The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Question: When Gandalf is hanging on the edge of the bridge in the mines, what does he say just before he drops? At first I thought he said 'run you fools' but it sounds different every time I hear it.

Answer: "Fly, you fools"

Question: Since Gandalf knew how dangerous the ring was, why did he give it to Frodo and tell him that he must destroy the ring? It would make more sense to either do it himself or find someone else to do it.

Answer: The temptation of the Ring is directly proportional to the power and ambition of the bearer. To someone like Gandalf - a mighty wizard who wants to save the world - the temptation would, over time, prove to be too much, and he's realistic enough to understand that about himself. With an ordinary hobbit who only wants a nice meal and some peace and quiet, the Ring has a lot less to work with.

Answer: Gandalf can't take the ring because he would be tempted to use it, and it would ultimately corrupt him. This is true for nearly anyone who has it for any length of time, except hobbits for some unknown reason. Gandalf recognized this in Bilbo, and later in Frodo.

Question: In the scene where Gandalf and Saruman are fighting in the tower Saruman takes Gandalf's staff and sends him to the top of the tower. What happened to Gandalf's staff? When he escapes he somehow gets his staff back and uses it the rest of the movie. Is it another similar staff, or am I missing something?

Answer: It is a different staff. Look at the branches at the top of the staff.

Garlonuss

Answer: Because he wanted Gandalf to join him. There are only five wizards in Middle Earth, and for Saruman, having a second one on his side would basically mean the Elves, Dwarves, and Men didn't stand a chance.

Friso94

Question: When I saw this movie in theaters, I seem to recall a scene where Gimli had to be blindfolded because they were entering a sacred Elf place in a forest. Gimli doesn't want to be, but Aragorn (I think) says that they will all go blindfolded. I can't find it in the DVD release but my friend, who has actually read the book, says that the scene is in book. Did they cut the shot out or did I just pluck this out of thin air?

Answer: That scene is only in the book, it was never in any cut of the film.

Nick N.

Question: When Smeagol first sees the ring, its power drives him insane almost instantly, leading him to kill his own friend and not feel any guilt afterwards. Later it changes him physically as well, turning him into the shrivelled up creature Gollum. When Bilbo Baggins however acquires the ring it doesn't cause him to go insane or commit murder, even after he's had it for some 60 years. Frodo Baggins also holds onto the ring for a good amount of time without ever losing his mind to it. Why the difference?

Answer: The Ring's power affects everyone, but not the same way or at the same pace. We really don't know much about Smeagol or what he was like before he found the Ring, so his personality/character may have been more immediately susceptible to its influence. We do know Bilbo and Frodo are, in general, kindhearted and innocent, so they "hold out" longer before succumbing to the Ring...they both DO lose their minds to it at certain points, albeit briefly (Bilbo transforms into a monster in front of Frodo, and Frodo, spoiler alert, later claims the Ring as his own in Mt. Doom).

Answer: Smeagol was greedy for the fish that Daegol his cousin caught which had the ring in its belly. The Ring influenced him to kill Daegol and run from his home into the caves. He was the guardian of the ring for almost 600 years, so he is quite crazy when Bilbo meets him, with even the Ring warning Gollum not to touch it. Bilbo on the other hand was wholly ignorant of the Ring's influence and kept it in his pocket and only using it to hide from his relatives. Bilbo, being a bit wealthy and a Hobbit didn't have greed in him so the Ring had very little to work with. Frodo, being raised by Bilbo was the same, being more interested in smoking, food and other Hobbit activities. He was chosen by Elrond to bear the ring because it had no real effect on him or his people, given their innocence and lack of desire for power. The Ring kept Bilbo alive for over 130 years with no issues. Frodo is only overcome at the forge in Mt Doom, as Sauron's power is literally everywhere in that place.

Most of this is completely made up.

lionhead

Question: Why was Gandalf so afraid of Moria that he even refused to reveal why?

Answer: Because he had guessed the nature of Durin's Bane, that it was a Balrog. And it was still lurking there along with a lot of goblins and orcs.

lionhead

Question: Why was Gandalf so afraid of Moria that he refused to speak about it?

Answer: He knew about the Balrog. Or heard rumors of it, Durin's Bane it was called. He had guessed its nature.

lionhead

Chosen answer: He was offered an extremely lucrative deal to play Gandalf, but turned it down as he didn't want to spend eighteen months in New Zealand making a film that he stated he "didn't understand".

Tailkinker

Question: If the ring was trying to make it's way back to Sauron, then why didn't it do shortly after being discovered by Bilbo as was witnessed at the start of the first movie or by Smeagol at the start of the third movie?

Answer: Smeagol found the Ring about the year 2463 of the Third Age (the first movie starts in 3017). Sauron was still very weak, practically dead at that time. Then Smeagol was hiding in the caves underneath the mountains where the Ring couldn't even be sensed for almost 500 years until Bilbo found it in 2941. Bilbo took the Ring back to the Shire which was farther away from Sauron so that Sauron had to grow quite a bit stronger before he was able to "reach out" for the Ring.

Myridon

Question: When Gandalf remarks that there are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world, is he referring specifically to the Balrog? If not, what are some other monsters he could be referring to?

Phaneron

Answer: Yes, he is referring to the Balrog. Though, he doesn't know for sure, he has been suspicious that there was a Balrog awakened in Moria.

lionhead

Question: Do we ever see the wraiths in their true forms?

