Peter Jackson's The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy features three very, very long films: The Fellowship Of The Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return Of The King. It's no wonder, therefore, that there are some parts of the movies that slip past our radar without us noticing anything odd about them.
What with several interlocking narratives, endless middle-earth derived fictional names to keep track of, and a new war seeming to break out every other scene...one can hardly keep up with all the details. Here are 10 things to keep in mind the next time you're viewing these epic movies.
Gandalf The White's High Tops
Yes, you read that right. In the first scene of Gandalf's return in The Two Towers, Gandalf is seen to step out into a great field and whistle for his horse, Shadowfax. for just a second, if you look to the bottom left of the screen as the camera zooms out and Gandalf's robes hang forward from his legs a bit, you can spot what clearly appears to be a pair of white Converse-style white high-tops on his feet. Whether they are true Converse sneakers is hard to tell for certain, but what is apparent is that he is not sporting the same footwear in later scenes.
Sauron Loses The War...But Still Has 10,000 Soldiers?
The war at Minis Tirith is the subject of much debate and grief in the third movie of the series, The Return Of The King. Most are certain that man will fall to the massive armies of Sauron. They are so desperate that Aragorn even goes so far as to take the risk of traveling deep into the caves and asking an army of the dead to aid them in the battle. Lo and behold, they all come together and defeat Sauron's army by the skin of their teeth. Why, then, do we find out a few scenes later, that Sauron has an army of 10,000 soldiers which Gandalf suggests will impede Frodo from reaching Mount Doom? They are just...hanging out there?
If The Orcs Know Frodo Is In Mordor, So Would Sauron
Aragorn takes an army--where he finds this army after just barely winning a war is hard to know--and marches to the gates of Mordor in an attempt to distract Sauron from the fact that Frodo is currently making his way through Mordor to destroy the ring. A representative of Sauron's army emerges and produces Frodo's elvish armor which he lost when temporarily taken captive by the Orcs. Now, the Orcs at the time seemingly had no idea who Frodo even was. To have the head of Sauron's army know that Frodo is there means Sauron knows, making the play at a distraction a moot point.
Frodo Doesn't Technically Destroy The Ring
Frodo finally makes it to Mount Doom, but when he walks in the entrance and faces the lava, he ignores poor, exhausted Sam's plea to destroy the ring. Instead, he looks Sam in the eye, proclaims "the ring is mine," and puts it on his finger, going invisible. If Golem had not seen his footprints and tackled him, causing them both to scuffle for the ring and ultimately sending Golem to his death along with the ring, Frodo was going to walk out. Of course, he was just acting under the ring's influence, but it doesn't change the fact that he didn't destroy it-despite everyone's insistence that he was the only one who could.
Breaking The Fellowship Didn't Necessarily Help
At the end of The Fellowship Of The Ring, Frodo breaks off from the Fellowship of people who have sworn to aid him in his quest to destroy the ring. He has become convinced, partially from the remarks of people like the elvish Lady Of the Wood and Gandalf, that he is the only one who can complete the task and involving others is risking their lives and the mission.
Part of this decision operates under the assumption that Frodo is the only one who will not be overtaken by the ring. But the rest of the series goes to show that if Frodo were alone, he would have died many times over...and if he had more protection, or a horse, he would have gotten there faster.
Sam Isn't Properly Celebrated
As soon as surrounding people realize that the ring has been destroyed, everyone immediately yells Frodo's name in celebration of him. Meanwhile, Sam did much of the grunt work of the mission, soberly convincing Frodo to keep going, looking out for his best interest, getting up before him every day and rationing food, and CARRYING HIM UP MOUNT DOOOM.
Once people see that Mount Doom has erupted, they call out-you guessed it-Frodo's name in anguish. After the eagles rescue Sam and Frodo, cut to a scene of all of Sam and Frodo's friends happily reuniting with Frodo in a slow-motion, glowy moment. Sam walks in after, hardly noticed.
Gandalf Should've Been Able To Kill The Witch-King
It is stated that "no man" can kill the Witch-King. It's found later this rule is to be taken literally, as the people who kill the Witch-King are Merry, the hobbit, and Eowyn, the woman. Therefore, when Gandalf tried to kill him, not much reason is given to the fact that he can't. Gandalf is not of the race of men, he is a wizard. He also managed to kill the enormously powerfully balrog as the lesser-powerful Gandalf the Grey. Therefore, Gandalf the White should surely be able to kill the Witch-King.
Sam and Frodo Didn't Need To Walk All That Way
Sam and Frodo walk a long, long way on foot. There are repeated shots of their bloody, bruised feet. It's understood they must keep off of the road with the ring-but couldn't they use horses for much of their trek? Mordor is right next door to Gondor, which we see Aragorn travel to by horse in a jiffy. All characters are seen to travel immense distances by horse in several instances, all in the time that Sam and Frodo are just trying to get from one place to another. Obviously, it would shorten the film if it was made so simple-but some reason to validate their need to walk by foot would be helpful.
There Are Only Three Female Leads
This is a very obvious fact: there are only three female leads in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Yet somehow, it seems immensely shocking. If you are someone who has been watching the series or reading the books since a young age, it may have become something you took for granted and hardly even thought of since returning to the texts of either. Coming back to such creations that we hold so dear can be jolting. Wait, this is pretty much all....men. All men. Thankfully, the females included are pretty fierce forces to reckon with. But we grow so used to being flooded with male characters that it is important to stop and take note of who isn't on screen, and how easy it is to miss something so obvious.
Frodo Left The Shire For Sam
In his final note to Samwise Gamgee, which he leaves to Sam at the time he departs from the Shire for good, Frodo states that Sam cannot be "torn in two" forever. Although slightly ambiguously stated, there is little that this statement could refer to aside from Frodo and Sam's relationship. Sam is now married, but knowing his devotion to Frodo he will always be concerned with him. We are made aware that Frodo has not assimilated back into Shire life well, expressing his belief that after such travels one cannot always pick up the "threads" of an old life again. Rather than stay and allow Sam to continue caring for him forever, Frodo leaves, creating the space for Sam to focus on his family and to write a chapter that is just for him.