The Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King
“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend.”
Isengard has fallen and the corrupt wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) no longer poses a threat. Rohan and the city of Edoras live to see another day after their victory at Helm’s Deep, but Gondor and the city of Minas Tirith are still in danger of imminent invasion by Sauron’s forces. Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) have made it to the edge of Mordor, but the final leg of their journey will undoubtedly be the toughest. Whilst the victories won in The Two Towers certainly give the opening to Return of the King some levity, the trials that lie ahead in the final days of the war for Middle Earth and the One Ring will certainly be the darkest and most difficult times any of our heroes have lived to see.
Return of the King opens with a short history on Gollum (Andy Serkis). How he came to find the One Ring and what it did to him over the several hundred years leading up to Bilbo (Ian Holm) taking the ring from him. It’s a pretty terrifying opening and perhaps the closest The Lord of the Rings films come to horror, and it’s handled expertly thanks to Peter Jackson’s history as a horror filmmaker. This is the most amount of time we will spend with Gollum over the course of the film though, as unlike Two Towers he’s not in it all that much. Whilst he certainly hangs around for much of Frodo & Sam’s storyline, we don’t actually get a lot of time with them over the course of the film either. There is not much more of their story left to tell, they are crossing into Mordor and their goal of Mount Doom is quite literally in sight. Jackson has remedied this by moving half of their story from The Two Towers novel over into Return of the King. Where the time we spent with them in Two Towers was spent getting to know Gollum and Faramir (David Wenham), in reality that was only half of their Two Towers journey. The Two Towers book ends with Gollum betraying Frodo and leaving him for dead with Shelob the giant spider. But the film Return of the King doesn’t get to that point until over halfway through its runtime. It’s a much better distribution of pacing and works excellently for the constant cutting back and forth between storylines that the film does, in comparison to the books only changing perspective at the midway point of each book.
Meanwhile Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Gandalf (Ian McKellen) arrive at Isengard to reunite with Merry (Dominic Monaghan) & Pippin (Billy Boyd). Saruman is killed by Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif) and Pippin retrieves the Palantir. When he touches it Sauron sees him and believes that he holds the One Ring, so Merry & Pippin are separated for their safety. Merry stays at Edoras with Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas to prepare for the coming battle at Minas Tirith. Meanwhile Pippin is taken to Minas Tirith and becomes the aid to Denethor (John Noble), Steward of Gondor, and father to Boromir (Sean Bean) & Faramir. Denethor is slowly losing his mind and his nerve against the looming forces of Mordor and so Pippin & Gandalf must work to prepare Minas Tirith for war and stop Denethor from sending Faramir to his death.
Isengard has fallen and the corrupt wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) no longer poses a threat. Rohan and the city of Edoras live to see another day after their victory at Helm’s Deep, but Gondor and the city of Minas Tirith are still in danger of imminent invasion by Sauron’s forces. Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) have made it to the edge of Mordor, but the final leg of their journey will undoubtedly be the toughest. Whilst the victories won in The Two Towers certainly give the opening to Return of the King some levity, the trials that lie ahead in the final days of the war for Middle Earth and the One Ring will certainly be the darkest and most difficult times any of our heroes have lived to see.
Return of the King opens with a short history on Gollum (Andy Serkis). How he came to find the One Ring and what it did to him over the several hundred years leading up to Bilbo (Ian Holm) taking the ring from him. It’s a pretty terrifying opening and perhaps the closest The Lord of the Rings films come to horror, and it’s handled expertly thanks to Peter Jackson’s history as a horror filmmaker. This is the most amount of time we will spend with Gollum over the course of the film though, as unlike Two Towers he’s not in it all that much. Whilst he certainly hangs around for much of Frodo & Sam’s storyline, we don’t actually get a lot of time with them over the course of the film either. There is not much more of their story left to tell, they are crossing into Mordor and their goal of Mount Doom is quite literally in sight. Jackson has remedied this by moving half of their story from The Two Towers novel over into Return of the King. Where the time we spent with them in Two Towers was spent getting to know Gollum and Faramir (David Wenham), in reality that was only half of their Two Towers journey. The Two Towers book ends with Gollum betraying Frodo and leaving him for dead with Shelob the giant spider. But the film Return of the King doesn’t get to that point until over halfway through its runtime. It’s a much better distribution of pacing and works excellently for the constant cutting back and forth between storylines that the film does, in comparison to the books only changing perspective at the midway point of each book.
