Fun trivia: Aragorn's actor (Viggo) loved his movie horse so much that he bought it. So this is truly HIS horse. It became his companion in real life too.
Not only did "Game of Thrones" pull a lot of inspiration from this, but so have nearly every fantasy story for the last 70 years; JRR Tolkien basically invented the genre with "Lord of the Rings". Often I hear the uninformed say that "Lord of the Rings" is full of used tropes and cliches, that they've seen it before in other movies and books. The reason is that when "Lord of the Rings" was written they were not tropes and cliches because it invented the tropes and cliches.
Not true though, folklore was invented centuries before that, but English folklore had Scandinavian roots, not Anglo-Saxon, he wanted to create Epic story originally from England, even though he was inspired by Celts, vikings stories and other folklore. You guys need to stop make things up, especially when you read zero books your entire life. Homer would die again if he saw your message 😂
bro JRR literally invented dwarfs and orcs while yes he used euro folklore it wasn't in a bad way he completely embraced it and wanted it to be apart of his story. People like you using this argument is just sad and shows you just a hater. compare these works to other Fantasy works where they literally use his ideas in full like Warhammer@@Sindamsc
@Sindamsc "Fantasy" as we know it as a genre was basically started my tolkein.. before him you would go to magical lands in fairytales/folk tales an such as a device to teach a lesson, before coming back to reality, after Tolkien the fantasy setting IS the reality. Also whenever you think of "Orcs" or "dwarves" and "elves" all of those came from Him as well. He literally invented orcs. So... way to show how much you "don't" know.
@@mikelarsen5836 I've seen some hardcore movie fans, people that have watched it dozens of times and have learned some back lore from friends and the internet. I agree with you in that I highly recommend reading the books. I first saw the Ralph Bakshi film The Hobbit when it aired on tv in 1977. I was 7 at the time but the animated movies and my older brothers kept me interested and I read their copies when I started high school. I still keep a copy by my bed and I have the audiobooks by Andy Serkis. The audiobooks are great and I recommend those as well.
Fun fact: Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler's lines during Aragorn's "go to sleep" flashback scenes were all written in regular English. Viggo and Liv talked Peter Jackson into letting them translate all the dialogue in Elvish because the language was so beautiful they wanted to use it. And this was the outcome to their translations :-) Also they couldn't get too far into it because of timing of course, but Elrond is very familiar with the decision Arwen made in choosing a mortal life. His twin brother, Elros, was faced with the same decision centuries before. While Elrond chose immortality, Elros chose mortality.
Those cloaks sam and Frodo are wearing were given to them by the elves of Lothlorien. As they said, they could help 'shield them from unfriendly eyes'. They aren't infallible, but I'm guessing could change their color and texture just slightly to help blend into the surroundings
One small detail that most people miss, is that the kid’s sword that Aragorn says is a good sword, is the same sword that he throws down in disgust in his previous scene. He is actively deciding to have hope, and to impart hope to others.
Aragorn is nicknamed "King Elessar", Elessar being the elvish word for "Hope". It was the nickname his mother gave to him and to which he always became remembered. Aragorn is the personification of hope.
More interesting background on Gollum in the book not represented in the film. After losing his ring Gollum finally left the caves to spend years hopelessly searching for it. Eventually Gandalf heard rumors of something like Gollum lurking around, and asked Aragorn to hunt him down. Aragorn captured him and Gandalf interrogated him. That’s how Gandalf knew Gollum had once been captured by Sauron, tortured, and then set free, even knew his name had been Sméagol - those things he tells Frodo in the 1st movie (how the heck else could Gandalf had known those things?) Gandalf then asked Legolas’s people to imprison Gollum for safekeeping. But they were too nice about it and some orcs were able to set him free. In book, the reason Legolas came to Rivendell in the first place was to get word to Gandalf that Gollum escaped. So at this point in the book, Gandalf, Aragorn, and probably Legolas all had spent time with Gollum.
Was a little disappointed that you skipped over Sam's speech at Osgiliath, after he saved Frodo from the Nazgul on the wall. "How can things go back.." - that is one of the most inspirational speeches in cinema history. Also, Sam is the MVP.
I prefer the dialogue between Frodo and Sam in the book. What Peter Jackson did to Frodo's character in the films makes me sad - wimpifying the mature, rational, courageous Frodo of the book, who was never so stupid as to show the Ring openly to a Nazgul. 🙄 Neither did Frodo ever try to kill Sam under the influence of the Ring. A visually arresting scene, but dumb.
@@philippalinton5850 The gulf between prose and film as narrative forms is deep, and expecting one to be the same as the other is like expecting a painting of the battle of Borodino to stir identical emotions as the 1812 Overture. The dozens of hours it takes me to leisurely read the entire Lord of the Rings will never be matched by a film or films. A film would be killed by the pacing of an epic book. Changes must be made when converting a narrative between mediums. As far as conversions from print go, Peter Jackson did as fine a job as I've seen any filmmaker do in adaptation. It's not perfect--but I don't expect perfection in reality. You, somehow, do.
@@rikk319 No, I don't expect perfection in adaptation. And I'm very aware that book and film are different mediums. Overall PJ's adaptation of LotR is faithful to the book. I don't mind omissions, compressions or even simplifications. I don't mind changes from the book when they make sense. What I do mind is mischaracterisation. And when people go on about Sam being the 'real' hero, and how Frodo was a useless wimp - and they often do, because they judge Frodo on his film portrayal - then I'll defend my favourite character. 😉 Because the films didn't do him justice. 👀
Small correction: Boromir and Faramir's father, Denethor, is not a king, he's the latest STEWARD, a line of caretakers of the throne of Gondor, until the rightful king shows up.
Gandalf is what is called a Maia in the lore of LOTR. That means he is sort of an angel, a very powerful spirit sent out by the gods to watch over the people of middle-earth. As a Maia, Gandalf is immortal, but he inhabits a human body wich more or less has the same physical limitations as a human, but he has magic powers, and he wields one of the magic rings, one of the three given to the elves. This ring gives him special powers over the ability to inspire friendship and loyalty. This is an often over-looked aspect of the character: Gandalf is not actually allowed to use his magic as a weapon, and he rarely does. Instead, he uses his wisdom, his humor and his charisma to inspire others to become heroes, to fight for themselves.
Fun side note, and more proof that Jackson did his homework, we never see the ring Gandalf wears until the final scene in Return of the King. The 3 greater rings were invisible unless you were a bearer yourself (when Galadriel shows hers in the books Frodo can see it but Sam is confused). After the One Ring is destroyed they lose their power and become visible. At the end of RotK, when they’re boarding the ship, you see Gandalf’s ring for the first time. It’s a tiny detail but just shows how much Jackson reallllly cared about these movies.
Dude was thinking siege defense strategies as the battle was going on, and that’s very relatable. I’ve also watched this scene and thought “Wow, good idea making the entrance so narrow. Could work better with some collapsible bridges or traps”
Dude was suggesting an actual real fortification--a gatehouse, which has a tunnel running through it, and gates in the front and back. It was a real part of castles in later medieval times, but probably not around when Helm's Deep was built...but it would have made a lot of sense, for sure.
"i don't understand why they just let [grima] go!" mercy is an attribute the king must have, and aragorn was showing his true colors by allowing him to live. things have a way of eventually making sense in this series anyway.
This philosophy is reflected, too, in Gandalf's conversation with Frodo in Moria from Fellowship: "Many that live that deserve death. And some who die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too hasty to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends." From a _filmmaking_ perspective, it allows Gríma to later provide exposition for the sake of the audience. In the film, he kind of teleports from Edoras to Isengard, and is thus able to report to Saruman, whereas in the book Gríma didn't arrive at Isengard until was far too late for him to do anything that could harm the protagonists.
@@evenmoor Not to forget Aragorn knew the king and grima from when they were still young and good friends, he wouldn't want it to end without a chance for either to try and reconcile.
Don't forget that Grima had his partisans at the court. Given a choice Grima would prefer to stay at court, even discredited, but Aragorn forced him to publicly demonstrate his allegiance to Saruman.
Also there was really nothing Wormtongue could tell that Saruman didn't already know. Saruman has his spies, and has lived in the area for a long time. He already knows about Helm's Deep, etc.
CANNOT WAIT TO SEE PART 3! Film 3 goes 10x harder than both the first two combined. You guys will be an absolute wreck. Best and most emotional movie of all time.
@@thekittygoesmeow9652 Schindler's List is in there, i haven't watch Sophie's Choice, Saving Private Ryan? it's somehow emotional but not in the level of LOTR and Schindler's List.
@@thekittygoesmeow9652 Schindler was just super emotional, particularly ending scene. But LOTR subletly, by the pacing and the lenght of it, had tons of its moments. Didn't see Sophie's choice but for knowing purpose of it, seems to be overdrama-drama. Not my cup of tea at all. Make movies to just buy some crying... And i cannot get out of my head words Ricky Gervais had for this particular movie on Oscars introduction, when he slammed entire Hollywoodpancake. figures. LOTR is for me a quiet river of emotions spreading all his feels of an endless journey at peacefull rythm, even if there is obvious peak through the end.. All of that magnified by width and heaviness of the story, plus some increasing epicness degree through entire time.
