I know there were several hints in the books that there may be Ents/Entwives in the Old Forest; Sam's cousin said he saw what looked like an Elm tree walking, & a few characters mention the similarities between Fangorn & the Old Forest. The Old Forest seems to be comprised of Huorn type trees. Is there any references in Tolkien's other work that would refer to the Entwives being in the Old Forest? Its nice to be able to imagine that the Entwives live close to the Shire, but wasn't sure if there was proof.. ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Tolkien writes in two of his letters that he does not believe the Ent Wives survived a ‘scorched earth' policy in the war against Sauron that ended the Second Age. There is a conversation between Sam & Ted Sandyman in the Green Dragon Inn in Chapter 2 of FOTR that discusses sightings of moving trees in the northern part of the Shire. Some have concluded this means Tolkien intended for Ent Wives to survive & be in the Shire. But there's not enough evidence to draw any conclusion. The fact is this part of LOT was written when it was still meant to be a children's book, a sequal to The Hobbit. Tolkien had also written that part before he developed Ents. I suggest reading the entry in its entirety, it should cover everything pretty well. Sam's cousin said he saw what looked like an Elm tree walking This is the best evidence. And Fangorn (Treebeard) is super interested when Merry and Pippin describe The Shire. He asks them if they've seen Entwives there (saying that they would like such a country), and when they depart he begs them to send news should they see any. In a nutshell, it seems likely that there may be Entwives in the forests of The Shire. I certainly like to think so, though there's no further mention of them According to Sam, Hal saw a "Tree-man" "bigger than a tree"; he also says that he was "as big as an elm tree, and walking - walking seven yards to a stride, if it was an inch." An adult elm tree can grow well beyond 100 feet in size. For comparison, Treebeard is describes as being "at least fourteen foot high". The length of his stride isn't given, but l've seen speculations between four and eight feet. Granted, other Ents could be bigger than him, and we don't know whether the Ent-wives were bigger than the male Ents; but unless they were almost ten times as big as their male counterparts, I don't think what Hal saw is likely to have been an Ent. To an uneducated, working class hobbit who is probably likely to exaggerate in pub story time, its possible that may have taken an Ent for a huge tree. much more possible than believing he lied, especially considering the hobbit didn't even know any such creature as a walking tree existed. Sure, but if we concede that the details are unreliable, then all we're left with is the second-hand, probably exaggerated story of a hobbit known for "always saying he's seen things". And if Hal's fantasy was lively enough to turn a Treebeard-sized Ent into a towering, 100-foot giant, it might as well have turned a tree and some shifting shadows into one. I'm not saying it's impossible, don't get me wrong. just think that the source of the rumor, combined with the fact that the details don't even fit very well, makes it rather unlikely to me. The evidence is sparse at best. 1 guess I just have irrational hope that the Entwives exist somewhere & in canon, that's the only likely place. Also, and this is super oblique... Samwise carries Galadriel's box of seeds back to The Shire. Remember, she read many hearts, and who knows what seeds and nuts may have been in that box. I’m by far not the only one who hopes beyond hope that the Entwives may still live somewhere. The Ents' story is quite a sad one if they don't. I personally take heart in Treebeard's words, and the Elvish song he recites. He says: We believe that we may meet again in a time to come, and perhaps we shall find somewhere a land where we can live together and both be content. But it is foreboded that that will only be when we have both lost all that we now have. And the Elves made a song of it that ends with the lines: Together we will take the road that leads into the West, And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest. Maybe, just maybe, by whatever "road beneath the bitter rain" some Ents and Entwives found their way into the West. just don't think it very likely that Hal saw one in the North Moors. Also, and I hope you don't mind me mentioning it, but there was only one seed (& some earth) in Sam's box suddenly became the salt box in the movie) & that grew into a Mallorn tree. It replaced the party tree I believe. The Ents also are not trees, and I doubt they would have grown from seeds. Old Man Willow I think was a hourn, a really old tree that grows "entish" with age. The ents used to herd the horns like livestock, but without an ent to care for it in the old forest, It became violent and restless. (That last bit about the reason for its violence is a bit of my own head canon) ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ There's always the fun thought that Yavanna called them to Valinor to avoid their imminent fates when men/sauron took over, and the males were left behind to fight. I mean, Thave O evidence, but as far as head canon goes it makes me feel better than "they all died" I would like to think the Entwives survived but I believe they went to what in the third age was called the brown lands and built their gardens there. I think that the Hurons in The Old Forest (very close to the shire) somehow survived from the first age when the whole of eastern middle watch was covered in forests and as man settled and cut them down and Beleriand sunk they got separate and somehow survived. As long as there's no proof of them being extinct, I like to think they did :) A lot of things were meant for us to do our own work and be scholars just like him. Certain things were left open ended but in his very clever way. Also don’t forget the oath she swore to help Fangorn find Fimbrethil when Beleriand arises from the sea once more. She’d return and help him find her. And she meant it. And she had the largest and clearest foresight out of all the elves. ❤️
You’ll enjoy listening to Fangorn’s full song about his Entwife Fimbrethil. Galadriel also gave a prophetic message to him saying she’d return to help him find Fimbrethil when Beleriand rose again from the sea, which was the other half of Middle Earth!
Frodo did ask Gollum to 'lead them to the Black Gate'. In the book he never really says they are trying to get into Mordor. So Gollum didn't have a reason to tell them about an alternate way in, until he is faced with them trying to enter through the Black Gate.
At 15:28 you say, "I don't know why it's so epic--like just the fact they're actually running through this landscape is so good." At this point Legolas has a broken rib from falling off a horse, Aragorn has a broken toe from kicking a helmet, and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies' stunt double) has a dislocated knee. True professionals, all. Actually, the camera work is excellent, but Tolkien's Rohan looks quite different from the movie. Rohan is a land of rolling grasslands; there's no place in New Zealand like Rohan, and the tall-grass prairies of Illinois or the Ukraine have all been turned into agricultural fields. In the book, it was hard for the Three Dudes to keep up with the Orcs, as they were following the trail and had to stop at night for fear of missing the track in the darkness. In spite of Gimli's words, they had lembas to eat, just like Frodo and Sam.
At 24:30, the Dead Marshes were the site of the battle seen in the Prologue to FOTR. In the book, Gollum explains, "There was a great battle long ago, yes, so they told him when Smeagol was young, when I was young before the Precious came...They fought for days and months at the Black Gates. But the Marshes have grown since then, swallowed up the graves; always creeping, creeping." But that was an age and more ago," said Sam. "The Dead can't be really there! Is it some devilry hatched in the Dark Land?" "Who knows? Smeagol doesn't know," answered Gollum. "You cannot reach them, you cannot touch them. We tried once, precious. I tried once, but you cannot reach them. Only shapes to see, perhaps, not to touch..." Sam looked darkly at him and shuddered again, thinking that he guessed why Gollum had tried to touch them.
Not quite- The part about the dead marshes includes Legolas’s Father; Thranduil, & Thranduil’s father Oropher, were to join the Last Alliance in from a different angle to achieve a certain war tactic but Oropher and others got waylayed by orcs & many corrupted men which lead to eventually Oropher dying there, this loss effected Legolas’s father so very deeply forevermore. The bond between he and his son is the same bond Thranduil has with Legolas. And the braid he wears is to honour his grandfather. I believe after his death braids became less common. A sort of respect thing I believe. Both his father and Grandfather lived in Doriath(Elu Thingol’s domain[Elwë], which was heartbea of middle earth; Aside from Gondolin which held this mantle until it’s secret location was given up by a tortured elf who was the son of a very important mother who was the sister of the high king Turgon). All on a landmass called Beleriand that sunk under the sea after a set of disastrous events that lead to many greater outcomes much later on in the legendarium. This here is a whole set of stories of which also includes a quite a bit of Galadriel too but moreso other characters during this era. Of Beren And Lùthien comes to mind and Children Of Hurin!! You’ll fall in love even more after the third movie. Then you can enter into the lore videos like Moviejoob and OmarioRPG have done reaction videos too. Amazing stuff. One thing to add though is this scene resembles a lot from the other battle Tolkien was involved in called The Battle Of Somme. Look into it and tell me your thoughts. I’ll add something here though: that clan of elves really didn’t like being under the command of anyone else so they went ahead without the order and let’s just say it didn’t end well. That and they weren’t fond of the Ñoldor… huge history there as to why that is. That and the Sindar subgroup of these clans were a tiny bit more isolationist. But there are many amazing Sindar in the legendarium too Elrond and his two sons and daughter are connected to all of the main clans of men and elves through the union of his half elf father and full elf(quarter goddess) mother. Who essentially played a huge role in saving the world from the original dark lord Morgoth. Gained the Favour Of Valinor. Which subsequently lead to Numenor being a gift from the sea to the men who helped. Becoming blessed. Their land existing within the light of Valinor as it was situated closely to The Undying Lands. (The same ancestry Aragorn has that Èowyn spoke of while they were travelling to Helm’s Deep! (Elrond’s Twin Brother became the first king of Númenor. His name becoming Tar-Minyatur, and those faithful to Eru, the elves and the natural world all of this line carried Tar before their name! Ar for Aragorn is the word meaning Noble in his tongue called Adúnaic. That too is a fleshed out language Tolkien created too. Elvish languages also were placed into the official list of world languages too!
