Question: I just want to know where can I download the video of the parody of Best Picture nominees (mostly ROTK) in the recent Oscar Awards that was shown at the introduction of the awards show.
Question: Is there a romantic relationship between Galadriel and Gimli? Also, it seems foolish, but is it true that Galadriel seems to have some sort of infatuation with Frodo? She seems pleased (by her come-hither looks) that Frodo is coming with her to the Undying Lands in the Grey Havens scene.
Chosen answer: Galadriel and Gimli? Bizarre mental image. Um, no, there's nothing going on there. Gimli does fall for her beauty, true, and she's flattered, but there's nothing else there. Do bear in mind that Celeborn, her husband, is around as well. No, she doesn't have an infatuation with Frodo either - her initial rapport with him would be down to them both being Ringbearers. Come-hither looks at the Grey Havens? I don't really see those - what I see is that she's excited about returning to Valinor, the land where she was born, and that she hasn't seen for seven thousand years. Nothing to do with Frodo going along, or any desire for hobbit lurve...
Question: I know about Peter Jackson's cameo on the Corsair ship, but does he do another cameo in the film? I thought I spotted him for a second in the charge on the Pelennor Fields.
Answer: He's been very quiet about it if this is true, and he's generally open about his cameo appearances. It's unlikely, I think, Jackson didn't really have the time to throw himself in all over the place - he seems to have stuck to one cameo per film. There was at least one false report of an additional cameo in the Two Towers, which would imply an actor who bears a resemblance to the director - maybe the same actor was used in the Pelennor Fields shot that you saw.
Question: In the first movie (Fellowship), Galadriel says that she will 'diminish' and go to the west. What happens to the elves after they reach the Undying Lands. Do they lose their super-natural powers?
Answer: In Valinor, the elves will live with the Valar, their 'gods', in peace and tranquility. Elves don't really have supernatural powers - they have abilities appropriate to their species, which are strange to us, but not actually supernatural - these should remain the same. Galadriel will lose some of her abilities, yes, but this isn't because of relocating to Valinor, it's mostly down to the power of her Ring being lost. Whether those elves with magical abilities (spell-casting and so forth) will keep them is unclear - it's fairly questionable that they'd need them.
Question: In the trivia section it says that the whole movie was dubbed due to bad weather conditions. Surely this cannot be correct: why would bad weather affect sound equipment when they are filming inside, e.g. at Edoras?
Answer: Any kind of rain on the roof or howling winds, etc. can affect sound, especially if it's a specially built structure and not on a sound stage. (Things like planes, trucks, and motorcycles cause problems, too.)
Question: Does anyone know why they decided to call Aragorn's horse Brego? In the books Aragorn rides two horses: Hasufell and Roheryn. Brego is actually the name of a former king of Rohan. It's strange that the film-makers don't use one of the "real" names when they are mentioned in the books.
Answer: Aragorn does ride Hasufel - just as in the books, he is lent to Aragorn by Eomer when they meet on the plains and Aragorn rides him until they reach Edoras. As for Roheryn - in the books, this is Aragorn's own horse, brought to him by a group of Rangers who join him for the fight. As this doesn't happen in the film, an alternative horse was needed. Choosing to use the "kingly-named" Brego, former steed of the late Theodred, the heir to the kingdom of Rohan provides a subtle reinforcement of Aragorn's gradual ascendancy towards the kingship.
Question: Who is Arwen's mother and where is she? Is she alive?
Answer: Arwen's mother is Celebrian, daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn. Around III 2510, about five hundred years prior to the events of the film, she was captured by orcs in the Redhorn Pass (the pass of Caradhras that the Fellowship fail to cross) and tortured. Rescued by her sons, Elladan and Elrohir, and healed by her husband, she chose to sail into the West.
Question: I was just wondering why Aragorn didn't claim his throne in Gondor earlier? we know he went of to be a ranger but why didn't he become king? is it because he was afraid he would turn evil?
Answer: It's not so much becoming evil that he fears, but that Isildur's weakness may run in his bloodline, leading him to fail at a critical moment. He questions his worthiness to lead the world of men.
Question: Could someone give me the following statistics about the Battle Of Pelennor Fields? How many Orcs were present? How many Gondorian soldiers were guarding Minas Tirith? How many Rohirrim came to Gondor's aid? How many Mumakil flanked the Rohirrim? How many Oathbreakers emerged from the Corsairs' ships?
