Peter Jackson did a great job bringing the Lord of the Rings books to the screen, but there were still several moments missing from Tolkien’s works.
Summary
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Many great characters and moments from JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books were glossed over in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation.
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Important characters such as Fatty Bolger, Farmer Maggot, Tom Bombadil and Glorfindel were left out of the films.
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Key moments, such as Aragorn’s reformulation of Narsil and Faramir’s immediate rejection of the One Ring, were also excluded from the films.
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Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings The trilogy is considered a faithful and respectful adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s books, but several key moments in the text were still omitted. Of course, including all the plot points in the movies would have been impossible. The Lord of the rings The book series is notoriously long and packed with minute details, and Jackson did a decent job of organizing them in a way that worked on screen. Still, without some of these small but impactful moments, certain aspects of the films fall a little flatter.
Many of Peter Jackson’s changes in The Lord of the rings They were necessary and even improved some of the plot and characters. Arwen was given a much more prominent role, giving her romance with Aragorn the attention it deserved from her. The timeline for Frodo’s departure from the Shire was shortened, creating a sense of urgency that worked very well for the films. Still, upon rereading the Lord of the Rings books, it’s a little sad to remember these shocking moments that were overlooked in the movies.
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10 Fatty Bolger and Farmer Maggot help the hobbits escape
He Lord of the Rings The movies reduced the number of Hobbit characters, which is a shame since there were some really great ones in the books. An example is Fatty Bolger, a good friend of Frodo’s who conspired with Sam, Merry and Pippin to help the Ringbearer escape the Shire without raising suspicion. Also, there was Farmer Maggot. Although he Lord of the Rings The films mentioned this character (Merry and Pippin stole vegetables from his crops), omitted that he treated Frodo and the rest kindly and contributed to their escape from the Ringwraiths.
9 Tom Bombadil gives Merry the sword that helps defeat the Witch King
Another character who was left out of the Lord of the Rings movies is Tom Bombadil, a mysterious being who lived in the Old Forest. Near his house were the Barrows, filled with tombs belonging to the ancient Dúnedain of Arnor. Frodo and the other hobbits were lost within these tombs, but were rescued in the books by Tom Bombadil, who recovered four Barrowblades, created by the Dúnedain for the purpose of fighting the enemies of Angmar, and gifted them to the hobbits. The sword from Merry’s Barrow was quite important as he would use it to stab the Witch-king of Angmar in the back of the leg, allowing Eowyn to deal the final blow.
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8 Tom Bombadil tries on the one ring (without consequences)
During the Hobbits’ visit to Tom Bombadil in the Lord of the Rings books, they realized that he was not an ordinary being. At one point the jolly man slipped the One Ring onto his finger and Frodo was surprised to see that it had no effect. Bombadil did not disappear and there was no sign of the greed that often overcame people when they interacted with the Ring. Although it is never clear in Tolkien’s canon exactly what Bombadil is, Gandalf reveals that he is older than Arda (the world of Lord of the Rings). Therefore, even the great Ring of Sauron was far beneath him.
7 Bilbo offers to take the One Ring to Mordor at the Council of Elrond
Bilbo is adorable in The Lord of the rings, but he is often considered a somewhat silly character. When Frodo saw him again in Rivendell, the Hobbit had aged (thanks to the absence of the Ring) and seemed to have little understanding of what was happening. Furthermore, none of the Elves or members of the Fellowship of the Ring were ever seen interacting with him. This was not the case in the books, where Bilbo had developed a respected reputation in Rivendell between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the rings. Because of this, the Hobbit was included in Elrond’s Council, where he offered to bring the One Ring to Mordor, an offer which Elrond respectfully declined.
6 Aragorn reveals that he had Narsil reformed
In it Lord of the Rings In the films, Narsil, the sword that Isildur had used to cut the One Ring from Sauron’s hand, was not reforged until The return of the king, when Elrond used this as a sign of acceptance from Aragorn. In the books, however, Aragorn had the sword reforged after he and the Hobbits arrived in Rivendell in The Fellowship of the Ring. Until that moment, he had carried the broken sword with him, as it was a symbol of his royal destiny. With the One Ring on its way to destruction, Aragorn determined it was time to claim his ancestor’s sword as a symbol of his journey back to the throne.
5 Aragorn tells the story of Beren and Luthien at Weathertop
He Lord of the Rings The books are filled with poems and songs that help complete the story of Middle-earth. Specially in The Fellowship of the Ring, it seems like every character Frodo met had a story to tell. Of course, there was no time for this in Peter Jackson’s trilogy, and this meant the loss of a lot of excellent information. An example is the story of Beren and Luthien, Tolkien’s greatest love story, which Aragorn told at Weathertop. It tells of an elven woman and a human man who fell in love and had to undertake an impossible adventure to be together. These two turn out to be ancestors of Aragorn and Arwen, and their tragic story parallels that of the future king and queen of Gondor.
4Glorfindel vs. The Ring Specters
In Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings In the films, Arwen saved Frodo from the Ringwraiths and delivered him to Rivendell. However, a completely different character carried out this task in Tolkien’s books. Glorfindel was an essential figure throughout the history of Middle-earth, having also played an important role during the First Age. He was a powerful warrior and a great friend to characters like Aragorn and Elrond. Although he replaces his actions in The Lord of the rings with Arwen it was good because it gave her a stronger role, it was a shame to see Glorfindel go.
3 Faramir’s immediate refusal to take the One Ring
Faramir was seen to look a lot like his brother Boromir in Jackson’s version of The Lord of the rings, but he was the complete opposite in the source material. Although the films saw him tempted by the Ring, determined for a time to return it to his father as Boromir had hoped, the books saw a much more intelligent character. Faramir was described as something like Gandalf: wise, scholarly, and kind. When he met Frodo and saw the One Ring, he immediately understood that the Ring had probably been his brother’s undoing. So, with very little preamble, he befriended the Hobbits and helped them on their journey.
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2 Merry’s moving presence during the death of King Theoden
An unlikely friendship in Tolkien’s books was that of Merry and King Theoden, who quickly hit it off after meeting in The two Towers. He Lord of the Rings The books revealed that Theoen began to see Merry as a son and became very protective of the Hobbit. This was part of the reason he had ordered Merry to stay behind while Rohan’s army marched towards Gondor: he did not want to lose another son. Of course, Merry sneaked into Pelennor Fields, and it was a good thing she did, since it was thanks to him and Eowyn that the Witch-king fell. However, unlike Jackson’s film, where Eowyn was at Theorden’s side when he died, Merry was the one who provided this final comfort.
1 Saruman’s death in the Shire
In Jackson’s official court Lord of the Rings, Saruman was locked away in Orthanc and essentially forgotten. In the extended version of The two Towers, the White Wizard was killed by Grima Wormtongue while the pair were atop Orthanc speaking with Gandalf and the hosts of Rohan. Still, that’s not how it happened in the books. The villain Saruman was imprisoned in Orthanc, but Treebeard freed him once the war was over. From there, the wizard traveled to the Shire, knowing that he could still wield power over the people there. It was then, at the end of The return of the king book, that Grima did his betrayal and murdered Saruman.