Is it wrong to say 'Peter Jackson' is the ultimate bad guy?
Lord Denethor, along with Faramir and Aragorn, were some of the many atrocities PJ did to characters in Lord of the Rings. I respected Lord Denethor in the books. He was a strong Dunedain man who was worn down primarily by wrestling with Sauron through the palantir, but also the death of his wife. The weight that finally broke him was the death of Boromir, and that allowed his mind to be overrun by Sauron after that.
I can't stand watching those movies anymore. The only love I have for them is because of their making, I met my wife and soulmate.
Ok... bad guys ... along with the witch-king I mentioned earlier, another favorite 'bad guy' for me in the books was Grima Wormtongue. Now the whole Saruman/Theoden bewitching scene I pictured in my head from reading the books, and what I hold to is much different that how PJ portrayed it. Saruman didn't directly 'possess' Theoden from Isengard, but used Grima as his extended vassal embedded in Meduseld as Theoden's trusted advisor. Saruman gave Grima the power to enchant Theoden with his smooth-talking slick tongue that slyly let his believable, but deceiving words into Theoden's head, wearing him down over the years. It was more subtle than the outright Saruman possession of Theoden that PJ gave us. Grima was wonderfully portrayed by Brad Dourif in the movie, but it was sad that his excellent portrayal and performance was wasted by the crappy screenplay.
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