Eomer and Aragorn stood together on the deeping wall.
They heard the roar of voices and the thudding of the rams;
And then in a sudden flash of light they beheld the peril of
The gates. ‘Come’ said Aragorn ‘ This is the hour when we draw
swords together!’ (Tolkien, 164).
In other parts of the movie Jackson has added scenes including the creation of Thoeden’s son, Théodred. Peter Jackson then shows in two new scenes Théodred’s death and his being mourned by Eowyn and then later his father, the King. These scenes are unnecessary to the progression of the story line especially since Jackson cut out the last few chapters of books three and four that are important to maintain the storyline. The banishment of Eomer and his men is also a new scene, which helps Jackson to show that Grima Wormtounge longs for Eowyn and that is the reason for his betrayal to his own people:
“Warmongering? How long has it been since Saruman bought you? What was the promised price, Grima? When all the men are dead you would take a share of the treasure? Too long have you watched my sister, too long have you haunted her steps” (Jackson).
This is a good addition to the story as it helps the understanding of Wormtounges character a little better. Other changes between Jackson’s movie and the text include a new battle scene that concerns the wolves of Isengard and the scene of Aragorn falling off a cliff. He is then to be rescued by Arwen, who is also a new character addition that is not in the, The Two Towers text. The book is different from the movie in that in the Jackson movie changes are made to scenes to build suspense. For example, in the situation concerning the Ents in Fangorn forest, it becomes Merry and Pippin who resort to using trickery to sway Treebeard and the Ents to go to war with Isengard.
The characterization of major figures within the story is approached by many different methods by the directors and by Tolkien. Faramir is a contrasting character to that of his brother, Boromir. This is proven in the text as Boromir is unable to resist the power of the Ring, “ ‘I tried to take the Ring from Frodo’ He said ‘I am sorry. I have paid’ ”. (Tolkien, 6). But Faramir is stronger than Boromir and resists the temptation that the Ring possesses:
“Even if I were such a man as to desire this
thing, and even though I knew not clearly what this thing
was when I spoke, still I should take those words as a vow,
and be held by them”. (Tolkien, 358).
Realizing that the best thing is for the Ring to be destroyed Faramir helps Frodo and Sam on their journey by giving them food and gifts. Unlike the scene from the book both Jackson and Bakshi view the importance of Farmir in different ways and have different ideas as to the character of Faramir and his role in the story. In the animated film Faramir is not even mentioned at all. This is an interesting approach by Bakshi since Faramir is in many of the major scenes in the third book The Return of the King, written by Tolkien. This is unlike Jackson’s in that in his dramatization he tries to develop the character of Faramir into a more in depth and realistic figure. He might be doing this in order to have Faramir’s transformation and comparison to Boromir more noticeable. In Jackson’s movie once Faramir learns that the Ring is within his grasp, he takes advantage of the situation unlike his character in the text. In the Jackson movie, Faramir does not even try to resist the evil power and draw of the ring. He takes Frodo and Sam to Osgiliath in new added scenes but eventually lets them go once he realizes that he has been subjected to the desire, draw and power of the ring. He realizes this as he listens to a moving speech by Sam:
Sam: I think Mr. Frodo, I understand. Folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto Sam?
Sam: That there’s some good in this world. And it’s worth fighting for.”
( Jackson ).
In The Two Towers, the character of Aragorn is slowly being developed. Through the book, Aragorn is shown as gradually turning into a king. Comparatively, in the movie by Jackson, Aragorn is already shown as being a man worthy of becoming a king and it is Aragorn who takes charge and helps Gandalf try to convince King Theoden to fight. There is a quote by Theoden that says, “When last I looked, Theoden was king not Aragorn” ( Jackson ).
This excerpt from the movie helps to show how the character of Aragorn as depicted by the director Peter Jackson already has leadership qualities and the natural ability to command a group of people. This is different from the slower more detailed journey that his character takes in the book. Tolkien uses his skill as a writer to help lead the readers through a discovery of Aragorn, while the character himself understands his own true purpose. A reference to Aragorn’s real heritage is shown in quotes from the book:
He [Aragorn]
seemed to have grown in stature while Eomer had shrunk;
and in his living face they caught a brief vision of the power
and majesty of the kings of stone. For a moment it seemed
to the eyes of Legolas that a white flame flickered on the
brows of Aragorn like a shining crown. (Tolkien, 32).
