When Frodo and Sam are in Mordor and they see the Orc army head off, clearing a path for them to Mount Doom, why do the orcs go off to the left? Surely they should be going right (I’m assuming the pass they took through to Mordor was further north than the gate)
[spoiler]Depends on which way they’re facing. If their body position puts their right shoulders to North, they should be facing West. So, the Orcs heading South would appear to go to their left.
Question is, were Frodo and Sam coming from the East, thus heading West? I can’t remember.[/spoiler]
No spoiler box since the thread title warns already.
The pass of Cirith Ungol is south and west of the Black Gates. It is a pass in the Ephel Duath, the mountain range that divides Mordor from Ithilien, which is nominally part of Gondor.
Frodo and Sam came in via Cirith Ungol, out of the west. The orcs in their way were heading north, to the Isenmouth and thence to the Morannon, or Black gate. Aragorn and friends had crossed the Anduin at Osgiliath, headed north thru Ithilien, and then went west to the Morannon.
http://img-fan.theonering.net/rolozo/images/aehl/CJRT_RGM_Map.jpg
So, to get to Mount Doom from Cirith Ungol, Frodo and sam would have to be walking east, meaning left is north from their perspective. So yes, the orc army was moving in the right direction.
If you look at a map I would say either the orcs should have gone right or mount doom should have been to the left of the tower with the eye.
ok ignore previous post except why was Mount Doom to the right of the tower with the eye as they looked on?
Look at the map that QtM provided.
Sam and Frodo came in where it says Minas Morgul. That is the tower where the first Orc army (that attacked Osgiliath) and the Witch King emerge from, and it’s where Frodo, Sam, and Gollum climb the stairs. The idea being they will circumlocute the tower by going through Shelob’s cave and the path of Cirith Ungol. They are heading east. The tower that Frodo is taken to, where Sam rescues him, is at the end of the Cirith Ungol pass.
On that map you can see a direct path drawn to Mt Doom. In fact, in a scene removed from the Theatrical cut, there’s a bit of a detour that the disguised Hobbits have to negotiate, but anyhoo - they go straight to the Volcano. From their point of view, Barad-Dur, which is the tower with Sauron’s eye on it, is slightly to the right of the mountain. The Orc army is heading to the Black Gate of Morannon, which is to the northwest. That means they must head leftwards in relation to the Hobbits.
But I could have sworn in the film Barad-Dur was on the left as they looked at Mount Doom. Maybe I’m getting mixed up…
I fear PJ may not have been 100% faithful to the map, The Griffin.
Besides, in the book, Frodo and Sam couldn’t go straght east from Cirith Ungol to Mt. Doom because of intervening armies, but rather headed due north up the valley just west of the Morgai on the map, to Durthang. Then they followed the road east past Isenmouthe until they’re due north of Mt. Doom. Then they head south. They were creeping around Mordor for a while. And at some point, they would have seen Mt. Doom with the Barad-Dur behind it as we saw it in the movie.
I’m actually quite pleased with how closely Jackson matched the geography of LOTR. I’m a geography nut in real life and Middle-Earth is no exception, so it was cool to match up the scenery with the map in my head. Although my knowledge of Mordor’s interior is a little weak…
My only real gripe was FOTR, on the trek from Bree to Rivendell, when Aragorn & the hobbits suddenly wind up a snowy field (the “second breakfast” scene.) Is Eriador far enough north to get snow flurries in mid-October? Maybe.
Oh, and Rohan is more of an open grassland, but apparently no such landscape exists in New Zealand, per Jackson in the TTT commentary.
About a year before they started shooting LOTR, I was driving through that area just outside of Alexandra on a little “holiday at home” before moving to Australia. I was looking at the landscape of those unique rocks and golden grasses and thought to myself “They have got to film some part of the LOTR movies here, even if it’s just a quick establishing landscape shot.”
When I finally saw the first trailer for Two Towers, I was so stoked to see those distinctive rock formations, I just cried “YES!!” out loud. Absolutely it is one of the most unique areas in the country. (I used to go there every year on holidays with my family when I was a kid, and play around in the hollows of the rocks)
You mean east to the Morannon, right? Or am I misreading this thing?
Thing is, if they were looking at Mount Doom from the north, the orcs should have gone right, as I originally said.
You think roads in Mordor are all straight? … plus, Sauron was making war in several directions at once – west and north, mostly, but the orcs could have been moving south or east to join up with other armies coming from those directions.
Also, I’m dyslexic. So, it looked right to me!
No, error on my part. East to the Morannon.