History Film / TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing

The film cleaned house at the UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, winning eleven Oscars out of eleven categories including Best Picture, tying the record with 1959's ''Literature/BenHur'' and 1997's ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}''.

The film cleaned house at the UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, winning eleven out of eleven Oscars categories including Best Picture, tying the record with 1959's ''Literature/BenHur'' and 1997's ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}''.

''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' is the final chapter of the ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' film trilogy, directed by Creator/PeterJackson and released in December 2003.

''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' is the final chapter of the ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' film trilogy, directed by Creator/PeterJackson.

Frodo, Sam and Gollum are headed towards Mordor to destroy the One Ring once and for all. The other remaining members of the Fellowship do their best to defend the human kingdom of Gondor against Sauron's humongous forces while waiting for Frodo to destroy the Ring.

Frodo, Sam and Gollum are headed towards Mordor to destroy the One Ring once and for all. The other remaining members of the Fellowship do their best to defend the human kingdom of Gondor against Sauron's humongous forces, as they wait for Frodo to destroy the Ring.

Frodo, Sam and Gollum are headed towards Mordor to destroy the One Ring once and for all. The other remaining members of the Fellowship as well as their allies fight Sauron's forces at Gondor, as they patiently wait for Frodo to destroy the Ring.

The film cleaned house at the UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, winning 11 out of 11 Oscars including Best Picture, tying the record with ''Film/Titanic1997'' and 1959's ''Literature/BenHur''.

''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' is the final chapter of the ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' film trilogy.

Frodo, Sam and Gollum are headed towards Mordor to destroy the One Ring once and for all. The other remaining members of the Fellowship fight Sauron's forces at Gondor as they patiently wait for Frodo to destroy the ring.

'''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''' is the final chapter of the ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' film trilogy.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lotrreturnoftheking.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:''"For Frodo!"'']]

The film was a killer at the UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, winning 11 out of 11 Oscars including Best Picture, tying the record with ''Film/Titanic1997'' and 1959's ''Literature/BenHur''.

The film was a killer at the UsefulNotes/AcademyAwards, winning 11 out of 11 Oscars including Best Picture, tying the record with ''Film/Titanic1997'' and 1959's ''Literature/BenHur''.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lord_of_the_rings___the_return_of_the_king.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:"For Frodo."]]

'''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''' is the final film of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' trilogy. The film notably won 11 out of 11 Oscars including Best Picture, tying the record with ''Film/Titanic1997'' and ''Film/BenHur''.

'''Previews:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5X-hFf6Bwo Trailer]].

* 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 four of them.

** As explained in TheDogShotFirst below, the sudden presence of [[spoiler:Gollum]] at Mount Doom means that Sam doesn't have to [[spoiler:fight or even kill Frodo to complete the quest and destroy the Ring after Frodo succumbs to the Ring's temptation and refuses to destroy it himself]], since someone is already handling the fight for him.

* TheDogShotFirst: In the book, Gollum bites the Ring off Frodo's hand, leaves the hobbit writhing in pain, revels madly in his triumph, and falls into the Crack of Doom through his own fault. In the movie, Frodo, apparently still in the Ring's thrall, gets up and starts fighting Gollum for the Ring, knocking them both off the edge where Sam rescues Frodo. Creator/PeterJackson figured it was more satisfying for the audience to see Frodo actually take part in the Ring's destruction.

Frodo, Sam and Gollum are headed towards Mordor to destroy the One Ring once and for all. The other remaining members of the Fellowship stay at Gondor as they patiently wait for Frodo to destroy the ring.

** Beregond (and his son's) role as Pippin's friend is [[CompositeCharacter given to Faramir]]. His role in defending Faramir from premature cremation is simply cut, so Pippin's dash for Gandalf is even more desperate and they only get there ''just'' as the pyre is about to be lit. Purportedly, [[http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Beregond_%28soldier_of_Gondor%29#Portrayal_in_Adaptations Ian Hughes']] character was meant to be Beregond, but the name was changed in post-production because the role had been so reduced. ([[AllThereInTheManual Not that you hear either name said onscreen.]])

[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lord_of_the_rings___the_return_of_the_king.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:220:"For Frodo."]]

* Cassandra Truth: One scene has Sam knowing about Smeagol/Gollum and tries to warn Frodo. Ironically, Frodo is played by Elijah Wood, who himself was on the other end, the warning end, in 1993's "THE GOOD SON"! [Sean Astin plays Sam here. He's also connected to a trope, in a way, thru his mother being Patty Duke, aka Patty and Cathy Lane, by being opposite a split-personality villian in disguise, Smeagol/Gollum!)

** Saruman and Wormtongue's unexplained disappearance in the theatrical cut is another example. Rectified in the extended cut.

** However, the next Rohirrim cavalry charge, head-on at the giant Oliphaunts while swatting at their legs, goes exactly as one would expect. However, this was due more to real-life considerations than artistic license. According to the DVD commentaries, going by the book - ''shooting the Oliphaunts in the eyes'' - was deemed too gruesome and reminiscent of animal cruelty toward real elephants to be filmed.

** Gandalf delivers an epic and hilarious one to Denethor after the Steward starts ranting about the hopelessness of the coming battle, knocking him out with ATapOnTheHead before ordering the soldiers to return to their posts.

* WalkIntoMordor: TropeNamer. It's what they do. But not simply!

* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: Invoked a couple times:

* AdaptationDistillation:
** The final chapters of the books, the Scouring of the Shire, were removed entirely. Even if they were somewhat anti-climactic, they gave the book a darker vibe, one of Tolkien's recurrent themes. Specifically, they were meant to illustrate what war does to a beloved homeland.

** When Gandalf gives a big speech to the Gondorians about how they can fight whatever comes through the gate. When the first thing through is three huge trolls, Gandalf realizes that he may have oversold their odds a bit.

** When Gandalf gives a big speech to the Gondorians about how they can fight whatever comes through the gate. When the first thing through is three huge trolls, Gandalf gets a look on his face like, "Well, I wasn't expecting ''that''."

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating:
** Denethor clearly hit this by the time Mordor arrived at Minas Tirith. When Denethor finally snaps in the face of Mordor's army and orders his men to desert their posts, Gandalf whacks him unconscious with his staff, and then proceeds to take control of Minas Tirith's defense. No one stops Gandalf from doing this, and everyone immediately starts following Gandalf's orders.
* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene:
** When the orcs are trying to break down a gate deep within Minas Tirith, Gandalf takes a few minutes to tell Pippin about the peaceful nature of the afterlife -- a ''Far Green Country.'' The music at this point transitions from fearsome to quietly spiritual.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade:
** Denethor could apply: while his actions are more or less the same, the book actually gives him reason to despair in the end while the movie manages to keep it much more ambiguous.

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication:
** 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:which Merry uses to slay the Witch-king]]. Here, he uses an Elven dagger gifted by Galadriel which is never truly hinted or explained whether [[spoiler: it's effective against the Witch-king of Angmar]] unless it's enchanted in a similar way with the books counterpart. Then again, it's [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest a gift of Galadriel]].
** Gandalf stops at Rohan in the first book before going to Rivendell, attempting to warn Theoden about Saruman's FaceHeelTurn - but Grima Wormtongue has already started poisoning his mind. This is eliminated from the film, so it's not explained how Gandalf is so up-to-date on what's been happening in Rohan.

* AdaptationalVillainy:
** The movie version of Denethor lacks most of the redeeming qualities that he has in the books, in which he is a GoodIsNotNice character who nevertheless was a capable leader until driven off the DespairEventHorizon.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Did this with a few characters. Arwen's role is expanded and she becomes an ActionGirl, Faramir becomes tempted by the ring and his ParentalFavoritism issues are more played up. Elrond is also made to be bitter and cynical, thinking humans are useless. Merry and Pippin were much more mature and responsible in the book; their carefree and comical escapades in the film had been decades earlier (stealing food)[[note]]Farmer Maggot is a kind, wise and very helpful character in the book.[[/note]] or not at all (the fireworks scene). Denethor also gets a bit of AdaptationalVillainy when he was simply GoodIsNotNice in the book.

* AscendedExtra:
** Gothmog is a mix of this and CompositeCharacter, as he takes the role that several different Orc commanders had in the book, and becomes the joint-leader of the attack on Minas Tirith.

* BigNo: The films have a whole bunch of them, most of them reasonably done:
** Gimli has a BigNo when he discovers the tomb of Balin, which dissolves into mournful blubbering.
** Frodo also has one when Gandalf appears to die.
** When Faramir discovers that Frodo possesses the One Ring and contemplates delivering it to his father, Frodo has one and immediately retreats from Faramir, much to Faramir's surprise.

* BuffySpeak: Pippin during the creation of the Fellowship: "You need people of intelligence in this kind of mission... quest... thing."

* ButterflyOfTransformation: The white moth that brings giant eagles to the rescue when Gandalf is imprisoned at Orthanc, and again when the Gondor army is at the gates of Mordor. (Only appears in the Jackson films, not the book).

** In the beginning of the second film, Saruman instructs his {{mook}}s to dam the river. At the end of the film, the Ents break the dam, dramatically destroying Saruman's army and ElaborateUndergroundBase in the ensuing flood.

* DisneyDeath: Alongside Frodo's examples from the book that made it into the film, we also have Aragorn's plunge off of the cliff in ''The Two Towers'', alongside Gollum's 'death' right after going through Shelob's tunnel.

* HollywoodDrowning: Averted. Sam's near-drowning occurs without much flailing or noise. Frodo knows he's drowning because he knows Sam ''can't swim.''

* HopeSpot:
** The first half of the battle for Pelennor Fields has the [[TheCavalry Rohirrim]] absolutely [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomp]] the Orc legions. Just as Théoden proclaims that they'll drive them back and retake Minas Tirith, the [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Oliphaunts arrive]].

* IconicSequelSong: While the motif for Minas Tirith is some of the most recognizable parts of the series' score, they first appear in ''The Two Towers'' and ''The Return of the King'' respectively.

* ItHasBeenAnHonor: Many times.
** Gimli and Legolas before the final battle, in their final lines of dialogue:

* LampshadeHanging: Performed by Sam in one of the Osgiliath scenes in ''The Two Towers''. His big speech to Frodo starts "By rights, we shouldn't even ''be'' here!" In-universe, this makes sense as a comment on what unlikely heroes they are, but it also references the fact that the two characters never go to Osgiliath in the book.

* ManHug: Frodo and Sam tearfully hug each other after Sam risks drowning to accompany Frodo to Mordor. Another examples is Boromir and Faramir in a flashback following the recapture of Osgiliath.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** Several, ranging from Boromir realizing he was seduced by the Ring to Wormtongue coming to understand that Saruman's gambit isn't just the overthrow of Rohan (possibly involving him getting Éowyn), it's absolute genocide ''of the human race.''
** Grí­ma seems to believe that Saruman is biting off more than he can chew and that he might be able to play both sides against the middle - right up until Saruman shows him the magically frenzied 10,000+ superhumans in plate armor. The look on his face is priceless.
** Frodo has one after [[spoiler: he fails to destroy the Ring, instead knocking Gollum off the ledge by accident in the scuffle to possess it. The look he gives Sam makes it clear that he's [[DrivenToSuicide deeply saddened]] by what he did.]]

