It's not often I find myself checking youtube to see if a specific video has appeared yet, but this has been one of those rare times. Looking forward to part 2!
You said. Gandalf speak like an angel . Well can be because he is an ANGEL. Gandalf is a Maiar. Beings created by Iluvatar. Same as Saruman or Sauron. They are immortal beings.
@@AnnaMarianne the actor who played gollum has audiobooks of TLOR. They are amazing and should be listened to even if you have read the books and have seen the movies (imho)
Honestly, LOTR made me fall in love with the English language as well. I first read a translated version (Brazilian Portuguese) and while I must say the translators did a truly unbelievable job, it's still only a shadow of Tolkien's vision, something I only learned years later, when I read it again, this time in English, as it was intended. LOTR is about many things: camaraderie and love, hope, faith, but it is also a love letter to language itself, specifically to the English language. Tolkien was, after all, a linguist.
From the Ridermark's bushes to the outhouse of Helm's Deep, I have fought the Soup of Eowyn. Till at last, I expelled my enemy and splashed its ruin upon the countryside. Dehydration took me.
Same. And with a lot of things too, like Firefly. Sophie is just very insightful; she pays meaningful attention and tries to empathize with the characters.
I was going to write the same thing! Her complete devotion, observations, and sincere heart makes these the best reactions I've every seen! SHE GETS IT!
The actor playing Saruman, Christopher Lee, was the only member of the cast who actually met Tolkien. He was a diehard fan who read the series every year until his death.
Originally promised the role of Gandalf, too, all those years ago. Unfortunately by the time LOTR was in development, Christopher Lee was much older, and even he said he couldn't physically perform the job, as Gandalf is a pretty physical role. So the role was given to Ian (who is about 20 years younger than Christopher was), and Christopher got Saruman instead.
@@markfarmer7534 Yeah, they are like "brothers" - born as the same, equal in power, equal in age. Just one followed the Eru and other followed the Melkor.
@@grlt23 technicaly, when Gandalf came to middle earth his power was a bit nerfed, but luckly, he was acctuly a pretty powerful maiar, the thing is that he was very humble so he never bragged about it
Okay, I have watched these movies a hundred times, and I've NEVER made the connection that when Frodo first calls him Smeagol he says, "What did you call me?" instead of referring to himself as "us." Awesome reaction!
This is the most enjoyable reaction to this amazing trilogy I've seen - and I've seen many. Thank you so much for the deeper understanding and the emotion. You are tuned in and you get it. It shows.
It sure is! Totally and genuinely into it. No jokes. No addressing characters by names from other shows/movies. And putting together the lore wonderfully. She's the best.
I'm a new subscriber and I agree! I've seen so many reactions of LOTR and way too many people miss details or unspoken facial expressions. She is very intuitive in understanding characters and not just seeing them in black and white. Definitely one of my favorite reactors so far!
I just had the same thought. Sofie picked up on stuff that I didn’t get in a dozen viewings, like Gollum using first-person-singular (as opposed to “we/our/us) when Frodo calls him Smeagol and he says “What did you call me?”
Miranda Otto, who plays Eowyn, shares your feelings about Aragorn, in an interview: Miranda Otto on Viggo Mortensen: “From the moment that I saw him onscreen, I thought, ‘Shit, he looks incredible. Here’s a character I don’t have to pretend to be in love with.’”
@@crawdaddy1234Nah, he is a great role model that speaks to us, what a man should be, strong and wise but also doesn't hide his emotions when time comes.
It's literally true. When Olorin (Gandalf) died and went back to the angelic realm, they told him he had to go back and made him the head of the wizards since Sarumon fell to Saurons temptation.
Gandalf (along with Saruman, Sauron and the Balrog) are known as maiar. They are like angels and can't be "killed". They take on physical forms when they're in Middle Earth. The wizards took on the form of old men. The Balrog was given a demonic appearance because it fell from grace. Sauron's "form" in Middle Earth is more like a beautiful elf. Gandalf's body "died" after he defeated the Balrog, but Eru (God) brought him back since Saruman had turned evil. Gandalf was elevated to the leader of the wizards and given "The White" status. His memory is spotty when Aragorn and company first meet him because they are referring to his previous form and this new form has yet to completely make all the connections to it. Gandalf The White knows his mission, but the personal details are still foggy. He went to Lothlorien after coming back and Galadriel gave him the white robe he's wearing. He was reborn naked.
Oh, thank you! Now i'm stuck with a vision of a naked man walking into a bar in Lorien, sizing up an elf and saying "I want your clothes, your boots and your horse". But seriously, thanks for a bit of background lore. When I first read the Hobbit at age 11, I kind of felt that world it's set in is fully fleshed out and there's a lot more to it than what is in the book, and was thorougly fascinated by it.
The colors of the wizards are more like jobs. The white wizard is supposed to lead the armies head on against Sauron, while the Grey wizard's job is to support the smallfolk and keep the flame of resistance burning, the Brown wizard does the same for the animals and plants. The blue wizards went East and not much is known about them
@@2424Lars The White Wizard was also the head of the Order of Istari (wizards). When Saruman (in the book) took on becoming Saruman of Many Colors, he essentially foreswore his ties to Valinor, Iluvatar and the Valar. Gandalf, upon his return, was elevated to higher power because of the loss of Saruman.
Yes, one of the weaknesses of the movies is that they never explain, or even allude to the Wizards, the Balrog and Sauron being basically god like entities, not random mortals and monsters with magical powers. So it flies behind most normies heads that Lord of the Rings has a big divine connotation to it.
When I first started to watch people reacting to games and movies I have already experienced, I felt a bit guilty. That was more than a decade ago. I asked myself over and over why would I join this trend of watching somebody watch something I already know. I figured it out, eventually. Watching other people experience these things allows me, in a way, to re-live that wonder, excitement and joy of seeing them for the first time myself. I get to re-live those surprises, emotions, plot-twists. And I absolutely LOVE watching people seeing Lord of the Rings for the first time. I have watched many people seeing these movies and I always enjoyed it. Of all the people seeing the movies for the first time, I like your reactions the most. The emotions are pure and strong, the voice is soft and soothing, and to top it all, you have better understanding of the world than any other first-time viewer that I have ever seen. Many of your guesses or remarks are something that I myself did not find out about the stories until later, when I read the books again and then Silmarillion and then also watched some videos (I admit it, I did not get to know everything just by reading). You are so on top of the things and I just utterly love how you seem to be open to being completely delving into the story, feeling it, sucking all the details in like a sponge. Connecting all the dots and details across the movies together. I am just so happy I got to see this. I actually think I will be returning to these reactions in the future to get my fix. I hope you will read the books one day as well, there are some things that the movies changed or omitted - some of those are small (like Bilbo making witty jabs at other Hobbits when giving them gifts), some are bigger (no spoilers on that part from me). Thank you for being you, for reacting to these movies and for enjoying them so much. I would love to talk about so many things, but maybe just one from the very end - do not be too hard on yourself for having a crush on Aragorn who is in his 80s. His gf is a few thousand years old, it is a different world. ;)
@@jp3813 I think that if you just play something and add none of your opinions, then that is no good, but genuinely reacting or adding your own thoughts (or indeed information with many videos about history and such) is totally fine. And I personally find it strange to go somewhere just to criticise somebody. If I do not enjoy something, I just leave in silence, but I have the courtesy to not be nasty about it. Only exception is when I debate with somebody on a topic, but even then I try to keep it civil. Sorry for a longer reply, I tend to have windy responses.
@@Boleslav4 I’m one of “those” Tolkien fans who likes Rings of Power. I had a love/hate relationship with Season 1, but thoroughly enjoyed Season 2. Even at my most ranty on Season 1, didn’t insult people who actually liked it. If you hate something, turn off the TV and let people enjoy their show in peace. It’s still a gateway to Middle-earth, and if they like it, they might make really enjoyable reaction videos to LOTR, The Hobbit, and the behind-the-scenes stuff. (Her channel is Flow State Reactions, and she really is a lot of fun.)
So I get to be THAT GUY! When Aragorn kicks the helmet and screams, the guy who plays him, Viggo Mortenson, actually broke his toe. That was a genuine scream of pain that he managed to keep in character.
I can see it now: (damn that hurts) 'A Hobbit lay here' (geez it's really throbbing) 'their hands were bound' (those pills haven't kicked in yet) 'their bonds were cut' (I wish Jackson would say "CUT") 'they made haste into Fangorn Forrest' (Medic!) :P
A lot of the reason Eowyn is attracted to Aragorn is because of what he is: he’s a skilled warrior, a leader of men, brave, valiant, honorable, quiet in his power, and he respects her desire to have something beside’s a woman's traditional role, and respects her. He sees her as an equal, the only difference being decades worth of experience in his case. He might also recognize some of himself in her: when he was twenty, he was idealistic, for lack of a better term. There was an innocence to his valor. When he says he was raised in Rivendell, he’s understating the situation. When he was two, Aragorn’s father was killed by orcs, and his mom took him to Rivendell. They don’t show it in the movie, but Elrond is his foster father and loves him very much. To protect him, Elrond kept his true identity from Aragorn until he was twenty. Elrond named him Estel, which is the Elvish for hope. Biologically, Elrond is also Aragorn’s uncle, about 3000 years removed. When I read the books the first time, I had the worst crush on Aragorn, and haven’t really changed my mind fifty years later.
The scene where Aragorn reveals he’s 87 hints at a LOT of Tolkien backstory. Eowyn recognizes he’s a Dunedain, a descendent of Numenor. Now Numenor was an ancient island empire of men, founded 6500 years previously by Elrond’s own twin brother Elros - they were half-elf half-men mixed race. Elros chose to live out as a man and so was not immortal, but did live 500 years. His descendants through 62 generations to Aragorn are long-lived, though by Aragorn’s time he’d be lucky to live to 200 or so. Numenor is like Tolkien’s Roman Empire but also his Atlantis, and so was eventually corrupted by Sauron and destroyed. Survivors founded the kingdoms Arnor in the North and Gondor in the South. Arnor eventually failed (hence Aragorn makes some comment about the Northern Kingdom being destroyed long ago) but descendants of its people (Aragorn and his kin and clansmen) are called Dunedain. Gondor is where Boromir was from and we see that in the final movie.
You're 100% right when you said that you can hear the centuries in Eowyn's song, she's singing in Rohirric, which is in essence Old English (its identical except for a few different words/rules here or there) so she's literally singing in a language that's over a thousand years old.
To be more precise, Tolkien translated the Rohirric names and dialogue as Old English, the same way he translated Common Speech names and sentences as modern English. (Obviously, they aren't really speaking English in Middle-earth, all English dialogue and names are translated from the in-universe Common Speech names and dialogue.) Because Rohirric is related to the Common Speech the same way Old English is related to modern English: modern English is a mash-up of Old English, Latin and French, and the Common Speech is a mash-up of Adûnaic (the language of Númenor) and native Middle-earthian Mannish languages whose closest still spoken relatives are Rohirric and the languages of the Men of the Lake-town/Dale and the Valley of Anduin.
Tolkien’s the reason why I went down the Anglo-Saxon/Beowulf rabbit hole, first in translations, then later in the original. That was decades ago, so I don’t remember that much of the language, but its still one of my favorite epics and one of my favorite cultures.
It is not just Old English. Tolkien has deliberately used a less-common dialect. Most Old English documents are in the West Saxon dialect (typical of Winchester, Hampshire), but Tolkien uses a Mercian dialect (Midlands) which was actually a closer forerunner to modern English than West Saxon, which lost its prestige at the Norman Conquest. Mercian was the basis for the London dialect that became more prominent after the Norman Conquest. Tolkien came from Mercian country himself.