"Three days and nights pursuit" let me put it into perspective; they ran 45 leagues/135 miles/217 kilometers in 3 full days/72 hours *NONSTOP* to find Merry & Pippin
These movies all have a title-drop in them at some point. And they're all handled really well, too, and don't feel "forced" or anything, even in the SLIGHTEST bit. They just... work.
I love seeing people get excited over Karl Urban over all these years! When we saw the movie my entire family was going "look, it's Cupid!" 😂 He's been in so much great stuff over the years, but he'll always be Cupid from Xena to me.
10:57 Saruman’s villainous monologue is a *major reason* why I love The Two Towers so much! An already great character elevated by Christopher Lee 😈🔮🍿🏰
He was even cooler in the books! ❤several TolkienLore channels love what we contribute. Me included. Get this - Saruman never served Sauron nor bent to him at all in the books. The Gandalf locked in the Tower bit is explained ONLY in the Unfinished Tales Book: In [manuscript-C) The Black Riders arrived at the Gate of Isengard while Gandalf was still a prisoner in the tower. In this account, Saruman, in fear & despair, & perceiving the full horror of service to Mordor, resolved suddenly to yield to Gandalf, & to beg for his pardon & help. Temporizing at the Gate, he admitted that he had Gandalf within, & said that he would go & try to discover what he knew; if that were unavailing, he would deliver Gandalf up to them. Then Saruman hastened to the summit of Orthanc - & found Gandalf gone. Away south against the setting moon he saw a great Eagle flying towards Edoras. See, the thing is he was always master of studying the enemy & even being able to think like they do to always know exactly the best ways to handle ever situation and so on, but the thing is he didn't just become the enemy, he at this time in a sense for once actually grew afraid of him, probably Sauron did what Sauron did with Finrod Felagund(Galadriel’s elder brother who by the way was the most important in the Legendarium & is the main reason the third age even exists) which basically widdled Saruman with various visions of the past and future until it wore him down, but Saruman(Curumo) was the mostly already becoming weary due to what was called The along Defeat, magic bleeding out from the lands of middle earth and subsequently certain things become less and less possible and the elves begin to go west. Even the ones who never wished to leave middle earth and many of which were born here by the thousands. So him also being a student and helper of Aulë of the Valar he was going to fight fire with fire and make a bid for the ring just so Sauron could never regain full power and if Saruman found a way to release himself from his power restrictions even by any small margin or worked with Eru in some way it might have worked out in the end if things went differently enough to where such action from him would be needed. Ontop of that he was growing ever jealous of Gandalf for he received the Varya from Círdan and prior to that was chosen by the other Valar, Nienna’s chosen champion to go to middle earth. But Gandalf(Olórin back then) refused over and over and exclaimed his fear of Sauron(Mairon), varya I feel would have kindle the heart of Saruman to stay strong as he had been fighting the evils of the world for a very long time since he had been sent to Middle Earth. And for the is reason Saruman wished to hold the ring at hostage. Keep Sauron from taking back his full strength and basically use it to stave off The Long Defeat
Great video! When you finish the trilogy, I hope you'll react to "fellowship of the cast". It's a really wholesome behind the scenes which is a great watch.
"Aragorn letting out a fit of rage!" Actually, Viggo Mortensen broke his toe on the helmet. But it added to it being the sound of anguish! "We can't eats hobbit food!" "What can you eat?" Because of Smeagol's corruption by the ring, he can't live off normal foods, mainly subsisting on things like raw fish, animals and bugs. Gandalf banishing Saruman is one of the most badass scenes.
And he just kept going. He also broke a tooth, I think, in another seen, and was all like "let's superglue it back in there and keep filming" or something along those lines.
Did the ring have anything to do with that? Gollum spent five HUNDRED years in a cave!! The ONLY things he had to eat were raw animals, raw fish, worms and insects and the occasional sapient (goblin, orc, etc). I assume that the ring has nothing to do with this. It's simply what he knows, what he likes now.
I still remember this tv sketch from dead ringers back when the movies came out that made fun of the whole gandalf returning thing: "You may have killed gandalf the grey but now i'm gandalf the white" "Ohh, so what happens if i kill you again!" - Kills him but he just reappears in a new cloak - "I just keep coming back. You may have gandalf the white, but now i'm gandalf the tartan!" "This is ridiculous, you cant stop being dead just because you're a slightly different colour" "Wanna bet, you cant win saruman, i've got a whole dulux colour chart at my disposal" XD
4:45 Yeah. Remember a Hobbit's standards: Pippin ate four whole slices of those. Honestly, I wonder what they USUALLY eat to keep them filled up on normal occasions.
Welcome back man. - According to Tolkien, Elves could even dream while moving about, "blending living night & deep dream." When Aragorn, Gimli & Legolas are running across the Plains of Rohan pursuing the orcs who captured Merry and Pippin, Legolas never sleeps, even stands watch while his wiped out Dwarf & Human companions are literally tuckered out and even while the other two are asleep. That & out of the entire journey Legolas was both Stoic & ethereal but the one whose heart remained the lightest and kept the fellowship afloat in so many ways ❤. So it was weird how the film gave it all to Gimli! 😂❤️ They have a debate after finding the brooch dropped by Pippin..... continue running through the night (& possibly miss other important signs in the dark), or rest overnight (and let the Uruks get further away from them). In the end, they choose to rest. This also applies to what I explained in earlier comments regarding how Legolas was able to walk ontop of the snow!
At 41:42, the Elvish name Fangorn is the same as the Westron name Treebeard: "Fang-" = beard, "-orn" = tree, so Treebeard = beard (of) tree. Treebeard is the chief of the Ents, and the oldest living creature in Middle-earth. Westron is the language spoken by the Men of the West of Middle-earth; Tolkien translates it as Modern English.
They just clarified that he was an angel that also had a human form! A lot of the comments were expanded lore from the books that were left out so I didn’t mind. No one spoiled that he came back as a white wizard though!
@@TheDorkSideTV Basically he replaced Saurman as the head of the order. There are (I think) 5 of them on earth all with different colors. Radapast is in the LOTR books very briefly. We never see or meet the others.
What LOTR quotes do you all use in everyday life? I say (or think) "Up up up up up the stairs we gooooo!" pretty much every time I am face with a flight. "Po-ta-toes," "It's a dangerous business going out your door," "You shall not pass!" and "The way is shut. It was made by those who are ____(We fill in the blank with an obstacle like a cat or toddler) and the _________keep it" are all pretty common in my home too.
"Dark have been my dreams of late" "The way is shut" "Fly you fools" "Keep breathing. That's the key." And constantly saying "One ring to rule them all" no context needed.
The medicine the pour down Merrys throat was cola flavoured soda stream syrup... and when they smell man flesh its the riders of rohan they smell which are much closer than aragorns group at that stage.
The Ring Wraiths use winged creatures called "fell beasts". They are no dragons. The last dragon alive was Smaug and he was killed some 70 years earlier (watch "The Hobbit" for that story 😉). There are no dragons left in Middle Earth.
