Return of the King (pt. 2)UNEDITED REACTION (Early Access)

It was great fun to re-experience this great trilogy through your eyes, and I thank you for the chance to do it. On the whole I do prefer the extended versions, even if they do slacken the pacing at a couple of points, because they supply important plot moments that are simply left out of the theatrical versions (for instance "who is that guy standing next to Galadriel?" and more crucially "What happened to Saruman?"). Jackson and his collaborators did address some points in the books that simply had to be dealt with, like the fact that Arwen is crucial to the resolution yet virtually absent from the books -- so they wove her into all 3 movies and slightly enlarged her role (they were planning on doing still more, and I'm glad they changed their minds about that). Also the re-forging of the sword has much more weight when it doesn't happen till the decisive battle is about to start -- in the book it happens in one narrated sentence early on, "The elf blacksmiths repaired the sword," and I always think, huh? as easy and uneventful as that? So, several good decisions of that sort. For that, I can forgive Jackson his compulsion to crank all his effects up to 11 -- like, it's not enough for Gollum to fall into the volcano with the Ring (as in the book), in the movie it has to erupt and all of Mordor has to collapse on itself. This gets even more out of hand in the Hobbit movies, I'm afraid.

DelGuy03

Hmm...I like to think of him as more nuanced than that. Whether by the palantir or not, he is the person, the archetype that see the nature of evil and is terrified of it

My task is finished, I can cross over to the land of Undying reactions. Quite the journey, my friends. Your fanboy enthusiasm struck many sympathetic chords here. Excellent job, guys. Also,I was trying to see if you mentioned or a commenter had pointed out that Denethor was a victim of a palantir he used at Minas Tirith that Sauron controlled. Jackson never made that clear.

JIM SCHMITZ

Interesting Facts about the Battering Ram, Grond, that Mordor used. First off, the Name Grond comes from the great Warhammer of Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, which he wielded in the First Age. It was also referred to as the Hammer of the Underworld, and was extremely powerful. https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Grond_(Warhammer) --The Wielder of Grond was Melkor, or later known as Morgoth. He was the First Dark Lord and also Saurons Master. https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Melkor --Secondly, the Ram itself, especially the Head, was designed after the Great Wolf of Angband, Carcharoth. Carcharoth, also known as the Red Maw, lived in the First Age of the Sun, and was the greatest werewolf that ever lived. He was of the line of Draugluin. https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Carcharoth The Strenght of the Men of Middle Earth and the Strength of Mordor´s Troops was mentioned in those Numbers for the Movie ( while in the Books it was slightly different, with more Commanders mentioned on the Side of Men, less Orcs and some more Gondorian Soldiers, who even got Reinforcment from other Gondorian Districts who arent suffered from the War so far): --Strength of the Men: 4,000 Gondorian soldiers, 6,000 Rohirrim riders, 50,000 Undead soldiers --Mordors Side: 200,000 orcs, 2,000 Corsairs, 20 Mûmakil, 2,000 Haradrim All 9 Ringwraiths (for the first Initial Attack especially to destroy the Trebuchets at the Walls of Minas Tirith) 1 Warg, 20 Trolls for direct Attacks, who were heavily armored and armed ( Many more for loading Stones on Catapults, moving the Siege Towers and using the Battering Ram Grond) Varius Siege weapons, such as catapults, siege towers, a hand-used Battering ram and a giant Battering ram (Grond) --Heavy Casualties on the Side of Men: 2,500 Gondorian soldiers killed, 2,000 Rohirrim riders killed + the lose of King Theoden (and technically the 50.000 Undead) --Catastrophic Casualties on the Side of Mordor: 198,000 orcs killed, 2,000 Corsairs killed, 20 Mûmakil killed, 2,000 Haradrim killed ,1 Ringwraith (Witchking of Angmar) killed, 1 Warg killed, 20 Trolls killed + all Supporting Trolls All Siege Weapons lost + the Death of there Commander Gothmog, The Haradrim King and the Corsair Commander, while Saurons heaviest Lose was the Death of the Witch King of Angmar as his Highest Ranking Commander.

