Again: To anyone who has not read the books, the name “Shelob” means nothing. How does the sentence “The scenes with Shelob are moved to the next movie” spoil anything for anyone? At most, it tells them that someone or something named Shelob will be in the third movie, which will become obvious quickly enough in that movie.
Just because the dragons are intelligent, by the way, does not necessarily mean that they’re one of the Peoples. There are intelligent beasts in Middle-Earth. See, for example, the Eagles, and the Wargs. So one can assume that there was also some sort of reptilian beastie which Morgoth corrupted (perhaps related to the Nazguls’ mounts?) which either were intelligent to begin with, or which Morgoth bred to intelligence.
Trolls, meanwhile, are in some sense stone-spawned (they reverted to stone when exposed to sunlight), which makes me suspect that they might not have been really “alive”, but merely constructs, much like the dwarves before Illuvatar adopted them. What I wonder a bit about are the Giants.
And we know trolls can bleed, because a character we’re both familiar with got one to bleed copiously in the last battle outside Mordor. So I wouldn’t be so cavalier as to say they’re not alive.
And, I’d never be the sort to “whine” or “bitch” about Peter Jackson’s choices with the story, but I do find the Shelob decision puzzling, because it makes for such a great cliffhanger to end the second volume/movie with.
Fiver - there were giants in “The Hobbit”. In the chapter titled “Over Hill and Under Hill”, the party is trying to make their way through a pass in the Misty Mountains, and while they are sheltering from a thunderstorm under a hanging rock, they look out across a valley and see stone giants out throwing rocks at and to each other, as a type of game.
By the same token, it’ll be a helluva opening for ROTK!
I understand his reasoning in that Frodo and Sam really don’t have all that much to do in Mordor in ROTK. It’ll be an intense beginning toward the end.
Plus, there’s so much in TTT already, it simply isn’t necessary.
Plus again, I think it would be a bit TOO cliffhangery. People who haven’t read the books might riot.
