Lord Of The Rings 5 Changes From The Books That Helped The Movies (& 5 That Hurt Them)

Lord Of The Rings: 5 Changes From The Books That Helped The Movies (& 5 That Hurt Them)

They’re all fantastic movies, but the Lord of the Rings trilogy cuts out too much from the books to be a perfect adaptation. For better and for worse.

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The Lord of the Rings movies are masterpieces. They’re a stellar example of story, character, and exceptional filmmaking coming together in a wondrous whole, exemplifying the magic of film itself.

But is the trilogy a good film adaptation? For the most part, yes. The movies faithfully capture the story and characters of the novels. But they also leave out a lot of lore, and make some questionable story decisions that deviate from the novels in various problematic ways.

They’re fantastic movies, but they’re only good adaptations. These are five changes from the books that helped the movies, and five that hurt them.

10 Helped: Changing The Dialogue

While the characters largely remain true to their novel counterparts, the dialogue has been vastly rewritten to accommodate the screen. In the novels, the characters speak with very archaic, Shakespearean dialogue in order to better capture the tone and sense of an old legend. Lines like “Behold!” are very common. The dialogue is cleaned up and made “modern” for the movies, which of course makes it more digestible for modern ears. The lines sound poetic on paper, but they would probably sound quite goofy spoken aloud.

9 Hurt: Cutting Out The Lore

It’s completely understandable why the filmmakers decided to cut out a huge chunk of the lore. Movies are a medium designed for storytelling, and the flow and pacing of a movie is of the utmost importance. Movies can’t spend an extra two hours getting into the rich history of the races, locations, and the First and Second Ages. But by cutting these things from the story, it undoubtedly loses some of the magic. Both literal and metaphorical.

8 Helped: Telling The Story Concurrently

One of the biggest shocks that Tolkien newcomers might face is the reality that Lord of the Rings is split up between stories. The Fellowship of the Ring is told as one story, but both The Two Towers and The Return of the King are split into “books,” with one book following Aragorn and the War of the Ring with the other following Frodo and Sam. The movies’ story is obviously told concurrently, and it makes for a much smoother and chronologically-pleasing experience.

7 Hurt: Toning Down The Violence

The Lord of the Rings is PG-13, and it has very “PG-13 action.” Yes, there are a few instances of outright gore, like the orc head on a spike, but for the most part, the violence is bloodless and tame.

This is quite a divergence from the novels, which is much more violent and grotesque. Orcs are often mentioned dismembering their victims. The gore helps portray the orcs as truly vile and irredeemable creatures, and it lends the story more of a scary, apocalyptic tone.

6 Helped: Getting To The Action Quicker

Another obstacle that new book readers may face is the languid, patience-testing pace of The Fellowship of the Ring. Many newcomers have incredible difficulty plowing through this book, as its first half is weighed down by seemingly endless exposition and a protracted beginning of the Quest. The movies completely abandon the Old Forest and the Barrow-downs section, and that is undoubtedly for the better.

5 Hurt: Turning It Into A Blockbuster

As mentioned previously, the violence portrayed in the novels is often far more grotesque. But that’s for the violence that is there. For the most part, the books are violence-free. Entire battles, including Helm’s Deep and Pelennor, are glossed over in maybe a dozen pages. In the movies, these battles are turned into blockbuster spectacles, complete with Legolas riding his shield down stairs and taking down an entire Oliphaunt by himself.

4 Helped: Cutting Tom Bombadil

It’s not only the Old Forest and Barrow-downs sections that were cut from The Fellowship of the Ring, the movies made the easy decision to cut Tom Bombadil from the movie.

Bombadil is a kooky figure who lives in the Old Forest, and he briefly helps Frodo and the Hobbits on their Quest. His role has very little effect on the story, and he could easily be cut to both help the pacing and the fluidity of the story. So they did.

3 Hurt: Changing Faramir

Like in the novels, Faramir is introduced in The Two Towers. But he’s a completely different Faramir. In the novel, he is a respectable and noble figure who prevents himself from falling to the Ring. He overcomes his personal need for the needs of many. In the movies, he decides to take the Ring for Gondor and only changes his mind after taking Frodo to Osgiliath. They did this to better portray the power and allure of the Ring, but it was a questionable decision that ruined an otherwise very heroic character.

2 Helped: Getting Rid Of The Scouring

If there’s one major departure that The Lord of the Rings movies took, it was getting rid of the Scouring of the Shire. The Return of the King ends with the Hobbits returning home and finding The Shire utterly devastated & industrialized by a vengeful Saruman. The hobbits round up the citizens of The Shire and lead the Battle of Bywater, which ends in Saruman and Wormtongue’s deaths. The more poignant ending of the movie beautifully captures the “What do we do now?” feeling everyone gets after a long adventure, and it’s more in keeping with the story’s tone.

1 Hurt: The Army Of The Dead

The conclusion to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields is very different in the book. In the book, Aragorn arrives with the Army of the Dead and the battle continues to sunset. In the movies, audiences are given the impression that the ghost army shows up and utterly decimates the forces of Mordor in the span of five minutes. It’s very deus ex machina, and it comes across as a cheap ending to an otherwise stellar battle sequence.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/lord-of-the-rings-book-changes-helps-movies/

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