Tailkinker

Answer: In Valinor, the elves will live with the Valar, their 'gods', in peace and tranquility. Elves don't really have supernatural powers - they have abilities appropriate to their species, which are strange to us, but not actually supernatural - these should remain the same. Galadriel will lose some of her abilities, yes, but this isn't because of relocating to Valinor, it's mostly down to the power of her Ring being lost. Whether those elves with magical abilities (spell-casting and so forth) will keep them is unclear - it's fairly questionable that they'd need them.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: None whatsoever. To quote Tolkien "As for any inner meaning or 'message', it has in the intention of the author none". He was strongly opposed to those who tried to read deeper meaning into the books.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Aragorn does ride Hasufel - just as in the books, he is lent to Aragorn by Eomer when they meet on the plains and Aragorn rides him until they reach Edoras. As for Roheryn - in the books, this is Aragorn's own horse, brought to him by a group of Rangers who join him for the fight. As this doesn't happen in the film, an alternative horse was needed. Choosing to use the "kingly-named" Brego, former steed of the late Theodred, the heir to the kingdom of Rohan provides a subtle reinforcement of Aragorn's gradual ascendancy towards the kingship.

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Answer: Arwen's mother is Celebrian, daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn. Around III 2510, about five hundred years prior to the events of the film, she was captured by orcs in the Redhorn Pass (the pass of Caradhras that the Fellowship fail to cross) and tortured. Rescued by her sons, Elladan and Elrohir, and healed by her husband, she chose to sail into the West.

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Answer: It's not so much becoming evil that he fears, but that Isildur's weakness may run in his bloodline, leading him to fail at a critical moment. He questions his worthiness to lead the world of men.

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Answer: There are no particularly precise figures anywhere - all that's available would be educated guesses based on watching the films, and you'd be just as qualified to do that as anybody.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: The elves were not supposed to be in Middle-Earth at all. While they awoke there, many thousands of years before the War of the Ring, the Valar (local deity equivalents) summoned them to Valinor, the Undying Lands, and the vast majority went willingly. When Melkor, the first Dark Lord, fled to Middle-Earth, taking the Silmarils (great jewels crafted by the elves) with him, a great host of the Elves returned to Middle-Earth in pursuit, against the wishes of the Valar. After the fall of Melkor, the elves remained in Middle-Earth, considered themselves in exile, although the Valar were content to allow them to return if they so wished. They also remained as a buffer against the return of evil - Sauron, Melkor's chief lieutenant, was still out there, as were many of Melkor's other allies - the Valar ensured that the elven magicks remained strong with this in mind. With the rise of humanity and the fall of Sauron, the elves are finally being called home by the Valar, going back to where they were always supposed to be, and leaving the lands of Middle-Earth to the younger races, as the Valar intended.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Aragorn is 210 years old when he dies. Some of the early texts give his age at death as 190, but Tolkien eventually confirmed that 210 is the correct age.

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Answer: No difference at all - Oliphaunts and Mumakil are simply what the creatures are called in different languages - Oliphaunt being the term used in the western lands of Middle-Earth, while Mumakil is from the language of the Haradrim from the southern reaches. As a note, Mumakil is plural - an individual creature is a Mumak.

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Answer: No. Tolkien was very specific about this - mortals who travel to the Undying Lands remain mortal and will live out their normal lifespan.

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Answer: Due to the overwhelming size of his forces, Sauron was able to fight the War of the Ring on several fronts. In addition to the main attack on Gondor, there were numerous other assaults - Galadriel's realm of Lorien was attacked, for example, as was the kingdom of the Wood-Elves, Legolas' people. The dwarf-kingdom of Erebor also came under attack, so the dwarves ended up fighting to defend their homeland. None of these battles were shown in the film, as it would have taken even more time, and would have taken the focus from the major characters.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Gandalf is extremely powerful, as are all the five Wizards. They were sent to Middle-Earth to aid the inhabitants in the fight against Sauron, but they were only sent to help - they were placed under a specific instruction that they were only to assist, not to lead - the battle ultimately had to be fought by the races of Middle-Earth. As such, they were forbidden from using the full extents of their magics, lest they become tempted to rule rather than advise. Saruman ultimately fell to this very temptation, and Tolkien felt that two of the other wizards (neither mentioned in the films) did likewise in lands far to the east, with only Gandalf and Radagast staying true to their mission.

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Answer: There are only five wizards. Saruman and Gandalf are heavily involved, as we see. Radagast, while not mentioned in the film, has a particular affinity with the birds and animals - it is he who sends the Eagles to the last battle, and to rescue Gandalf from Isengard. The final two, Alatar and Pallando, known as the Blue Wizards, went into the far eastern regions of Middle-Earth and never returned. Tolkien felt that they would ultimately have fallen from grace, much as Saruman did.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: No, they're still the same distance apart - it's a standard film technique to compress time for travelling and so forth. It's intercut with Pippin singing for dramatic effect, not to imply that it only takes the length of the song to travel the distance.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: There is already a boxset available of the three theatrical cuts. There will undoubtedly also be a boxset of the Extended Editions, which will no doubt come out in November, when the final Extended Cut is due for release.

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Answer: Sean Bean does show up, for about a second, in a flashback - this was enough to give him a credit.

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Answer: Aragorn rules until 210 FA, then passes away, leaving the kingdom to his son, Eldarion. Sam becomes Mayor of the Shire, seven times, and has thirteen children with Rose. After her death in 61 FA, he leaves the Shire and takes a ship into the West to be reunited with Frodo - allowed to do so because he too was a Ringbearer. Merry and Pippin become the heads of their respective families. In old age, they leave the Shire together and travel back to Rohan, then on to Gondor. They live out the remainder of their lives there and are buried in the tomb that will eventually house Aragorn's body as well. Legolas settles in Ithilien with other elves from his realm. After Aragorn's death, Legolas builds a ship and sails into the West. Gimli sets up a dwarven colony in the caves behind Helm's Deep. He stays in close contact with Aragorn and Legolas. After the death of the former, he accompanies Legolas in the West, the only dwarf ever to be allowed to do so. Precisely why he's allowed is unclear - it's most likely to do with his unprecedented friendship with Legolas, but another theory is that Galadriel remembered his pure love for her and obtained permission for him.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Royd Tolkien is seen during the Osgiliath sequence - he says that he's visible handing out spears. A picture of him, with friend and business partner Justin Nicholls, both in costume, can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/guides/halloffame/showbiz/royd_tolkien.shtml. As his role was created at the last minute, Royd is actually wearing Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn wig.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Most of the lists doing the rounds are rather more than gossip - most are based on statements by Peter Jackson and others involved closely with the production, so they should be taken as correct. No definitive list of changes has been issued, however, nor, I suspect, is there likely to be - lists that appeared for the previous Extended Editions all proved to be incomplete when that version was released.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: There are plenty of ruins throughout Middle-Earth, and the area known as Ithilien, where Frodo and co are at that point, is no exception. Once a populous region, it has been deserted for around 1000 years, since the fall of Minas Ithil (now Minas Morgul) and the return of the Nazgul. What Frodo and Sam are resting is no doubt some ruined structure left over from Ithilien's populated days.

Tailkinker ★