“You can actually hear the centuries in this music” THAT’S the kind of quality I come to SoFie for!! Ugh, I love how you always pay attention and appreciate things ❤ Someone may have already said, but the language and the music were both specifically artfully created to feel that way and! I love your reactions omg 😊 SoFie, you absolutely need to watch all the behind the scenes special features on this trilogy after you finish it, even if you don’t want to bother making it a reaction. I mean, I’d love it as a reaction… but I’m just saying I know you will love all the stuff about the art and music and creation SO MUCH.
Indeed, that comment was simply brilliant..... A very apt and incredible line in itself, it's like something Tolkien himself would have said.......I really am impressed! SoFie genuinely IS an incredibly insightful and intelligent reactor, and having watched quite a few others reacting to this trilogy in all sorts of different ways, I have to agree that I've not seen anyone "get" the lore, the richness and the depth of this story in quite the same way... her grasp of some of the subtle little nuances and images that 99% of the time go un-noticed by other reactors who either simply miss them, or worse still, talk over them, makes her reactions remarkably watchable, and enjoyable......my sincere compliments to you, SoFie!
23:02 i love your empathy in this moment. Because that is exactly what Frodo is thinking: here is another bearer of the ring. His fate could very easily be mine
One of the reasons the CGI Gollum is so good is that Andy Sirkis was there on set in a mocap suit playing him. When Frodo and Sam were wresting with Gollum, they were wrestling with Andy.
This movie has endless reactions on RUclips. This is by far the best, not only have you enjoyed and reacted accordingly to the funny or emotional moments (Only orc-people don't cry with Theodred's funeral) but you've managed to capture on your first watch the essence of the stories through the film, which is usually only wraspped fully through the books. Your empathy towards Frodo, your pity for Gollum, Tolkien's love for world-building and languages appreciated, the understanding of Gandalf as an almost angelic being and the impossible conundrum king Theoden finds himself in. Perfect! 10/10
Aragorn: "I do not know what strength is in my blood, but I swear to you I will not let the White City fall, nor our people fail." Boromir: "Our people, our people. I would've followed you my brother... My captain... My King."
That is one of a few lines of dialogue that always pulls me OUT of the world, sadly. Bernard Hill added that line and it does NOT sound like Tolkien AT ALL.
I looooooove your reactions because you don't just react, you analyse, you take us with you in your journey, and you understand quite well all the nuances of the story and the characters. It's truly an enjoyable moment to watch those movies with you ! Thank you !
Yes, exceptional insight based on meticulous attention to what is before you, and thinking about its ramifications in the context of the story already recounted. So many students should learn from that. The best reaction to LOTR I have seen on RUclips.
Wow - I've watched so many reactions to these movies, and I've never seen anyone so accurately "get it" during their first watch, Sofie! Your summary of the Smeagol/Golllum duality (and a lot more, mind you) is spot on. I've read the books for 45+ years, so it's always been difficult to tell if I've picked up something from the movie or if I'm unconsciously conflating it with the knowledge I have from reading the stories, but you're showing how awesome the movie is!!
The scene where the banner ripped off and blew away was a complete accident. It actually ripped away in the wind while filming. Instead of doing a retake they kept that in and added the insert of it falling at Aragorn’s feet. Just one of those happy coincidences that helped make this such a great movie. EDIT: Apparently the ripping of the banner was planned. However it was not expected to soar away in the wind like it did. They liked that so much they kept it in the movie.
Like Gandalf bumping his head on Bilbo's ceiling in FotR and Aragorn kicking the orc's helmet and breaking a toe earlier in this movie. Real life accidents during filming that made it into the final cut.
No, it didn't. It's a total bs. It was absolutely rigged to rip off, and you can find numerous quotes from Jackson and other members of the production team debunking that ridiculous myth. There was nothing accidental about that scene. I honestly don't get how there are still people spreading this in 2024.
@@Timootius Thanks for the correction. I double checked the director’s commentary and you are correct. They did intend for the flag to rip, but not to fly away so far.
What I love the most about these movies are that they are 100% sincere. Two men can hug, even kiss each other on the forehead, and it just comes off as sweet and admirable, tender and caring Manly even. . If this was made ten or (God forbid) twenty years later, it would be filled with quips and sarcastic remarks instead of timeless themes. When Gandalf proclaims his horse Shadowfax is "Lord of all horses" it's sincere, believable and awe-inspiring. If they had a scene like that in the MCU, Iron Man or Starlord would have laughed and made a sarcastic joke about how corny that sounds. Movies today aren't sincere anymore. They don't dare to be tender and real. Every scene has to be broken up by a joke or silly remark. Peter Jackson really understood how to adapt Tolkien's works. These movies are already classic and timeless, and universally loved
Comic book movies are a different thing altogether though. I'm not a big fan of them either although I love Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy as they manage to mix quippy remarks with heartfelt emotion remarkably well. Things like Dune take the source material incredibly seriously and don't add edgy remarks for the sake of it so I can't agree that all movies do that nowadays but it does seem to be a trend as big budget franchises like Oceans, F&F, Mission Impossible, etc., etc. are what draws in the movie going public. Where I see the best stories that have imaginative, serious but fun treatment of the material is on streaming services with series and mini series shows. Black Sails, The Last Kingdom, Peaky Blinders, Vikings, Shogun, The Last of Us, Reacher, Game of Thrones, until, you know, that season, all great series without the overdone over the top action and insincereness of today's blockbuster movies.
Hollywood actually made fun of the relationship between Frodo and Sam's friendship, they made them look like homosexuals and made fun of plenty of characters but their attempts were in vain. Hollywood felt emasculated when LOTR showed that men can have sincere deep bonds of friendship.
Actually cinema has a cycle of birth, growth and decay of genres of movies. First is the beginnings of a genre such as a Western cowboy genre for instance, movies that are cheap, badly acted, faltering, with limited appeal,then stories come along that are better, budgets get bigger, better actors and writers enter the mix, there is a sudden expansion and a then a golden age of the genre, a bunch of lesser outings, then some amazing epics that define the genre and stand the test of time, then a bunch of cheap imitations, finally the genre gets stale and parodies emerge making fun of the tropes and the "look and feel" and that is welcome by that time, but instead of reviving the genre it kind of kills it for a generation. The next generation then has a renaissance when a good director that has made his or her bones decides to really go all out. You see this with Westerns, Cop buddy movies, Sci-fi, Fantasy, which is now mostly just Disney Channel teenagers playing sarcastic comedy riffs -- Superhero movies have already peaked and gone straight into parodies of themselves after getting overdone. The Lord of the Rings, of course is a nearly century old set of books, and is totally beloved, and you could say Game of Thrones is totally in its shadow. It is, for how it "has to look and sound" while staying fairly close to the book source material. It is the LOTR books that created the entire genre, which was more like Robin Hood or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves before -- kid stuff, ya Know? Well there was King Arthur stories -- dry Christian allegory poetic literature basically, and then newspaper comic serial type stuff, turned in the middle of the 20th century into pro-monarchy white diatribes against socialist ideas of plurality. Even the tales of the Nights of the round table ended up turning into sexy period soap operas and Monty Python basically nearly killed them off for good. The fact that Peter Jackson decided when and where to stray into modern humor and melodrama and where he decided to play it by the book, literally, shows that he is master craftsman who knew his audience. He made the wise but extremely difficult decision to film all three movies at once with the actors at the same age and place and the same set of crew of all the people dedicated to costumes, locations, continuity -- a truly huge effort and a gamble that paid off. The Harry Potter movies while standing as fairly consistent still were a jumble of directorial changes from film to film, and got a bit out of it by the end. The subsequent spin-off movies while OK are not anywhere near as epic or well put together. There will be more attempts at reviving the Sword an Sandals , the Spy movie, The action buddy comedy, even old saws like Frankestein and Dracula keep coming back. LOTR fantasy genre is here to stay, but will probably not hit another peak for another generation.
@@TheCenobyteyes but the movie compresses all the battles in the war of the last alliance into one, obviously they aren’t going to fully depict a 10+ year siege
37:00 There's a bit more in the books (this is not a spoiler) about Sauron's mindset as regards someone destroying the ring. Basically, Gandalf talks to Aragorn earlier in _The_ _Two_ _Towers_ about how it is the nature of Evil to fear that someone very powerful (such as Saruman, Galadriel, Aragorn, etc) would try to wield the ring against him. Because Sauron is consumed by his ambition and a lust for power, he sees everyone else as having similar motivations. So he simply cannot even imagine such a powerful weapon as the One Ring being destroyed. Gandalf even notes that (paraphrased from the books): "If Sauron had committed all his forces to guarding Mordor and Mount Doom, barring entry to anyone seeking to destroy it, and instead sent out small forces to find and capture the Ring, then Middle Earth would have surely been doomed.". If Sauron had used that type of tactic, then either he would have found the ring, or someone would have ultimately succumbed to the temptation to use it against him. But Evil is selfish. So Sauron could not risk anyone else replacing him. It's a very powerful and universal theme that constantly underlies and informs the main goal of our heroes. And speaking of the books, it's frustrating to hear you say that Gimli doesn't have the constitution to keep up with Legolas and Aragorn when they are tracking Merry and Pippin. Having endurance is the main strength of Dwarves in the world of Middle-Earth, but the movies abandoned that concept to turn Gimli into comic relief. Now I don't mind the humour too much; I just wish it had been handled better by not making Gimli - and all Dwarves by proxy - feel so incompetent. Also, it's important to remember that Aragorn is a Ranger. So his ability to track the Hobbits and Orcs, and find clues about how the Hobbits escaped the battle, is simply one of the most important skills that he has acquired over his long life.
And Aragorn, being Dunedain, is basically the Captain America of Middle Earth. Dunedain, due to their Númenórean heritage is just better at everything than normal men.
I get such a kick out of Gimli griping about running. He’s got the stamina to keep up with his long-legged friends and have enough breath left-over to b**** about it. Maybe it’s because I’d reread the books so many times by the time these movies were released, but I still think movie Gimli is plenty badass, even though he’s not as serious as his book counterpart.
But can anyone else actually wield the ring against Sauron? I thought it only serves him and basically part of him, so he dies when the ring is destroyed. I thought that idea of the ring is that it tempts others with promises of power while not actually working for anyone other than Sauron. Or is it not the case? I haven't read the books.
@ I think it’s in one of the letters, but Tolkien said that, of the potential ring wielders, Gandalf the White is probably the only one who could actually challenge Sauron and win. The others, including Galadriel, would think they could win, but only because the ring was feeding their delusion. They might make Sauron work for it, but he’d eventually win. Gandalf challenging Sauron and winning would be a horrific result for the free peoples because the ring would corrupt Gandalf’s pity and his desire to help people into being a worse dark lord than Sauron. Gandalf would strip people of free will under the illusion that he’s protecting them and keeping them from being harmed.
@@Ayrim_ Nope. The Ring serves only the will of Sauron. Even if someone pure like Gandalf managed to use it to destroy Sauron, he'd be corrupted and become the next Dark Lord, after all Sauron was a fallen Maia (Maiar are lesser angels, so to speak) and Gandalf (originally named Olórin at the time of his creation) was a Maia as well. Matter of fact, it is canon that the Ring could not be destroyed except by chance or divine intervention (actually chance is divine intervention but let's not get into that). No one can cast the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom because the closer it gets to the place it was forged, the more powerful it becomes, and it inevitably corrupts its bearer. So while the plan was pitched as "take the Ring to Mount Doom and throw it into the fire", the actual plan was "take the Ring to Mount Doom and pray to Eru (God) for a miracle", something both Gandalf and Elrond knew, but the rest of the Fellowship did not.
