Return of the King DVD

[James]

I got mine today. At Best Buy, it came with a free Entertainment Weekly collector's edition all about the trilogy, including interviews with almost every main and supporting character and major crew members, a round-about discussion of the making of the films with various cast members, summaries of the trilogy, including information on what is one each extended version (including RotK), an interview with the maker of the LotR animated movie, trivia/eggs from each film, details on what happens to characters after the trilogy, glossary definitions for various places, persons, and things from Middle Earth, and more.

Quite a bit for jusy 76 pages, but a very entertaining read.

And for those who care, here's some of what will be in the extended version of RotK, which will be 49 minutes longer and have 300 new FX shots;

SPOILERS YOU FUCKING RETARDS

- Gandalf confronts Saruman in the ruins of Isengard
- Aragorn treats Eowyn in the Houses of Healing after her fight with the Lord of the Nazgul
- Faramir's attraction to Eowyn begins when he sees her in the Houses of Healing
- Merry pledges fealty to King Theoden
- The Lord of the Nazgul faces off against Gandalf during the siege of Minas Tirith and breaks his staff
- Aragorn uses the palantir to reveal himself to Sauron as Isildur's heir before he goes to Mordor for the final battle
- The Mouth of Sauron taunts Aragorn and his troops at Mordor's Black Gate, showing them Frodo's mithril shirt

Mouth of Sauron. Fucking yes.

[Drev]

That's cool and all, but it sucks there's not Scouring of the Shire. :(

[James]

The stuff about what happens after the trilogy is sad. :(

[pjalne]

The stuff about everybody dying and magic going away?

[James]

Yes. :(

The part that got to me was Arwen lving and dying in Lorien alone. :(

[pjalne]

They tied that bit into the movie very well.

[Drev]

Do Hobbits become something? :(

[pjalne]

SPOILER

When Sam's family dies, he travels to meet Frodo and Gandalf again. He never does it in the movie, but in the book Sam puts on the ring, thus de-attaching himself from the new world. Pippin and Merry start up a business and are taken over by Starbucks.

[James]

You don't SEE it in the movie, but that doesn't mean he DOESN'T in the movie. They were pretty good in keeping that kind of logic throughout the films (with the exception of Saruman and the Shire, which was only shown as what would happen if Frodo failed), when they omitted things from the books.

Sam - Elected mayor of the Shire seven times and has several children. After Rosie dies, he goes over the sea as the "last of the Ring-bearers."

Merry - Made master of Buckland. He and Pippin return to Gondor in their old age and are laid to rest among the heroes of the realm.

Pippin - Marries, fathers a son named Faramir, who eventually weds Sam's daughter Goldilocks.

Aragorn - Weds Arwen, and later declares the Shire off-limits to men. More than 120 years after the defeat of Sauron, he dies.

Arwen - Has a son and daughter with Aragorn. After his death, she goes to the now-abandoned woods of Lórien to live, and eventually die, alone.

Éowyn - After returning to Rohan to bury King Théoden, she marries Faramir, now Steward of Gondor.

Éomer - Reigns over Rohan for 65 years, and remains Aragorn's good friend and ally.

Gimli - Explores the forests and caverns of Middle-earth with Legolas; brings fellow dwarves to help rebuild Minas Tirith.

Legolas - Dwells near Gondor until the passing of King Aragorn; takes Gimli with him over the sea to the Undying Lands.

See? Sad. Just one question though. What exactly is the Undying Lands, and why don't people like Aragorn, Arwen, Merry and Pippin go? :(

[ArrowX]

because they chose to stay

[pjalne]

You don't SEE it in the movie, but that doesn't mean he DOESN'T in the movie. They were pretty good in keeping that kind of logic throughout the films (with the exception of Saruman and the Shire, which was only shown as what would happen if Frodo failed), when they omitted things from the books.

I don't remember exactly how things went, but I don't think Sam ever had the chance to put the ring on in the movie. In the book, he took the ring off what he assumed was Frodo's dead body before the orcs carried him off, in the movie Frodo was covered in cobwebs that whole time. Sam did have the ring for a short time when he picked up Frodo's stuff in the prisoner tower, but I don't think he ever had the chance or need to put it on. But my memory is a bit foggy.

Gimli - Explores the forests and caverns of Middle-earth with Legolas

TV-spinoff.

See? Sad. Just one question though. What exactly is the Undying Lands, and why don't people like Aragorn, Arwen, Merry and Pippin go? :(

The Undying Lands is the Elven paradise kind of. The elves are immortal to begin with, so there is no 'eternal life' bonus to it, but I hear it's a really good place. Only elves go there, though some others were taken there because of the changes brought about by
the new age. Like whomever has worn the ring is permanently 'tainted' by it, and doesn't really belong to the world post-Sauron. I think. Willy knows this stuff better than I do.

Arwen doesn't go because it's much sadder if she doesn't. I bet there's a real reason, though. Galadriel never leaves Middle-Earth, and is still around somewhere on this plane.

[pjalne]

Double post

[timrpgland]

I still haven't seen Return of the King. Gotta buy it.

[executioneer]

What exactly is the Undying Lands

short, jerk answer: read the silmarillion >:

longer answer: The Undying Lands (or Valinor) is a paradise that was made for the elves by the Valar, the "gods" of Middle-Earth. Men were forbidden to set foot on its shores by said Valar, with unspecified horrible consequences. When one of the kings of Numenor, corrupted by Sauron's trickery, sailed an army to land on the shores of Valinor, the Valar sunk Numenor to the bottom of the sea, and "broke the straight path" so that nobody except the Elves could reach it.

-willie

[AChimp]

Didn't the elves have a civil war, and the ones that lost (Galadriel, et al) get kicked out of Valinor? At the end of LoTR, that exile has been repealed and the losing elves are allowed to return after a few millenia.

[Supafly345]

That about Saruman's organized crime syndacit in the shire to get back at Merry and Pippen?
And how Mary and Pippen become ambassadors at gondor that other place.

[thebiggameover]

LOTR is the new "goth"....
>:

[Supafly345]

Dumbass, LOTR is the new "flowery pussy hippie children"

[Snatchtastic]

;)