@@EDWARD-zd7lb right on. SPR effects some people differently based on life experiences. I absolutely love LOTR trilogy. When I was a kid all we had was the Hobbit cartoon. Gollum was a dick in that one too. Sophie’s Choice will tear your heart out.
You made a really good point regarding Helm's Deep - just before 44:12 - about the design of the keep; your idea regarding 'another gate' was basically how actual castles/ keeps were designed..! A series of what were essentially deathtraps/ funnels/ killzones leading up to the main structure.. As a result; actually storming them seems like it was less common - rather, easier to take the river/ water source, post up outside and beat the defenders down with starvation and disease.
So excited! It makes me happy when after so much time these films are still appreciated and loved by new people. I'm 29 but my parents had these on VHS lolll so I've had the privilege of watching them since I was little and it still effects me so much. Best battle sequence in all cinema history!
That’s because they stuck to the powerful and lofty themes and ideals of Tolkiens work. and because of that these films have touched many hearts around the world. To live on. To better their life. To keep going etc. so many great stories of read and listened to regarding the impact of Tolkiens many books as well as all the games out there too that have been a part of our lives for so long now.
@Quotenwagnerianer Yes my parents were very old school lol I grew up in the late 90s so we didn't have a DVD player when LOTR came out. They did eventually get the DVDs but I know it's very rare to say I've seen LOTR in every form possible haha. I just looked it up and yeah Fellowship came out on August 2002 on VHS 😂
As an old man ;-) i had the chance to see them in the cinema, and i have done that maybe 10times each of them. Remember the films came up every december, so you have to wait one year...the third one will be the best for sure. Music, pictures, story-telling, battles, laughing, crying...its an rollercoaster of emotions.
I love how you both always have the Same Exact moment when you go Ahhhhhh and Ooooooh LOL Its like it starts stops at the same moment and it just shows how alike you are. I love it.
If Frodo can't save Gollum from the Ring's power, then he feels like he himself cannot be saved from it's power. And another reason why Aragorn is so old, and so skilled, and knowledgeable, he is about 90ish here. His ancestors were basically all super soldiers like Captain America. Peak humans.
Yeah a double gate (such as almost every medieval castle in Europe has) with murder holes and a portcullis and a drawbridge at the top of the ramp in front of the gate would be really useful. The reality is that Helms Deep isn't that great a fortress.
Its bigger than any Castle ever made or atleast most, most real castles could only hold like 40-80 dudes at a tine sometimes as low as 25, but i see your point its not the best fortress the narrow bridge up is great though.
It is not anywhere remotely a large castle and unless you are going to include any and every single minor keep in the definition of castle it's not anywhere close to bigger than most. I can think of 7 or 8 castles that dwarf Helms deep just off the top of my head. Edinburgh, Windsor, Hohensalzburg, Meiji in Osaka Japan, Karak in Jordan, Krak de Chevalies in Syria, Mont St Michael, Warwick Castle. I'm sure if I googled it there are dozens more. And let's not even bring in walled and fortified cities which can be huge. Helms deep right there on film barely had room for 300 Rohirrim soldiers and a similar number of elves. The women and children hid in the caves and that can't be counted as part of a man made castle.
I went to New Zeeland the year after seeing the last of the films. Bought a LOTR location guide book and visited a lot of the places where the movie was shot. Standing in a place you recognize from the movies is a totally surreal feeling! Spent 3 weeks there but could have stayed for a year. If you get the chance - GO!!
The wonderful thing about Gimli and Legolas is that their races held big grudges against one another for a long time, but between them, things are changing and will blossom in the last movie. Now I can't wait for you to watch the last one. 😁
18:20 That is a great call! One of the best things that their plan has going for it. The movies don't have time to really go into it but the books make it even more explicit that Sauron can't imagine someone actually trying to destroy the ring rather than taking it for themselves.
AHHH love this!! also, ent is voiced by john rhys davies (aka gimli). he talks while breathing IN as opposed to OUT to make a different sounding voice style. Cant wait for Return video!!
@theperfectmix just wanted to contact on TH-cam bc I got an email saying I won the prize and wanted confirmation on here. If not then you have someone impersonating you guys
There are many differences between Tolkien's book and Peter Jackson & Co.'s movies, especially in T2T. The Battle of Helm's Deep takes up only a single chapter in the book, while it is the centerpiece of the movie. In the book, the Elves don't fight at Helm's Deep (because Sauron has sent a separate army to attack Lothlorien). Many viewers miss the fact that the leader of the Elves at Helm's Deep is Haldir, the Elf who commanded the force that detained the Company when they first entered Lothlorien.
Another difference is that the Ents DO decide to go to war at the Ent moot. Pippin doesn’t have to show Treebeard the destruction Saruman has caused to the forest.
Faramir also rejects the Ring out of hand, immediately. Tolkien was once asked which character most resembled his own personality, and he said Faramir did. A scholarly man who takes up the sword in defense of his own nation and is wise and humble enough to reject raw power like the Ring--a description that fits both Faramir and Tolkien well.
well if you are looking for diferences between the movie and the book then at the battle of helms deep eomer was at the keep alraedy fighting the orcs by the king till they separated during the battle some in the caves there where gimli later on found a new SH for the dwarves and it was elfhelm who gandalf brought to break the seige at the end
43:30 What you describe here is basically a Gatehouse. A lot of castle had that. Generally, you had murder holes on the roof. That way, when the enemy breach the first gate and start trying to take down the second one, you can throw or pour stuff on them from above (stone, boiling water, etc.)
@29:30 “He fell.” John Rhys-Davies delivered that line perfectly. Under heavy makeup and prosthetics, he managed to convey exactly what Gimli was feeling, at that moment, using primarily his voice.
22:22 Don't forget how much the themes of mercy and fate are important to this author. Some that live deserve death, and some that die deserve life. Don't be too eager to deal out death in judgement, for even the very wise cannot see all ends.
Since it's probably not clear, the wizards are essentially angels sent into the world to help in the fight against Sauron. They weren't supposed to try and take him on directly or try to dominate people, but Saruman got corrupted.
The swamp Frodo & Sam end up in is the remains of where the Last Battle against Sauron was fought 3,000 years ago near the slopes of Mt. Doom. This is the battle fought in the prologue to the Fellowship, and where the One Ring was cut from the hand of Sauron. The body in the water that looks at Frodo is one of the Elves from that battle (you'll notice he's wearing an ancient elven armor, on display in that original battle).
This knowledge will help make sense of the future movies. Gandalf is the same species of being as the Balrogs/Sauron before twisted by Melkor[Morgoth]. They are all Maiar (primordial spirits). Gandalf named Olórin created by Eru’s Thought (extensions of Eru Îlluvatar himself whilst they had their own free will and individuality. He essentially got the chance to experience and study other parts of himself through this.) among the other Ainur before the Years of the Lamps roughly 9,000+ years before arriving in Middle-earth; In Valinor he was known as Olórin.(Remember though he formally existed before the world existed and his form becoming Gandalf hadn’t happened yet. He was sent to Middle-earth in human form around the year 1000 of the Third Age. So his many forms had different ages in length of existing. He’s very cool right! Could he get any cooler!? 😎❤️ Another thing is when he arrived in middle earth he was disguised as an elf and lived among them whilst they were unknowing and he became to be known as Mithrandir to the Quendi/Eldar❤️ He could have very well dwelled with the elves far earlier just do to his curiosity and simple desire to explore and be around the firstborn (TheElves) Gandalf The Grey/White Estimated at 15,000 years old (following his quote "300 lives of men, I have walked this earth"), It says that Gandalf was the wisest of the Maiar besides Melian herself. There were a lot of Maiar that were considered really great and powerful. However, there is a much longer answer. Like Sauron(former name is Mairon) and the other Istari (the order sent around the same time and of which he was appointed leader but he being who he is and a student of the Vala by the name Nienna and Lorien(Irmo). Gandalf was a Maiar, an angelic spirit created by Eru at the beginning of time and therefor one of the many Ainur who sang the world into being and Eru just helped their creation take shape and basically stated “behold YOUR creation” and basically what happens in that world goes sort of preordained as by that song eons ago so really only the ages after Dagor Dagorath will truly be an age that isn’t full of strife and sadness and longing. Also. These lamps are what were before even the two trees. These were Giant mountains but also like light houses but housing a great power but it may have also been where two special Maia lived that helped in the creation in the sun and moon after Melkor With eldrich terror Ungoliant killed the trees, so yea Arien is the Maia who basically exists with the sun and her brother and or lover of sorts is the one who wanders with and guides the moon.
Loved the review! Gandalf is a Maia spirit sent to Middle Earth in the form of and old man, a wizard to teach and educate. The wizards were sent with there powers reduced. Gandalf actually died at the end of that battle against the Balrog, a fallen Maia spirit. But as he is a spirit he returned to the halls and was summoned in front of Iluvatar (the One God) Iluvatar sends him back to Middle Earth as his task was not done. This time with his full power unlocked. Hence the power up you were talking about.
I love how you hold hands all the time and sit practically on top of each other. My husband and I are like this too. Still dizzy in love after 26+ years. ❤️
Sam is the champ of champs. Basically just some country boy, built and wired for humbler things like gardening. Barely understands most of what he's going through, but his eye's always on keeping his friend safe.
