LotR Book/movie differences

[barsoomcore]

"Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!"

A cold voice answered: "Come not between the Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye."

A sword rang as it was drawn. "Do what thou will; but I will hinder it, if I may."

"Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!"

Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. "But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Eowyn I am, Eomund's daughter. you stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him."

I'm fine with everything else. Arwen, great addition. Pip tricking Treebeard, fine (though I do wonder how the other Ents all got there so fast). The changes to Faramir were GREAT. Pippin singing.

But oh, what could have been on the fields of Pelennor....

 

[kengar]

I'm fine with everything else. Arwen, great addition. Pip tricking Treebeard, fine (though I do wonder how the other Ents all got there so fast). The changes to Faramir were GREAT. Pippin singing.

But oh, what could have been on the fields of Pelennor....

I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be more of this fight in the EE, but I agree. Eowyn is THE female lead of LOTR; not Galadriel & not Arwen. Her fight with the Nazgul was one of the coolest scenes in the entire trilogy and also one that translated well to film (straightforward fight scene). Cutting one or two catapult shots (or that ridiculous sequence with Legolas & the Oliphaunt) to make time for more of Eowyn & the WK would have been totally worth it, IMO.

PS- NTM Liv v. Miranda? No contest! Miranda all the way!

 

[Hypersmurf]

Her fight with the Nazgul was one of the coolest scenes in the entire trilogy and also one that translated well to film (straightforward fight scene).

It wasn't translated well to film, though

The fight we saw was clumsy and clunky... Miranda didn't pull off the "trained warrior princess" feel, and the choreography was... well, kinda boring.

I'm not suggesting she should have been doing Xena somersaults, but she didn't move like a fighter, and there were a couple too many "duck under the flail" beats.

Blah.

-Hyp.

 

[kengar]

It wasn't translated well to film, though

The fight we saw was clumsy and clunky... Miranda didn't pull off the "trained warrior princess" feel, and the choreography was... well, kinda boring.

I'm not suggesting she should have been doing Xena somersaults, but she didn't move like a fighter, and there were a couple too many "duck under the flail" beats.

Blah.

-Hyp.

Poor phrasing on my part HS, I meant that it would have translated well to film straight from the book. Unlike many of the differences between the films and the book, some wouldn't have worked as well on screen as on the page. The fight scene was straightforward enough that it shouldn't have been an issue.

 

[Pants]

I'm not suggesting she should have been doing Xena somersaults, but she didn't move like a fighter, and there were a couple too many "duck under the flail" beats.

What else was she supposed to do? When she actually blocked it, her arm and shield broke.

It would have been pretty cool to hear Eowyn yell out Dwimmerlaik though.

 

[Welverin]

What else was she supposed to do? When she actually blocked it, her arm and shield broke.

They could have not including some many shots of her ducking the flail. It's a matter of what else could the film makers have done, not what else could the character have done.

 

[shilsen]

I don't really mind what they did with the fight in the movie. In the book, it's very quick. Here's how it goes:

1st: Fell beast attacks Eowyn.
2nd: Eowyn gets her readied action (oh, come on - you knew this would be d20-compatible ), rolls a crit and decapitates the beast.
3rd: The Witch-King stands up, takes a 5 foot step and strikes with his mace, breaking Eowyn's arm (JRRT was presumably using called shots here).
4th: Merry, having made a great Hide and Move Silently roll, sneak attacks the Witch-King.
5th: Eowyn slays the Witch-King.

For movie purposes they had to draw it out a little bit. What I would have preferred is to have the entirety of their lines. As the book says:

‘Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!’

A cold voice answered: ‘Come not between the Nazgul and his pray! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the house of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.’

A sword rang as it was drawn. ‘Do what you will; but I will hinder it, if I may.’

‘Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!’

Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. ‘But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Eowyn I am, Eomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.’