# 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:** 3
**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, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/41 "2011-07-14T02:42:57Z")
frodo was 50. a hobbit comes of age at 33. he and bilbo were about the same age when they first went out. they were definitely not young. as FOTR described described frodo, “the mature and sober age of 50,” and “taller than some and fairer than most.” and the way they were depicted in the book, only pippin (who was 29) showed an immature streak. but you’re right in saying frodo was a young 50 because he already had the ring, “like a robust hobbit just out of his tweens.” what really set frodo apart was his knowledge and depth. wood didn’t show that. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/42 "2011-07-14T04:31:35Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > But still the pants thing ([which was not restricted to Aragorn](http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/3651/pantsn.jpg)) is so iconic, it’s hard to let go of. Forgive me. Dude, if Aragorn is a giver, Boromir is a taker. What do you think those viking horns are for? They’re love handles. So that Aragorn can ride Boromir chopper-style, all the way to Mordor (great mpg by the way). > [@Quercus](#): > > I think I do see a bit of Vigo when I picture Aragorn (by the way, it’s not just pre-teen women that his look was a hit with, I’ve been informed several times). I preferred him in dick dangling mode in Eastern Promises (now, _that_’s an Aragorn I could have gone with). ---
**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, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/43 "2011-07-14T04:55:58Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > 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. Nope, Barad-dûr was on ROTK. The Two Towers (from that series that used Tolkien’s illustrations for Hobbiton and Barad-dûr) uses [this one](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/Fangorn%20Forest.jpg) which Tolkien originally entitled “Beleg Finds Gwindor in Taur-nu-Fuin.” I have those paperbacks and I treasure them. They are sadly a bit worse for wear, what with me having read them first as a young lad and then having re-read them more times than I can remember. [Here](http://earing.80port.net/index.htm?u=misc_illust.htm) are more of Tolkien’s illustrations. There are many of those I am still very found of. I agree that the Orthanc sketch is not in accord with the description at all. ---
**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, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/44 "2011-07-14T05:15:23Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Nope, Barad-dûr was on ROTK. The Two Towers (from that series that used Tolkien’s illustrations for Hobbiton and Barad-dûr) uses [this one](http://earing.80port.net/images/illust/tolkien/Fangorn%20Forest.jpg) which Tolkien originally entitled “Beleg Finds Gwindor > in Taur-nu-Fuin.” Yep, you’re right. I thought I remembered that spindly-tree illustration as the ROTK cover, but I obviously had them swapped. I still have the FOTR paperback from those covers, but the other two have succumbed to the elements, so my memory has grown dim. Thanks for the correction! ---
**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, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/45 "2011-07-14T06:25:36Z")
> [@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. a balrog is a maiar and is sentient but whose powers are certainly finite. physically, it’s no more powerful and imposing than say, morgoth whom fingolfin wounded 7 times in the leg, or sauron who was beaten by a tag team of gilgalad and elendil. we all know that the best way to beat a balrog, or at least fight him to a draw, is to do so near a body of water. ecthelion(sp?) faught the lord or balrogs to a fatal draw when they both fell into the fountain pool at the gates of gondolin. the other gondolin captain glorfindel chose to fall off the cliff-path with another balrog just to save the others. gandalf fell into deep water with his balrog and chased him up a stairway all the way to the mountain’s summit. so put a balrog’s dimensions at maybe hagrid-range. that movie thing could have killed gandalf with his finger. ---
**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, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/46 "2011-07-14T06:29:15Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Yep, you’re right. I thought I remembered that spindly-tree illustration as the ROTK cover, but I obviously had them swapped. I still have the FOTR paperback from those covers, but the other two have succumbed to the elements, so my memory has grown dim. Thanks for the correction! i remember it now. FOTR showed hobbiton with bilbo’s green gate visible in the distance. TTT showed merry and pippin gamboling among the roots of trees at fanghorn. ROTK showed that fortress. and yes, i think my friend said it was barad-dur but i thought it was too white and clean to be sauron’s fortress (mount doom was visible though and that was the giveaway.) ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/47 "2011-07-14T09:52:54Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Quoth **Der Trihs** :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. I thought the Gandalf-Balrog fight worked OK because it was primarily a magical duel. I liked the cave troll, both in terms of appearance and movement, but it was over-sized. When it started throwing members of the fellowship around they should have been left as smears on the walls. The worst for me were the vast mumakil. There was a scene where a rider (was it Eowyn?) brought one down by riding between its legs with a couple swords outstretched. Really, the best they could have hoped for was to give it a very minor shave, it just wasn’t believable. ---
**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 14, 2011, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/48 "2011-07-14T10:37:09Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > The worst for me were the vast mumakil. There was a scene where a rider (was it Eowyn?) brought one down by riding between its legs with a couple swords outstretched. Really, the best they could have hoped for was to give it a very minor shave, it just wasn’t believable. I didn’t have any problem with that scene. She was cutting the thing’s hamstrings. Sure, the sucker was huge, but a razor sharp sword being swung from the back of a charging horse is going to cut pretty deep into just about any sort of flesh, regardless of how big the beastie. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/49 "2011-07-14T18:04:51Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I didn’t have any problem with that scene. She was cutting the thing’s hamstrings. Sure, the sucker was huge, but a razor sharp sword being swung from the back of a charging horse is going to cut pretty deep into just about any sort of flesh, regardless of how big the beastie. Just checked the DVD, as I thought she runs underneath the beastie from front-to-back. To sever the hamstrings from there she’d have to cut through more than half of the legs. