Question: In the ending credits, the name Cameron Duncan is mentioned. What is so significant about this now-deceased filmmaker?
Chosen answer: Cameron was a highly promising young filmmaker, who won several awards for advertisements that he directed - this brought him to the attention of Peter Jackson. He spent time with the cast and crew of the films, where he gained their respect and affection, to the extent that two of his short films are included on the extended edition DVD. Jackson spoke at his funeral and the song "Into the West" was inspired by him and is dedicated to his memory.
Question: In the Extended Edition, who are the Seven Kings that Saruman mentions during the parley? The only thing I can think of is the Seven Lords of the West, but I'm not sure.
Answer: There's no group specifically referred to as the Seven Kings in Tolkien's works - your surmise that this refers to the seven male members of the Valar, the fourteen Powers of the world, may well be correct. The only other possibility that leaps to mind is that Saruman could be referring to the leaders of the seven dwarven clans.
Question: I don't know if it's been said in the book or movie, but does Gamling die? If so when is it? I've been told it's at the Pelennor fields, however isn't he seen at the Black Gate battle when Aragorn gives his speech?
Answer: It was certainly stated before the release of the Extended Edition that we would see his demise at the Pelennor Fields, but it seems that that scene didn't make the final version of the film. With the death of Theoden, Merry and Eowyn's wounding and all the other action going on, it was presumably decided that to break off from the action for the death of a minor character would disrupt the flow too much.
Question: Can someone please tell me why Peter Jackson cut out the chapter in the book about the hobbits rebelling against "Sharkey". I can understand it in the theatrical version (time restrictions) but he had all the time in the world for the extended version and he still didn't put it in. I thought the Hobbit rebellion was the best part of all the 3 books.
Answer: The climax of the tale, from the film-making point of view, is the destruction of the Ring and the fall of Sauron. Having the movie go on for at least another hour after that (which would be required for the Scouring of the Shire) simply wouldn't work. Practically all the scenes that have been added into the Extended Cut are scenes that were cut from the theatrical film - i.e. they were filmed with their inclusion in the theatrical release in mind. Given the amount of work that they had to do, to then film a long, complex sequence (which would require a lot of effects work, as it features multiple battles between men and hobbits) purely to be included in the Extended Edition would not have been possible.
Question: How did Gollum survive his fall outside of Shelob's Cave?
Answer: He fell onto a grassy knoll a little way underneath the mouth of the cave. How he managed to get into Mount Doom is another matter, but bearing in mind the Hobbits took AGES to get through Mordor, he must have beaten them to it. If you look closely at him inside Mount Doom you can see he has bruises, cuts etc., probably inflicted by his fall.
Question: Is Merry in love with Éowyn? In the Extended Edition, the first scene with Merry and Éowyn on Disc 2, the things he says and how embarassed he seems to get, make it seem that way.
Answer: I think it's more that he's embarassed to be speaking so frankly and personally with a royal lady than anything else.
Question: I've seen ROTK Extended and the disappearing horses at the Black Gates still has no logical explanation. Does anyone have a good explanation as to how or why the Host Of The West dismount?
Answer: Cavalry are most effective in situations where there's plenty of room to manoeuvre - in close combat, where the horses can't move too well, the riders can be pulled off their mounts relatively easily, which would put them at a enormous disadvantage until they could regain their feet (enough so that there would be an extremely high probability that they would be killed before they could manage this). Given the vast numerical superiority of the opposing forces and the fact that they were clearly going to be surrounded, it would make sense to dismount before the battle started. As to where the horses went, obviously the Host wouldn't want a lot of panicked horses getting in the way - they'd be extremely dangerous - so they would simply have designated a couple of riders to lead the riderless horses out of the combat zone before the army was surrounded.
Question: What exactly is the Mouth of Sauron?
Answer: In the books, a man, in the films, not particularly obvious, he holds a position of great power and importance in the land of Mordor, being the spokesperson of Sauron himself. Had Sauron defeated the forces of Middle-Earth, the Mouth (also known as the Leftenant of the Tower of Barad-Dur) would have ruled the western lands (in his master's name) from a reconstructed Isengard.
