Question: Was Minas Morgul (originally Minas Ithil by the Gondorians and sister city of Minas Tirith) reclaimed by the Gondorians after the war?
Tailkinker
7th May 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
7th May 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: After the fall of Sauron, Barad-Dur and Mordor as a whole, what was Mordor used as? Did it serve any purpose after the war? For example, did the survivors build a city/buildings?
Answer: It's never stated. It's certainly unlikely that there were any survivors on the plain of Gorgoroth, the north-west part of Mordor where Mount Doom and the fortress of Barad-dur were located. The remainder of Mordor, the more-fertile lowland area called Nurn, where slave-farms produced food for Sauron's armies, probably fared much better, but precisely what happened after Sauron's fall is never mentioned.
7th May 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: After King Elessar (Aragorn) dies in 120 FA, what exactly happens to Arwen?
Answer: Arwen leaves Gondor after Aragorn's death, now ruled by Eldarion, their son. She travels north, to the now-deserted remains of Lorien, to Cerin Amroth, a grassy mound at the very heart of the realm where she and Aragorn first pledged their love to each other. She passes away there in 121 FA.
7th May 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: What happens to Osgiliath after the war? Is the city rebuilt?
Answer: It's not clear what happens. Minas Tirith continues to be the capital of Gondor. It seems likely that Osgiliath would be rebuilt to some extent, but it probably never regained its full glory.
5th May 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: In the extended version, The Mouth of Sauron tells the heroes that Frodo is dead and the Ring is on it's way to Barad-Dur. The heroes give up hope but continue to fight in honour of what Frodo has tried to do. But when the Great Eye glows brighter at the Rings destruction, the heroes all look up at it before it explodes and Barad-Dur collapses. Do they think Sauron has reclaimed the Ring or he has been defeated?
Answer: You can't really say what a character is thinking, unless there's a voiceover or something, but, given that they believe that the Ring has been captured, it seems likely that most may well believe that Sauron has reclaimed the Ring. Whatever they actually think, it's clear that something must be happening, hence their attention being drawn. If there is an exception to this, it would be Gandalf - given that he's of the same race as Sauron (lesser Ainur, known as Maiar), and both have powerful magical abilities, it seems possible that Gandalf might be able to sense what has really happened before any actual physical signs became apparent.
4th May 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: I'm kinda unclear on this - why exactly does the ground cave in and swallow the orcs and other evil creatures when Sauron's defeated (when the ring is destroyed)? I did notice that it got most of the bad guys and didn't come too near aragon and the gondor/rohan army.
Answer: Sauron's power affects Mordor - it's his power, for example, that prevents the forging chamber in Mount Doom from filling with lava. With the defeat of Sauron, Mordor is badly affected - the uncontrolled eruption of Mount Doom, the fall of the Black Gate and so forth. Aragorn's forces are outside the Black Gate, so the destruction doesn't quite reach them, but many of the Mordor forces are within that area, between the Gondor/Rohan troops and the Gate itself. The others simply run away when it becomes apparent that their master has fallen.
29th Apr 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: As none of the evil armies knew that the Rohirrim were coming for a surprise attack on the Pelennor Fields, why did they have the Mumakil, as they wouldn't really be able to attack Minas Tirith apart from damaging a few walls, they would have just got stuck behind the hordes of orcs (who wouldn't have run away towards Osgiliath) So why have them?
Answer: Sauron's forces are attacking Gondor, their primary foe in that part of Middle-Earth - this is not a time for holding anything back; they're going to throw everything that they've got into the mix. Anyway, they may well have suspected that the Rohirrim were going to get involved - it seems highly likely that Sauron's agents would have noticed the lighting of the beacons calling the Rohirrim to battle.
19th Apr 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: Does anybody know how old Shelob is, is she older than Sauron?
Answer: Shelob's date of birth is not recorded, but is believed to be sometime in the First Age, which would make her at most seven thousand years old. Sauron is much older, having been around since the creation of the world.
18th Apr 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: The scene in the movie with everything about Saruman is not true to the book, and even though there will be more scenes in the extended version, all this is not correct. Saruman's palantir and staff are actually taken by Gandalf, and Saruman is let out by Treebeard. Saruman later dies in the Shire, after the fellowship sees him on their way back home. Why is all this info being changed, couldn't they have put all this in the extended version? If all this was not filmed for the movie, why wasn't it?
Answer: The entire Scouring of the Shire sequence was never filmed. This was a deliberate choice by the film-makers to prevent the ending of the film from becoming overlong - the climax to the tale is, really, the destruction of the Ring and the fall of Sauron. The theatrical release of the film goes on for at least half an hour after that - to include all the necessary scenes would lengthen the ending of the film to probably around the hour and a half mark - the Scouring is a complex sequence - which is untenable in cinematic terms, even for an extended version. As such, in their version, Saruman dies at Isengard (apparently still at Wormtongue's hands) - this will be seen in the extended cut.
18th Apr 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: When Gandalf is talking Pippin to Minas Tirith, he says it is 'three day's ride, as the Nazgul flies', but how did he know that the Nazgul are now flying using the Fell Beasts to find the ring?
