Picky, Picky, Picky.

[Essex]

Sapphire,

Bombadil was featured purely for sentimental reasons, not because he was important to the story. (Check in Letters! It's there!)

Here we go again..........

Main Reason why Tom Bombadil / Old Forest were CRITICAL to the story. (many others, but I've already mentioned these on another thread)

Merry gets given a sword of Westernesse by Tom after they're saved from the barrow-wights. Without this, we have a domino affect on the rest of the story. Let me explain......

No sword, no defeat of the Witch King. That is a FACT.

No defeat of the Witch King, probable defeat of the West at the Pellenor Fields.

Defeat at the Pellenor Fields, no diversionary tactics by Gandalf and Co which could have lead to a possible sighting by Sauron of Frodo and Sam.

Most importantly to me, no defeat of the witch king, then no quarrel between the two hunter orcs that Frodo and Sam stumble across, and I propose that these orcs would have easily tracked down the hobbits if it was not for their fight. Hobbits killed or captured, Ring found, delivered to Sauron, and End of Story.....

[the phantom]

Essex is right.

It always bugged me that Merry's blade was never explained (the fact that it was the single most damaging blade to the Witch King in the world). That's not a minor detail.

And concerning Faramir's hair (which was most definitely too light), it's not that it gets in the way of the story or anything, it's just that they could've gotten it right so easily so why didn't they? Just slap a freakin' black wig on the guy. Little things like that get me worked up because it would've been so easy to get them right, but they didn't! Why?!

It's like doing well on a difficult test and then forgetting to put your name at the top. It's plain stupid. It boggles the mind.

[Sapphire_Flame]

Originally Posted by Essex

Sapphire,
Here we go again..........

Main Reason why Tom Bombadil / Old Forest were CRITICAL to the story. (many others, but I've already mentioned these on another thread)

Merry gets given a sword of Westernesse by Tom after they're saved from the barrow-wights. Without this, we have a domino affect on the rest of the story. Let me explain......

No sword, no defeat of the Witch King. That is a FACT.

No defeat of the Witch King, probable defeat of the West at the Pellenor Fields.

Defeat at the Pellenor Fields, no diversionary tactics by Gandalf and Co which could have lead to a possible sighting by Sauron of Frodo and Sam.

Most importantly to me, no defeat of the witch king, then no quarrel between the two hunter orcs that Frodo and Sam stumble across, and I propose that these orcs would have easily tracked down the hobbits if it was not for their fight. Hobbits killed or captured, Ring found, delivered to Sauron, and End of Story.....

I'm not debating the neccessity of the Old Forest and the Barrow Downs; I'm just saying that the character of Bombadil, himself, wasn't critical. Tolkien could have inserted another character, with similar powers, in his place without damaging the story. The reason that the character was Tom Bombadil is that Tolkien had already written stories concerning him, and therefore it was for sentimental reasons that he was the one placed in the Old Forest to aid the hobbits. I do, in fact, completely agree with what you say about Merry's sword. In the movie, the swords are given to them by Aragorn; who's to say those blades are the same type that were found in the barrow? Therefore, it still works in the movies. *rimshot*

...

Okay, I have officially heard the pickyness to end all pickyness. At another board, someone complained that "the arrow that Legolas shot Grima with, wasn't fletched right for an elven arrow."

*blink blink* And? Why on earth would you complain about that? "Stop the presses, Legolas had an improperly fletched arrow!" I don't really think it matters. It's amazing what some people choose to complain about. I can see how you can point out changes from the book, but this is a bit silly.

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[Dragon Reborn]

I think the main reason people come up with these ridiculous complaints is that they watch the movies TOO many times, and therefore to find some completely minor and unnessecary mishap is to their great satisfation.
They probably wanted to come up with something that hasn't been complained about before, and of course everything's been complained about so they find something that nobody WOULD complain about, which doesn't deserve a complaint in the first place.

Also, about Bombadil and the old forest. One reason why they should have included this in the movies was to lighten up the scene a bit. With all these dark and gloomy scenes (which are, as it is, essential to the story) there could have been a bit of.... almost comic relief, for a moment. But ofcourse it was simply impossible to fit all this in, so I think it is quite accounted for.

[Gurthang]

That's not entirely true, Dragon. I am one of those people who have watched the movies too many times(about 20 for FotR), and I agree that these little grievances are pretty pathetic.

As far as bringing in Tom Bombadil to lighten the mood, I don't think that would be a good idea. I don't know if he was trying to do it, but PJ kinda butchered the comic relief, especially with Gimli. It just ended up making him look like a clown, and I thought it made him appear a little on the dumb side. I shutter to think what people would think of Tom Bombadil if they had done that to him.

Now, Pathetic Grievances:

"Arwen didn't ride with Frodo in the book."

"The ringwraiths attacked behind Weathertop, not on it."

"Boromir died in the Two Towers, not in the Fellowship!"


BTW, Dragon, Wheel of Time ROCKS!

[Nimrodel_9]

Welcome to the Downs, Dragon! I love The Wheel of Time! (Not as much as LotR though)

Why make the Gondorians look like dumb tables?

Hee hee... tables.

Wow, Essex. Thanks for pointing that out! I never realized that.

[the phantom]

Arwen didn't ride with Frodo in the book.

That's not a "pathetic grievance".

Arwen shouldn't have appeared in the same camera shot as Frodo until he was in Rivendell.

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Dragon Reborn

I think the main reason people come up with these ridiculous complaints is that they watch the movies TOO many times, and therefore to find some completely minor and unnessecary mishap is to their great satisfation.

I think that Dragon Reborn has it about right (welcome to the Downs, by the way). I have watched the films only a handful of times each and I seem to have far less complaints than most.

There is, I suspect, also an element of people trying to prove that they are bona fide book fans by trying to find every minor detail that varies from the story presented in the book. My own view is that, if one is sufficiently confident in one's appreciation of the book, then one should be able to accept differences in the films. They are, after all, only an adaptations. Unless something doesn't work within the films (ie gives rise to an internal consistency) then I have don't have a problem with it.

With one exception, of course. My dislike of those Lemming-Hyenas is purely subjective. I was so looking forward to seeing Wargs and I didn't see anything resembling a Warg until Grond came along.