* RedSkyTakeWarning: ''[[CaptainObvious "The Red sun rises. Blood has been spilled this night!"]]''

* TookALevelInBadass: Merry and Pippin, by the time of ''The Return of the King'', go from constantly running away and hiding to fighting orcs head-on and winning.

** No one liked Sauron, as he was the embodiment of evil in Middle-earth. His underlings were not fond of him at all and served him far more out of fear than out of either respect or loyalty. Even the Nazgul were just puppets and extensions of his power. And Saruman thought of allegiance with him as nothing more than a convenience.

* OneDimensionalThinking: The Nazgûl at the Fords of Bruinen in the first movie. Instead of just riding back into the forest, they ride downstream where the wave is certain to catch them... because the water has distorted all sense of direction for them (hence why they were reluctant to cross in the first place).
* AbsurdlySharpBlade: [[AnArmAndALeg Limbs]] and [[OffWithHisHead heads]] get lopped off frequently in this movie. Creator/ViggoMortensen actually went to the prop department and asked them to make him a prop whetstone he could use as part of his costume. He realized that if Aragorn would be killing so many orcs, he'd have to keep his blade sharp somehow. In the extended edition, there's even a scene of him sharpening his sword while resting in Lothlórien.
* AccentAdaptation: A multitude of accents from all over The British Isles are used with great effect throughout the trilogy to enhance characterization. The high-ranking characters (Gandalf, Saruman, Elrond, Galadriel etc) have RP (the Queen's English) accents, which lends them gravitas and enhances their position of authority. Bilbo and Frodo (arguably Hobbit gentry) also use RP, but it is less clipped and veers more towards an Estuary accent. Sam, Merry and most of the hobbit extras in films use a Somerset/rural accent, which befits their pastoral lifestyle and setting. The exception is Pippin, for whom Billy Boyd used his native Scottish accent. The Orcs have Creator/RayWinstone-esque theatrical Cockney/SE London accents to emphasize their loutishness. Gimli was given a Scottish accent to mirror what in the text was simply gruff speech. (By Creator/JohnRhysDavies, who was raised in England by Welsh parents).
* AcousticLicense: In ''The Two Towers'', when Saruman is addressing his army of ten thousand Uruk-hai, his voice appears to be [[AWizardDidIt magnified by magical means]]. However in the extended version of ''The Return of the King'' Saruman speaks to the protagonists from the top of Orthanc and no similar effect is used (online cartoon spoof site ''Sev Trek'' suggested that he was using his pointy wizard's hat as a megaphone).
* ActionBomb: In ''The Two Towers'', during the battle at Helm's Deep, the Uruk-hai placed a bomb in the drainage tunnel at Helm's Deep, with an Uruk with a torch blowing himself up to set it off.

** The heartwarming and peaceful scenes of The Shire in ''Fellowship of the Ring'' (especially in the Director's Cut), filled with laughter, friendship and happy children (what a warrior lays down his life to protect) is what makes us actually care whether or not Frodo and the Fellowship defeat the LordOfTheRings or not.
** While ''The Two Towers'' has a very loud build-up with the arrival of Saruman's army at Helm's Deep, the extended edition cuts away from this bombastic action to focus on cowering civilians in the caves underneath, with the Uruks chanting in the distance. Theoden also delivers a monologue where he doubts whether the Rohirrim can win and wonders what will become of his kingdom.

** Frodo and Sam have many scenes that show ThePowerOfFriendship. Likewise, there are many flashback scenes that show [[OfficialCouple Aragorn and Arwen's]] romance.
* ActionGirl:
** Eowyn is the most prominent example. She's a shield maiden of Rohan, trained to fight in battle. She doesn't get to demonstrate it much in the second film - but she does successfully lead the people to safety, qualifying her for ActionSurvivor status. She more than earns her stripes in the third film.
** Arwen gets a moment in the limelight in the first film, taking Glorfindel's place as the rider who carries Frodo to Rivendell. She outruns the nine Nazgul and summons a flood to wash them away. WordOfGod has said that she was originally supposed to fight at Helm's Deep too.[[invoked]]
** There are also female warriors among the Easterling army. Women can be glimpsed in the army of elves that show up at Helm's Deep too.
* ActorAllusion: In the extended cut of the third movie, [[Creator/ChristopherLee Saruman]] is [[Film/HorrorOfDracula impaled on a spike that goes through his heart]] after falling to his death from Orthanc.
* ActOfTrueLove: The entirety of the trilogy is one of these for [[BattleButler Samwise]] [[UndyingLoyalty Gamgee]]. He followed [[TheNotLoveInterest Frodo]] into Mordor, being his keeper for the whole trip.

** Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry, together with the Hobbits' entire "Old Forest" adventure.
** Glorfindel's role of rescuing Frodo from the Nazgûl and bringing him to Rivendell is given to Arwen.

** Ghan-buri-Ghan and Elrond's sons Elladan and Elrohir are also absent. Quickbeam the Ent appears in the crowd shots, DemotedToExtra.
** The Scouring of the Shire is absent from the films' canon, instead shown as a BadFuture.

** Aragorn is more unsure about returning to the throne of Gondor, and must be convinced by Elrond to do so. His reason is his ancestor Isildur's failure to destroy the One Ring, and Aragorn fears this weakness has been passed down to him.
** Faramir is also an example. In the book he immediately recognizes the danger of the Ring, thereby becoming the ''only'' "normal" Human in the entire story who isn't tempted by the Ring. Of course, RuleOfDrama prevailed, so in the movie he follows in his brother's footsteps and tries to get the Ring to Gondor, due to massive angst over being the less-favored son. The scene of Denethor treating Faramir as TheUnfavorite also was added to justify this change.
** Denethor could apply as well: while his actions are more or less the same, the book actually gives him reason to despair in the end while the movie manages to keep it much more ambiguous.

* AdaptationExpansion: The fight between Gandalf and the Balrog is only mentioned in the book. Here, it's the opening scene of the second movie.

** Although never a villain, Faramir was more hostile to the hobbits in the movie than he was in the books, and is tempted by the Ring, until Samwise tells him what the Ring did to Boromir.

** Many favored aspects of the books were taken up a notch, while much detail was glossed over. Most notably, the removal of the Tom Bombadil sequence, which doesn't really add anything incredibly significant to the narrative of the books.

* AdaptationDyeJob:
** Boromir in ''Fellowship of the Ring'' is described as having dark hair. For the movies they gave him light brown, bordering on blond.[[note]]In the books, Boromir looks a lot like Aragorn (they're related). The director probably felt that this would look confusing on film.[[/note]] Faramir's hair is not as dark, either. The vast majority of Men of Númenórean ancestry are said in the books to have dark hair and grey eyes.
** The elves of Lothlórien are shown to be uniformly blonde, though only elves with particularly strong Vanyar ancestry, such as Galadriel, have blonde hair in the books.
** While Frodo and Pippin are brunette, Merry and Sam are fairly blond, when in the books it specifically says that blond hobbits are a rarity.

* 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?
* AdvantageBall: Rather than worry about such things as [[HollywoodTactics tactical realism]], advantage in battle seems to be principally a matter of who makes the most [[BigEntrance badass entrance]], regardless of such matters as numbers and equipment. This is especially true of the Uruk-hai on Amon Hen.
* AgeCut: Averted in the ''Fellowship Of the Ring'' when Elrond talks to Gandalf about an incident thousands of years in the past. We cut to a shot of Elrond in the past and he looks exactly th
* AgonyOfTheFeet: Averted when the other hobbits make a fire on Weathertop (inadvertently drawing the Nazgûl to them) and Frodo panics when he sees it and tries to put it out with his ''foot''. Hobbits are stated to have tough soles in the book -- basically their feet ''are'' their shoes, and they have a lot more fur on them than depicted in the film.
* AllThereInTheManual: While not necessary to understand the movies, reading the books can provide valuable background information that just couldn't be fit into the films. In particular, the events of ''Literature/TheHobbit'' are recapped in less than a minute. If you haven't read it, quite a few of the little {{continuity nod}}s will go right over your head, and seeing an aging Bilbo leaving Middle-Earth won't be nearly as emotional.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: What Sauron and Saruman try to do to Minas Tirith and Helm's Deep, respectively. They do manage to lay siege to Osgiliath however.
* AlwaysABiggerFish: In the ''Fellowship of the Ring''. The goblins have the party surrounded in the mines of Moria -- until the Balrog makes its first appearance. They run for it. So does everyone else.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Orcs and Uruk-Hai.

* AnimalEspionage: Saruman has crows that serve as spies, and one scene has The Fellowship take cover when a flock of crows fly overhead before we see them report in back at Isengard.

* AnnoyingArrows: Averted for the most part. Arrows are very, very lethal in the films and people from both sides go down after getting hit by one. Played with (for dramatic effect) when Boromir gets tagged with two in a row: he's visibly pained but still keeps fighting for a while uninhibited until the third one brings him to his knees and he's helpless to stop Merry and Pippin from being taken.[[note]]In the book, Boromir is depicted as immensely strong, so this is canon, but it takes a lot more than three arrows to even slow him down.[[/note]] Also, the Uruk-hai berserker with the bomb-igniting-torch at Helm's Deep keeps running unimpeded when Legolas shoots him two times.
* AntagonistTitle: Sauron is the Lord of the Rings. He is the one who created the Rings of Power, and the One Ring is trying to reunite with him throughout the books. It would be assumed that it is Frodo, which is even referenced when Pippin calls Frodo "Lord of the Ring," but Gandalf hushes him and tells him not to SpeakOfTheDevil.
* TheAppleFallsFar: When the hobbits almost tumble into a pit in Moria, Boromir drops a torch, which is followed by a long tracking shot of it falling into the abyss.
* ArcherArchetype: Legolas notably, and exaggerated somewhat from the books -- especially with the jumping on elephants and shooting point-blank.
* ArmorIsUseless: There are many instances of {{mook}}s and {{redshirt}}s dying from a single blow despite being encased in armor. Most notably, orc and goblins tend to wear particularly heavy-looking plate armor, yet often go down to a single swipe or arrow. Aragorn and Legolas also go without armor for a majority of the series, despite being some of the most capable fighters.
** Slightly justified where the elves (and Aragorn) are concerned: Legolas is heard to pass advice on the weaknesses of Uruk-hai armor to his fellow elves in Helms Deep, so they can AttackItsWeakPoint. When humans or orcs fire a volley, it tends to fell significantly less troops per arrow fired, though orcs get around this by [[MacrossMissileMassacre sheer numbers]].
** Aragorn might be wearing leather armor the rest of the time, it's a bit hard to tell. Not the best armor out there, but someone who calls himself a "Ranger" would prefer mobility over protection.
** And averted when [[spoiler: Frodo is speared]], only to reveal his [[{{Unobtanium}} Mithril]] [[BulletProofVest vest]] had protected him.
** Also averted when [[spoiler: Théoden is speared at Helms Deep]]. While he had to withdraw from the battle for the time being, he was seen back in the fight later.
* ArrowCam: It mounts its Arrow Cam behind a tumbling chunk of broken city masonry as it sails from its catapult and over the walls to fall among the massed orcs outside.

