Tolkien vs. Jackson: Major Differences Between Story and Screenplay
From Tolkien Gateway
This article is a subarticle to Tolkien vs. Jackson: Differences Between Story and Screenplay.
Any work of the scale of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie screenplay is going to exhibit differences from the source material. While the three movies have a large number of minor and trivial differences from the book, there are quite a few substantial differences as well. These major differences take two forms—
- differences in form, such as the way in which the story is laid out and the various parts of the original story that are included or not, and
- differences in substance, such as alterations of theme and character development.
This article presents the major differences between the Jackson movie screenplay and J.R.R. Tolkien's book.
Contents |
[edit] Differences of Form
[edit] Arrangement of Story Threads
Tolkien's story was written in such a way that separate threads eventually emerge for the activities of the various characters. At one time, as many as four threads of the story existed. These threads were organized in such a way that multiple chapters could advance a single thread well along before switching to another. This is especially true of The Two Towers and The Return of the King. The first half of The Two Towers carried forward the events of the Fellowship in the lands of Rohan including the Battle of Helm's Deep, and the second half took Frodo through the Emyn Muil on his journey toward Mordor and ending with his imprisonment in the Tower of Cirith Ungol. The first half of The Return of the King then switches back to the West to tell of the war in Gondor through to the challenge of Sauron at the Black Gate by the lords of Gondor. The final throw and closure of open threads takes place in the second half of the last book. By this organization, each thread is advanced far along before switching to another.
In the movie, the threads are switched much more frequently, and this is probably a necessity of the medium. One could easily forget the plight of one character while spending much time with another. Moreover, the synchronicity of events was much easier to follow with the frequent switching than it would have been had the screenplay been written as the book. This was definitely a case in which the medium dictated the form.
[edit] Missing Material
As amazing as it may seem for a single screenplay that lasts well over eleven hours in its extended form, there was still considerable material in the story that was not filmed. The table below gives a rough idea of how much material from each chapter was filmed. Of a total of sixty-two chapters in the three-volume book set, little to none was filmed from nine of them. These are indicated in red. Another thirty-one chapters had substantial portions left out of the screenplay. These are indicated in blue. The Remaining twenty-two chapters—less than half of the total—had most or all of their material included. These are indicated in green.
| The Lord of the Rings | ||
| The Fellowship of the Ring | The Two Towers | The Return of the King |
| A Long-expected Party | The Departure of Boromir | Minas Tirith |
| The Shadow of the Past | The Riders of Rohan | The Passing of the Grey Company |
| Three is Company | The Uruk-hai | The Muster of Rohan |
| A Short Cut to Mushrooms | Treebeard | The Siege of Gondor |
| A Conspiracy Unmasked | The White Rider | The Ride of the Rohirrim |
| The Old Forest | The King of the Golden Hall | The Battle of the Pelennor Fields |
| In the House of Tom Bombadil | Helm's Deep | The Pyre of Denethor |
| Fog on the Barrow Downs | The Road to Isengard | The Houses of Healing |
| At the Sign of the Prancing Pony | Flotsam and Jetsam | The Last Debate |
| Strider | The Voice of Saruman | The Black Gate Opens |
| A Knife in the Dark | The Palantír | The Tower of Cirith Ungol |
| Flight to the Ford | The Taming of Smeagol | The Land of Shadow |
| Many Meetings | The Passage of the Marshes | Mount Doom |
| The Council of Elrond | The Black Gate is Closed | The Field of Cormallen |
| The Ring Goes South | Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit | The Steward and the King |
| A Journey in the Dark | The Windows on the West | Many Partings |
| The Bridge of Khazad-dûm | The Forbidden Pool | Homeward Bound |
| Lothlórien | Journey to the Crossroads | The Scouring of the Shire |
| The Mirror of Galadriel | The Stairs of Cirith Ungol | The Grey Havens |
| Farewell to Lórien | Shelob's Lair | |
| The Great River | The Choices of Master Samwise | |
| The Breaking of the Fellowship | ||
| Note: This table is likely to elicit some controversy, so further explanation is in order. The table is intended to show the relative amount of each chapter that appeared somewhere in the three movies. For example, none of the material of 'The Shadow of the Past', which is chapter 2 of The Fellowship of the Ring, appears at that place in the movie. Instead, all of its material is spread out in various places throughout the three movies. Much the same could be said for 'The Council of Elrond'. Decisions about color-coding were based on rough percentages. Red is used when less than about 10% of the material from the chapter appeared in the final, extended-edition movie. Blue is used for up to about 66%. And green is used for more than 66%. In some cases, such as 'The Departure of Boromir', the material was just shifted from one film to another. | ||
[edit] Differences of Substance
The differences between the story and the screenplay take various forms and degrees, and while they are mostly of a trivial nature, there are some differences that alter the major themes of the story.
