Newsgroup: it.fan.scrittori.tolkien
Titolo: [IN INGLESE] Il Ritorno del Re di Jackson - FAQ (SPOILERZ)

Una ragazza di nome Samara86 (brr! ^__^) sta mantenedo questa FAQ
sull'internet movie database riguardante dubbi e curiosita' sul film. L'ho
letta e' ho pensato che fosse interessante. NON LEGGETELA SE NON AVETE VISTO
IL FILM: contiene spoiler sulla trama, e su scene diverse e/o
aggiunte/tagliate!
For additional information not found here: 
http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/
.
Substantive questions:
* Where does Frodo go at the end, and why?
Frodo goes to Valinor, the land across the sea that the elves are emigrating
to. His trauma over carrying the ring, plus his wounds from the Nazgul blade
on Weathertop and Shelob's sting, cannot fully heal in Middle Earth. He goes
to Valinor, aka the Undying Lands, which is sort of like a paradise, in
order to find peace. Normally only elves and wizards, aka immortals are
allowed to go (it used to be just another part of the map, but when the
earth shifted from flat to round, it was "removed" from the "real" world
(anyone read Mists of Avalon?)). But Frodo gets special passage because he's
a ringbearer (same deal with Bilbo...not the pain part, but the
ringbearer-as-ticket part). He does not become immortal himself, although
there is some indication that time passes differently there, so that he
perhaps lived longer than normal.
* Why didn't the eagles just bring the ring to Mt. Doom?
Several reasons. One, Sauron would definitely notice a giant eagle flying
into Mordor. They're not invincible. Two (per the directors commentary of
the Fellowship dvd), the eagles had very specific reasons for doing things.
They weren't just there to be the carrier pigeons of Middle Earth.
The third and most elegant explanation I've gotten comes from regular poster
Lord_Natrone, who has allowed me to use his text here: "The Eagles are the
servants of Manwe, Lord of the Valar. Their intervention is assumed to be
through his grace. The Valar seem to have taken a minimal intervention
approach to Middle-earth in the Third Age, and although they have interest
in Sauron being defeated they won't just knock him down and be done with it.
For this reason the Eagles are occasionally used to tip the scales back into
balance for the good guys, but they are not at the call of the Free Peoples
to solve their problems."
Another poster discussed the eagles in detail here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/board/nest/5471568
. Other posts on that
thread are interesting as well.
(For the record, the Valar are higher beings that live in Valinor. They're
not gods, per se, because there's only one god in Tolkien's world
(Iluvatar), but they're incredibly powerful, and are often treated in Middle
Earth much the way gods in a polytheistic society are. They also can have
much to do with what goes on in Middle Earth, i.e. Aule was a Vala who
created the race of dwarves.)
* Where were the elves and dwarves during all of the battles? Why didn't
they come help?
Per poster Diamond-Eye: "The Elves and Dwarves were fighting their own
battles. While the siege of Gondor is going own Sauron is also launching
assaults on Lorien and Erebor, or the Lonely Mountain. " Legolas points this
out in the books. The dwarves and elves aren't just sitting pretty in their
homes -- they have wars on their own fronts.
* Why weren't there orcs guarding the entrance of Mt. Doom?
One of our heroes' major advantages here is that it honestly never occurs to
Sauron that anyone will try to destroy the ring. He knows how weak the
hearts of men are, and expects them to use it, not destroy it. So he feels
no need to guard a mountain that's already well within his well-protected
borders.
* Why isn't Gandalf more "wizardy"? Where are his cool powers?
Gandalf is a Maia (like a spirit) in the order of the Istari, which is a
group of Maiar (including Saruman) that was sent to Middle Earth to help
guide its residents. But they did not come without rules. They were sent to
"train, advise, instruct, arouse the hearts and minds of those threatened by
Sauron to a resistance with their own strengths". They were not permitted to
display their powers in full force. It should also be noted that Peter
Jackson has stated that he's not crazy about fireworks-type magic powers
(nothing to do with the actual fireworks in the first movie). He prefers it
to be more subtle.
* Did Gandalf hold a ring of power?
