[HairOfTheDog]

Yes, in the book he (Frodo) rode alone... Arwen took him on the flight to the ford in the film... Not the way I would have done that part... but a minor quibble in the grand scheme of things... The movie was done beautifully, and a very complex story was crammed into less than three hours. PJ did a fabulous job, all things considered!

Are you going to see it?

[Robert A Cook PE]

I suppose I'll have to....My daughter (16) is "in love" with "Aragon's character" so I'll go with the when they see it again.

(Tooth surgery first though, she's no mood right now to do anything.)

[Mamzelle]

Before FOTR, I heard rumors that Arwen was to be made into Xena the Warrior Princess, and was alarmed. Now, I believe the substitution of Arwen for Glorfindel was an inspiration. PJ is pulling the legend of Luthien and Beren from other Tolkein writings and making Arwen more Luthien...If you recall, she was the initiator of lots of adventure. So it's not like PJ is making a more active Arwen from nothing.

One problem with LOTR was the poor dramatization of the relationship of Aragorn and Arwen...we are left to the appendices to figure it out and to discern her characterization. When I read LOTR for the first time as a teen, I thought, "And Aragorn rejected Eowyn for this figure?". Took the appendix to explain it.

There's no way an audience that isn't immersed in Tolkein (like me) could accept Aragorn's eventual rejection of Eowyn with no sense of who Arwen is and the sacrifices she is making (losing her immortality, her Elfhood, and her family to the West)...I think PJ has a workable answer here. Movies have to be different from books, to show instead of tell.

I've been reading of other changes that bother me more than drawing Arwen as a more active character...like elimination of the Scouring of the Shire, Killing Saruman on some sort of wheel in TTT...

I can't wait to see the ents!