn, though he respects Boromir, doesn’t want/isn’t ready to assume the role he is meant to have and that frustrates Boromir because he knows what Aragorn can be. He doesn’t realize that Aragorn has been raised by Elves who are a little more on the downside when it comes to what the race of Men can still do and bring to the world. So he is honest with him and tells him in his face - “I know you’re more than up to the task but you refuse to see it yourself, wake up man”.

I think what’s potentially even more frustrating to him is that in Aragorn, Boromir probably saw a kindred spirit with whom he could share the burden of taking responsibilities in wartime. Headcanon that though Boromir was the most skilled warrior between him and Faramir, he sometimes was just like his brother and dreamed of peacetime and retiring quietly to sit back and enjoy life. Headcanon that he sometimes suffered little bouts of semi-depression when the pressure of war and the pressure from his father became too much and headcanon that with Aragorn, he thought “maybe this is someone who can understand what I’m going through and who can help me, share the pain with me and maybe ease it". Split the leadership if you will. And when Aragorn refused he felt rejected and that he was alone after all.

He feels alone - yes he has his brother - but he has lost too many men and too many friends and he has had to learn to harden himself but he feels alone.

He is blunt and a bit tactless. Not at all like his brother who handles wording a bit better than him.

He has hope for Men because as a leader of men and a captain, if you don’t have hope, that’s just not going to work so he just HAS TO cling on hope; otherwise what’s the point ? And then, of all people, the potential King throws it back in his face that no, he personally doesn’t hold any hope for the race of Men. Like OK...

And even with that, when the Fellowship breaks apart, he has already decided that Aragorn would be his captain and King. That’s not just some redeeming words uttered just for the sake of peace of mind. He really meant them and he’d probably come to that conclusion at some point before Parth Galen. Headcanon that had he lived, he would have become that annoying voice that whispered to an increasingly amused Aragorn “King”. OK maybe not.

He was burdened all of his life by having to protect his people. Because that’s what he wanted to do first and foremost, to fulfill what he felt was his duty. And because his father put immense pressure on him. All his actions stemmed from this desire to protect.

The Ring took advantage of these deep insecure feelings, the pain and the fear of having to defend Gondor alone, the pressure from his father and turned it all against him.

He still realized right after, when his madness spell was over, that he had made a grave folly and he tried to redeem himself by fighting hard for Merry and Pippin.

The man was strong as hell. Two arrows in and he still had the strength to get back up and fight some more. That’s how powerful a warrior he was. His prowess on the battlefield was a known fact among Gondorians and that extended to the Rohirrim as well, with Eomer praising him highly. Can you imagine if they had met?

[atheistj]

The thing about The Two Towers is yes, it’s slow in the beginning and somewhat in the middle. The ent stuff can be a slog (though that’s sort of the point since ents are supposed to be slow) and some of the Frodo/Sam plotline can drag a bit.

But the payoff in Two Towers is excellent. It takes a while to get there, but when you do, the movie gives you some of the best sequences the trilogy has to offer. The entirety of Helm’s Deep is one of the best battle sequences ever put to film. Gandalf’s return at the end of that is stunning. The Last March of the Ents is easily one of the best scenes in the trilogy. Sam’s speech in Osgiliath at the end is beautiful and is pretty much the message of the whole series.

So I get why people say that it’s slow, but that doesn’t make it a weak movie, because you are rewarded greatly for your patience with some of the best scenes you could ask for.

[deadmomjokes]

So I finally got to watch the Extended Edition Lord of the Rings

And I have SO MANY THOUGHTS

First of all, I had no idea how rushed the theatricals felt until I saw what the Extendeds did for pacing and development. They felt like completely different films, and looking back on the theatricals (which I love/loved) I’m surprised things made sense given what the extendeds added.

(tons more under the cut, I have Too Many Thoughts and Feelings rn)

Second, there were some things I could have lived without:

-The Entwine scene was cute, I suppose, as was the food/pipeweed-finding scene, but I felt personally that it didn’t add too much in terms of development and narrative. Sure, it shows Merry and Pippin being funloving cousins together. But it just felt a bit off in terms of pacing and feel in the surrounding scenes.

-I was ambivalent on the extra scenes inside the Paths of the Dead. The skull avalanche was just... Ok? (I enjoyed the part immediately after they got out and saw the ships, that was fine.)

