July 19, 2003

Re: Osgiliath Reasoning
Bob Praz

I just need to say that I agree with Melkor on why PJ put the Osgiliath sequence in TTT; that's what I always assumed it was for. Many people say that Frodo revealing the Ring to the Nazgul undermines the plot, because Sauron is not suppose to know where the Ring is at that time. But I say that's not true; in the book, Sauron is not sure of the Ring's location, but he believes it's going to Gondor (as he thinks that everyone is after its power, and Gondor, being is greatest enemy, would be the greatest threat to him if it had the Ring; that's why he started his war earlier). In the movie we may not get to see Aragorn reveal himself to Sauron in the palantir, and anyhow we haven't seen much about the Palantir yet in TTT, so having the Ring show up in Osgiliath confirms to Sauron that the Ring is going to Gondor (after all, how could he expect Faramir or any of the desperate Gondorians would let the Ring go? He believes its corruption is absolute) and therefore it gives Sauron a reason to attack Gondor earlier, while ignoring that the Ring may have gone elsewhere.

Another different reason for the extended Faramir and Osgiliath scenes in TTT would also be to introduce Gondor earlier. In the first two movies we have already been introduced to so many characters and places that in ROTK, the less we have to explain, the quicker we can continue with the story. There is so much plot to cover in the third film that introducing Gondor and its situation would simply take up more time. But with the Osgiliath sequence in TTT, people already know Gondor pretty well and the war that it is facing, plus we know more about Denethor (though we haven't heard his name yet). This will make things easier to understand for RotK.

So there you have it, that's why I believe the Faramir/Osgiliath scenes are justified.