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/50 "2011-07-14T19:24:04Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > 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. This, exactly. Most of my mental images come from the calendars in the mid-seventies. I think that Jackson took a lot of his imagery from the Hildebrandt paintings, too (not all, certainly, especially Aragorn), and that is part of what made the movie a success: people like myself had (many of) their mental images completely validated. ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/51 "2011-07-14T20:00:52Z")
McKellan and Lee looked like the images in my head. My Frodo isn’t as… cherubic as Wood. Holm really surprised me with how close he managed to be to my image of Bilbo. The Ents, I still haven’t seen anything that looks like an ent. Humanoid enough to be “man like” but tree-ish enough to be able to hide by holding still some yards away. Agent Smith Half Elven had the right hair color, but failed in every other way. The only image in my head that was _changed_ by the movies was Boromir. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/52 "2011-07-14T20:06:23Z")
I was thinking more about Elrond (Hugo Weaving). I think the problem was that he was played too emotionless, or cold. When watching “V for Vendetta”, I admit to laughing at hearing Hugo’s voice behind the mask and thinking about Agent Smith. But without being able to see his face, the role wasn’t too bad, as facial expressions are hidden anyway. Does Mr. Weaving show the chops (more emotion) in other films, or no? ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/53 "2011-07-14T20:08:40Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Does Mr. Weaving show the chops (more emotion) in other films, or no? He does. See **Priscilla, Queen of the Desert** ---
**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 14, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/54 "2011-07-14T20:42:14Z")
> [@Redwing](#): > > He does. See **Priscilla, Queen of the Desert** Definitely. More range than Agent Smith, prettier dresses than Elrond. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/55 "2011-07-14T20:58:57Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Definitely. More range than Agent Smith, prettier dresses than Elrond. Hah! Ok, so Elrond was written cold. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/56 "2011-07-14T21:47:41Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Hah! > > Ok, so Elrond was written cold. Thanks! In a slight hijack, I’m really hoping that with all the criticism they got for him being Agent Smith of Rivendell, he’s going to be given a bit lighter touch for the Hobbit. Hope springs eternal anyway. On the thread topic… I’m in the enviable position (I suppose) of being one of those people who had mental images about 90ish% identical to the film vision. Alan Lee and John Howe were always a more resonant illustrating match for me, and I’d say that all of the visuals were like seeing my imaginings on screen (with the exception of the Paths of the Dead with the very overdramatic ghost-green lights and cascades of skulls :rolleyes: ). People were less-solid, around 75% there. Notable instances of “nope, that’s not right” Elrond (I think if I wasn’t as familiar with the actor, he could have made the cut, but the Agent Smith thing just killed it dead), Galadriel (just… not it. Nothing I can quantify very well, but no.), Arwen (Arwen needs to have more of a chin than that) poor Haldir (just bad all around), Legolas (mine’s a brunette, and you can’t take that away from me), Faramir (more due to character crucifixion than anything else.) People that didn’t match which I liked anyway - Grima surprised me. I was expecting a little less obviously icky, but it was fun to watch. I could really see him stabbing old Sharkey in the back. Saruman actually took a while to get used to, even though I enjoyed that representation of him in the film. He’s a bit meaner and obviously nefarious than in my mind. Again, I’m expecting the Hobbit to rehabilitate him a little as far as pretending to be on the good team. For the not-matches, I don’t have any trouble at all keeping my own images in mind - they’re the ones I prefer. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/57 "2011-07-14T22:16:17Z")
> [@Redwing](#): > > The only image in my head that was _changed_ by the movies was Boromir. Agree on Boromir. In my head, I pictured Boromir as more a big muscled viking type. But Sean Bean was good enough in that role to change my mind. ---
**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, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/58 "2011-07-14T22:29:01Z")
Sean Bean was great, and he made Boromir a more sympathetic and complex character than Boromir was in the books. However, his eye and hair color contradicted Tolkien’s description. ---
**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, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/59 "2011-07-14T23:18:55Z")
I think that cold, emotionless Elrond could have worked, and Hugo Weaving as Elrond could have worked, and the combination of the two could have worked if Weaving weren’t also Agent Smith, but put it all together, and the comparison is just too in-your-face. And even that wouldn’t have been so bad, if _LotR_ and _The Matrix_ weren’t such different movies. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-lotr-movie-actors-in-your-minds-eye-now-when-you-think-about-the-lotr-literary-characters/588842/60 "2011-07-15T01:14:30Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > a balrog is a maiar and is sentient but whose powers are certainly finite. physically, it’s no more powerful and imposing than say, morgoth whom fingolfin wounded 7 times in the leg, or sauron who was beaten by a tag team of gilgalad and elendil. > > we all know that the best way to beat a balrog, or at least fight him to a draw, is to do so near a body of water. ecthelion(sp?) faught the lord or balrogs to a fatal draw when they both fell into the fountain pool at the gates of gondolin. the other gondolin captain glorfindel chose to fall off the cliff-path with another balrog just to save the others. gandalf fell into deep water with his balrog and chased him up a stairway all the way to the mountain’s summit. > > so put a balrog’s dimensions at maybe hagrid-range. that movie thing could have killed gandalf with his finger. Gandalf was also a maia, and may have had additional powers over the Balrog even as Gandalf the Grey. Gandalf the White could’ve destroyed the Balrog without breaking sweat, although he would probably not have done so unless forced to. Sauron was the only entity in Middle-Earth with unquestionably greater power than Gandalf. [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=2) [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=4)