July 9, 2003

Re: No Scouring of the Shire
Speedcorn

WARNING: ROTK Spoilers Below

When I first heard that the Lord of the Rings movies were being made my first thought was "I hope they don't include Tom Bombadil". Although he's entertaining in the book, he unnecessarily complicates and confuses the story. Although loosely connected to the story as a whole, his part is not essential to the main storyline of the destruction of the Ring. In addition, the movie takes time and works hard to establish the history and nature of the One Ring as an ultimate source of power that will corrupt and twist any bearer to Sauron's will. If Tom Bombadil were shown in the movie putting on the Ring, admiring it, not disappearing, and then handing it back to Frodo as if nothing had happened, an explanation would be required so that the audience understands why this was so. Assuming such an explanation could be produced (it was not in the book) there is still the fact that the power of the Ring has been diminished in the eyes of the audience. Why bother wasting precious screen time on this?

Similar arguments can be used for the removal of the 'Scouring of the Shire' from the movie. It is clear that the Lord of the Rings movies focus almost exclusively on the quest to destroy the One Ring. What happens to the Shire while the hobbits are away (although connected in many ways to their quest) is a separate story. To include the Scouring of the Shire in the movie would require development of that plot throughout all three movies. It is not as simple as adding it to the end of ROTK. And once again, although connected, the Scouring of the Shire has no real bearing on the outcome of the story. Everything that happens to the characters after the Scouring of the Shire could have happened without it. Frodo can still be internally and eternally sad. Sam can still be mayor and marry Rosie and have many children. Pippin and Merry can still be brave and revered members of the community and honored in Gondor. Again, why waste precious time on something that is not needed when they will have a hard enough time squeezing in everything that is essential to the plot.

So in my opinion there are reasons to leave out the Scouring of the Shire above and beyond the fact that it serves as an anti-climax to the story. I think that the ending to the Return of the King movie will be much improved by leaving out the Scouring of the Shire and I for one won’t miss it a bit.

Speedcorn

PS: The Old Forest, Old Man Willow, and the Barrow-Wights are all non-essential as well so no one need point out that Tom Bombadil is required for those parts.