Synopsis:

The second of a six-part edit made to bring Peter Jackson’s adaptations of “The Lord of the Rings” as close as possible to the original book by J.R.R. Tolkien, this covers the last half of “The Fellowship of the Ring”.

Intentions:

To separate Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy into six parts that adhere as closely as possible to the six books of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”. This is done by both restructuring the films to match the narrative structure found in Tolkien’s book, and by removing as much as possible of the material that has no basis in Tolkien’s vision of Middle-Earth. For Book II, this has meant removing most of Saruman’s scenes, altering Aragorn’s character so that he accepts his destiny, inserting some flashbacks that were cut from Book I to the Rivendell scenes, trimming some unnecessary action scenes, and altering the ending.

Change List:

-New title sequence. Since this is meant to be a separate instalment, not just the missing half of the previous edit, I decided to have company credits and titles for this one as well. - We fade in on Frodo lying in a bed in Rivendell. He asks why Gandalf didn’t meet them, and we flashback to Gandalf riding to Isengard, and thereafter see all the Isengard sequences that were cut from Book I. - Saruman does not claim that Sauron can’t take physical form. In the book, he regained his physical form slightly before the events of the Hobbit (I think). In Tolkien’s own words: “The form that he took was that of a man of more than human stature, but not gigantic.” - Saruman does not mention the Nine having left Minas Morgul. At this point in the story, the Ringwraiths are yesterday’s news. - Saruman is not shown contacting Sauron through the Palantir. As in the book, Saruman is working for himself, and isn’t merely a “puppet” of Sauron. - The brief shot of Saruman in the caverns of Isengard has been cut, since he is at the top of Orthanc in the following scene - Saruman is not shown breeding Uruk-Hai. In the book, Saruman did undertake various orc-breeding experiments, but these were separate from the Uruk-Hai. Also, it is highly unlikely that orcs of any kind could be bred in the manner shown in the film. - Back in Rivendell, Gandalf’s line “Saruman has crossed orcs with goblin-men.” has been cut First, Saruman isn’t breeding Uruk-Hai in these edits. Second, the line makes no sense, since “orc” is just another word for “goblin”. The line is obviously taken from a mention of “half-orcs and goblin-men” taking part in the Battle of the Hornburg, and it’s equally obvious that PJ’s interpretation is far from what Tolkien meant. - Cut Elrond’s line “Men are weak.” I feel that Elrond is portrayed as too much of a racist, which he absolutely wasn’t in the book. There wasn’t much I could do about it, but I think removing the one line helps slightly. - Elrond’s flashback to the Battle of the Last Alliance is followed by Isildur being ambushed and killed by orcs, with the narration removed. This seems to be the best place to include the (vital) exposition of how Isildur lost the Ring. - Cut Elrond’s lines “He turned from that path a long time ago… He has chosen exile.” As in the book, Aragorn accepts his destiny, and is only waiting for the right time to claim his birthright. - The Council of Elrond scene has been moved, and now immediately follows the scene with Elrond and Gandalf. I feel that revealing Strider as Isildur’s Heir works better this way, especially since I had to cut Arwen’s line which originally identified him as the heir. - Cut Aragorn’s line “Sit down, Legolas.” As mentioned earlier, Aragorn accepts his role and destiny. - After the council, we cut to Boromir examining the Shards of Narsil. He does not ask who Aragorn is, since they’ve already met – He just casts an awkward glance at Aragorn, which hints at the fact that he may not have been entirely sure when earlier stating that “Gondor needs no king.” This also brings his character closer to the way he was portrayed in the book, where he accepted Aragorn as the heir of Gondor. - The scene with Aragorn and Arwen in front of Narsil has been reworked. As Aragorn puts Narsil back on its display, Arwen says “Your time will come”, which leads to her Elvish lines (“The Shadow does not yet hold sway” etc.). Thus, Aragorn’s reluctance has been removed, without having to cut the all-important line “Your time will come”, which (sort of) explains why Aragorn isn’t king already. - Added “,Aragorn” to the end of the subtitle for Arwen’s “The Shadow does not hold sway yet” to better match what she is saying. - Cut the scene at Gilraen’s memorial. - Aragorn does not partake in the hobbits’ scuffle with Boromir. I think the scene is better and funnier with just Boromir and the hobbits. - Saruman is not involved in the Caradhras scene. In the book, the avalance was caused by Caradhras itself. - The scene with the watcher in the water has been recut to match Tolkien’s book – The Doors of Durin open, the watcher immediately attacks, tries and fails to grab Frodo, Legolas fires an arrow at it, and the fellowship retreats into the mines. - The dead dwarves are not discovered until they reach Balin’s tomb. - The cave troll battle has been shortened. In my opinion, it goes on for far too long, and has some silly moments that should be cut. - Cut Frodo’s faces of pain after being stabbed by the cave troll. - The moria orcs are not shown climbing up and down pillars. Spider-orc, spider-orc, does whatever a spider-orc can… Eh, no. - Cut out the scene on the crumbling stair in Moria. Pointless Action-Jackson invention. I did, however, keep Gandalf telling Aragorn to lead the fellowship on, which I thought was an important line to include. - Used the theatrical version of the fellowship entering Lothlorien, but with the approach to Caras Galadhon from the EE. The alternate EE version has several problems – Gimli’s and Legolas’ costumes and makeup are different to the ones seen in the rest of the film, and some shots of the fellowship were reused in the mirror of Galadriel. I have no idea why this obviously unfinished scene was put into the EE. - Galadriel’s telepathy with Frodo as they enter Lorien has been cut, to make Lothlorien seem less creepy and more pleasant like in the book. - Changed the subtitle from “Haldir of Lorien” to Haldir of LÃ?rien”, which is the correct spelling. - The Lothlorien scenes have been slightly recolored to remove some of the excessively blue tint. - Galadriel’s telepathy (“Welcome, Frodo of the Shire… One who has seen THE EYE!”) has been cut. Again, to make Lorien and Galadriel less creepy. - Galadriel does not tell Frodo that Boromir will try to take the Ring. Boromir’s fall works better if it seems a bit less inevitable. - All scenes in Isengard have been cut. As in the book, we do not see Saruman again until the end of Book III. - Aragorn doesn’t tell Galadriel that he would have Arwen take a ship to Valinor. The whole Arwen subplot differs radically from the book, and has thus been removed entirely. - The Uruk-Hai montage has been cut. - Aragorn’s argument with Boromir has been cut. - The Eye of Sauron is not seen hovering above Barad-Dur. - We do not see Sam underwater – it looks too fake. - The edit ends like the book. Frodo does not meet Aragorn before leaving, and we do not see the attack of the Uruk-Hai, which will serve as an intro for Book III. Some people may disagree with me having cut the last scene between Aragorn and Frodo, and I agree that it is a wonderful scene. It did, however, not take place in the book. Also, the scene leads directly into the Uruk-Hai ambush, which has to take place entirely at the beginning of Book III in order to follow the book – and I really wanted to follow the book’s narrative structure as closely as possible. So that’s my rationale. As Frodo and Sam walk down into Emyn Muil, we fade to a new “credit” sequence: End of Book II.

Additional Notes:

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