[Essex]

Please everyone sit down – I’m going to complain about a part of the movie I no longer agree with – Shock Horror!

After reading the Disaster of the Gladden Fields (as reminded to by Mr Underhill) – I now realise the story of Isildur, and not just from a LOTR Book/film perspective – I now know how Isildur himself realised his mistake in keeping the Ring – and that the Ring had to be returned to the ‘Keepers of the Three’ – and that he did not want to leave his men as is shown in the film version, but was almost commanded to by his son (?) into doing so, in effect stopping the forces of Sauron getting hold of the Ring.

But to deflect from this (brief) disagreement with the movie makers, I’d like to show a few points where they did a great job of conveying Tolkien’s story to screen.

Looking back on some comments I put together after LOTR was first released, I now realise how close (and what a good job of swotting up the guys did in some occasions) they came to being spot on with their adaptation.

I did a comparison of the whole movie and where they got their information / words from. For example, I like the way they use text from other books (other than lotr) – and not just the text of LOTR itself, but also the appendicies for info:


"Three were given to the elves, Immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings"

...tying up with the text from Silmarillion

Immortal were the Elves, and their wisdom waxed from age to age ……..Quendi shall be the fairest of all earthly creatures

Also:

"Nine rings were gifted to the race of men, who above all else desire power."

...against Silmarillion again…

But Sauron gathered into his hands all the remaining Rings of Power; and he dealt them out to the other peoples of Middle-earth, hoping thus to bring under his sway all those that desired secret power beyond the measure of their kind

and a final example...

"Darkness crept back into the forest of the world. Rumour grew of a shadow in the east, whispers of a nameless fear."

...paraphrased from Silmarillion

A darkness crept slowly through the wood from the southward, and fear walked there in shadowy glades…. It was the Shadow of Sauron and the sign of his return. For coming out of the wastes of the East he took up his abode in the south of the forest

Even the timings Blanchett mentions are very close:


"And for two and a half thousand years the ring passed out of all knowledge"

Time ascertained from the Tale of Years. - 2 Disaster of the Gladden Fields; Isildur and his three elder sons are slain - 2463 Déagol the Stoor finds the One Ring, and is murdered by Sméagol. Which equals 2461 years


"The ring brought to Gollum unnatural long life. For five hundred years it poisoned his mind."

Time ascetained from the Tale of Years - 2470 About this time Sméagol-Gollum hides in the Misty Mountains - 2941 Bilbo meets Sméagol-Gollum and finds the Ring. Which equals 471 years


Not bad! So I can forgive a few inconsistencies! Including one where Galadriel says “But they were all of them deceived. For another ring was made. In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the dark lord Sauron forged in secret a master ring to control all others.”

In fact, in the Silmarillion again, it actually states

But the Elves were not so lightly to be caught. As soon as Sauron set the One Ring upon his finger they were aware of him…But he, finding that he was betrayed and that the Elves were not deceived, was filled with wrath