[obloquy]

The revelation of the WK's heretofore hidden potential is the encounter with Gandalf. The scene establishes the "oh goodness, what are we going to do now?" feeling that is appropriate for the battle on the Pelennor. Eowyn's victory over the WK is no more shocking in the film than it was (and was intended to be) in the book.

The hierarchy that the film sets up is roughly as follows:
Sauron
WK
Gandalf the White
Saruman
Gandalf the Grey
The Balrog
Aragorn
Ringwraiths

I am not saying that it is good Tolkien, only that it is internally consistent since there are no disclosures of spiritual nature in the films. Viewers (Tolkien illiterates) take this revelation (and others like it) at face value: instead of resisting it because they know Gandalf is more powerful than the WK (which they don't), they allow the film to readjust their perceptions of the characters. They reconcile what's on screen by reasoning that, although Gandalf was once able to drive the Ringwraiths off, the WK is clearly much more formidable than he used to be. We can apply this logic to every encounter: all that is revealed by Gandalf's defeat of the Balrog, for example, is that the Balrog, overblown as he was, fell somewhere beneath Gandalf and RotK-level WK on the totem pole.

But a consistent approach by PJ would not have him borrowing whole episodes from Tolkien, who for most of the movie is understood to have provided the basis of the story.

Are you suggesting that if, in the course of adapting books to film, the adapter decides that one element requires far too much explication and makes things too complex, and may also not provide the most dramatically pleasing scenarios, then that adapter is obligated to remove his adaptation from the world created by the author?

Originally Posted by Morthoron

The incongruity is in the scripting. Somehow part-time shield maiden Eowyn is more powerful than the balrog-smoting Gandalf? That's what the addled inference is. Inconsistency -- picking and choosing jumbled aspects of the story in order to glorify special effects -- this is the infuriating aspect of the films.

Your complaint here is with Tolkien. He is the one who gives Eowyn the honor of ruining the WK, and it is deliberately shocking and unexpected. Only when one reads extra-LotR materials does one realize that the WK was nowhere near Gandalf's power level. As newbies we assume that Eowyn did something that even Gandalf could not do simply because Gandalf had not yet done it, and should have if he had been able--this even though we do not have exactly the same encounter at the gate in the book. In fact, this point of whether Gandalf could defeat the WK in a duel has been hotly debated in the Books forum.

Originally Posted by CSteefel

As for the investment of power in the WK (real or not), if you have the exact quote and can comment on how you interpret it, that would help. Otherwise, this point was to actually support your point of view (assuming that we needed anything from Tolkien here). Otherwise, you are left with a vague statement in the movies about not having revealed his most deadly servant, which does not really imply clearly an enhancement of power. So one is left with simply the fact that the WK did break Gandalf's staff, so as I said earlier, PJ simply changes the equation with no warning here. If that is consistent film making, give me another director...

My analysis of the letter is in a couple of different threads, but if you were to look it up and read it I am sure you would be able to figure out why it does not apply.