Confused about Quotations!!

[Gorwingel]

Yeah, normal people already thought that there was too much "Old English" language in the film anyway (even though there wasn't any at all). What happened was just basically a moderization of the languague used in the books. Though I understand why this would concern book readers. I remember when this caused the most trouble for me. About two years ago I was trying to find Gandalf's quote where he says: "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide..." (a very familiar quote). I knew for a fact that the quote was in the book not where it was in the film. But I had forgotten where it was since the first few times I had read the book, so I went on a very detailed search, eventually finding it many, many, many chapters before Moria, even though I do think it did fit very much into the Moria scene. But the fact that the actual location was so far from the movie location did bother me a little.

[Essex]

I did some work on the quotes for the fellowship film a couple of years ago but never 'published' it on the web. (and I wouldn't have a cluse how to!) I took every line from the film and pointed to where it was taken from in the books.

It's surprising where Jackson gets the lines from. most were from FOTR, but he also get a smattering from the other lotr books, and in one case the silmarillion.

e.g. Frodo's last line in FOTR "I'm glad you're with me, Sam" was taking from his words to Sam after the Ring was destroyed on Mount Doom.

"Let us hunt some orc" was loosely taken from "We are hunting orc" Aragorn says to eomer in TT

Aragorn's "Sauron the Deceiver" was taken from the Silmarillion.

Also, different lines were given to different characters. ie, "Smoke rises from Mordor" was spoken by Boromir in the CoE rather than Saruman.

And Sam uses the word "Longshanks" for Aragorn, where it is Bill Ferny who says this in the book.

[Bombadil]

...but he also get a smattering from the other lotr books, and in one case the silmarillion.

Good observation Essex, and that would have to be something I like. Perhaps it's hippocracy to say so- but I do. One of my favorites is when he uses lines from The tale of Aragorn and Arwen in the Appendices. That was a very nice touch.

[Encaitare]

I'm not really bothered by this; in fact I get dorkily excited when I come across a line in the book that's identical/nearly identical to the movie. One line I wish PJ hadn't changed, though, is Gimli's line to Éomer:

Movie-version: "Give me your name, horse-master, and I shall give you mine."

Book-version: "Give me your name, horse-master, and I shall give you mine, and more besides." (I believe this is it, I haven't got TTT with me right now.)

I like the book version better, because it gives Eomer a reason to get all ****ed off at Gimli. In the movie it's more like, "hey, before I tell you who I am you'd better tell me first," and then it just makes Eomer look like a generally angry guy.

Oh, and in response to Elianna: I like the fact that Grima uses that line. His use of it characterizes him quite well, I think. True though, the line has totally different connotations depending on who says it. Aragorn thinks that part, except it's something like "A morning of pale spring not yet sprung to womanhood" or something of that ilk, which I think makes her sound too young. So I definitely prefer the movie version. But then Gandalf says the other part, "Who knows what she has spoken to the darkness..." which is spiffy as well.

Just my blathering thoughts.

[Tuor of Gondolin]

It's clear why some lines were changed or used by different speakers. I am irritated when "some fool of a scriptwriter" makes pointless changes. The worst may be "Let us hunt some orc" when it could have been:

Gimli or Leggy: "Can we catch up to the orcs?"
Aragorn: "Come. We will make such a chase as shall be accounted a marvel among the Three Kindreds: Elves, Dwarves, and Men. Forth the Three Hunters."

Or even just: "Let's hunt Orc. Forth the Three Hunters!"

[Reg Pither]

The two that really stuck out for me when watching the films were Gandalf's plea to Frodo to 'keep it safe, and keep it secret', which PJ changed to 'keep it secret, and keep it safe' - thus destroying the emphasis on the secrecy.

The other one was the missing out of the word 'altogether' twice in Treebeard's explanation that he is 'not altogether on anyone's side, as nobody is altogether on my side'. Again, nuance, depth and characterization are lost.

If PJ had been just a bit braver with taking more lines directly from the book, it would have helped the films feel immeasurably more 'Tolkien-esque', rather than the strange, clumsy hybrid of old and new dialogue that we hear so often.

[Elianna]

To Encaitare: (We seem to be spreading Gríma posts everywhere! )

You're right, it does give him character development, and I'm happy that somebody says it. In context, Aragorn thinks that she is "fair, fair and cold, like a morning of pale spring, not yet come to womanhood." If you think about it, to Aragorn, that's what it would seem like: He is four times her age! Still, I wish Aragorn had gotten to say it...


Another mangled line is when Pip and Treebread are talking about the Entwives:
Treebeard: We lost the Entwives.
Pip: Oh, I'm sorry. How did they die?
Movie-Treebeard: Die! No, we lost them and now we cannot find them.
Book-Treebeard: They did not die. I never said that they died. We lost them...

I think the only reason why I care about that is because I thought it was really funny, and memorized it before the EE came out without two of the sentences I had memorized. Still, it's more characteristic of Treebeard to say those two sentences...

Yeah, I'm just a whiny nit-picker.