Meanwhile Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Gandalf (Ian McKellen) arrive at Isengard to reunite with Merry (Dominic Monaghan) & Pippin (Billy Boyd). Saruman is killed by Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif) and Pippin retrieves the Palantir. When he touches it Sauron sees him and believes that he holds the One Ring, so Merry & Pippin are separated for their safety. Merry stays at Edoras with Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas to prepare for the coming battle at Minas Tirith. Meanwhile Pippin is taken to Minas Tirith and becomes the aid to Denethor (John Noble), Steward of Gondor, and father to Boromir (Sean Bean) & Faramir. Denethor is slowly losing his mind and his nerve against the looming forces of Mordor and so Pippin & Gandalf must work to prepare Minas Tirith for war and stop Denethor from sending Faramir to his death.
The story doesn’t sound quite as complex as The Two Towers and that’s mostly because it isn’t. Where Two Towers concerned itself on the affairs of various Middle Earth races and the political interplay between them. Return of the King instead opts to narrow its focus down to the immanent climactic battle that will take place, with much of the runtime dedicated to the preparation of the battle and then the battle itself. In fact, despite the films 4 hour 11 minute runtime, the ‘ending’ as such comes in at around the 3 hour mark. The final hour or so of the film acts as an epilogue to tie up all the loose story threads. To show what happens to the characters after the war is over. This is often made fun of regarding the fact that the film seems to have numerous endings that go on forever, but I feel that these epilogues give great closure to almost all of the characters we have grown attached to over the course of the films. Considering Tolkien viewed The Lord of the Rings as a single book, and not the trilogy that was published (all due to post-war printing costs, it was simply more cost effective to split the book into three parts), it’s not outlandish to consider Peter Jackson's film trilogy as a single film either. The way the films have been structured is suited to back to back viewing too, despite their enormous length. So instead of three films averaging roughly 4-hours in length, you could see it as a single 12-hour epic; In which case spending almost an hour wrapping everything up after Frodo completes his mission is certainly deserved and necessary. I argue it would have been an anti-climactic ending had the credits simply started to roll once the ring had been destroyed. Too many bonds were formed with these characters to simply assume they were all ok afterwards.
This ties into the quote I opened this review with, when Frodo and the other Hobbits return to the Shire they must return to life as they once knew it. Yet none of them can, not really. Frodo most of all struggles to return to normalcy after all the psychological trauma he went through because of the rings power. Seeing him struggle with this at the end of the film only drives home the realism the story strives to achieve, despite its fantasy setting. How often we hear stories of soldiers unable to return to civilian life after war, this is no different.
As the title of the film suggests we also see Aragorn take up the mantle of King of Gondor. Over the course of the trilogy we have seen him earn the respect of everyone around him, despite his questionable history as a Ranger of the North. Come the climactic battle he has not only inspired all of Rohan with his bravery and incredible leadership at Helm’s Deep, but now also convinced much of Gondor too that he is capable of being the king they need and take up his rightful place on the throne.
But it is Eowen (Miranda Otto) that I feel has the best ending of the non-Hobbit characters. Throughout Two Towers she is constantly trying to prove herself as a skilled combatant and more than just female nobility. In Return of the King she defies her uncle, King Theoden, rides out to war with the rest of the soldiers with Merry by her side, and not only proves her worth but also eliminates the Witch King of Angmar, one of the Nazgul that is hunting down the ring. She survives the battle and overcomes her feelings towards Aragorn and instead finds companionship with Faramir. Cementing the new alliance between the two realms of men.