** Arwen was pretty much a background character in the book, and barely appeared or talked. In the film, while still mostly a SatelliteLoveInterest, she also has a badass moment saving Frodo from the Nazgûl (in the book it was a male elf called Glorfindel, and Frodo took that ride ''by himself!''), and her importance as a driving motivation for Aragorn is playe

* AshFace: Merry and Pippin, after setting off a firework at Bilbo's birthday party.
* AudibleSharpness: Any time a sword is pulled out of a leather scabbard, with a metal-on-metal sound effect. In the DVD audio commentaries they mention they originally wanted to do it realistically, but [[EnforcedTrope they put them in]] after [[RealityIsUnrealistic test audiences reacted badly]], as our subconscious is [[TheCoconutEffect trained on and used to]] the trope.
* AwardBaitSong: The films gave us three stellar TearJerker examples: "May It Be" and "In Dreams" from ''Fellowship of the Ring'' and "Into the West" from ''The Return of the King''. "May it Be" was nominated for an for Oscar, "Into the West" was nominated and won. "Gollum's Song" from ''The Two Towers'' averts the trope by being in a minor key, having a much darker tone, and being sung in a dissonant, shrill voice.

* BackToBackBadasses: In the film adaptation, during the battle of Helm's Deep, Aragorn and Gimli fought the Uruk-hai while the main gate is repaired.
* BadassArmy:
** The Elven army is implied to be one of these in the films given how disciplined and co-ordinated they are. Not because they're inherently ''better'', mind you, they've just had [[WeAreAsMayflies literally thousands of years of training and combat experience]].
** The Army of the Last Alliance seen in the prologue of The Fellowship. Justified in that they trained for years before marching on Mordor.
** The Uruk-hai army that attacks Helm's Deep definitely qualifies as a villainous version.
* BadassBoast: [[InTheNameOfTheMoon "I am a servant of the Secret Fire]], wielder of the flame of Anor. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn! Go back to the shadow... YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"
* BadassLongcoat:
** Aragorn wears a dark-green "ranger coat" throughout most of the series. Unfortunately, he sheds it when he becomes king.
** On that note, the other Dúnedain rangers, who only appear in storyboarded scenes and the trading card game, wore longcoats, as well.
* BadFuture: The Scouring of the Shire from the books is turned into this in the film adaptation. In ''Fellowship'' Frodo is invited to look into the Mirror of Galadriel. He is shown a vision of the Shire being destroyed, orcs slaughtering other hobbits, the four (Merry, Pippin, Frodo and Sam) [[MadeASlave chained and forced to walk]], being whipped by orcs. Galadriel tells Frodo that this is what will happen should he fail in his quest to destroy the Ring.

** In the extended cut of ''Return of the King'', what to do with [[spoiler: Saruman]] is a bit of a problem for Théoden and the Fellowship. He resists coming quietly to be questioned until Grima backstabs him after being kicked around one too many times.

* BadassNormal: Both Éomer and Éowyn. It must run in the family.
** Sam. Oh Sam. An ordinary guy who wants nothing more than to take care of his garden back in Hobbiton, Sam goes on to save Frodo countless times, take out quite a few orcs, and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu drive off Shelob by himself]] with nothing more than a CoolSword and a magical flashlight.
* 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]]
* BatmanGambit: While Treebeard is taking him and Merry home, Pippin tells him to take them past Saruman's tower, claiming that [[InsaneTrollLogic the closer they are to danger, the further they are from harm]]. However, it's all a ruse to get Treebeard to see the devastation that Saruman wreaked upon the forest, which drives the Ents to attack Isengard.
* BattleButler: Sam.
-->'''Faramir''': Are you his bodyguard?
-->'''Sam''': His ''gardener''.
* BattleChant: In ''Return Of The King'', just before the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, Théoden gives his "arise, arise, riders of Théoden". The entire army begins then chanting "Death" over and over (even Merry chants it).

** An amusing example: when Boromir is teaching Merry and Pippin how to sword fight, they charge him shouting "For the Shire!"

* BattleInTheRain: The Battle of the Peak (when Gandalf fights the Balrog on top of the Misty Mountains). Gandalf uses the thunderstorm to his advantage by [[ImprovisedLightningRod letting a bolt of lightning strike his sword]], which he then stabs into the Balrog's chest, killing it.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished:
** Frodo is badly stabbed on Weathertop, and later loses a finger, Boromir catches several arrows in his chest, Aragorn spends the whole trilogy bloody, bruised and scraped. Practically all of the cast is harassed by either the Watcher in the Water or a cave troll. But all pretty boy Legolas gets over the course of the trilogy is a bruise and a little smudge of dirt. Éowyn made it through almost the entire Battle of the Pelennor Fields unscathed, with nary a cut or bruise... until the Witch-King smashes her shield (and shield-arm) with his gigantic flail.
** Théoden also gets a spear in the shoulder during the battle of Helm's Deep. He's not badly injured, due to his armor, but he has to switch his sword to his other hand for a bit.
** During the "Flight to the Ford" scene, Arwen gets a small cut on her cheek from a branch (due to being on a high-speed horse run), but is otherwise unharmed.
* BehindTheBlack:
** In ''The Two Towers'', Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli stop their run after Aragorn senses something. The Three Hunters run behind a rock and miss, by a matter of ''inches'', being trampled by a huge contingent of horses and riders that are coming over the hill. Why the particularly perceptive Legolas or Aragorn couldn't see or hear the riders coming from a mile off is left unexplained, but [[RuleOfCool the scene is played purely for effect.]] In the books, the hunters did in fact spot the riders coming from a long way off and had plenty of time to prepare themselves.
** Sam in ''The Two Towers'' steps into the Dead Marshes before realizing he's walking into a bog that stretches as far as the eye can see.
** Gimli in ''The Fellowship Of The Ring'' claims he has "eyes like a hawk" but doesn't notice the squadron of elves with their arrows pointed at him.
* BeingWatched:
** Frodo notices that Gollum is stalking the Fellowship when he catches a glimpse of him in Moria. Gandalf replies that he's known about it for days.
** Celeborn warns the Fellowship that they're being hunted by Orcs before leaving Lothlorien.
** The Eye of Sauron, which is instantly drawn to anyone who puts on the Ring.
* BigBad: Sauron. His malevolence is retained because all his power was in the ring. He would be able to regain physical form if he retrieved the ring, and nearly every problem they deal with is connected to his power. [[note]]The only enemy not directly connected to Sauron is the Balrog of Moria, which is a primordial enemy of a similar class of being to both Sauron and Gandalf.[[/note]]
* BigBadassBattleSequence: [[OnceAnEpisode At least one per movie.]]
** In ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', the battle between the Last Alliance and Mordor in the prologue certainly counts. The Battle at Amon Hen is much smaller in scale, pitting the Fellowship against a small army of Uruk-hai, but it's still an extremely impressive action sequence.
** In ''The Two Towers'', Helm's Deep fills out this role quite nicely. We also see a bit of the fighting in Osgiliath near the end of the film, as well as an ambush of the Rohirrim refugess by a pack of orc raiders and [[spoiler: the ents' destruction of Isengard]].
** In ''Return of the King'' you have the siege of Minas Tirith, the Pelennor fields, and the Black Gate. We also get to see more of the Battle of Osgiliath, ending with [[spoiler: the forces of Gondor being utterly routed]].
* BigDamnHeroes: As in the books, it happens at Helm's Deep and twice at Pelennor Fields, though a little varied. Unique to the films are two scenes in FOTR:
** When Frodo is stabbed at Weathertop, the Ringwraith reaches out, likely to grab the Ring. Cue Aragorn literally jumping in, wielding torch and sword. He fights the five of them off, [[KillItWithFire setting most of them on fire.]]
** At Amon Hen, Merry and Pippin are surrounded by Uruk-hai; one runs in and seems to be ready to decapitate them (even though his orders say to bring them alive and unspoiled), when Boromir jumps right in between them and kills the Uruk.
** There's also a scene in The Two Towers when Merry and Pippin have been abducted and Pippin was about to be eaten by an orc when they were unintentionally rescued by the Riders of Rohan. They are saved again by Treebeard stomping on the orc a little later.
* BigEater: All the Hobbits, but especially Pippin.
* BigGood: Gandalf foremost, as he is the most powerful individual among the heroes. Galadriel and Elrond also come close due to being the most prominent Elven.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: For the most part, though [[spoiler:Boromir and Frodo are otherwise good guys who succumb to the evil temptation of the Ring without meaning to]]. Aside from that, though, pretty much everyone besides Gollum is either clear-cut good (if they oppose the forces of Mordor and Isengard) or evil (the leaders and armies of Mordor and Isengard) and [[spoiler:even Gollum falls squarely into the "evil" category at the end of ''The Two Towers'' and stays there in ''The Return of the King'']].
* BlackKnight: Sauron from the intro of the ''Fellowship of the Ring'' opening wears a huge suit of armor, roars monstrously, and swings a gigantic mace everywhere, sending scores of soldiers flying with each blow. He is modeled after his former master Morgoth from ''Silmarillion'', and the books ([[AllThereInTheManual or at least the appendix]]) did mention him taking part in this particular battle personally, so at least it's fairly justified.
** The Witch-King fulfills this trope in both the books and the movie.
* BlackSpeech:
** Sauron and the Ring-wraiths use it.
** Gandalf uses it to dramatic effect in Imladris, complete with EmpathicEnvironment. It also appears to cause elves such as Elrond and Legolas physical pain, as both wince at its usage.
* BladeOnAStick: Elf King Gil-Galad's spear in the prologue of Fellowship of the Ring, and the Chinese style polearms carried by Haldir's Elves at the Battle of Helm's Deep.
* BlindedByTheLight: The Uruk-Hai at the end of the battle of Helm's Deep are blinded by the rising sun when Gandalf and his army of Rohirrim come charging towards them.
* BloodFromTheMouth: When Aragorn is fighting Lurtz, the orc headbutts him in the face and his mouth is bleeding afterward.
* BloodlessCarnage: Downplayed. There is quite a lot of gore if you watch closely, but the [[BlackBlood gushing blood]] is almost indistinguishable from the grime and filth the orcs are covered in.
* BodyCountCompetition: Gimli and Legolas have one in the battles of Heml's Deep and Minas Tirith. Even after Legolas takes down the war beast, Gimli says it still only counts as one.
* {{Bookends}}: Several examples in The Two Towers (which may seem odd as it's the middle film):
** Near the start of the film, Frodo attacks Gollum with Sting held in his left hand and holds the tip to his throat. Near the end, he does the same to [[spoiler: Sam]], except with Sting in his right hand.
** Faramir's arc starts with Denethor mockingly asking if Faramir wants to attend the Council of Elrond to "show his quality". At the end, Sam earnestly tells him that he has shown his quality.
** The trilogy as a whole begins and ends in Hobbiton. Additionally, it starts with Bilbo beginning work on his book ''There And Back Again'' and ends with Frodo writing the final lines of the sequel. ''The Lord Of The Rings''
* BottomlessMagazines: Nobody ever runs out of arrows despite firing dozens of them and never being shown replenishing their quivers or picking the arrows out of the bodies.
* BowAndSwordInAccord:
** Aragorn uses both bow and sword in the first movie, but he usually uses the bow only to open battle, staying in melee once it opens.
** Legolas is more flexible, switching between his bow and his knives when appropriate. Elves in general are capable of both archery and swordplay.
** Faramir's rangers from Ithilien used bows and swords and were lightly armoured, but the mainline Gondorian archers are depicted in plate armour, though it may have been a lighter style.
** The Uruk-hai captain (Lurtz) at the end of the first film also employs a bow/sword combo.
* BoxedSet
* BraveScot: Gimli may be from Middle-Earth, but he comes across as this with his thick Scottish accent, red hair and habit of calling everyone "laddie".
* BreachingTheWall: In ''The Two Towers'', the first part of the battle at Helm's Deep has Rohan's army easily keeping Saruman's Uruk-hais at bay. Unfortunately, no one's aware Saruman has found out the fortress wall can be destroyed by placing a bomb on a sewage drain nearby. [[StuffBlowingUp Guess what happens a few minutes later]]...
* BreakingSpeech: Elrond gives one to Arwen about how if she marries Aragorn, she will live to see him and their child die. This is an unusual example because he does it out of love.
* BrickJoke: Nobody tosses a Dwarf, but then Gimli later has to get tossed in order to fight the orcs across a gap.
** A blink-and-you'll-miss-it example: early in ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' the four Hobbits stop for "second breakfast," but Aragorn pushes them on. Pippin complains, so a couple of apples come flying out of the bushes from Aragorn's general direction. One hits Pippin in the head, and he looks up at the sky in confusion. Much later, just after the Ents have trashed Isengard in ''The Two Towers'', Pippin mentions that he's hungry, then sees some apples floating in the water. He grabs one, then looks up in the same manner.
* BringHimToMe: Saruman wants the ring bearer brought to him alive and ''unspoiled''.

