Originally Posted by
DomaDoma
...and I can officially state: when people say that the movies didn't follow the letter of the books but did follow the spirit, they are thinking only of the plot. There, yes, the PJ adaptation nearly always hits the right notes on the right nerves at the right times. But if we speak of the milieu and the philosophical underpinnings - not a chance.
To take the most obvious point: I was thankful at the time of release that the films didn't keep banging the drum of how absolutely everything is a dim shadow of its former glory, because come on we have a world to save and I'd thank you elf-mad piners to stop looking down your nose at it, but I wonder: without that context, how well does the idea of the Grey Havens actually hold up?
But thus far (I'm in the middle of Moria at the moment), only Sam appears to have survived the adaptation with his philosophical underpinnings intact.
So, assuming some of you need a refresher every bit as badly as I did...
Highlights!
What is Gollum's nature?
TL;DR: PJ's portrayal of Gollum going from zero to murderous crackhead in sixty seconds does not exactly cut it.
Oh, and on a related note, what is the most important point about Bilbo sparing Gollum's life?
What is Saruman's motivation?
I mean, obviously I'd remembered he was more of an entity unto himself in the books, but I didn't recall that his temptation was of a kind that it is perfectly and frighteningly plausible for a respected world leader to fall into.
Minor and broad sketches!
As everyone has rightly noted: book!Frodo is made of stern stuff. His fall over the course of is considerably more than one from ordinary frailty to feverish madness. (Though, irrationally, he is still terrified of the mushroom farmer he stole from in his long-ago days of youthful hijinks. Honestly, thematically speaking, there is not a page devoted to the ordinary life of the Shire, or the much-more-similar-in-the-books Bree, which is wasted. This is the hobbits' home turf, and the jarring missteps that follow matter.)
Frodo is completely aware of the danger he's getting in for, and doesn't want his best friends (they are his best friends, not random jokesters who collide with him) to be involved in any of that. This is terribly awkward as he's using Merry for his cover story (because he has a cover story: hobbits are way, way too social for him to just vanish and hope no one notices.)
But it would turn out that Merry, Pippin and Sam have all known about the Ring for years, Sam told them all about Gandalf's recent revelations, and they are quite as reluctant to let him go into peril alone as he is reluctant to bring them into it.
The Nazgul prefer to ask around about Frodo, seeing as killing random civilians will net them zip.
Aragorn is not even a little bit moping around as the reluctant hero. Unappreciated hero, land's sakes yes, but he doesn't let it stop him, even if it does get under his skin a little. He frankly expects not to be trusted, and is therefore prepared with logical proofs - which he needs, because "we have no choice" is not cutting it with the hobbits. But he's already got Narsil right, he knows he's got to be King, and it would seem that even before the recent resurgence, he's had a few narrow escapes from the forces of Mordor, so either they know it too or they really hate the Dunedain on general principle. (Also, while the issue is sort of danced around, I gather he looks like the most weather-stained vagrant anyone has ever laid eyes on. Viggo Mortensen is a serious miscast.)
(Note: his immediate thought regarding the suggestion that they go into Moria is that Gandalf, and only Gandalf, is so very, very doomed. I do hope that this gets explained.)
Elrond hasn't got contempt and suspicion for Men. He just sort of deems them irrelevant, which seems all in all to be the prevailing elven stance. (A Rivendell resident named Lindir conveys this in such a deeply punchable manner that I feel I must name a Thalmor after him.)
The Council of Elrond is held not because Elrond actually called anyone, but because there is deep trouble all over the world and everyone is just so happening to flock to Rivendell on that account. Divine intervention is heavily implied, and in fact Boromir came on account of a vision - which, incidentally, came to Faramir twice before it settled on Boromir instead. Eager to see what, if anything, the Gondorians have to say about this.
In fact, Elrond couldn't really call anyone, not without it taking twice as long as it actually did. There is, throughout, much more of a sense that hasty communications on the hop are all anyone can reasonably expect, and they need to make their conjectures of what to do next accordingly: everything is done as-the-horse-gallops. "You can no longer wait for a wizard" is the only nod the movie makes to the phenomenon, and I don't think anyone in the theater was actually expecting that they would stick around and wait for Gandalf. But in the book, his whereabouts are of great concern throughout, and best guesses are all they have.
Also, when the characters are in mortal peril, they aren't aware that they're in the middle of the first volume and should be fine. The danger, to them, is quite real. They weigh their decisions like the life and death matters that they are. I never got that out of the movies.
Random humorous notes!
Tom Bombadil, after rescuing the hobbits from the Barrow-wights, breaks the power of the curse by laying the funereal objects out on top of the barrow, in the sun, to be taken by anyone. These relics are, I gather, part of the burial rites of Arnor, and therefore probably fine once they've got out into the sunlight and so recovered from their moderate case of being haunted by hoard-mad vengeance spirits. (Yes, my understanding here is quite imperfect and if anyone has something better, let me know.) So it's all right as far as the thematic magic of it goes, but...
Okay, say you're J. Random Ranger, patrolling the Barrow-downs for any spikes in the evil level, and you see a big pile of first-rate crowns and bangles and swords lying directly on top of one of the burial mounds, seemingly free for the taking. Are you actually going to touch that? If so, when a similarly stupid action on your part gets you killed, you may thank Tom Bombadil for unduly encouraging you.
Frodo is introduced to some of the key players in the Council of Elrond. There's Legolas son of Thranduil; there's Gimli son of Gloin; there's a messenger from Cirdan; everyone gets their fair sentence about who they are and why they're important... and then the camera stops dead on Boromir. His noble dress. His fair aspect. His horn. His reaction on seeing Bilbo and Frodo.
Elrond then introduces him. "Here is Boromir," he says, "a man from the South." Like, come on, I'm thousands of years old and you human lords are constantly dying, you expect me to keep track of who's who?
Anyway. This is fun and edifying, if a little embarrassing for how much I've forgotten, and I can't wait to dive back in.