I'm impressed. Not many people pick up on that between Frodo and Sam. The way Frodo is projecting his hopes for himself on to Smeagol. And Sam unknowingly speaks ill of Frodo by what he says about Gollum.
Sam, for all his amazing qualities, sees moral issues in black and white, good or evil. Gollum is evil and can’t be trusted. True. But Gollum/Smeagol also responds to Frodo’s kindness. Frodo is the first person in over 500 years to offer Gollum tangible respect. That’s why Frodo’s “betrayal” at the hidden pool guts Gollum so much.
Yes, many people immediately jump to saying "Sam's the real hero" but underappreciate Frodo's real strengths. Sam couldn't have borne the ring, and Frodo had to be quite perceptive and clever, especially in the books. They both needed each other
Great reaction. You are very smart to pause and give comment. So many reactors talk over important scenes and then are clueless as to why things are happening. You grasp so much and your commentary is amazing. So fun to watch these with you.
Fun fact, the actor who played Aragorn (Vigo Mortensen) is a real horse trainer. He lives on a ranch and takes care of all the horses he adopted. He actually adopted the two horses he rode during the filming of the movies. He also purchased and gifted Arwens horse to the stunt double who fell in love with the horse. He’s a total class act, too good for Hollywood sadly.
yea the camera work to symbolize the two sides of Gollum/Smeagol was perfect, if you noticed, every time Smeagol speaks he has normal pupils, but when Gollum speaks they are all contracted like points
Every scene is a work of art. Gollum self talk scene, The exorcist scene, “no parent should have to bury their child”, Aragon Sherlock Holmes scene, Legolas defending Glimli with his bow against Rohan… just amazing work by Peter Jackson and the cast. The de-Aging CGI of the king was immaculate, a lot of technical breakthrough came from these movies.
The Maeras were a breed of wild horses brought from the West that were more intelligent, faster and stronger than other horse breeds. They descend from Felaróf, who was tamed by the first King of Rohan. Their descendants later became the mounts of the Kings of Rohan and their sons. They would bear no other riders. Gandalf was the only other person allowed to ride any of the Maeras, and Shadowfax accompanied him throughout the latter period of the War of The Ring.
I have watched like 8 people react to LOTR but you are the only person to pay attention to many of the small details that make the LOTR great and I thank you for that!
Gandalf IS a divine being, a Maia. Basically a lesser angel, same as Saruman ....and Sauron. The backstory for Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit is more epic, but not as thoroughly written. A good chunk of it was included in the appendices at the end of Return of the King novel, and The Silmarillion, which covers thousands of years before the Hobbit, was going to be the master epic that Tolkien spent his life working on. Sadly he passed before it was finished, but though it's disjointed and hard to read the story is worth it and rounds out Lord of the Rings by giving context you didn't know you were missing. For example, Galadriel giving Gimli three hairs from her golden head is a reference to the Silmarils from the first age thousands of years before. This is why Legolas smiles when Gimli tells him
Sofie you are so perceptive, thats exactly what Gandalf is: A Angelic messenger from the Valar (the gods) sent to middle earth to help in the resistance against Sauron, Gandalf (and the other "wizards" are of an order of Maia called the Istari, the Balrog is a Maia as well, bound in service to the FIRST Dark Lord , Morgoth, of whom Sauron was his chief Lieutenant) Arrived in Middle-Earth at the start of the 3rd age
A small correction. In the world created by Tolkien, there is only one God and that is Ilúvatar. The Valar are not gods but the equivalent of Christian angels. Maja, which included, among others, Gandalf were also angels, but weaker than the Valar
@@balrog7252 Lower-case "gods" works fine for finite beings created by the Most High God. The Hebrew elohim (gods) denotes power, and the Valar are called the Powers. Angels/spiritual beings in the Bible are also called "sons of God" (Deuteronomy 32:8; see Dead Sea Scrolls, compare to Septuagint), and possibly even "gods" (Psalm 82).
@@balrog7252 I consider the Valar to be much more powerful than angels, sort of like minor Gods. It's the Maiar that I consider to be equivalent to Angels.
In the “Slinker and Stinker” scene where Sméagol is chasing the fish in the stream, if you turn the camera around 180 degrees you would see Wellington New Zealand in the valley below.
I love seeing people fall in love with the beauty that is middle earth! Thank you, thank you, thank you for understanding Theodens dilemma. So many people write him off as arrogant. But you understood very clearly that he was afraid of outside influence because of Grima and Saruman. He’s may not be right, but he’s doing the best he can. Also, loved the Treebeard reveal jumpscare.
The actor who plays Saruman, Sir Christopher Lee, played villains in the vast majority of his 200+ film performances, including memorable turns as Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels and multiple performances as Count Dracula in the Hammer Horror movies of the 50's and 60's. He was a truly extraordinary man, he was a member of the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare in WWII and hunted Nazi's after the war, he was one of the most accomplished swordsman on film, at one point (not sure if it is still true) appearing in more swordfights than any other actor and an honorary member of three stunt unions. He could speak half a dozen languages fluently and another half dozen passably, he had an extensive collection of occult material (from all the horror films he was in), he was a trained Opera singer and recorded two heavy metal albums after he turned 90, he was the only person involved in these films, cast or crew, to have met JRR Tolkien (although that was only once), he read Lord of the Rings, on average, yearly from its publication until his death (wanted to play Gandalf for years but recognized he was too old by the time these were made), and apparently regularly wandered around the production officers making suggestions to whoever would listen to him. At the time of his death, he had appeared in a credit role in more movies than any other actor (I don't think its true any longer, but I am not 100% sure)
From his writings, you can tell Tolkien loved trees, horses, countryside living, smoking a pipe with tobacco, languages, stories, poetry, and love with a bit of sadness mixed in. Not surprisingly much of that describes the Shire.
Andy Serkis, who plays Gollum has a complete unabridged audio book of the Lord of The Rings Trilogy. He is able to portray every character uniquely in his reading.
Gandalf has one of the 3 rings given to the elves. Those rings were all based on elements, and his is the ring of fire, and the power it gives him is that of hope. I love all the commentary about him being the one comforting people because it's perfectly in line to his ring. It also makes sense why everyone is so distraught when he falls fighting the Balrog. Its quite literally a symbol for the fellowship losing hope.
The ring enhances his ability to kindle spiritual fire (and probably helps with physical fire): he kindles courage out of fear and hope out of despair.
@phousefilms yes, his is the water ring, and is part of why he is the master healer. Giladriel has the 3rd elven ring, the ring of air, and is why the wood elves are able to stay concealed from the orcs.
Sauron DIDN'T give the Elves their rings. They were forged using the knowledge the smiths learned from Sauron, while he was disguised as Annatar ("Lord of Gifts") These three Elven Rings of Power were "unsullied," never touched by the hand of Sauron. Sauron learned of their making and desired to possess them. When Sauron created the One Ring, the Elves who wore the Rings of Power heard his voice, realized they had been deceived, and took off their rings. When Sauron was separated from the One Ring, these elven Rings were again able to be worn.
Sofie. You hit the nail on the head so to speak. In the LOTR mythos gandolf and the other wizards are angels given mortal form and sent to help the free peoples to fight Sauron. Who is also a fallen angel.
Regarding "coordinating a CGI creature with a real person": A real person, Andy Serkis, did the acting while wearing motion capture equipment to record his every movement. The CGI was then done from the recording of his movements. In fact. Gollum was CGId twice: Once before the release of Fellowship (we got a glimpse of what he looked like when he's noticed in Moria) and again before the release of The Two Towers.
I really really enyoj your reactions. The two sides of Smeagol/Gollum, the meaning on the return of Gandalf, the flag of Rohan waving and falling before Aragorn as he enters Edoras... I really think your comments are spot on and you capture them all very well. Also I really love your smile 😊😊 Can't wait for the second part!!!
Its amazing how well you can understand the layers of complexity between the relationship between Gollum, Frodo and their bond to the Ring! Love your reactions its so interesting watching you figure them out.
You are extremely perceptive, intelligent, compassionate and really recognize the subtle points of scenes and the message they send about characters and how it pertains to the whole story. Like the comment about Aragorn caring about the little people cause of his scream or how they make you believe Shadowfax is the lord of all horses (never even though about it) and Frodo talking about himself in the "I have to believe he can come back" and many such comments. This is not just a reaction to the movies, it's an experience of Tolkien's work and the craft of movie making explained comment by comment. This trilogy was definitely not wasted on you, it's exactly what you hope for when seeing someone watch it for the first time. You are awesome, I like you! :)
The bodies in the dead marshes ARE the soldiers from the Battle of Dagorlad in 3434 Second Age depicted at the start of the first movie, where the ring was cut from Sauron’s finger. Dagorlad was the name given to the plain in front of the Black Gates. It translates to “Battle Plain” or “Plain of Victory” in Sindarin. Based in the Quenya root “Dacil” meaning “Victor”. The fallen in that battle were buried at the location that became the dead marshes. The quote from Gollum in the books is “Yes, yes, all dead, all rotten. Elves and Men and Orcs. The Dead Marshes. There was a great battle long ago, yes, so they told him when Sméogol was young, when I was young before the precious came. It was a great battle. Tall men with long swords, and terrible Elves, and Orcses shrieking. They fought on the plain for days and months at the Black Gates. But the Marshes have grown since then, swallowed up the graves, always creeping, creeping.”
Beautifully done again Sofie. That amazing argument between Gollum and Sméagol, I was watching three pairs of emotive eyes! Gollum’s, Sméagol’s and yours! Nice! I read The Two Towers in 1978. I remember that without pictures, illustrations, and just with the written words, I fell in love with Eowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan.
I am so glad to have found your channel. It was nice to watch the first one with you and feel so many emotions, haven't seen these films in at least a decade. And this new one just in right time! Ive been sick for a week and a lot of crazy things happened lately and this is just the right vibe for some mood stabilization. Thank you!
So excited to watch!!! I’ve been binging your once upon a time reactions since I watched your first lord of the rings reaction and I love your reactions so much! You’re so genuine and catch so many details and are just really fun to watch in general
"The orcs clearly understand the concepts of a restaurant with a menu"-- this is one of the funniest weird moments in this movie 😂😂 like are there orc food stalls in isengard??
"Wait they're scared of them" might be one of the funniest lines in all Lord of the Rings reactions...........you saw what Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas and Boromir did to them when the fellowship broke? If the three of them caught up they'd murder all of them. 😂😂😂
Having the reactor, reacting to my live comments as I watch the video is a weird but cool experience. Hope you're enjoying the movies as much as I'm enjoying the reaction.
To elaborate on how Gandalf and the Balrog fight went down. After falling into the lowest levels of Moria they fought more, but soon the Balrog decided he didn’t want any piece of Gandalf anymore, and fled. Gandalf knew he’d be lost in those deep tunnels, so he had to chase the Balrog hoping he’d flee to a place Gandalf could navigate. They came to the bottom of a fabled endless “Stair of Durin” that even Gimli thought was only a myth … the stair ran from unknown lowest levels to the very top of the mountain. Hence they fought their way to the mountain top. Gandalf prevailed but died in the end. Since his mission was incomplete and he was still true to his mission (unlike Saruman), he was resuscitated and leveled up by God (Eru). He then caught another eagle taxi off the mountain to Lothlorien, where Galadriel helped him and fitted him out with new clothes. In fact he arrived in Lorien the day after the Fellowship departed - so as they were boating down the river in the first movie, Gandalf was arriving in Lothlorien. And from there he made his way to Rohan (unknown how), and reunited with his horse Shadowfax.