-I really didn’t appreciate or enjoy the scene of the Witchking shattering Gandalf’s staff, either; I get they were trying to give Gandalf reason to doubt himself and his judgement, but really? It makes ZERO sense for the Witchking to be stronger than Gandalf the White. They don’t bring it up later at all, or say why it’s so significant, and it throws off the timing. The Witchking flies off from Gandalf because he see’s Rohan’s approach; but then it takes another 10 minutes for him to show up at the battle and get Theoden? Did he take a Starbucks break? Who could have possibly delayed him, if he was so much stronger than Gandalf? Altogether a bad scene (and makes no sense because Gandalf is a reincarnated Angel at this point so... Yeah, not happy).

-The discussion with Saruman at Isengard was great, but the utter overkill of him impaling on the wheel was just bizarre. It was almost comical, and not in a way it should have been. Also, way, WAY overkill. Too much. In a film full of death, that was excessive. I loved having the talk with him, and him dying was fine, but the spiky wheel and subsequent drowning just seemed out of place.

-I also didn’t care for the additions to the battle action scenes (not the aftermath parts, those were stunning). For the most part, they felt a bit superfluous. The one exception to that was the battle of Pelennor, and all they added with Eowyn and Merry. Those were great!

Third, and more importantly, there were TONS of scenes I adored, aka everything else. And I am SO angry they took it all out. I would give up whole battles if they had left in these scenes. I mean REALLY, who decided which ones to cut, because they clearly didn’t see the same film I did. They cut all the best parts, all the best acting, things that made everything come together, and most importantly, scenes of massively important character building. Here are some of the ones I loved most, and why I’m angry they cut them:

-The one I’m most angry about, all the Faramir scenes. They chopped the one scene that explained literally EVERYTHING he did and why. That family scene not only developed Boromir posthumously, it showed why Faramir acted like such a jerk, and why he ultimately turned. That was not at all explained in the theatricals. In the theatricals, he’s a random, shallow jerk who turns for no reason. With just the 5 minutes that scene took, he is shown to be complex and a deeply damaged child of abuse who lost the one person who believed in him. And it also explains the “A chance for Faramir, Captain of Gondor, to show is quality” line. Which was odd without context. Also, the end scene of TT where Faramir talks to the hobbits and Gollum about their next steps. Dang that was good. I’m just angry that literally every good, important Faramir scene got cut.

-All the scenes in early Fellowship they cut. The bits showing Bilbo was acting out-of-character. Frodo is worried, Gandalf is worried, Bilbo has a panic attack over the ring. All great stuff that made things make more sense (if you aren’t going into it with background knowledge).

-The scenes they cut of Boromir acting like a normal person, making his betrayal more upsetting. In the theatricals, he is reduced to an annoying, prideful jerk who is taken by the Ring from day one. With the new scenes, he is shown to be a truly complex character who is really trying to do the right thing, but is just misguided and scared. Especially the scenes of him talking with Aragorn. I love the argument they have for another reason, too, which ties in with this next one

-Just that little bit of Galadriel showing Nenya to Frodo. It shows that she knows what it’s like being a Ringbearer. So Frodo is more likely to take her advice, and think she knows what’s best. She tells him he has to be alone, and that his presence will break the Fellowship and ruin the people he cares about. And then we see that stuff happening. Frodo tries to shut himself off from the others, but he can tell Sam is hurt by it. And then he hears Aragorn and Boromir arguing and the Fellowship starting to break. That cements his decision to go alone, especially after the previously kind Boromir attacks him and is clearly under the Ring’s influence.

-All the extra scenes of Frodo. It rounds him out even more, and shows how the Ring affects him emotionally as well as physically. Also all the early scenes make Frodo into a strong, caring, perceptive character; in the theatricals, he goes from happy party boy to depressed child in 3 scenes flat. All the new extended and added scenes show a more complex person, and smooth the transition in a way that makes it feel more organic. Also it showcases some of Elijah Wood’s best acting. I’m salty at how many truly great scenes they cut.

-The scenes that show more of how Aragorn is afraid to accept his destiny. The bit with his mom’s grave was especially powerful. It’s a beautiful arc, and it’s just not utilized that well (really at all) in the theatricals.

-The scene of Frodo and Sam in Mordor. Even while the Ring is actively trying to get found, and is doing everything it can to break Frodo, Frodo still has enough presence of mind to think his way out of the situation. It just underscores how dangerous the Ring is, and how truly strong Frodo is, making it all the more shocking and upsetting and heartbreaking when he ultimately gets taken by it. A lot of scenes showed how strong, smart, and deeply emotional Frodo was, but this one in particular just clinches it for me. I’m so mad they took it out.

