The Lord of the Rings: Books vs. Films

I first read, and fell in love with, the Lord of the Rings trilogy in middle/high school (~20 years ago . . . wow, now I feel old).  About 10 years ago, I immensely enjoyed the films as well.  Recently, I re-read the books and then immediately watched the corresponding films (extended editions, of course) to do a comparison while both were fresh in my mind.  This post is a high-level comparison; as I've posted several times, a nit-picky compare-and-contrast is here.

Notable Differences Between the Books and the Movies

- Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Wights was omitted from the movie (The Fellowship of the Ring)
- The Scouring of the Shire was omitted from the movie (The Return of the King)
- Sam and Frodo's journey through Mordor is vastly condensed in the movies (The Return of the King)
- Arwen's character is hardly mentioned in the books; in the movies, she's a semi-major player throughout, and several minor plot points from the books were modified to include her
- In The Return of the King book, the ring is destroyed about 75% of the way through, the remaining tale being dedicated to cleaning up some things, and dealing with the Scouring of the Shire.  In the movie, the post-ring destruction story is much shorter.
- Shelob's lair is featured in the Two Towers book, but moved to The Return of the King movie
- Saruman is killed at the beginning of the Return of the King movie; in the book, he dies at the end
- The Army of the Dead helps Aragorn kill pirates and commandeer their ships, but their role ends before Minas Tirith in the The Return of the King; in the movie, their role is necessary to win the day at Minas Tirith.
- In many cases lines directly quoted from the books are present in the movies, but who says them, and when, differs
- The movies compress the timelines of several events- like the time between Frodo receiving the ring and Gandalf figuring out what it is (17 years in the book . . . several months in the movie)

I've probably missed a few . . . but the first four above are perhaps the biggest divergences between the tellings.  You'll note that many of these are present in The Return of the King- the movie that (in my opinion) strayed farthest from the novel.

Other Thoughts on (either) Trilogy


I felt as though the films heightened things present in the book- be it tensions in relationships (between Frodo and Sam or Aragorn and Eowyn), goofiness of some characters (Merry and Pippin), size/length of the battles, etc.  If you think of the books as a beautiful photograph, I'd say the films were the same photograph with colors enhanced- things stand out more, and can be cool (when tastefully done), but are occasionally over the top.  Along the same lines, things are intensely "epic-fied" in the films.  Some things that received little fanfare in the books were amplified in the movies.  At times, it's super-cool.  At times, it's silly.  In the end, though, both the books and films are fantastic.  The differences present may enrage the passionate Lord of the Rings junkie, but overall I thought Peter Jackson did a superb job bringing Middle-Earth to life.  The scenes, the sets, the battles, the music- all is top-notch.

Were the Lord of the Rings published today, would it meet with the same success?  I pondered that several times as I read it through.  Today's popular fantasy is more wordy and epic, in a sense- Tolkien deals with epic concepts but doesn't dwell on them- opting instead to move the story along.  Kings of old, ruined cities, and lost civilizations are mentioned but not expounded upon.  I think George R.R. Martin, were this his tale, would tell it over 10 books (which would take him 40 years to write, and everyone would end up dead, as an aside).  Most modern fantasy writers, I'd argue, would be more along Martin's lines than Tolkien's . . . but sometimes the old ways are the best.

Final thought: do you think the movies will ever be re-made?  My intial response was "absolutely not," followed by a "well . . ."  I think, in 30 years, we will see another run of Lord of the Rings movies, another Harry Potter saga, etc . . . because that's what Hollywood does.  That said, though, it's hard to see them improving on the present offering.

Return of the King

With the The Return of the King book fresh in my mind, I re-watched the extended edition of the movie to compare the two.  I wasn't disappointed.

As previously stated (in this post), I don't think a movie has to follow a book dead on, but it should follow it in spirit.  And, like the first two movies The Return of the King movie strays from the book in letter- more so than the first two- but remains largely true to the spirit.  A nitpicky scene-by-scene difference analysis is here.