One thing that made incorporating live actors with CGI Gollum/Smeagol more effective is that Andy Serkis not only provided the voice - he physically played the character (in a motion capture suit) for many of the scenes, and then the CGI version was edited over him.
WELL someone who actually gets most of it just by watching the movies. I applaud your description of GANDALF AND THE WORLD TOLKIEN CREATED. I read the books back i the 70s so watching yourself is ❤. Part 2 please
It's great that you detected Gandalf as being an Angel! He is Maiar, which isn't a word I believe comes up in the movies. But he really is a kind of Angel in that universe. He's morals are so beautiful and interesting, he never goes too harshly, never uses magic where someone else can do the same with their own volition. Despite having the power to do so he doesn't simply fireball all of the orcs, because really, his one fundamental ethic is to return choice to those who it belongs to, sometimes with a touch of wisdom too.
In the books Saruman has been secretly preparing his orc army and alliance with men of Dunland for years before the events of the story. His villain arc goes farther and he was always secretive about it until his machinations to unleash his personal orc army were ready. In the movies they made his turn into evil seem more sudden.
What made Peter Jackson so special and this trilogy so epic is he told everyone they weren't making a fantasy, but telling a historical story of very real events. That emersed everyone into the world which completely pays off on screen.
All this started because a linguist (Tolkien) had a hobby developing his own languages. In order to develop realistic languages that would evolve over time and influence each other, he had to imagine the world in which they existed. The books he wrote were mainly there to show off these languages. From that fertile imagination we got the Fantasy genre, the Dungeons and Dragons board game, role playing adventure games like the early text-based “Adventure” and “Rogue”, to the early “Warcraft” PC games, to the online “World of Warcraft” and similar games today. All because Tolkien wanted to write things like “I amar prestar aen” (The World has changed”).
Its so satisfying to just see you vibe and get anything the movies try to tell us on the first go, really a pleasure, looking forward to the next part!
Hey, fun fact! (Not surprised if someone has already commented on this) but John Rhys-Davies, the actor who plays Gimli, the dwarf, also is the voice of Treebeard... He alters his voice speaking through a long tube of sorts, creating a drawn out bellowing effect 😊
if I remember correctly what he did was inhale while speaking his lines (we normally speak as we exhale air, so Rhys-Davies did the opposite), which gives that breathy quality. try it! you'll sound like Treebeard! 😄
Sofie, you were right about J.R.R. Tolkien creating an entire world, Middle Earth, and the stories both before and after "The LOTR" book. He really began with "The Hobbit", and then when that was a literary success, his publisher asked him for a follow up. Fifteen years later he submitted "LOTR". Tolkien had actually begun the process during World War One, and then continued throughout his life to add to the depth and breadth of his world. As others have said, he began the whole thing as an exercise in languages, his profession, and it grew from there. He conceived "LOTR" as one large book, but due to economic and publishing limitations after World War Two, it had to be broken up into three books. So now we have three movies. Thankfully it all worked out.
Sauron cannot imagine magnanimity, compassion, unselfishness, or integrity. He fears that Aragorn will use the ring against him. He can't conceive of any other intention.
I’m enjoying your reaction so much. I think this movie has one of the best openings ever. Gandalf’s reveal was so well done. Ian McKellan does such an amazing job playing both Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White. Gandalf the White is “Saruman as he shouod have been” partly because he is now leader of the Istari, but mostly because he’s got all that power, but instead of being corrupted, he continues to use it to guide and uplift people. Gandalf has come back with his angelic characteristics closer to the surface. As Tolkien puts it in one of his letters, Gandalf can act as an angel in an emergency. I read LOTR when I was twelve in the early 70s, and Gandalf’s death broke my heart, and I was so happy to get him back. Countless rereads and countless rewatches later, and I still have those same feelings: it hurts to lose him, and it’s a gift to get him back.
Part of what makes Gandalf's reveal so amazing in the movies is because the first few sentences you hear him speak, while he's still obscured by blinding white light, are a mix of the same lines spoken in exactly the same way by both Christopher Lee and Ian McKellan. As you're watching that scene unfold you're kept in the dark about the White Wizard's identity, fearing it is Saruman because you're hearing his voice, but hoping it's a friend because something in the voice is off and also because he behaves so differently than Saruman would, until the final reveal of Gandalf's face. At that moment the voice of Christopher Lee is gone from the mix and you're left with the soothing voice of Ian McKellan.
@ It was such a brilliant way to confuse Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas, but it’s also a great way to delay the reveal for people who haven’t read the book. It’s also fun to watch a reactor start to figure things out. The clues are there. Pippin and Merry are gobsmacked, not terrified. Gandalf’s hair is much shorter than Saruman’s, and the biggest clue is the light. It’s warmer and brighter than the white of Saruman’s robes.
Thank you very much for your video. 😊 In one word... beauty. Excellent edit, appropriate length, your reaction to details that most people don't even notice. I thought I was the only one who was captivated by the language in the film. I'm not from an English-speaking country, but I still couldn't watch the dubbed version because the original is just amazing. And it just wouldn't be that. The amazing English accent is mostly heard in Gandalf, Pippin and Faramir. Beautiful music, language, nature. Just perfection. I can't wait for the second part... Love you ❤❤
Treebeard is voiced by the same actor who plays Gimli John Rhys-Davies. Two quite different performances. :) And yes, it's beyond Sauron's comprehension that anyone would want to destroy such a powerful item as the ring since all he desires is power. Also RIP Bernard Hill who portrayed King Théoden so amazingly.
30:39 you actually weren't far off when you guessed if he was saved by a divine being. though it should be noted that while his body was dying, Gandalf is not human. he is what is called a maia, which is also what Sauron, Saruman and all of the wizards are, so he would've survived having his physical form destroyed. what had happened is that with Saruman turning to evil, Eru had sent Gandalf back as Gandalf the White so he could wield more of his own power, wisdom, etc. and since Sauron was still causing problems, the task every wizard had been given was not yet done; so Eru, who is essentially God, sent Gandalf back to see it done with that increase in power. edit: maybe I should explain the Numenor thing. Numenor was essentially the Atlantis of lotr and had been blessed with an extended lifespan by the Valar, I think. Then they tried to invade Valinor after being manipulated by Sauron, and then had their island almost immediately sunk by Eru. Dunedain are descendants of the people who managed to escape.
These are the best trilogy ever made IMO. They’re some of the last of the really great movies that will be talked about for decades with universal concepts that everyone can relate to. They’re entertaining, imaginative but also have something to tell you about life. I can’t think of many, if any, movies that comes after that fit that bill.
I love that Peter Jackson et. al. weren't afraid to include literary references to Middle Earth lore that were never explained in the movies themselves. They are a gateway to the rest of Tolkien's world as rich as any mythology.
Sauron assumes anyone who has the ring wants to use it for themselves. He has a blind spot in his reasoning. He cannot imagine anyone would want to destroy the ring and not use its power.
Watching your passionate reactions while watching The Lord of the Rings is amazing to me. Your soul is as beautiful as your face. Thank you for sharing that small piece of your heart with me and the rest of your viewers that can see your depth through your commentary.
The Uruks being from Isengard kidnapped Merry and Pippin. They met the Orcs who were from Mordor. The books are so much more detailed. Your reactions are really good❤❤❤❤
Part 2: ruclips.net/video/HTNEWiXqVzk/видео.html
Looking forward to it.
It's not often I find myself checking youtube to see if a specific video has appeared yet, but this has been one of those rare times.
Looking forward to part 2!
You said. Gandalf speak like an angel . Well can be because he is an ANGEL. Gandalf is a Maiar. Beings created by Iluvatar. Same as Saruman or Sauron. They are immortal beings.
Cant wait. Beautiful reaction again. ❤
So glad to see this finally drop !
"This is making me love English"
I wish Tolkien could hear that, it would have warmed his heart beyond almost any other praise.
Absolutely. He would have glowed with pride.
Indeed.
@@AnnaMarianne the actor who played gollum has audiobooks of TLOR. They are amazing and should be listened to even if you have read the books and have seen the movies (imho)
hahah this is so true!
Honestly, LOTR made me fall in love with the English language as well. I first read a translated version (Brazilian Portuguese) and while I must say the translators did a truly unbelievable job, it's still only a shadow of Tolkien's vision, something I only learned years later, when I read it again, this time in English, as it was intended. LOTR is about many things: camaraderie and love, hope, faith, but it is also a love letter to language itself, specifically to the English language. Tolkien was, after all, a linguist.
"Poor Aragorn - died at 87 years old from food poisoning." 🤣🤣🤣
i was WHEEEZING
@@mikaelarpfrandsen9443sameeee😂
From the Ridermark's bushes to the outhouse of Helm's Deep, I have fought the Soup of Eowyn. Till at last, I expelled my enemy and splashed its ruin upon the countryside. Dehydration took me.
Amazing lol
"Aragorn has died of dysentery"
I can’t describe how much I enjoy her reaction to this story. I’ve seen probably 50+ reactions to this movie. She is my favorite.
She’s beautiful, intuitive, intelligent, well spoken. Just perfection.
same!
Same. And with a lot of things too, like Firefly. Sophie is just very insightful; she pays meaningful attention and tries to empathize with the characters.
I was going to write the same thing! Her complete devotion, observations, and sincere heart makes these the best reactions I've every seen! SHE GETS IT!
she makes me feel like when I was a child watching it for the first time
The actor playing Saruman, Christopher Lee, was the only member of the cast who actually met Tolkien. He was a diehard fan who read the series every year until his death.
Good work my man! Spreading the facts
Originally promised the role of Gandalf, too, all those years ago. Unfortunately by the time LOTR was in development, Christopher Lee was much older, and even he said he couldn't physically perform the job, as Gandalf is a pretty physical role. So the role was given to Ian (who is about 20 years younger than Christopher was), and Christopher got Saruman instead.
@@trevellyannThis Is not true. He never promised the role to him nor knew him personally, sadly.
Though he was too star-struck to say much to the professor when they met.
@martingenero6328 he didn't "know" him, they met briefly in the 50's, idk about him being promised the role though
Oh my God, you described Gandalf perfectly as an angelic messenger! That’s literally what he is!
And the Balrog is a demonic equivalent.
@@markfarmer7534 Yeah, they are like "brothers" - born as the same, equal in power, equal in age. Just one followed the Eru and other followed the Melkor.
@@grlt23 balrog from O block
@@grlt23 technicaly, when Gandalf came to middle earth his power was a bit nerfed, but luckly, he was acctuly a pretty powerful maiar, the thing is that he was very humble so he never bragged about it
A fallen angel...
Okay, I have watched these movies a hundred times, and I've NEVER made the connection that when Frodo first calls him Smeagol he says, "What did you call me?" instead of referring to himself as "us." Awesome reaction!
SAME ... so many times watched, never realised :')
same
Exactly, this lady is honestly very intelligent seeing so many details for the first time.
really? lol
@@wtfgebeurdmij2991 what does that make all of the people who didn't catch on? lmao
This is the most enjoyable reaction to this amazing trilogy I've seen - and I've seen many. Thank you so much for the deeper understanding and the emotion. You are tuned in and you get it. It shows.