* ButtMonkey: Gimli in ''The Two Towers'' and ''Return of the King'', with a few small moments of it in ''Fellowship''.
-->NOT THE BEARD!!!!!
* CallThatAFormation: While lip service is paid to forming battle-lines, the battles quickly devolve into total chaos.
* CannotCrossRunningWater: Arwen uses an invocation to Ulmo to raise the waters of Rivendell and prevent the Ringwraiths from crossing the ford. (Compare the book, where the waters rise due to a boundary spell set by Elrond).
* CaptainObvious: Legolas, who tells the audience what a diversion is. The writers joke about it on the commentary.
* CatapultNightmare: Aragorn had one of these in ''Return of the King. In fairness, he pulls a knife in the same motion, and has probably trained himself to do this every time he's suddenly awoken.

* TheCavalry:
** Minas Tirith is about to be overwhelmed by an enormous horde of Orcs—and then the Rohirrim appear at the top of the hill, blowing their horns.
** The same happens at Helm's Deep, with Gandalf and Éomer's ''éored''.

%%* CCGImportanceDissonance

** The small glass vial containing the Light of Eärendil, given to Frodo by Galadriel in the first film. [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest It comes in handy]] in the third film, when [[spoiler: Frodo is lost in Shelob's lair]]. The elven rope given to Sam also comes in handy, though it's only given a bit of relevance in the extended edition. Given the length of time between the release of the film in theaters, this turned into a bit of a BrickJoke.

* ChildSoldiers: There is a scene in ''The Two Towers'' where the soldiers suit up to defend Helm's Deep and we see a number of people being armed are ''very'' young boys needed to up their soldier count. Mercifully, we're never shown the kids doing any actually combat besides throwing stones at the besiegers from the wall.
-->'''Gimli:''' Some of these men have seen too many winters.
-->'''Legolas:''' Or too few.
* ChromaticArrangement: All merchandise, including the special edition [=DVDs=], was colour-coded by film. ''Fellowship'' was green, ''Two Towers'' was red, and ''Return of the King'' was blue. Irritatingly, the Complete Recordings soundtracks had a different order: ''Fellowship'' was red, ''Towers'' blue, ''King'' green. These colours were made to match those of the limited edition soundtracks released at the same time as the films, which were designed before the films were even released. So in a way the Complete Recordings show the original colour concepts, then they went and changed them for the extended edition [=DVDs=].
* ClimbSlipHangClimb: When Frodo and Sam are following Gollum to Shelob's lair. Aragorn does it as well when the staircase is collapsing in Moria.

** Especially noticeable in day-for-night scenes. There's even a scene in ''Return of the King'' where Pippin is searching for Merry, that appears as a daylight scene in the theatrical version but was regraded to night for the extended version.

* CombatTentacles: The Watcher in the Water, [[NothingIsScarier which wasn't clearly described in the book]], is shown as a giant squid-like monster when it attacks the Company.
* ComeWithMeIfYouWantToLive: Aragorn gets introduced this way in Bree, as a wilderness expert who can outrun the Nazgûl. More so in the film, since they set out that very morning after they outwit the Nazgûl ambush. In the film, Aragorn fits the trope to a T:
-->'''Frodo:''' Where are you taking us?
-->'''Aragorn:''' [[ScarilyCompetentTracker Into the wild]].
-->'''Merry:''' How do we know this Strider is a friend of Gandalf?
-->'''Frodo:''' We have no choice but to trust him.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint:
** As Sam and Frodo are left alone with Sméagol:
--->'''Sam:''' It's too quiet. There hasn't been sight nor sound of a bird for two days.
--->'''Gollum:''' No, no birdses to eat. No crunchable birdses!
** Another example: While on Weathertop, being chased by the Nazgûl, Frodo goes to sleep, only to wake up to the other hobbits cooking food.
--->'''Frodo:''' What are you doing?! [meaning, Why are you lighting a fire when we have demonic ghosts chasing us?!]
--->'''Merry:''' Tomatoes, sausages, and nice, crispy bacon.

* ConvenientlyTimedAttackFromBehind:
** When Merry and Pippin try to escape from the orc camp and are chased by Grishnakh, he has them at knifepoint and [[TemptingFate says nobody will save them now]] ... then the Rohirrim attack the camp and [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice one of them throws a spear into his back.]]
** Later on, Treebeard saves Merry and Pippin by stepping on an orc for them.
** When the Rohirrim are attacked by orcs on the way to Helm's Deep, Gimli gets pinned under the body of one of the Wargs, and another one creeps up on him. Aragorn then grabs a spear out of the ground and skewers it before it can attack.
** Sam also stabs an orc from behind with Sting when he rescues Frodo from the tower of Cirith Ungol.

%%* CoolOldGuy: Gandalf and Théoden.
* CourtlyLove: Gimli, almost immediately after seeing Galadriel. When she is bestowing gifts on the fellowship prior to their departure, all he requests is [[TheLadysFavor a strand of her golden hair]]. [[spoiler: She gives him three]].
* CreativeClosingCredits: They contain the names of ''[[LongList every single member of the Tolkien fan club]]'' in the special edition.
* CreatorCameo: Creator/PeterJackson, as well as other high-ranking members of the production crew, [[http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Cameo_appearances_in_Peter_Jackson%27s_The_Lord_of_the_Rings_and_The_Hobbit_film_trilogies make several appearances]] throughout the films:
** The prologue has cameos by senior prosthetics supervisor Gino Acevedo and prosthetics technicians Rich Mayberry and Xander Forterie as three of the seven Dwarf Lords who receive Rings of Power; concept artists John Howe and Alan Lee play two of the Nine Kings; Weta production worker Ben Britton and pre-viz storyboard shader Jason Secto play elves fighting in the Last Alliance.
** Artist Alan Lee and Production Designer Dan Hennah appear as old men being armed when Legolas and Aragorn argue at Helm's Deep. Peter Jackson appears again as a spear throwing Rohirrim at Helm's Deep.
** Jackson, Acevedo, Weta Workshop head Richard Taylor, director of photography Andrew Lesnie, and co-producer Rick Porras play the Corsairs of Umbar. [[DeathByCameo Jackson's Corsair is shot by Legolas, and the rest are killed by a cannonball.]]
* CruelToBeKind: After their narrow escape from the Mines of Moria, most of the Fellowship is extremely distraught at the loss of Gandalf and stop just outside the exit to mourn. However, Aragorn orders Boromir to get them on their feet and continue the journey, answering protests of not giving them a moment by noting that by nightfall, the whole local area will be crawling with Orcs fully intent on killing them or worse, and the Fellowship must get to safety before dusk.
* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler: Ents vs. Isengard]]. [[spoiler: Army of the Dead vs. Forces of Sauron]], unlike the book, which describes it as a long day of battle.

* CutApart: The first movie has closeups of sleeping hobbits mixed with Ringwraiths surrounding the beds. When the stabbing begins, we discover the beds are empty and the hobbits in another room.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The three movies seem to alternate between this and LighterAndSofter compared to the original book. They drop a couple of the more lighthearted scenes of the book (Tom Bombadil, for example) and focus more on the bloody battles (easier to do in a visual medium), while omitting some of the creepier book-scenes (such as the barrow wights) and adding a lot of comic relief.
* DaylightHorror: The Ringwraiths are frightening at night. They prove to be just as frightening when they chase Arwen and a sickly Frodo across a bright green field in the middle of the day.
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Haldir. (In the book, the elves don't even ''show up'' at Helm's Deep).]]
** Also [[spoiler:the Mouth of Sauron, whose fate is unknown in the books]].
* DeathGlare: The crowning one has to be the one Theoden gives Grima after being freed from Saruman. You can almost hear Grima [[PottyFailure piss himself]].
* DeathIsSuchAnOddThing: Orlando Bloom said in the commentaries for the extended edition that this is what he was trying for, when the camera had its closeup on his face in the OneWomanWail montage after Gandalf fell: he was coming to grips with what death was, as an elf whose only experience with it previously had been seeing enemies die in battle.
* DeathOfAThousandCuts: How the Fellowship [[spoiler: kills the cave troll in Moria]].
* DeathWail: Aragorn lets out one when he finds Merry and Pippin's elven belts on the Orc funeral pyre. In RealLife, it was because Creator/ViggoMortensen [[ThrowItIn had just broken his toe on the helmet he kicked]], [[EnforcedMethodActing but he went on with the scene]].