[edit] The Hope of the West
One of the most important thematic differences is the alteration of the state of mind of the lords of Middle Earth in their conflict with the Dark Lord. In Tolkien's story, they understood their role in the struggle and shouldered their burden with purpose and resolve—even in the long years when they despaired of hope in a successful outcome. In addition to the Ruling Ring, there were the Three Rings that had been made for the Elf-lords by the Elvish craftsman Celebrimbor. It was by the Three Rings that the Elf-lords and Gandalf, who wielded Narya, the Ring of Fire, resisted the power of the Dark Lord. So great was the power of these rings that Sauron's mind was unable to penetrate the realms in which they were at work—Rivendell and Lothlorien. While the lords of the West did not always hope for final victory, they vigorously carried out their appointed task and depended on the Valar to help them. Gandalf, himself being a Maia, was an emissary of the Valar to aid the Elf-lords in contesting Sauron. Moreover, Aragorn, who was the heir of Isildur, had been raised in preparation for his role in the final struggle with Sauron. Such hope was placed in him that his name among the Elves had been Estel, which means 'hope' in their language. Long before the War of the Ring, Aragorn had fought in other name in the wars of Gondor and Rohan and had openly embraced his destiny, and the Elf-lords saw in him portend of the final end of the struggle whether to victory or to defeat. He had prepared for that war, and they had prepared with him in such ways as they could. The Valar, too, had opened the way by placing the Ruling Ring under the power of the council of Gandalf and Elrond, and they knew the great chance that it offered—indeed the only chance they had for victory. They seized that chance and sent the ring to the Cracks of Doom. Even before these events, Aragorn and Gandalf had worked side-by-side for many years toward the accomplishment of their desired ends.
In the screenplay, the Elf-lords had abandoned all hope and saw no chance for victory—even when presented with the opportunity of defeating Sauron by destroying the Ring. The last of their people were fleeing Middle Earth, and Elrond in particular appears determined to surrender Middle Earth to the Dark Lord. Since the fall of Isildur, Elrond had lost confidence in men and had no hope that they would be reliable allies against Sauron. He regarded the struggle to be one of inevitable defeat and took no more thought of it than on how to effect the escape of his people before the end.
Gandalf was in great fear and doubt himself. While he still saw a glimmer of hope in Aragorn, he was in a state of near panic about the imminent threat of the Ringwraiths. Far from having confidence in the work of the Valar, at the beginning, Gandalf was almost in a state of madness over the discovery that the hobbit's ring was the Ruling Ring. (In the book, his mood is one of deep but calm deliberation.) As the movie progresses, Gandalf becomes more secure in the rightness of their Quest such that he is able to speak of being reassured that Frodo "was meant to have the Ring". This is, of course, a veiled reference to the work of the Valar. When he is met in Fangorn Forest by Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, he has finally come into his full power and intended purpose, and though his doubts continue to haunt him, his resolve from that time never falters.
Unlike his character in the book, Aragorn had refused to embrace his calling to challenge Sauron and make a play for the kingship of Gondor openly declaring that he did not desire the task. When Gandalf reminded Elrond that there was "one who could reclaim the throne of Gondor", Elrond declared that the man—meaning Aragorn—had forsaken that path. While Aragorn did wish to wed Arwen, there did not seem to be anything that he cared to do to bring that about. In the story, her father's terms were that she could only wed the man who had become king of both Gondor and Arnor, and this was a driving motive for Aragorn through the long decades of his struggle. In the screenplay, there is just his love for her and no effort to achieve the end. Aragorn seems content to live out his life in peace and safety without taking up his father's sword. While in the story, he bore that sword wherever he went, at first in shards but later reforged, in the screenplay, he does not take it up again and accept his calling until nearly the middle of the final movie when Elrond brings the reforged blade to Dunharrow.