I'm so happy to see you guys watching this, you catch things that others don't. There is no filler dialog in these movies, the smallest of conversation is used to explain something that had happened or something that will be happening. Love the reactions.
No cannons at Helm's Deep....they didn't know about gunpowder....that was Sarumon's secret weapon inside the bomb...remember the black powder that he showed Wormtongue?? So, Sarumon was the only one who had gunpowder. That's why no one had ever taken Helm's Deep, and why they were so astonished when the bomb went off.
The actor that played Gimli was also in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc. He was the Egyptian friend of Indy's and helped him with locating the item. If you have seen that film yet
This has been fun! Can't wait for you to see the last film. Actually, Gandalf the Gray did die. Not from the fall but from wounds during his fight with the Balrog. He was sent back to complete his task, taking on the mantle of Gandalf the White. He is a Maia spirit (plural Maiar), an immortal that can be given mortal forms to interact with Middle Earth. All the wizards of his order including Saruman, as well as the Balrogs and even Sauron are Maiar.
The reason Frodo's cloak can look like a rock is because its magical. When the Elves gifted the cloaks to the hobbits they alluded to the cloaks hiding them from the eyes of their enemies.
Your guys reactions are amazing. LOTR was one of the greatest films ever made and the amount of enthusiasm, curiosity and emotion you guys display as first time viewers keeps this very entertaining. As if i too am watching it for the first time again.
You're right Elrond is from The Matrix and he's also the troubled dad in Hacksaw Ridge; which was a great reaction video you posted! He's a great actor. Looking forward to The Return of the King reaction 😀
Sauron is the eye - or essentially for the purposes of avoiding full lore here, he's one of the incarnations of the many Maiar (simplify this into meaning a type of god or spirit). Sauron is actually not the strongest villain in the lore, but the reason he's the focus of this story is that, in this age of middle earth, he was one of the cleverest and made the best use of his power (for evil). He essentially played his hand very well, and managed to return even after being destroyed. In the first movie, Sauron had taken human form and could be seen fighting in the battle of Mordor (his lands) where he was defeated and had his ring finger cut off. The ring held a huge chunk (but not all) of his power. All of the other rings in middle earth are inferior in power to this one ring. Saruman on the other hand, is actually in the same class as Gandalf. They are wizards, referred to as Istari, and they hold IMMENSE power. They are both actually not from middle earth, can be understood more simply as iterations of gods. Without going too too deep into that topic, Saruman and Gandalf are actually so insanely powerful that they are specifically "holding back" while in Middle Earth. In a sense, being placed in a human form helps put a sort of cork on their power, though you must know they are both capable of more as they were sent to Middle Earth for good reason. There are others in the order of Istari, including Radagast, whom you will meet later (he's a bit of a goofball in the movies), and the blue wizards, who aren't really covered in this age. Saruman and Gandalf were actually allies, but Saruman became corrupted and did not have as good of a handle on his power as Gandalf. A very watered down version of why Saruman "went bad" involves what is referred to as a palantir. Middle Earth has I believe 7 of these. They're essentially seeing stones, and Saruman tried to fuck with one and ended up having his perception warped by Sauron, and eventually became convinced that Sauron's plan was actually too terrible to contend with, hence him yielding his own powers to Sauron to essentially work as a puppet with the hopes of having some sort of benefit come to him from this alliance. Recall from the first film, which I'm so glad they included, when Gandalf escapes Orthanc (the tower Saruman lives in), he reminds Saruman "He does not share power", referring to Sauron, acknowledging that Saruman is no longer an ally and that he is a fool for thinking Sauron would consider Saruman anything other than a whipping boy. You can see Saruman as a good guy in The Hobbit films, as they predate the story of the fellowship's attempt to destroy the ring. He's a real badass fighter and has some good scenes in those movies, though they're objectively SO inferior to the original trilogy.
The author of the novels that Game of Thrones is based on is a tremendous fan of Lord of the Rings. He has read the novels over and over since he was a child. So you are correct that the story influenced Game of Thrones. And it is not silly that you called the Sam of this story Samwell. I am quite sure that Sam was an inspiration for Samwell, as they are both the loyal friend of one of the main heroes, and have other similar personality traits. This Sam is Sam Wise Gamgee and the other one is Samwell Tarly. Everyone should have a Sam in their life.
They got the elvish gifts like bread that makes them full for days with a few bites, the cloaks that help camouflage them. Frodo got the light, Gimli got the hairs, Samwise got the magical rope.
21:45 ....To create this effect, they had to redo the same take 4 times using 4 different labels of makeup on Bernard Hill, the actor who plays Theoden. He had to repeat all the facial expressions and movements exactly the same several times, until they achieve this effect.... This is why good cinema works.... Not using unnecessary CGI and trusting in a good camera trick.....
@5:10 That is most likely an orcish version of the elven cordial called Miruvor, a particular liquor with the power to restore strength and remove fatigue.
Survival tips from Frodo and Sam: always take Lammas bread on your adventures, if at all possible wear a mithril shirt, wear an elvish or ranger cloak for protection from the elements and from hostile eyes, taters would be nice for stew, and don’t forget your pocket handkerchief! (Bilbo).
That type of gate you described. I think they used that in the Dragonlance books. Massive stone blocks that once dropped completely blocked off the gateway. Seals it off, but whoever wins the fight will have plenty of time to build again later.
The cloaks were imbued with the Elves' love of everything in nature. As a result, they can camouflage the wearer in virtually any natural environment. The elves don't even actively enchant them. Basically they just think "These will be useful for stealth in the wild" and it just causes the desired effect to take hold. In Tolkien's world, magic is heavily based on willpower
great movie. I guess elvish cloaks have intuitive camouflage abilities lol. and Hugo Weaving is an amazing actor, he can adopt so MANY different character types - Elrond, Agent Smith, the Red Skull, etc. Also voice of Rex in Babe!!!
It's impossible to find one rendition of this scene on the Internet without someone pointing that out in the comments. Wait, don't tell me - Orlando Bloom cracked his rib in the scene of the battle with the Wargs? Viggo Mortensen almost drowned in a river? Dominic Monaghan got a huge splinter in his foot during the ferry scene in the first movie?
“Dead faces in the water” Tolkien was a soldier during World War I. His inspiration for the dead marshes was “No man’s land” wherein there were dead soldiers (either British, German, French etc) and dead faces coming out from mud and puddles of water.
Saruman is the wizard who is making Urukai and Orcs, and he used to be Gandalf's peer. Sauron is the dark lord who got his finger cut off and separated from the ring. Once he was separated from that, his physical manifestation somewhat disappeared, and he is now just the eye on the tower of Minas Morgul which is in Mordor. He wants the ring to regain power and manifest once more in his complete physical form.
Thank you for another fun reaction! This series is one of the all-time best and I do my happy dance whenever I see you guys posting videos on it! Can’t Wait for Return of the King!! 💖
43:13 Most keeps and castles would have two gates/doors and in between the ceiling above would have a hole where the defenders would pour boiling oil and so on through onto the invading enemies. This hole was historically known as the Murder Hole.
The “box of salt” that Sam Dropped in the book it was a gift from Galadriel it contains soil from Lothlorien and a seed from the Golden Mallorn Tree. In the Book Sauron didn’t Die at the Tower. Treebeard kept him prisoner until Mordor was defeated. Sauroman sent ruffians to the Shire and imprisoned the Hobbits cut down Bilbos Party Tree and destroyed much of the shire, the Merry, Pippen Sam And Frodo had to Raise the Shire and overthrow Sauroman. It was there that Grima killed Sauroman in front of Bag End and Grima was killed by hobbits. Sam used the soil from the box to plant trees and he planted the Mallorn tree which had golden leaves where Bilbo had planted the Party Tree. Sam the scattered the dust left in the Box and the following spring many blond Children were Born and they had bumper crops. Of course the seed sprouted. Many men and Hobbits were killed in the Battle.
It speaks volumes about how scared the Uruk's are of Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli that they'd choose to run rather than fight. Like "Yeah, I know there's only three of them but last time we faced them they took out two thirds of our entire platoon so NOPE."
Theres 2 scenes that get me every time one of them is the last march of the ents, the other is in the return of the king and I genuinely believe its probably the most epic scene in cinema history
At 15:35. That's very observant of you Vince! Actually Lord of the Rings (both the books and movies) heavily inspired the vast majority of what we know in modern fantasy. Game of Thrones (and the Song of Ice and Fire books), Harry Potter, video games like Skyrim/The Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age too. Lord of the Rings is the the Beowulf and Iliad of our time. It will be remembered and told LONG after our nations and civilizations have pasted.
14:11 so remember the battlefield from the prologue to Fellowship? That's where they are now. Specifically, they are crossing the part where the Sindar elves under King Oropher were fighting. They had an old grudge against the followers of Gilgalad, the elven leader of the last Alliance. Thus, they refused to listen to his orders. They started the battle too early, and a huge number of them were killed including Oropher. They died filled with hatred, pride and anger: so their spirits haunted the land rather than going to rest in the Halls of Mandos (where most elven spirits end up when they die). This sequence was inspired by Tolkien's real experience at the Somme in WWI, where they often had to leave bodies unburied for days or weeks because there was no break in the fighting and anyone who ventured out of a foxhole would be picked off instantly. The river would flood when it rained, so the soldiers were trapped in a waterlogged swamp. 19:19 the cloaks are faintly magical. You will also notice that although they appear to be normal wool cloaks, they never seem to get wet. 23:35 it's actually Danish! He says "be still now" and then after learning the horse's name is Brego "your name is kingly". Bregolas was the name of an ancient prince that Aragorn is descended from.
