History Film / TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing

* AdaptationalBadass: The Eagles. In the book the force that turns the tide in the final battle is an entire army; in the film it's just five of them.

The film cleaned house at the UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, winning eleven Oscars including [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestPicture Best Picture]], tying the record with 1959's ''[[Film/BenHur1959 Ben-Hur]]'' and 1997's ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'', becoming the first fantasy film to win the top honor, and setting the record for the biggest sweep by a single film (as it won every award it was nominated for). Such victory was felt more as a crowning for the entire trilogy rather than just for this film alone.

->''"Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers! I see in your eyes: the same fear that would take the heart of ''me''. A day may come, when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends, and break all bonds of fellowship -- but it is not ''this'' day! An hour of wolves, and shattered shields, when the age of Men comes crashing down -- but it is not this day! This day we '''fight'''! By all that you hold dear, on this good Earth, I bid you '''stand! Men of the West'''!"''

** While Frodo is writing in the Red Book, the pages shown mention events from the books including Sam becoming Mayor and Gimli becoming Lord of the Glittering Caves

** As in the book, Gollum dies while falling into Mount Doom with the Ring, but the film changes the exact circumstances. Rather than Gollum tripping and falling over the precipice while rejoicing at having retaken possession of the Ring, Frodo, still in the enthrall of the Ring, tries to wrest it from Gollum, resulting in both of them falling over the precipice, but Frodo manages to grab the ledge and Sam pulls him back up. (It was originally filmed to follow the book version, but the passive role of the hero came across as too much of an AntiClimax onscreen, so they experimented with different scenarios before settling on this one.)

* TheManInTheMirrorTalksBack: Variant. Gollum talks to his reflection in a pool to converse with his alter-ego Sméagol. The camera switches back and forth between Gollum himself and his reflection to represent each persona.

* TheManInTheMirrorTalksBack: When Gollum talks to Sméagol, it's via some variation on this mechanism. (Most noticeable in this film.)

* HollywoodDensity: Gollum sinking into the lava. Lava may be molten rock, but it is still rock, and quite capable of floating very dense items. There are several reasons for this: it might have been difficult to maintain a PG-13 rating while showing Gollum lying on the lava slowly being burned alive, audiences might believe that liquid is liquid and RealityIsUnrealistic, or it might be simply chalked up to RuleOfCool, and no-one can deny that the shot of Gollum vanishing into the lava with a smile on his face is very effective.

* SavedByThePlatformBelow:
** In the climax, when Frodo and Gollum wrestle for the Ring, they both fall off the cliff towards the fiery pits of Mount Doom. While Gollum, along with the Ring, falls into the lava and dies, Frodo manages to grab a ledge so that Sam can pull him up and save him.

** At the climax of the story, Gollum dies while falling into Mount Doom with the Ring, but the book and the film depict the exact circumstances a bit differently. In the book, Gollum trips and falls over the precipice while celebrating his retaking of the Ring. This was filmed, but when translated to film this ending came off as too anticlimactic. A couple of other scenarios were tried, and what eventually made it to the screen was that Frodo, still caught in his own desire for the Ring, started struggling with Gollum for it again, eventually resulting in both falling over the precipice together. Gollum fell into the lava with the Ring, but Frodo managed to grab the ledge, and Sam managed to pull him up and out of immediate danger.

** Frodo and Sam have to get into Mordor. How? By climbing up hundreds of "stairs" on an almost vertical mountain and crawling through a giant spider's lair. Because they obviously can't use the front gate. This is{{Invoked|Trope}} by Gollum, who claims it is a better route but is actually trying to get them killed so he can steal the ring back.

Peter Jackson would return 9 years later to helm a {{prequel}} trilogy, ''Film/TheHobbit''.

** The lava pours out of Mount Doom within feet of Sam and Frodo at the end of the movie. Then [[spoiler:the eagles swoop down and pick them up]]. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by John Rhys-Davies in the DVD commentary.

* CurbStompBattle: The Siege of Minas Tirith looks like it's going to end in favor of the orcs. Then the Dead Men of Dunharrow, within ''seconds'' of arriving, proceed to steamroll the orcs outside the city like a spectral tsunami, then flood through the city and clear out the entire place just as fast, leading to the near-total loss of the orcs' forces.

* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler:Army of the Dead vs. Forces of Sauron]], unlike the book, which describes it as a long day of battle.

** While the Rohirrim's battle against the Haradrim outside Minas Tirith is nearly this, as the Mumakil the Haradrim ride are basically unstoppable juggernauts that impale, crush, and swat horsemen away with impunity, the Rohirrim give a good accounting of themselves, managing to bring down a number of Mumakil by taking advantage of their greater numbers and maneuverability, though it still takes the Army of the Dead to tip the scales in Middle-earth's favour.