March 8, 2004

Lack of Subtlety
The Bruce

Thorongil, I have to admit I was taken aback by Theoden's line "Why should we help Gondor?" There was more than a hint of bitterness and ingratitude to it. It could be put down to cinema being a form of shorthand. PJ could have been unsubtly steering us to the idea that the decision to help Gondor wasn't automatic. Gondor had left Rohan to fight its own battles in the past. Theoden ultimately came to the right decision without too much outside pressure.
A question I have for everyone is what do you see when you read the book now? Do you still see the characters and events as you originally imagined them? Or do you see things as they were in the movies?