Onesimos

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.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: When Éowyn (as well as Merry) stabs the Witch-king of Angmar, a serious and deadly malady described in the book as, "The Black Shadow, for it came from the Nazgûl" begins to afflict them. Those who are stricken are taken to the Houses of Healing. Old Gondorian lore states, "The hands of the king are the hands of healer." Aragorn, as the rightful king, has the power to heal Éowyn and Merry with the aid of the plant athelas which is also known as kingsfoil.

Super Grover ★

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.

Tailkinker ★

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.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: That's because they were under the rule of Denethor who was very foolish and didn't care about the consequences.

Chosen answer: No, no really. Denethor's wife, Finduilas died early, and the grief turned him into a grim and humourless man - one suggestion is that Faramir takes heavily after his mother, and Denethor dislikes him for that reminder; another suggestion is that it's actually Boromir who takes after the mother, and that Denethor favours him for that reason. Whatever the issue is, it seems likely that it started early on - Boromir translates to "Faithful Jewel", whereas Faramir seems to translate to something like "Adequate Jewel". As even their names appear to reflect the prejudice against Faramir, whatever the problem is, it goes back a long way. Maybe, once Boromir was born, giving Denethor an heir, he really wanted a daughter and was disappointed by the arrival of another son. Compounded by the death of his beloved wife (making a daughter impossible), that disappointment could easily grow into the dislike that he shows in the film. There's also the point that, although unseen in the film (unless the Extended Cut touches on it), Denethor has been using a palantir, which has allowed Sauron to affect his mind - it's not unreasonable to think that Sauron could have determined that Faramir was actually the stronger-willed of the brothers, and had deliberately influenced Denethor's mind against him to hamper the younger man's efforts against Mordor.

Tailkinker ★

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.

Grumpy Scot