Questions and Answers

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions in the forum and over PM, and thanks to Josh for taking the time to answer them!

– Does Pippin drop his brooch? (I assume so, since it’s in the trailer, but feel free to expand on this)

He sure does. It’s while he is on the back of a random orc. He doesn’t do his little escape and drop it thing, like he does in the book. Just drops it as the orcs are marching. Aragorn of course finds it. You really get to see Aragorn tracking. Extremely cool.

– Does Pippin look into the Palantir?

Nope. Only one scene with the Palantir and that is by Saruman.

– What on Middle-earth are they doing to Faramir? Apparently, he starts to lead the Ring towards Minas Tirith, which never happened. Does this make him seem more corrupted and less good-hearted and wise than his character really is? Since they’re changing things about him, do they at least pull it off well?

Yeah, I found him to be much more likeable in the books. He is tempted just like his brother. He takes it a bit further by taking the Hobbits with him, but eventually Sam tells him how his brother was tempted and Faramir has a change of heart. It felt a little too sudden and rash though. Movie needed to be 4 hours, not 3. 🙂

– Can we get more details on Gollum? How realistic does he seem? Does he say his riddle about fish? How well do Frodo/Elijah and Sam/Sean interact with him?

He is extremely realistic. He is still CG, and you get subtle reminders of this, but he is so convincing. He interacts a LOT with Sam and Frodo. Grabbing them, splashing in the water in front of them, etc. They put him in all kinds of environments and in all kinds of lighting and he matched the shots really nicely. You really feel compassion for him from Frodo’s point of view and the rivalry between Gollum and Sam is portrayed perfectly. He does have a scene with the fish. It’s very charming. Sam and Gollum also have a nice dispute about how to prepare rabbit for eating. 🙂

– We kept hearing rumors about Boromir possibly showing up in a flashback. Any truth to this? Is Boromir mentioned at all?

Boromir is mentioned. Faramir and Frodo discuss his death. Frodo obviously didn’t know. They don’t go into too much detail about it, but it’s similar to the conversation they have in the books. Boromir is never shown on screen.

– You mentioned this already in your review, but how far do they take the “love triangle” between Aragorn, Arwen and Éowyn?

Not too far. You can see that Aragorn has compassion for Eowyn. But its not romance in his eyes (in my opinion). They never take it there. Eowyn is obviously interested, but she can tell he is a bit of a tortured soul over his love for Arwen. I think the movie posters and marketing hype portray more of a love triangle than there is in the actual film.

– Does Saruman die in this movie? Any evidence of him being impaled on a spiked wheel? 😉

Nope. No spiked wheel. Any of the spikey wheels around Orthanc get washed away pretty nicely. Saruman does not die. He watches the fight from a balcony and then retreats inside the tower. That’s the last you see of him.

– How well is Haldir’s death handled?

Its actually handled quite well. They give him a nice moment to arrive as the hero. It plays out very cool. He dies in Aragorn’s arms. Aragorn always seems to get there just a little too late… 🙂

– Is Gandalf nekkid after his fight with the Balrog?

You better believe it! Heh, he is clothed as he defeats the Balrog, but he collapses in the snow. Then it zooms in on his eyes and everything turns white (like bright afterlife white) and as it slowly rotates and pans out, you get the hint that he is naked, but you never see anything more than neck and shoulders. 😛 (Thank goodness — I don’t think we want to see anything more than that! -Rivka)

– How did the Orcs look? Especially Grishnakh and the other Urak-hai with Merry and Pippin?

Just look at Lurtz from Fellowship, and that’s what the orcs looked like. The Uruk-Hai at least. Grishnak had a bit more of a “less human” feel (like the orcs that interact with Saruman in FOTR). The Uruk-Hai get cooler looking armor when they march out of Orthanc to attack the Rohan at Helm’s Deep. Orc Berserkers are pretty badass looking too. They wear almost no armor.

– Do we get to see the Entmoot?

Yup, great scene. You really get a sense of how long it takes for Ents to come to a decision about something… 🙂

– There were rumours about us seeing the death of Theodred (Theoden’s son). True or not true?

Yeah, Theodred is first shown still alive. He has no dialog and is in bed, obviously very badly wounded. Later the king is told that his son has died, and the scene after that is him dead with Eowyn at his side.

– How well was Grima pulled off?

Grima is perfect. Perfect casting once again. His desire for Eowyn is played up a bit more. You get a better sense of his motivations.

– Legolas’ shield surfing scene in Helm’s Deep — cheesy or cool?

Very cool. “Audience Cheering Moment” cool.

– We’ve heard mention of the Ringwraith’s riding winged beasts towards the end — how’d they look?

Towards the end? Try closer to the early middle. 🙂 They look fantastic. Like warped black dragons. Nice clear shots of them and the Ringwraiths riding them. They make a couple of appearances in the film. Including Frodo and Sam’s climax of the film. (there are 3 climaxes in this movie as there are 3 stories being told.)

Well, there you have it, information from the lucky fellow who has seen it. Only 12 days to go for the rest of us!