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Originally Posted by Son of Númenor
Peter Jackson didn't 'get' one of the major themes of the books.
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Ah, but how much does this theme come across in
LotR as a stand-alone trilogy of books? Until relatively recently, having only read
LotR (aside from a failed attempt at the
Silmarillion in my youth) I was blissfully unaware of the existence of Morgoth and the marring of Arda.
Perhaps the idea of enduring evil is explicit in LotR, but surely it is implicit in any event. Although the external "personification" of evil has been defeated, it stands to reason (to my mind at least) that this will not mark an end to the internal evil within the hearts of Men (and the other races). I suppose I really just took this for granted in the books without it having to be made explicit. So doesn't this also apply with regard to the films?
Admittedly, Galadriel's words talk of an end to
evil. But don't we automatically interpret this to mean an end to the personification of evil, rather than a complete end to evil itself? Or do you think that people might view Middle-earth at the end of the film as an idyllic realm devoid of evil? It's possible, I suppose.
One further, related, thought. The cinema release does not in fact close with all evil having been defeated since, for all we know, Saruman is still at large, albeit restricted to Orthanc when we last see him. Of course, this "little" detail is to be cleared up in the Extended Edition.