* {{Determinator}}: Sam is Frodo's only companion to stay with him clear from the Shire to Mt. Doom, in spite of being turned away by Frodo twice, and in spite of Frodo and the others twice secretly conspiring with regards to the journey without Sam or the other hobbits. He also saves Frodo from an EldritchAbomination and Orcs, then carries him partway up Mt Doom on his own back. The only incentive he gets to do any of this is when Gandalf says, "Don't you leave him Samwise Gamgee" once, right at the beginning.

%%** The Army of the Dead could also count for the Battle of Pelennor Fields.
* DevouredByTheHorde: The orc pack who take Merry and Pippin to Isengard are starving, and one of them attempts to eat the hobbits. Under strict orders to bring any hobbit back in one piece, the leader of the orc pack kills this orc instead, who is then devoured by his hungry comrades.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: During the siege of Helm's Deep, the Uruk-Hai use Saruman's newly-created explosives to blow up the wall in order to make a breach. However, they were caught off-guard by the blast almost as much as the defenders were. The Uruks near the grate are blown up along with the ones already on the wall and countless more are crushed beneath massive chunks of falling rubble that were blown sky high by the blast. After the dust settles, instead of immediately storming through the breach, they stand there staring at it, clearly not realizing that Saruman's new weapons would be ''that'' powerful. Of course, it's probably likely that Saruman just didn't bother to inform them of its destructive power because he didn't care, given that WeHaveReserves was in full effect for the Uruks.
* DigitalHeadSwap: One of the techniques used to create the proper scale for the Hobbits.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Frodo and the Hobbits are the obvious examples, but Lady Galadriel also goes barefoot.
* TheDogBitesBack: Saruman really shouldn't have mistreated Wormtongue the way he did, as we see in ''Return of the King'' (at least in the extended edition).

* DreamIntro: At the beginning of ''The Two Towers'', Frodo has a dream that reminds us what happened to Gandalf at the end of Part 1, although in this case it continues into a sequence which he couldn't possibly have seen.

* DugTooDeep: According to Saruman, the Dwarves of Moria did this, unleashing the [[SealedEvilInACan Balrog]].
* TheDulcineaEffect: Gimli goes from describing Galadriel as a wicked sorceress to pledging himself as her KnightInShiningArmor within days of meeting her.

* EarlyBirdCameo:
** Inverted. Rohan appears briefly in the first book, establishing that the nation will enter the plot in the second. It's completely cut out of the film, with only one brief mention.
** The extended version of ''The Two Towers'' has a flashback to Boromir and Faramir's past, which serves to introduce Denethor before he becomes a major character in ''Return of the King''.

* EliteMooks: The Uruk Hai.

* EnemyCivilWar: The orcs of Mordor and Isengard do not play nicely together. In fact, Saruman is only allied with Mordor out of convenience; [[DragonWithAnAgenda he plans to betray Sauron once he gets the Ring and overthrow him.]]
* EngagementChallenge: Similarly to the book, Elrond is disapproving of Aragorn and Arwen's romance until Aragorn proves he's worthy of being King. The scene in the third movie when he arrives bearing Andúril was added to show that he had changed his mind and given them his blessing.

* EpicMovie: Collectively and individually, averaging at about three hours each. And that's just the theatrical cuts. The extended edition of The Return of the King actually has a running-time of ''four'' hours, and that's without counting the end credits which are another 20 minutes themselves.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Quite a few.
** Sam telling Frodo the promise he made to Gandalf in the beginning. ("Don't you lose him, Samwise Gamgee!")
** Merry and Pippin's mischief at Bilbo's birthday party.
** Boromir instantly suggesting the Ring be turned over to Gondor to use against Sauron.
** Legolas defending Aragorn against Boromir.
** Gimli grabbing an axe and attempting to destroy the Ring right at the council.
** Saruman chastising Gandalf for consorting with Hobbits.
** Lurtz chokes the first orc he sees within seconds of his birth.
** Gandalf arriving in Hobbiton for Bilbo's birthday party. [[FriendToAllChildren All the children are excited to see him]], while the adults look on disapprovingly (for the most part, one Hobbit laughs at a miniature fireworks display only to frown when his wife appears.)
** Faramir is introduced after his men attack a troop of Haradrim, and he [[AlasPoorVillain shows empathy for one of the enemies that they killed.]] Unlike the WarIsGlorious mindset of most other characters, he then says [[WarIsHell "War will make corpses of us all."]]
** Wormtongue's introduction in Edoras shows that he is manipulative, creepy and nevertheless a little pathetic.
** The first glimpse of the Lady Galadriel (other than the flash of her eyes that Frodo sees when he hears her voice in his mind) is her descending the stairs in Caras Galadhon with Celeborn in a blinding, majestic aura of white light. 'The Lady of Light', indeed!
%%* EvilChancellor: Grí­ma Wormtongue.
* EvilGloating: See Fate Worse Than Death.
-->'''Saruman:''' Who now has the strength to stand against the armies of Isengard and Mordor? To stand against the might of Sauron and Saruman ... and the union of [[TitleDrop the two towers]]? Together, my Lord Sauron ... we shall rule this Middle-Earth!
%%* EvilIsHammy: Saruman, Gollum, and the Witch-King.

* EvilSoundsDeep: Saruman has a deep, booming voice. The Uruk-Hai captain Lurtz also has a very deep voice, as do other orcs, when they're not...
* EvilSoundsRaspy: A side effect of corruption by rings of power. Gollum speaks this way after possessing the One Ring for centuries, and the Ringwraiths rasp their few lines. Even Sauron himself has a somewhat raspy (if deeper) voice when he's heard onscreen.
* EvilTowerOfOminousness: The (original) Dark Tower, Barad-dûr. It's actually depicted as under construction during the first film; the completed tower itself is first seen at the end of the film, from the Seat of Amon Hen; and revealed in the second film.
* EvolutionaryRetCon: By the third entry, Creator/PeterJackson had decided he wasn't a fan of the "witch noses" on certain orcs in the previous films. As a result, none of ''Return of the King'''s orcs sported long, pointy noses.

* FadeToWhite: Creator/PeterJackson enjoys doing this, ''especially'' at the end of the third film.
* FallenAngel: Sauron, Saruman and the Balrog of Moria.
* {{Fanfare}}: The fellowship theme, the Rohan theme at points, and the Gondor theme.

* FantasticRacism: A major theme of the books and movies is the heroes [[WeAreStrugglingTogether learning to overcome their differences.]] ElvesVsDwarves is the most prominent, although Elves and Men are shown having some grudges against each other too.
* FatalFireworks: There's a comedic, non-fatal example: at Bilbo's birthday party, [[ThoseTwoGuys Pippin and Merry]] steal and launch one of Gandalf's firework rockets, ending up with an AshFace.

** Averted with Saruman's DisneyVillainDeath. To shorten the film, the Scouring of the Shire had been deleted and he was made to die, but in Tolkien's eyes the original fate of the Wizard has been much worse: for a Maia, a minor god, and a powerful ruler able to sack a kingdom, to be reduced to begging through the countryside was a much greater humiliation.
* FinalSpeech: While both Boromir and Théoden had some last dying words in the book, they really spice it up in the films, especially with Boromir's last line to Aragorn: "My brother, my captain, my king".
* FireForgedFriends: Gimli and Legolas probably count as Trope Codifiers. They [[FantasticRacism openly hate each other]] at their first meeting (Gimli: "Never trust an elf!"), but by the end of ''Fellowship'' they are inseparable.
-->'''Gimli:''' Never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an Elf.\\
'''Legolas:''' What about side by side with a friend?\\
'''Gimli:''' ...aye. I could do that.
* FlashForward: Elrond warns Arwen what will happen if she stays in Middle-Earth and marries Aragorn, and there is a scene of Aragorn's funeral, after he has become king and has died of old age, while Arwen lives on in grief and loneliness.
* FoeTossingCharge:
** Sauron during the prologue, to get to Isildur.
** Theoden and Aragorn also do this at the climax of the Battle of the Hornburg, riding out of the gates and scattering the orcs on the bridge.
* ForcedPerspective:
** Used to great effect to help the average-height actors playing hobbits and dwarves seem to-scale with their man and elf co-stars.
** Used in reverse in one shot from ''The Fellowship of the Ring'': While climbing Caradhras, Frodo falls and drops the Ring. There is a shot of the Ring lying in the snow in the foreground. The filmmakers used a larger model of the Ring in this shot to make it seem closer, while still in-focus.

** In an Extended-Version-only scene, Frodo and Sam see a group of Wood-Elves on their way to the Grey Havens while they're leaving the Shire. [[spoiler: The final film ends with Frodo going to the Grey Havens and leaving Middle-Earth with the rest of the elves]].
** Gollum's Song, sung by Emiliana Torrini and played over the credits of ''The Two Towers'', ends with 'You are lost, you can never go home.' While it's ambiguous who exactly this is directed towards, [[spoiler:by the end of the quest Frodo at least suffers a tragic case of YouCantGoHomeAgain.]]
** In ''Return of the King'', Gimli mentions how he wishes he could summon a legion of Dwarves to march on Gondor with the Rohirrim. However Legolas tells him, "Your kinsmen may have no need to ride to war. I fear war already marches on their own lands" which may be a reference to the Easterlings' siege on the Dwarven kingdom of Erebor and their allies that happens off-screen at the same time as the siege of Minas Tirith.
* ForgotAboutHisPowers:
** Sometimes Gandalf uses his magic powers, and sometimes he doesn't. He does when battling Saruman, or when facing the Balrog, or when he scares off the Nazgûl that are chasing Faramir's men on the road to Minas Tirith. But at other times he seems to forget he's a wizard and is content simply to whack bad guys with his staff, most notably when he's fighting in hand-to-hand combat in the siege of Minas Tirith or in the final battle at the gate to Mordor. Ian [=McKellen=] even asked this question once.
--->'''[=McKellen=]''': Why don't I zap them?
--->'''Jackson''': (thinking quickly) ...ah, you see, the staff is out of batteries and the local alchemy shop is closed for the war.
** Saruman shows the ability to levitate an enemy and toss him through the air, and to call down storms and avalanches from dozens if not hundreds of miles away, and Treebeard predicts that the Ents are probably doomed fighting against him. But during the actual battle, the Ents win easily and Saruman just watches angrily without using any magic.
*** In the books he actually kills one of the Ents with a jet of fire, making this an inversion of the ususal AdaptationDeviation tendency to add much more blatant magic use than was in the source material.
* ForgotToMindTheirHead: This was a hazard both in and out of universe when filming the trilogy:
** During the scene in ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' where Gandalf visits Bilbo in his hobbit hole, Gandalf, stooping, accidentally backs into a chandelier (as part of the script). His actor Creator/IanMcKellen then promptly turns and accidentally smacks his head on the roof, [[ThrowItIn an (unscripted) accident so funny that they left it in]].
** In the gag reel for ''Fellowship'', this happens also to the crew. Everyone's sitting inside the hobbit hole listening to directions, then when the meeting ends they all stand up and hit their heads on the roof. Then everyone falls to the floor.
* ForTheEvulz: The ultimate reason why Sauron does all the things he does. All he cares about is having power over others, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood and the idea that his enemies don't never even occurs to him.]]
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The four main hobbits -- Pippin (choleric), Sam (melancholic), Frodo (leukine), and Merry (sanguine).

