[Oddwen]

And what's worse, this "Tolkien" fellow left out most of the angst of...get this -

Aragorn.

I mean, in the movie, he is of course reluctant to claim his bloodright (as well should be) or to accept the wrongdoings of his evil ancestor.

Not so in the book. "Nobility" is a codeword here, "Heir of Isildur" is another. And save for a moment of doubt before setting out from the hill (names given in the book as "Parth Galen" and "Amon Hen"), he is confident and even eager to claim his kingship, which Tolkien seems to think he deserves and is even worthy of.

I can't even begin to tell you how many levels this is wrong at.

And the way Tolkien treats love - never is there any doubt in this impostor Aragorn's mind to choose between Arwen and Eowyn! No possible room for NC-17 fanfics! Think of the fanfic writers just getting started into the world of writing, Tolkien, now they have no opportunity to shine!

And as well, little to no contact between Aragorn and Arwen, merely a moment of speech while her father is present.

??? You'd think if they were in love, they'd be all over each other, but not so in this adaptation. C'mon, let's get realistic here. This is the 21st century, nobody involves their parents anymore.

And at the paths of the Dead, Tolkien screwed up badly. He took a scene which worked well, and totally took the suspense and excitement out of it.

Instead of just Legolas and Gimli going through, (which are enough to keep track of, thank you) Aragorn took thirty or so of his relatives (who pop up only for this scene!) and also a couple superfluous elves, whom Tolkien disguised as the sons of Elrond. Makes you wonder which of Tolkien's relatives he inserted, hmm?

There is never a moment of doubt with the Dead either - Aragorn commands them, and they go. WHAT?? If an RPG writer were to introduce this, it would be called "godmodding", but if Tolkien can do it, it's okay?

And not a skull to be seen in the book! Merely a skeleton of an ancient Rohan king, which was a distraction and an unneeded side plot.
The Dead could be anything in Jackson's works - cannibals, criminals, yet in Tolkien's words, they merely broke a promise to come to war.

Well, maybe they changed their minds folks, perhaps they didn't believe in war as a solution! Here only is Isildur presented as evil, in the rest of the book he is shown as merely foolish or headstrong.

In the end, I could not get past the wedding of the King. It was reduced to merely a paragraph, and was months after the coronation! I finally was so angered that I threw the book down and pulled out my DVDs.

Ah well. At least I can watch and forget.



Thanks E&E for bringing this to our attention!

(No, I'm not bitter at all!)