-Eomer finding Eowyn. DANG talk about acting. Good grief that about killed me. Eomer doesn’t get much in the way of development (not everyone can), but that was next-level, and gave a lot to him in terms of rounding. Especially after that scene where he’s talking to Eowyn about Merry, but really meaning it for her because he knows her.

The more I think about everything I just witnessed, the harder it is getting to pick out exactly which scenes were most important and impactful for me, because they really make it a completely different experience. Certain arcs and themes are more fully developed (Aragorn becoming who he was born to be, Faramir escaping the toxic cycle that ultimately killed Boromir, Pippin finding his courage, Frodo clinging to hope with Gollum as his own sanity and health start slipping, Sam’s important position as an anchor for Frodo, Eowyn clinging to Aragorn and learning to pull herself away from her past fantasies and ideas of valor, Frodo remaining as strong as humanly/hobbitly possible even far into Mordor... All the things). There were very, VERY few scenes comparatively speaking that I wasn’t angry as heck about their removal. Every single scene with the exception of the few I mentioned at the beginning was, in my opinion, necessary for the full, complete story and experience. I am shocked at how I went this long without having the whole picture. I honestly don’t plan on watching the theatricals anymore. They’re just not complete to me now that I’ve seen everything else.

Also, a few highlights from this binge watch with the husband:

-Lots of pausing at every new scene and hollering about how mad we are that it was cut.

-Too many jokes about Weed.

-Smacking each other in the leg every time an extended or added scene comes on and going “OOH, NEW!!!”

-Choking on a croissant when Frodo asked Gandalf which direction Mordor was I DIE it was so cute!

-Being personally offended that they took out Boromir’s Lorien scenes.

-Having to get up and walk away when we heard the “show his quality” line in the TT scene with Faramir and Denathor. I literally went into the kitchen to scream into a dish towel.

-“Well Frodo just basically spends the whole third movie in a state of dissociation, and this is where it starts.” -My husband’s very astute analysis when they get to Osgiliath. Have dissociated, can confirm.

-Huddled together on the couch screeching loudly at Sam’s line to Faramir about showing his quality (we had Too Many Faramir Feels, y’all).

-Gasping so hard at Sam pulling Frodo out of a #Moment where he realizes he’s probably going to die that I gave myself an asthma attack

-Staying up til midnight last night griping over and over again at how they DARED TAKE THESE SCENES OUT I know I keep saying it but I am never going to be over it

-My husband recoiling in shock and both of us scooby-doo-style-clinging to each other when Eomer screams upon finding Eowyn.

-Going full-scale football-fan cheering and hollering when Aragorn goes to face down the Palantir and taunt Sauron. Followed quickly by panicked shrieking when the necklace shatters.

-Legit gagging at the Mouth of Sauron scene. Homeboy need some Ultrabrite and about 12 gallons of Listerine. I swear I could smell it. I see why they took it out, no theater worker deserves to clean up pools of patron vomit.

-Totally lost it at “Smeagol Lied.”

-I have not cried at these films in 15 years but dang if it didn’t get me this time around hoo boy

[garden-ghoul]

return of the blog, part.... uhhhh

“that’s right, I can’t even reliably count to three. or maybe I can and it’s four I can’t reliably count to?”

That aside, something horrible is about to happen.

THE SIEGE OF GONDOR

Gandalf wakes up Pippin at “the second hour,” which is either 2am or like 9am, depending on where they’re counting from. Pippin stares at his bread butter & milk breakfast miserably and says, “Why did you bring me here?” 

“You know quite well,” said Gandalf. “To keep you out of mischief; and if you do not like being here, you can remember that you brought it on yourself.”

Dude. He’s a teen and he was cursed. Give him a break.

He has to go see Denethor, who treats him rather rudely and then says he’ll be the lord’s esquire for today. Does he know any songs? Well, um, not many that are fitting here... Pippin does not want to sing comic songs or lewd songs to the Steward of Gondor. I just can’t get over this teen thing, he is like a college freshman who got out for the summer after a socially productive semester and now he works for the president. It’s fucking ridiculous. Well, he goes and gets some fancy livery so he’ll look regal enough for Denethor, and it only makes him gloomier. I love all the descriptions of Merry and Pippin being gloomy about being treated like ornaments.