Yeah. Smaug was the smallest and sort of “weakest of his greater brethren. Some unnamed ones also died in the war of wrath against the Valar! Greatest was Ancalagon the Black, And Glaurung, only other dragon still alive that was alive same time as Smaug was Scatha. Slain by Felarof and Frëalof. ❤
8:39 in this part of the book, they took this disgusting liquid and this black paste out of a little leather satchel. They rubbed it on merry’s forehead wound that had knocked him out and split the skin. When they used this weird o4c medicine mixture over his head it almost instantly healed. But it left this ugly mangled scar over his eye. This showed that the orcs were twisted and deranged forms of elves, even their medicine was very similar to the orcish medicine
Slight lore things to take into account that I think may make some things about Gandalf a little more clear. Gandalf is an angelic being on par with Sauron at least in terms of species but he isn’t throwing out super spells like a lot of reactors want to see. In the books the Valar/Mair (gods/angels) decided that, while they could defeat Sauron if they did to go to middle earth to confront him, the resulting battle between angels would be cataclysmic for the people of middle earth. So they compromised by garbing a few Mair in a “raiment of mortal flesh” and sent them off to middle earth with their power heavily suppressed for the purpose of guiding it’s people against Sauron themselves. Also as more of a fun fact to think on about Gandalf’s duel with the Balrog, in the book when Gandalf is asked about what he experienced down in that pit they fell too he says that he saw creatures in the deep parts of the mountain. Nameless things that he refused to darken the light of day by uttering their descriptions. So moral of the story, don’t go digging around in the earth unless you’re looking to fight some Cthulhu creatures
Maia singular, Maiar plural, Vala singular Valar plural, Ainur is their true “species”, primordial and way above angels. Eru Îlluvatar is like the divine monad. Source consciousness to the great father and great mother. ❤
The Balrog and Gandalf actually had to fight the Nameless Things since they attacked them both and the water sort of turned the Balrog into this molten slimy creature. It’s wild stuff. Wouldn’t doubt it since that water down there was most likely home to many nameless things !
Shadowfax's arrival always gives me massive chills. Gandalf cant be bothered riding a normal horse, no sir! And can you imagine the 2 horses that Aragorn and Legolas/Gimli are riding? "HELL YEAH WE'RE GALLOPING WITH BOSS TODAY!" Speed +50% Stamina +50%
Fun fact for this movie straight from New Zealand: Peter Jackson is well known for having an eye for detail. In the book, the hobbits lay under and harvest plum trees in the Shire and staying true to the book - Peter wanted plum trees...but when he saw a plum tree, he realized that the fruit from the tree would be too high for a hobbit to reach. So he had to improvise! Instead, he had his prop department bring in apple trees (apples removed) and manually 'add' plums.
Treebeard is possibly the oldest living thing in middle earth. He is older than Galadriel who is older than the sun and moon themselves. He is as old as the very first elves, who were born by lake cuivenen
The shit the Uruk-hai force-fed Merry was essentially liquid meth. The battle between Gandalf and the balrog lasted for 10 days. Treebeard is the oldest living creature in Middle-earth, his real name Fangorn (hence Fangorn Forest).
You got that right in the beginning: these are indeed the avengers of Middle-Earth, a thing that many first time reactors miss when they wreak havoc on the Uruk hai and they assume it's because the Uruks are just weak (in the first film). These are some of the most hardened and powerful people of Middle-Earth at the time. This also plays a part in the next paragraph You asked why the trio of the "three hunters" running in the wilderness is so epic. I think that, apart from just the cinematic aspect, it's also a nod to the books by the director, as the hunt they engaged in and the distance they covered was an epic feat on its own in the books. They covered 135 miles in 4 days, in an effort to save their friends. Sauron feared Aragorn, not only because his ancestors defeated him, but because he was also the only one who could become King and possibly unite all mankind against him.
The tree that attacked Pippin and Merry is called a Huorn, it's sort of in between a tree and an ent, it's more sentient and lively than a tree but not nearly as much as an ent. They're also very nasty and mean, so not so much evil as just ill tempered.
19:41 You joke, but, yes, that was exactly it: the horses are a culturally appropriate response to accidentally killing Merry and Pippin. Rohan culture was heavily based on Anglo-Saxon culture (Tolkien was a professor of Anglo-Saxon) plus a bit of Vikings - in the film the team occasionally uses actual Anglo-Saxon language as a placeholder for Rohirric. In Anglo-Saxon culture, if you killed someone you paid a blood price, weregild, as an apology. Trained warhorses from Rohan are very valuable. 31:06 Shadowfax is a flesh and blood horse, but his ancestor was another incarnated Maia (incarnated minor angel) - Felarof, the "horse" ridden by the first king of Rohan. Felarof's equine descendents can understand human speech and are very picky about who rides them.
I remind you that the film was shot in 2001. I remember how my mother said that she was going to see this film with her brother and I was unlikely to like it, I was 11 and I had not read this work. Oh, how wrong she was, it all looked unreal. It was as if I was one of those who walked with them.
Hi Cole! I hope you're doing well. I'm late commenting (but not watching) due to things being hectic, but wanted you to know I've never clicked on anything so fast when you uploaded this! Just a few clarifications for things you mentioned, as always.. It's 100% a magical rope! You mentioned wondering what the end goal was for Sauron and that he'd just be ruling a bunch of dead people. He'd be fine with that. Sauron is a demigod/archangel type like Gandalf.. and he wasn't always necessarily evil, but his obsession is and always has been absolute order and he strives for it. He wants everything to be just the way he wants it. Less people would make that wish much easier to fulfil. He'd enslave any that lived to torture them and do his bidding. Viggo really broke his toe when he kicked that helmet. That scream of ‘rage’ was real. Lmao So, the bodies in the swamps; those are mostly Legolas’ people (Sindar/Silvan/Woodland elves). The huge battle against Sauron you saw at the start of the first movie is when they died. Instead of their souls returning to the Undying Lands, Sauron's dark necromancy trapped them there and he uses them as guard dogs of sorts. If anyone tries sneaking up on Mordor that way, the lights enchant them and lead them to their deaths. “Don't stroke it!” - THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID! Haha Gandalf fought the Balrog for 2 days and 2 nights. Afterwards, his physical body was dead for around 20 days, I believe. The gods sent him back as the white to finish his mission. The eagle (Gwahir) rescued him from the mountain and took him to Lothlorien (where Lady Galadriel is) two days after the fellowship themselves had left. The cloaks are woven by the Elves and are magical. “May they shield you from unfriendly eyes.” Treebeard is about as old as the earth itself. His memory isn't the greatest after all that time! Theory has it that the entwives preferred the grasslands and shrubs to the forest and that they all died when Sauron scorched it. The area north of Mordor all the way to Lothlorien is called the “Brown Lands” because of this. Continued in part 2!
This came out at the same time as Chamber Of Secrets. Dobby and Gollum came out at the same time. And for sure Gollum was better even for me as a Harry Potter megafan.
BTW, when Vigo (Aragorn) kicked the helmet and screamed? Yea he broke his toe on that exact take, and that's how he got such damn good yell and drama out of it. With Legolas (Orlando) suffering from a cracked rib, and Gimly's stunt actor having something wrong I forget what... all 3 of them then were tasked with running across the country side of New Zealand. So those looong tracking shots of them running, all 3 were injured. Real Troopers those guys.
Many reasons to go for the books, one is the passage of time that moves so differently in LOTR by Tolkien. Naturally, as 3 massive volumes in just 3 films (and originally they just wanted one film!?). Second are the changes made from the novels. Third is the philosophy, world-building, history and themes. Ideology, myths, the whole treatment of the canon. Btw., no way anyone rides a dragon. I think. Those 'winged wraiths', Nazgul-birds, are the teeny, tiny version of dragons, as Merri might say. Sauron found those age-old creatures, fell-beasts in their hide-out and fed them foul meats to tame them, and after the wraiths lost their black steeds in the river, gave them these to travel with.
The fell beasts were from a bygone era and so their existing at this point in Arda Marred timeline is quite astronomical thanks to Sauron’s necromancy expertise. And being a maia spirit etc
Love your reactions to these movies. Bit of trivia about the Lembas bread. Only Elvish queens give it put, and it’s very rare for them to give it to non-Elves. If people eat it with other food, it tastes good, but doesn’t have near the potency as it does when it’s the only food. Legolas mentioned it’s physical property of a small amount filling someone up. There’s also a spiritual component to it: it has a slight ability to help the eater hold off the darker emotions like fear and despair.
