In ROTK we have never heard of Halbarad and co until we meet them, and it takes Aragorn all of one sentence to explain who they are. Of course, we don't know for sure yet that they have been left out.<P>The Elves at Helm's Deep may have brought in a nice theme about peoples of Middle-Earth uniting, and old alliances being kept. But, it completely destroys the idea of the Firstborn decreasing, and man coming into the dominion of the earth. The Lord of the Rings is a middle-ground between Tolkien's magical world of the Elves, Sauron, etc. and our own modern world in which all such things have completely vanished.<P>Also, by leading the Elves instead of men, Aragorn has not progressed much further down his path to Kingship. I think that whatever small cool factor the Elves may have brought to Helm's Deep, they took more than they gave. I thought Karl Urban was a brilliant Eomer, and I would've much rather had him and his <I>eored</I> at Helm's Deep. Where were <I>they</I> going anyway?? Any Elf cool factor could've been kept by showing short scenes of the battles for Lothlorien (big ask, but we're talking wishlist here).<P>That said though, it was good to see Craig Parker get butchered (if you've seen Shortland Street you'll understand).
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But Gwindor answered: 'The doom lies in yourself, not in your name'.
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