"Oh no! Is he...?"

[The Saucepan Man]

Seems to me that Jackson was using a device extensively used by Tolkien himself. <P>In LotR, we have:<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Pippin vanishing within the clutches of Old Man Willow.<LI>Sam, Merry and Pippin lying cold within the Barrow.<LI>Frodo being hit by the Orc-Chieftain's spear in Moria, and Aragorn thinking him dead.<LI>Gandalf falling with the Balrog.<LI>Merry and Pippin being taken by Orcs, their fates unknown for a number of chapters.<LI>Gimli missing in action at Helm's Deep.<LI>Gandalf listening for Pippin's breath after the latter looked in the Palantir.<LI>Frodo seemingly dying after being stung by Shelob.<LI>Eowyn falling after slaying the Witch-King and being thought dead by Eomer.<LI>Pippin apparently dying after being crushed by a Troll at the Black Gate.</UL><P>In all of those moments, the reader might believe the character dead, if only momentarily. And in some cases, particularly in the case of Gandalf in Moria and Pippin at the Black Gate, the reader is left in suspense for a period of some time.<P>So, while the device was clearly used by Jackson to engender suspense, it was also a device used by Tolkien himself. And so, to some extent, justified in film adaptations of the book.<P>Although I have to admit that Aragorn's cliff diving episode was just plain gratuitous.