It sure is! Totally and genuinely into it. No jokes. No addressing characters by names from other shows/movies. And putting together the lore wonderfully. She's the best.
Came to say the same thing! :)
I'm a new subscriber and I agree! I've seen so many reactions of LOTR and way too many people miss details or unspoken facial expressions. She is very intuitive in understanding characters and not just seeing them in black and white. Definitely one of my favorite reactors so far!
She's sharp, this one. Picking up on all the subtleties that most don't get on a first watch. Great reactions.
I was thinking the same thing. SoFie is very perceptive.
Yet somehow she, and every other reactor, seem to forget Sam can’t swim when it comes to the bog scene
Genuinely. Seriously impressed. A lot of what she's getting flew over my head on my first watch.
I just had the same thought. Sofie picked up on stuff that I didn’t get in a dozen viewings, like Gollum using first-person-singular (as opposed to “we/our/us) when Frodo calls him Smeagol and he says “What did you call me?”
@@mediablindspots For real! I've seen the movies so many times and never caught that one. That was impressive
Your Gollum/Smeagol lightbulb moment has been truly worth the price of admission. :)
Miranda Otto, who plays Eowyn, shares your feelings about Aragorn, in an interview:
Miranda Otto on Viggo Mortensen:
“From the moment that I saw him onscreen, I thought, ‘Shit, he looks incredible. Here’s a character I don’t have to pretend to be in love with.’”
Funny imagining Eowyn going "well shiiiit..."
@@cranederoc When a guy so handsome and masculine makes you go break character, he is mighty damn fine.
@@optimusprowse6448 I can't remember if it was Fran or Phillips, but on the FOTR commentary, she comments that , "He's gorgeous."
I mean, I get it. I’m a straight dude, but Aragorn makes me question that.
@@crawdaddy1234Nah, he is a great role model that speaks to us, what a man should be, strong and wise but also doesn't hide his emotions when time comes.
“Obviously he leveled up” is one of the funniest things I have heard in a while. Thanks
With the good old M.E.R.P, Gandalf leveled up from 40 to 120.
That's why he was sending the rest of the party away, he wanted all the XP to himself
It's literally true. When Olorin (Gandalf) died and went back to the angelic realm, they told him he had to go back and made him the head of the wizards since Sarumon fell to Saurons temptation.
@@CJR-wv8kc 😂
It's the best short description of what happened to him though!
Boromir's last words were "My brother! My captain! My king!"
Gandalf (along with Saruman, Sauron and the Balrog) are known as maiar. They are like angels and can't be "killed". They take on physical forms when they're in Middle Earth. The wizards took on the form of old men. The Balrog was given a demonic appearance because it fell from grace. Sauron's "form" in Middle Earth is more like a beautiful elf.
Gandalf's body "died" after he defeated the Balrog, but Eru (God) brought him back since Saruman had turned evil. Gandalf was elevated to the leader of the wizards and given "The White" status. His memory is spotty when Aragorn and company first meet him because they are referring to his previous form and this new form has yet to completely make all the connections to it. Gandalf The White knows his mission, but the personal details are still foggy. He went to Lothlorien after coming back and Galadriel gave him the white robe he's wearing. He was reborn naked.
Oh, thank you! Now i'm stuck with a vision of a naked man walking into a bar in Lorien, sizing up an elf and saying "I want your clothes, your boots and your horse".
But seriously, thanks for a bit of background lore. When I first read the Hobbit at age 11, I kind of felt that world it's set in is fully fleshed out and there's a lot more to it than what is in the book, and was thorougly fascinated by it.
Thanks for typing this out, I was just going to, haha. Glad someone added this, thumbs up to help other people understand the lore.
The colors of the wizards are more like jobs. The white wizard is supposed to lead the armies head on against Sauron, while the Grey wizard's job is to support the smallfolk and keep the flame of resistance burning, the Brown wizard does the same for the animals and plants. The blue wizards went East and not much is known about them
@@2424Lars The White Wizard was also the head of the Order of Istari (wizards). When Saruman (in the book) took on becoming Saruman of Many Colors, he essentially foreswore his ties to Valinor, Iluvatar and the Valar. Gandalf, upon his return, was elevated to higher power because of the loss of Saruman.
Yes, one of the weaknesses of the movies is that they never explain, or even allude to the Wizards, the Balrog and Sauron being basically god like entities, not random mortals and monsters with magical powers. So it flies behind most normies heads that Lord of the Rings has a big divine connotation to it.
When I first started to watch people reacting to games and movies I have already experienced, I felt a bit guilty. That was more than a decade ago. I asked myself over and over why would I join this trend of watching somebody watch something I already know. I figured it out, eventually. Watching other people experience these things allows me, in a way, to re-live that wonder, excitement and joy of seeing them for the first time myself. I get to re-live those surprises, emotions, plot-twists. And I absolutely LOVE watching people seeing Lord of the Rings for the first time. I have watched many people seeing these movies and I always enjoyed it.
Of all the people seeing the movies for the first time, I like your reactions the most. The emotions are pure and strong, the voice is soft and soothing, and to top it all, you have better understanding of the world than any other first-time viewer that I have ever seen. Many of your guesses or remarks are something that I myself did not find out about the stories until later, when I read the books again and then Silmarillion and then also watched some videos (I admit it, I did not get to know everything just by reading). You are so on top of the things and I just utterly love how you seem to be open to being completely delving into the story, feeling it, sucking all the details in like a sponge. Connecting all the dots and details across the movies together. I am just so happy I got to see this. I actually think I will be returning to these reactions in the future to get my fix.
I hope you will read the books one day as well, there are some things that the movies changed or omitted - some of those are small (like Bilbo making witty jabs at other Hobbits when giving them gifts), some are bigger (no spoilers on that part from me). Thank you for being you, for reacting to these movies and for enjoying them so much.
I would love to talk about so many things, but maybe just one from the very end - do not be too hard on yourself for having a crush on Aragorn who is in his 80s. His gf is a few thousand years old, it is a different world. ;)
Early reactors were even heavily criticized for supposedly stealing content.
@@jp3813 I think that if you just play something and add none of your opinions, then that is no good, but genuinely reacting or adding your own thoughts (or indeed information with many videos about history and such) is totally fine.
And I personally find it strange to go somewhere just to criticise somebody. If I do not enjoy something, I just leave in silence, but I have the courtesy to not be nasty about it. Only exception is when I debate with somebody on a topic, but even then I try to keep it civil.
Sorry for a longer reply, I tend to have windy responses.
@@Boleslav4 I’m one of “those” Tolkien fans who likes Rings of Power. I had a love/hate relationship with Season 1, but thoroughly enjoyed Season 2. Even at my most ranty on Season 1, didn’t insult people who actually liked it. If you hate something, turn off the TV and let people enjoy their show in peace. It’s still a gateway to Middle-earth, and if they like it, they might make really enjoyable reaction videos to LOTR, The Hobbit, and the behind-the-scenes stuff. (Her channel is Flow State Reactions, and she really is a lot of fun.)
I’ve been planning to do a lengthy comment heaping praise on these reaction videos, but you said most of it for me, so thank you
So I get to be THAT GUY! When Aragorn kicks the helmet and screams, the guy who plays him, Viggo Mortenson, actually broke his toe. That was a genuine scream of pain that he managed to keep in character.
Well done, soldier
I can see it now: (damn that hurts) 'A Hobbit lay here' (geez it's really throbbing) 'their hands were bound' (those pills haven't kicked in yet) 'their bonds were cut' (I wish Jackson would say "CUT") 'they made haste into Fangorn Forrest' (Medic!) :P
Well, I hate to be a party pooper.....there's older comments that got there before you
Points for not starting with the cringe: FUN FACT!!!
Damn, in this video section, you really became THAT guy
A lot of the reason Eowyn is attracted to Aragorn is because of what he is: he’s a skilled warrior, a leader of men, brave, valiant, honorable, quiet in his power, and he respects her desire to have something beside’s a woman's traditional role, and respects her. He sees her as an equal, the only difference being decades worth of experience in his case. He might also recognize some of himself in her: when he was twenty, he was idealistic, for lack of a better term. There was an innocence to his valor.
When he says he was raised in Rivendell, he’s understating the situation. When he was two, Aragorn’s father was killed by orcs, and his mom took him to Rivendell. They don’t show it in the movie, but Elrond is his foster father and loves him very much. To protect him, Elrond kept his true identity from Aragorn until he was twenty. Elrond named him Estel, which is the Elvish for hope. Biologically, Elrond is also Aragorn’s uncle, about 3000 years removed.
When I read the books the first time, I had the worst crush on Aragorn, and haven’t really changed my mind fifty years later.
“Poor Aragorn, died at 87 from food poisoning” no I’M dying 😂😂😂
"The score has been playing in my head since I finished the first movie."
Me too Sophie, me too.
It's beautiful
Me three - been stuck there for over 20 years now!
It's been a pleasant 23 years, hasn't it?
@@Freelancer4tehwin Well, at least when the music was playing. 🙂
Fun fact: in the books when Merry and Pippin cut their ropes, they stop to eat a snack in the middle of the battle
And that's how they confirmed the tracks they were following belonged to hobbits: because who else would have a snack in the middle of a battlefield?
As you do…🤣
Oh those Hobbits!😂
I mean of course
You can't miss breakfast
Second breakfast
Elevenses
Luncheon
Afternoon tea
Dinner
Or supper
Such a hobbit thing to do tho 😂
The scene where Aragorn reveals he’s 87 hints at a LOT of Tolkien backstory. Eowyn recognizes he’s a Dunedain, a descendent of Numenor. Now Numenor was an ancient island empire of men, founded 6500 years previously by Elrond’s own twin brother Elros - they were half-elf half-men mixed race. Elros chose to live out as a man and so was not immortal, but did live 500 years. His descendants through 62 generations to Aragorn are long-lived, though by Aragorn’s time he’d be lucky to live to 200 or so.
Numenor is like Tolkien’s Roman Empire but also his Atlantis, and so was eventually corrupted by Sauron and destroyed. Survivors founded the kingdoms Arnor in the North and Gondor in the South. Arnor eventually failed (hence Aragorn makes some comment about the Northern Kingdom being destroyed long ago) but descendants of its people (Aragorn and his kin and clansmen) are called Dunedain. Gondor is where Boromir was from and we see that in the final movie.
goated summary!
Amazing explanation!
Aragon lived to be 212 I believe? Great explanation!
@@Hydelsius 🚨 SPOILER ALERT 🚨
Numenor is definitely his Atlantis, Tolkein is not a fan of the Roman Empire.
You're 100% right when you said that you can hear the centuries in Eowyn's song, she's singing in Rohirric, which is in essence Old English (its identical except for a few different words/rules here or there) so she's literally singing in a language that's over a thousand years old.
To be more precise, Tolkien translated the Rohirric names and dialogue as Old English, the same way he translated Common Speech names and sentences as modern English. (Obviously, they aren't really speaking English in Middle-earth, all English dialogue and names are translated from the in-universe Common Speech names and dialogue.) Because Rohirric is related to the Common Speech the same way Old English is related to modern English: modern English is a mash-up of Old English, Latin and French, and the Common Speech is a mash-up of Adûnaic (the language of Númenor) and native Middle-earthian Mannish languages whose closest still spoken relatives are Rohirric and the languages of the Men of the Lake-town/Dale and the Valley of Anduin.
Tolkien’s the reason why I went down the Anglo-Saxon/Beowulf rabbit hole, first in translations, then later in the original. That was decades ago, so I don’t remember that much of the language, but its still one of my favorite epics and one of my favorite cultures.