Yes, Gandalf was the keeper of Narya, the ring of fire. This was one of the
three rings given to the elves (in the prologue to the first film). You can
see it on his finger in the last scene. For anyone wondering why it wasn't
there before, the rings were invisible when worn while they had power, but
when the one ring was destroyed, they became just regular old rings, and
thus could be seen.
Not being an elf, Gandalf he wasn't the ring's original owner. It went to
Gil-Galad, and then to Cirdan, both elves. Cirdan was the one who gave it to
Gandalf.
Gil-Galad also held Vilya, the ring of air, which he gave to Elrond.
Galadriel is the keeper of Nenya, the ring of water. Anyone who has seen the
extended version of the first movie has seen her show this to Frodo (who can
see it because he is a ringbearer himself). So basically, that ship that
carried the three of them was significant because it was bearing all three
elven rings across the sea.
* Why couldn't Sauron control the elven rings?
Sauron could control the rings while he wore the one ring, so the elves
immediately ceased using their rings while Sauron weilded the one ring. Once
the ring was parted from him, however (and he was "killed"), the elves were
able to wear and use their rings.
* What's the deal with Arwen's mortality?
Arwen gives up her immortality to be with Aragorn. Tolkien makes that fairly
clear, I think (it's in the appendices). Her ability to do this seems to
stem from her being of a line that was "half-elven" (it's a long story -- 
both of her parents are elves; it just has to do with her bloodline), and
thus she was given a choice that most elves don't have (since there are only
three elf-human parings in Middle Earth history, and different things
happened each time, it's hard to establish a "rule"). If she had remained
immortal, she would not have been able to be with Aragorn after death: men
who die go on to the next plane of existence (i.e. heaven), while elves,
even when they "die" on Middle Earth, are tied to Aman (the world) until the
end of time (elves who die just go to Valinor -- they don't go on to another
world). That's one of the reasons her father was so against it -- because he
would quite literally never see his daughter again, even after death. And
that's (we think) why no ship would take her to Valinor anymore. She's no
longer immortal. She has made that sacrifice for the chance to be with
Aragorn after death.
* Are Arwen and Aragorn related?
Yes, they are cousins many times removed. Aragorn is a descendent of
Elrond's brother (of course, many generations down).
* How the heck did Shelob's stinger get through Frodo's mithril vest?
Good question. In the books she is described as stinging Frodo on the neck.
But many people here have pointed out that in the film it looks more like
she stings him in the chest. We've run through many theories on this, but
here's our final thought, through days (I kid you not) of us trying to
figure this out. When we see Frodo in Cirith Ungol, we see two wounds on his
chest. One is undoubtedly his Weathertop wound. Contrary to popular belief,
the other one (the circle on his right) is not from when the troll spears
him in Moria -- the troll got him on his left. We've also been able to see
shots of the mithril vest, when untied, falling open fairly low on his
chest. This might indicate that the sting was in his chest, and the mithril
neckline was just too low to stop it (not a particularly useful design if it
leaves half your torso open, imho, but whatever). And the circle wound is
the sting. That's the best we can give you from theater viewings.
* How does Sam get Sting and the elvish light before confronting Shelob?
While running from Shelob in the caves, Frodo drops the light (took me four
viewings to catch it, but trust me, it happens. When he's caught in the
spider web, and hacking his way through to Gollum, right before he makes it
through, Sting gets caught in the web, and he has to leave it behind (it's
hanging there after he runs through). Presumably Sam picks up both as he
follows Frodo's path.
* How was Eowyn able to kill the Witch-king?
This is a biggie that people come up with different theories on. First is
that she was able to do it because she was a woman, not a man, since the
Witch-king is obviously convinced that no man can kill him (this is made
extra confusing with her response "I am no man"). The Witch-king's source of
that information was a prediction by an elf called Glorfindel, who said that
he would not be killed by a man (which of course, he wasn't). So it wasn't
that she was able to kill him in a way in which a man would have been
unable -- it's just that she fulfilled a prophecy.
There's also contention about the role of Merry in this whole thing. Merry
(we think, although I've heard different opinions on this as well) stabbed
the Witch-king in the leg with a Westernesse blade (the one Aragorn gave him
on Weathertop in the first film), which was forged specifically to fight
against the Witch-king (I believe before he actually became the Witch-king).