Answer: There are no particularly precise figures anywhere - all that's available would be educated guesses based on watching the films, and you'd be just as qualified to do that as anybody.
Question: Exactly why has the time of the elves come to an end? They are smarter and physically superior to humans. Is this ever explained in the books?
Answer: The elves were not supposed to be in Middle-Earth at all. While they awoke there, many thousands of years before the War of the Ring, the Valar (local deity equivalents) summoned them to Valinor, the Undying Lands, and the vast majority went willingly. When Melkor, the first Dark Lord, fled to Middle-Earth, taking the Silmarils (great jewels crafted by the elves) with him, a great host of the Elves returned to Middle-Earth in pursuit, against the wishes of the Valar. After the fall of Melkor, the elves remained in Middle-Earth, considered themselves in exile, although the Valar were content to allow them to return if they so wished. They also remained as a buffer against the return of evil - Sauron, Melkor's chief lieutenant, was still out there, as were many of Melkor's other allies - the Valar ensured that the elven magicks remained strong with this in mind. With the rise of humanity and the fall of Sauron, the elves are finally being called home by the Valar, going back to where they were always supposed to be, and leaving the lands of Middle-Earth to the younger races, as the Valar intended.
Question: In the book Tolkien intended for Minas Tirith and Osgiliath to be 15-20 miles apart. Faramir and his men seemed to make two journeys (to and fro) within a couple of minutes screen time. Did Peter Jackson intend for the two cities to be closer in the film?
Answer: No, they're still the same distance apart - it's a standard film technique to compress time for travelling and so forth. It's intercut with Pippin singing for dramatic effect, not to imply that it only takes the length of the song to travel the distance.
Question: Is there going to be some collection-dvd with all three LoTR movies? Will it have all the extra-material from all the movies?
Answer: There is already a boxset available of the three theatrical cuts. There will undoubtedly also be a boxset of the Extended Editions, which will no doubt come out in November, when the final Extended Cut is due for release.
Question: Did anyone else notice that Christopher Lee wasn't in the end credits of the film, even though Sean Bean who also wasn't in The Return of the King was? Is this because of the row he had with Peter Jackson over being cut out of the film?
Answer: Sean Bean does show up, for about a second, in a flashback - this was enough to give him a credit.
Question: When Sauron spots Frodo on the plains of Gorgoroth, Sam screams 'Frodo. Get down.' and Frodo falls limp on the ground. Then Sauron just turns his eye away to the north (the black gate attack). Seeing as he knows the Ring is in the hands of a hobbit, and he has just seen two hobbits in his land, why doesn't he stop them (for example, call for the winged Nazgul)?
Answer: One of the reasons that Aragorn decided to charge the Black Gate (which is not really mentioned in the movie but is in the book) is because he intended Sauron to believe that he had the ring. Sauron would undoubtedly assume that nobody would attack Mordor with such a small army unless they had the ring themselves.
Question: In the trivia section it says that Tolkein's great-grandson has a cameo appearance in the film as a Gondorian ranger. Where abouts in the film is this?
Answer: Royd Tolkien is seen during the Osgiliath sequence - he says that he's visible handing out spears. A picture of him, with friend and business partner Justin Nicholls, both in costume, can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/guides/halloffame/showbiz/royd_tolkien.shtml. As his role was created at the last minute, Royd is actually wearing Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn wig.
Question: I am just wondering where we can find a list of added scenes for the extended version that isn't just gossip. Has anyone actually seen a shotlist/etc.?
Answer: Most of the lists doing the rounds are rather more than gossip - most are based on statements by Peter Jackson and others involved closely with the production, so they should be taken as correct. No definitive list of changes has been issued, however, nor, I suspect, is there likely to be - lists that appeared for the previous Extended Editions all proved to be incomplete when that version was released.
Question: Does anyone know what that cave thing is that Frodo, Sam, and Gollum are resting in at the beginning of the movie is?
Answer: There are plenty of ruins throughout Middle-Earth, and the area known as Ithilien, where Frodo and co are at that point, is no exception. Once a populous region, it has been deserted for around 1000 years, since the fall of Minas Ithil (now Minas Morgul) and the return of the Nazgul. What Frodo and Sam are resting is no doubt some ruined structure left over from Ithilien's populated days.
Answer: http://www.theonering.net/staticnews/1054890864.html.