# Are the LOTR movie actors in your minds eye now when you think about the LOTR literary characters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842 "2011-07-13T05:06:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/21 "2011-07-13T19:39:32Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I don’t think so; I think that’s an example of modifying the material to fit the medium. Making it big like that made it more impressive and scary because unlike in a book you can see how huge it is. In a book you can talk up how scary it is; with a movie going for visuals and sound works better. > > And yes, I tend to see the movie Balrog in my mind’s eye now. Please tell me the movie you’re talking about is PJ’s and not Bakshi’s. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/22 "2011-07-13T19:52:26Z")
Some of them. Gandalf yeah, Elrond not even close. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/23 "2011-07-13T20:01:09Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Please tell me the movie you’re talking about is PJ’s and not Bakshi’s. 😉 You got problem with a lion wearing fuzzy slippers? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/24 "2011-07-13T20:13:54Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I have to admit the movie actors are now my default “mind’s eye” image when I think about LOTR. My original mind’s eye Hobbit from the books was very different than the Peter Jackson movie version. > > Do you still have your minds eye book LOTR characters in mind then thinking about LOTR scenarios or have the actors taken over? Truth to tell, I thought the casting was great. The actors pretty much fit the mental pictures I already had, with two notable exceptions. Hugo Weaving - had the bad luck of playing Agent Smith, the King of the Elves. I couldn’t shake the Matrix connection. Elijah Wood - whiny little git. Nothing at all like I envisioned Frodo. The movies were successful in spite of him, not because of him. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/25 "2011-07-13T20:21:42Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > You got problem with a lion wearing fuzzy slippers? I like it just fine, but somehow it doesn’t scream “ancient shadow of the underdeep” to me. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/26 "2011-07-13T20:28:30Z")
Sean Bean is Boromir; Dracula is Saruman; Richard III/Magneto is Gandalf. Pretty boy is Legolas. Not so much for the rest. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/27 "2011-07-13T20:55:52Z")
and I thought Bakshi’s Sam was pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/28 "2011-07-13T21:14:14Z")
Aragorn looked good enough for me, but what bugs me is his nasal non-kingly voice, especially at the council of Elrond. Which reminds me, Elrond in the movie looks nothing like Elrond in, erm, real life. The casting is generally very well done in my opinion, though, and I think Elijah Wood is as good as it gets. For me, it differs, to go back to the OP: Some of my inner images of the characters are influenced by the movie because they came close to it and sort of took over (Gandalf, Eowyn, Sam (!) for instance), but others are too far from it to have any influence (Legolas, Denethor, Merry, for instance). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/29 "2011-07-13T21:16:55Z")
Quoth **Der Trihs** : > [@](#): > > I don’t think so; I think that’s an example of modifying the material to fit the medium. Making it big like that made it more impressive and scary because unlike in a book you can see how huge it is. In a book you can talk up how scary it is; with a movie going for visuals and sound works better. Compare to the flashbacks, where we see Sauron in his corporeal form. They managed to make him quite ominous and menacing, in about the size range I’m talking about. Him fighting Gil-Galad and Elendil seemed plausible, in a way that the Balrog fighting Gandalf didn’t. There, the size difference tipped it over into the realm of the absurd, for me. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/30 "2011-07-13T21:42:32Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Pantsless Aragorn? Well, okay, if that’s what gets you through the day. 🙂 Gondor has no pants. Gondor needs no pants. ---
**Author:** ![goldmund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a4c791/32.png) [@goldmund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goldmund)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/31 "2011-07-13T22:13:57Z")
I don’t picture the movie characters, but after playing [Lord of the Rings Online](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Online:_Shadows_of_Angmar) for the past 3.5 years, I generally picture various Middle Earth locations as they appear in the game. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/32 "2011-07-13T22:34:01Z")
I have to admit that my 70s/80s upbringing makes the [Brothers Hildebrandt](http://www.timefold.com/brosimages/fellowship.jpg) my go-to imagery for LOTR. ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/33 "2011-07-13T22:46:12Z")
Not at all. I worked my way through the Lord of the Rings the first time when I was in grade school. Those guys have been in my head way too long for Hollywood to replace them! ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/34 "2011-07-13T23:09:02Z")
