The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Consequences of no Barrow-Downs

Kalimac · 10-24-2002, 08:30 PM

That'll be interesting if it turns out that Merry and Pippin are given their swords by Galadriel (and not totally unbelievable, since she's been around for a while and might well have picked up a few swords of Westernesse, though it's hard to picture her trying to actively find them). The only awkwardness is that that would be a DVD-only scene, and when they're releasing the movie in the theaters, having a flashback to a scene that wasn't in the original theatrical FOTR release would look like a continuity error (or like one of those bad "Had I But Known" detective stories where someone rushes in with relevant information which has been kept secret in a rather unlikely way throughout most of the story just to keep the whole mystery from being cleared up on Page 3). Though you have to admit that swords would be niftier gifts than what M & P originally got in the books - belts are nice, but not terribly helpful in times of crisis.<P>I'm guessing that unfortunately Merry's sword is going to be demoted to a venerable yet ordinary and unmagical blade. The reason for this is that in the books Tolkien gives the Witch-King a double whammy, so to speak; there's Merry's sword, which breaks the spell, however there's ALSO the prophecy about how "No man may hinder me" to which Eowyn replies "But no man am I." As in Macbeth, the "No man" bit would easily be enough, plotwise, to convince the movie watcher that Eowyn is "able" so to speak, to kill the Witch-King. It's not like Merry stabs with the sword and then Eowyn is suddenly magically capable of killing the Witch-King - if that happened in the movie with Merry wielding an ordinary sword, that would be a pretty big hole in the plot ("Wait..he can't be killed but now he can be? Hang on!") But undoubtedly they'll keep in the dialogue between Eowyn and the Witch-King to be the explanation for why she could do it.<P>Hopefully they'll let Merry still stab the Witch-King, though. Not to make him vulnerable - the prophecy can take care of that - but to distract him long enough so that Eowyn can recover and strike at him. After all, just because the prophecy is worded so that a woman may kill the Witch-King doesn't mean that he can't still kill her first.<p>[ October 24, 2002: Message edited by: Kalimac ]

10-24-2002, 08:30 PM	#7
Kalimac Candle of the Marshes Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Flyover Country Posts: 780	That'll be interesting if it turns out that Merry and Pippin are given their swords by Galadriel (and not totally unbelievable, since she's been around for a while and might well have picked up a few swords of Westernesse, though it's hard to picture her trying to actively find them). The only awkwardness is that that would be a DVD-only scene, and when they're releasing the movie in the theaters, having a flashback to a scene that wasn't in the original theatrical FOTR release would look like a continuity error (or like one of those bad "Had I But Known" detective stories where someone rushes in with relevant information which has been kept secret in a rather unlikely way throughout most of the story just to keep the whole mystery from being cleared up on Page 3). Though you have to admit that swords would be niftier gifts than what M & P originally got in the books - belts are nice, but not terribly helpful in times of crisis.<P>I'm guessing that unfortunately Merry's sword is going to be demoted to a venerable yet ordinary and unmagical blade. The reason for this is that in the books Tolkien gives the Witch-King a double whammy, so to speak; there's Merry's sword, which breaks the spell, however there's ALSO the prophecy about how "No man may hinder me" to which Eowyn replies "But no man am I." As in Macbeth, the "No man" bit would easily be enough, plotwise, to convince the movie watcher that Eowyn is "able" so to speak, to kill the Witch-King. It's not like Merry stabs with the sword and then Eowyn is suddenly magically capable of killing the Witch-King - if that happened in the movie with Merry wielding an ordinary sword, that would be a pretty big hole in the plot ("Wait..he can't be killed but now he can be? Hang on!") But undoubtedly they'll keep in the dialogue between Eowyn and the Witch-King to be the explanation for why she could do it.<P>Hopefully they'll let Merry still stab the Witch-King, though. Not to make him vulnerable - the prophecy can take care of that - but to distract him long enough so that Eowyn can recover and strike at him. After all, just because the prophecy is worded so that a woman may kill the Witch-King doesn't mean that he can't still kill her first.<p>[ October 24, 2002: Message edited by: Kalimac ] __________________ Father, dear Father, if you see fit, We'll send my love to college for one year yet Tie blue ribbons all about his head, To let the ladies know that he's married.