Bringing an epic storyline to a satisfactory conclusion can be quite difficult- there are many ends to tie up.  As a result, The Return of the King is the longest movie of the three, with the extended edition clocking in at over 4 hours.  It's an emotional roller-coaster, as the movie alternates between the physical exhaustion and mental toil of the Ringbearers as they progress towards Mount Doom with the battles in Gondor involving the rest of the fellowship.  The drama dial is turned up- perhaps too far up in some cases- for most of the film.  Everything is extremely epic.  The scenery is amazing, the effects superb; overall, this is a good film.

So, the fellowship ends, and ends well.  The bottom line: both the novel and the movie are fantastic.  If you loved the book, you'll probably love this, too.

Rating: A+

The Return of the King (JRR Tolkien)

Finishing the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King finds everyone finishing their respective quests- like you'd suspect.  Shockingly, a king returns, too.

Like the others, The Return of the King was originally split into two books (books 5 and 6)- and still is, in a sense.  Book 5 focuses on the "other half" of the original fellowship- Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, etc.- and their fight leading up to Minas Tirith. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli briefly leave the fellowship to obtain help from the dead- you read that correctly- and musters an army south of Minas Tirith, venturing to battle from that direction, while Theoden and the riders of Rohan charge down from the north.  While this is happening, you see Gandalf take Pippin to the white city itself, to prepare its defenses and deal with the crazed steward, Denethor.  Masses from Mordor engage in epic battle outside the town- can the good guys hold out?

Book 6 picks up Frodo and Sam's story- having left off shortly after they defeated Shelob in her lair in book 4.  The first half of book 6 is Frodo and Sam finally getting to, and venturing ever farther into, enemy territory- Mordor- and their struggles along the way.  They reach Mount Doom and actually destroy the ring halfway through this book (or, 75% of the way through the entire Return of the King), and the last part is the clean-up: re-uniting with old friends, setting everything right, crowning Aragorn as king of Gondor, etc.

As with The Two Towers, you don't have the interleaving that's commonly done among modern tales with multiple threads- you get a large chunk of one tale, then "rewind" to get a large chunk of the other.  That's a bit odd, but that (and the occasionally dryness) aside, this is another good read.  I was surprised that the ring was destroyed well before the end of the book, and that so much time was devoted to what happened after.  It's certainly doesn't follow the standard formula in that sense, but if you liked the first two offerings, you'll enjoy this conclusion.

Rating: A+

The Scottish Highlands

A Highlands "Hairy Coo"

I've been woefully remiss in recounting, at a high level, some of our travels as we enjoy life overseas.  Most recently, we took a trip "up north," to the Highlands.  What follows is a summary of our adventure, and recommendations for those who may one day trek up that way- and dare to do so with young children.

If you live in the UK, I'd argue that a trip to the Highlands of Scotland is a must.  If nothing else, it will make you better appreciate civilization.  This is because you'll find yourself driving mile after mile through absolutely nothing.  Utter desolation- beautiful, powerful desolation- that is the Scottish Highlands. So, how best to see it?

This was a "breadth" trip for us, meaning we wanted to cover a lot of ground.  There are two ways to approach this:
1) "base camp" in a town, and do day trips from it, returning to it each evening
2) stay in a different place each evening, tracing a large circle around the area of interest

We chose the former- we stayed 4 nights in Fort William, and 3 nights near Portree (Isle of Skye).  This allowed us to see a fair amount, and yet have some consistency for the sake of the children.  An added advantage was the flexibility it gave us- each day, we'd look at the weather, and plan to go the direction that looked the best.  Unfortunately, it also meant a lot of "out and backs"- lots of back tracking and extra time on the road.  More on that later.

