How the LotR should have ended...

[Plane Sailing]

Recently found this on YouTube and thought it was entertaining - it is a thought which had occurred to me many times!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yqVD0swvWU&NR=1&feature=fvwp]YouTube - How Lord of The Rings Should Have Ended[/ame]

 

[El Mahdi]

deleted

 

[Remus Lupin]

Next your going to be telling us that Dr. Who should just use the TARDIS key to summon the Tardis whenever he's separated from it. That's just crazy talk!

 

[Klaus]

Actually, Tolkien's original manuscript went much like that (it was going to be sold as a dime novel).

But some classical mythology grognards got a hold of his manuscript and forced him to make significant changes.

They wanted more random encounters, felt the lack of a "cinematic" approach was "bad-wrong-fun", and wanted more versimilitude (forcing Tolkien to spend years in world creation - especially making completely new languages for all of the races and sub-races!). They turned his simple, fun story, into the grotesque behemoth it became.

I mourn for what could have been.

I get what you're saying and all, fun stuff!

But really, I'd be leery to flying the ring into Mordor on the back of a giant eagle when Sauron had nine of THESE about town:

 

[drothgery]

I get what you're saying and all, fun stuff!

But really, I'd be leery to flying the ring into Mordor on the back of a giant eagle when Sauron had nine of THESE about town:

But he didn't at the start of the book (I mean, the Nine were around, but they didn't get flying mounts until later).

 

[ssampier]

It would have been a lot shorter story, perhaps.

Would it have easier? I don't know.

I think it'd make more sense for them to ride eagles to a safe landing area and then sneak into Mordor.

Isn't that how modern warfare is fought? You don't send F18's and Apache helicopters directly into the firefight.

 

[David Howery]

But he didn't at the start of the book (I mean, the Nine were around, but they didn't get flying mounts until later).

I think they had the flying critters, they just didn't want to reveal them until the war started...

and if the flying Nazgul wasn't enough, wouldn't Sauron's all seeing eye being focused on the Eagles tend to drive them nuts and flee?

 

[shilsen]

Maybe it's just me, but I always thought that the idea that they could have flown in on the eagles requires ignoring a lot of the LotR. Gandalf and Elrond are quite explicit during the Council of Elrond that going into Mordor openly, whatever method they use and however much power they may take with them (I think Gandalf uses the example of Glorfindel, IIRC), would be suicide since it would simply attract Sauron's attention and he would crush them and take the Ring before they reached Mount Doom. It always seemed pretty obvious to me that the eagles were never an option.

 

[Remus Lupin]

You know, the absence of Glorfindel was one of my great disappointments about the movies. It's not that he did a whole lot in the book, but he was one of the most intriguing minor characters. I understand why for narrative purposes it made sense to give his role to Arwen. Still ....

 

[Klaus]

Maybe it's just me, but I always thought that the idea that they could have flown in on the eagles requires ignoring a lot of the LotR. Gandalf and Elrond are quite explicit during the Council of Elrond that going into Mordor openly, whatever method they use and however much power they may take with them (I think Gandalf uses the example of Glorfindel, IIRC), would be suicide since it would simply attract Sauron's attention and he would crush them and take the Ring before they reached Mount Doom. It always seemed pretty obvious to me that the eagles were never an option.

Yeah. OTOH, taking the eagle-train to Minas Tirith or Lothlorien would save them a lot of trouble.

Of course, they'd then only know about Saruman's betrayal after Rohan had fallen.