History Film / TheLordOfTheRings

** Tom Bombadil is cut from the film, along with the scene with where he rescues the hobbits from the Barrow-wights and takes their enchanted daggers [[spoiler:one of which Merry uses to slay the Witch-king]]. Here, Aragorn just gives them some short swords ("These are for you") that had been kept at Weathertop. Merry goes into battle with an Elven dagger which is never truly hinted or explained why [[spoiler: it's effective against the Witch-king of Angmar]] unless it's enchanted in a similar way with the book's counterpart. Then again, it's [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest a gift of Galadriel]].

** Ghan-buri-Ghan and his wildmen are omitted. In the novels, many thousands of Orcs are quite sensibly sent north to guard against the Ride of the Rohirrim, forcing Theoden and his men are able to sneak around them thanks to Ghan-buri-Ghan.

An [[TheFilmOfTheBook adaptation]] of Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' into a film trilogy directed by Creator/PeterJackson. The movies were [[MovieMultipack filmed together]] and released one year after the previous for the holiday seasons 2001-2003.

[[EpicMovie One of the most ambitious movie projects ever undertaken]], the overall budget was around $300 million (estimates vary between $281-330 million) and principal filming for all three pictures took place over 18 months in Jackson's native UsefulNotes/NewZealand (which has seen [[TheRedStapler tourism increase by 50% since the films came out]]). The entire project took eight years, factoring in the early pre-production and the fact that additional pick-ups were filmed in between each film's release. In fact, the very last shot filmed (a few skulls tumbling along the ground) was quickly shot in the studio after the third film was released and included in the extended edition.

The theatrical versions were lengthy epics (all clocking around at 3-ish hours), and the "Extended Editions" (released before the succeeding movies) added at least another half-hour to each film's running time.[[note]]Around 12 minutes of that extra run time is credits added for the fan community website.[[/note]] Unusual for such a thing, Creator/PeterJackson has stated that the Extended Editions are not an actual DirectorsCut (feeling the term would unfairly imply that he was unsatisfied with the theatrical releases) but merely a fan-friendly extension to enlarge the world of Middle-earth and see what things they left out of the faster-paced theatrical versions. The results were astonishingly critically and commercially successful, with each film grossing more than $750 million (averaging more than $1 billion after being adjusted for inflation), and with all three winning Oscars.[[note]]''Fellowship'' won 4, ''Two Towers'' won 2, and ''Return of the King'' won '''11''' -- it shares the record for most Oscar wins for a single film '''''ever''''' with ''Film/BenHur1959'' and ''Film/Titanic1997'', and holds the record for the biggest 'sweep', winning all the awards it was nominated for.[[/note]]

An adaptation of ''Literature/TheHobbit'' was later made into a {{prequel}} [[Film/TheHobbit trilogy]], with Peter Jackson returning to direct the films. The first part of which was released in winter 2012 and the last in winter 2014. Many actors (such as Creator/IanMckellen, Creator/AndySerkis, Creator/CateBlanchett, Creator/HugoWeaving, Creator/OrlandoBloom, and Creator/ChristopherLee) from the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy returned to reprise their roles.

* TheBackwardsR: Downplayed with the "faux tengwar" script used in the films. Although it uses the normal Latin alphabet, three dots are placed over each "A", which imitates the way many Tengwar modes write "A" in-universe. These modes do not have separate letters for vowel sounds, so these sounds have to be written with diacritics placed over consonant letters, and the three dots are the symbol for "A".

* TheBackwardsR: Downplayed with the "faux tengwar" script used in the films. Although it uses the normal Latin alphabet, three dots are placed over each "A", which imitates how many Tengwar modes write "A" in-universe. These modes do not have separate letters for vowel sounds, so these sounds have to be written with diacritics placed over consonant letters, and the three dots are the symbol for "A".

* AluminumChristmasTrees: "Second Breakfast" is a real thing in some European cultures, including England, which The Shire is based on. In real life, second breakfast is more of a mid-morning snack than a full meal (though given Hobbit culture, for them it probably ''is'' [[BigEater a full meal]]). "Elevenses" is real too, again more of a snack.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: After Boromir falls after taking a number of arrows to the torso, Merry and Pippin draw their swords and charge in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge... and promptly get picked up off the ground and slung over their captor's backs like a sack of potatoes.

* BalefulPolymorph: Humorously subverted when Sam eavesdrops on Gandalf and Frodo's conversation about the One Ring in Bilbo's former house. Samwise begs Gandalf not to use his magic to turn him into something "unnatural". Then the scene cuts to a shot of Gandalf walking with a horse and telling Sam to keep up, only for Sam to run along after them.[[note]]A familiar Peter Jackson gag for those who remember what happened to the "bloody fool" psychiatrist in ''Film/HeavenlyCreatures''.[[/note]]

* ActionizedAdaptation: The films all focus a lot more on the battles than the books do, adding and extending action scenes. For example, ''Fellowship'''s action prologue was only outlined second hand in the book, the fight in Balin's tomb was about a page long, the climax of the first book was focused more on Frodo and Sam splitting from the Fellowship, with most of the Uruk-Hai attack (with Boromir's death and Merry and Pippin being taken away) again being described after the fact. The following two books were more action-oriented than the first, but Peter Jackson still turned the action UpToEleven by inserting whole sequences like the warg-rider attack and placing Frodo & Sam at Osgiliath.

** In the film, Gandalf's healing of Theoden is portrayed as a full-on exorcism and visible de-aging of Theoden himself, whereas in the novel its more a casting down of Wormtounge and a breaking of the supernatural cloud of despair infecting Theoden's hall.