%%* FriendsAllAlong: The first time we see Arwen.
* FromBadToWorse: The odds keep getting stacked against the heroes and their allies no matter what glimmer of hope may shine. From the Skirmish at Amon Hen, to the Battle of Helm's Deep, to the Battle for Gondor, and ultimately the Battle at the Black Gate. Each new battle is much more hopeless than the last, and it is with that last one that everything hangs by a thread.
* FryingPanOfDoom: Sam uses his cooking gear to whack some goblins in Moria.
--> '''Sam''': I think I'm getting the hang of this.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent:
** During the Entish assault on Isengard, one of them catches fire. The Ent running around and then dousing himself in the overflowing Isen is hilarious if you notice it.
** As the Ents break the dam overlooking Isengard, there is an Ent in the foreground holding a struggling orc in his hand. When the Ent sees the dam breaking in the background, he casually throws the orc in the path of the torrent and walks away.
%%* GiantEyeOfDoom: [[SinisterSurveillance The Eye of Sauron.]]

* GiantWallOfWateryDoom:
** In both cases the water is only "doom" to evil forces, and is actually the ''salvation'' to the good ones.
** In ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' when Arwen [[ElementalMagic conjures up]] the Bruinen river against the Black Riders (invoking a MassOhCrap out of them, but they can't outrun it). For added awesomeness, the waves are horse-shaped.
** In ''The Two Towers'' when...
--->'''The Ents:''' Break the dam; release the river!
** Near Isengard at the end, flooding all foulness out of it.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: [-"In place of a Dark Lord you would have a '''''QUEEN!''''' Not dark but ''beautiful'' and terrible as the dawn! Treacherous as the ''sea''! ''Stronger than the foundations of the Earth!'' All shall love me, and ''despair''!"-]
* GodzillaThreshold: The reason Theoden recruits young boys as ChildSoldiers for the Battle of Helm's Deep; the Uruks plan to kill everyone and they need to up the solider count. To be fair, everyone involved in-universe (Theoden, the soldiers taking the children to the armory) was thoroughly unhappy with the situation.
* GollumMadeMeDoIt: More pronounced in the film than the book, where we're asked to take Gollum as more of a whole person.

* GoodLipsEvilJaws: The film has a lot of Orcs with no lips at all. They're humanoid, and besides just being ugly look fairly normal. They have rather human mouths, if unusually sharp teeth, but these [[{{Squick}} mouths are not covered by lips.]]
* GreatOffscreenWar: Not a typical example, as it takes place at the same time, rather than before, the main conflict--but in the extended edition of [=RotK=], there is a moment when Gimli says that he wishes he had Dwarf warriors beside him. Legolas replies that he fears the Dwarves are already at war; anyone who has read the appendices knows that ''both'' of their homelands (Erebor and Mirkwood, respectively) are indeed fighting Sauron's armies in the north. The Dwarves even lose their king in the conflict. The fighting around Gondor is a sideshow by comparison to the scale of the attacks on Erebor and Mirkwood.
* GreenAesop: The conflict between Isengard and the Ents.
-->'''Saruman''': "The old world will burn in the fires of industry. The forests will fall!"
* GrievousHarmWithABody: It's easy to miss and hard to see, but at one point when the Ents are fighting the forces of Isengard, one Ent is swinging an orc around and whacking other orcs with it.
* GroinAttack: Happens a couple of times to orcs during battles, particularly to an Uruk-Hai at Helm's Deep. Gimli hits him with an axe.
* HaveIMentionedIAmADwarfToday: Gimli does not deal with other people. It's always a dwarf dealing with an elf or a human. He almost completely refers to other people not by their name, but only by their race. He does refer to both Aragorn and Legolas by their names during their expedition to get the support of the Army of the Dead, but only once each.
* HeartbeatSoundtrack: Déagol's death in the third movie.
* HeDidntMakeIt: ''The Two Towers'' has a strange example because that scene was filmed before the script was totally ironed out: the director wasn't sure what actually did happen to Aragorn, so decided to keep the dialogue vague to save time.
-->'''Éowyn:''' Where is Lord Aragorn?\\
'''Gimli:''' He fell.
* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: Unless you are a Rider of Rohan, or an Elf soldier, or a Dwarf, or a soldier of Gondor. Interestingly, Éowyn wears a helmet properly like the Rohirrim (along with Merry, Éomer, and Théoden) but she needed a custom one made so that her face was still recognizable to the audience.
* TheHighQueen: Galadriel. In a case of MetaCasting, she is played by Creator/CateBlanchett, famous for portraying [[UsefulNotes/ElizabethI Elizabeth I]], a TropeCodifier of High Queendom.
* HilariousOuttakes: While Jackson and company are saving the gag reel for the high definition LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition, a few bloopers have surfaced. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkNWF_75dWM&feature=related Creator/SeanAstin just wants a close-up]].

** The night battles at Helm's Deep and Osgiliath are shown in a blue tint. Helms Deep occurs with rain during the bulk of the battle,meaning that the only light would have been lightning and scattered torches, but this isn't cited as nor provides any obvious difficulty. Osgiliath is a retreating battle in which both sides tried to ambush the other, no one has torches lit, but the orcs in the boats stay low, and the Gondorians took cover in the broken urban landscape

** The Rohirrim defenders of Helm's Deep let the Orcs neatly form up outside the fortress without shooting - until one bowman prematurely does, which (only then) provokes the Orcs to charge.
** The Rohirrim cavalry charge at the conclusion of Helm's Deep - downhill, towards thousands of Uruk-Hai armed with pikes and spears ''pointed right at them'' is a textbook example. In real life, this would have skewered the horses and their riders like shish-kebab. But the Orcs, blinded by the sunlight (and perhaps Gandalf's magic) ridiculously start to raise their weapons when they could've just stuck their spears into the ground and pointed them straight forward at their attackers, and the Rohirrim cut them down.

** ''The Return of the King'' includes an intentional example. Faramir is forced to make an unsupported cavalry charge across open ground against a fortified position. Also, said position is an urban environment with lots of rubble in the streets that would handily take away all of a horse's speed and maneuverability. This goes about as poorly as one can expect and was meant to display Denethor's failing sanity.

* HomageShot:
** Creator/PeterJackson shot one bit at Bilbo's birthday party in ''Fellowship of the Ring'' ("Proudfeet!") as an exact copy of a shot in Creator/RalphBakshi's animated ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]''. Jackson even helpfully points this out in the commentary. A circle-round shot of the four hobbits at Weathertop is also lifted from the original, although the camera moves much faster and Aragorn is absent. Same goes for the four hobbits hiding under a root by the wayside with the Nazgûl leaning in above them.
** Not exactly an ''homage'' shot, but the Nazgûl attacking the Hobbits' room at the Prancing Pony was drawn from Bakshi's film. In the books, it's explicitly stated by Aragorn that they would ''not'' have openly attacked the inn in this manner, and that their assailants were instead Men of Bree under their influence.

* HopelessSuitor: Éowyn for Aragorn
* HopelessWar: The War of the Ring was very much this trope for the Free People of Middle-earth. Sauron's power and forces were growing stronger by the day, the odds of the Quest's success were becoming increasingly slim, and all the while the armies of Gondor and Rohan were struggling to bring their tactics up-to-par with that of the Enemy.

** Probably the cruelest one in film history is when Gandalf sends Balrog off the bridge and begins turning back...only for the tips of its whip to catch Gandalf by the foot and leave him dangling off the side of the bridge.
* HornsOfVillainy: The Balrog wasn't clearly described in the novels, but in ''Fellowship'' and ''The Two Towers'' it's given large ram-like horns, giving it a beast-like appearance.
* HostileWeather: The snowstorm on Caradhras. The movie clearly shows that Saruman is behind it too, while in the book it's left vague.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: When Gandalf confronts Saruman while the latter is speaking through the possessed King Théoden, Saruman mocks him with the declaration "You have no power here, Gandalf the Grey!". At this, Gandalf casts off his grey outer cloak, revealing himself (to possessed!Théoden's shock) as Gandalf the White before successfully casting Saruman out of the king's mind.

* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Sam to Frodo during ''The Two Towers''.
-->'''Samwise''': It's me. It's your Sam. Don't you know your Sam?
* ILied:
-->'''Frodo''': Sméagol promised!

* IconicSequelSong: While the motifs for Rohan and Minas Tirith are some of the most recognizable parts of the series' score, they first appear in ''The Two Towers'' and ''The Return of the King'' respectively.
* ImAHumanitarian:
** "You will taste '''''man-flesh!"'''''
** "Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!"
* IMeantToDoThat: Gimli, when he falls off his horse in ''The Two Towers''.
-->'''Gimli:''' Nobody panic! It was deliberate. It was deliberate.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Saruman dies in the extended version of ''Return of the King'' by getting stabbed, falling off the tower of Isengard and onto a spiky wheel of a machine. For bonus symbolism points, the wheel then shifts because of his weight and turns until Saruman is on the bottom, hidden beneath the pool of water.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Elvish archery in general; see for example the Elves in the prologue shooting Orcs off the slopes of Mount Doom at what looks like over a ''mile away''. And there's Legolas specifically, of course, who shoots Orcs in the head while shield-surfing.
* InertialImpalement: Subverted in The Two Towers: The Rohirrim cavalry charges down a steep incline where orc pikemen are massing. However, the sun rises just in time for them to be dazzled, and the charge completely breaks the line apart.
* InsaneTrollLogic: In ''The Two Towers'', there is the following exchange where it's used twice in a row:
-->'''Pippin''': If we go south, we can slip past Saruman unnoticed. The closer we are to danger, the further we are from harm. It's the last thing he'll expect.
-->'''Treebeard''': That doesn't make sense to me, but then you are very small. Perhaps you're right.

* InVinoVeritas: At the end of ''The Return of the King'', Sam avails himself of some liquid courage before going up to talk to Rosie, and after he leaves the table, we see some delightedly wide-eyed reaction shots of the other three hobbits. The next scene is Sam and Rosie's wedding.
* IronicEcho: Gandalf finds a record of Isildur's journal, accounting the finding of the One Ring.
-->'''Isildur''': "I will risk no harm to the Ring. It is '''precious''' to me."
** Averted in some dubs where they change Gollum's ''my precious'' but [[LostInTranslation miss this echo]].
** Shortly after Pippin swears allegiance to Steward Denethor, Gandalf reacts to the situation with derision ("Perigrin Took, [[SarcasmMode Guard of the Citadel]]..."). Later, during the battle in the city, Pippin then kills an Orc that was about to attack an unaware Gandalf. When Gandalf realizes what had just happened, he utters a far more sincere "Guard of the Citadel, indeed!"