Tolkien doesn't specify, but the theory is that this is a special blade that
somehow rends the essence, or the fabric, if you will (not the clothing, but
rather the force that holds him together) of the Witch-king, which is what
makes Eowyn ultimately able to kill him with her plain old Rohirric blade.
There are multiple camps on this, as neither of them are men: some people
think that Merry (a hobbit) was actually the person who killed the
Witch-king. Others think that it was all Eowyn (a woman). I personally am of
the thought that it was both, and one could not have done it without the
other. In my opinion, this is the theory that is the most supported by the
information from Tolkien.
It should be noted that this is a contentious point, since there have been
people who have said that Merry was not actually given a Westernesse blade
on Weathertop in the film, and also that the contingencies that allowed
Merry to get his blade back after being kidnapped and disarmed by the orcs
in the book was not present in the film, so that Merry was armed only with a
plain old Rohirric blade given to him by Eowyn. It's possible that, to
simplify, the director decided to do away with the Westernesse angle
altogether. Merry distracted him, and Eowyn dealt the death blow.
* Does pipeweed = pot?
It's fairly clear that Tolkien was referring to tobacco when he talked about
pipeweed (despite the hobbits' tendancies to overeat). There are many
references to this throughout the books that I don't have space to list
here, but trust me, they're there. One poster has suggested that the term
pipeweed was used instead of tobacco because tobacco is not native to
Europe.
* Why Aragorn didn't use the army of the dead at the Black Gate?
Our best theories are that either he wanted to keep his word or that since
the dead were cursed for not coming to the aid of Gondor originally they can
only be used for Gondor's defense but not in an attack made BY Gondor. It
should also be noted that at that moment, Aragorn didn't actually know yet
that he would be marching on the Black Gate (as far as we know).
* Is Eowyn now Queen of Rohan? Is Aragorn now King of Rohan?
No, and no. Eomer, Eowyn's brother, is king of Rohan. Eowyn marries Faramir
and becomes Princess of Ithilien. All that talk from Theoden about ruling in
his stead was based on the premise that both he and Eomer would fall in
battle. It's not clear in the films, but we know this from the books.
Aragorn is king of Gondor and Arnor, the land of men to the north. But long
ago the kings of Gondor gave Rohan to the Rohirrim, so they remain
autonomous except for that they're required to aid Gondor in battle when
needed.
Filming trivia questions:
* What are the lyrics to the songs used in the film?
For all song lyrics, including Pippin's song to Denethor, Aragorn's
coronation song, the song Merry and Pippin sing in Edoras, and songs from
prior films (including Eowyn's dirge from the TTT EE), plus translations,
where necessary, go here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/board/thread/5492272
* Is that Andy Serkis/Smeagol carrying a pumpkin in the Shire at the end of
the film?
No. Nor is it the actor who played Deagol. It's just another hobbit.
* Who originally played Aragorn?
Stuart Townsend. No one knows the exact story, but either he quit or he was
fired after his first day of shooting. Apparently it was mutual. Peter
Jackson said he decided that he had cast the part too young.
* Where can I get a copy of the ROTK script?
It's early still for full transcripts, but there's a rough version here:
http://www.legomirk.com/lotrscript2003/table_of_content.html
. This site also
has some screenshots, which are cool.
* Where can I get copies of the drawings from the credits? Why wasn't
Christopher Lee/Saruman included?
As far as I know, those pictures have not yet been made available. If and
when they are, it would be on either the official sight or 
theonering.net
.
And as soon as the dvd comes out, I expect people will make and post
screencaps.
We have no answer as to why Christopher Lee wasn't in the credits beyond "he
wasn't in the movie". Maybe he'll show up in the ee dvd credits.
* Was that Peter Jackson? Were those his kids? Etc.
There are many cameos in the movies -- too many to go through here. I will
say that Peter Jackson shows up once in each, and his children are also in
each, and in ROTK twice. There are also other designers/crewmembers, family
of the cast/crew, etc. But this thread is too long, so they don't get to be
listed here.
Addressing those troll posts that some people want legitimate answers to:
* Are Sam and Frodo gay?