Instead of carrying on the long defeat in nobility and wisdom such as they had, the lords of Middle Earth were in a state of despair and hopelessness from which each took his own time in recovering. Even Arwen allowed herself briefly to forsake her oath to Aragorn and take, for a time, the road toward the Havens and escape. Except perhaps Galadriel, there were none who held a noble head in purpose and resolve against the Dark Lord at the beginning of the screenplay. It was all despair and defeat.
[edit] The Role of the Elves
A number of curious alterations exist in the screenplay pertaining to the role of the Elves in the war. The largest and most significant of these is the presence of an Elvish army at the Battle of Helm's Deep. No such force came to Helm's Deep in Tolkien's story, and what Elvish force did exist was required to repel an attack of Lothlorien by a small force from the ancient fastness of Dol Guldur.
To understand the significance of this difference, one must go back to the secret purpose of the Quest of Erebor. That quest, which is told in somewhat of a fanciful way in Tolkien's story The Hobbit, had been organized by Gandalf ostensibly to destroy the dragon, Smaug, and restore the kingdom of Dwarves at Erebor, the Lonely Mountain. There was, however, an underlying purpose to that event. Erebor lay in the far northern lands of Middle Earth on a path by which the armies of Sauron could bypass Gondor and penetrate deep into the West. By the overthrow of Smaug and the restoration of the Dwarf kingdom at Erebor, Sauron's northern march was checked. By the further resettling of the city of Dale by the men who had been displaced from Lake Town, Sauron's opportunity in that direction was further quashed. It is clear, from this, that Gandalf was already laying out his strategy for confronting Sauron, and it further puts the lie to the panic and despair that he had in the movie at the discovery of the Ruling Ring. Indeed, the Ring would represent to him a great hope to further, unexpectedly, his cause.
Aside from the northern route into the West, there was also a central path that might have been of some use to Sauron, but the Quest of Erebor eliminated it as well. Following the Battle of Five Armies that brought the Quest of Erebor to a successful completion, the Orcs of the Misty Mountains were substantially reduced in number, and the Beornings who lived between the mountains and Mirkwood Forest were greatly multiplied. It was the men of Beorn and the Elves of Lothlorien that prevented Sauron from exploiting an invasion of the west through the forest and over the mountains. His force at Dol Guldur was used in the war, but it was of insufficient strength to be of any credible threat. Its only purpose was to prevent possible northern allies from coming to the aid of Rohan and Gondor. In consequence of this force, the only credible Elvish army that then existed in Middle Earth was completely occupied in the defense of Lothlorien.
One other way in which the Elves resisted Sauron to great effect was by the power of the rings that they bore. When Sauron first took up the Ruling Ring and uttered the accursed incantation, he was unmasked to the Elves, and they immediately removed the rings that they wore and thus prevented him from bringing them under his dominion. When the Ruling Ring was lost, the Elves again took up their rings and used them to heal the hurts of the world and, eventually, to resist the dark power as it slowly regained its former strength. Although the power of the Elvish rings was tied to that of the One, they gladly would work toward its destruction and in so doing accept the loss of their own. Of the rings of the Elf-lords, Elrond stated at the Council, "They are not idle. But they were not made as weapons of war or conquest: that is not their power....But all that has been wrought by those who wield the Three will turn to their undoing, and their minds and hearts will become revealed to Sauron, if he regains the One. It would be better if the Three had never been. That is his purpose." The might of the Elves to resist Sauron by the power of the Three Rings was great when they were wielded in strength of purpose. In the screenplay, the only one of the Three that was revealed in any detail was Nenya, the Ring of Adamant, which was worn by Galadriel, but there was the idea put forward that even then she was under the threat of the dominion of the Eye of Sauron. The implication was that the power of the Three was not as great as it was in Tolkien's story.
