The challenge is nearly over
It has taken a few long evenings, but I have now mostly caught up with the DVDs of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. I have found them very interesting. If you were to just watch the films and never read the books (but, why would you do that?) then you would probably enjoy them too. You would however be witnessing things that never happened in the books and these aren't merely minor things either they can be enormous plot changes.
They have removed an entire ending plot from the book that involves Saruman. As the wizard who turns to the darkness of Sauron, Saruman is defeated by Treebeard and the Ents and his tower is taken. Treebeard takes pity on him and releases him into middle earth. At the end of the book when Sauron is defeated and the hobbits return to the shire to see it has been ravaged by a man called Sharkey. This turns out to be Saruman. The Hobbits revolt and finally defeat Saruman. You don't see this in the films because Saruman is killed by his henchman and falls from his wizards tower. His henchman is killed by an arrow fired by the wood elf Legolas. There is no harrowing of the shire, therefore, at the end of the film. It's been surgically removed by a rather large plot change.
This though is by the bye, I guess. The film is entirely artistic license. This doesn't mean it must be entirely faithful to the books and it most certainly isn't in large places. It is happy to add characters and remove characters.
The films themselves stand by themselves. That is all well and good. If you want to really get a deep dive into the Hobbit an the Lord of the Rings you really should head to the original books first as there is no better place.
They have removed an entire ending plot from the book that involves Saruman. As the wizard who turns to the darkness of Sauron, Saruman is defeated by Treebeard and the Ents and his tower is taken. Treebeard takes pity on him and releases him into middle earth. At the end of the book when Sauron is defeated and the hobbits return to the shire to see it has been ravaged by a man called Sharkey. This turns out to be Saruman. The Hobbits revolt and finally defeat Saruman. You don't see this in the films because Saruman is killed by his henchman and falls from his wizards tower. His henchman is killed by an arrow fired by the wood elf Legolas. There is no harrowing of the shire, therefore, at the end of the film. It's been surgically removed by a rather large plot change.
This though is by the bye, I guess. The film is entirely artistic license. This doesn't mean it must be entirely faithful to the books and it most certainly isn't in large places. It is happy to add characters and remove characters.
The films themselves stand by themselves. That is all well and good. If you want to really get a deep dive into the Hobbit an the Lord of the Rings you really should head to the original books first as there is no better place.
Comments