Lord of the Rings Q&A

[cjolley]

One question to rule them all.

Have you read Bored of the Rings?
chuck

PS I have & I'm not.
PPS Welcome Back!

[Sethos]

Does anyone else notice how hot the elves are???

~Sethos

[Gurm]

Re: One question to rule them all.

Originally posted by cjolley
Have you read Bored of the Rings?
chuck

PS I have & I'm not.
PPS Welcome Back!

Harvard Lampoon? Yeah. Although their tendency to reduce everything to a drug joke is a bit overdone.

- Gurm

P.S. Thanks!

[Gurm]

Originally posted by Sethos
Does anyone else notice how hot the elves are???

~Sethos

Intentionally. Again, I think PJ has done a great job through casting choices and make-up in portraying what Tolkien defined as supernatural beauty and grace.

- Gurm

[Drizzt]

Gurm, I still have to see TTT (Italy get it only on 18/01) but...
Have you noticed how many "visual inspiration" Jackson take from here and there?

For example...was there a Tolkien's painting of Sauron's armor, or it has been copied from what I think?
(not to questioning the work of PJ, that is great, only to understand if I'm the only one to note it)

[Seaspray]

Helms Deep

IIRC there were no other Elves in the party of Rangers that included Elladan and Elrohir (the sons of Elrond). The others in the party were all Dunadan (Rangers) and the people of Aragorn. The party was led by Halbarad, who is many times described as Aragorn's 'kin' although I don't recall if the exact relationship was ever mentioned. Elladan and Elrohir basically tagged along because they wanted to do something in the battle against Sauron.

Elladan and Elrohir were actually half-elven although they must have looked mostly elvish as Legolas describes them in the book. Their father was a half elf, who choose to be Elvish rather than mortal and their mother was an elf (and the daughter of Celeborn and Galadriel).

In any event they did not take part in the battle but met up with Aragorn afterwards on the way to Isengard.

POSSIBLE SPOILER

As you say, why PJ put the elves (and Haldir in particular) in the battle is beyond me. It adds nothing to the story and isn't in the book. Haldir was certainly not killed at Helms Deep (or anywhere). In fact I am sure Frodo and Sam met him again later on the way home and he may even have been present at the wedding of Aragorn and Arwen (can't remember exactly).

Sorry if I am being pedantic but that part of the film really bugged me.

Jon

[Gurm]

Originally posted by Drizzt
Gurm, I still have to see TTT (Italy get it only on 18/01) but...
Have you noticed how many "visual inspiration" Jackson take from here and there?

For example...was there a Tolkien's painting of Sauron's armor, or it has been copied from what I think?
(not to questioning the work of PJ, that is great, only to understand if I'm the only one to note it)

You're right. The two premiere Tolkien artists in the world (Howe and Lee) are the art directors for the film.

Therefore, it's no wonder that many of the art cues look "familiar". They'll look more familiar in the future. Lee says he'll never free-sketch a fell beast again, he'll just ask WETA for a wireframe to work from.

- Gurm

[Gurm]

Re: Helms Deep

Originally posted by Seaspray
As you say, why PJ put the elves (and Haldir in particular) in the battle is beyond me. It adds nothing to the story and isn't in the book. Haldir was certainly not killed at Helms Deep (or anywhere). In fact I am sure Frodo and Sam met him again later on the way home and he may even have been present at the wedding of Aragorn and Arwen (can't remember exactly).

Sorry if I am being pedantic but that part of the film really bugged me.

Jon

No, that's fine. In fact it REALLY bugs me as well. But I'm willing to let it go.

- Gurm

[KvHagedorn]

I would like to see PJ explain these inexplicable deviations on the DVD somewhere. Why the heck did he do that? What was the point?

[Gurm]

Yeah, me too. It's beyond bizarre.

- Gurm

[rugger]

Originally posted by Gurm
Yeah, me too. It's beyond bizarre.

- Gurm

Maybe deep inside, he is just an evil bastard who wants to make LOTR fanboys squirm at least one or twice in every film.

All the while knowing that they will still pay for it

[Wombat]

Maybe he just felt a need to reduce the cast of characters for the non-LOTR reading public. Just as Arwen replaced Glorfindel.

[KvHagedorn]

I bet I know why he did the Helm's Deep bit.. There were too few defenders. Plus he needed some serious archers to make the defense look credible. Plus he might just like Elves..

About Haldir dying, PJ might have wanted to convey a sense of real loss, and he couldn't kill a main character. Or maybe the actor just wanted to do a death scene to show how awesomely he could do it.

[Drizzt]

Originally posted by Gurm
You're right. The two premiere Tolkien artists in the world (Howe and Lee) are the art directors for the film.

Therefore, it's no wonder that many of the art cues look "familiar".

- Gurm

I think you have not understood, or I have explained myself poorly (more likely).


I will tell you the first example that come to my mind:

1) Sauron's armor is identical to Malekith's one. Malekith is the lord of dark elves in Warhammer Fantasy.

2) The first shot of the Eldar army is assembled in a way that...well, in that shot you have the clear impression they are the Space Eldar from Warhammer 40k.

3) When they move, you can see that instead they are pretty identical to Warhammer Fantasy's High Elves.

4) Seeing the above scene lot of times, I have noticed that the shot seems really built up to remember the Space Eldar.

5) The "introduction", where is explained the rings origins and purpose, is a step-by-step copy of the one from the original Bakshi's work. Camera moves, and lot more actor moves are the same from the 1978's movie.

And a few other, but I should have to see again the film to mention them all and I have not the will

[Novdid]

Have you ever considered that the Warhammer figures may be based on Howe and Lee's various illusratations?