Well, Tolkien never said, so officially we don't know anything. But many
people argue that Tolkien wrote a story about men going to war and how it
affects them (i.e. the bonds of brotherhood that it creates). He was also
creating a traditional master-servant relationship, complete with a level of
devotion that is foreign in the modern world, so we can't really relate to
it. Not to mention the fact that, particularly at the end, they had just
shared a tremendously traumatic experience. Doesn't mean they were gay. We
also have Sam's marriage to Rosie to consider (and they had a ton of kids).
But anything is possible.
EDIT: (Information per poster Ascalon) In the english army, there was (at
least, maybe it still is) a tradition, that every officer had a "best boy",
who looked after him (serving tea, brushing shoes etc...). The director
himself said that he wanted to create this relationship between Frodo and
Sam.
* Is LOTR racist/eurocentric?
This gets into sticky, emotional issues. Tolkien wrote his books to be a
prehistory of England. That (and no other reason) is why the principal
characters are all white. In the prehistory of England, most people were
white. Many of the baddies are not white. This is probably due to the fact
that they came from the south, and people were darker down there. It's a
function more of the reality of the time than anything else. As far as "west
is good-east is bad", that was also a function of time, but more the time
Tolkien was writing in than when he was writing about. He was writing this
around WWII, and there was an alliance of west against east. Besides which,
when you're talking about prehistoric England, there's not a whole lot west
of you to begin with, so most of your adversaries are probably coming from
the east anyway. Not that that will stop the trolls...
EDIT: There is a fantastic thread discussing the racism issue that you can
read here:
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0866058/board/thread/4761136?d=4761136#4761136
.
Both the top post (by The_Consigliere) and the initial response by BB-15 are
highly recommended (haven't looked at the rest of the tread yet -- it may
have a lot of great stuff in it).
DVD/Editing cuts questions:
* Will Legolas and Gimli be shown going over the sea in the ee dvd?
I don't know for sure, but I can almost guarantee not. There's no indication
that this was ever filmed, nor any explanation of why it would be. There are
too many other things to tie up in the dvd.
* Will Saruman be in the dvd?
Yes. There's an explanation of his cut here:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/17/film.rings.saruman.ap/index.html
.
For the record, Grima Wormtongue is with Saruman in Orthanc, so his
storyline should be resolved then as well.
* Will the Scouring of the Shire be in the dvd?
No. It was never shot, so we'll never see it. Unfortunate, but the director
wrapped things up in different ways.
* Will the Houses of Healing be on the dvd?
Word is yes. There is certainly footage (i.e. Eomer finding Eowyn on the
battlefield) that's in the previews, but not in the dvd, so we know that at
least some additional stuff with Eowyn was shot. Additionally, I've seen a
still of Aragorn sitting at her bedside (can't imagine where else that would
come up). Also, the insert shot of her and Faramir at the coronation implies
that somehow their storyline was set up. Newsweek magazine (and I believe
other sources as well) has confirmed that this will be on the dvd.
* Why was the Houses of Healing cut?
Your guess is as good as mine [grumbles bitterly]. No, actually I'm pretty
sure it was just because of time and editing/flow.
* Will the Mouth of Sauron be on the dvd?
Rumor has it that it is possible, but we don't know for this as "firmly" as
we know on other things (i.e. Sarumon, Houses of Healing). According to
imdb, an actor named Bruce Spence was cast in this part, and there's been
indications that shots from such a scene can be found on the video game. So
it was probably filmed.
* Will there be more on the dvd of Frodo and Sam in Cirith Ungol/getting
into orc gear?
We don't really know the answer to that. Rumor is, though, that stills of
that scene are showing up in film still picturebooks, so it may have been
shot, and it may or may not make the dvd cut.
* When will the dvds come out?
Normally the theatrical version is out around August, and the extended
version is out around November. However we have heard that the release date
for the TE of ROTK may be as early as March or May. Unfortunately, we are
hearing very depressing rumors that the EE will not be pushed up as well,
and that we're all going to have to wait until November, like usual.
* How long with the EE dvd be?
Obviously no one can know for sure yet -- probably not even the director.
But rumor has it that it will be over 4 hours (I've heard estimates from 4
to nearly 5). Our best information (internet quotes from the director) put
it at 4 hours and 15 minutes. There's certainly a lot to put in (Saruman,
House of Healing, etc.)

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