(links are at the bottom)
I have been told by my first college roommate that Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings isn’t the best fantasy novel, it was just essentially the first one (see my previous post about being first), and that there are many more better novels in the same genre. However, it’s the only real fantasy novel I’ve ever gotten into and I love his mythology. I first read the novels in high school, but the release of the Peter Jackson movies rekindled the spark for them.
I already made another post I did about fans complaining about changes made to source materials upon being adapted for the screen mentioned and why they occurred, but I wanted to do a nearly exhaustive list of the changes that were made.
Why changes happen
The first thing to consider is that the novel appeals to bookish teens and lovers of high fantasy, but that’s not a huge portion of the world. To adapt it into something that a wider audience might enjoy, a few things will have to be sacrificed, mainly a lot of the nitty-gritty details and some of the minor plot-points. Purists will cringe and scoff at this reasoning, but the question one has to ask is will they accept something that is 90-95% accurate to the source material in order to grow the audience exponentially, or will they accept nothing less than 100% accuracy and keep the fanbase small. I’m in the, “95% is good for a wider acceptance,” camp myself, and feel that Jackson’s movies fall well within that range. My problem with adaptations like Amazon's The Rangs of Power is that it’s only in the 45% accuracy range (meaning there’s a 55% non-Tolkien gap where modern politics and inept writing can be inserted), and that’s far too low to be acceptable (a similar argument can be made about Disney Star Wars and how much of it is “Lucas-esque”).
Plus, some things just work better on the page (like inner dialogue) and other things look better on film (like car chases). The cloaks given to the Fellowship were described in the book as being sort of halfway between camouflage and Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak, but since it would look a little silly on screen, the two times it mattered a workaround was used, like hiding behind a rock or making the cloak appear to be a rock. One twist that the movie has to give away that the book keeps until the end is the reveal of Eowyn’s involvement in the Pelennor battle.
Major Change Categories
Combining characters together
Arwen assumed Glorfindel’s role in rescuing Frodo, and Elrond fulfilled the role of his sons and the Dunedain rangers, for example. This cuts down the number of characters that “normies” have to learn so it’s easier to digest.
Simplifying the government structures and relationships
In the movie, Gondor is just the one city and not a whole nation with lesser rulers like the Prince of Dol Amroth, and the dead attacked the orcs in Gondor and not soldiers from the vassal towns that Aragorn called into service. It includes making some things a little more overt on the screen so that characters/relationships can be understood quickly by general audiences which relies less on inference. Examples include Saruman’s possession of Theoden, the Eye of Sauron being like a spotlight, and making Denethor more hopeless and uncaring toward Faramir.
Shortening the time frame and getting to the main story faster
The movies made it seem like there were a couple of weeks between Bilbo’s party and Frodo’s departure, when it was closer to 20 years in the book. Two major plots were also cut, as we go from the Party to Bree without the hobbit side quest involving Tom Bombadil, and we don’t see the Scouring of the Shire to get to the end credits more quickly. Side Note: Skipping the Scouring of the Shire and the Tom Bombadil chapters are the only changes I consider to be substantial, major changes. Almost everything else is pretty minor/tame.
Adding the love story between Aragorn and Arwen
While it was somewhat present in the appendices, putting it front and center helps bring in some of the wives/girlfriends who weren’t as enthusiastic about seeing the movie. It also throws in a little dramatic tension by having her leave for Valinor, then return, then fall ill. It’s sorta like the change that Marsha Lucas made by introducing the concept that the Death Star was attacking Yavin - it inspired Aragorn to rise to the challenge and accept his birthright.
Character Changes
Changing Faramir’s character to first be tempted by the Ring, and Aragorn running from his destiny at first. Also, Keeping characters like Arwen, Elrond, and Galadriel involved tangentially.
Pacing/timing
Ending the FotR where the book ends would be kind of a weird place, and it’s better to end on a high note/cliffhanger so some of the Two Towers material is present right at the end, or (sorta) moving the warg battle from before Moria to before Helm’s Deep. Some long, drawn-out conversations (like the Council of Elrond) can be broken up and take place during some downtime between action-heavy segments to keep the audience from becoming bored.
Adding some dramatic flair or humor
Examples include the Fellowship not being allowed into Lothlorien at first, Aragorn falling off the cliff, Sam being told to go home, and Sam falling down the cliff in front of the Black Gate. Humorous additions include not tossing dwarves, or Eowyn’s terrible cooking. The ghosts in the marshes dragging Frodo down and the avalanche of skulls in the halls of the dead were probably Jackson’s personality and history of horror films poking through.
The Domino Effect
Finally, some changes were made to account for other changes made - for instance, the whole episode involving the hobbits getting lost/kidnapped and saved by Tom Bombadil was cut for obvious reasons, but that’s where the hobbits find their swords that they’ll use for the rest of the book (and Merry’s turns out to be particularly important). So the writers had Aragorn just give the hobbits swords that he just happened to have been carrying around with him. Another example is because the Scouring of the Shire was removed, Saruman was killed while on his tower instead of the Shire, so it was necessary to have Legolas shoot Wormtongue with an arrow to replace the hobbit archers in the book.
Introduction
The Fellowship of the Ring: Book 1 Book 2
The Two Towers: Book 3 Book 4
The Return of the King: Book 5 Book 6
Overall Changes and Additions
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