Dragged down by an Uruk?
 

So I find this Elijah Wood interview (Quicktime) concerning the LOTR and Mr. Wood reveals something a little strange.

The question was what was the hardest moment of filming to which he responds that in the scene where he leaves the fellowship, his boat tips over and he is dragged down into the river by an Uruk. Obviously this was later trashed but what on earth could this have symbolised had it been used?

Has anyone else heard about this? What could Jackson have meant by this extra moment?

This could have been the scene in which they were going to have Frodo be attacked by Uruks when he left the Company at the end of FotR. I think they mentioned this on the commentary on the EE of FotR.

I'd never heard of it, but my theory would be that Jackson wanted to add something to make it more 'exciting'. I'm soooo glad that he took it out. That part of the movie is so dramatic and beautiful that an Uruk would have ruined it.

I could see why that would be difficult to play, though...

Perhaps he was going to have Sam come out and save Frodo and then say 'Hey, you can't live with out me even here...much less in Mordor. I'm coming.' I don't know.

Maybe Frodo was actually going to save himself to show us that "Look, he's not completely helpless/hopeless."

It sounds like the Uruk was already under the water from the interview. How could that be? Was he taking a lovely little snorkling trip, while his bros were off trying to kill the Fellowship?

Here's another question about this scene: How close is Rauros? How much danger is there of them falling over the waterfall the more time they linger? Maybe that was the reason PJ changed it, because it was too long, and they would've fallen be the time the Uruk was fought off.

It's a puzzle, a very well guarded puzzle it seems.

Maybe we should track done some Ringers and see if they know anything...

The notorious Water-Orcs were foes the likes of which Middle-earth had never seen before. Their speciality seemed to be in dragging Hobbits and small children into the water and then being killed by them. Unsurprisingly, the Water-Orcs did not last long. Sauron found them to be wholly unuseful. Mass unemployment followed and the Water-Orcs were reduced to living in caves picking fights with rats and badgers; fights they would usually lose.

They were thought to die out soon after the Fourth Age began. What Ainaserkewen speaks of was obviously a homage to the species by Peter Jackson, cut from the film because the audience wouldn't 'get it'.

The Water-Orc in the film was to be drowned by Frodo, after the Hobbit got him in a headlock and held him underwater for about 120 seconds. Alternative reports from deep within the movie-camp suggest that the scene was ditched because it was completely awful and boring.

That was all sarcasm, right?

No, in deadly earnest. You should procure a copy of The Unstarted Tales.

It might have been a joke. What I really wanted to say (on topic) is that the scene alluded to with Frodo and the Water-Orc reminds me of the scene with Merry and Pippin in Fangorn. Why couldn't they have just met Treebeard? Why did the director need to throw in another bloody Orc?

"I'm going to put a maggot-hole in your belly!" Oh really? Well, actually, I'd rather get some Hobbit-Ent dialogue going so if you'd kindly remove yourself from the scene, that would be......ah, thank you.

So that's what happened to Frodo's parents.

Eomer, you have a taste for the dramatics lately don't you...though, you are my favourtie person at the moment.

So I couldn't catch any Ringers...they're just as mysterious I suppose, so unless anyone is bi (Downer/Ringer) my plan fails.

I guess if I'd seen this fish-orc I'd would not have even liked "the fellowship" which is the only one that I don't think of as not-so-good-as-people-say.
Come on, PJ, an orc in the water? out of nowhere?

that leads to another question... is there any written evidence that orks could swim? (maybe a new threat in the books? and pls don't tell me about the orks in world of warcraft :) )

I like the water-orc jokes.

I never heard about this interview, etc., but here's my bet. There was a planned sequence in FotR where orcs ambush the three Elven boats. You can see storyboard shots in Fellowship, the Extended Edition. It joined the River of Nimrodel chase and attack sequence, and never made it to being filmed. Perhaps Elijah had a poor briefing on this dropped sequence, and that's how it came out in the interview.

Maybe PJ just felt a great need to ruin something. But since this scene did not make it anywhere near the final cut he must have come to his senses. Which is good for everyone involved.

Just finished watching the production team commentary for FotR, and they explain this scene!

Frodo and Sam (after Sam did NOT almost drowned) were going to be paddling off to Mordor, and an Uruk comes out of the water and grabs Frodo. In the struggle, the Ring slips away from Frodo and the Uruk goes after it, actually drowning himself. Then Sam would then save Frodo (who magically gets the Ring back?) and they'd go off to Mordor alone together.

They said that New Line was thinking that it's a bit anti-climatic (I can't remember the precise word) for the end there with Frodo and Sam for them to just leave, add some excitement: add an Uruk. It was supposed to get you thinking that "the enemy is gone, but no wait, it really isn't."

Then New Line saw what they were doing with the scene, and were like, "Well, maybe it'd be better to put the focus more on Frodo and Sam, have Frodo almost loose Sam..." The folks making the movie happily agreed, and so now we have Sam almost drowning (that was in the book in the first place, I might add :rolleyes: ).