[edit] Entmoot
Entmoot is a meeting of Ents. In both the story and screenplay, such a meeting occurred in a place in Fangorn Forest called Derndingle, but the circumstances and outcome of the meeting were very different between the two. In the book, the felling of the trees by the Orcs of Saruman had angered the Ents, and the coming of the hobbits, Merry and Pippin, had boiled them over. It was the news that they had brought to Treebeard that caused him to realize that the forest was in danger of destruction and that the Ents must take their part in the war. The Entmoot was called, and in it, Treebeard slowly laid out the situation to the other Ents. It was not that they had to be talked into war so much as they needed to rationally deliberate the provocations so as to justify doing so. The Ents living in the southern part of the forest that had been savagely felled by the Orcs had already spread the word of the attack, and one among them, Quickbeam, had decided in a haste uncharacteristic of Ents that war was necessary. The outcome of the Entmoot was that they decided to go to war against Saruman, and they began their march to Isengard.
In the movie, the story is much different and incongruous. The Ents were strangely unaware that Saruman's Orcs had been harvesting the forest, and so they remained in blissful ignorance of their danger. When Merry and Pippin came, their report of the events in the wider world brought about the Entmoot, but the outcome was totally different. The Ents, still ignorant of the felling of the trees, decided that the war was not their affair and that they would just stay out of it. Even though he had met with Gandalf, as in the book, Treebeard was still utterly ignorant of the events that were rapidly overtaking him. Despite the pleas of the hobbits, the Ents remained steadfast in their conviction that they were not a party to the war. After the Entmoot, Treebeard took his journey to the western border of his land to send the hobbits on their way home. During this journey, an idea came to Pippin, and he asked Treebeard to turn to the south. The result was to cause Treebeard to discover for the first time that the southern part of the forest had been decimated by the Orcs of Saruman. (As an aside, because Fangorn Forest was on the eastern side of the Misty Mountains, a journey to the west would have forced them to the south and right into the valley of Saruman anyway.) Pippin manipulated Treebeard into the discovery of the ravaged wood expecting him to be so angered by it as to declare war on the spot, and so it transpired that Treebeard did see the destruction and did proclaim war in the heat of passion. Calling for the other Ents, who were, mysteriously, in position to immediately step out of the wood, Treebeard took them to war. How they could be right there on the edge of the forest but remain ignorant of the depredations of the Orcs is never explained.
[edit] A Matter of Character
The differences between story and screenplay that are among the most difficult to accept are those that altered characters in some fundamental way—a truthful character is made to lie, a kind one into a brute, one who is sure and determined into doubtful and lost, or a wise and lordly into a mere lunatic. Rarely do such changes make evil more ambiguous. Usually, their purpose is to "humanize" brave and heroic characters, but all they manage to do for some is ruin especially favorite characters and scenes and taint the moviegoing experience. Many who had already come to love Tolkien's story were deeply disappointed by these changes, and for some, the movies were rendered worthless thereby.
[edit] Gandalf
Far from the self-possessed and calculating wizard of the story, Gandalf becomes, at one point, crazed and panic-stricken. Both his hopes are diminished and his fears magnified in ways that are not in keeping with his role as a wizard. Gandalf's appointed mission was to contest, mostly indirectly, the Dark Lord and somehow prevent his conquest of Middle-earth. The Valar had sent him and the other Istari to act as their emissaries in Middle-earth for this purpose, but only Gandalf had not, in some way, been corrupted. In the screenplay, the discovery of the Ruling Ring, far from giving him hope of final victory, brings on a terror that temporarily overmasters him. He almost goes mad in his fear.
