[Lathriel]

Formendacil I think it depends on the person; because I like Spm can enjoy the movies appart from the book. The first time I watched FOTR,TTT,ROTK I did have the book in mind but after that when I saw the movies again, I was able to enjoy them appart from the books.

I would also like the point out that Star Wars was always a movie and that all those books came after. Lucas made up the story himself. PJ didn't have that option because he was basing it on an already written book. Whereas Lucas was able to start from scratch and could change anything if he had to since he was the creator to begin with.

As for the issue with Merry and the witchking. I had never thought of the sword issue. However, I had been dissapointed with the film's lack of emphasis on Merry's side of the story. Luckily this was slighlty fixed by the EE where there is an extended scene with Merry and Pippin on the Pellenor fields.