Mathias

Here some Details what happends to the Rest of the Fellowship later on. (More Informations in the Comment beneath this one) --First off, Aragorn, who married Arwin, lived for 210 Years, and he had a Son who was named Eldarion, and several Daughters. When in the year 120 of the Fourth Age, King ARagorn Elessar realised his days were at an end, he went to the House of the Kings in the Silent Street. He said farewell to his son Eldarion and his daughters and gave Eldarion his crown and sceptre. Arwen remained at Aragorn's side until he died. A year after Aragorn's death, Arwen died of a broken heart. Eldarion began his reign as the Second King of the Reunited Kingdom after his father's death. --Arwen died in the year 121 of the Fourth Age, after Aragorn's death, she died of a broken heart at Cerin Amroth in Lórien, and was buried there one year after the death of Aragorn, to whom she had been wedded for 122 years. She was 2901 years old. --Meriadoc Brandybuck Later Life: Upon their return he and Pippin both married beautiful hobbit women. They were also the tallest of hobbits - Meriadoc being the slightly taller of the two - taller even than the legendary Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took, due to their having drunk large amounts of Entwater. Merry married Estella Bolger some time after the end of the Third Age. He became the Master of Buckland in SR 1432 (FA 11 *). He wrote Old Words and Names in the Shire. Although he was not recorded as having any children within the family trees, he clearly had at least one son. At the age of 102, Merry returned to Rohan and Gondor with Pippin, dying there some time after the year FA 63. He was laid to rest in Gondor, and when Aragorn died in FA 120, he and Pippin were entombed beside the great king --Peregrin Took Later Life: In the year FA 6 of the Fourth Age Pippin married Diamond of Long Cleeve, when she was 32 and he himself was 37. They had one son, Faramir Took I, who later married Samwise Gamgee's daughter Goldilocks Gardner. In the year FA 13, Pippin became the 32nd Thain of the Shire, a position he held for 50 years before retiring in FA 63, when he revisited Rohan and Gondor with Merry. He remained in Gondor for the rest of his life. Pippin died some time after the year FA 63 and was laid to rest with Merry in Gondor. After the great King Elessar (Aragorn) died in FA 120, Merry and Pippin were entombed next to the great king. --Samwise Gamgee: After the War of the Ring Following the Scouring of the Shire, Sam married Rose (Rosie) Cotton. They had thirteen children: Elanor the Fair, Frodo, Rose, Merry, Pippin, Goldilocks, Hamfast, Daisy, Primrose, Bilbo, Ruby, Robin, and Tolman. When Frodo Baggins announced that he was leaving to the Undying Lands, west of Middle-earth, he gave Sam the Red Book of Westmarch and the household of Bag End where he and his large personal family later called the Gardners would live for many years. After Will Whitfoot resigned his post as Mayor of Michel Delving, in SR 1427 (FA6), Sam was elected Mayor of the Shire for seven consecutive seven-year terms. -Later years In their later years, Sam and Rosie went to Gondor and lived there for over one year in the house of King Aragorn II Elessar. When they returned, they lived out their lives seeing Sam's mayoral duties passed to Tolman Cotton Jr.. Rosie died in the year 61 in Mid-year's Day at the age of ninety-eight. After his wife died in the year FA61 of the Fourth Age (SR 1482), Sam entrusted the Red Book to his daughter, Elanor, and left the Shire. It was a tradition handed down from Elanor that he went to the Grey Havens, and because he was also a Ring-bearer (albeit for a short time), he was allowed to pass over the Sea to be reunited with Frodo in the Undying Lands --Legolas Later Life: After the destruction of the One Ring and of Sauron, Legolas stayed for the coronation of Aragorn II Elessar and his marriage to Arwen. Later, he and Gimli travelled together to Helm's Deep, visiting the Glittering Caves, and then later traveled through Fangorn Forest. Eventually, Legolas came to Ithilien with some of his people, with his father's leave, to live out his remaining time in Middle-earth helping to restore the woodlands that had been war-torn. After Aragorn's death, Legolas made a ship in Ithilien and left Middle-earth to go over the sea. His strong friendship with Gimli prompted Legolas to invite him to go to the Undying Lands; making him the first and only Dwarf to do so. He was never seen again in Middle-earth. --Gimlis Later Life: After the War, Gimli led a large number of Durin's Folk south to establish a new Dwarf kingdom in the Glittering Caves, which were located behind Helm's Deep where Gimli was trapped during the battle, and he became the first Lord of the Glittering Caves. The Dwarves of the Glittering Caves, led by their Lord Gimli, would repair much of the physical damage that was incurred during the War of the Ring. Most notably, they rebuilt the Great Gate of Minas Tirith with a new one made of Mithril and steel, as well as improving upon the existing layout of the entire city. Gimli was 139 years old (born in 2879 of the Third Age) when the Fellowship of the Ring set out from Rivendell, making him 52 years older than Aragorn. His date of death is not known, and according to the Red Book of Westmarch, he is said to have traveled with Legolas into the West, thus becoming the first dwarf to visit the Undying Lands. Of this possibility, Tolkien wrote that it would be strange indeed, that any Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should receive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it, but that it is said that Gimli went not only because of his great friendship with Legolas but also out of desire to see again the beauty of Galadriel; and that she, being mighty among the Eldar, may have obtained this grace for him. He was never seen again in Middle-earth. *Fourth Age

