December 18, 2002

Changes in TTT and RotK
David K

I know we are all aware that PJ has clearly stated that TT is the movie that most departs from the book. Plus, after last night's special on the WB, we got good long looks at two scenes that are in the movie and don't appear in the books.

And now, I will attempt a good, logical explanation. To know why PJ has, as some would say, tinkered with TT, we find the answer in the the text itself. In fact, I would say that the text REQUIRES tinkering (not as a text, but to adapt to a movie). There are three problems with adapting TT book to movie. Most of us are aware of and understand the first two. The third has not been largely considered here yet.

1. The structure. As stated by myself and countless others, the quest story continues about a week and a half ahead of the war story. When adapting to a movie that will cut back and forth to show simultaneous events, this creates a large problem with where and when and how to end the TT movie. (Hence moving Shelob to the beginning of ROTK, and perhaps taking some of the Pippin/Merry story from ROTK and adding it to TT.)

2. The complexity. The war in Rohan story from the TT and beginning of ROTK is actually very complex: Several locations, several battles, groups of people advancing, retreating, joining from the north and east before, during and after battles. (And by not explaining the band of Dunedain living in the north during FoTR, it probably would make little sense to introduce them now.) PJ would be wise to simplify this story in a movie adaptation.

3. The characters. Depending on how you define "lead character," LotR the novel has two different sets of leads. If you think the main causes of action are the leads, then naturally you think Frodo, Aragorn, and Gandalf. If, however, you think of emotional development as the key indicator of the main characters, then you believe that Sam, Merry, and Pippin are the leads. PJ has, in my opinion, wisely decided that for a MOVIE (which is what he is making, by the way) it makes more sense to have the lead characters the same for both definitions. So, now that Aragorn and Frodo are the lead characters for sure, there are some necessary changes to give them emotional development. Honestly, on an emotional and world-view level, Aragorn doesn't change during the entire book, and Frodo doesn't change after chapter 2. There's been a lot of complaints about changes to these two characters in FoTR, but all those changes make sense when you consider that they are now also the emotional lead characters. In the case of a trilogy, the first movie is exposition, the second is the emotional development, and the third the big climax. So, if we've changed the emotional lead characters, then the second movie, where most of the emotional development occurs, will have the most changes. Finally, with Aragorn and Frodo as the emotional leads, their emotional struggles are (respectively) choosing to claim his heritage and accept Arwen's love and having the courage and strength to deliver and destroy the ring. (Notice that these are all struggles that in the book happen before the book even begins or all in the second chapter--in a movie, it makes sense for our characters to be seen struggling with these emotions and decisions.) The Scouring of the Shire, very necessary in the books, is really the emotional "climax" for Merry, Pippin, and Sam. Since these three are not lead characters in the movie, you no longer need the conclusion to their character development. No Souring then means that Sam no longer needs a box of earth and seed from Galadriel, Saruman has to die in TT, etc....

In fact nearly all changes in the movies that are not simply compression and deletion for time, can be explained by making Frodo and Aragorn main characters in every sense of the phrase.

In conclusion, TT movie is going to be significantly different from TT book. Is that bad, no. Does it take away from the book, not at all. Will it make for a better movie? Probably so. Tolkien was a masterful writer and Jackson has shown himself to be a masterful film producer/director. I trust both to do good work in their respective media.