Near sunset he’s finally released from his service (both boring and arduous, though I’ll wager he’s been doing a lot of good eavesdropping) and goes to hang out with Beregond and bemoan the fact that Faramir isn’t here. Oh! How convenient! There’s Faramir’s company right there (what’s left of it), being attacked by Nazgul! LUCKILY Gandalf, who vanished a while ago, seems to have foreseen this; he chases them away with light magic. Pippin runs to the gates to see Faramir coming home, and immediately gets a crush on him. He’s so noble! So tired! Yet so approachable!

Denethor does not really think so. He finds the smallest crack in Faramir’s demeanor as he’s making his report, and verbally eviscerates him in front of the guests. Y’know, for letting the Ring go into Mordor, and also for being alive even though Denethor is the one who told Boromir to go questing. Denethor and Gandalf yell at each other for a while, it’s rather frightening. As Pippin and Gandalf are leaving (Faramir has gone off to get some sleep, thank goodness!) Gandalf says he is filled with foreboding that Sam and Frodo are going via Cirith Ungol. How would YOU have gone, Gandalf? Through the front door? Secret tunnel?

The next morning everyone is gloomy again. They WERE excited about Faramir coming back--the text sort of implies that everyone in the city is a little in love with him--

But now Faramir was gone again. ‘They give him no rest,’ some murmured. ‘The Lord drives his son too hard, and now he must do the duty of two, for himself and for the one that will not return.’ And ever men looked northward, asking: ‘Where are the Riders of Rohan?’

Restless, restless, restless. Electric air. That Good Stuff. Faramir has been sent to Osgiliath to strengthen the garrison:

‘Then farewell!’ said Faramir. ‘But if I should return, think better of me!’

‘That depends on the manner of your return,’ said Denethor.

Ouch. Why do I get the feeling that Denethor will only think better of him if he returns in a coffin? As Faramir leaves, Gandalf tells him that his father loves him. Umm okay but how does that mitigate his awful treatment of Faramir. Doesn’t that make it worse? Right now I’m thinking about how Faramir is probably going to have to fight the Witch King since he’s leading the attack on Osgiliath, and thinking about how Eowyn is the one who kills him, and just being really excited for them to meet. Weary guy who hates to fight but must; frustrated enby who is chomping at the bit to murder some dudes. Honestly doesn’t that describe ALL the best Tolkien ships. Sometimes he does ladies right and it’s so #aesthetic. Wait I think the aesthetic I’m describing is just classic Jewish gender roles. Gentle studious men and women alight with the fire of direct action. I’m gay for both of these genders.

Anyway the next day the Black Host or whatever comes through the wall of the Pelennor Fields, despite the fact that Faramir is still doing his best to hold the rearguard off in Osgiliath. Including, yep, the Witch King. Actually they never refer to him as the Witch King in these books and I’m not sure where I heard it, but it’s an amazing title. Anyway mounted sorties start going out into Pelennor, with Gandalf at Prince Whoever of Amroth at their head. Denethor at least doesn’t let them overextend themselves; he calls them in very promptly so they won’t get trapped or too tired. I get the impression that for quick strikes they have the advantage because all of Sauron’s people are on foot. Oh, except a full third of them died anyway, because Sauron’s forces MASSIVELY outnumber them. Faramir has come back dead or wounded, and EVERYONE is crying. They bring him back to Denethor, who goes up into his tower and people see a strange flashing light and he comes down even more dead-looking than his dead son. I am beginning to suspect that the reason the text has alluded so many times to how far-sighted and well-informed Denethor is, is that he has a palantir. And this is some kind of secret, maybe?

The very last companies who can make it come back in through the gates, and they report that there is no way the Rohirrim can possibly make it in to help them now. The enemy is throwing fire over the walls. They’re throwing severed heads over the walls. Nazgul are circling. Denethor is weeping by Faramir’s body. Gandalf and the prince of Amroth have taken command of the city. There’s an aside here with Gondorians whispering about how elvish the people of Dol Amroth are--the people of Nimrodel. I’m glad there’s at least one version of the story where they found each other again and settled down, even if “the coast” probably wasn’t the land Nimrodel dreamed of that had never heard of war.

Hey, let’s check in on Denethor! Oh, uh, the palantir broke his will and he’s planning to set himself on fire in his despair. That’s cool I guess. Pippin goes to fetch Gandalf, as if he couldn’t possibly have anything more important to do than save one rude old man’s life. Or no, Pippin suspects he is going to kill Faramir as well. He passes Beregond and tells him to stop anything awful from happening.