The ground we covered in the Highlands (ignore the lettering- it's out of order)

The Drive Up- Day 1
Departing from near York, it took essentially all day to get up to Fort William, our first hub (300 miles away).  This is primarily because
1) we have two young children, so any time we stop it's a one hour minimum, and
2) the roads from Loch Lomond north haven't been improved since Roman times, are narrow in many places, and frequented by slow-moving trucks, so 30 miles an hour was typical

At dinner we arrived at Fort William.  It's a small town (but big for the Highlands), and a good "central" location in the southern highland region, and a haven for outdoor lovers.  From Fort William, we did the following:

Day 2
We stayed local to the Fort William area.  Within 15-45 minute drives are Glencoe (beautiful valley and mountainous region), the Glenfinnan Monument (celebrating Bonnie Prince Charlie) and Viaduct (as seen in Harry Potter films), and the highest mountain on the island- Ben Nevis.  Aonach Mor is a smaller mountain near Ben Nevis, and the only one with a cable car.  We took that so we could enjoy the scenery without having to carry two small and screaming children up Nevis itself.  We also enjoyed haggis, neeps & tatties at a local restaurant.

Aonach Mor

The view from the top of Aonach Mor

Haggis (Sheep innards), Neeps (Turnips) & Tatties (Potatoes)

Glencoe

Glencoe

Church between Glencoe and Fort William

Same Church, different angle

Glenfinnan Monument

Glenfinnan Viaduct- of Harry Potter film fame

The road through Glencoe- the main thoroughfare to the Highlands

Day 3
We headed south-west from Fort William.  Our goal was the Isle of Mull, to which we have ancestral connections.  Getting there was fun- we crossed the Loch near Fort William, then drove for about an hour, arriving at Lochaline, where we then took the Lochaline-Fishnish car ferry to Mull.  The drive from Fort William to Lochaline was amazing- perhaps my favorite scenery of the trip.

Once on Mull (we landed on the south-east coast of the island), we first saw Duart Castle- the ancestral seat of clan MacLean.  There we met the current clan chief, Lachlan MacLean, and toured the castle (and grounds).  We had a light lunch, then drove clockwise around the island- on almost exclusively one-lane roads (with frequent passing points).  It took forever, but what scenery!  Mull, to me, was a highlight of our trip.  Majestic mountains, forests, moors, lakes, waterfalls, cliffs, beaches, sheep . . . I felt like I was driving through several countries and ecosystems, all in an afternoon.  We ended up in Tobermory (north-east), had a great dinner, and drove to Craignure, where we took the ferry to Oban.  Oban looked to be a nice town, but it was past the kids' bed time, so we just drove through on our way home.  It was a great day, but a lot of time spent in the car. 

Duart Castle in the morning fog

Duart Castle

A typical one lane road on Mull

Mull

Getting stuck behind sheep on Mull

Mull's mid-north-west coast

A boat on Calgary beach, north Mull

Tobermory, north-east Mull

The auto ferry from Craignure (Mull) to Oban

Duart Castle from the auto ferry

Highland cattle, on the drive from Oban back to Fort William

Day 4
We headed north-east from Fort William.  Just outside of town, we stopped at the Commando Memorial, commemorating those who trained in the area during WWII.  My picture below doesn't do it justice- surrounded by beautiful scenery, it was fantastic.  We then drove on to Loch Ness, where we did what everyone does- looked at the Loch, tried to spot Nessie, couldn't find her, and kept going.  Urquhart Castle, on the Loch, was a nice ruin.  After that, it was on to Inverness, on the east coast of Britain.

Inverness is the largest  town in the Highlands- it's the closest you'll get to a city up that far north.  We enjoyed the shopping and dining, though there's not much else to do in the city proper.  Cawdor Castle is nearby, and well worth a visit, as is Clava Cairn- an ancient burial ground which predates Stonehenge. Culloden Battlefield is only minutes from the Cairn- regrettably, we ran out of time, so we just had to drive by on our way home.  Inverness is "only" 60 miles from Fort William, but on Highland roads, plan on at least two hours.

