Replies

Well, even Matthew, Mark, Luke and John each told Christ's story a little bit differently. Also vital to a retelling is a shared love for the story that doesn't mock it.

Good point. But I don't think any version of their story fundementally changes who Christ was. Jackson felt the need to change fundementally who, for example, Faramir was. He also changed who Treebeard was and what Ents are.

And who Aragorn was. Thanks to the return of Gandalf, Aragorn had great faith in Gandalf's reappearance at Helm's Deep: "Now get you gone! No man knows what the dawn will bring him!" Jackson didn't share that faith and lessened Aragorn to show some human aspect of his character that was already displayed at when Boromir died.

A lot had to be explained with a few lines of dialogue. Tons. Just to play one of the scenarios... How are you going to show Aragorn's faith about what the dawn will bring? A confident stare? Why couldn't that hope come from Gandalf? I don't see it changing anything.

The key was their decision to ride out and face what comes. With or without hope, and that the moment they did that, salvation arrived when they needed it most.

Finding help and friends when you least expect it. That was Faramir. Faramir was met, and had no loyalty at all to Frodo's mission, only his own, and those missions appeared to conflict. Faramir was told from Frodo's point of view. Frodo was intensely afraid of Faramir, and in order to show that, along with Frodo's growing weariness and turmoil, was to make Faramir appear to be a threat, at first. And yet he did not act out of weakness, but strength... He took the prisoners so he could deliver the ring to his father and Gondor. He did not snatch it for himself. he showed his quality, along with the patriotism to Gondor, that in the end, made him come to the decision to release him. Why should Faramir never have to struggle with the ring? That would argue with the basic premise of the story would it not? - And yet, these fears, thoughts and descriptions and explanations on paper, need to be reduced to dialogue and picture. How do we show the peril the ringbearer felt?