OMG SORRY I FORGOT EVERYTHING I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PAYING ATTENTION TO BECAUSE WE HAVE FINALLY CONFIRMED THAT THE BATTERING RAM GROND IS INDEED NAMED FOR MORGOTH’S HAMMER. I CAN STOP READING NOW THIS IS ALL I WANTED TO KNOW.

No no jk I will keep reading. I’m extremely pleased though. I have “Grond! Grond! Grond!” echoing in my head nonstop some days. Um anyway the Witch King is there, casting an evil spell to help Grond along, and on the third go it BURSTS the gates open!

‘You cannot enter here,’ said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. ‘Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!’

The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set.

Fuck yes.

Somewhere in the city, a cock crows, because having half of Gondor on fire in no way disrupted this chicken’s daily routine. Dawn. And with it, the horns of Rohan.

THE RIDE OF THE ROHIRRIM

The beginning of this chapter has a lot of fun sense description, since Merry is lying awake in complete darkness listening to the distant sounds of the Enemy’s hosts. Smelling the horses. All that. He thinks about how weird it is that everyone is just ignoring him because they know he’s not supposed to be here; Dernhelm seems to have some kind of “understanding” with Elfhelm, the marshal of their company. Sorry. Elfhelm? Elf? Helm? Is that a guy’s actual name? Elfhelm trips over Merry in the dark, and Merry asks What Is Up. As it turns out what is up is Woses, and what will soon be up is all the Rohirrim. I was gonna explain what Woses are but I think it’s way funnier if I don’t.

A Wose has come to offer help to Theoden, since he hates orcs as much as the next guy. Woses, he says, have “long ears and long eyes,” which isn’t especially relevant as far as I can tell but it’s delightful. The leader of the Woses, Ghan-buri-Ghan, knows a secret road! All he wants as a reward is... for the Rohirrim to stop hunting his people like beasts. What the fuck. I can’t believe Ghan-buri-Ghan actually prefers the Rohirrim to orcs. They go through the forest, and it takes all day, but the next morning before dawn they are ready to go do murders. Merry is upset again because he’s actually zero good at fighting and is just going to get himself and others killed.

The king sat upon Snowmane, motionless, gazing upon the agony of Minas Tirith, as if stricken suddenly by anguish, or by dread. He seemed to shrink down, cowed by age. Merry himself felt as if a great weight of horror and doubt had settled on him. His heart beat slowly. Time seemed poised in uncertainty. They were too late! Too late was worse than never! Perhaps Théoden would quail, bow his old head, turn, slink away to hide in the hills.

Then suddenly Merry felt it at last, beyond doubt: a change. Wind was in his face! Light was glimmering. Far, far away, in the South the clouds could be dimly seen as remote grey shapes, rolling up, drifting: morning lay beyond them.

Nice nice nice nice nice that’s some top notch metaphor. Tolkien is sooo good at environmental metaphors and foreshadowing. IDK there’s just something about the way the whole world seems to get in on the narrative, it’s really good. Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered; a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Theoden grabs a horn from someone and blows on it so hard it EXPLODES. AND THEY’RE OFF!! Join us next time for

THE BATTLE OF THE PELENNOR FIELDS

[the-dan-in-high-castle]

The Lord of the Rings: Were some film changes justified?

Hi there, peeps. So this is the first time I’ve done something like this, but I thought I’d dig into something a little juicy and which often provokes a lot of debate in the literary sphere: whether or not the changes made from the original LOTR books to the film trilogy by Peter Jackson were justified or not.

Every book-to-movie translation features changes, and I mean every single one. We see it all over, with movies like the Harry Potter franchise, The Golden Compass, Alice in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, and perhaps most famously with Lord of the Rings. 