The Fellowship of the Ring was the first of your videos I have watched and this is the second. The two of you are possibly the most perceptive first time viewers I have seen and I truly hope that you enjoy the finale as well. It would not hurt you to know that in the Tolkein world, wizards are not just humans who use magic. They are semi-divine beings called Maiar. You could think of them as "angels". 5 were sent to Middle Earth to help against the dark lord. Only Gandalf remained completely true to his calling. It is also interested to note that Sauron and the balrogs were also maiar. You can think of them as fallen angels. Also, Sauron was not the original dark lord. That was Morgoth who was a Valar. The easiest analogy would be that the Valar are like arc-angels while the Maiar are a step down and just plain angels. Sauron was a disciple of Morgoth. Boromir and Faromir were not sons of the king of Gondor. That title belonged to Aragorn who has not claimed it. Instead, they were the sons of the hereditary Steward of Gondor. The stewards were left in control when the kings went into exile. Over time, they assumed more and more of the trappings of kingship but never went all the way. You will see later on that the Steward sits on a throne but, in the background, without any attention, there is the much grander throne of the kings. The "hyenas" in the movie are wargs. In the movies, they definitely resemble hyenas but in the books were a particularly vicious type of wolf. One brief suggestion, from my perspective: your sound mix could use a boost for the movie sound to more closely match the levels of your voices.
One of my favorite things in this movie that's easy to miss, is that the Uruk Hai meet up with a band of Orcs, reinforcing their numbers. Then they smell Aragon and co. coming and they're like, "Okay…there's like 5 or 6 dozen of us…and 3 of them…let's get the hell out of here!" 🤣🤣
Well, they were in Rohan, so they had no way of knowing who it was, or how many there were. In fact, Eomer and his riders *were* tracking them around that time, so they were right to flee.
Man, the first time I saw a Black Rider stop a Fell Beast (the flying creature) as a kid was the first time I asked myself, “Why do the bad guys always get the good shit?” 🤣
The Two Towers is a great contiuation of the story. The characters bond together and grow into their own side stories, meanwhile they all flow together for the greater good while building for a bigger climax to come. Great movie, great reaction video. Now onto Return Of The King.
Random fun fact: The actor who plays Gimli - John Rhys-Davies - also voices the ent Treebeard :) Thanks for sharing your awesome, guys :* See you for the next one /Lizz
Sam sees the world in black and white. He sees Gollum as evil and Frodo as good just because. What he deosnt realize is by saying Gollum cant come back, he's implying Frodo is doomed too.
In this it is a pretty good bet if you don't see a body the person is still alive. 14:00 Tolkien fought in the Battle of the Somme, the bloodiest battle of the First World War. The dead marshes were partly inspired by his experience there, with the dead and the dying lying in the mud. 14:55 Elrond did a lot to heal him, but Frodo does not recover fully from the wound he suffered on Weathertop, even at the end. 26:00 The Oliphaunts are way bigger than even African Elephants and even the largest Mammoths that existed. 27:30 The Wargs were originally envisioned as monstrous wolves, but in the last few decades wolves have been seen in a more sympathetic light, so in the movie they made them much more hyena-like. 42:34 No, he wasn't, he was the son of the current ruler, but he is not the King, his title is 'Steward'. The Steward rules while there is no king, which has been the case for a long time, but Aragorn is the true heir to the throne.
I have to put in a good word for one ANDY SERKIS, the actor who plays Smeagol and Gollum. His Gollum character is part CGI and part MOTION CAPTURE. During filming, the actor, Andy, wears a dark suit with white patches on his joints and other body areas that get mapped into a computer, "joined together" to make fluid, human movements and then Gollum's digital skin is placed over the key white points and, VOILA!, you have Gollum walking, jumping, eating raw fish, etc. SAURON is the dude whose fingers and ring got cut off; Saruman lives in Isengard and is known as The White Wizard, Gandalf the Gray's superior in the Tolkien trilogy. King Theoden, the wrinkly-faced guy who Gandalf releases from Saruman's spell, is played by the actor who was the Captain of the Titanic in "Titanic."
My cousin works at weta where they made lord of the rings, he gets to see all the props and things every day. He also worked on avatar the way of water.
That final shot is awesome. After all Sam and Frodo have been through you might think the road is getting easier, but the camera drifts up and shows where they're going -- and its terrifying.
Long ago the Dead Marshes, was part of the war we saw at the beginning of Fellowship. This was one of the first battles during that war against Sauron, the War of the Last Alliance. It was the time of Legolas’s grandfather, Oropher, who had led the charge with his kin of elves, the Sindar. You learn more of them in the Hobbit. Oropher started a charge without proper backup from the other elves, the Noldar which are Galadriel’s family. Oropher and his elves were slaughtered before reinforcements could arrive. It is these bodies you see in the Dead Marshes. 💕
I always get goosebumps with that scene when Gandalf shows up with Eomer and the riders of Rohan. Also the Ents going to war gets me teary eyed. I love them so much!
And you two now understand how funny Tony Starks remark to Hawkeye was in that first avengers movie. Right before he flies him to the roof "clench up legolas"
Fun trivia:
Aragorn's actor (Viggo) loved his movie horse so much that he bought it.
So this is truly HIS horse. It became his companion in real life too.
Which horse? Brego or the one Eymer gave him?
@@juzujuzu4555 Brego
He also bought the white horse from the first movie that Arwen's stunt double rode, because she loved that horse but couldn't afford him.
@@Valandar2I didn’t know that till recently but it made me love him a tad bit more
i bet he bought Hidalgo also
Not only did "Game of Thrones" pull a lot of inspiration from this, but so have nearly every fantasy story for the last 70 years; JRR Tolkien basically invented the genre with "Lord of the Rings". Often I hear the uninformed say that "Lord of the Rings" is full of used tropes and cliches, that they've seen it before in other movies and books. The reason is that when "Lord of the Rings" was written they were not tropes and cliches because it invented the tropes and cliches.
Not true though, folklore was invented centuries before that, but English folklore had Scandinavian roots, not Anglo-Saxon, he wanted to create Epic story originally from England, even though he was inspired by Celts, vikings stories and other folklore.
You guys need to stop make things up, especially when you read zero books your entire life. Homer would die again if he saw your message 😂
@@Sindamsc For real! I really like LoTR...but Tolkien did NOT invent the genre and I've got no idea where people get that idea -.-
bro JRR literally invented dwarfs and orcs while yes he used euro folklore it wasn't in a bad way he completely embraced it and wanted it to be apart of his story. People like you using this argument is just sad and shows you just a hater. compare these works to other Fantasy works where they literally use his ideas in full like Warhammer@@Sindamsc
@@Ronin.97no they had both been used in mythology before this
@Sindamsc "Fantasy" as we know it as a genre was basically started my tolkein.. before him you would go to magical lands in fairytales/folk tales an such as a device to teach a lesson, before coming back to reality, after Tolkien the fantasy setting IS the reality. Also whenever you think of "Orcs" or "dwarves" and "elves" all of those came from Him as well. He literally invented orcs. So... way to show how much you "don't" know.
It's great to watch a new generation of Tolkien fans come to life.
They should react to the endless lore and music like moviejoob and OmarioRPG has done!
True fans read the books. Mere movie watchers cannot be classed as such.
@@Makkaru112 moviejob gave a really good reaction. Nerd of the Rings is another great youtube channel for Middle Earth lore.
@@mikelarsen5836 I've seen some hardcore movie fans, people that have watched it dozens of times and have learned some back lore from friends and the internet. I agree with you in that I highly recommend reading the books. I first saw the Ralph Bakshi film The Hobbit when it aired on tv in 1977. I was 7 at the time but the animated movies and my older brothers kept me interested and I read their copies when I started high school. I still keep a copy by my bed and I have the audiobooks by Andy Serkis. The audiobooks are great and I recommend those as well.
@@mikelarsen5836 I can't stand "fans" like you. From a book reader.
Fun fact: Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler's lines during Aragorn's "go to sleep" flashback scenes were all written in regular English. Viggo and Liv talked Peter Jackson into letting them translate all the dialogue in Elvish because the language was so beautiful they wanted to use it. And this was the outcome to their translations :-)
Also they couldn't get too far into it because of timing of course, but Elrond is very familiar with the decision Arwen made in choosing a mortal life. His twin brother, Elros, was faced with the same decision centuries before. While Elrond chose immortality, Elros chose mortality.
And Elros is one of Aragorn’s ancestors
And Elros is the founder of the Dunedain- so Aragorn is a descendant of Elrond’s brother- and that is why the Dunedain have long lives.
