November 16, 2003

Frodo's Mithril Coat and Other Things
Danny

In my mind,it is almost a guarantee that someone will bring Frodo's coat to Sauron. There is a clip that has shown up in some trailers that is very very short, but that looks like an Orc going up stairs to the black tower. The camera tends to focus on that orc like its arrival was of some import. So the only thing that makes any sense to me is that it is marking the arival of Frodo's mithril coat at Barad Dur (spelling?).

I also highly doubt PJ would miss the opportunity to do that. Of course, the viewer will almost certainly be aware of Frodo's rescue by the time the black gate scene happens, but it will still make for some nice dramatic effect. We will be thinking something like "no, don't fall for Sauron's lies" and it will really bother us to see how the hope vanishes on all the faces. It will be one of those film moments where you just wish you could tell them that Frodo is alive. It will make a great dramatic moment on film, and I highly doubt PJ would pass up on the opportunity. Especially when it comes straight from the text.

The last bit that I think is pretty conclusive is actually from the recent ROTK game. They make it a point to show that shirt being taken by a fleeing orc. At the black gate in the game the mithril shirt again makes an appearance. So seeing how the game bases itself in many ways from the movie script and visual, it is likely that the mithril shirt is in.

I do hope however that some of the things the game included are not in the movie. Most likely they won't be, because they were things that were done to give certain levels a boss etc. Aragorn takes on the King of the Dead in the game, and either Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli fights the Mouth of Sauron. I would rather that neither of those fights happen in the movie. I hope they don't anyway. Actually, I hope that the entire paths of the dead sequence is done like the book. Of course the game had undead monsters that they fought so you could have a level to play. However I think that part of the film will be more effective if it is done in the eery, spooky and silent way that the book does it.