The reasons for these changes vary greatly. Some directors choose to erase aspects of the source material to shorten the overall length of a film, or to stop a film becoming clustered with too many plotlines or characters. Others may change a certain scene, location or character to better suit their vision of the adaptation, and some go as far as re-writing the plot to end differently altogether. For this post, I’m going to split LOTR changes into three categories:

The erasure of characters included in the novels

The change of characters included in both the novels and the films, either in actions, context or personality

The alteration of certain plot-lines and stories

Character removal

Yes, we will be talking about Tom Bombadil here to start with. The singing, dancing forest-lurker introduced in Chapter VI of Fellowship of the Ring, Tom acts as a seemingly random inclusion into the story, guiding the four Hobbits through the Barrow-downs and saving them from the undead Barrow-wights, while gifting the Hobbits the Númenorean daggers, one of which Merry uses to help kill the Witch-King in Return of the King. Bombadil has become the butt of many jokes among fans for his spontaneous appearance in the storyline, his apparent lack of significance in the plot as a whole, and simply because all he does is sing to trees and dance around his house. With this in mind, it makes sense entirely that Tom isn’t included in the films. He doesn’t appear for the rest of the films, he has minimal impact in the overall story, and he’s a bit of a joke character.

One more aggravating removal is that of Elladan and Elrohir, the sons of Elrond, as well as the Grey Company. The Grey Company, a group of elite Dúnedain soldiers led by Aragorn’s close friend, Halbarad, appear first in Return of the King, following Aragorn through the Paths of the Dead and helping him reclaim Pelargir and then the Pelenoor Fields. Elladan and Elrohir accompany the Grey Company, though also appear earlier in Rivendell in Fellowship of the Ring, and are also responsible for re-forging Anduril for Aragorn. The characters did not diminish at all from the overall story, with the Grey Company allowing Aragorn to show his leadership and control before his eventual succession to the throne, while Elladan and Elrohir gave more representation to the Elves, while also furthering the family of Elrond further, as in the books. Erasing them not only removes the Dúnedain from any mention save a conversation between Aragorn and Eowyn, but also erodes Elrond’s two eldest children from existence. 

There are other exclusions which do make some sense, in my opinion. Quickbeam, an Ent that befriends Merry and Pippin, is quite a humorous character in the books, but also does little to the story and would simply take up time and budget. There is also no mention of Bill Ferny, the corrupt Northmen who tells the Nazgul of the Hobbits being in Bree, though he wasn’t necessary in this regard either. Finally, there is the absence of Glorfindel, though I’ll explore that one when we look at the next section.

The alteration of characters

Faramir. Good grief, how they annoyed me with the depiction of Faramir in the films. Book-Faramir is genuinely one of the most noble and generous characters in the entire trilogy. He shows care and attention to Frodo and Sam, and while he is suspicious of Gollum, he never abuses him as is shown in the movies. More importantly, Faramir never attempts to take the Ring from Frodo, identifying it immediately as a source of evil. However, most significant is that Faramir aids Frodo in his journey by giving him food, as well as advising him not to trust Gollum nor to pass through Cirith Ungol. The contrast with Movie-Faramir, who at first acts out of greed and desperation to bring the Ring to Gondor, while also mistreating and abusing the trio travelling to Mordor, is a crude corruption of the noble Captain seen in the novels. Faramir’s actions seemed only to justify the scenes in Osgiliath, though these would much eagerly be replaced by the scenes involving the Window of the West in my opinion, which featured some of the best settings and dialogue in the entire trilogy.

Next, we move to Arwen. Arwen is one of the few characters to actually receive a greatly expanded role in the movies. Not only do we see her far earlier in Fellowship of the Ring, bearing Frodo to Rivendell, but we also see her struggles with journeying to Valinor and her romance with Aragorn, which is only ever mentioned in the books. Arwen’s expansion does help give some depth to one of the few female characters in the series, but also comes at the expense of other characters. Not only do the scenes detailing her inner turmoil and her relationship lead to the removal or cutting down of some characters, but her inclusion in some parts usurps the role of other characters, such as when Glorfindel rescues Frodo in the novel. Arwen’s changes are 50/50, as while the exploration of a character we know little about is somewhat appreciated, part of her appeal in the novels was her mystique, if Frodo’s perspective tells us anything, and her expansion comes at the cost of many other side characters.

Other character changes are somewhat minimal. The age of the Hobbits is greatly reduced, with Frodo being shown as a young adult, even though he is middle-aged in the books, though this comes down to a narrative change. Denethor is slightly differed also: while the books present him first with cunning and wit, which gradually descends as the story progresses, the movie presents him from the start of Return of the King as a man already lost to grief and madness, denying the audience the chance to see why he became the twisted and desperate man we see in the novels.

Alteration of the plot

In respect to Jackson, he did a far better job than most book-to-film directors in keeping to the plot of the trilogy (more than I can say for the Hobbit cough cough) but he is not without his blunders.