My own personal head-canon for why the Uruk-hai go out so easily is that they were (almost literally) born yesterday! Strong but stupid with limited training.
"What we need is a few good taters." "What's taters, precious? What's taters, eh?" "PO-TAY-TOES! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew... Lovely big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish." Fun Fact: Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) is eighty-seven years old. He is a descendant of the Numenoreans, or a Dunedain, gifted with a long life of around 250 years. He is human, but like a different race of human. We meet another, dark and twisted Numenorean right before Aragorn lobes his head right off. Nine Hours Very Old Fact: Bernard Hill would spend up to nine hours in make-up to become the aged Theoden. He wore contact lenses to give his eyes the milky look that very old people can have, but it wasn't sufficiently successful, so his eyes were later tinkered with digitally. Building Gollum Fact: Andy Serkis said he based Gollum's desperation and cravings on the withdrawals of heroin addicts. Andy Serkis said that he based Gollum's voice on the sound of a cat coughing up a hairball. Andy Serkis's hobby of rock-climbing came in very handy for his mainly on-all-fours performance as Gollum.
Yay! Some great observations here. Not that it’s a big deal, but I like what you notice about the orcs. Would be fun to play one, apart from the makeup. I feel bad for them lol. Bad work environment. Ugly. Unappreciated. XD Eomer 🤝 Treebeard (thinking hobbits are indistinguishable from orcs) You also noticed Gollum’s aversion to Elvish stuff. I might be misremembering, but I think having the ring for so long has made all that painful to him.
The journey to throw the One Ring into Mount Doom certainly proved dangerous, yet the behind-the-scenes footage for The Lord of the Rings shows the filming came with its own dangers as well. Numerous cast members suffered painful cuts and broken bones while filming across New Zealand, but their attitude to laugh it off and keep going shows everyone's dedication to the films. Viggo Mortenson (Aragorn) broken toes and tooth, Orlando Bloom (Legolas) broken ribs, John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) severe skin irritatation causing swollen eyes and allergic reaction, Sean Astin (Sam) stepped on a shard of glass in thd river scene and had to be taken to the hospital to stop the bleeding, Viggo almost died when caught in a current between a cliff and got submerged underwater for a lengthy period of time, causing panic amongst the crew, Brett Beattie, who served as John Rhys-Davies' stand-in, dislocated his knee. Viggo almost hit by a real knife instead of a prop in the fight scene in the forest (if he hadn't swatted it away with his sword he could have been badly injured. They were a bunch of troopers though because they never stopped filming.
@@Makkaru112 I've only read the books once and listened to the audiobooks once but I pay attention to what the rest of y'all say. Plus I looked up articles abd have been watching the BTS videos on youtube.
@@toodlescaeplease come join the group. We are taking up the call to create an expanded community. And eventually do a video rating our favourite reactors etc. like reviewing them like they react to movies. Showing how they benefitted our lives etc. but that’s a side adventure that was put forward by a few commenters already and I already have the growing platform and the drive to make it happen!
At one point the Balrogs could not fly. It is entirely possible that Tolkien later changed his mind about this, but the earlier situation seems clear. These earlier Balrogs might still have had wings, though as they could not fly and there are no contemporary texts describing them with such it seems unlikely.
You mentioning that they should be grateful for the Lembas Bread is an insight into Tolkien's beliefs. Tolkien was a devout Catholic; the Lembas Bread is drawn from his belief in the Holy Eucharist...food for the spiritual journey of Catholics.
It’s actually deeper than that. Whole episodes on it by the largest Tolkien lore channels still making videos to this day. Literally grown by the goddess Yavannah and the way of making it and distributing Lembas passed through the female line of elves only. Especially the matriarchs.
Tolkien “I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history - true or feigned- with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers.” Heck, he often mentioned how the author doesn’t know everything and said how unexpected branches will continue to grow through us. That he wasn’t the end all be all. Side note: just don’t edit Tolkien lightly as Tom Shippey said haha. But Tolkien was always up for a civil and intelligent conversation ❤
Thank you for 10k homies of the Dork Side family! You can catch part 2 of two towers, here: ruclips.net/video/Zs2YvSsU7bY/видео.html
Is no one gonna tell you that wormtongue is the voice of Chucky
Hope you enjoy our new comments. Please do join in on the discussions ❤
🙌🏻🙌🏻 Congrats lovely 😊 I hope your channel blows up 💥 but not literally 🤣 xx 💋
*Toes. He broke more than one.
I always understood the fight between Gandalf and the Balrog as a personal thing. Since both are from the same kind, in origin at least.
Actually Aragorn wasn’t letting out a yell of rage, he actually…..wait hold on let me check the comments.
Oh, I see I’m not needed here
You win 😂😂
LMAO
RIP Bernard Hill. May your spirit find it's way to the halls of your fathers.
🥺🫡👑🐎
Pippin does a lot of dumb shit, but in his defence he is still considered a child in Hobbit years 😛
*teen
He’s actually way smarter and cooler in the books. Phil Dragash Immersive ambient Audiobook. He brings everything and everyone to life
He has many tricks up his sleeve… Like in this movie, he tricks Treebeard towards Isengard to get the Ents involved in the war…
@@Makkaru112 best audio narration of anything, ever
That line from Treebeard that he can't even remember what an entwife looked like always makes me so sad.
I know there were several hints in the books that there may be Ents/Entwives in the Old Forest; Sam's cousin said he saw what looked like an Elm tree walking, & a few characters mention the similarities between Fangorn & the Old Forest. The Old Forest seems to be comprised of Huorn type trees. Is there any references in Tolkien's other work that would refer to the Entwives being in the Old Forest? Its nice to be able to imagine that the Entwives live close to the Shire, but wasn't sure if there was proof..
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Tolkien writes in two of his letters that he does not believe the Ent Wives survived a ‘scorched earth' policy in the war against Sauron that ended the Second Age.
There is a conversation between Sam & Ted Sandyman in the Green Dragon Inn in Chapter 2 of FOTR that discusses sightings of moving trees in the northern part of the Shire. Some have concluded this means Tolkien intended for Ent Wives to survive & be in the Shire. But there's not enough evidence to draw any conclusion.
The fact is this part of LOT was written when it was still meant to be a children's book, a sequal to The Hobbit. Tolkien had also written that part before he developed Ents. I suggest reading the entry in its entirety, it should cover everything pretty well.
Sam's cousin said he saw what looked like an Elm tree walking
This is the best evidence. And Fangorn (Treebeard) is super interested when Merry and Pippin describe The Shire.
He asks them if they've seen Entwives there (saying that they would like such a country), and when they depart he begs them to send news should they see any.
In a nutshell, it seems likely that there may be Entwives in the forests of The Shire. I certainly like to think so, though there's no further mention of them
According to Sam, Hal saw a "Tree-man"
"bigger than a tree"; he also says that he was
"as big as an elm tree, and walking - walking seven yards to a stride, if it was an inch." An adult elm tree can grow well beyond 100 feet in size.
For comparison, Treebeard is describes as being "at least fourteen foot high". The length of his stride isn't given, but l've seen speculations between four and eight feet.
Granted, other Ents could be bigger than him, and we don't know whether the Ent-wives were bigger than the male Ents; but unless they were almost ten times as big as their male counterparts, I don't think what Hal saw is likely to have been an Ent.
To an uneducated, working class hobbit who is probably likely to exaggerate in pub story time, its possible that may have taken an Ent for a huge tree. much more possible than believing he lied, especially considering the hobbit didn't even know any such creature as a walking tree existed.
Sure, but if we concede that the details are unreliable, then all we're left with is the second-hand, probably exaggerated story of a hobbit known for "always saying he's seen things".
And if Hal's fantasy was lively enough to turn a Treebeard-sized Ent into a towering, 100-foot giant, it might as well have turned a tree and some shifting shadows into one.
I'm not saying it's impossible, don't get me wrong.
just think that the source of the rumor, combined with the fact that the details don't even fit very well, makes it rather unlikely to me.
The evidence is sparse at best.
1 guess I just have irrational hope that the Entwives exist somewhere & in canon, that's the only likely place. Also, and this is super oblique... Samwise carries Galadriel's box of seeds back to The Shire. Remember, she read many hearts, and who knows what seeds and nuts may have been in that box.
