# Flaws in near-perfection: LOTR Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaws-in-near-perfection-lotr-movies/189474 "2003-07-18T21:20:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Delly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Delly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delly)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaws-in-near-perfection-lotr-movies/189474/41 "2003-07-20T19:49:38Z")
What on earth was going through my mind when I wrote scourging of the shower? Anyone… anyone? A ty on the whole information about everything else stuff ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaws-in-near-perfection-lotr-movies/189474/42 "2003-07-20T20:17:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TWDuke \* > **zebra, I think Peter Jackson just decided it would look silly for Aragorn to unsheath a stub of a sword. Also, unlike book Aragorn who never seems to doubt his destiny, movie Aragorn still needs a lot of convincing, so it makes some sense that he isn’t carrying the shards of Narsil.** Aragorn never carries the shards of Narsil in the book. It’s reforged, renamed Anduril, and given to Aragorn before the Fellowship leaves Rivendell. I suspect they’ve changed this in the movies so that it can show up dramatically (probably brought by Arwen) right before the Big Showdown[sup]TM[/sup] at Minas Tirith. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaws-in-near-perfection-lotr-movies/189474/43 "2003-07-20T20:23:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by arisu \* > \*\*Aragorn never carries the shards of Narsil in the book. It’s reforged, renamed Anduril, and given to Aragorn before the Fellowship leaves Rivendell. > > I suspect they’ve changed this in the movies so that it can show up dramatically (probably brought by Arwen) right before the Big Showdown[sup]TM[/sup] at Minas Tirith. \*\* Wrong He does indeed carry the shards in the book. The fact that his sword is broken is one of the things that convince the hobbits that he can be trusted. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaws-in-near-perfection-lotr-movies/189474/44 "2003-07-20T20:52:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Miskatonic \* > \*\* > Faramir being more Boromir-ish. Same deal. This is one of the things that made the ring in the book seem rather plain and dull: Damn near everyone except Boromir and others can resist it! I never found Faramir to be a well developed character. I think the fact that he could learn from his brother’s mistake made for a better characterization. > \*\* I disagree with regards to the idea of Faramir making the ring seem dull in the book. I can see where you are coming from, but I found that the book established the ring’s power very well by showing its effects on people like Gollum and Frodo. (Not to mention Boromir). Gandalf couldn’t resist it, really, he didn’t give in to temptation, but it tempted him a lot. Galadriel passed the test, but it was a big struggle. As to the rest of the Fellowship, I wouldn’t say that it was delved into very deeply (except with Sam I guess), but there is nothing ot sugest that the ring didn’t have some temptation for them. I think that the only person who really was unaffected by the ring was Tom Bombadil and he is a special force outside the power of the ring. In my opinion, the Faramir of the book would never take the ring from Frodo or in any other way desire to possess it. In that sense the ring has no power over him, but I also believe that if he ever _did_ use the ring then it would work its corrupting influence on him. In other words, he is intensely aware of the ring’s effect and humble enough to know he wouldn’t be able to resist it and therefore he chooses not to desire the ring. All of this is hard to convey in a movie format, so I can understand the change even if it pisses me off. I think PJ redeems some of this by giving Aragorn the role of Faramir when he allows Frodo to go at the end and does not take the ring. I’m not so sure it is as appropriate as leaving this role to Faramir, but it worked OK anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaws-in-near-perfection-lotr-movies/189474/45 "2003-07-21T01:53:22Z")
**TWDuke** mentioned my only real gripe with the two LOTR films thus far: his #8, the “Nuclear Galadriel” scene in _Fellowship of the Ring_. In the book, Galadriel’s menace in that scene is more subtle, and in some ways, implied only by what she says. The movie overdid the effect, and what’s worse, did it really _really_ badly. So badly that it was the only scene in the film, the first time I saw it, that literally shocked me out of the world it had created. From the opening scenes up until that point, I was utterly enchanted by the film. It took me a bit to get back into it after that scene, but I did. For what it’s worth, I recall Jackson saying (perhaps in the DVD commentary, or in Cinefex magazine) that that particular scene’s effects was farmed out to another company, not WETA or any of the major people they worked with on most of the other scenes. I could have guessed that. 🙂 Though I did notice the plot and character differences from book to film, they seem like relatively natural choices in adapting a long story to a slightly shorter film series, and with a little adjustment, they don’t bother me. So far, the books and the movies seem to be telling the same story, in a slightly different way. ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaws-in-near-perfection-lotr-movies/189474/46 "2003-07-21T03:55:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DocCathode \* > \*\*Wrong > > He does indeed carry the shards in the book. The fact that his sword is broken is one of the things that convince the hobbits that he can be trusted. \*\* Yes, but from the context of **Zebra** ’s post, it sounded like he thought Aragorn should still be carrying it around during _The Two Towers_, which definitely takes place post-reforging. ---
**Author:** ![Shemem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Shemem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shemem)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaws-in-near-perfection-lotr-movies/189474/47 "2003-07-21T17:15:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Delly \* > **What on earth was going through my mind when I wrote scourging of the shower? Anyone… anyone?** I’m sure that someone, somewhere has written a cringeworthy fanfic with that inspiration … 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaws-in-near-perfection-lotr-movies/189474.md?page=2)