January 17, 2003

Once More I Suppose
Andrew

The Scouring of the Shire IS NOT going to be in the movie! We know that. It's a fact. In the book, it works fine, but in a movie, think about it. I mean, people are sitting in the movie theatre. They've just seen the climax of the trilogy(the battle in Mordor and the destruction of the Ring) and we see Aragorn become King, and we travel all the way back up to the Shire, just to have another half an hour after the climax? We'd be in the theatre for four hours!
Besides, I never liked this part in the book anyway. I mean, they meet Saruman somewhere in Dunland, and they just leave him and head up to Rivendell. Meanwhile, Saruman somehow gets to the Shire faster on foot, than people on horses and ponies can get there, even if they do make more stops along the road. For some reason, the whole of the Shire starts listening to this wizard, and let him destroy their country for no reason. Somehow, Saruman knew that Bag End is where Frodo lived, and he decides to wait for them to come, just so he can be foiled by four hobbits, and be killed by a sudden enlightened Wormtongue. It just didn't work for me.
Personally, I would have liked it more had they gotten back to the Shire, and were welcomed with praise and party by the hobbits of Hobbiton. Sam marries Rosie, and they live in Bag End for a while. Then Frodo and Bilbo go to the Grey Havens. This would have better as an emotional end, compared to a last attempt to make this story even longer!
Besides, the Gray Havens are going to be in the movie, and I think that that emotional end is what we're going to get with the movie. After all the action and excitement of war has settled down, we get to see Frodo and Bilbo leaving Middle-Earth. And without stalling with the Scouring of the Shire. I always see this as simply an attempt to make the story longer. I think Tolkien didn't want to stop writing and came up with this annoying subplot.
I love every aspect of the books. And Tolkien is the best author this Earth as ever seen, in my opinion. But The Scouring of the Shire is out of the movies, and I'm happy with that. Personally, I like to see the movies for what is IN them, not for what is NOT IN them. Try to do that!