I’m by far not the only one who hopes beyond hope that the Entwives may still live somewhere. The Ents' story is quite a sad one if they don't. I personally take heart in Treebeard's words, and the Elvish song he recites.
He says: We believe that we may meet again in a time to come, and perhaps we shall find somewhere a land where we can live together and both be content. But it is foreboded that that will only be when we have both lost all that we now
have.
And the Elves made a song of it that ends with the lines:
Together we will take the road that leads into the West,
And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest.
Maybe, just maybe, by whatever "road beneath the bitter rain" some Ents and Entwives found their way into the West. just don't think it very likely that Hal saw one in the North Moors.
Also, and I hope you don't mind me mentioning it, but there was only one seed (& some earth) in Sam's box suddenly became the salt box in the movie) & that grew into a Mallorn tree. It replaced the party tree I believe.
The Ents also are not trees, and I doubt they would have grown from seeds.
Old Man Willow I think was a hourn, a really old tree that grows "entish" with age. The ents used to herd the horns like livestock, but without an ent to care for it in the old forest, It became violent and restless. (That last bit about the reason for its violence is a bit of my own head canon)
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There's always the fun thought that Yavanna called them to Valinor to avoid their imminent fates when men/sauron took over, and the males were left behind to fight.
I mean, Thave O evidence, but as far as head canon goes it makes me feel better than "they all died"
I would like to think the Entwives survived but I believe they went to what in the third age was called the brown lands and built their gardens there. I think that the Hurons in The Old Forest (very close to the shire) somehow survived from the first age when the whole of eastern middle watch was covered in forests and as man settled and cut them down and Beleriand sunk they got separate and somehow survived.
As long as there's no proof of them being extinct, I like to think they did :)
A lot of things were meant for us to do our own work and be scholars just like him. Certain things were left open ended but in his very clever way.
Also don’t forget the oath she swore to help Fangorn find Fimbrethil when Beleriand arises from the sea once more. She’d return and help him find her. And she meant it. And she had the largest and clearest foresight out of all the elves. ❤️
You’ll enjoy listening to Fangorn’s full song about his Entwife Fimbrethil. Galadriel also gave a prophetic message to him saying she’d return to help him find Fimbrethil when Beleriand rose again from the sea, which was the other half of Middle Earth!
"How did they die?"
"They didn't. We LOST them."
One of the many mysteries that Tolkien never got around to explaining
I miss her...
🥺🥺🥺
You’re right. The elven rope is truly magical and came undone when it fulfilled its purpose there.
“A hobbit laid here”
“How do you know??”
Aragorn being a Rangers of the North, tracking’s like breathing 😉.
Frodo did ask Gollum to 'lead them to the Black Gate'. In the book he never really says they are trying to get into Mordor. So Gollum didn't have a reason to tell them about an alternate way in, until he is faced with them trying to enter through the Black Gate.
At 15:28 you say, "I don't know why it's so epic--like just the fact they're actually running through this landscape is so good." At this point Legolas has a broken rib from falling off a horse, Aragorn has a broken toe from kicking a helmet, and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies' stunt double) has a dislocated knee. True professionals, all. Actually, the camera work is excellent, but Tolkien's Rohan looks quite different from the movie. Rohan is a land of rolling grasslands; there's no place in New Zealand like Rohan, and the tall-grass prairies of Illinois or the Ukraine have all been turned into agricultural fields. In the book, it was hard for the Three Dudes to keep up with the Orcs, as they were following the trail and had to stop at night for fear of missing the track in the darkness. In spite of Gimli's words, they had lembas to eat, just like Frodo and Sam.
At 24:30, the Dead Marshes were the site of the battle seen in the Prologue to FOTR. In the book, Gollum explains, "There was a great battle long ago, yes, so they told him when Smeagol was young, when I was young before the Precious came...They fought for days and months at the Black Gates. But the Marshes have grown since then, swallowed up the graves; always creeping, creeping." But that was an age and more ago," said Sam. "The Dead can't be really there! Is it some devilry hatched in the Dark Land?" "Who knows? Smeagol doesn't know," answered Gollum. "You cannot reach them, you cannot touch them. We tried once, precious. I tried once, but you cannot reach them. Only shapes to see, perhaps, not to touch..." Sam looked darkly at him and shuddered again, thinking that he guessed why Gollum had tried to touch them.
Not quite- The part about the dead marshes includes Legolas’s Father; Thranduil, & Thranduil’s father Oropher, were to join the Last Alliance in from a different angle to achieve a certain war tactic but Oropher and others got waylayed by orcs & many corrupted men which lead to eventually Oropher dying there, this loss effected Legolas’s father so very deeply forevermore.
The bond between he and his son is the same bond Thranduil has with Legolas. And the braid he wears is to honour his grandfather. I believe after his death braids became less common. A sort of respect thing I believe. Both his father and Grandfather lived in Doriath(Elu Thingol’s domain[Elwë], which was heartbea of middle earth; Aside from Gondolin which held this mantle until it’s secret location was given up by a tortured elf who was the son of a very important mother who was the sister of the high king Turgon).
All on a landmass called Beleriand that sunk under the sea after a set of disastrous events that lead to many greater outcomes much later on in the legendarium. This here is a whole set of stories of which also includes a quite a bit of Galadriel too but moreso other characters during this era. Of Beren And Lùthien comes to mind and Children Of Hurin!! You’ll fall in love even more after the third movie. Then you can enter into the lore videos like Moviejoob and OmarioRPG have done reaction videos too. Amazing stuff.
One thing to add though is this scene resembles a lot from the other battle Tolkien was involved in called The Battle Of Somme. Look into it and tell me your thoughts.
I’ll add something here though: that clan of elves really didn’t like being under the command of anyone else so they went ahead without the order and let’s just say it didn’t end well. That and they weren’t fond of the Ñoldor… huge history there as to why that is. That and the Sindar subgroup of these clans were a tiny bit more isolationist.
But there are many amazing Sindar in the legendarium too Elrond and his two sons and daughter are connected to all of the main clans of men and elves through the union of his half elf father and full elf(quarter goddess) mother. Who essentially played a huge role in saving the world from the original dark lord Morgoth. Gained the Favour Of Valinor.
Which subsequently lead to Numenor being a gift from the sea to the men who helped. Becoming blessed. Their land existing within the light of Valinor as it was situated closely to The Undying Lands. (The same ancestry Aragorn has that Èowyn spoke of while they were travelling to Helm’s Deep! (Elrond’s Twin Brother became the first king of Númenor.
His name becoming Tar-Minyatur, and those faithful to Eru, the elves and the natural world all of this line carried Tar before their name! Ar for Aragorn is the word meaning Noble in his tongue called Adúnaic. That too is a fleshed out language Tolkien created too. Elvish languages also were placed into the official list of world languages too!
"Three days and nights pursuit" let me put it into perspective; they ran 45 leagues/135 miles/217 kilometers in 3 full days/72 hours *NONSTOP* to find Merry & Pippin
These movies all have a title-drop in them at some point. And they're all handled really well, too, and don't feel "forced" or anything, even in the SLIGHTEST bit. They just... work.
I love that you released both parts on the same day. Great move! Entertaining as always
Same actor, John Rhyes-Davies, played Gimli and Treebeard. He was also in the first two Indiana Jones movies. He's actually a very large man
I currently am watching the original 1980 Shogun, which he is very good in.
Gandalf sword is Glamdring. Also a "magic" sword from the same period as Sting.
@@custardflan I know
I love seeing people get excited over Karl Urban over all these years! When we saw the movie my entire family was going "look, it's Cupid!" 😂 He's been in so much great stuff over the years, but he'll always be Cupid from Xena to me.
In the books the pursuit of the Uruk Hai by the 3 companions, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, is legendary.
A feat of remarkable endurance and will.
