We Easterlings are now...neutral!?
 

Now, I do not expect this thread to get much traffic, because it is just a critical view on one subject from the ROTK movie.
In TTT, Easterlings from Rhun are shown marching into Mordor by way of the Udun Black Gates. This is the scene where Sam slides down the cliff and Frodo has to hide them both under his cloak until the suspicious Easterlings move off. Anyway, the Easterlings are never shown in the movies again, not even at the Last Battle at the Black Gate, where they fight the Host of the West in the book alongside orcs of Mordor, and other armies allied with Sauron. And, while I am on the topic, there were no Variags at Pelennor Fields, and they too fought there in the books. Oh well... :smokin:

I think it was a trade-off. Dumping Bombadil entirely from the good side was matched by limiting some of the minor baddies. :rolleyes:

I suppose... :D

But then again, there was no Glorfindel either, but a super-heroic Arwen. :eek:

A super-heroic beautifully good looking Arwen.

Aye, I'll drink to that.
:smokin:

If you get the ROTK video game, you will be able to play as Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli on Pelennor Fields and have a great time killing, yes, Easterlings. You'll even hear Aragorn call them that in the game. They look just like the ones in the TTT movie.

But, yeah, that's the video game, not the movie. I would have liked to see them in ROTK, but I can't say I missed them with everything else that was going on.

I have wondered about the wherabouts of the Easterlings in the rest of the movie, and I believe I do see that distinct helmet shape on some of the army of Mordor that rushes into Minas Tirith after the gate is broken down. There is maybe a second where they could be seen, but they're moving so fast they could have been orcs. I've freezeframed it and looked at it for awhile, and it is about as close to the Easterlings you get.

I alwasy regreted not being able to see Theoden kill "the black Serpent" in the films...it however sounds interesting, I'll take a look at the battle and look for any possible Easterlings

Here, through some DVD snapshots I took, I've found some here and there at the Siege of Gondor:

http://www.maj.com/gallery/sir-kohra...lingsfront.bmp

http://www.maj.com/gallery/sir-kohra...erlinglone.bmp

(apologies if the pictures are too big, I didn't know what else to do)

Personally, I don't blame them for keeping the Easterlings mostly out of it - with Orcs, Trolls, Nazgul, Giant Spiders, etc. all on the bad side, they might have been overkill (literally!). And we do get this little glimpse anyway.

Also, I read (on wikipedia) that they avoided having the evil men killed too often as that might be too 'realistic' for violence, thus upping the ratings too high.

I had the same idea about this as you had Ninja, why aren't the easterlings shone ever again in the movie? But guess what? One day I was watching it, and if you watch the part after the trolls come through the gate of Minas Tirith and the Orcs and stuff charge at Gandalf and the troops. When it goes to the side shot of this happening you can see the easterlings with spears and their crazy looking helmets, in the backround attacking too. Go and look hard and you will see for yourself.

Oh never mind there's already shots of it.

I always tried to identify them by their weapons, they had a pretty interesting look...but with so many Orc spears I wasn't able to see anything...
anyway, thanks for the pics, they clear this matter up :)

Thanks muchly for the pics, Sir Kohran.
Could you tell me which chapter these were taken? I want to see for myself.

That's okay... ;)

They come from the battle at Minas Tirith, when the infantry charge in, just after Grond breaks through the gate and the Trolls attack.