Later, in the third movie, Gandalf is overcome by the Witch King. His staff is broken and he is saved from certain destruction by the horns of Rohan. In the story, however, Gandalf is set to challenge the Witch King at the gates of Gondor before Rohan arrives. There, he is strong and lordly prepared to confront the Ringwraith and overcome him. Gandalf was no man, so he needn't fear the echantment that lay upon his foe, and while there may have been some small doubt as to the outcome, what certainly would not have happened is that the Ringwraith would have simply thrown him down at the first blow. Moreover, it is very likely that Gandalf the White would have defeated him. The depiction in the screenplay of the Ringwraith just having his way is not credible. Even with the Witch King being an extension of Sauron, the fact that Sauron himself had been defeated centuries before by an Elf, Gil-galad, and a man, Elendil, makes it very unlikely that someone who was a Maia like him should have any trouble with a mere man however embued with the Dark Lord's power he might be. (Other writings of Tolkien suggest that Sauron must be weaker at this point in the story than when he was overthrown in battle long before, so there is no reason to suppose that Sauron's emissary could just walk over Gandalf.)
[edit] Elrond
One of the few remaining Noldorin lords in Middle-earth, Elrond, who is over 6,500 years old in the story, has despaired of all hope and has lost confidence in men. His attitude is one of capitulation, and his purpose therefore is simply to quit Middle-earth with as many of his people as possible. His opposition to the marriage between his daughter and Aragorn is taken to the extreme of deceit to prevent her from remaining in Middle-earth. It is only when he fears her outright death that he orders Narsil reforged and then delivers it to Aragorn in person. Throughout the screenplay, Elrond is deeply scornful of men. Isildur's fall was, to his mind, the fall of all men, and he lacks any confidence in any man or group of men to save the honor of that kindred.
In a sense, Elrond himself has fallen. His fears dominate him until near the end of the screenplay, and his possessiveness of Arwen leads him to perpetrate a deception upon her. Knowing of her intent to forsake the immortal life and wed Aragorn, he deceives her by willfully withholding crucial information from her while convincing her to break fealty and abandon her betrothed. It took the intervention of the Valar to prevent the success of his deceit. In the end, he surrenders to the inevitable, but in this, too, his demeanor is one of capitulation.
[edit] Aragorn
A man presented by Tolkien as having a singular destiny for which he is prepared by Elrond and toward which he labours throughout his life, the movie version of Aragorn is, instead, man of doubts turned inward. His love for Arwen becomes a weight around his neck, almost literally because the jewel necklace she had given him. He is full of fears and self-doubt, and he is unwilling to embrace the destiny that had been pronounced over him at birth. He is named Estel, that is 'hope', by the Elves, but he is far from being the hope that they are expecting. The reluctant savior might play well in a movie, but it was not the character that Tolkien had written.
Thankfully, and somewhat surprisingly, Aragorn does stay true to Arwen even as she is in the process of forsaking Middle-earth and her oath to him. Aragorn had previously suggested to Arwen that she take advantage of her chance for a better life in the Undying Lands, and he later tells Galadriel that he would have her take the ship to Valinor, which is possibly a reflection of the doubt he suffers in the movie. In the story, Aragorn's destiny drives him as much as his love for Arwen, but in the movie, it seems that he would have Arwen without the kingship if he could.
Aragorn is portrayed as alone in the world without kith or kin, but in the story, he has dozens of kindred, at least, among the Dúnedain and the sons of Elrond were his especially close friends. (Note: Elladan and Elrohir, the sons of Elrond, do not appear in the movie.) In the screenplay, Aragorn takes the Paths of the Dead with only Legolas and Gimli, but in the story they are joined by thirty others including the sons of Elrond and one other named man, Halbarad.
When Aragorn challenges Sauron with the Palantír, far from wresting it to his will as he did in the story, he falls under Sauron's control and is overmastered by him. The jewel of Arwen is destroyed, which signifies the loss of her immortal life, and he is thrown back a defeated man. In the story, his use of the Palantír to reveal himself to Sauron is a brilliant stroke that accomplishes Aragorn's purpose. (Sauron is terrified by the sight of the blade that had once defeated him, and his doubts and fears cause him to miscalculate his preparedness for war and launch his offensives prematurely.) Unlike in the movies, Aragorn never despairs even when his doubts and fears are at their height.
[edit] Frodo
Frodo, who resisted the power of the Ring much longer than most others could, was depicted as succumbing to it much more rapidly and was almost completely overmastered by the time he had reached Ithilien. Of his interrogation by Faramir in the story he could say, "I have told you no lies, and of the truth all I could," while in the screenplay, he told a bald and brazen lie about "the gangrel creature" that had been seem with him. Even under the strongest influence of the Ring, Frodo never lied in the story.