But it is Sam I feel has the best ending overall. Upon returning to the Shire he now has the courage to approach Rosie (Sarah McLeod), the woman who kept him going through his darkest days with Frodo, and the two marry and have children together. He also becomes the keeper of Bilbo & Frodo’s stories titled ‘There and Back Again’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ respectively. It fits Sam’s character perfectly, the Hobbit who was always so enamoured by the stories of adventure, now the chronicler of the Shire’s most adventurous Hobbit’s, as well as his own tales of courage and tenacity.
This ties into the quote I opened this review with, when Frodo and the other Hobbits return to the Shire they must return to life as they once knew it. Yet none of them can, not really. Frodo most of all struggles to return to normalcy after all the psychological trauma he went through because of the rings power. Seeing him struggle with this at the end of the film only drives home the realism the story strives to achieve, despite its fantasy setting. How often we hear stories of soldiers unable to return to civilian life after war, this is no different.
As the title of the film suggests we also see Aragorn take up the mantle of King of Gondor. Over the course of the trilogy we have seen him earn the respect of everyone around him, despite his questionable history as a Ranger of the North. Come the climactic battle he has not only inspired all of Rohan with his bravery and incredible leadership at Helm’s Deep, but now also convinced much of Gondor too that he is capable of being the king they need and take up his rightful place on the throne.
But it is Eowen (Miranda Otto) that I feel has the best ending of the non-Hobbit characters. Throughout Two Towers she is constantly trying to prove herself as a skilled combatant and more than just female nobility. In Return of the King she defies her uncle, King Theoden, rides out to war with the rest of the soldiers with Merry by her side, and not only proves her worth but also eliminates the Witch King of Angmar, one of the Nazgul that is hunting down the ring. She survives the battle and overcomes her feelings towards Aragorn and instead finds companionship with Faramir. Cementing the new alliance between the two realms of men.
But it is Sam I feel has the best ending overall. Upon returning to the Shire he now has the courage to approach Rosie (Sarah McLeod), the woman who kept him going through his darkest days with Frodo, and the two marry and have children together. He also becomes the keeper of Bilbo & Frodo’s stories titled ‘There and Back Again’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ respectively. It fits Sam’s character perfectly, the Hobbit who was always so enamoured by the stories of adventure, now the chronicler of the Shire’s most adventurous Hobbit’s, as well as his own tales of courage and tenacity.
Before I move on from the story I want to talk about Saruman's death because depending on which version of the film you watch, and how familiar with the book you are, you'll notice significant differences. In the book Saruman does not die until the very end where he has managed to invade the Shire and transform it into an industrial wasteland. He is still killed by Wormtongue, but the context is significantly different because he survived the battle of Isengard. In the theatrical cut of the film we are given no conclusion to Saruman's story. Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas arrive at Isengard and though Saruman is spoken of, it implies he was killed during the flood the Ent's cause. But when you watch the extended versions of the film its shown that Wormtongue stabs him atop Isengard's tower where he then falls to his death. It's simply one example of how Jackson changed the films drastically from the novel, but also how the extended cuts are vastly different from the theatrical versions. In the book Saruman becomes something of the central antagonist because Sauron has no physical form, but in the film Saruman is little more than a puppet in Sauron's plan.
Ah yes, one final major change from the book to the film, Sauron. Sauron has no physical form at any point during the story and is little more than an evil that is heard of but never felt the direct presence of. When Frodo destroys the ring it causes Mount Doom to destroy Mordor, so it is assumed that because the One Ring and Mordor is gone then so is Sauron. But in the film Sauron is given a physical form in that of the Eye that sits atop the tower in Mordor. The eye that watches all and everyone fears it because it is a physical presence in their world. Sauron's Eye in the book is little more than a metaphor for his ability to gain information on what was happening throughout all of Middle Earth, mainly from his spies, but in the films it's a physical thing that literally overlooks Mordor. When Frodo throws the ring into Mount Doom in the film, a shockwave destroys the tower the Eye rests upon and so ends the reign of Sauron...along with the destruction of Mordor by way of Mount Doom. It's a significantly different ending but one that ultimately reaches the same goal. Personally I prefer the films handling of affairs regarding Saruman because it always felt strange to me that Saruman was the final evil to vanquish in the book. Sauron though I much preferred the mysticism behind him in the book as opposed to the extremely fantastical representation of him in the film. Whilst Jackson's Eye atop a tower provided some great imagery, it always felt a little out of place considering how grounded the rest of the Lord of the Rings is despite being fantasy based.
