June 14, 2002

Thumbs Up
Brett C.

I don't usually write two essays, but I thought I'd hop on again to say some of the little details I noticed in the movie where PJ and co. got it right. Just to provide balance to an article I put on some months ago pointing out some of the litle discrepencies [that article was done satirically, but the humour may not have translated well]. Anyway, thanks PJ for...

1. Legolas walking on the snow on Caradhras, while everyone else has to lumber through the drifts.

2. The three stone trolls looming over the fleeing Hobbits and Strider as they rest after fleeing Weathertop.

3. In the battle on the slopes of Mount Doom, the armies are comprised only of infantry - the Numenorean forces lacked cavalry forces in this conflict.

4. The date on the scroll of Isildur - 3434 of the second age. While not the year of Sauron's fall in the books [3441] it is the time of the Battle of Dagor Lad, and consistent with the timeline based on a decision to omit the 7 year seige of Barad Dur and cut straight to the final battle at Mount Doom.

5. Isildur wearing the ring on a chain about his neck - this is described in the chapter of Unfinished Tales 'The Disaster of the Gladden Fields'. Also as Isildur's company is marching along the trees are on their right and the river their left, which is correct for the geography of Mirkwood and Anduin where the ambush occured and based on the company heading north on their way home to Arnor.

6. Saruman with wisps of black at the edge of his temples and about the lips, exactly as described by Tolkien.

7. Saruman's disdain for Gandalf's use of pipe weed, mentioned in Unfinished Tales.

8. The original garden setting for Isengard, described in TTT - The Road to Isengard, before the corruption of the citadel into a fortress of darness.

9. The stream the Fellowship crosses to enter Lorien after fleeing Moria [named Nimordel in the book].

10. And finally, a personal favourite - Cate Blanchet's voice for Galadriel, described in the text as 'clear and musical, but deeper than a woman's wont.' Just perfect.