The Commando Memorial

View from the Memorial

Urquhart Castle, looking south, on Loch Ness

Urquhart, looking north-east

Cawdor Castle

Cawdor Castle

Clava Cairn

Clava Cairn

Day 5
Our time in Fort William was done- it was time to drive up to the Isle of Skye.  On the very scenic drive up, about 100 miles away, is the romantic and photogenic Eilean Donan Castle.  After that, we took the Skye Bridge on to the Isle of Skye, then drove another 45 minutes to Portree, the largest town on the island- our next hub.

Scenery on the drive from Fort William to Eilean Donan

Eilean Donan Castle

Eilean Donan again

Looking at the Isle of Skye- note the Skye bridge (background, right)

"Hairy coos" on Skye

The view from our B&B outside of Portree

Day 6
Our first full day on Skye, and I was shocked.  The Isle of Skye is, well, so brown in places compared to Britain that I thought I was in Colorado.  We first went northwest, to see Dunvegan Castle.  We wanted to do a boat trip to see a seal colony, but they were booked a few hours out, so instead we drove to nearby Coral beach (a mile walk from the parking lot).  We returned to the Dunvegan Castle cafe for lunch.  The afternoon we spent circumnavigating the Trotternish Peninsula- the huge peninsula on the north-east corner of the island.  We made frequent stops to take in the more spectacular scenery- the Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock, and numerous waterfalls.  We looped back to Portree in the evening, had a nice meal, and turned in.

Dunvegan Castle

Dunvegan

Coral Beach

The Old Man of Storr is visible in the background

Kilt Rock (background)

Portree Harbor

Day 7
In the morning, we re-traced our steps a bit on the Trotternish Peninsula, seeing this castle tower whose name escapes me, and Fairy Glen.  We then headed into Portree for a wildlife boat ride, which regrettably was canceled due to rough seas.  Thus, it was a laid-back day- but one we desperately needed, as we'd spend the next two days on the road.

Castle Tower on Skye

Fairy Glen

Day 8
We left bright and early- our destination was Stirling, about 220 miles away.  On the way, we stopped again at Eilean Donan Castle, just because it's so pretty (and we needed a bathroom break).  We then retraced our route to Fort William, had lunch, then went on to Stirling, where we saw more beautiful scenery and inadequate roads.  We swung by Doune Castle (seeing the exterior only), which featured in a Monty Python movie, and then arrived in Stirling, where we toured the magnificent Stirling Castle.  Afterwards, we had a fantastic dinner in Stirling, a beautiful little town, and spent the night.

Eilean Donan again

Bagpiper at Eilean Donan

Doune Castle

Stirling Castle

Memorial outside Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle

Day 9
We had enjoyed our holiday, but were anxious to return.  About 240 miles away from home, we had mercifully left the back roads behind us, and it was highway from here on out.  We made it 120 miles and stopped at Alnwick Castle- also in the Harry Potter films.  After a tour and lunch, we then headed home.

Alnwick Castle

Alnwick interior

From across the river

Final Thoughts
All told, we had driven over 1500 miles in 9 days.  That's an awful lot of time to be in the car, especially with two little ones.  The Highlands is where you go for nature, so if you want shopping, museums, or nightlife, it's not for you.  It's tough entertaining little kids on a trip like this- and there's a lot of things you won't be able to do with them in tow (like hiking/etc).  But, overall, we enjoyed ourselves.

In hindsight, I'm not sure our "base camp" approach was right for this trip.  It certainly gave us flexibility, but the amount of backtracking we did each day to return to camp was extensive- we probably spent an extra 300 miles, and 10 hours, on the road as a result.  If we did it again, we'd probably spend a night or two in Oban, seeing the southwest Highland sites (and stay on Mull for a night), drive up to Skye, stopping at Fort William sites and Eilean Donan on the way, spend a two nights in Skye, drive to Inverness, spend a night or two there, then go to Stirling for a final night before heading home.  Basically, I'd tackle it clockwise.  That approach would require more car loading/re-loading, and make your trip less flexible to deal with the weather, but I think it would be worth it overall.

Area Rating: A