When Theoden says "no parent should have to bury their child' it hits so hard, less epic language just raw tragedy
Those cloaks sam and Frodo are wearing were given to them by the elves of Lothlorien. As they said, they could help 'shield them from unfriendly eyes'. They aren't infallible, but I'm guessing could change their color and texture just slightly to help blend into the surroundings
Elvish camouflage!
Plus Halflings always get a buff to stealth over other classes, which would probably stack with the cloaks stats.
@@gundamgunpla4685 Not many people mention this
@@gundamgunpla4685 those cloaks give a flat amount of stealth or percentage increase? just curious how good their scaling is.....
Also work best on children cause of size lol great comment also
One small detail that most people miss, is that the kid’s sword that Aragorn says is a good sword, is the same sword that he throws down in disgust in his previous scene. He is actively deciding to have hope, and to impart hope to others.
That's Also Viggo Mortensen's kid!
Aragorn is nicknamed "King Elessar", Elessar being the elvish word for "Hope". It was the nickname his mother gave to him and to which he always became remembered.
Aragorn is the personification of hope.
after like 600 rewatches, I never noticed that!
@@duckslapper12 I don't believe that is correct. The internet says the actor is Calum Gittins
@@duckslapper12 That's not true, but Henry Mortensen does have a small cameo in this movie as one of the other kids that trains with Haleth.
More interesting background on Gollum in the book not represented in the film. After losing his ring Gollum finally left the caves to spend years hopelessly searching for it. Eventually Gandalf heard rumors of something like Gollum lurking around, and asked Aragorn to hunt him down. Aragorn captured him and Gandalf interrogated him. That’s how Gandalf knew Gollum had once been captured by Sauron, tortured, and then set free, even knew his name had been Sméagol - those things he tells Frodo in the 1st movie (how the heck else could Gandalf had known those things?)
Gandalf then asked Legolas’s people to imprison Gollum for safekeeping. But they were too nice about it and some orcs were able to set him free. In book, the reason Legolas came to Rivendell in the first place was to get word to Gandalf that Gollum escaped. So at this point in the book, Gandalf, Aragorn, and probably Legolas all had spent time with Gollum.
That would be too much to add to the movie
I've seen many LOTR reactions on YT, but this is the first comment to mention this about gollum. Thanks!
Legolas' *
Was a little disappointed that you skipped over Sam's speech at Osgiliath, after he saved Frodo from the Nazgul on the wall. "How can things go back.." - that is one of the most inspirational speeches in cinema history.
Also, Sam is the MVP.
I prefer the dialogue between Frodo and Sam in the book. What Peter Jackson did to Frodo's character in the films makes me sad - wimpifying the mature, rational, courageous Frodo of the book, who was never so stupid as to show the Ring openly to a Nazgul. 🙄 Neither did Frodo ever try to kill Sam under the influence of the Ring. A visually arresting scene, but dumb.
@@philippalinton5850 The gulf between prose and film as narrative forms is deep, and expecting one to be the same as the other is like expecting a painting of the battle of Borodino to stir identical emotions as the 1812 Overture.
The dozens of hours it takes me to leisurely read the entire Lord of the Rings will never be matched by a film or films. A film would be killed by the pacing of an epic book. Changes must be made when converting a narrative between mediums. As far as conversions from print go, Peter Jackson did as fine a job as I've seen any filmmaker do in adaptation. It's not perfect--but I don't expect perfection in reality. You, somehow, do.
@@rikk319 No, I don't expect perfection in adaptation. And I'm very aware that book and film are different mediums. Overall PJ's adaptation of LotR is faithful to the book. I don't mind omissions, compressions or even simplifications. I don't mind changes from the book when they make sense.
What I do mind is mischaracterisation. And when people go on about Sam being the 'real' hero, and how Frodo was a useless wimp - and they often do, because they judge Frodo on his film portrayal - then I'll defend my favourite character. 😉 Because the films didn't do him justice. 👀
"The Shire must truly be a great realm, Master Gamgee, where gardeners are held in high honor,". Sam is great!
Epic monologue
Small correction: Boromir and Faramir's father, Denethor, is not a king, he's the latest STEWARD, a line of caretakers of the throne of Gondor, until the rightful king shows up.
Kind of like the shogun in Japan if you think about it (the emperors of Japan didn't "disappear", but lost all their political power).
@@samrevlej9331 They only lost their political power after WW2.
Gandalf is what is called a Maia in the lore of LOTR. That means he is sort of an angel, a very powerful spirit sent out by the gods to watch over the people of middle-earth. As a Maia, Gandalf is immortal, but he inhabits a human body wich more or less has the same physical limitations as a human, but he has magic powers, and he wields one of the magic rings, one of the three given to the elves. This ring gives him special powers over the ability to inspire friendship and loyalty.
This is an often over-looked aspect of the character: Gandalf is not actually allowed to use his magic as a weapon, and he rarely does. Instead, he uses his wisdom, his humor and his charisma to inspire others to become heroes, to fight for themselves.
Fun side note, and more proof that Jackson did his homework, we never see the ring Gandalf wears until the final scene in Return of the King.
The 3 greater rings were invisible unless you were a bearer yourself (when Galadriel shows hers in the books Frodo can see it but Sam is confused).
After the One Ring is destroyed they lose their power and become visible. At the end of RotK, when they’re boarding the ship, you see Gandalf’s ring for the first time. It’s a tiny detail but just shows how much Jackson reallllly cared about these movies.
Dude was thinking siege defense strategies as the battle was going on, and that’s very relatable. I’ve also watched this scene and thought “Wow, good idea making the entrance so narrow. Could work better with some collapsible bridges or traps”
Dude was suggesting an actual real fortification--a gatehouse, which has a tunnel running through it, and gates in the front and back. It was a real part of castles in later medieval times, but probably not around when Helm's Deep was built...but it would have made a lot of sense, for sure.
Imagine if trolls were smart enough to use slings, They'd be portable Catapults perfect for all you siege warfare needs.
@Imperial Citizen I really liked the siege graugs in Shadow of War.
"i don't understand why they just let [grima] go!" mercy is an attribute the king must have, and aragorn was showing his true colors by allowing him to live. things have a way of eventually making sense in this series anyway.
This philosophy is reflected, too, in Gandalf's conversation with Frodo in Moria from Fellowship: "Many that live that deserve death. And some who die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too hasty to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends."
From a _filmmaking_ perspective, it allows Gríma to later provide exposition for the sake of the audience. In the film, he kind of teleports from Edoras to Isengard, and is thus able to report to Saruman, whereas in the book Gríma didn't arrive at Isengard until was far too late for him to do anything that could harm the protagonists.
Reminds me of Shakespeare’s sonnet The Quality of Mercy is not strained
@@evenmoor Not to forget Aragorn knew the king and grima from when they were still young and good friends, he wouldn't want it to end without a chance for either to try and reconcile.
Don't forget that Grima had his partisans at the court. Given a choice Grima would prefer to stay at court, even discredited, but Aragorn forced him to publicly demonstrate his allegiance to Saruman.
Also there was really nothing Wormtongue could tell that Saruman didn't already know. Saruman has his spies, and has lived in the area for a long time. He already knows about Helm's Deep, etc.
CANNOT WAIT TO SEE PART 3! Film 3 goes 10x harder than both the first two combined. You guys will be an absolute wreck. Best and most emotional movie of all time.
Most emotional movie of all time? Have you even seen Schindler’s List, Sophie’s Choice or Saving Private Ryan?
@@thekittygoesmeow9652 Schindler's List is in there, i haven't watch Sophie's Choice, Saving Private Ryan? it's somehow emotional but not in the level of LOTR and Schindler's List.
@@thekittygoesmeow9652 Schindler was just super emotional, particularly ending scene. But LOTR subletly, by the pacing and the lenght of it, had tons of its moments.
Didn't see Sophie's choice but for knowing purpose of it, seems to be overdrama-drama. Not my cup of tea at all. Make movies to just buy some crying...
And i cannot get out of my head words Ricky Gervais had for this particular movie on Oscars introduction, when he slammed entire Hollywoodpancake. figures.
LOTR is for me a quiet river of emotions spreading all his feels of an endless journey at peacefull rythm, even if there is obvious peak through the end..
All of that magnified by width and heaviness of the story, plus some increasing epicness degree through entire time.
@@EDWARD-zd7lb right on. SPR effects some people differently based on life experiences. I absolutely love LOTR trilogy. When I was a kid all we had was the Hobbit cartoon. Gollum was a dick in that one too. Sophie’s Choice will tear your heart out.
@@samwisehuluberlu2210 couldn’t agree more. The acting was top tier along with the direction. Great casting too.
You made a really good point regarding Helm's Deep - just before 44:12 - about the design of the keep; your idea regarding 'another gate' was basically how actual castles/ keeps were designed..! A series of what were essentially deathtraps/ funnels/ killzones leading up to the main structure.. As a result; actually storming them seems like it was less common - rather, easier to take the river/ water source, post up outside and beat the defenders down with starvation and disease.
You are right. The Morgul blade the Nazgul used on Frodo in the Fellowship is a darkness that will forever link Frodo to them. He never fully heals.
So excited! It makes me happy when after so much time these films are still appreciated and loved by new people. I'm 29 but my parents had these on VHS lolll so I've had the privilege of watching them since I was little and it still effects me so much. Best battle sequence in all cinema history!