It is not just Old English. Tolkien has deliberately used a less-common dialect. Most Old English documents are in the West Saxon dialect (typical of Winchester, Hampshire), but Tolkien uses a Mercian dialect (Midlands) which was actually a closer forerunner to modern English than West Saxon, which lost its prestige at the Norman Conquest. Mercian was the basis for the London dialect that became more prominent after the Norman Conquest. Tolkien came from Mercian country himself.
@ Very interesting. Leave it to Tolkien.
Love this thread. Thanks to all for sharing your knowledge.
“You can actually hear the centuries in this music” THAT’S the kind of quality I come to SoFie for!! Ugh, I love how you always pay attention and appreciate things ❤ Someone may have already said, but the language and the music were both specifically artfully created to feel that way and! I love your reactions omg 😊 SoFie, you absolutely need to watch all the behind the scenes special features on this trilogy after you finish it, even if you don’t want to bother making it a reaction. I mean, I’d love it as a reaction… but I’m just saying I know you will love all the stuff about the art and music and creation SO MUCH.
Indeed, that comment was simply brilliant..... A very apt and incredible line in itself, it's like something Tolkien himself would have said.......I really am impressed! SoFie genuinely IS an incredibly insightful and intelligent reactor, and having watched quite a few others reacting to this trilogy in all sorts of different ways, I have to agree that I've not seen anyone "get" the lore, the richness and the depth of this story in quite the same way... her grasp of some of the subtle little nuances and images that 99% of the time go un-noticed by other reactors who either simply miss them, or worse still, talk over them, makes her reactions remarkably watchable, and enjoyable......my sincere compliments to you, SoFie!
23:02 i love your empathy in this moment. Because that is exactly what Frodo is thinking: here is another bearer of the ring. His fate could very easily be mine
and at 53:05 too.
I agree with Sam and Faramir on their intuitive insight of Gollum's ulterior motives
"To hear an Orc call anything filthy is a master class in projection." 🤣👍
One of the reasons the CGI Gollum is so good is that Andy Sirkis was there on set in a mocap suit playing him. When Frodo and Sam were wresting with Gollum, they were wrestling with Andy.
This movie has endless reactions on RUclips. This is by far the best, not only have you enjoyed and reacted accordingly to the funny or emotional moments (Only orc-people don't cry with Theodred's funeral) but you've managed to capture on your first watch the essence of the stories through the film, which is usually only wraspped fully through the books. Your empathy towards Frodo, your pity for Gollum, Tolkien's love for world-building and languages appreciated, the understanding of Gandalf as an almost angelic being and the impossible conundrum king Theoden finds himself in. Perfect! 10/10
Aragorn: "I do not know what strength is in my blood, but I swear to you I will not let the White City fall, nor our people fail."
Boromir: "Our people, our people. I would've followed you my brother... My captain... My King."
46:27 "No parent should have to bury their child" That one line always gets me ..
I think Bernard Hill said a woman he was talking to said that, and it touched him so much he used it for Theoden.
That is one of a few lines of dialogue that always pulls me OUT of the world, sadly. Bernard Hill added that line and it does NOT sound like Tolkien AT ALL.
I looooooove your reactions because you don't just react, you analyse, you take us with you in your journey, and you understand quite well all the nuances of the story and the characters. It's truly an enjoyable moment to watch those movies with you ! Thank you !
Well said and very true.
Yes, exceptional insight based on meticulous attention to what is before you, and thinking about its ramifications in the context of the story already recounted. So many students should learn from that. The best reaction to LOTR I have seen on RUclips.
Wow - I've watched so many reactions to these movies, and I've never seen anyone so accurately "get it" during their first watch, Sofie! Your summary of the Smeagol/Golllum duality (and a lot more, mind you) is spot on. I've read the books for 45+ years, so it's always been difficult to tell if I've picked up something from the movie or if I'm unconsciously conflating it with the knowledge I have from reading the stories, but you're showing how awesome the movie is!!
The scene where the banner ripped off and blew away was a complete accident. It actually ripped away in the wind while filming. Instead of doing a retake they kept that in and added the insert of it falling at Aragorn’s feet. Just one of those happy coincidences that helped make this such a great movie.
EDIT: Apparently the ripping of the banner was planned. However it was not expected to soar away in the wind like it did. They liked that so much they kept it in the movie.
Like Gandalf bumping his head on Bilbo's ceiling in FotR and Aragorn kicking the orc's helmet and breaking a toe earlier in this movie. Real life accidents during filming that made it into the final cut.
No, it didn't. It's a total bs. It was absolutely rigged to rip off, and you can find numerous quotes from Jackson and other members of the production team debunking that ridiculous myth. There was nothing accidental about that scene. I honestly don't get how there are still people spreading this in 2024.
Nah, the flag ripping of was intentional, it was just unexpected that it suddenly gained so much air and flew so far.
@@Timootius Thanks for the correction. I double checked the director’s commentary and you are correct. They did intend for the flag to rip, but not to fly away so far.
What I love the most about these movies are that they are 100% sincere. Two men can hug, even kiss each other on the forehead, and it just comes off as sweet and admirable, tender and caring Manly even. . If this was made ten or (God forbid) twenty years later, it would be filled with quips and sarcastic remarks instead of timeless themes. When Gandalf proclaims his horse Shadowfax is "Lord of all horses" it's sincere, believable and awe-inspiring. If they had a scene like that in the MCU, Iron Man or Starlord would have laughed and made a sarcastic joke about how corny that sounds.
Movies today aren't sincere anymore. They don't dare to be tender and real. Every scene has to be broken up by a joke or silly remark.
Peter Jackson really understood how to adapt Tolkien's works. These movies are already classic and timeless, and universally loved
No, it’s not manly, it’s ghey, that’s why the Hobbit race died out in Middle-Earth.
Comic book movies are a different thing altogether though. I'm not a big fan of them either although I love Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy as they manage to mix quippy remarks with heartfelt emotion remarkably well. Things like Dune take the source material incredibly seriously and don't add edgy remarks for the sake of it so I can't agree that all movies do that nowadays but it does seem to be a trend as big budget franchises like Oceans, F&F, Mission Impossible, etc., etc. are what draws in the movie going public.
Where I see the best stories that have imaginative, serious but fun treatment of the material is on streaming services with series and mini series shows. Black Sails, The Last Kingdom, Peaky Blinders, Vikings, Shogun, The Last of Us, Reacher, Game of Thrones, until, you know, that season, all great series without the overdone over the top action and insincereness of today's blockbuster movies.
Yup, was going to say the same! These movies hold up as timeless because they’re sincere and they respect the world that they’ve created.
Hollywood actually made fun of the relationship between Frodo and Sam's friendship, they made them look like homosexuals and made fun of plenty of characters but their attempts were in vain. Hollywood felt emasculated when LOTR showed that men can have sincere deep bonds of friendship.
Actually cinema has a cycle of birth, growth and decay of genres of movies.
First is the beginnings of a genre such as a Western cowboy genre for instance, movies that are cheap, badly acted, faltering, with limited appeal,then stories come along that are better, budgets get bigger, better actors and writers enter the mix, there is a sudden expansion and a then a golden age of the genre, a bunch of lesser outings, then some amazing epics that define the genre and stand the test of time, then a bunch of cheap imitations, finally the genre gets stale and parodies emerge making fun of the tropes and the "look and feel" and that is welcome by that time, but instead of reviving the genre it kind of kills it for a generation. The next generation then has a renaissance when a good director that has made his or her bones decides to really go all out.
You see this with Westerns, Cop buddy movies, Sci-fi, Fantasy, which is now mostly just Disney Channel teenagers playing sarcastic comedy riffs -- Superhero movies have already peaked and gone straight into parodies of themselves after getting overdone.
The Lord of the Rings, of course is a nearly century old set of books, and is totally beloved, and you could say Game of Thrones is totally in its shadow. It is, for how it "has to look and sound" while staying fairly close to the book source material. It is the LOTR books that created the entire genre, which was more like Robin Hood or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves before -- kid stuff, ya Know? Well there was King Arthur stories -- dry Christian allegory poetic literature basically, and then newspaper comic serial type stuff, turned in the middle of the 20th century into pro-monarchy white diatribes against socialist ideas of plurality. Even the tales of the Nights of the round table ended up turning into sexy period soap operas and Monty Python basically nearly killed them off for good.
The fact that Peter Jackson decided when and where to stray into modern humor and melodrama and where he decided to play it by the book, literally, shows that he is master craftsman who knew his audience. He made the wise but extremely difficult decision to film all three movies at once with the actors at the same age and place and the same set of crew of all the people dedicated to costumes, locations, continuity -- a truly huge effort and a gamble that paid off.
The Harry Potter movies while standing as fairly consistent still were a jumble of directorial changes from film to film, and got a bit out of it by the end. The subsequent spin-off movies while OK are not anywhere near as epic or well put together.
There will be more attempts at reviving the Sword an Sandals , the Spy movie, The action buddy comedy, even old saws like Frankestein and Dracula keep coming back. LOTR fantasy genre is here to stay, but will probably not hit another peak for another generation.
The body in the marshes was not the king, but an elven soldier who died three thousand years ago in THAT great battle.
Same campaign, not the same battle.
@@TheCenobyteyes but the movie compresses all the battles in the war of the last alliance into one, obviously they aren’t going to fully depict a 10+ year siege
37:00 There's a bit more in the books (this is not a spoiler) about Sauron's mindset as regards someone destroying the ring. Basically, Gandalf talks to Aragorn earlier in _The_ _Two_ _Towers_ about how it is the nature of Evil to fear that someone very powerful (such as Saruman, Galadriel, Aragorn, etc) would try to wield the ring against him. Because Sauron is consumed by his ambition and a lust for power, he sees everyone else as having similar motivations. So he simply cannot even imagine such a powerful weapon as the One Ring being destroyed. Gandalf even notes that (paraphrased from the books): "If Sauron had committed all his forces to guarding Mordor and Mount Doom, barring entry to anyone seeking to destroy it, and instead sent out small forces to find and capture the Ring, then Middle Earth would have surely been doomed.". If Sauron had used that type of tactic, then either he would have found the ring, or someone would have ultimately succumbed to the temptation to use it against him. But Evil is selfish. So Sauron could not risk anyone else replacing him. It's a very powerful and universal theme that constantly underlies and informs the main goal of our heroes.
And speaking of the books, it's frustrating to hear you say that Gimli doesn't have the constitution to keep up with Legolas and Aragorn when they are tracking Merry and Pippin. Having endurance is the main strength of Dwarves in the world of Middle-Earth, but the movies abandoned that concept to turn Gimli into comic relief. Now I don't mind the humour too much; I just wish it had been handled better by not making Gimli - and all Dwarves by proxy - feel so incompetent.
Also, it's important to remember that Aragorn is a Ranger. So his ability to track the Hobbits and Orcs, and find clues about how the Hobbits escaped the battle, is simply one of the most important skills that he has acquired over his long life.
And Aragorn, being Dunedain, is basically the Captain America of Middle Earth. Dunedain, due to their Númenórean heritage is just better at everything than normal men.
I get such a kick out of Gimli griping about running. He’s got the stamina to keep up with his long-legged friends and have enough breath left-over to b**** about it. Maybe it’s because I’d reread the books so many times by the time these movies were released, but I still think movie Gimli is plenty badass, even though he’s not as serious as his book counterpart.
But can anyone else actually wield the ring against Sauron? I thought it only serves him and basically part of him, so he dies when the ring is destroyed. I thought that idea of the ring is that it tempts others with promises of power while not actually working for anyone other than Sauron. Or is it not the case? I haven't read the books.
