Before I delve in, I would like to say that I much prefer the Lord of the Rings films to the Hobbit films. I'll tell you why later, but I wanted to warn - I may be slightly biased. I base my ratings of movies off of how accurately they portray the books. But anyway...
First, I'm going to tackle Lord of the Rings. There isn't really much here. They left out several parts of the books, including Tom Bombadil, which I can see the argument behind that. He would be a very hard actor to play/portray. Elrond's two sons and some other Rangers from the North joined Aragorn when he went to 'fetch' the ghosts to help in the battle of the Pelennor. There are also several scenes that were simply cut - but the casting was great! I can imagine every single one of the actors saying what their character says in the books.
The other things are pretty minor, but still worth mentioning. First, Frodo's age. In the movies, Frodo leaves for Rivendell soon after Bilbo's party, when he's still thirty-three. In the books, Frodo is fifty when he leaves. There's quite a difference there. Not a huge deal, I think, but still causes a straying from the book.
Second, Samwise Gamgee. He is probably one of my favorite characters. (I don't have a favorite character. I can't just pick one.) But - he is elevated to more of a 'friend' in the movies. In the books he was much more of a servant to Frodo than a friend. I can see kinda why they did this, because it makes Sam more relatable to the audience. But still - it just seems to be straying from the books, again. :)
Pippin and Merry are also slightly different in the books. Pippin is pretty much the same, actually, but Merry was much less of a prankster than he seems to be in the movies. He was trusted by Frodo to buy and furnish a house, something I can't see the movie Merry doing.
Other minor disrepancies include Ganalf being much less sure of himself in the movies than he is in the books, and Aragorn being portrayed as scared of claiming the throne of Gondor, when in the books he's actually quite eager to. Also, the costumes and weapons are slightly different than what is described in the books for some characters, Boromir's hair is the wrong color, and Sauron does have a form in the books (he just doesn't show himself at any point), contrary to what the movies say, and finally, the movies lack a lot of the songs and poems of the books. That last one I can kinda see the reasoning behind, but the songs and poems are some of the best parts! :)
\ Okay - Hobbit next. I'm just going to get into the big ones. If I went in depth we would be here forever. If you're interested, go here and click on the Hobbit links. He goes really in depth, and it's awesome. :) Also, I'm just going to do a quick list in what I think are the biggest departures from the book to the 'it kinda matters but really doesn't so much'. If that makes sense. XD
- Tauriel is completely invented. Created for the 'girl power' or whatever. This is probably the thing I can't believe the most.
- Tauriel and Kili love thingy - it adds drama (especiialy with Legolas) but it isn't in the book. Obviously. If it involves Tauriel, it isn't in the book. Period. Sorry. :)
- Azog the Defiler and all the orcs trying to chase down the company are fake. Azog was killed long before the book begins. I'm assuming the orcs were added to provide tension and conflict, but it's not in the book. I'm going to be saying that a lot.
- All of the Dul Guldur scenes are invented - even though it is mentioned in The Lord of the Rings appendices that he did visit there in the Hobbit timeframe.
- The whole White Council scene is never mentioned in the book, though there was a White Council.
- Galadriel can teleport?!?! No power of this is ever mentioned - not even for the Istari (the Wizards)! Not canon.
- Radagast the Brown isn't in the book, either, and his rundown look seems to detract from the ethereal feeling the Istari have.
- The barrel scene when the orcs chase the dwarves down the river is also invented. The barrels had lids on the whole time, and there were no orcs.
- The Rivendell elves are much more merry and friendly in the books, and the company didn't sneak out. They actually were loath to leave, but ended up leaving amid songs of farewell.
- Legolas isn't in the books, but he was alive at this time, but it's not in the books.
- Gandalf knew about the Necromancer in the books, but he seems quite surprised in the movies when Radagast mentions the Necromancer. Not in the books.
- Bilbo doesn't see Gollum drop the ring, he reaches back in the dark, and his hand closes over on it. totally accidental.
- The contract given to Bilbo in the movie is way longer than the one given in the book. The one given in the book was only two paragraphs long... not twenty pages. :)
- When the trolls are turned to stone, Gandalf is the one who distracts them, not Bilbo. Not a huge deal, but it's not canon.
- The last two tiny things I'm going to combine - first, the dwarves' weapson are more varied in the movies than in the books. In the books they all had knives, and the only sword was Thorin's. Second, the dwarves are missing their hoods! They had colorful hoods which I really liked when I read the books, but they aren't in the movies.
So that's my brief list. Quick note about the link above: apparently it was made before the third (or even the second) Hobbit movie came out, so it doesn't have a lot of the discrepancies that are in the third/second movies. Just noting that, in case you do check it out. :)
And finally - our quote for the week!!
This is Aragorn's poem, and it's arguably one of my favorite poems in the whole book. Note the references to Narsil/Anduril ('Renewed shall be blade that was broken'), which is Aragorn's sword.
Semi side note, Aragorn's sword was actually reforged before the Fellowship left Rivendell, and Aragorn had actually carried the shards around in his scabbard for a while before that.
My favorite line has to be though - 'The crownless again shall be king.' It almost gives me the chills. :)
Well! That's my second post in my ongoing Lord of the Rings/Hobbit/all things Tolkien series! The first part is here, if you're interested. :)
Next week I'm going to tackle probably my favorite part of the Middle Earth universe - the Quenta Silmarillion. It tells of the forming of Arda (Middle Earth) and of its early history. Fascinating stuff, and it reads like a history textbook. The amount of work Tolkien must of put into it is staggering! Anyway... Till next week!!
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