Also another reference from the text that tells of Aragorn’s stature and how others in middle earth saw Aragorn was:
“So great a power and royalty was revealed in Aragorn, as
he stood there alone above the ruined gates before the host of his enemies, that many of the wild men paused, and looked
back over their shoulders to the valley, and some looked up doubtfully at the sky.” (Tolkien, 173).
The characters of Sam and Frodo are vital to the telling of the story in order to understand the full importance of the Ring itself and the journey that it will take to destroy it. Gollum, in the book of Two Towers, plays a critical role in Sam and Frodo’s journey and because of his own personality shifts, it makes him an interesting character that transforms throughout the story.
“At the word hungry a greenish light was kindled in Gollum’s
pale eyes, and they seemed to protrude further than ever
from his thin sickly face. For a moment he relapsed into his
old Gollum manner ‘ we are famished, yes famished we
are precious,’ he said ‘ What is it they eats? Have they nice
fisshes? ‘ His tongue lolled out between his sharp yellow teeth, licking his colourless lips. (Tolkien, 280).
When Sam and Frodo first encounter Gollum in Ralph Bakshi’s version they attack him. Pleading with them to not hurt him and to take off the rope, Gollum swears by the Precious. This scene of the promise does not change in any of the accounts but the dialogue of Gollum is kept to a minimum. Bakshi does allow Gollum’s character to provide some of the only scenes of comic relief. This is done when Sam still does not trust Gollum:
Sam: “Where were you sneaking around too?”
Gollum: “Sneaking, Sneaking after I did all this for you and you accuse me of sneaking”
Sam: I’m sorry, but you startled me
Frodo wakes up “Hello Smeagol, where have you been”
“sneaking!” replies a pouting Gollum ( Bakshi).
In Jackson’s movie one of the dialogues between Gollum and his other personality Smeagol is split up into three parts thus making the effect of his characters struggle more frightening. Gollum is first trying to tell Smeagol to kill the Hobbits but Smeagol become the dominant personality in this exchange. Then Smeagol feels betrayed after the encounter with Faramir so the personality of Gollum is shown convincing Smeagol that the master is bad. Soon Gollum, the dominant personality wins out over the weaker Smeagol and makes a reference to getting the Precious by nasty means. Gollum is depicted in all four stories, The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, as being viewed as something evil and should be disposed of but those that encountered him have not been able to:
What a pity Bilbo did not stab the vile creature, when he had
a chance!
Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not
to strike without need.
I do not pity Gollum. He deserves death.
Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve
death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give that to
them? Then be not to eager to deal out death in the name of
justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all
ends.” (Tolkien, 271).
Gollum, through out the stories transforms himself into the mild mannered character of Smeagol. This is a brief glimpse into the thing he once was but eventually too much evil has corrupted him and he reverts back to his old self. This characterization remains consistent through the text and both movies.
The ability of modern technology has helped to make the internal struggle with Gollum one of the most amazing collaborations of animation, special effect and the actor’s performance. Also the battle scene at Helm’s Deep in Jackson’s movie was brought to digital life. The use of computers and elaborate sets allow the battle and the fighting scenes to seem genuine. As a result of being able to create an actual war Jackson has turned the battle itself into a third of the movie. This seems to be very elaborate and not the best allocation of time in the movie. Disappointment was felt by many Tolkien fans when Jackson allows Saruman to make a bomb to blow up the wall at Helm’s Deep. With the power and ability to create impressive illusions one could have hoped for an actual visual display of wizardry, “ ‘But the Orcs have brought a devilry from Orthanc,’ said Aragorn ‘ They have a blasting fire, and with it they took the wall”. (Tolkien, 171).
Ralph Bakshi had a great vision as to the way his film was to be developed. He had beautifully drawn backgrounds for his film as this was the style of the time. The backgrounds do not change but the animated characters do. He relied heavily on sound effects to impress upon the audience such things as doom or foreboding, as his animated characters could not always express that. Unfortunately the longer one watched this movie, one could start to see a lack of quality. In one scene in particular during the fight between the Uruk-hai and the Riders of Rohan, some Uruk-hai are jumping, screaming ready for battle and some Uruk-hai are not even moving. Bakshi also seems to have run out of money because he starts switching between real figures and animated characters.
Each of the directors are trying to relay their own vision of Tolkien’s text by adapting their movie story lines. Unfortunately the original creator and master story teller Tolkien was not used to help in the making of the two dramatized versions of his epic tale. In using the text to compare the different visions of the directors one can see that important scenes are either left out, hurried past or embellished upon. Although both directors were close in recreating this epic, neither movie was able to capture the wonder, imagination and genius of Tolkien’s classic story.