** Wormtongue's release. After being allowed to leave Edoras, Wormtongue arrives in Isengard seemingly within hours and immediately provides Saruman (and the audience) with several key insights into the weaknesses of Helm's Deep and Theoden's plans to retreat there, thus prompting both the Warg-rider attack and the breach of the Deeping Wall, which can make letting him go seem like pure GoodIsDumb and NiceJobBreakingItHero at least in ''The Two Towers''. Not so in the novel, where Wormtounge--to his great dismay--only arrives in Isengard ''after'' it has been flooded by the Ents.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: While not as much as in the books, the movies gives us a wide variety characters. There's the Fellowship of the Ring (Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Boromir, Legolas, and Gimli), the various villains (Sauron, the Witch-King, the other eight Nazgul, Saruman, Grima Wormtongue, Gollum, Lurtz, Gothmog,the Mouth of Sauron, Shelob), the heroes of Rohan (Theoden, Eomer, and Eowyn), the Elves (Galadriel, Elrond, Arwen, Celeborn, Haldir), Faramir, Bilbo, Treebeard, Deagel, the King of the Dead Army, Denethor, and many others. And when one takes ''Film/TheHobbit'' movies into account, the list of characters in the franchise grows even further.

* ArtisticLicenceGeography: One of the opening scenes of ''The Two Towers'' depicts Barad-dur as being a significant distance away from Mount Doom, while during the Battle of the Black Gate they appear right beside each other. Tolkien's maps show them to be about 30-50 miles apart.
** Speaking of the Battle of the Black Gate, while it is ''possible'' that a hint of Barad-dur or Mount Doom could be seen from the Black Gate (assuming no inner mountains), seeing their full height would require a flat world with no terrain or horizon and unlimited visual resolution.

** Minas Tirith being able to see Minas Morgul on the other hand is reasonable as they're both quite tall and there is nothing in between the ~ 50 miles that would block vision.

* AuthorUsurpation: Ask anyone about movies made by Peter Jackson, and ''The Lord of the Rings'' films are probably the only ones they'll mention. They might mention ''Film/TheHobbit'' trilogy as well, but not in a flattering light.

** Wormtongue's release. After being allowed to leave Edoras, Wormtongue arrives in Isengard seemingly within hours and immediately provides Saruman (and the audience) with several key incites into the weaknesses of Helm's Deep and Theoden's plans to retreat there, thus prompting both the Warg-rider attack and the breach of the Deeping Wall, which can make letting him go seem like pure GoodIsDumb and NiceJobBreakingItHero at least in ''The Two Towers''. Not so in the novel, where Wormtounge--to his great dismay--only arrives in Isengard ''after'' it has been flooded by the Ents.

At this stage, it is unknown whether or not the Creator/PrimeVideo series ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' about the Second Age is in the continuity of the film series. Creator/NewLineCinema is involved in the production in some capacity.

* AdultFear:
** Although the hobbits aren't children, their small size and innocence invoke instincts of protectiveness similar to children, and the members of the Fellowship clearly think of them as their charges. Boromir's anguished "They took the little ones!" as he [[spoiler:is dying]] is particularly heartbreaking.
** In ''Two Towers'', Théoden was under a spell from Saruman for a long time and was unaware of his son dying until much later. He was freed from it in time for the funeral, though.
--->'''Théoden:''' No parent should have to bury their child.
** The beginning of ''Return of the King'' has Sméagol kill Déagol over the Ring. What if the friend you trusted most easily turned on you over one little trinket?

At this stage, it is unknown whether or not the Creator/PrimeVideo series ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' about the Second Age is in the continuity of the film series. Creator/NewLineCinema is co-producing it nonetheless.

** The elves of Lothlórien are shown to be uniformly blonde, though only the Vanyar and their descendants such as Galadriel, had exclusively blonde hair in the books. However Thranduil was described as being "golden-haired" in ''Literature/TheHobbit'', so Silvan elves were capable of being blonde but not the the extent of the Vanyar.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: While not as much as in the books, the movies gives us a wide variety characters. There's the Fellowship of the Ring (Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Boromir, Legolas, and Gimli), the various villains (Sauron, the Witch-King, the other eight Nazgul, Saruman, Grima Wormtongue, Gollum, Lurtz, Gothmog,the Mouth of Sauron, Shelob), the heroes of Rohan (Theoden, Eomer, and Eowyn), the Elves (Galadriel, Elrond, Arwen, Celeborn, Haldir), Faramir, Bilbo, Treebeard, Deagel, the King of the Dead Army, Denethor, and many others. And when one takes ''Film/TheHobbit'' movies into account, the list of characters in the franchise grows even further.

* BrokenAesop: Narrowly averted in that Creator/PeterJackson originally wanted simultaneous physical battles between Aragorn and Sauron (in the flesh) and between Frodo and Gollum, with Frodo ''[[MoralDissonance pushing Gollum into the fire]]''. He also [[DesignatedVillain reverses Frodo and Sam's pity for Gollum]], removing a couple key lines of dialogue, and implies the ''Ring'' was deluding Frodo into feeling that way. Fortunately, this AlternateCharacterInterpretation was mostly cut out, even from the extended edition, outside of the odd lembas escapade.

An adaptation of ''Literature/TheHobbit'' was made into [[Film/TheHobbit a three-part prequel style story]], the first part of which was released in winter 2012 and the last in winter 2014. Many actors (such as Creator/IanMckellen, Creator/AndySerkis, Creator/CateBlanchett, Creator/HugoWeaving, Creator/OrlandoBloom, and Creator/ChristopherLee) from the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy returned to reprise their roles.

At this stage it is unknown whether or not the Creator/PrimeVideo series ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' about the Second Age is in the continuity of the film series. Creator/NewLineCinema is co-producing it nonetheless.