That’s because they stuck to the powerful and lofty themes and ideals of Tolkiens work. and because of that these films have touched many hearts around the world. To live on. To better their life. To keep going etc. so many great stories of read and listened to regarding the impact of Tolkiens many books as well as all the games out there too that have been a part of our lives for so long now.
VHS? Your parents were kind of oldschool, weren't they? Back when those movies were new DVD's already dominated the market. ;)
I didn't know that these were even released on VHS. I had the extended DVDs back then.
@@TheCrazyCloon As far as I recall they were one of the last films ever to be released on VHS.
@Quotenwagnerianer Yes my parents were very old school lol I grew up in the late 90s so we didn't have a DVD player when LOTR came out. They did eventually get the DVDs but I know it's very rare to say I've seen LOTR in every form possible haha. I just looked it up and yeah Fellowship came out on August 2002 on VHS 😂
As an old man ;-) i had the chance to see them in the cinema, and i have done that maybe 10times each of them. Remember the films came up every december, so you have to wait one year...the third one will be the best for sure. Music, pictures, story-telling, battles, laughing, crying...its an rollercoaster of emotions.
I love how you both always have the Same Exact moment when you go Ahhhhhh and Ooooooh LOL Its like it starts stops at the same moment and it just shows how alike you are. I love it.
If Frodo can't save Gollum from the Ring's power, then he feels like he himself cannot be saved from it's power. And another reason why Aragorn is so old, and so skilled, and knowledgeable, he is about 90ish here. His ancestors were basically all super soldiers like Captain America. Peak humans.
its*
Yeah a double gate (such as almost every medieval castle in Europe has) with murder holes and a portcullis and a drawbridge at the top of the ramp in front of the gate would be really useful. The reality is that Helms Deep isn't that great a fortress.
Its bigger than any Castle ever made or atleast most, most real castles could only hold like 40-80 dudes at a tine sometimes as low as 25, but i see your point its not the best fortress the narrow bridge up is great though.
It is not anywhere remotely a large castle and unless you are going to include any and every single minor keep in the definition of castle it's not anywhere close to bigger than most. I can think of 7 or 8 castles that dwarf Helms deep just off the top of my head. Edinburgh, Windsor, Hohensalzburg, Meiji in Osaka Japan, Karak in Jordan, Krak de Chevalies in Syria, Mont St Michael, Warwick Castle. I'm sure if I googled it there are dozens more. And let's not even bring in walled and fortified cities which can be huge. Helms deep right there on film barely had room for 300 Rohirrim soldiers and a similar number of elves. The women and children hid in the caves and that can't be counted as part of a man made castle.
I went to New Zeeland the year after seeing the last of the films. Bought a LOTR location guide book and visited a lot of the places where the movie was shot. Standing in a place you recognize from the movies is a totally surreal feeling! Spent 3 weeks there but could have stayed for a year. If you get the chance - GO!!
The wonderful thing about Gimli and Legolas is that their races held big grudges against one another for a long time, but between them, things are changing and will blossom in the last movie. Now I can't wait for you to watch the last one. 😁
18:20 That is a great call! One of the best things that their plan has going for it. The movies don't have time to really go into it but the books make it even more explicit that Sauron can't imagine someone actually trying to destroy the ring rather than taking it for themselves.
AHHH love this!! also, ent is voiced by john rhys davies (aka gimli). he talks while breathing IN as opposed to OUT to make a different sounding voice style. Cant wait for Return video!!
@theperfectmix just wanted to contact on TH-cam bc I got an email saying I won the prize and wanted confirmation on here. If not then you have someone impersonating you guys
There are many differences between Tolkien's book and Peter Jackson & Co.'s movies, especially in T2T. The Battle of Helm's Deep takes up only a single chapter in the book, while it is the centerpiece of the movie. In the book, the Elves don't fight at Helm's Deep (because Sauron has sent a separate army to attack Lothlorien). Many viewers miss the fact that the leader of the Elves at Helm's Deep is Haldir, the Elf who commanded the force that detained the Company when they first entered Lothlorien.
Another difference is that the Ents DO decide to go to war at the Ent moot. Pippin doesn’t have to show Treebeard the destruction Saruman has caused to the forest.
Also Tom is absent from the films entirely
Faramir also rejects the Ring out of hand, immediately. Tolkien was once asked which character most resembled his own personality, and he said Faramir did. A scholarly man who takes up the sword in defense of his own nation and is wise and humble enough to reject raw power like the Ring--a description that fits both Faramir and Tolkien well.
@@tc-tm1my That makes sense though. Tom would add unnecessary confusion to the film.
well if you are looking for diferences between the movie and the book then at the battle of helms deep eomer was at the keep alraedy fighting the orcs by the king till they separated during the battle some in the caves there where gimli later on found a new SH for the dwarves and it was elfhelm who gandalf brought to break the seige at the end
43:30 What you describe here is basically a Gatehouse. A lot of castle had that. Generally, you had murder holes on the roof. That way, when the enemy breach the first gate and start trying to take down the second one, you can throw or pour stuff on them from above (stone, boiling water, etc.)
that horse that helped aragorn was the same horse that he had set free from the stable!
@29:30 “He fell.” John Rhys-Davies delivered that line perfectly. Under heavy makeup and prosthetics, he managed to convey exactly what Gimli was feeling, at that moment, using primarily his voice.
22:22 Don't forget how much the themes of mercy and fate are important to this author. Some that live deserve death, and some that die deserve life. Don't be too eager to deal out death in judgement, for even the very wise cannot see all ends.
Since it's probably not clear, the wizards are essentially angels sent into the world to help in the fight against Sauron. They weren't supposed to try and take him on directly or try to dominate people, but Saruman got corrupted.
The swamp Frodo & Sam end up in is the remains of where the Last Battle against Sauron was fought 3,000 years ago near the slopes of Mt. Doom. This is the battle fought in the prologue to the Fellowship, and where the One Ring was cut from the hand of Sauron. The body in the water that looks at Frodo is one of the Elves from that battle (you'll notice he's wearing an ancient elven armor, on display in that original battle).
This knowledge will help make sense of the future movies. Gandalf is the same species of being as the Balrogs/Sauron before twisted by Melkor[Morgoth]. They are all Maiar (primordial spirits). Gandalf named Olórin created by Eru’s Thought (extensions of Eru Îlluvatar himself whilst they had their own free will and individuality. He essentially got the chance to experience and study other parts of himself through this.) among the other Ainur before the Years of the Lamps roughly 9,000+ years before arriving in Middle-earth; In Valinor he was known as Olórin.(Remember though he formally existed before the world existed and his form becoming Gandalf hadn’t happened yet. He was sent to Middle-earth in human form around the year 1000 of the Third Age. So his many forms had different ages in length of existing. He’s very cool right! Could he get any cooler!? 😎❤️ Another thing is when he arrived in middle earth he was disguised as an elf and lived among them whilst they were unknowing and he became to be known as Mithrandir to the Quendi/Eldar❤️ He could have very well dwelled with the elves far earlier just do to his curiosity and simple desire to explore and be around the firstborn (TheElves)
Gandalf The Grey/White
Estimated at 15,000 years old (following his quote "300 lives of men, I have walked this earth"), It says that Gandalf was the wisest of the Maiar besides Melian herself. There were a lot of Maiar that were considered really great and powerful.
However, there is a much longer answer. Like Sauron(former name is Mairon) and the other Istari (the order sent around the same time and of which he was appointed leader but he being who he is and a student of the Vala by the name Nienna and Lorien(Irmo). Gandalf was a Maiar, an angelic spirit created by Eru at the beginning of time and therefor one of the many Ainur who sang the world into being and Eru just helped their creation take shape and basically stated “behold YOUR creation” and basically what happens in that world goes sort of preordained as by that song eons ago so really only the ages after Dagor Dagorath will truly be an age that isn’t full of strife and sadness and longing.
Also. These lamps are what were before even the two trees. These were Giant mountains but also like light houses but housing a great power but it may have also been where two special Maia lived that helped in the creation in the sun and moon after Melkor With eldrich terror Ungoliant killed the trees, so yea Arien is the Maia who basically exists with the sun and her brother and or lover of sorts is the one who wanders with and guides the moon.
43:20 When he describes actual real world castle defense had me smiling.
same
Loved the review! Gandalf is a Maia spirit sent to Middle Earth in the form of and old man, a wizard to teach and educate. The wizards were sent with there powers reduced.
Gandalf actually died at the end of that battle against the Balrog, a fallen Maia spirit. But as he is a spirit he returned to the halls and was summoned in front of Iluvatar (the One God) Iluvatar sends him back to Middle Earth as his task was not done. This time with his full power unlocked. Hence the power up you were talking about.
Yes, he has a similar story to Glorfindel except Glorfindel was an elf. And they both killed a balrog.
I love how you hold hands all the time and sit practically on top of each other. My husband and I are like this too. Still dizzy in love after 26+ years.
❤️
Sam is the champ of champs.
Basically just some country boy, built and wired for humbler things like gardening.
Barely understands most of what he's going through, but his eye's always on keeping his friend safe.
