March 30, 2002

Relationship of Elves, Dwarves and Men
Chris P.

For all of the highly deserved accolades heaped on FoTR, the actors, directing etc... one thing of import that was missing stood out. Professor Tolkein went to great lengths to emphasize the estrangement of the races from oneanother, in particular, elves and dwarves. In fact, one of the key elements in LoTR is the healing of that rift, perhaps purposely coinciding with unity against the divisive evil of Sauron. In the actual book FoTR, during and after Lothlorien, Legolas and Gimli become inseparable, yet this does not seem to be emphasized in the movie. The rift is apparent at the Council of Elrond, when Gimli challenges the notion of trusting to the elves, however, the deepened friendship is only lighly implied. My hope is to see more emphasis in TTT.