10:57 Saruman’s villainous monologue is a *major reason* why I love The Two Towers so much! An already great character elevated by Christopher Lee 😈🔮🍿🏰
He was even cooler in the books! ❤several TolkienLore channels love what we contribute. Me included. Get this - Saruman never served Sauron nor bent to him at all in the books. The Gandalf locked in the Tower bit is explained ONLY in the Unfinished Tales Book: In [manuscript-C) The Black Riders arrived at the Gate of Isengard while Gandalf was still a prisoner in the tower. In this account, Saruman, in fear & despair, & perceiving the full horror of service to Mordor, resolved suddenly to yield to Gandalf, & to beg for his pardon & help. Temporizing at the Gate, he admitted that he had Gandalf within, & said that he would go & try to discover what he knew; if that were unavailing, he would deliver Gandalf up to them. Then Saruman hastened to the summit of Orthanc - & found Gandalf gone. Away south against the setting moon he saw a great Eagle flying towards Edoras.
See, the thing is he was always master of studying the enemy & even being able to think like they do to always know exactly the best ways to handle ever situation and so on, but the thing is he didn't just become the enemy, he at this time in a sense for once actually grew afraid of him, probably Sauron did what Sauron did with Finrod Felagund(Galadriel’s elder brother who by the way was the most important in the Legendarium & is the main reason the third age even exists) which basically widdled Saruman with various visions of the past and future until it wore him down, but Saruman(Curumo) was the mostly already becoming weary due to what was called The along Defeat, magic bleeding out from the lands of middle earth and subsequently certain things become less and less possible and the elves begin to go west. Even the ones who never wished to leave middle earth and many of which were born here by the thousands.
So him also being a student and helper of Aulë of the Valar he was going to fight fire with fire and make a bid for the ring just so Sauron could never regain full power and if Saruman found a way to release himself from his power restrictions even by any small margin or worked with Eru in some way it might have worked out in the end if things went differently enough to where such action from him would be needed. Ontop of that he was growing ever jealous of Gandalf for he received the Varya from Círdan and prior to that was chosen by the other Valar, Nienna’s chosen champion to go to middle earth. But Gandalf(Olórin back then) refused over and over and exclaimed his fear of Sauron(Mairon), varya I feel would have kindle the heart of Saruman to stay strong as he had been fighting the evils of the world for a very long time since he had been sent to Middle Earth.
And for the is reason Saruman wished to hold the ring at hostage. Keep Sauron from taking back his full strength and basically use it to stave off The Long Defeat
Great video! When you finish the trilogy, I hope you'll react to "fellowship of the cast". It's a really wholesome behind the scenes which is a great watch.
"Aragorn letting out a fit of rage!" Actually, Viggo Mortensen broke his toe on the helmet. But it added to it being the sound of anguish!
"We can't eats hobbit food!" "What can you eat?" Because of Smeagol's corruption by the ring, he can't live off normal foods, mainly subsisting on things like raw fish, animals and bugs.
Gandalf banishing Saruman is one of the most badass scenes.
And he just kept going. He also broke a tooth, I think, in another seen, and was all like "let's superglue it back in there and keep filming" or something along those lines.
Did the ring have anything to do with that? Gollum spent five HUNDRED years in a cave!! The ONLY things he had to eat were raw animals, raw fish, worms and insects and the occasional sapient (goblin, orc, etc).
I assume that the ring has nothing to do with this. It's simply what he knows, what he likes now.
@@Aeroldoth3 He also hated the elf leaf wrappings for the bread after he was a prisoner of the Mirkwood Elves.
I still remember this tv sketch from dead ringers back when the movies came out that made fun of the whole gandalf returning thing:
"You may have killed gandalf the grey but now i'm gandalf the white"
"Ohh, so what happens if i kill you again!"
- Kills him but he just reappears in a new cloak -
"I just keep coming back. You may have gandalf the white, but now i'm gandalf the tartan!"
"This is ridiculous, you cant stop being dead just because you're a slightly different colour"
"Wanna bet, you cant win saruman, i've got a whole dulux colour chart at my disposal" XD
It's funny how everyone recognizes Karl Urban but nobody recognizes the voice of Chucky lol (It's Brad Dourif "Grima" for those who want to know)
Or also Piter de Vries from the 1984 Dune.
And also Billy Bibbit from _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_
Braaaaaaaad! I have such an affection for him as an actor. He pops up everywhere in movies and tv and is so versatile and talented.
Mr "I didn't HAVE to shave off my eyebrows, but I thought it would be more slimy this way" ^_^
“Don’t stroke it Frodo!”
😂😂😂
4:45 Yeah. Remember a Hobbit's standards: Pippin ate four whole slices of those. Honestly, I wonder what they USUALLY eat to keep them filled up on normal occasions.
At least 6 meals a day apparently. Breakfast, 2nd breakfast, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner and supper.
@@toodlescae You forgot elevensies.
@@AngelusBrady I *knew* there was one missing.
Amazing editing Cole! Both with your videos and with your thumbnails. Always such a pleasure to watch! ❤
Welcome back man. - According to Tolkien, Elves could even dream while moving about, "blending living night & deep dream." When Aragorn, Gimli & Legolas are running across the Plains of Rohan pursuing the orcs who captured Merry and Pippin, Legolas never sleeps, even stands watch while his wiped out Dwarf & Human companions are literally tuckered out and even while the other two are asleep.
That & out of the entire journey Legolas was both Stoic & ethereal but the one whose heart remained the lightest and kept the fellowship afloat in so many ways ❤. So it was weird how the film gave it all to Gimli! 😂❤️
They have a debate after finding the brooch dropped by Pippin..... continue running through the night (& possibly miss other important signs in the dark), or rest overnight (and let the Uruks get further away from them). In the end, they choose to rest.
This also applies to what I explained in earlier comments regarding how Legolas was able to walk ontop of the snow!
@2:20 Gandalf and the Balrog Are Both Maiar. They are equally matched. This is why Gandalf wasn’t sure whether he would win the battle.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I’ve been looking forward to your reaction on the 2 remaining movies!
i actually love your reactions and I wish you everything best in this world, friend.
At 41:42, the Elvish name Fangorn is the same as the Westron name Treebeard: "Fang-" = beard, "-orn" = tree, so Treebeard = beard (of) tree. Treebeard is the chief of the Ents, and the oldest living creature in Middle-earth. Westron is the language spoken by the Men of the West of Middle-earth; Tolkien translates it as Modern English.
It’s kind of funny how you say that they clarified without giving spoilers when it literally is a spoiler that Gandalf wasn’t actually dead 😅
Yeah, fuck them for spoiling 😆
They just clarified that he was an angel that also had a human form! A lot of the comments were expanded lore from the books that were left out so I didn’t mind. No one spoiled that he came back as a white wizard though!
@@TheDorkSideTV Basically he replaced Saurman as the head of the order. There are (I think) 5 of them on earth all with different colors. Radapast is in the LOTR books very briefly. We never see or meet the others.
@@Dan-Bdefinitely 😏
@@telynns8490
*Radagast the Brown. We never meet the two blue wizards.
Awesome. Day after my surgery there is finally something good to watch 🙂
I hope it’s a quick recovery and that you enjoy!! Always happy to cure the search for something to watch!
@@TheDorkSideTV Thanks 🙂
What LOTR quotes do you all use in everyday life? I say (or think) "Up up up up up the stairs we gooooo!" pretty much every time I am face with a flight. "Po-ta-toes," "It's a dangerous business going out your door," "You shall not pass!" and "The way is shut. It was made by those who are ____(We fill in the blank with an obstacle like a cat or toddler) and the _________keep it" are all pretty common in my home too.
"Dark have been my dreams of late" "The way is shut" "Fly you fools" "Keep breathing. That's the key." And constantly saying "One ring to rule them all" no context needed.
The medicine the pour down Merrys throat was cola flavoured soda stream syrup... and when they smell man flesh its the riders of rohan they smell which are much closer than aragorns group at that stage.
Ooh I was waiting for this. And happy birthday to you!
The Ring Wraiths use winged creatures called "fell beasts". They are no dragons. The last dragon alive was Smaug and he was killed some 70 years earlier (watch "The Hobbit" for that story 😉). There are no dragons left in Middle Earth.
Yeah. Smaug was the smallest and sort of “weakest of his greater brethren. Some unnamed ones also died in the war of wrath against the Valar! Greatest was Ancalagon the Black, And Glaurung, only other dragon still alive that was alive same time as Smaug was Scatha. Slain by Felarof and Frëalof. ❤
And the video I’ve all been waiting for 🙌
20:28 Aragorn's life as a ranger taught him a lot of useful things, it seems.
