1,681 words
Taking the Lord of the Rings series from book to screen was said to be impossible by Tolkien himself. Tolkien never knew the hard work that would be put into doing exactly that by a man named Peter Jackson. Even though Jackson was a fan of the series before he took on the project of making the films, he ran into some difficulties in the long film making process. The Return of the King is the end of an awesomely detailed trilogy and the film needs to be perfect for the movie goers to be satisfied with how the story plays out to the end. Jackson had more than one thousand pages to bring to life on the big screen. Within these pages are some of the histories of different races of Middle Earth, languages and customs that are important to the story itself and need to be shown on the screen. Aside from that challenge and as predicted by Tom Shippey, a famous Tolkien scholar, how to do the ending of The Return of the Kings, how to hold together the relationship of Aragorn and Arwen, and making a movie out of the “leapfrog” pattern that the book takes all proved to be some of the difficulties that Jackson would face in making the final film of the series. Along with what Shippey predicted, staying true to Tolkien’s worldviews but also having the story appeal to people also must have been a challenge. Jackson and his team faced many difficulties while bringing the world and stories of Middle Earth to life for the last time in The Return of the King.
Tom Shippey predicted that Jackson would face problems when choosing what ending to use while making the third movie. Jackson decided to go against how the book ended and left out the whole Scouring of the Shire scene. This was a very risky move because of the details this scene gives in a lot of different areas. The Scouring of the Shire scene is where the reader of the book is shown the growth and change of Merry and Pippin. By leaving this scene out, Jackson had to find other places throughout the movie to show the growth of these characters. He did so by focusing on how Merry and Pippin pledged their allegiances to the kings. By focusing on this in the movie, Jackson stayed true to Tolkien’s love for myths and other such stories because a theme of pride and alliances usually can be found within these stories.
The Scouring of the Shire scene shows that even though the fellowship succeeded in destroying the ring the evils that went along with it, a different form of evil still lingers about. This illustrates Tolkien’s ideas of how even in the most peaceful and quiet of place evil can still find its way to you. Tolkien had the idea that their could never be a happy ending because evil and other sadness will always be around. Jackson did a great job in pulling off Tolkien’s view of the story never ending in happiness when he went shot the scene where Frodo sails away to the land of white shores. This broke apart the group of friends that the viewer has grown to love forever and ultimately gave the end of the movie a touch of sadness. Yes they succeeded in their goal to save Middle Earth, but they had to separate from each other and move on with their lives.
If Jackson would have put the Scouring of the Shire scene in the movie it would have lengthened an already long film considerably. Instead of Jackson decided to end the movie with Sam saying “Well…I’m back.” This was a very simple way to end the movie but it stayed true to the characters of hobbits and what Tolkien believed the ending should be. To Tolkien, hobbits were simple, quiet creatures and after everything Sam Gage went through, for him to come home and say such a straightforward phrase was very characteristic of hobbits and thus being a perfect way to end the series in both book and movie versions.
Thomas Shippey also predicted that Jackson would have a hard time dealing with the romances that occur within the story line of The Return of the King, the relationship between Aragorn and Arwen being the main one. Having the relationship of Aragorn and Arwen on screen was a major task for Jackson to resolve because their love is what makes Aragorn the way that he is. The only way that he can be with her is if he becomes king and that means having his “awakening” and defeating the enemy. It was crucial for Jackson to have the love between Aragorn and Arwen portrayed thoroughly on the screen because of what Tolkien believed in. Tolkien believed that a major theme of the Lord of the Rings was death versus immortality. The relationship of Aragorn and Arwen illustartes this theme because Arwen chooses to give up being immortal to be with Aragorn. Arwen choosing death tells us that she is willing to do anything in her power to be with Aragorn. Aragorn and Arwen are separated by miles in the story but Jackson needs to carry on their love relationship for the audience and finding the perfect way to do this was a challenge. How to bring them together and doing it perfectly was key for people to understand the love that they share. At first Jackson and his crew came up with different scenes that would bring the two together. In one example they had Arwen fighting with Aragorn in battles and having her come across as a warrior princess. After trying a bunch of these types of scenes, they decided that Arwen and Aragorn should be brought together by flashback. This was a great way to dig deeper into The Return of the King by taking bits and pieces from the appendices and seeing more of what Tolkien had to offer on the love between these two characters.
Shippey brought up the point of the plot line that The Two Towers, as well as The Return of the King follow. In the book Sam and Frodo’s journey is separated from the rest of the fellowships journey. The reader hears about the path and story line of one group and has no idea what is going on with the other group. Each group has their own “book” within the novel and when their storyline is done and new “book” begins with the story of the other groups. This type of disconnection and “leapfrog” pattern does not work in the commercial cinema. The viewers would be confused about what is going on when and where certain things are happening in the big picture of everyone’s journey as a whole. Jackson had to rearrange The Return of the King so that what happened to Aragorn and the fellowship connected with what happened to Frodo and Sam at the same time. Jackson had to create his own timeline to make the movie flow and have the movie be easy to follow.
Another problem that Jackson faced while making The Return of the King was showing how the power of the ring weighed Frodo down tremendously. Bringing the intense feeling of doom across to the viewers seems like a tough task. The closer Frodo gets to destroying the ring, the more it weighs on him. Especially in The Return of the King the ring in itself becomes a character instead of just a trinket. The viewer needs to see the evil and manipulation that the ring brings on the bearer. This goes along with Tolkien’s views about evil. He doesn’t believe that evil comes in one shape and size but in a various different forms and can show up at any time so Jackson had the power of the rings right.
How to portray other evils gave Jackson a hard time while making the last movie. Jackson had to think over how Sauron was to be seen by the movie watchers. It is very uncommon for a movie with as big of a bad guy as in the Lord of the Rings to not be seen as nothing but a smoldering eyeball. Jackson and his crew shot different scenes in which Sauron took on different forms but ultimately decided that the “Mouth of Sauron” and the smoldering eyeball were the best ways to show the evil leader of Mordor. It is in his actions, as well as Saurmans, that the views of Tolkien are shown. Tolkien believed that the more unnatural something is, the more evil it has. Having Sauron and Saurman destroy the land and breed horrendous, unnatural creatures illustrates this worldview perfectly. Jackson had to be sure to show the destruction and devastation that these two characters brought to Middle Earth to get Tolkien’s view about unnatural evil across. He does this by showing the burning of the forests and the creation of thousands of ugly beasts that are to fight for the evil that created them.
In taking a series of books such as the Lord of the Rings to the big screen Jackson faced problems on all fronts. From how the end the movie to how to portray the evils of the books, Jackson had his work cut out for him. Many people criticized Jacksons choices of scenes to leave out of the movies and which ones to change. People need to realize that Jackson made the movies based on his interpretations of the great works by Tolkien. He changed scenes and switched things around only because he felt that it would make the movie a better showing of Tolkien’s works. As a creative film maker Jackson did an awesome job in bringing the books to life. He did change some things but kept the essence and beauty of the Lord of the Rings series intact. He brought the timeless tales of Frodo, Sam, the fellowship and everything they go through and the very things they fight for to life.
Works Cited
Tom Shippey “From page to Screen: J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson”
Tolkien “On Fairy-stories.”
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (book and movie)
Elizabeth Delano? September 24, 2008, at 05:02 PM