Remember the Scouring of the Shire? Peter Jackson doesn’t. One of the final chapters of Return of the King, the Scouring of the Shire was the takeover of the Shire by brigands loyal to Saruman (no, he didn’t fall off Orthanc at the start of RotK) and their subsequent defeat by the rebellious Hobbits, with Saruman being murdered by Wormtongue in the aftermath. The Scouring is definitely an usual addition, seemingly placed in the novel to close out Saruman after his escape from Orthanc. It did make some sense to cut out the Scouring, since it would have taken up time in an otherwise lengthy movie, and Jackson does well to allude to it with the Mirror of Galadriel in Fellowship, but getting to see an army of Hobbits beat up a bunch of bandits and thugs to round out the trilogy would have certainly been entertaining. Still, it makes sense to cut it.

What doesn’t make sense is the inclusion of Frodo, Sam and Gollum in the Battle of Osgiliath in Two Towers. Why were they there? The inclusion was practically nonsensical, since not only did it draw out the scenes where the audience was met with an (unsuitably) arrogant Faramir who they weren’t growing to like, but the battle scene never even included the other three characters fighting. If you want to add in a battle, go ahead, but don’t add a battle that nobody takes part in except extras. The battle wasn’t even that special, with the battle scenes themselves being clunky and the inclusion of the Nazgul being completely unnecessary, since we had not only seen them not long before over the Dead Marshes, but would later see them rip everything up in Minas Tirith. It’s a clunky addition that also deprives us of the scenes of respite that the novel chapters with Faramir provide. The last thing we really need at this point is turmoil and battle, and it only adds to the cluster of action going on at the end of the film.

Some smaller changes connect to the past two categories, such as the Grey Company coming to aid Aragorn and the complete removal of the Old Forest or the Barrow-downs, as well as the scenes in Buckland we see in the book where the reader learns that the Hobbits are being spied on. One of the more egregious changes in my personal opinion is the removal of the meeting between the Elves, led by Gildor, and the three Hobbits; Frodo, Sam and Pippin. The meeting is diminished to the passing of a group of Elves by Frodo and Sam in the film, and takes away from the mystique of the Elves that Jackson later tries to build in Rivendell. The meeting is one of the lighter-hearted portrayals of the Elves in the series, and the absence of the meeting does nothing but maintain the presentation of Elves as sullen, miserable warriors without any cheer or heart. 

Conclusion

So which changes are justified from book to film?

Definitely the removal of Tom Bombadil. While I enjoyed the Bombadil chapters in the book, they wouldn’t have done much good for the movies. 

The Scouring of the Shire. An interesting little storyline, but not significant enough to add to the films meaningfully, especially not a movie as long as Return of the King

The expansion of Arwen’s character. Tolkien admittedly included very few significant female characters, and so it is good of Jackson to expand on Arwen as a strong female figure.

Which changes weren’t justified?

Faramir. Changing Faramir into a near-antagonist for the entirety of Two Towers did nothing but give the audience a character to hate other than Gollum, which wasn’t necessary, since Gollum acts perfectly as a troubled, two-faced villain for the audience to be indecisive on. Faramir should have stayed as the strong source of hope in an otherwise troubled kingdom. 

The removal of various Elf characters. This includes Glorfindel, Elladan, Elrohir and Gildor. Four Elf characters that show far more heart and charisma than other Elves, yet are left out. Their inclusion could have added another dimension to the Elf race, but this is unfortunately avoided by Jackson.

How Denethor is presented. Denethor in the books started as witty and cunning, if not also paranoid, and over the course of Return of the King the reader sees the paranoia slowly take over his more respectable aspects. From the start of the movie, however, Denethor is depicted as broken and shallow, and so the audience misses out on that immersive transition.

Did Jackson mess up some stuff? Yeah, absolutely. If you’re of the belief that the books are absolutely perfect, you’re never gonna think a film adaptation will be as good since things will definitely change. However, as far as film adaptations of novels go, Jackson did a respectable job. He contained all the vital plot aspects, maintained the personalities of most characters while expanding on others, and gave us some absolutely gorgeous settings and art designs. Not bad, PJ. Not bad.

[deadmomjokes]

Yes, I’m on a LotR kick lately, (I’m overwhelmingly stressed, my anxiety’s back full force and my depression’s not far behind, and those movies/books are my one surefire way to at least get some temporary relief, so sue me) but can I bring up three things I’ve always deeply admired about the films?