While it is true that Frodo is eventually so overcome by the power of the Ring that Sam must drive, and eventually carry, him on the Quest, the screenplay causes the loss of his will much more quickly and thoroughly. By the time they reach the top of The Stairs of Cirith Ungol, his wits are so completely scrambled that he does the unthinkable and forsakes Sam on the Quest. This is one of the most unacceptable plot changes to Tolkien fans because the friendship between Frodo and Sam is the solid road on which the Quest is driven. At no time does Frodo turn on Sam in this way in the book.
(More on Frodo...)
[edit] Sam
Tolkien regarded Sam to be the "chief hero" of the story, and his role was a key one in driving the Quest to completion. The screenplay, however, has Sam actually abandoning his master at a moment of highest danger—a moment where, in the book, came the most tender and prosaic scene of the story in which Smeagol was very nearly reformed. The idea that Sam could turn back from the Quest even if so ordered by Frodo is preposterous. There is no doubt that Sam's love for Frodo would have held him on the road even if he had to follow at a distance. He did not have to do so, however, because Frodo and Sam entered the tunnel of Shelob together in the book, and they fought the terror of Cirith Ungol together—until, of course, Frodo was overcome. Aside from this, Sam was depicted so faithfully that one wonders why the screenwriters felt the need to deviate so drastically at this crucial moment of the story.
[edit] Faramir
Faramir is a widely loved character in Tolkien's story and the favorite of millions. This is due to his wisdom and purity of heart that makes him a great leader and an excellent judge of difficult matters. Despite his love for his brother Boromir, he is his exact opposite. The Ring had no purchase on him, and he understood that it must not come near the White City. He and his men treated Frodo and Sam with courtesy and honor, and even Gollum, when he was captured, received only kindness.
Like so many other characters, Faramir was twisted out of recognition by the screenplay. He lacked the wisdom that held back his hand from taking the Ring and the foresight that it must not come near his city. Faramir was turned into a virtual carbon copy of Boromir, but what the screenwriters failed to realize is that the allure of the Ring was directly proportionate to the degree a character's personality possessed a will to dominate others. Boromir possessed this trait very strongly and was, hence, overcome by the Ring even though he had never touched it—depictions in the movies that he had held it notwithstanding. Faramir, like Frodo, had no such desire, and so the Ring could not overcome him without long possession. Indeed, Faramir was one of the few men to whom it was totally safe for Frodo and Sam to reveal their Quest and thereby receive aid and counsel.
The fact that Faramir and his men brutalized Gollum is, to many, an unforgivable departure from the story. Its only result was to debase Faramir and reduce him into little more than a bully. This is somewhat incongruous to the man that we see in the scenes with his brother. While Faramir's taking the Ring to Osgiliath may be explained by the desire of the screenwriters to have Faramir "grow" in his understanding, as well as create suspense, there is no explanation given for the brutality that he exhibits.
Faramir's dependence on the opinion of his father is also overstated. (More here...)
[edit] Denethor
Instead of Tolkien's wise and mighty Lord of Men who had simply been overwhelmed by the lies of Sauron, Denethor is turned into an imbecile and madman. In him, nobility is reduced to premature and artificial senility. (More here...)
[edit] Arwen Evenstar
For some strange reason, the fate of Arwen is tied to the Ring as if its survival, and that of Sauron's, would precipitate her own death. Fears arose after the first movie that she was to be made into a warrior princess due to her replacement of the character Glorfindel, but then she fell in later movies into a weak and failing elf-maiden. While Tolkien's character was strong, bold, and independent—she was over 2,500 years old in his story—the screenplay made her over into a frail and dependent child who was easily manipulated by a selfish father. Aragorn's love for her was used by Sauron to strike a blow against him and prevent him from mastering the Palantir to his own will. (More here...)
Tolkien vs. Jackson
Differences Between Novel and Screenplay:
Major Differences Between Story and Screenplay Differences Between Book and Movie:
Peter Jackson's The Two Towers Peter Jackson's The Return of the King |
