One Thing That I Think Tolkien Did Wrong and Jackson Did Right

[TheAzn]

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

Well, first observation is that Tolkien says "As soon as the great catapults were set {ie, behind the fire pits} they began to throw missiles ... some burst into flame .... another hail more horrible {ie, the heads}"

They didn't "advance" to shoot, and so come into range of the city's catapults.

Later "in the middle night the assault was loosed... on they came reckless of their loss as they approached".

So, when they did finally advance, they did come within range of catapult and bow and did take heavy loss.

Which all seems to make sense as Tolkien wrote it.

Hey Puddlglum. The problem with this argument is that it creates more problems. If the Mordorians can reach the inside of the White City from the trenches, then the Gondorians - contrary to Professor Tolkien's description- should have had no problem tearing down the the workings of the trenches from the beginning. No matter how bad the Gondorian artilleries were, the Mordorians should not have outranged the Gondorians due to the sheer height advantage of the Gondorians.