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Subject: 
Re: LoTR: The Two "Towels"
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.castle
Date: 
Sat, 11 Jan 2003 06:58:34 GMT
Viewed: 
857 times
  
In lugnet.castle, David Eaton writes:
In lugnet.castle, Bruce Schlickbernd writes:
In lugnet.castle, David Eaton writes:
That was kinda saddening in the 1st movie-- where Aragorn fights off the
Nazgul all by himself. Kinda dimunes the Nazgul. I mean, you can fight 'em
*ALL* off, let alone just one? How pathetic does that make them? IIRC in the
novel, they stab Frodo, and then just go away. They've done their job well
enough-- he'll turn into a shadow-- why bother sticking around? Movie made
them seem like wooses.

Actually, that was exactly from the book: Aragorn fights them off
single-handed (and it was not *all* nine of them in either the book or
movie).  But Tolkien made it clearer that the Nazgul felt their work was
being down by the morgul-blade and that they could afford to be cautious and
retreat until all nine were present.

From the book:
-------------
[Strider speaking:] 'Let us take this wood that is set ready for the fire as
a sign. There is little shelter or defence here, but fire shall serve for
both. Sauron can put fire to his evil uses, as he can all things, but these
Riders do not love it, and fear those who wield it.'

...

There were five tall figures: two standing on the lip of the dell, three
advancing. ... Their eyes fell on him and pierced him, as they rushed
towards him. Desperate, he drew his own sword, and it seemed to him that it
flickered red, as if it was a firebrand. Two of the figures halted. ... In
one hand he held a long sword, and in the other a knife; both the knife and
the hand that held it glowed with a pale light. He sprang forward and bore
down on Frodo.
At that moment Frodo threw himself forward on the ground, and he heard
himself crying aloud: O Elbereth! Gilthoniel! At the same time he struck at
the feet of his enemy. A shrill cry rang out in the night; and he felt a
pain like a dart of poisoned ice pierce his left shoulder. Even as he
swooned he caught, as through a swirling mist, a glimpse of Strider leaping
out of the darkness with a flaming brand of wood in either hand. With a last
effort, Frodo dropping his sword, slipped the Ring from his finger and
closed his right hand tight upon it.

...

[Strider speaking:] 'There seem only to have been five of the enemy. Why
they were not all here, I don't know; but I don't think they expected to be
resisted. They have drawn off for the time being. They will come again
another night, if we cannot escape. They are only waiting, because they
think that their purpose is almost accomplished and that the Ring cannot fly
much further.'
-------------

Yup, pretty much as I said (I got to butcher The Fellowship of the Ring long
before Jackson did, but I claim - rightly or wrongly - the excuse that a
computer game requires more liberties than a movie).  ;-)


Now, to me, that says that the Riders kinda showed up, didn't really expect
all of Frodo's companions, stabbed him, and walked off; though granted
that's a somewhat tame description. I don't think I'd say Aragorn fights
them all off.

Walked off?  "Pardon me, you wretched ranger, whilst I and my companions
perambulate away!  No burning me bum, now!"

They bravely turned their tails and fled, brave, brave, brave Sir
Ring-wraiths...


To see the movie, you'd think the party could just fend off the riders
pretty darn easily if they showed up again. To read the book, I get a much
more foreboding impression-- that they could've killed them all if they
wanted to, but erred on the side of caution; probably wondering if they
could overcome Aragorn if he decided for some reason to suddenly wield the
Ring himself. The movie makes me think they were *desperately* trying to get
the Ring, but just couldn't do it because Strider fought viciously. Not that
they more consciously decided to leave and wait.


Yeah, Jackson went for cheap visuals and bad continuity - I mean, where do
you rent a replacement wraith costume in The Wild after your previous one
got burnt to a crisp?  Yet there are all nine in the morning.  Shoulda stuck
to what Tolkien wrote, but clearly he felt he needed more screen splash (the
movie was an incredible finicial gamble, so I try not to scream too much
since they were brave enough to do it as a trilogy).

-->Bruce<--



Message has 3 Replies:
  Re: LoTR: The Two "Towels"
 
(...) I'll agree on the computer game part-- those almost always need LOTS of liberties. Unless you want a boring game... (...) I guess the beauty of the book is that it doesn't actually describe the scene. In my mind, I see Strider leaping out, (...) (22 years ago, 11-Jan-03, to lugnet.castle)
  Re: LoTR: The Two "Towels"
 
(...) If the Nine are as bad as everyone fears, then why would anything short of Sauron's will stop them from grabbing the Ring while they had the chance? At the end of the scene in the book I was left with the sense that they left solely so that (...) (22 years ago, 12-Jan-03, to lugnet.castle)
  The good, the bad and the ring (WAS: LoTR: The Two "Towers")
 
(...) Just curious. Was this a throw-away comment, or did you really find the visuals to be that bad? And were there particular continuity errors you noticed? After watching hours of the behind-the-scenes stuff, and knowing how they did it (...) (22 years ago, 12-Jan-03, to lugnet.castle)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: LoTR: The Two "Towels"
 
(...) From the book: ---...--- [Strider speaking:] 'Let us take this wood that is set ready for the fire as a sign. There is little shelter or defence here, but fire shall serve for both. Sauron can put fire to his evil uses, as he can all things, (...) (22 years ago, 11-Jan-03, to lugnet.castle)

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