Answer: Technically what you see is their true form after being corrupted by the rings and turned into wraiths. Before that they were simply men, you can see what is left of that when Frodo puts on the ring at Weather Top.

lionhead

I thought those white ugly faces you see, when Frodo puts the ring on at weather top, were their true forms.

Yes, that's exactly right. The rings turned them into wraiths, meaning their spirits moved on to the shadow realm and their real bodies pretty much destroyed. All that's left of them under the cloaks is invisible (in the books) and only seen in the shadow realm, where Frodo enters when he puts on the ring. The danger is too that Frodo would pass into the shadow realm too if he puts on the ring too often, becoming like them.

lionhead

Question: How does Sauron know Frodo has the ring? He doesn't even know who Frodo is.

Answer: He doesn't. He only knows that someone named "Baggins" from the Shire has the ring. He learns this from torturing Gollum. He sends the ringwraiths to the Shire to search for it, and they sense it enough to figure out who has it.

Why do the wraith have to find it if they can sense it?

The wraiths at this point aren't powerful enough to simply know where it is by sensing it. At this point they can only sense it when they are close and it is put on. Once Frodo put it on, they knew who he was and where the ring was.

lionhead

Question: This is for all 3 of the movies. I know that they are filmed in New Zealand but are they filmed on the North Island, the South Island, or both?

Answer: Both. See, for example, http://www.tourmasters.co.nz/tm/content.cfm/ID/25.

jle

Question: In an interview in the Extended DVD Peter Jackson says at one time that they had cast the character of Aragorn "a little too young" and changed their decision to Viggo Mortensen on pretty short notice. Just wondering, does anyone know who they had originally cast as Aragorn?

Answer: Stuart Townsend was originally cast as Aragorn but after filming a few scenes it was deemed he was a little too young and Viggo Mortenson was cast as Aragorn.

Question: After Frodo has been stabbed by the Morgul blade and Arwen is taking him to Rivendell, right after she uses the river to sweep the Ringwraiths away, Frodo makes a wheezing noise and begins to look radically worse. Why does Arwen get off the horse, lay him down on the bank, and cry? Why doesn't she just speed off to her father who can cure Frodo? Why the delay?

Kaite13

Chosen answer: If she had started riding off w/ him, he could've died on the way there. Instead she stopped and got off the horse and prayed to the Gods to "give him the grace you have given me." Basically to save his life was what she was asking for.

Question: This actually applies to the whole trilogy: Does anyone know why Tolkien named it after the leading villain, especially when the third part's subtitle refers to Aragorn, and Sauron's return had taken place in the first movie?

Answer: The title doesn't refer to any person, it refers specifically to the ring itself. "Lord of the RingS" 'rings' is plural, so it refers to the one ring that was forged to rule over the other rings. "One ring to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them."

Answer: The title refers to the struggle middle-earth undergoes when Sauron is defeated and his ring is taken by someone else. Instead of destroying it and thus destroying Sauron, Isildur took it as his own, becoming the new lord of the ring. The problem of Sauron returning was caused by Isildur's greed and the one ring's attempts to return to its true lord. So the title refers to the ring itself and whoever masters it, not Sauron specifically.

lionhead

Question: Why was Aragorn so reluctant to claim the throne? While in the novel he is proud to be destined to rule Gondor and Arnor.

DFirst1

Answer: Probably for multiple reasons. For the movie, having Aragorn struggle against his own desires and an inherited destiny makes for a more conflicted, intriguing, and three-dimensional character rather than the stereotypical power-obsessed trope. Being king is an immense responsibility and a heavy burden. Personal wants and freedom are sacrificed to serve others. Not every ruler craves power and oftentimes were born into an unwanted, pre-destined path. Aragorn was raised in Rivendell, unaware he was the heir, nor was he groomed to become king.

raywest

Answer: Because they were trying to kill him and take the One Ring for Sauron.

Why didn't the nazgûl simply take ring from Frodo?

They tried, but they were interrupted by Aragorn.

lionhead

How was one of the nazgûl able to stab Frodo when he put the ring on at weathertop? Considering that people who put the ring on are usually invisible.

To mortal people, yes. But the Nazgûl can sense when someone is using it. Note how they immediately changed directions when Frodo put it on at the Prancing Pony.

Brian Katcher

Question: Why aren't Arwen's brothers - Elladan and Elrohir - ever mentioned? They were, at least, talked about in the LotR books.

Answer: They're very minor characters in the books - there'd be little point in having them in the film unless there was a good reason. The filmmakers have made something of an effort to remove minor characters - the decision to use Arwen to rescue Frodo after Weathertop, rather than Glorfindel from the books, would be an example of this. In storytelling terms, Elladan and Elrohir serve no purpose, hence their non-appearance.

Tailkinker

Video

Other mistake: When the hobbits are hiding under the tree trunk from the Ringwraith in the beginning, you can see space to the left and right of the tree above them. Logically when the Ringwraith walks past the tree you would see it on the right side of the tree first, then on the left, but you don't - it looks like it walks out of the tree instead of behind it. [Confirmed on the commentaries - Elijah Wood asks his fellow actors if anyone spotted the mistake: 'It kind of magically comes out of the tree'. Sean Astin: 'You mean it doesn't pass from the other side?' Wood: 'No, it comes out from the centre.'] (00:51:40)

More mistakes in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Sam: Mr. Frodo's not going anywhere without me.
Elrond: No, indeed. It is hardly possible to separate you even when he is summoned to a secret Council and you are not.

More quotes from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
More trivia for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.