** Boromir's last words to Aragorn:
-->"I would have followed you, my brother... my captain... my ''king''."

* ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest: Galadriel's gifts. All of them. Even moreso in the book, where she gives Sam a [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest box of dirt]] with a mallorn nut in it. It helps.
%%* IWantThemAlive: And '''''un-'''''spoiled.

* JabbaTableManners: Denethor messily gobbling down his dinner as he apathetically sends his youngest son to his death in ''The Return of the King''.
* KillItWithFire: Strider uses this method to drive off the Nazgûl at Weathertop, with a [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks Throwing Your Torch Always Works]] finisher.
* KillTheLights:
** In ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', when Gandalf intimidates Bilbo to convince him to leave the Ring behind, the room darkens and his voice gains a menacing reverberation. He also seems to grow, though he may simply be standing up from a slouch.
---> ''"Bilbo Baggins, do not take me for some conjurer of cheap tricks!"''
** A similar effect happens during the Council of Elrond when Gandalf breaks up the squabble by reciting the ring couplet in BlackSpeech, though as this scene is outside, the darkening is less noticeable.
* KillSteal: Gimli accuses Legolas of this in ''The Two Towers'' during the fight with the warg-riding orcs.
-->''*riderless warg charges at Gimli*''
-->'''Gimli''': Bring your pretty face to my axe!
-->''*Legolas shoots the warg when it's within mere feet of Gimli*''
-->'''Gimli''': That one counts as mine!

* KubrickStare: At the climax of ''The Return of the King'' Frodo gives off a crazed Kubrick Stare to Sam at Mount Doom before putting the Ring on. Foreshadowed in ''Fellowship'' when Isildur (in flashback) gave Elrond exactly the same stare, in exactly the same circumstances. One of the powers of the One Ring is to cause Kubrick Stares.

* LargeHam: Gandalf gets lines like "I will draw you Saruman, as poison is drawn from a wound!" and "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis YOU...SHALL NOT...PASS!]]. Also see "Evil Is Hammy" above.
* LeaveNoSurvivors: In the films both Saruman and the Witch-King tell their minions to kill everyone in Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith, respectively.

* LegendFadesToMyth: According to Galadriel's prologue, this is why things came to be as they were at the end of the Third Age: people forgot about past threats, and grew complacent. Sauron exploited that.
* {{Leitmotif}}:
** The "Fellowship theme," a traditional triumphant brass theme as heard over the montage of the fellowship traveling out of Rivendell towards Caradhras. Later used for the Three Hunters, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. Notable in that, according to the composer Music/HowardShore, it never quite makes a full reappearance after the events in Moria; at least one note is off, or the rhythm is changed.
** The "Hobbit theme," a sort of jaunty flute piece with bassoons and oboes evoking pastoral countryside. Plays over the "Concerning Hobbits" narration. Gets more and more wistful the more the hobbits, especially Frodo, go through BreakTheCutie - only to be restored to full brass-filled glory when everyone bows to the hobbits during Aragorn's coronation.
** The "Rohan Theme." Wistful when we first hear it on the Norwegian fiddle when the heroes arrive at Edoras, it later appears in full-on brass mode for Helm's Deep. Plays over the charge of the Rohirrim at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, with Norwegian fiddle and brass sections working together.
** The "Gondor Theme." Majestic, soaring theme that wouldn't sound entirely out of place in a pirate movie. Heard as Gandalf and Pippin arrive at Minas Tirith and gallop up the city to see Denethor, as well as over the lighting of the beacons. An early version of this theme is played on solo French horn as Boromir speaks at the Council of Elrond.
** The "Minas Tirith Theme", first heard in an Extended scene in ''Fellowship'' when Boromir and Aragorn talk in Lothlórien unintentionally become the "Andúril Theme" and associated with Aragorn's march to kingship. It seems it originally was never meant to be associated with Andúril, but Howard Shore changed his mind.
** The "Mordor Theme." Dark and dramatic with lots of brass and ominous chanting when needed. Heard as Gandalf witnesses the arrival of the Nazgûl. Used to excellent effect first as a threatening sound when Sauron first appears before the Allied Army, single-handedly stopping their attack with his very presence, and then blasting into angry brass and choir as he sweeps away scores of soldiers with casual swings of his mace. There's another "Mordor Theme" as well, which is a dissonant, menacing melody, often featuring an instrument called a rhaita, which gives the theme a slightly Middle-Eastern feel. It is featured at its most ominous during the siege of Gondor, as the giant battering ram, Grond, breaks through the gates. When the ring is destroyed and Sauron's tower is falling, the melody reappears one last time, but the dissonance is triumphantly resolved.
** "Gollum's Theme," appears all the way through the second film whenever Gollum is around, but most notably as a song in the end credits sung by Emiliana Torrini.
** The "Isengard Theme," played with heavy brass and percussion in the Caverns of Isengard or when the Uruk-hai are on the move. Unlike other themes, which are in more conventional timing, Isengard's theme is done in 5/4 time, which sounds a little bit off or unnatural (as most music these days is done in 4/4, 2/4, or 3/4 time), to reflect the twisting of nature and industrial methods of Saruman. The percussion in question is actually ''banging an opened piano's wires with chains.''
** The "Lothlórien" theme for the Elves (or at least Galadriel's Elves) is first heard as an ethereal, dreamy piece with generous amounts of CherubicChoir and OneWomanWail. In the second movie, though, it gets transformed into a badass military march during the scene where the Elven army comes to the rescue at the Battle of Helm's Deep.
** "The History of the Ring," representing the power of the One Ring, especially when it changes hands or when someone tries to take it -- plays under the title card of each movie, so easily mistaken for the theme to the trilogy itself -- or perhaps it is, in a way.
** Éowyn's theme (the only theme other than Gollum's associated with one character), played usually whenever she's standing at the front of the Golden Hall.
** The March of the Ents/General Badassery about to Happen theme (can be heard [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePIXwrL2-dE here]]).
** There is a Moria theme, too, profoundly sad and full of grandeur, with a soft chorus of deep (Maori) voices in Khuzdul. It plays once, as the Fellowship walk through the deserted corridors of what was once a bright and majestic city under the mountain.
** The Theme of the Gray Havens. Introduced rather late into ''Return'', during the most desperate moment of the siege of Gondor, when Pippin believes all is lost. Comes to its full fruition when the last of the Elves [[spoiler: and Frodo]] leave Middle-Earth from the Grey Havens. Before that, it gets its first true moment when Sam carries Frodo up Mount Doom.
* LethalChef: Éowyn, as seen in the extended edition. She provides Aragorn with a bowl of stew—he eats one bite, and tries to pour it out as soon as her back is turned.
** She first offers some to Gimli, but despite the Dwarven appetite and being already moving unlike the sitting Aragorn, he says "oh no, I couldn't!" and rushes off before she insists.
* LicensedPinballTable: [[Pinball/TheLordOfTheRings Click here.]]
%%* LightIsGood / DarkIsEvil: Subverted in some instances (with Saruman the White, for example); played straight in others.
%%* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: Easily the most infamous example.
* LiteralDisarming: Aragorn does this to Lurtz in the first film, followed by [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stabbing him through the chest]] and finally [[OffWithHisHead decapitating him]]. [[MadeOfIron Lurtz didn't die until that last one.]]
%%* LiveActionAdaptation
* LockAndLoadMontage: Aragorn gets a short one before the Battle of Helm's Deep. Théoden gets one before that during his semi-HeroicBSOD.
* MadeOfIncendium: The Ring Wraiths burst into flames if they come in contact with a fire source. Aragorn uses this to an incredibly effective degree when he lights up half of them and hurls the torch so hard that it embeds into one's face. [[{{Determinator}} Doesn't really seem to deter them for long, though.]]
* ManHug: Frodo and Sam tearfully hug each other after Sam risks drowning to accompany Frodo to Mordor. Other examples from the trilogy are Gimli and Aragorn when the latter turns up alive at Helm's Deep, and Boromir and Faramir in a flashback following the recapture of Osgiliath.
* TheManInTheMirrorTalksBack: When Gollum talks to Sméagol, it's via some variation on this mechanism. (Most noticeable in ''The Return Of The King''.)
* ManlyTears:
** [[spoiler:Boromir]]'s FinalSpeech:
---> I would have gone with you to the end, my brother...my captain...my king.
** Sam and Frodo share this a lot in Mordor.
** Galadriel's intense gaze reduces Boromir to tears in the first movie, most likely because he knows that ''she knows'' that he will eventually betray the Fellowship.
* ManOnFire:
** [[spoiler:The Steward of Gondor and nearly Faramir.]]
** Also the [[spoiler:Nazgûl that Aragorn throws a torch at]] on Weathertop.
** Also includes an Ent on fire at one point. Dousing the flames as the dam on the River Isen burst is a fairly notable FunnyBackgroundEvent.

* MeaningfulEcho:
** The tune from "Concerning Hobbits" (the piece that plays as the Shire is introduced) appears at the end of the first movie in "[[spoiler:The Breaking of the Fellowship]]".
** After Gandalf removes the spell of age from Théoden, Éowyn looks at him and he says, "I know your face." When Théoden lays dying on the Pelennor, he looks up at Éowyn and says the same. In the book, he died without knowing she was there, but his last moment here is definitely a heartwarming one.
** Not precisely word for word, but the essence of this is present in Boromir's first and last scenes. In the former, when he's informed that Aragorn is heir to the throne of Gondor, he retorts that "Gondor has no king. Gondor ''needs'' no king," pouring as much scorn into the words as he can. In the latter, when he's dying in Aragorn's arms, his last words are "I would have followed you, my brother. My captain. My ''king."''
%%* MeaningfulFuneral: For [[spoiler:Théoden]].
* MelancholyMoon: Sméagol fishing in the waterfall in ''The Two Towers'' has a curious use of the moon. Sméagol, who has found a measure of redemption helping Frodo and even banishing [[GollumMadeMeDoIt Gollum]], is "betrayed" by Frodo under Faramir's threat of killing Sméagol.
* MickeyMousing: The music matches the marching and chanting of Orcs as they drag the battering ram, ''[[ICallItVera Grond]]'', towards the gate of Minas Tirith in ''Return of the King''.
%%* MillionMookMarch: Saruman's army in ''The Two Towers'', as well as Sauron's outside the gates of Minas Tirith in ''The Return of the King''.
* MiracleFood: Elven ''lembas'' bread (which got more emphasis in the original book) is featured in a scene from the Extended Edition DVD. Legolas explains to the hobbits Merry and Pippin that a single bite of ''lembas'' can fill a grown man's stomach for a day. As soon as Legolas leaves:
-->'''Merry:''' How many did you eat?
-->'''Pippin:''' Four. ''[groans]''
* MonogenderMonsters: The movie's portrayal of Uruk-Hai, being all male and spawned from mud pits.
* MonsterShapedMountain: Gargantuan carvings of kings, both human and dwarf, appear in several films.
%%* MouthOfSauron: Trope Namer.
* MrExposition: Legolas, when he's not being CaptainObvious.
* MrFanservice: Most of the Fellowship as well as some secondary characters were targets of the EstrogenBrigade even before the books were adapted for screen. Having the characters played by [[EvenTheGuysWantHim delectable-looking actors]] merely made this trope more prominent.