Something I have not touched on in my Lord of the Rings reviews yet, but intentionally left until now, is the score. Howard Shore composed the score for all three Lord of the Rings films and I would be lying if I didn’t say that they are perhaps the greatest film scores ever composed (in fact I feel anyone who says anything other than that should be considered some kind of heretic). I left it until now to say because Return of the King has the broadest range of styles provided in the soundtrack. It contains some of the more joyful themes such as ‘The Grey Havens’, as well as some of the more insidious themes like ‘Shelob’s Lair’, and some epic battle themes like ‘The Fields of the Pelennor’. Whilst all three films have incredible soundtracks, I feel it is Return of the King’s that edges ahead slightly in comparison to the other two. It's all music I would happily listen to outside of the film, but is completely indicative of the films themselves. They are all grand orchestral masterpieces that simply deserve to be respected as some of the greatest film scores ever created.
Ah yes, one final major change from the book to the film, Sauron. Sauron has no physical form at any point during the story and is little more than an evil that is heard of but never felt the direct presence of. When Frodo destroys the ring it causes Mount Doom to destroy Mordor, so it is assumed that because the One Ring and Mordor is gone then so is Sauron. But in the film Sauron is given a physical form in that of the Eye that sits atop the tower in Mordor. The eye that watches all and everyone fears it because it is a physical presence in their world. Sauron's Eye in the book is little more than a metaphor for his ability to gain information on what was happening throughout all of Middle Earth, mainly from his spies, but in the films it's a physical thing that literally overlooks Mordor. When Frodo throws the ring into Mount Doom in the film, a shockwave destroys the tower the Eye rests upon and so ends the reign of Sauron...along with the destruction of Mordor by way of Mount Doom. It's a significantly different ending but one that ultimately reaches the same goal. Personally I prefer the films handling of affairs regarding Saruman because it always felt strange to me that Saruman was the final evil to vanquish in the book. Sauron though I much preferred the mysticism behind him in the book as opposed to the extremely fantastical representation of him in the film. Whilst Jackson's Eye atop a tower provided some great imagery, it always felt a little out of place considering how grounded the rest of the Lord of the Rings is despite being fantasy based.
Something I have not touched on in my Lord of the Rings reviews yet, but intentionally left until now, is the score. Howard Shore composed the score for all three Lord of the Rings films and I would be lying if I didn’t say that they are perhaps the greatest film scores ever composed (in fact I feel anyone who says anything other than that should be considered some kind of heretic). I left it until now to say because Return of the King has the broadest range of styles provided in the soundtrack. It contains some of the more joyful themes such as ‘The Grey Havens’, as well as some of the more insidious themes like ‘Shelob’s Lair’, and some epic battle themes like ‘The Fields of the Pelennor’. Whilst all three films have incredible soundtracks, I feel it is Return of the King’s that edges ahead slightly in comparison to the other two. It's all music I would happily listen to outside of the film, but is completely indicative of the films themselves. They are all grand orchestral masterpieces that simply deserve to be respected as some of the greatest film scores ever created.
If there’s one thing I don’t feel that Return of the King does very well, it’s Denethor. As I mentioned previously, Denethor is wrought with a darkened world view as he sees it as the end times. His son Boromir is dead, his city is about to be attacked by a seemingly insurmountable force, and he sends his only remaining son Faramir to his death out of spite. In the film Denethor is portrayed as little more than a villainous and selfish man whose own ego and denial to accept help from anyone over fear of losing his position of power is enough to ensure his city and people will die at Sauron’s hand. However in reality Denethor in the book is given much more depth, the man is so defeated at this point that he sees no point in fighting back against the forces of darkness and instead sees the death they bring as a blessing to escape the hell these forces will inevitably wreak on Middle Earth.
