Twotall

Answer: That's true. The Rohirrim were a tribe of Northmen that had more or less settled just outside of Gondor. During an invasion by orcs and Easterlings in 2509, the steward of Gondor sent word to them and asked for help. Their leader, Eorl the Young, led the Rohirrim to the Fields of Celebrant, where they completely destroyed the orc army. In gratitude, the steward of Gondor gave them a large area of land as their own kingdom, that had more or less been depopulated by plague and the latest war. So Rohan and Gondor have had close ties and been allies ever since.

Twotall

Answer: Most of the time, they would use small actors playing the hobbits (usually in long shots), or specially-built enlarged models of Aragorn or Éowyn sitting next to the regular actor. In some cases, hobbit-sized puppets were also used. The WETA team would then impose Dominic Monaghan's and Billy Boyd's face over the faces of the scale doubles or puppets in post-production.

Twotall

Answer: Most likely, because Gandalf suspected that Saruman would put up a fight and concentrate his magic on him. Placing Merry with Éomer got him out of the direct line of fire, so to speak, and left Gandalf free to concentrate on Saruman.

Twotall

Chosen answer: In Denethor's time, Gondor follows the Vala, the good "gods" of the world, in the manner of the Elves, although religion really is not much of a point in Middle-Earth. The "heathen kings" Denethor speaks of were before Elendil founded Gondor, when descendants of Númenoreans lived in small fiefdoms as little kings in this area. Many of them worshipped Sauron and followed him, and may have used burning as a funeral rite.

Twotall

Answer: He means that the memory of the Shire (as his home) was always what he clung to, his motivation for doing what he did. However, in the end his experiences had changed him so much that he did not feel at home there anymore, and could not fit in among all the people who had no concept of what he had gone through and what he had sacrificed. Essentially, because his outlook on the Shire is lost, he feels almost as if it really was gone and another had taken it's place.

Twotall

Answer: He sees that the three who jump ashore are NOT Corsairs as he expected, but a Ranger (evidenced by Aragorn's clothing and weapons), a Dwarf and an Elf. All of these are enemies of Sauron and the Orcs, so the Orcs' instinct would be to attack them on sight. At this point the commander has not realized that if those three were on board, then the rest of the fleet probably is not Corsairs either...

Twotall

Chosen answer: Yes, but as Osgiliath is on the border to Ithilien and Frodo & co. went in that direction, it would be natural for Faramir to give that answer to Gandalf when Gandalf wanted to know where they were. Faramir also knew that it would take them more than two days to cross Ithilien, so that is where they would be at the time he spoke to Gandalf.

Twotall

Answer: All the power of the wizards come from the Valar, and it is they who take it away from Saruman, working through Gandalf. Besides, it was never clearly defined who was the most powerful of the two. Saruman was the leader, yes, but Gandalf had Narya (the Ring of Fire) from the start and was perceived by Cirdan as the wisest and truest. When Gandalf dies and returns as Gandalf the White he is given far more power than Saruman ever had, since his quest is nearing the end and he had been the only one to see it through.

Twotall

Answer: He grew them himself, and used the trees around Orthanc as fuel in the process. In addition, he probably recruited Orcs from the Misty Mountains, in the same way that you can see him recruiting the Wild Men from Dunland.

Twotall

Chosen answer: It was prophesied that no man would kill him. And seeing how prophecies often are very literal, no male being could strike him down. Merry managed to do so because his blade was Numenoréan, and forged in the early fights against the Witch-King and his kingdom in Angmar.

Twotall