The real test will be re-reading the books after having seen the movies, which I have yet to do. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/35 "2011-07-14T00:39:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What about places? I thought the filmmakers had read my mind when I saw Minas Tirith, since it looked _exactly_ like I’d pictured it, but I disagreed on Orthanc and Barad-Dur. [Orthanc](http://www.physics.montana.edu/students/bambeck/chess/orthanc.htm) I see as being all smooth curves and a more organic (though still ominous) shape, while [Barad-Dur](http://www.physics.montana.edu/students/bambeck/chess/baraddur.htm) I picture as a single monolithic spire thrust violently out of the bedrock (links are to carvings I’ve done). I never really had a strong notion of what Rivendell was like, though, and like the movie version better than the vague ideas I had before. For what it’s worth, here are some of Tolkien’s own sketches for some of these places: [Barad-dûr](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/Barad-dur.jpg) [Orthanc](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/Orthanc.jpg) [Rivendell](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/Rivendell.jpg) [Hobbiton](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/The%20Hill%20-%20Hobbiton%20Across%20the%20Water.jpg) Oh, to answer the OP, the images in my mind for most of the characters are quite different from the movies. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/36 "2011-07-14T01:02:39Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > For what it’s worth, here are some of Tolkien’s own sketches for some of these places: > > [Barad-dûr](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/Barad-dur.jpg) > [Orthanc](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/Orthanc.jpg) > [Rivendell](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/Rivendell.jpg) > [Hobbiton](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/The%20Hill%20-%20Hobbiton%20Across%20the%20Water.jpg) A couple of those were also the paperback cover illustrations for some time. The Orthanc illustration is interesting, in that the tower itself bears little relation to Tolkien’s own description in TTT. > [@JRRT](#): > > There stood a tower of marvelous shape. It was fashioned by the builders of old, who smoothed the Ring of Isengard, and yet it seemed a thing not made by the craft of Men, but riven from the bones of the earth in the ancient torment of the hills. A peak and isle of rock it was, black and gleaming hard: four mighty piers of many-sided stone were welded into one, but near the summit they opened into gaping horns, their pinnacles sharp as the points of spears, keen-edged as knives. Between them was a narrow space, and there upon a floor of polished stone, written with strange signs, a man might stand five hundred feet above the plain. I assume this was an early sketch before the books were finalized. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/37 "2011-07-14T01:37:20Z")
aboslutely not. the only players who got it right were those for merry, pippin, and sam. elijah wood was too young and immature to play frodo. mortensen lacked the depth of aragorn (why didn’t they get adrian paul?) sean bean (?) was a good interp for boromir but the one in the book was a haughty, pumped up jerk. i had a good laugh in the chapter “lothlorien” when they all recounted how galadriel mentally tested their resolve to push on. only sam was brave enough to say exactly how he felt. the others were too insecure to tell. boromir was most pathetic: _“to me it seemed exceedingly strange. perhaps it was a just a test, trying to read our minds for her own good purposes. but almost i would have said that she was tempting me, offering what she pretended to have the power to give. it need not be said that i refused to listen. the men of gondor are tru to their word.”_ :smack: ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/38 "2011-07-14T01:54:03Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > For what it’s worth, here are some of Tolkien’s own sketches for some of these places: > > [Barad-dûr](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/Barad-dur.jpg) > [Orthanc](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/Orthanc.jpg) > [Rivendell](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/Rivendell.jpg) > [Hobbiton](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/The%20Hill%20-%20Hobbiton%20Across%20the%20Water.jpg) > > Oh, to answer the OP, the images in my mind for most of the characters are quite different from the movies. me friend had a series that had those on the cover. but i thought the tower depicted was minas tirith. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/39 "2011-07-14T02:32:42Z")
For those saying that Frodo looked too young, remember, he had only just come of age when he got the Ring (Hobbits age slower than humans). And once he had the Ring, he wouldn’t be aging naturally. So he should look somewhere around late teens, early twenties or so. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/40 "2011-07-14T02:38:11Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > me friend had a series that had those on the cover. but i thought the tower depicted was minas tirith. The Hobbiton drawing was on the cover of FOTR. The Barad-dûr one was on TTT. I don’t remember what was on the ROTK cover, but I don’t think it was either of the two remaining sketches. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842.md?page=3)