First, the sound design. Yeah, the soundtrack is amazing, but I’m talking about the non-music sounds, specifically the audio cues for when the Ring is tempting someone. There’s a subtle jingle of the chain that cuts through the audio whenever it’s being implied that someone is getting affected by the ring. Sometimes they back it up with deep, ominous music, but other times they don’t. Those times in particular are a lovely bit of design for me because they’ve set it up previously with ominous music, so when they don’t have that being obvious, but still have the established jingle, you get the idea subconsciously and it raises the tension. And it’s not something that’s there constantly, it’s only when they need to show the ring really working at someone. There are plenty of times you can see the chain moving and it should be jingling, but you don’t hear it coming through. Listen for it next time you watch; I believe the first time you hear it is when Frodo trips on the mountain and Boromir picks up the ring on the chain, tho you can hear a similar sound before the chain is introduced whenever the ring is picked up or set down--a sort of tinkling sound, but deeper than the jingle with the chain.

Second, Elijah Wood’s acting, and/or the direction he received. Specifically the fact that after the end of TT (arguably after the middle of TT), anytime Frodo smiles, his eyes are still completely dead. He smiles a lot in Fellowship, and it’s genuine happiness. His whole face lights up, and he’s clearly feeling it. But after Osgiliath, if he smiles (which is rare til near the end), it’s a half smile that looks painfully forced, or else it’s a face-only smile. His eyes aren’t in it. They might crinkle a little, but he’s got a blank stare going on, looking like he’s kind of not-present. In fact, as the movies progress you can watch him go from being expressive, albeit reserved, to completely blank in most of RotK. After they destroy the ring, he gets some expression back, but it’s still muted, and his eyes are dull. I think you can see it most in his eyes when he smiles, because it’s a contrast. He’s just going through the motions, and he may be genuinely feeling happiness, but he’s still touched by that emptiness and hurt. It makes sense, but it’s such a powerful touch that shows what he’s been through has really changed him. He endured more than anyone should have to, and had all the strength, joy, and hope sucked out of him, came home with serious PTSD and (I argue) depression. He’s still haunted by everything, and it colors even the happy moments; it’s a very subtle bit of acting, but very poignant. That, I think, is why him turning around and smiling at the hobbits at the end of RotK is so impactful, because for the first time since early TT, that was a genuine, heartfelt smile, showing he’d finally found peace.

Third, and I touched on this a bit in the second one, the depression-coding for Frodo. Literally everything about this child screams Major Depressive Episode (and it’s all the dang ring’s fault). We see him for who he was before all this nonsense in Fellowship, but after he makes the decision to go on his own, you see more of the visual depression symptoms set in. There are hints in Fellowship; he starts spending more time alone, he is visibly sadder than he was, and his expression is drawn and worried. But this isn’t unusual, given everything he went through and having just lost Gandalf. But come Two Towers, he’s showing more signs. Outbursts of aggression toward friends, mood swings, insomnia at night, excessive daytime sleepiness, loss of appetite, fatigues easily, withdrawing vocally and socially as he quits talking to his social support, expresses feelings of being alone, and he smiles rarely. He starts getting more of a static, blank look on his face that rarely changes, even when he should be expressing strong emotions like panic, fear, or anger--a visual representation of the numbness he is feeling. In Fellowship he cries, screams, laughs, shows his terror, and has a wide range of emotion on his face; starting in TT, that all begins to disappear with only a few exceptions. He also slows down visibly; his speech and movement get slower by a wide margin, which is literally one of the things on a depression screening. All of these things are, but that’s such a specific one that I couldn’t help but notice it. And these symptoms don’t really go away after the ring is destroyed, they just retreat a bit and are more easily masked, but that blank expression and slow speech/movement are still there. This was also seen in the books, and I love that they kept it for the films, because it was one of the things that really connected me with Frodo; I see SO much of my own experiences with MDD in the way Frodo acts and reacts to things, and I don’t think it was accidental, either. But either way, there’s no denying that Frodo exhibits classic symptoms of major depression (as well as PTSD, and that is 100% blatant and obvious especially in the books). I just really appreciate all the work that went into it, and honestly it helps me a lot to have someone I can hardcore relate to and project onto, which is probably why LotR is my go-to when I’m in a down-swing.

Anyway, sorry for all my ramblings lately, it’s just that analysis and these films are both My Jam, and I’m super excited to get to see the Extendeds for the first time soon! (May have to do a liveblog for that, or just a massive reaction after the fact. We’ll see)