@ I think it’s in one of the letters, but Tolkien said that, of the potential ring wielders, Gandalf the White is probably the only one who could actually challenge Sauron and win. The others, including Galadriel, would think they could win, but only because the ring was feeding their delusion. They might make Sauron work for it, but he’d eventually win. Gandalf challenging Sauron and winning would be a horrific result for the free peoples because the ring would corrupt Gandalf’s pity and his desire to help people into being a worse dark lord than Sauron. Gandalf would strip people of free will under the illusion that he’s protecting them and keeping them from being harmed.
@@Ayrim_ Nope. The Ring serves only the will of Sauron. Even if someone pure like Gandalf managed to use it to destroy Sauron, he'd be corrupted and become the next Dark Lord, after all Sauron was a fallen Maia (Maiar are lesser angels, so to speak) and Gandalf (originally named Olórin at the time of his creation) was a Maia as well. Matter of fact, it is canon that the Ring could not be destroyed except by chance or divine intervention (actually chance is divine intervention but let's not get into that).
No one can cast the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom because the closer it gets to the place it was forged, the more powerful it becomes, and it inevitably corrupts its bearer. So while the plan was pitched as "take the Ring to Mount Doom and throw it into the fire", the actual plan was "take the Ring to Mount Doom and pray to Eru (God) for a miracle", something both Gandalf and Elrond knew, but the rest of the Fellowship did not.
I'm impressed. Not many people pick up on that between Frodo and Sam. The way Frodo is projecting his hopes for himself on to Smeagol. And Sam unknowingly speaks ill of Frodo by what he says about Gollum.
Sam, for all his amazing qualities, sees moral issues in black and white, good or evil. Gollum is evil and can’t be trusted. True. But Gollum/Smeagol also responds to Frodo’s kindness. Frodo is the first person in over 500 years to offer Gollum tangible respect. That’s why Frodo’s “betrayal” at the hidden pool guts Gollum so much.
Yes, many people immediately jump to saying "Sam's the real hero" but underappreciate Frodo's real strengths. Sam couldn't have borne the ring, and Frodo had to be quite perceptive and clever, especially in the books. They both needed each other
Great reaction. You are very smart to pause and give comment. So many reactors talk over important scenes and then are clueless as to why things are happening. You grasp so much and your commentary is amazing. So fun to watch these with you.
Fun fact, the actor who played Aragorn (Vigo Mortensen) is a real horse trainer. He lives on a ranch and takes care of all the horses he adopted. He actually adopted the two horses he rode during the filming of the movies. He also purchased and gifted Arwens horse to the stunt double who fell in love with the horse. He’s a total class act, too good for Hollywood sadly.
yea the camera work to symbolize the two sides of Gollum/Smeagol was perfect, if you noticed, every time Smeagol speaks he has normal pupils, but when Gollum speaks they are all contracted like points
You had the absolute best reaction to the first movie I’ve ever seen! Looking forward to this one
“You can hear the centuries in the music”. Beautiful line SoFie. Lines like that are why we love your reactions.
Hahahah! Gandalf did indeed "Level up". Loving your reaction to this, the greatest film trilogy ever.
You're doing grat with the names!!
Borimir said "I would have followed you my brother, my captain, my king."
Also cool fact, Treebeard is voiced by John Rhyes Davies who plays Gimli :)
Every scene is a work of art. Gollum self talk scene, The exorcist scene, “no parent should have to bury their child”, Aragon Sherlock Holmes scene, Legolas defending Glimli with his bow against Rohan… just amazing work by Peter Jackson and the cast. The de-Aging CGI of the king was immaculate, a lot of technical breakthrough came from these movies.
The de-aging wasn't CGI - they progressively added aging makeup to Bernard Hill and ran the film backwards!
The Maeras were a breed of wild horses brought from the West that were more intelligent, faster and stronger than other horse breeds. They descend from Felaróf, who was tamed by the first King of Rohan. Their descendants later became the mounts of the Kings of Rohan and their sons. They would bear no other riders.
Gandalf was the only other person allowed to ride any of the Maeras, and Shadowfax accompanied him throughout the latter period of the War of The Ring.
I have watched like 8 people react to LOTR but you are the only person to pay attention to many of the small details that make the LOTR great and I thank you for that!
Gandalf IS a divine being, a Maia. Basically a lesser angel, same as Saruman ....and Sauron. The backstory for Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit is more epic, but not as thoroughly written. A good chunk of it was included in the appendices at the end of Return of the King novel, and The Silmarillion, which covers thousands of years before the Hobbit, was going to be the master epic that Tolkien spent his life working on. Sadly he passed before it was finished, but though it's disjointed and hard to read the story is worth it and rounds out Lord of the Rings by giving context you didn't know you were missing. For example, Galadriel giving Gimli three hairs from her golden head is a reference to the Silmarils from the first age thousands of years before. This is why Legolas smiles when Gimli tells him
I loved "sarumon is a master of logistics and supply" lmao
Sofie you are so perceptive, thats exactly what Gandalf is: A Angelic messenger from the Valar (the gods) sent to middle earth to help in the resistance against Sauron, Gandalf (and the other "wizards" are of an order of Maia called the Istari, the Balrog is a Maia as well, bound in service to the FIRST Dark Lord , Morgoth, of whom Sauron was his chief Lieutenant) Arrived in Middle-Earth at the start of the 3rd age
A small correction. In the world created by Tolkien, there is only one God and that is Ilúvatar. The Valar are not gods but the equivalent of Christian angels. Maja, which included, among others, Gandalf were also angels, but weaker than the Valar
@@balrog7252 yes, I def know this, was just oversimplifying for the non-tolkien scholars
@@balrog7252 Lower-case "gods" works fine for finite beings created by the Most High God. The Hebrew elohim (gods) denotes power, and the Valar are called the Powers. Angels/spiritual beings in the Bible are also called "sons of God" (Deuteronomy 32:8; see Dead Sea Scrolls, compare to Septuagint), and possibly even "gods" (Psalm 82).
@@balrog7252 I consider the Valar to be much more powerful than angels, sort of like minor Gods. It's the Maiar that I consider to be equivalent to Angels.
In the “Slinker and Stinker” scene where Sméagol is chasing the fish in the stream, if you turn the camera around 180 degrees you would see Wellington New Zealand in the valley below.
I love seeing people fall in love with the beauty that is middle earth!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for understanding Theodens dilemma. So many people write him off as arrogant. But you understood very clearly that he was afraid of outside influence because of Grima and Saruman. He’s may not be right, but he’s doing the best he can.
Also, loved the Treebeard reveal jumpscare.
The actor who plays Saruman, Sir Christopher Lee, played villains in the vast majority of his 200+ film performances, including memorable turns as Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels and multiple performances as Count Dracula in the Hammer Horror movies of the 50's and 60's.
He was a truly extraordinary man, he was a member of the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare in WWII and hunted Nazi's after the war, he was one of the most accomplished swordsman on film, at one point (not sure if it is still true) appearing in more swordfights than any other actor and an honorary member of three stunt unions. He could speak half a dozen languages fluently and another half dozen passably, he had an extensive collection of occult material (from all the horror films he was in), he was a trained Opera singer and recorded two heavy metal albums after he turned 90, he was the only person involved in these films, cast or crew, to have met JRR Tolkien (although that was only once), he read Lord of the Rings, on average, yearly from its publication until his death (wanted to play Gandalf for years but recognized he was too old by the time these were made), and apparently regularly wandered around the production officers making suggestions to whoever would listen to him. At the time of his death, he had appeared in a credit role in more movies than any other actor (I don't think its true any longer, but I am not 100% sure)
From his writings, you can tell Tolkien loved trees, horses, countryside living, smoking a pipe with tobacco, languages, stories, poetry, and love with a bit of sadness mixed in. Not surprisingly much of that describes the Shire.
Andy Serkis, who plays Gollum has a complete unabridged audio book of the Lord of The Rings Trilogy. He is able to portray every character uniquely in his reading.
It's available on Spotify too! It made me so happy to find it there.
Andy Serkis is an acting god.
Can't wait till Monday. A top-tier reactor doing these movies is a real treat. Thank you.
Gandalf has one of the 3 rings given to the elves. Those rings were all based on elements, and his is the ring of fire, and the power it gives him is that of hope. I love all the commentary about him being the one comforting people because it's perfectly in line to his ring. It also makes sense why everyone is so distraught when he falls fighting the Balrog. Its quite literally a symbol for the fellowship losing hope.
The ring enhances his ability to kindle spiritual fire (and probably helps with physical fire): he kindles courage out of fear and hope out of despair.
Elrond has the second, to my recollection.
@phousefilms yes, his is the water ring, and is part of why he is the master healer. Giladriel has the 3rd elven ring, the ring of air, and is why the wood elves are able to stay concealed from the orcs.
Sauron DIDN'T give the Elves their rings. They were forged using the knowledge the smiths learned from Sauron, while he was disguised as Annatar ("Lord of Gifts")
These three Elven Rings of Power were "unsullied," never touched by the hand of Sauron. Sauron learned of their making and desired to possess them. When Sauron created the One Ring, the Elves who wore the Rings of Power heard his voice, realized they had been deceived, and took off their rings. When Sauron was separated from the One Ring, these elven Rings were again able to be worn.
@@markfarmer7534 Elrond has Air and Galadriel has Water, which has always seemed opposite of how it should be to me.
Sofie. You hit the nail on the head so to speak. In the LOTR mythos gandolf and the other wizards are angels given mortal form and sent to help the free peoples to fight Sauron. Who is also a fallen angel.
Regarding "coordinating a CGI creature with a real person": A real person, Andy Serkis, did the acting while wearing motion capture equipment to record his every movement. The CGI was then done from the recording of his movements.
In fact. Gollum was CGId twice: Once before the release of Fellowship (we got a glimpse of what he looked like when he's noticed in Moria) and again before the release of The Two Towers.
"I would have followed you, my brother, my captain, my king." - Boromir's dying words.
I really really enyoj your reactions. The two sides of Smeagol/Gollum, the meaning on the return of Gandalf, the flag of Rohan waving and falling before Aragorn as he enters Edoras... I really think your comments are spot on and you capture them all very well. Also I really love your smile 😊😊 Can't wait for the second part!!!
Its amazing how well you can understand the layers of complexity between the relationship between Gollum, Frodo and their bond to the Ring! Love your reactions its so interesting watching you figure them out.
You are extremely perceptive, intelligent, compassionate and really recognize the subtle points of scenes and the message they send about characters and how it pertains to the whole story. Like the comment about Aragorn caring about the little people cause of his scream or how they make you believe Shadowfax is the lord of all horses (never even though about it) and Frodo talking about himself in the "I have to believe he can come back" and many such comments. This is not just a reaction to the movies, it's an experience of Tolkien's work and the craft of movie making explained comment by comment. This trilogy was definitely not wasted on you, it's exactly what you hope for when seeing someone watch it for the first time. You are awesome, I like you! :)
The bodies in the dead marshes ARE the soldiers from the Battle of Dagorlad in 3434 Second Age depicted at the start of the first movie, where the ring was cut from Sauron’s finger.
Dagorlad was the name given to the plain in front of the Black Gates. It translates to “Battle Plain” or “Plain of Victory” in Sindarin. Based in the Quenya root “Dacil” meaning “Victor”. The fallen in that battle were buried at the location that became the dead marshes.
