The Number of Major Characters
 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> As screenwriters or director, we have to give equal attention to many characters; in this particular trilogy of films, there are 20 major characters....<BR> <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>This is PJ from <A HREF="http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1054369145" TARGET=_blank>this article</A>.<P>Immediately this got me thinking about this list. It wasn't hard to make, though I got 23. Either 20 was a ballpark figure or PJ doesn't consider a few of these.<P>1. Frodo<BR>2. Sam<BR>3. Merry<BR>4. Pippin<BR>5. Gandalf<BR>6. Aragorn<BR>7. Legolas<BR>8. Gimli<BR>9. Boromir<BR>10. Bilbo<BR>11. Saruman<BR>12. Arwen<BR>13. Elrond<BR>14. Galadriel<BR>15. Gollum<BR>16. Theoden<BR>17. Eowyn<BR>18. Eomer<BR>19. Treebeard<BR>20. Wormtongue<BR>21. Faramir<BR>22. Denethor<BR>23. Sauron<P>To me this seems quite the list and it got me wondering how it compares to other fantasy films. For example, here's the original Star Wars Trilogy.<P>1. Luke<BR>2. Han<BR>3. Leia<BR>4. C3P0<BR>5. R2D2<BR>6. Darth Vadar<BR>7. Obiwan<BR>8. Chewbaca<BR>9. Yoda<BR>10. Londo<BR>11. Jaba the Hut<BR>12. The Emperor<P>Hopefully, I'm not missing any from either list.<P>Anyway, I'm curious as to how this compares to other films, so if folks want to add their own lists, they should. It may be instructive.<P>H.C.

Maybe he didn't consider Elrond, Galadriel, and Theoden to be major characters? Though that wouldn't make much sense, I think...<P>~Menelien

I wouldn't consider Elrond or Bilbo a major character, or, for Jackon's list, Sauron. Arwen isn't really a major character except for her 'decision.'<P>Also, Legolas and Gimli seemed to be tied together throughout most of the movies. Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas never part from each other (except for the silly falling-off-the-cliff deal), and thus, they get plenty of time together.<P>The same can be said of Merry and Pippin (until their Rohan/Gondor split), and Arwen (whose time is mostly shared with Aragorn, or Frodo in the ride to Rivendell).<P>I'm sure he was just estimating though.<p>[ May 31, 2003: Message edited by: Legolas ]

I could delete Treebeard, Eomer and Wormtongue.<BR>Theoden seemed pretty major, and I would go with Elrond (in the movie) he pops up three different places so far. Still, not Major, Major I guess, but .... Theoden got a lot of screen time in TT and still will be "up" in RoTK. Perhaps Boromir isn't major because he died in the first. Bilbo is so important, (IMO) and will pop up again at the end, (I hope!) that I could call him sort of major..eh, hair splitting! <p>[ May 31, 2003: Message edited by: Liriodendron ]

on the star wars list, you forgot qui-gon and count dooku.

Nope, as I mentioned I was only looking at the original trilogy. I wanted to compare apples to apples, three films to three, not three to six.<P>H.C.

PJ probably doesn't consider Galadriel, Denethor, and Bilbo. Although for my list, get rid of Arwen.

The only reason Sauron would be put on the list is the fact that he's trying to take over ME. That's a pretty big deal, dontcha think?

Id say Denethor was a pretty major character. Id say he was leaving off Bilbo, Galadriel and somebody else.<BR>Strange how the nazgul arent mentioned. The witchking is extremely central to the plot.

Well, I think that all of the characters in LOTR are important, but if I had to I would say that <P>Boromir<BR>Bilbo<BR>Arwen<BR>Elrond<BR>Galadrie l<BR>Eomer<BR>Wormtongue<BR>Faramir<BR>Denethor (sorry Meela!)<P>Were not major characters, especially so far in the movies.