[Kalimac]

Unless it's that Shadowfax is supposed to be indirectly defending Gandalf, who presumably is now the object of Denethor's wrath for having pulled him off of Pippin and, hence, Faramir. That would make sense. I agree that the scene is still pretty confusing, though; way too much going on, and they try to compress it too much. Having Denethor yank out a Palantir from somewhere (where?) would actually give the scene some much needed slowing-down. Heck, if they really wanted to, they could make him be kicked onto the pyre by Shadowfax (not right, but I doubt that'll be cut) grab the Palantir, hold it up, and say something along the lines of "I've seen it all, the Eye shows me that we're doomed, even now the Black Ships are coming," (obviously you couldn't put the "Eyes of the White Tower" bit there, since's he's already used it). Then he could collapse and go up in flames while holding onto it, then in the last second spring to life and make a run for the door - again, another unnecessary element, but probably not going anywhere. It would make things clearer, especially the part where he stays on the pyre by choice. <P>The non-acting guards bother me too. But then, the guards bothered me in the book as well, not from their wanting to be obedient (Beregond was a good example of that) but because of the fact that when Denethor ordered them to bring oil and wood etc, their reaction seems to have been essentially "Whatever you say. I'm only following orders." The fact that Beregond needed to break his oath to keep the still-breathing heir of Denethor from being burnt alive by his own servants is pretty strange. Not that they could have realistically defied Denethor to his face, but how about calling for help of some sort instead of obediently running to the Toolshed of the Stewards and fetching the propane?<p>[ 8:14 PM December 21, 2003: Message edited by: Kalimac ]