The quote from Gollum in the books is “Yes, yes, all dead, all rotten. Elves and Men and Orcs. The Dead Marshes. There was a great battle long ago, yes, so they told him when Sméogol was young, when I was young before the precious came. It was a great battle. Tall men with long swords, and terrible Elves, and Orcses shrieking. They fought on the plain for days and months at the Black Gates. But the Marshes have grown since then, swallowed up the graves, always creeping, creeping.”
Beautifully done again Sofie. That amazing argument between Gollum and Sméagol, I was watching three pairs of emotive eyes! Gollum’s, Sméagol’s and yours! Nice! I read The Two Towers in 1978. I remember that without pictures, illustrations, and just with the written words, I fell in love with Eowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan.
I've waited all week for this moment!
Some ppl wait a lifetime for a moment like this....
me too
I am so glad to have found your channel. It was nice to watch the first one with you and feel so many emotions, haven't seen these films in at least a decade. And this new one just in right time! Ive been sick for a week and a lot of crazy things happened lately and this is just the right vibe for some mood stabilization. Thank you!
So excited to watch!!! I’ve been binging your once upon a time reactions since I watched your first lord of the rings reaction and I love your reactions so much! You’re so genuine and catch so many details and are just really fun to watch in general
Also, wanted to let you know that Gollum is done by an actual actor. His name is Andy Serkis and his portrayal of Gollum is a sight to behold.
His mo-cap work is beyond top-tier, he's just amazing
"Tree Bread" is a delightful slip 😅
I'm in love with your reactions ❤ thanks for helping me remember the emotions from my first time watching LotR.
"The orcs clearly understand the concepts of a restaurant with a menu"-- this is one of the funniest weird moments in this movie 😂😂 like are there orc food stalls in isengard??
Picking up on Sméagol saying me instead of us is so awesome
"Wait they're scared of them" might be one of the funniest lines in all Lord of the Rings reactions...........you saw what Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas and Boromir did to them when the fellowship broke?
If the three of them caught up they'd murder all of them. 😂😂😂
Having the reactor, reacting to my live comments as I watch the video is a weird but cool experience. Hope you're enjoying the movies as much as I'm enjoying the reaction.
To elaborate on how Gandalf and the Balrog fight went down. After falling into the lowest levels of Moria they fought more, but soon the Balrog decided he didn’t want any piece of Gandalf anymore, and fled. Gandalf knew he’d be lost in those deep tunnels, so he had to chase the Balrog hoping he’d flee to a place Gandalf could navigate. They came to the bottom of a fabled endless “Stair of Durin” that even Gimli thought was only a myth … the stair ran from unknown lowest levels to the very top of the mountain. Hence they fought their way to the mountain top. Gandalf prevailed but died in the end. Since his mission was incomplete and he was still true to his mission (unlike Saruman), he was resuscitated and leveled up by God (Eru). He then caught another eagle taxi off the mountain to Lothlorien, where Galadriel helped him and fitted him out with new clothes. In fact he arrived in Lorien the day after the Fellowship departed - so as they were boating down the river in the first movie, Gandalf was arriving in Lothlorien. And from there he made his way to Rohan (unknown how), and reunited with his horse Shadowfax.
One thing that made incorporating live actors with CGI Gollum/Smeagol more effective is that Andy Serkis not only provided the voice - he physically played the character (in a motion capture suit) for many of the scenes, and then the CGI version was edited over him.
WELL someone who actually gets most of it just by watching the movies. I applaud your description of GANDALF AND THE WORLD TOLKIEN CREATED. I read the books back i the 70s so watching yourself is ❤.
Part 2 please
It's great that you detected Gandalf as being an Angel! He is Maiar, which isn't a word I believe comes up in the movies. But he really is a kind of Angel in that universe. He's morals are so beautiful and interesting, he never goes too harshly, never uses magic where someone else can do the same with their own volition. Despite having the power to do so he doesn't simply fireball all of the orcs, because really, his one fundamental ethic is to return choice to those who it belongs to, sometimes with a touch of wisdom too.
In the books Saruman has been secretly preparing his orc army and alliance with men of Dunland for years before the events of the story. His villain arc goes farther and he was always secretive about it until his machinations to unleash his personal orc army were ready. In the movies they made his turn into evil seem more sudden.
What made Peter Jackson so special and this trilogy so epic is he told everyone they weren't making a fantasy, but telling a historical story of very real events. That emersed everyone into the world which completely pays off on screen.
That was my first clue that Jackson was doing it right; he gave Tolkien’s world the respect it deserves.
This is the conceit of the books as well. Tolkein acts as the translator of The Red Book, a historical text he found.
@@StinkyBuster - The ancient lost history of Middle Earth actually being real has been a lifelong personal belief.
All this started because a linguist (Tolkien) had a hobby developing his own languages. In order to develop realistic languages that would evolve over time and influence each other, he had to imagine the world in which they existed. The books he wrote were mainly there to show off these languages.
From that fertile imagination we got the Fantasy genre, the Dungeons and Dragons board game, role playing adventure games like the early text-based “Adventure” and “Rogue”, to the early “Warcraft” PC games, to the online “World of Warcraft” and similar games today.
All because Tolkien wanted to write things like “I amar prestar aen” (The World has changed”).
I love it that he has Luthien on his wife’s grave stone and Beren on his.
Its so satisfying to just see you vibe and get anything the movies try to tell us on the first go, really a pleasure, looking forward to the next part!
Hey, fun fact! (Not surprised if someone has already commented on this) but John Rhys-Davies, the actor who plays Gimli, the dwarf, also is the voice of Treebeard... He alters his voice speaking through a long tube of sorts, creating a drawn out bellowing effect 😊
if I remember correctly what he did was inhale while speaking his lines (we normally speak as we exhale air, so Rhys-Davies did the opposite), which gives that breathy quality. try it! you'll sound like Treebeard! 😄
Sofie, you were right about J.R.R. Tolkien creating an entire world, Middle Earth, and the stories both before and after "The LOTR" book. He really began with "The Hobbit", and then when that was a literary success, his publisher asked him for a follow up. Fifteen years later he submitted "LOTR". Tolkien had actually begun the process during World War One, and then continued throughout his life to add to the depth and breadth of his world. As others have said, he began the whole thing as an exercise in languages, his profession, and it grew from there. He conceived "LOTR" as one large book, but due to economic and publishing limitations after World War Two, it had to be broken up into three books. So now we have three movies. Thankfully it all worked out.
Sauron cannot imagine magnanimity, compassion, unselfishness, or integrity. He fears that Aragorn will use the ring against him. He can't conceive of any other intention.
I’m enjoying your reaction so much. I think this movie has one of the best openings ever.
Gandalf’s reveal was so well done. Ian McKellan does such an amazing job playing both Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White. Gandalf the White is “Saruman as he shouod have been” partly because he is now leader of the Istari, but mostly because he’s got all that power, but instead of being corrupted, he continues to use it to guide and uplift people. Gandalf has come back with his angelic characteristics closer to the surface. As Tolkien puts it in one of his letters, Gandalf can act as an angel in an emergency. I read LOTR when I was twelve in the early 70s, and Gandalf’s death broke my heart, and I was so happy to get him back. Countless rereads and countless rewatches later, and I still have those same feelings: it hurts to lose him, and it’s a gift to get him back.
Part of what makes Gandalf's reveal so amazing in the movies is because the first few sentences you hear him speak, while he's still obscured by blinding white light, are a mix of the same lines spoken in exactly the same way by both Christopher Lee and Ian McKellan. As you're watching that scene unfold you're kept in the dark about the White Wizard's identity, fearing it is Saruman because you're hearing his voice, but hoping it's a friend because something in the voice is off and also because he behaves so differently than Saruman would, until the final reveal of Gandalf's face. At that moment the voice of Christopher Lee is gone from the mix and you're left with the soothing voice of Ian McKellan.
@ It was such a brilliant way to confuse Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas, but it’s also a great way to delay the reveal for people who haven’t read the book. It’s also fun to watch a reactor start to figure things out. The clues are there. Pippin and Merry are gobsmacked, not terrified. Gandalf’s hair is much shorter than Saruman’s, and the biggest clue is the light. It’s warmer and brighter than the white of Saruman’s robes.
Thank you very much for your video. 😊
In one word... beauty.
Excellent edit, appropriate length, your reaction to details that most people don't even notice.
I thought I was the only one who was captivated by the language in the film.
I'm not from an English-speaking country, but I still couldn't watch the dubbed version because the original is just amazing.
And it just wouldn't be that.
The amazing English accent is mostly heard in Gandalf, Pippin and Faramir.
Beautiful music, language, nature.
Just perfection.
I can't wait for the second part...
Love you
❤❤
25:38- "ME! Not us!"
I've been watching this movie a couple times a year for more than two decades and I never caught that.
Treebeard is voiced by the same actor who plays Gimli John Rhys-Davies. Two quite different performances. :)
And yes, it's beyond Sauron's comprehension that anyone would want to destroy such a powerful item as the ring since all he desires is power.
Also RIP Bernard Hill who portrayed King Théoden so amazingly.
I really enjoyed your reaction to the first one, your really caught alot, it was fun watching along!
And another alot in this one too.
18:00
"Seeing him break down like this, it just shows how much he cares about his toe"
Reactions to LotR are always fun, but seeing one where the reactor truly "gets it" is a real treat.
"I would have followed you. My brother, my captain, my king."
the best detail is that gandalf the grey smoked but gandalf the white is basically a new born .so although he still smokes he now coughs everytime
30:39 you actually weren't far off when you guessed if he was saved by a divine being. though it should be noted that while his body was dying, Gandalf is not human. he is what is called a maia, which is also what Sauron, Saruman and all of the wizards are, so he would've survived having his physical form destroyed. what had happened is that with Saruman turning to evil, Eru had sent Gandalf back as Gandalf the White so he could wield more of his own power, wisdom, etc. and since Sauron was still causing problems, the task every wizard had been given was not yet done; so Eru, who is essentially God, sent Gandalf back to see it done with that increase in power. edit: maybe I should explain the Numenor thing. Numenor was essentially the Atlantis of lotr and had been blessed with an extended lifespan by the Valar, I think. Then they tried to invade Valinor after being manipulated by Sauron, and then had their island almost immediately sunk by Eru. Dunedain are descendants of the people who managed to escape.
These are the best trilogy ever made IMO. They’re some of the last of the really great movies that will be talked about for decades with universal concepts that everyone can relate to. They’re entertaining, imaginative but also have something to tell you about life. I can’t think of many, if any, movies that comes after that fit that bill.
I love that Peter Jackson et. al. weren't afraid to include literary references to Middle Earth lore that were never explained in the movies themselves. They are a gateway to the rest of Tolkien's world as rich as any mythology.
Just so you know, the scream was genuine. Viggo Mortensen broke his toe during this scene😂😂18:03
:,D
I know what you did.
Im waiting for this comment haha 😂
I was looking for this comment.😂
Man Viggo in these movies is on a whole different level of handsome, good grief. Such a nice bonus when watching these reactions 😂
Sauron assumes anyone who has the ring wants to use it for themselves. He has a blind spot in his reasoning. He cannot imagine anyone would want to destroy the ring and not use its power.
Watching your passionate reactions while watching The Lord of the Rings is amazing to me. Your soul is as beautiful as your face. Thank you for sharing that small piece of your heart with me and the rest of your viewers that can see your depth through your commentary.
The Uruks being from Isengard kidnapped Merry and Pippin. They met the Orcs who were from Mordor.
The books are so much more detailed.
Your reactions are really good❤❤❤❤