A better purpose for the ghost army in ROTK

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

I agree that there were a lot of aspects where the might of Gondor is needlessly diminished... Apparently the gate was the strongest part of Minas Tirith, seeing how the walls simply crumbled whenever hit with a piece of rock.

I can forgive PJ for not introducing yet another character (Beregond), but I would really have loved to see the nights of Dol Amroth.

However to introduce the Barrow Wights (Characters not previously introduced) at a random place and time seems outright silly.

No, no, we just need to slip in some discrete expository dialogue:

EXT. PELENNOR FIELDS - DAY

PAN OFF: DENETHOR'S DEATH PLUNGE to the ROHIRRIM gaining the
upper hand - VAST NUMBERS of ORCS are SLAIN, or are FLEEING!

EOMER
Drive them into the river!

THEODEN STANDS PROUD in his saddle, YELLING to his ROHIRRIM!

THEODEN
(yelling)
Make safe the city!

CLOSE ON: THEODEN . . . his look of JOY turns to HORROR!

ANGLE ON: Across the VAST SEA of BATTLE come ...

. . . Hordes of sinister BARROW-WIGHTS!

ANGLE ON: ROHIRRIM RIDERS PANICKING.

ANGLE ON: MERRY and EOWYN.

MERRY
Oh no! I think those are Barrow-wights!

EOWYN
(struggling to control her horse)
Barrow what?

MERRY
Barrow-wights. Evil spirits that haunt the ancient burial hills near the Shire. Not that I've ever been there myself, but we were at one point considering taking a short cut in that general direction-

THEODEN
(sword raised)
... Charge!

ANGLE ON: ROHIRRIM RIDERS CHARGE TOWARDS THE LINE OF WIGHTS!

EOWYN
Yes, yes, that's very interesting, Merry, but what are they doing here? Has the Dark Lord summoned them?

MERRY
Probably. I mean they might work for him, for all I know. It's not like I've ever actually met one before-!

The WIGHTS overwhelm the
PANICKING ROHIRRIM! EOWYN and MERRY are THROWN from their HORSE...

There! Seamless!