8:39 in this part of the book, they took this disgusting liquid and this black paste out of a little leather satchel. They rubbed it on merry’s forehead wound that had knocked him out and split the skin. When they used this weird o4c medicine mixture over his head it almost instantly healed. But it left this ugly mangled scar over his eye. This showed that the orcs were twisted and deranged forms of elves, even their medicine was very similar to the orcish medicine
Been waiting for your reaction man!!!
Thanks for your patience! The copyright claims forced me to break it in parts and release on my birthday but it was worth it lol
@@TheDorkSideTVhappy birthday! 🎂
Ayyy happy 111th birthday my man💯 @@TheDorkSideTV
Slight lore things to take into account that I think may make some things about Gandalf a little more clear. Gandalf is an angelic being on par with Sauron at least in terms of species but he isn’t throwing out super spells like a lot of reactors want to see. In the books the Valar/Mair (gods/angels) decided that, while they could defeat Sauron if they did to go to middle earth to confront him, the resulting battle between angels would be cataclysmic for the people of middle earth.
So they compromised by garbing a few Mair in a “raiment of mortal flesh” and sent them off to middle earth with their power heavily suppressed for the purpose of guiding it’s people against Sauron themselves. Also as more of a fun fact to think on about Gandalf’s duel with the Balrog, in the book when Gandalf is asked about what he experienced down in that pit they fell too he says that he saw creatures in the deep parts of the mountain. Nameless things that he refused to darken the light of day by uttering their descriptions. So moral of the story, don’t go digging around in the earth unless you’re looking to fight some Cthulhu creatures
Check out the comment I made about him. I go a bit deeper into some of these points you’ve touched on. Join in on the conversation ❤
Maia singular, Maiar plural, Vala singular Valar plural, Ainur is their true “species”, primordial and way above angels. Eru Îlluvatar is like the divine monad. Source consciousness to the great father and great mother. ❤
The Balrog and Gandalf actually had to fight the Nameless Things since they attacked them both and the water sort of turned the Balrog into this molten slimy creature. It’s wild stuff. Wouldn’t doubt it since that water down there was most likely home to many nameless things !
Shadowfax's arrival always gives me massive chills. Gandalf cant be bothered riding a normal horse, no sir!
And can you imagine the 2 horses that Aragorn and Legolas/Gimli are riding?
"HELL YEAH WE'RE GALLOPING WITH BOSS TODAY!"
Speed +50%
Stamina +50%
12:36 I’m all about Mr. Urban after LotR and Dredd. Dude plays a cold badass.
Promises of getting misty-eyed?! I _knew_ I was going to like these reaction videos!
Fun fact for this movie straight from New Zealand: Peter Jackson is well known for having an eye for detail. In the book, the hobbits lay under and harvest plum trees in the Shire and staying true to the book - Peter wanted plum trees...but when he saw a plum tree, he realized that the fruit from the tree would be too high for a hobbit to reach. So he had to improvise! Instead, he had his prop department bring in apple trees (apples removed) and manually 'add' plums.
When the movies came out it made me want to reread the books. I was around 21~ years old when the movies came out
According to the books, I do believe the battle between Gandalf and the Balrog took ten days.
Treebeard is possibly the oldest living thing in middle earth. He is older than Galadriel who is older than the sun and moon themselves. He is as old as the very first elves, who were born by lake cuivenen
Except for old master Bombadil and his wife, that is!
The shit the Uruk-hai force-fed Merry was essentially liquid meth. The battle between Gandalf and the balrog lasted for 10 days. Treebeard is the oldest living creature in Middle-earth, his real name Fangorn (hence Fangorn Forest).
Grog isn’t liquid meth
I’m aware. I compared it to meth for its side effects, giving them unnatural speed and energy.
Yes! Carl Urban is a Legend ffs!😅 when you saw him, your facial expression was absolutely hilarious 😉👍
Steve here checking in. Looking forward to watching your reaction after work in the next 2 hours. From your thumbnail picture its gonna be good.
What’s up Steve! I hope you enjoy the reaction! I think it’s one of my better ones, personally!
@@TheDorkSideTVthat sounds promising brother. Can't wait! Thanks for your hard work with putting these reactions out.
You got that right in the beginning: these are indeed the avengers of Middle-Earth, a thing that many first time reactors miss when they wreak havoc on the Uruk hai and they assume it's because the Uruks are just weak (in the first film). These are some of the most hardened and powerful people of Middle-Earth at the time. This also plays a part in the next paragraph
You asked why the trio of the "three hunters" running in the wilderness is so epic. I think that, apart from just the cinematic aspect, it's also a nod to the books by the director, as the hunt they engaged in and the distance they covered was an epic feat on its own in the books. They covered 135 miles in 4 days, in an effort to save their friends.
Sauron feared Aragorn, not only because his ancestors defeated him, but because he was also the only one who could become King and possibly unite all mankind against him.
The tree that attacked Pippin and Merry is called a Huorn, it's sort of in between a tree and an ent, it's more sentient and lively than a tree but not nearly as much as an ent. They're also very nasty and mean, so not so much evil as just ill tempered.
So, a fun tidbit; Treebeard and Gimli are played by the same guy.
Gandalf and the Balrog are the same Being - called Maiar
29:47 Gandalf's memory was still syncing. Download wasn't finished yet lol
"They are taking the hobbits to isengard"
Airagorn broke his foot when he kicked the helmet for real
Great reaction! Love the shirt !👌🏽!
When you realize the actor of worm tongue voices Chucky in Childs Play.
19:41 You joke, but, yes, that was exactly it: the horses are a culturally appropriate response to accidentally killing Merry and Pippin. Rohan culture was heavily based on Anglo-Saxon culture (Tolkien was a professor of Anglo-Saxon) plus a bit of Vikings - in the film the team occasionally uses actual Anglo-Saxon language as a placeholder for Rohirric. In Anglo-Saxon culture, if you killed someone you paid a blood price, weregild, as an apology. Trained warhorses from Rohan are very valuable.
31:06 Shadowfax is a flesh and blood horse, but his ancestor was another incarnated Maia (incarnated minor angel) - Felarof, the "horse" ridden by the first king of Rohan. Felarof's equine descendents can understand human speech and are very picky about who rides them.
Treebeard is based on CS Lewis, tolkiens friend, who could be heard walking down the the hallway at Oxford hrooming and hawing.
Yes let's go another one
I remind you that the film was shot in 2001. I remember how my mother said that she was going to see this film with her brother and I was unlikely to like it, I was 11 and I had not read this work. Oh, how wrong she was, it all looked unreal. It was as if I was one of those who walked with them.
Been waiting for this brother!
25:53 That’s good advice for us all.
Hi Cole! I hope you're doing well. I'm late commenting (but not watching) due to things being hectic, but wanted you to know I've never clicked on anything so fast when you uploaded this! Just a few clarifications for things you mentioned, as always..
It's 100% a magical rope!
You mentioned wondering what the end goal was for Sauron and that he'd just be ruling a bunch of dead people. He'd be fine with that. Sauron is a demigod/archangel type like Gandalf.. and he wasn't always necessarily evil, but his obsession is and always has been absolute order and he strives for it. He wants everything to be just the way he wants it. Less people would make that wish much easier to fulfil. He'd enslave any that lived to torture them and do his bidding.
Viggo really broke his toe when he kicked that helmet. That scream of ‘rage’ was real. Lmao
So, the bodies in the swamps; those are mostly Legolas’ people (Sindar/Silvan/Woodland elves). The huge battle against Sauron you saw at the start of the first movie is when they died. Instead of their souls returning to the Undying Lands, Sauron's dark necromancy trapped them there and he uses them as guard dogs of sorts. If anyone tries sneaking up on Mordor that way, the lights enchant them and lead them to their deaths.
“Don't stroke it!” - THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID! Haha
Gandalf fought the Balrog for 2 days and 2 nights. Afterwards, his physical body was dead for around 20 days, I believe. The gods sent him back as the white to finish his mission. The eagle (Gwahir) rescued him from the mountain and took him to Lothlorien (where Lady Galadriel is) two days after the fellowship themselves had left.
The cloaks are woven by the Elves and are magical. “May they shield you from unfriendly eyes.”