I'm so happy to see you guys watching this, you catch things that others don't. There is no filler dialog in these movies, the smallest of conversation is used to explain something that had happened or something that will be happening. Love the reactions.
The horse that rescued Aragorn was actually the horse he set free.
You guys killed it, love to see your reaction to the best trilogy of all time imo, love from france 🙏
No cannons at Helm's Deep....they didn't know about gunpowder....that was Sarumon's secret weapon inside the bomb...remember the black powder that he showed Wormtongue?? So, Sarumon was the only one who had gunpowder. That's why no one had ever taken Helm's Deep, and why they were so astonished when the bomb went off.
The actor that played Gimli was also in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc. He was the Egyptian friend of Indy's and helped him with locating the item. If you have seen that film yet
Y'all have a great eye for detail! I'm so impressed and I love that you guys are invested in Lord of the Rings so much! It brings me joy!
This has been fun! Can't wait for you to see the last film. Actually, Gandalf the Gray did die. Not from the fall but from wounds during his fight with the Balrog. He was sent back to complete his task, taking on the mantle of Gandalf the White. He is a Maia spirit (plural Maiar), an immortal that can be given mortal forms to interact with Middle Earth. All the wizards of his order including Saruman, as well as the Balrogs and even Sauron are Maiar.
The reason Frodo's cloak can look like a rock is because its magical. When the Elves gifted the cloaks to the hobbits they alluded to the cloaks hiding them from the eyes of their enemies.
Sauron (sour - on) = The Eye
Saruman (sah-roo-mon) = The White Wizard
Hope this helps:
Aragorn (ah - reh - gorn) = Also known as Strider
Legolas (leh - go - lahs) = "Pointy Eared Elvish Princeling"
Arwen (ar - wen) = Aregorn's Elvish bride & daughter of Elrond
Eowyn (eh - oh - wen) = Shield-maiden of Rohan
The fact you need to explain it to this pair only shows their intellect isn't up to reading Tolkien.
It's all our fault for allowing the government to be in control of education.
@@mikelarsen5836 I got confused the first time I watched it in theaters. Let them enjoy it.
@@mikelarsen5836 What a socially inept thing to say.
Your guys reactions are amazing. LOTR was one of the greatest films ever made and the amount of enthusiasm, curiosity and emotion you guys display as first time viewers keeps this very entertaining. As if i too am watching it for the first time again.
You're right Elrond is from The Matrix and he's also the troubled dad in Hacksaw Ridge; which was a great reaction video you posted! He's a great actor. Looking forward to The Return of the King reaction 😀
Hugo Weaving is awesome.
Sauron is the eye - or essentially for the purposes of avoiding full lore here, he's one of the incarnations of the many Maiar (simplify this into meaning a type of god or spirit). Sauron is actually not the strongest villain in the lore, but the reason he's the focus of this story is that, in this age of middle earth, he was one of the cleverest and made the best use of his power (for evil). He essentially played his hand very well, and managed to return even after being destroyed.
In the first movie, Sauron had taken human form and could be seen fighting in the battle of Mordor (his lands) where he was defeated and had his ring finger cut off. The ring held a huge chunk (but not all) of his power. All of the other rings in middle earth are inferior in power to this one ring.
Saruman on the other hand, is actually in the same class as Gandalf. They are wizards, referred to as Istari, and they hold IMMENSE power. They are both actually not from middle earth, can be understood more simply as iterations of gods. Without going too too deep into that topic, Saruman and Gandalf are actually so insanely powerful that they are specifically "holding back" while in Middle Earth. In a sense, being placed in a human form helps put a sort of cork on their power, though you must know they are both capable of more as they were sent to Middle Earth for good reason. There are others in the order of Istari, including Radagast, whom you will meet later (he's a bit of a goofball in the movies), and the blue wizards, who aren't really covered in this age.
Saruman and Gandalf were actually allies, but Saruman became corrupted and did not have as good of a handle on his power as Gandalf. A very watered down version of why Saruman "went bad" involves what is referred to as a palantir. Middle Earth has I believe 7 of these. They're essentially seeing stones, and Saruman tried to fuck with one and ended up having his perception warped by Sauron, and eventually became convinced that Sauron's plan was actually too terrible to contend with, hence him yielding his own powers to Sauron to essentially work as a puppet with the hopes of having some sort of benefit come to him from this alliance. Recall from the first film, which I'm so glad they included, when Gandalf escapes Orthanc (the tower Saruman lives in), he reminds Saruman "He does not share power", referring to Sauron, acknowledging that Saruman is no longer an ally and that he is a fool for thinking Sauron would consider Saruman anything other than a whipping boy.
You can see Saruman as a good guy in The Hobbit films, as they predate the story of the fellowship's attempt to destroy the ring. He's a real badass fighter and has some good scenes in those movies, though they're objectively SO inferior to the original trilogy.
The author of the novels that Game of Thrones is based on is a tremendous fan of Lord of the Rings. He has read the novels over and over since he was a child. So you are correct that the story influenced Game of Thrones. And it is not silly that you called the Sam of this story Samwell. I am quite sure that Sam was an inspiration for Samwell, as they are both the loyal friend of one of the main heroes, and have other similar personality traits. This Sam is Sam Wise Gamgee and the other one is Samwell Tarly. Everyone should have a Sam in their life.
Yes indeed…The author of Game of Thrones credits Tolkien & Lord of the Rings for the inspiration!
They got the elvish gifts like bread that makes them full for days with a few bites, the cloaks that help camouflage them. Frodo got the light, Gimli got the hairs, Samwise got the magical rope.
43:17 This was actually exceedingly common in building castles. There is actually a castle in Austria named Castle Hochosterwitz that has 14 gates.
21:45 ....To create this effect, they had to redo the same take 4 times using 4 different labels of makeup on Bernard Hill, the actor who plays Theoden. He had to repeat all the facial expressions and movements exactly the same several times, until they achieve this effect.... This is why good cinema works.... Not using unnecessary CGI and trusting in a good camera trick.....
@5:10 That is most likely an orcish version of the elven cordial called Miruvor, a particular liquor with the power to restore strength and remove fatigue.
Survival tips from Frodo and Sam: always take Lammas bread on your adventures, if at all possible wear a mithril shirt, wear an elvish or ranger cloak for protection from the elements and from hostile eyes, taters would be nice for stew, and don’t forget your pocket handkerchief! (Bilbo).
Love watching along. You two are great. Very observant. The next one is full of guaranteed joy, and tears.
Sam is 100% MVP and best character. His role gets even better in the next one :)
That type of gate you described. I think they used that in the Dragonlance books. Massive stone blocks that once dropped completely blocked off the gateway. Seals it off, but whoever wins the fight will have plenty of time to build again later.
The cloaks were imbued with the Elves' love of everything in nature. As a result, they can camouflage the wearer in virtually any natural environment. The elves don't even actively enchant them. Basically they just think "These will be useful for stealth in the wild" and it just causes the desired effect to take hold.
In Tolkien's world, magic is heavily based on willpower
4:59 Technically they are still orcs, but Saruman bred them to be able to go outside in the daylight. Regular orcs can not be in the daylight.
great movie. I guess elvish cloaks have intuitive camouflage abilities lol. and Hugo Weaving is an amazing actor, he can adopt so MANY different character types - Elrond, Agent Smith, the Red Skull, etc. Also voice of Rex in Babe!!!
Fun fact: in the scene where Aragorn thinks Merry and Pippin are dead and kicks the orc helmet, the actor broke his toe. His scream was genuine.
It's impossible to find one rendition of this scene on the Internet without someone pointing that out in the comments. Wait, don't tell me - Orlando Bloom cracked his rib in the scene of the battle with the Wargs? Viggo Mortensen almost drowned in a river? Dominic Monaghan got a huge splinter in his foot during the ferry scene in the first movie?
@@samrevlej9331 Cool, I didn't know any of that.
@@lizd2943 Wow. That is rare. Well, if you're serious, have a great day. If not... well have a great day anyway, don't let me stop you.
@@samrevlej9331 I did know Sean Astin sliced his foot in the scene where he wades out to Frodo in the boat.
@@lizd2943 Yeah, you can't watch more than a few LOTR videos on YT and read the comments without hearing at least 3 people tell the same stories.
“Dead faces in the water”
Tolkien was a soldier during World War I. His inspiration for the dead marshes was “No man’s land” wherein there were dead soldiers (either British, German, French etc) and dead faces coming out from mud and puddles of water.
Saruman is the wizard who is making Urukai and Orcs, and he used to be Gandalf's peer. Sauron is the dark lord who got his finger cut off and separated from the ring. Once he was separated from that, his physical manifestation somewhat disappeared, and he is now just the eye on the tower of Minas Morgul which is in Mordor. He wants the ring to regain power and manifest once more in his complete physical form.
16:05 minds blown in 3... 2... 1... 🤯🤯
Thank you for another fun reaction! This series is one of the all-time best and I do my happy dance whenever I see you guys posting videos on it! Can’t Wait for Return of the King!! 💖
43:13 Most keeps and castles would have two gates/doors and in between the ceiling above would have a hole where the defenders would pour boiling oil and so on through onto the invading enemies. This hole was historically known as the Murder Hole.