Question: How come the Mouth of Sauron was never sent into battle?
Answer: He's not a warrior - he's Sauron's spokesman. The attacks on Gondor and Rohan are intended to wipe those societies out - Sauron's not interesting in accepting any sort of surrender, so there's no point in sending his spokesman in with the troops.
Question: In the "Fan Credits" section, I noticed that Sean Astin's (Samwise Gamgee) name appear on it. Are there other actors whose names appear on the fan credits?
Chosen answer: Yes, there are quite a lot of them, but I wouldn't want to deny you the pleasure of looking for them yourself. I'll give you Dominic Monaghan, Cate Blanchett and Christopher Lee - see how many others you can spot.
Question: In the Extended Edition after Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli escaped from the falling skulls, they saw an outside scene of Corsair ships and two burning towns on a river. Aragorn saw this and became very sad. Is he sad because of the burning towns, or is the fact that he was unable to get the Army of Dead to fight for him? Also, what is the importance of the burning towns on the river?
Chosen answer: Aragorn believes that he's failed - Elrond told him that he needs the Army of the Dead in order to defeat Sauron's forces, and, at that moment, he thinks that they're not going to join him. The burning towns are Gondorian settlements that the Corsairs have already attacked on their way up the river - probably intended to represent the haven of Pelargir, an important Gondorian port. In the book, the Dead helped Aragorn to defeat the Corsairs at Pelargir and were given their freedom there - they never came to Minas Tirith. The ships were then crewed by a party of Rangers (who did not appear in the films) on their run upriver to relieve the besieged Gondor forces.
Question: This may be a stupid question, but is it just me that thinks the Gondorian soldiers are poorly-trained to fight or in poorly defensive formation against the Orcs and trolls? Also, are the soldiers of Gondor conscripts, as it seems that there is no able-bodied male civilian in Minas Tirith, and those who are able-bodied are soldiers?
Chosen answer: That's because they were under the rule of Denethor who was very foolish and didn't care about the consequences.
Question: In the next few months, the Extended Edition version will be released. Why did Peter Jackson remove about fifty minutes of footage (which will appear in the Extended Edition) for the theatrical release?
Chosen answer: The movie was already 3 hours long and he removed footage not strictly necessary to make it that length. Movies are shown to test audiences for things like length, proper ending etc. His said that while good, it was just too long.
Question: Why does Sam refer to his old gaffer while killing the orcs guarding Frodo?
Question: Why aren't the four hobbits given a hero's welcome when they return to the Shire? The fellow who greets them seems less than impressed that they just saved Middle-Earth. Do the Shire folk not know about what went on? Do they ever learn of it?
Answer: Few hobbits have ever ventured outside of the Shire and tend to regard Bilbo and Frodo with a certain amount of suspicion for having left for so long. In the novel, the Shire is attacked and therefore they would know about it, but since it is apparently unharmed in the movie they wouldn't care very much about what was going on in the rest of Middle Earth.
Question: With the Eomer crying question, the answer says that he could be grieving for Gamling. Why would Eomer be so emotional of his uncle's right-hand man?
Answer: After the deaths of their parents when they were very young, Eomer and Eowyn were taken in by Theoden, and grew up in his house. As such, it's quite likely that Eomer has known Gamling for many years and regards him as a close friend, possibly even a brother.
Question: Is it true that Cirdan the Shipwright can be seen near the end of the movie? If so, which actor plays Cirdan?
Answer: It's true, yes, you can see him, standing on the dock at the Grey Havens, behind Galadriel, Elrond and Celeborn. He's also seen in the prologue to the Fellowship of the Ring - he's the elder of the two male elves who possess Rings (the other being Gil-galad). Cirdan was played by Michael Elsworth.
Answer: When they initially arrive at Isengard, he's rather more concerned with his upcoming confrontation with Saruman. He presumably talked to them about it later, off camera.
Tailkinker ★