Treebeard is about as old as the earth itself. His memory isn't the greatest after all that time! Theory has it that the entwives preferred the grasslands and shrubs to the forest and that they all died when Sauron scorched it. The area north of Mordor all the way to Lothlorien is called the “Brown Lands” because of this.
Continued in part 2!
Something about the music always makes me feel like I’m actually back in the cinema
This came out at the same time as Chamber Of Secrets. Dobby and Gollum came out at the same time. And for sure Gollum was better even for me as a Harry Potter megafan.
BTW, when Vigo (Aragorn) kicked the helmet and screamed? Yea he broke his toe on that exact take, and that's how he got such damn good yell and drama out of it. With Legolas (Orlando) suffering from a cracked rib, and Gimly's stunt actor having something wrong I forget what... all 3 of them then were tasked with running across the country side of New Zealand. So those looong tracking shots of them running, all 3 were injured. Real Troopers those guys.
Many reasons to go for the books, one is the passage of time that moves so differently in LOTR by Tolkien. Naturally, as 3 massive volumes in just 3 films (and originally they just wanted one film!?). Second are the changes made from the novels. Third is the philosophy, world-building, history and themes. Ideology, myths, the whole treatment of the canon. Btw., no way anyone rides a dragon. I think. Those 'winged wraiths', Nazgul-birds, are the teeny, tiny version of dragons, as Merri might say. Sauron found those age-old creatures, fell-beasts in their hide-out and fed them foul meats to tame them, and after the wraiths lost their black steeds in the river, gave them these to travel with.
The fell beasts were from a bygone era and so their existing at this point in Arda Marred timeline is quite astronomical thanks to Sauron’s necromancy expertise. And being a maia spirit etc
Love your reactions to these movies.
Bit of trivia about the Lembas bread. Only Elvish queens give it put, and it’s very rare for them to give it to non-Elves. If people eat it with other food, it tastes good, but doesn’t have near the potency as it does when it’s the only food. Legolas mentioned it’s physical property of a small amount filling someone up. There’s also a spiritual component to it: it has a slight ability to help the eater hold off the darker emotions like fear and despair.
the dreaded "does the balrog have wings?" question!!! 😅
They do. They are shapeshifting Maiar. Even elves could shapeshift into different animals. Even disguise themselves as orcs etc.
Obligatory comment that Balrogs don’t have wings.
Wings versus No Wings is one of the reoccurring discussions on Tolkien’s work.
My own personal head-canon for why the Uruk-hai go out so easily is that they were (almost literally) born yesterday! Strong but stupid with limited training.
Gandalf actually is reading people to filth 😂
The Books are definately worth reading.
"What we need is a few good taters."
"What's taters, precious? What's taters, eh?"
"PO-TAY-TOES! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew... Lovely big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish."
Fun Fact: Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) is eighty-seven years old. He is a descendant of the Numenoreans, or a Dunedain, gifted with a long life of around 250 years. He is human, but like a different race of human. We meet another, dark and twisted Numenorean right before Aragorn lobes his head right off.
Nine Hours Very Old Fact: Bernard Hill would spend up to nine hours in make-up to become the aged Theoden. He wore contact lenses to give his eyes the milky look that very old people can have, but it wasn't sufficiently successful, so his eyes were later tinkered with digitally.
Building Gollum Fact: Andy Serkis said he based Gollum's desperation and cravings on the withdrawals of heroin addicts. Andy Serkis said that he based Gollum's voice on the sound of a cat coughing up a hairball. Andy Serkis's hobby of rock-climbing came in very handy for his mainly on-all-fours performance as Gollum.
Yay! Some great observations here. Not that it’s a big deal, but I like what you notice about the orcs. Would be fun to play one, apart from the makeup. I feel bad for them lol. Bad work environment. Ugly. Unappreciated. XD
Eomer 🤝 Treebeard
(thinking hobbits are indistinguishable from orcs)
You also noticed Gollum’s aversion to Elvish stuff. I might be misremembering, but I think having the ring for so long has made all that painful to him.
It was a magic elvish rope. I think in the book it says “the sharp tugs” will undo the knot
The journey to throw the One Ring into Mount Doom certainly proved dangerous, yet the behind-the-scenes footage for The Lord of the Rings shows the filming came with its own dangers as well. Numerous cast members suffered painful cuts and broken bones while filming across New Zealand, but their attitude to laugh it off and keep going shows everyone's dedication to the films.
Viggo Mortenson (Aragorn) broken toes and tooth, Orlando Bloom (Legolas) broken ribs, John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) severe skin irritatation causing swollen eyes and allergic reaction, Sean Astin (Sam) stepped on a shard of glass in thd river scene and had to be taken to the hospital to stop the bleeding, Viggo almost died when caught in a current between a cliff and got submerged underwater for a lengthy period of time, causing panic amongst the crew, Brett Beattie, who served as John Rhys-Davies' stand-in, dislocated his knee. Viggo almost hit by a real knife instead of a prop in the fight scene in the forest (if he hadn't swatted it away with his sword he could have been badly injured. They were a bunch of troopers though because they never stopped filming.
Exactly. Great comments yet again my friend. ❤❤
You’d be such a great addition to the LOTR discord group I created. Many of the reaction channels have joined too!
@@Makkaru112 I've only read the books once and listened to the audiobooks once but I pay attention to what the rest of y'all say. Plus I looked up articles abd have been watching the BTS videos on youtube.
@@toodlescaeplease come join the group. We are taking up the call to create an expanded community. And eventually do a video rating our favourite reactors etc. like reviewing them like they react to movies. Showing how they benefitted our lives etc. but that’s a side adventure that was put forward by a few commenters already and I already have the growing platform and the drive to make it happen!
@@toodlescaePhil Dragash and Andy Serkis do it great but one of the best ones was also a linguist showed by the guy called Silmarillion Soundtrack.
aragorn broke his toe kickin that helmet but i guess i wasnt the 1st to point this out :D legolas also had some broken ribs at some point of shootin
Why didn't I see this while I was working? Would have made my day so much better. I get to end it on a good note at least.
Consider that Gimli threw an axe at Gandalf before Legolas had a chance to loose his arrow.
Treebeard is actually the oldest sentient being in Middle Earth
At one point the Balrogs could not fly. It is entirely possible that Tolkien later changed his mind about this, but the earlier situation seems clear. These earlier Balrogs might still have had wings, though as they could not fly and there are no contemporary texts describing them with such it seems unlikely.
No it wasn't a dream. It was Gandalf telling him telepathically. Gandalf has that power as well
Treebeard you don’t remember what a woman looks like?! Talk about a dry spell 😂😂😂 that made me laugh out loud
Poor tree beard 😂😂😂
he broke his toe when he kicked the helmet
Not destiny. In Tolkiens theology its Eru Illuvatar, the One Father, and the Unseen Hand. "And thats an encouraging thought."
Elven cloaks
Elven rope
Elven bread
🌿🌿🌿
Let’s gooooo
IIRC aragorn gimili and legolas ran 135miles in 3 days
He is composed he just broke his toe when he hit that helmet, it wasn't acting.
To help with Karl Urban’s character’s name, it’s Éomer, pronounced (Ay-oh-meer).
*Karl
@@AngelusBrady you’re right, my bad.
We're all excited for the LOTR movie that's coming this year!
Epic film ⭐️ Epic T-Shirt ⭐️ Hope your bottom held up better this time 🍑 lol xx 💋
You mentioning that they should be grateful for the Lembas Bread is an insight into Tolkien's beliefs. Tolkien was a devout Catholic; the Lembas Bread is drawn from his belief in the Holy Eucharist...food for the spiritual journey of Catholics.
It’s actually deeper than that. Whole episodes on it by the largest Tolkien lore channels still making videos to this day. Literally grown by the goddess Yavannah and the way of making it and distributing Lembas passed through the female line of elves only. Especially the matriarchs.
Tolkien “I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history - true or feigned- with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers.”
Heck, he often mentioned how the author doesn’t know everything and said how unexpected branches will continue to grow through us. That he wasn’t the end all be all. Side note: just don’t edit Tolkien lightly as Tom Shippey said haha. But Tolkien was always up for a civil and intelligent conversation ❤
I see you're enjoying the Lord of the Rings
Telling you that Gandalf will be back is a major spoiler
That was 100% a spoiler man, I thought Gandalf had died in my first watch