It’s one of the few times where Peter Jackson didn’t put in the same level of detail as Tolkien (even if the detail in the films often comes from other sources of Tolkien’s Middle Earth novels). It’s a peculiar choice too as it simply doesn’t make sense as to why Denethor acts like such an asshole in the film, whereas had it been tackled from the angle of losing all hope and giving up as it is done so deftly in the book then I feel his character would have been much more enjoyable to spend time with on screen. He simply feels villainous without a motive.
Overall though I feel that Return of the King is the best of The Lord of the Rings films. Believe me when I say it’s like choosing a favourite child, whilst I will say that Two Towers is my personal weakest and RotK is my personal favourite, I still see the trilogy as one film. One incredible film at that.
I first watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was around 8 or 9 years old. Return of the King had not been long released on home video when my dad and I went to a market in the town I grew up in. There was a stall there selling VHS tapes and they had all three LotR films. We picked them up and I watched them all over the course of a week or so. I have to say I didn’t really understand them much at that age, the language used was too complex for me to be able to follow well enough. But I watched them regularly, I just adored how the films were put together and I loved the characters.
A few years later I found the Extended Edition boxset on DVD and picked that up, now being able to experience so much more of the story. I only watched them a couple of times before I then started collecting Blu-Rays and of course one of my earliest purchases was the Extended Trilogy boxset, with even longer cuts than the DVD versions had. I tend to rewatch them most years and every time I watch them, I forget about all the information I know about their creation and get sucked into this incredible fantasy world. That’s probably the reason I love them so much, that they never lose the magic. I had the opportunity recently to see them all in the cinema for the first time, extended editions too! It was a truly incredible experience that I thought I would never get to experience.
As I’ve stated before I cannot recommend these films enough and I highly recommend watching the extended versions. Yes, the length can be daunting but believe me when I say it’s worth it a thousand times over. But do yourself a favour and forget that The Hobbit films ever existed, the Middle Earth series ended in 2003 with Return of the King.
It’s one of the few times where Peter Jackson didn’t put in the same level of detail as Tolkien (even if the detail in the films often comes from other sources of Tolkien’s Middle Earth novels). It’s a peculiar choice too as it simply doesn’t make sense as to why Denethor acts like such an asshole in the film, whereas had it been tackled from the angle of losing all hope and giving up as it is done so deftly in the book then I feel his character would have been much more enjoyable to spend time with on screen. He simply feels villainous without a motive.
Overall though I feel that Return of the King is the best of The Lord of the Rings films. Believe me when I say it’s like choosing a favourite child, whilst I will say that Two Towers is my personal weakest and RotK is my personal favourite, I still see the trilogy as one film. One incredible film at that.
I first watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was around 8 or 9 years old. Return of the King had not been long released on home video when my dad and I went to a market in the town I grew up in. There was a stall there selling VHS tapes and they had all three LotR films. We picked them up and I watched them all over the course of a week or so. I have to say I didn’t really understand them much at that age, the language used was too complex for me to be able to follow well enough. But I watched them regularly, I just adored how the films were put together and I loved the characters.
A few years later I found the Extended Edition boxset on DVD and picked that up, now being able to experience so much more of the story. I only watched them a couple of times before I then started collecting Blu-Rays and of course one of my earliest purchases was the Extended Trilogy boxset, with even longer cuts than the DVD versions had. I tend to rewatch them most years and every time I watch them, I forget about all the information I know about their creation and get sucked into this incredible fantasy world. That’s probably the reason I love them so much, that they never lose the magic. I had the opportunity recently to see them all in the cinema for the first time, extended editions too! It was a truly incredible experience that I thought I would never get to experience.
As I’ve stated before I cannot recommend these films enough and I highly recommend watching the extended versions. Yes, the length can be daunting but believe me when I say it’s worth it a thousand times over. But do yourself a favour and forget that The Hobbit films ever existed, the Middle Earth series ended in 2003 with Return of the King.