by Ichyro » Thu Oct 02, 2003 5:57 am
Biggest point was Faramir.
Instead of the wise, and actually good hearted man he was, they make him into waht boromir was, a easily seduced by power being, who wants the ring above all.
The Wraith riding dragon thing was another, in that if he knew of the rings existence in osgilath bridge (Whatever its called), it meant Sauron would, and frodos mission would be in vain, to be secret.
Theoden butts heads with gandalf, not aragorn.
The elves never went to Helms deep to aid the Rohirrim.
Major Changes from the Book to the Film
This section takes a look at some of the more fundamental ways that the movie differs from its source material. These are changes that modify the underlying structure of the story in important ways, or introduce events that never occurred in the original book.
Perhaps the most obvious and significant difference is in the way the various storylines of The Two Towers are presented. Tolkien's original was literally divided into two books: the first tells us the complete story of Aragorn's adventures in Rohan and the overthrow of Isengard, and then the second returns to Frodo and Sam, and concentrates on their journey through the borderlands of Mordor. It was Tolkien's hope that a movie version of the book would preserve this separation of the story. Of an earlier attempt to film the book, he wrote, 'It is essential that these two branches should each be treated in coherent sequence.' (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, No 210, dated 1958, with original italics). Nonetheless, it is perhaps not too surprising that the current movie version follows a more conventional approach, cutting between the various storylines as they develop, rather than treating them as entirely separate.
In both of the story strands, the movie finishes much earlier than the book. Tolkien's The Two Towers covers events in a period of seventeen days, but the movie only deals with the first thirteen of these, losing about eight chapters of the book in total. If rumours are to be believed, some of these missing events will be transferred to the opening scenes of The Return of the King.
The film contains several sequences that are entirely the invention of the film-makers, with nothing directly comparable in the books. Perhaps the most extensive of these is the battle between the Rohirrim and the Wargs on the road to Helm's Deep. That battle is unique to the film version, as are Aragorn's subsequent adventures (he falls into a river which sweeps him away from the others, and eventually spies the armies of Saruman approaching before riding to Helm's Deep).
Similarly, the entire sequence showing Elrond's remonstrances with Arwen, and Galadriel's commentary on events, occur only in the movie version. None of these characters appear anywhere in the original book. The idea behind this sequence seems rather at odds with Tolkien's intention - in the book, there is no question of Arwen sailing away from Middle-earth, nor of Aragorn thinking she might do so - these two had long since 'plighted their troth'. While the movie suggests the real possibility of romance between Aragorn and Éowyn, then, this is quite unthinkable in the original book.
The story of Frodo's meeting with Faramir has been radically modified. Tolkien's Faramir is one of the most insightful and compassionate characters in the book, intelligent enough to divine the importance of Frodo's mission, and to let him continue without hindrance. In the movie, he's lost all these qualities - deciding to take the Ring to Minas Tirith, he drags Frodo and Sam some forty miles out of their way, allowing a Nazgûl to discover the Ring in Osgiliath, before he realises he's made a mistake.
In fact, the idea of the Ring being revealed to one of the Ringwraiths in Osgiliath threatens to undermine the entire plot. The whole purpose of Frodo's mission is to bring the Ring to Mordor in secret. His only hope of success is in Sauron's ignorance of the Ring's whereabouts, but here we seem to see one of Sauron's slaves discovering its exact location, and on the very borders of his master's realm. It's not completely clear how Frodo survives this encounter - no such dangerous and foolhardy adventure occurs in the book.
Addendum
The feedback we've had on this point suggests that it's worth exploring in a bit more detail. A lot of people have pointed out that Sauron already knew that the Ring was in the hands of a hobbit, and would have expected it to be on its way to Minas Tirith, so its appearance in Osgiliath, only about twenty miles from the City of Gondor, wouldn't have made a significant difference to his plans.
Actually, at this point in Tolkien's original story, we have a clearer idea of Sauron's beliefs about the Ring than this suggests. He knew about Saruman's capture of the hobbits beneath Amon Hen, and assumed that one of these had been the Ring-bearer. Through Saruman's palantír (in a scene that hasn't yet appeared in the movie version) he says, 'Tell Saruman that this dainty is not for him. I will send for it at once.' (The Two Towers III 11, The Palantír). Soon after this, he discovered Isengard had been overthrown, and so would presume that the Ring was in the possession of the Rohirrim, out of his reach at that time, but far from Minas Tirith, too.
The situation presented by the movie would overturn all these presumptions, suddenly presenting him with the Ring all-but unguarded on his own borders. Of course it's impossible to say with certainty what would have happened in a situation like this, it's also difficult to believe that it wouldn't have affected Sauron's actions in any way at all. Having presumed the Ring to be hundreds of miles away, he would suddenly have found it on his own borders - a few minutes' flight for the Nazgûl, and with a huge army stationed just a few leages away at Minas Morgul. Given this extraordinary opportunity - the key to victory dangled in front of his grasp - Sauron would surely have made some attempt to recapture it.
In both the book and the movie, the Ents are motivated to attack Saruman in Isengard, but the details of how this comes about are strangely different. In the book, the Ents gather in Entmoot to discuss the destruction Saruman has been wreaking on their forest, and finally decide that they will attack him in Isengard. In the movie, the same meeting takes place, but the Ents decide that they won't attack. Merry and Pippin then manipulate Treebeard into witnessing the destruction of the forest, causing him to change his mind and summon the other Ents to war.
The logic of the film version is rather difficult to follow. If Treebeard didn't already know about Saruman's destruction of the forest, why was Entmoot called in the first place? If it's necessary for the Ents to hold a council before going to war, why is it that Treebeard can single-handedly overturn their decision? Even more curiously, after walking for miles through the forest away from the other Ents (remember that they had decided not to attack Isengard) Treebeard has only to call them, and they step out of the trees in unison, ready to charge. All in all, Tolkien's version of this plotline seems to make more sense.
Finally, a word needs to be said about Éomer, whose role in the movie has shrunk to almost insignificant proportions. In the book, he is one of the key characters - after King Théoden is healed by Gandalf, he is made heir to the kingdom of Rohan, and remains with Théoden from then on, fighting beside Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli in the defence of Helm's Deep. In the original, Helm's Deep isn't relieved by Éomer (who is already there), but by a quite different character named Erkenbrand. In the book, too, the Ents have a part to play, though the altered logic of events makes this impossible in the movie version.
Bit of a read, sorry
v1.19 (working with 15.7 now!)