Mathias

Amazing reaction! FUN FACT: There is rough footage, and documentation that suggest Sauron was supposed to appear in physical form during the last battle and fight Aragorn instead of the big troll. I would like to see it, but then actually glad they didn't do that :-)

The Hobbit is clearly not as epic as LOTR, but a good thing to note is that the stories were created for different reasons. The Hobbit was a one off childrens story for Tolkien's kids. It wasn't supposed to tie in with LOTR - LOTR hadn't even been thought up yet. So it has a lot of fun kiddish things in it, whereas LOTR was written and created to be for an older audience. When you already have a series like LOTR, it's hard to recreate that magic when there's so much pressure on you, plus Peter Jackson tried to tie in a lot more of the LOTR world by including stuff from other Tolkien writings, which unfortunately didn't go down so well. But I think The Hobbit holds up better if you try to watch it as a separate piece to LOTR and remember that it was originally written for kids. This was such a fun watch through, LOTR is such a big series it's so cool to see someone who hasn't seen it react to all the twists and turns!\

Heidi Liedtke

Oh dang!! What a dude

Thank you!! It’s the little details that really make this series what it is

U can private message me and we can talk about it

Fun side note, the third eagle that Gandalf brought to save Frodo and Sam was for golem.

Devin Grant

Omg this is so amazing to watch. I love this trilogy so much and watching you guys dissect and Nine Tail Brush react was amazing! James your comment on Gollum at the end "fuck this guy" had us cracking up. You guys drew my attention to things I haven't noticed before like the armor of the guards of the tree being different. I'm glad you guys are doing the Hobbit. I don't love it as much but it is still good. You guys did a fabulous job as always!

Midgey_M

I can’t wait to watch this. Also, how do Hero pledges suggest things to watch?

M BP

also, i think gollum's ending was super fitting because if you remember what gandalf said back in the fellowship of the ring: "my heart tells me that gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill." which, in the end, it was definitely a bit of both.

leila

watching this reaction was so great! the ending of this movie literally makes me cry every time there's no helping it. so poetic and beautiful and such an honest take on trauma and wounds that never fully heal. also, to help clear up the ending for you: elrond, galadriel, gandalf, bilbo, and frodo aren't technically "dying" at the end of the movie, though their part in the mortal world is over. they are actually sailing to the undying lands. this is where the rest of elven kind were shown to be traveling to throughout the two towers and the return of the king; with the exception of arwen who chose to become mortal and marry aragorn, and legolas who remained in middle earth, choosing only to leave for the undying lands at the time of aragorn's death (along with him came samwise and gimli per his invitation. this is not shown in the movie, however). it is very rare for mortals to be allowed to travel to the undying lands; bilbo & frodo were awarded this because of their suffering at the hands of the one ring. on middle earth they couldn’t escape the burdens the ring had placed on them, such as frodo being stabbed by the witch-king. samwise was granted passage later because he also held the ring for a short time and committed heroic deeds while aiding frodo, but mostly because he missed frodo dearly. lastly, gimli was allowed to follow per legolas’s invitation (due to their being close friends). there’s more lore on the undying lands that is gone into in the books, but that’s the gist of it!

leila

A little side note . Gandalf and Saruman are part of an order of wizards called The Istari . They were placed in Middle-Earth as ambassadors and protectors of the world . The only thing that sets them apart from other wizards is that their minds are young but their bodies are old . And most Elves do not hold any prejudices against Men like Elrond does . Mainly because they are focused on leaving the shores of Middle-Earth to the Undying Lands in the West where they will loose their immortality and remain there until the time to pass on has come .

jonathan Edge

The way i take the ending is that Frodo has two factors to convince him to leave Middle-Earth to the Undying Lands in the West . His knife wound has never fully healed and bearing the weight of the ring and the mental and physical toll of the quest did one thing to him when he came back . He lost the will to continue living . The Undying Lands are like a resting place for people until their time on Middle-Earth is done. That is why the Elves are leaving Middle-Earth because their time in the world is over . So in a way what Galadriel and Elrond forsaw came to be . The quest did claim Frodo's life in the end . So he will be with the Elves for a time until his time to leave the world will come to . I like to think that he spends the time he has left with Bilbo resting and retelling the tale of his adventures over and over to him until his uncle finally passes on in peace and love .

jonathan Edge