The “box of salt” that Sam Dropped in the book it was a gift from Galadriel it contains soil from Lothlorien and a seed from the Golden Mallorn Tree. In the Book Sauron didn’t Die at the Tower. Treebeard kept him prisoner until Mordor was defeated. Sauroman sent ruffians to the Shire and imprisoned the Hobbits cut down Bilbos Party Tree and destroyed much of the shire, the Merry, Pippen Sam And Frodo had to Raise the Shire and overthrow Sauroman. It was there that Grima killed Sauroman in front of Bag End and Grima was killed by hobbits. Sam used the soil from the box to plant trees and he planted the Mallorn tree which had golden leaves where Bilbo had planted the Party Tree. Sam the scattered the dust left in the Box and the following spring many blond Children were Born and they had bumper crops. Of course the seed sprouted. Many men and Hobbits were killed in the Battle.
It speaks volumes about how scared the Uruk's are of Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli that they'd choose to run rather than fight. Like "Yeah, I know there's only three of them but last time we faced them they took out two thirds of our entire platoon so NOPE."
Theres 2 scenes that get me every time one of them is the last march of the ents, the other is in the return of the king and I genuinely believe its probably the most epic scene in cinema history
RIDE! RIDE FOR RUIN! AND THE WORLDS ENDING! 🤯😭😭😭
@@imaginator85 DEATH!!!
@@imaginator85 I recommend to watch "(LOTR) Théoden | Death & Glory"
Gandalf and the Balrog fought for three days and two nights, before Gandalf finally threw him down from the mountain peak they were on.
At 15:35. That's very observant of you Vince! Actually Lord of the Rings (both the books and movies) heavily inspired the vast majority of what we know in modern fantasy. Game of Thrones (and the Song of Ice and Fire books), Harry Potter, video games like Skyrim/The Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age too.
Lord of the Rings is the the Beowulf and Iliad of our time. It will be remembered and told LONG after our nations and civilizations have pasted.
14:11 so remember the battlefield from the prologue to Fellowship? That's where they are now. Specifically, they are crossing the part where the Sindar elves under King Oropher were fighting. They had an old grudge against the followers of Gilgalad, the elven leader of the last Alliance. Thus, they refused to listen to his orders. They started the battle too early, and a huge number of them were killed including Oropher. They died filled with hatred, pride and anger: so their spirits haunted the land rather than going to rest in the Halls of Mandos (where most elven spirits end up when they die). This sequence was inspired by Tolkien's real experience at the Somme in WWI, where they often had to leave bodies unburied for days or weeks because there was no break in the fighting and anyone who ventured out of a foxhole would be picked off instantly. The river would flood when it rained, so the soldiers were trapped in a waterlogged swamp.
19:19 the cloaks are faintly magical. You will also notice that although they appear to be normal wool cloaks, they never seem to get wet.
23:35 it's actually Danish! He says "be still now" and then after learning the horse's name is Brego "your name is kingly". Bregolas was the name of an ancient prince that Aragorn is descended from.
11:56
Vigo Mortenson (Aragorn) actually broke his toe in that scene when kicking the helmet away. His scream was real... it wasn't an act
Some cool little info about the dead marshes, its been said that that Tolkien was inspired by what he had seen in WWI when he came up with them.
The Fellowship of the Ring was the first of your videos I have watched and this is the second. The two of you are possibly the most perceptive first time viewers I have seen and I truly hope that you enjoy the finale as well.
It would not hurt you to know that in the Tolkein world, wizards are not just humans who use magic. They are semi-divine beings called Maiar. You could think of them as "angels". 5 were sent to Middle Earth to help against the dark lord. Only Gandalf remained completely true to his calling. It is also interested to note that Sauron and the balrogs were also maiar. You can think of them as fallen angels. Also, Sauron was not the original dark lord. That was Morgoth who was a Valar. The easiest analogy would be that the Valar are like arc-angels while the Maiar are a step down and just plain angels. Sauron was a disciple of Morgoth.
Boromir and Faromir were not sons of the king of Gondor. That title belonged to Aragorn who has not claimed it. Instead, they were the sons of the hereditary Steward of Gondor. The stewards were left in control when the kings went into exile. Over time, they assumed more and more of the trappings of kingship but never went all the way. You will see later on that the Steward sits on a throne but, in the background, without any attention, there is the much grander throne of the kings.
The "hyenas" in the movie are wargs. In the movies, they definitely resemble hyenas but in the books were a particularly vicious type of wolf.
One brief suggestion, from my perspective: your sound mix could use a boost for the movie sound to more closely match the levels of your voices.
One of my favorite things in this movie that's easy to miss, is that the Uruk Hai meet up with a band of Orcs, reinforcing their numbers. Then they smell Aragon and co. coming and they're like, "Okay…there's like 5 or 6 dozen of us…and 3 of them…let's get the hell out of here!" 🤣🤣
Well, they were in Rohan, so they had no way of knowing who it was, or how many there were. In fact, Eomer and his riders *were* tracking them around that time, so they were right to flee.
47:21 I love how the ent on fire dives into the water lol
Man, the first time I saw a Black Rider stop a Fell Beast (the flying creature) as a kid was the first time I asked myself, “Why do the bad guys always get the good shit?” 🤣
46:34 this charge was inspired by an actual Calvary charge during the siege of Vienna. The Calvary is a representation of the winged Hussars
Dayum. Love your reactions. By the way I'm not sure if you realised but the eye is sauron who had the ring cut from his hand in the beginning.
28:34 "that is so smart" WAIT FOR IT HAHAHAH
Alright, the guy on the left is sharp as fuck. He's getting EVERYTHING. I might just subscribe to you guys.
Not sure if anyone told you or not but from then lord of rings movies Arwen is play by Liv Tyler who is Steven Tyler daughter he in the band Aerosmith
Fun fact: 19:15, cape is actually magic that was given to them by the Elves in Lothlorien. It is made to hide them in times of need.
The Two Towers is a great contiuation of the story.
The characters bond together and grow into their own side stories, meanwhile they all flow together for the greater good while building for a bigger climax to come.
Great movie, great reaction video.
Now onto Return Of The King.
Random fun fact: The actor who plays Gimli - John Rhys-Davies - also voices the ent Treebeard :)
Thanks for sharing your awesome, guys :*
See you for the next one
/Lizz
Great reaction guys... LOTR's is the greatest trilogy of all time. Can't wait for the third one tbh. U got my sub 💪
I too smote my enemie's ruin on the mountainside. That's how I roll.
Sam sees the world in black and white. He sees Gollum as evil and Frodo as good just because. What he deosnt realize is by saying Gollum cant come back, he's implying Frodo is doomed too.
In this it is a pretty good bet if you don't see a body the person is still alive.
14:00 Tolkien fought in the Battle of the Somme, the bloodiest battle of the First World War. The dead marshes were partly inspired by his experience there, with the dead and the dying lying in the mud.
14:55 Elrond did a lot to heal him, but Frodo does not recover fully from the wound he suffered on Weathertop, even at the end.
26:00 The Oliphaunts are way bigger than even African Elephants and even the largest Mammoths that existed.
27:30 The Wargs were originally envisioned as monstrous wolves, but in the last few decades wolves have been seen in a more sympathetic light, so in the movie they made them much more hyena-like.
42:34 No, he wasn't, he was the son of the current ruler, but he is not the King, his title is 'Steward'. The Steward rules while there is no king, which has been the case for a long time, but Aragorn is the true heir to the throne.
I have to put in a good word for one ANDY SERKIS, the actor who plays Smeagol and Gollum. His Gollum character is part CGI and part MOTION CAPTURE. During filming, the actor, Andy, wears a dark suit with white patches on his joints and other body areas that get mapped into a computer, "joined together" to make fluid, human movements and then Gollum's digital skin is placed over the key white points and, VOILA!, you have Gollum walking, jumping, eating raw fish, etc. SAURON is the dude whose fingers and ring got cut off; Saruman lives in Isengard and is known as The White Wizard, Gandalf the Gray's superior in the Tolkien trilogy. King Theoden, the wrinkly-faced guy who Gandalf releases from Saruman's spell, is played by the actor who was the Captain of the Titanic in "Titanic."
My cousin works at weta where they made lord of the rings, he gets to see all the props and things every day. He also worked on avatar the way of water.
That final shot is awesome. After all Sam and Frodo have been through you might think the road is getting easier, but the camera drifts up and shows where they're going -- and its terrifying.
Long ago the Dead Marshes, was part of the war we saw at the beginning of Fellowship. This was one of the first battles during that war against Sauron, the War of the Last Alliance. It was the time of Legolas’s grandfather, Oropher, who had led the charge with his kin of elves, the Sindar. You learn more of them in the Hobbit. Oropher started a charge without proper backup from the other elves, the Noldar which are Galadriel’s family. Oropher and his elves were slaughtered before reinforcements could arrive. It is these bodies you see in the Dead Marshes. 💕
3:45 love my man's laugh here, true giddyness
I always get goosebumps with that scene when Gandalf shows up with Eomer and the riders of Rohan.
Also the Ents going to war gets me teary eyed. I love them so much!
Flank meats back on the menu boys :) Best orc line
And you two now understand how funny Tony Starks remark to Hawkeye was in that first avengers movie. Right before he flies him to the roof "clench up legolas"