Answer: After Gandalf's resurrection, or whatever the right term is, according to the books, he was rescued from the mountain peak where he fought the Balrog by Gwaihir, the Eagle who helped him escape Isengard (and who subsequently shows up at the battle at Black Gate). Gwaihir is Lord of the Air and is going to be pretty well informed about anything that occurs in his realm. It seems extremely unlikely that he wouldn't know about the Fell Beasts, and, as it's a pretty significant piece of tactical knowledge, he would undoubtedly have informed Gandalf of this new development.
5th Apr 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: What happened to Frodo's Mithril vest? After the orcs remove it at the borders of Mordor we never see it again. Surely Frodo would not leave something behind that is 'worth more than all the Shire', as Gandalf said in Fellowship.
Answer: In the Extended cut, we see what happens to it. It is taken by the orcs and paraded in front of Aragorn's forces at the Black Gate by a character known as the Mouth of Sauron (effectively a spokesperson), taunting them that Frodo has failed in his mission. It was retrieved after the battle and returned to Frodo after his rescue from Mordor.
18th Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: Frodo is pricked by Shelob in the torso. However he is at the time wearing a mithril coat which are supposed to impervious. How is he stabbed then?
Answer: The stinger actually comes in quite high, presumably above the rather low neckline of the mithril coat. An injury can be seen high up on his chest later in the film, presumably the stinger wound.
9th Feb 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: What are the Eagles' purpose and where did they come from?
Answer: The Eagles live in Middle-Earth, generally in the high mountains. They act as the emissaries of Manwe, leader of the Valar (the local deity equivalents), and will intercede in events at his behest, or at the request of one of the Maiar (a race of spirits that includes Gandalf, Saruman and Sauron among their number).
9th Feb 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: I know that when you are near the One Ring you are tempted and once you put it on then you become addicted/obsessed with it. Once you put the Ring on, as you move closer to Mordor and Mt. Doom then the temptation to have it becomes stronger, is this true?
Answer: It's not entirely the case - the Ring begins to work on you from the moment you start to possess it, and the temptation increases with the passage of time, until it becomes impossible to give up the Ring - it's notable that Bilbo is the only person ever to voluntarily give it up after owning it. Proximity to Mordor probably has only a minor effect - time, and probably the relative power of Sauron, are more relevant.
6th Feb 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: Why was Arwen dying? I know that Elrond said that the Evenstar was being overcome with the darkness, but why wouldn't other Elves, that were linked to Sauron or were closer to Mordor, be affected?
Answer: It's because she's chosen to become a mortal - her fate is now tied directly to the fate of humanity, and, in her case, due to her heritage, it manifests in a physical manner. If humanity falls, she dies.
6th Feb 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: Why exactly must Arwen become 'mortal' when she chooses to be with Aragorn? It's not because she didn't leave with the other elves, because Legolas didn't leave until after Aragorn died. Does it have anything to do with the necklace she gives him, as in the necklace was a source of her 'immortality', or was that just a symbol of her love?
Answer: The necklace is only a symbol of her love. She has the choice to make because she's partly human. Elrond, her father, is half-elven, and was therefore given the choice whether to be counted among the 'immortal' elves, or to be counted among mortal humans. He chose elvendom, but all his descendants ultimately have to make the same choice. Arwen loves Aragorn, a mortal, and chooses to live out a mortal lifespan at his side for that reason. Strictly speaking, there's nothing to say that she absolutely has to become mortal, but chooses to so that they will grow old together, which is a part of love, and so that she will not be left to live an elven lifespan without him after his death. Additionally, as a mortal she will experience the same afterlife as a man, instead of returning to Valinor like the elves. This will allow her to stay with Aragon even after death, while splitting her from her father and the elves.
6th Feb 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: Where can I find the music track in the trailer where Aragorn is saying "I see in your eyes the same fear" up to "This day, we fight"? Is it on the soundtrack?
Answer: Unfortunately, it's not on the soundtrack. The music in the latter half of the trailer was composed by Howard Shore and two collaborators (Simone Benyacar and Craig Stuart Garfinkle) specifically for that trailer. It's based on a track called "Epicalypse", which, in turn, is based on Howard Shore's "Gondor" theme.
22nd Jan 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: When Frodo and Sam are on the side of Mount Doom and Frodo can't walk anymore, Sam says something like, "I can't carry the ring, but I can carry you," and then picks Frodo up and starts carrying him. But really, why can't Sam just grab the ring and run into the mountain with it? It's only a short distance at that point. I understand about how Frodo was meant to be the ring bearer and all that, but Sam was the ring bearer while Frodo was captured, so why not again?
15th Jan 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Question: I hear that elves live forever - if this is true how do they actually AGE? For example, Elrond is obviously older than legolas, but if they live forever how do they get older?
Answer: Elves do not live forever - it's a misconception that they're immortal. To quote Tolkien, "The Elves were sufficiently longeval to be called by Man 'immortal'. But they were not unageing or unwearying" (taken from his Letters, dated 1963). They do age, just extremely slowly, hence the appearance of older Elves, like Elrond, or the oldest Elf seen on screen, Cirdan the Shipwright, who appears receiving a ring in the Fellowship prologue, and leaves on the ship with the other Ringbearers.
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Answer: It's never stated. Assuming that it survived the turmoil of Sauron's destruction, the Gondorians would have taken control. Whether they would allow such a place of evil to continue to stand is an open question.
Tailkinker ★