** Frodo has a "What did I almost do?" moment in ''The Two Towers''. Under heavy influence from the Ring, Frodo doesn't notice that the Witch-King of Angmar is swooping in to grab him. Sam pulls him out of the way, simultaneously trying to get the Ring off. In response, Frodo pins him and threatens him with Sting. Sam manages to talk him down, but you can clearly see the horrified expression on his face as he drops the sword.
** Frodo has another after [[spoiler: he fails to destroy the Ring, instead knocking Gollum off the ledge by accident in the scuffle to possess it. The look he gives Sam makes it clear that he's [[DrivenToSuicide deeply saddened]] by what he did.]]
%%* NamedWeapons
%%* NaturalSpotlight
* NeutralNoLonger: Treebeard after [[spoiler: seeing the destruction Saruman has caused to Fangorn Forest]].
* NeverFoundTheBody: Aragorn's plunge off the cliff with the warg (Gimli even ambiguously says simply "He fell"), as well as Gandalf in Moria & Gollum on the Stairs.
* NeverTellMeTheOdds: In ''The Return of the King'', when Aragorn suggests that Gondor march against Mordor as a diversion, Gimli comments, "Certainty of death, small chance of success... What are we waiting for?"
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In ''The Two Towers'', Aragon stops Théoden from killing Wormtongue because too much blood had already been spilled. Wormtongue turns around and gives Saruman the secret to defeating the defenses at Helm's Deep thus causing nearly all the defenders to be killed. Too much blood indeed.

* NightmareFace: In ''Fellowship of the Ring'', when Bilbo wants to take a look at the One Ring. [[JumpScare Holy crap]]!
** Frodo begins to channel this as the Ring begins to take a hold of him. Over the course of the second and third film, we see him gain tired, red bags under his eyes and his skin turn a deathly pale colour. During a fight with Sam, we see Frodo display a frenzied, almost feral, look in his eyes and begin to snarl in an all-too-familiar way...
** [[spoiler: The PsychoticSmirk that Frodo displays when he finally submits to the Ring. Similar to the flashback with Isildur in film one.]]
* NoAdequatePunishment: Treebeard's reaction to seeing Saruman having chopped down a good portion of his home forest in ''The Two Towers'' lets the reader know just how unspeakable an action it is. The ents end up resorting to a NeutralNoLonger and enacting GaiasVengeance by attacking Saruman's city of Isengard to, at the very least, put a halt to it.
--> '''Treebeard:''' There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of men for this treachery.
* NoodleIncident: The [[Literature/TheHobbit "incident with the dragon"]] is this to anyone who hasn't read the books.

* NoOneCouldSurviveThat": Seen in both Aragorn's line "It cannot be. You fell.." speaking of Gandalf, and Sharku's line "He's dead. Took a little tumble off the cliff." speaking of Aragorn.
* NotableOriginalMusic: Certain cultures and factions are given their own distinctive, powerful theme that has made the music of the trilogy as much an identifying mark as anything.
** Particularly the themes that went along with Rohan, which involved a Norwegian spike fiddle for its distinctive sound.
* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: The Council of Elrond dissolves into a lot of vicious arguing, causing Frodo to make his heroic choice.
%%* NothingButSkulls: The Paths of the Dead. Parodied hilariously in ''Webcomic/DMOfTheRings''.

%%* OffhandBackhand: Employed a few times in battle scenes.
* OhCrap: The series features many examples.
** A great one in the prologue battle when Sauron makes his appearance on the battlefield. These mighty Dúnedain have just mopped the floor with the Orcs and are about to declare their victory... then all of a sudden a black-armored giant with a very big mace strides into their midst...
** Frodo in the first film, when he realizes that the two words Sauron's forces got from Gollum (Shire and Baggins) means that they know where the One Ring is and are coming to take it.
** When Arwen summons a tidal wave to beat the Nazgûl. Granted, they don't have faces, but their behavior is enough to convey it.
** In Moria:
*** Gandalf's reaction to hear Goblin drums beating, as the denizens of Moria have realised there are intruders in their home.
*** Boromir's deadpan "[[ThisIsGonnaSuck They have a cave troll]]." Spoken in an almost Creator/GrahamChapman voice.
*** Legolas gets a pretty good Oh Crap look when he realizes there's a Balrog down there. The Moria Goblins are also similarly terrified.
** Elrond has an Oh Crap reaction to the fact that Saruman is breeding an Orc army of his own. [[FromBadToWorse An army that can move in sunlight.]]
** Aragorn and Legolas are busy fighting the Uruk-Hai on Amon Hen, when suddenly they hear the Horn of Gondor being blown frantically. "Boromir!!!"

*** In ''The Two Towers'', Théoden asks [[TemptingFate "Is this all you can conjure, Saruman?"]], then looks ''extremely'' unnerved when the Uruk-Hai answer by [[StuffBlowingUp blasting a hole]] in the Deeping Wall.
*** Two more in ''The Return of the King'': the arrival of the Rohirrim at Minas Tirith where they see just how huge the orc army is, and then when it seems they've actually won, the Oliphaunts arrive.

** Theoden's DeathGlare after he's freed from Saruman causes a great Oh Crap face on Grima.

** There's also Saruman's reaction to the Ents trashing Isengard. It's exactly the face you'd expect to see if someone was woken up with the news that the trees had come alive and were trashing his yard.

** Despite being nothing but a big CBS eye made out of flames, Sauron manages to convey his shock when he realizes his SoulJar is at the one place it can be unmade.

* OffscreenInertia: PlayedForLaughs. In the extended version of ''The Two Towers'' (but not the theatrical version), the last thing we see Merry and Pippin doing before the film ends is [[TheStoner lighting one up,]] and they're ''still'' smoking away several in-movie days later at the beginning of the next film.

** Minas Tirith looks spiffy when Aragorn is crowned at the end of ''Return of the King''.

* OffscreenTeleportation: Gandalf manages to move from Bilbo's party to Bag End in ''Fellowship'' before Bilbo himself gets there, even though he is seen sitting in the audience while Bilbo is running home, made invisible by the Ring. All without crossing paths with him, either. He ''is'' a wizard, but not even the most powerful beings in Middle-Earth can manage actual teleportation.
* OffWithHisHead: Done several times, including to the Mouth of Sauron instead of the DeathGlare from the book.
* OlderThanTheyLook:
** Due to the Elves' immortality, all of the Elven characters fit.
*** According to information given in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', Galadriel is one of the oldest Elves at around ''10,000 years old''[[note]]no authoritative source for her exact age seems to exist, but a calculation [[http://greenbooks.theonering.net/questions/files/030105.html here]] puts her age at around 8,440 years at the time of [=LoTR=], give or take depending on how long the pre-solar years were[[/note]]. Not bad for someone who was played by 32 year old Cate Blanchett.
** In the Extended Edition, Aragorn admits to Éowyn that he is 87 years old during the events of The Two Towers. Being a descendant of Númenor, he's in his prime. He goes on to live to 210.
** Gandalf, while looking like a frail 70-year-old, is a Maia (god-like entity) who has ''been around since the creation of the universe''. He's been in Middle Earth for about 2000 years, and was the *last* of the Five Wizards to arrive. So Saruman and Radagast are older in that respect.
* OnceMoreWithClarity: A very subtle one, but the Fellowship implied that Sméagol was the one whom the Ring "ensnared" when he grabbed it from the riverbed. ROTK shows it was actually Déagol who grabbed it, and then was murdered by Sméagol. Of course, those who read the books were not even slightly surprised.
* OneManArmy: While he often has friends or an army on his side, Aragorn certainly kills enough Orcs in battle to qualify, and was very much this trope for part of the battle of Amon Hen in the first film.
** Aragorn has killed 60 enemies on-screen, but this also includes some EliteMooks, and he certainly killed much more enemies during off-screen fighting scenes. Just remember the many war sequences. Gimli and Legolas aren't so bad either, as both claim to have killed each like 40 Uruks during the battle at Helms Deep.
%%* OneWayVisor: The Mouth of Sauron in the ''Return of the King'' Extended Edition.
* OnrushingArmy: The orcs ''love'' to charge. As do any humans fighting with them. Aragorn and his army do it too at the climax.
* OpeningMonologue: Galadriel's now iconic [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhjDnrw34QA opening monologue]] of the trilogy, describing the forging of the [[RingOfPower Rings Of Power]], the Battle of the Last Alliance, Sauron's downfall and the One Ring being lost and forgotten, basically laying the groundwork for the beginning of the main story. The page quote at the top is just part of it. She speaks some [[ConLang Elvish (Sindarin)]] at the beginning of the monologue.
-->"(''I amar prestar aen.'') The world is changed. (''Han matho ne nen.'') I feel it in the water. (''Han mathon ned cae.'') I feel it in the earth. (''A han noston ned gwilith.'') I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it."

* ParentalMarriageVeto: Emphasized a lot more in the films with Elrond's outright disapproval of Aragorn's and Arwen's relationship. In the book he is saddened, but gives the conditions not out of spite but to provide the best for his daughter.
* ParentheticalSwearing: Gandalf manages to make the word "Steward" sound... like something it's not.
* PhosphorEssence: Galadriel glows with a bluish-white light when she explains how powerful and terrible she would become were she to accept the Ring.

* PlotParallel: Because ''The Two Towers'' shows Frodo and Sam's travels concurrently with Aragorn's, the scene where Frodo reminds Gollum of his original name is immediately followed by one where Aragorn reminds Gandalf of his.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Faramir is benevolent enough to offer Frodo the chance to talk Gollum out of the Forbidden Pool before Faramir's troops shoot Gollum for violating the law, but instead of carefully explaining to Gollum that there are soldiers waiting above and that Gollum can either risk capture or be killed on the spot, Frodo doesn't bother to explain the situation beyond "you ''must'' come with Master."

** The removal of [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment Tom Bombadil]] and the excision of the Scouring of the Shire.
** Frodo not having the Ring for 17 years before Gandalf comes back -- here it's implied he only had it for a couple of months at the most.
** Creator/PeterJackson himself invoked this in his explanation as to his complete rewrite of the meetings of Faramir and Frodo's group: in the books, he lets them go free after learning of their quest and agreeing with it; in the film, he keeps them captive in order to take The Ring. Jackson said specifically this was because after the first book, the Ring's power to corrupt became an InformedAbility until it surfaced again at the tail-end of Return; in order to remind the viewer that it was basically evil incarnate, and keep with the rules Tolkien himself set, he had to have Faramir be tempted by the Ring.

** He wanted to move Shelob to the third movie because ''anything'' was going to pale next to Helm's Deep, and that left Frodo and Sam completely out of (action-y) danger for the entire movie. There had to be a threat, and poor Faramir got drafted.
** When Tolkien commented on ideas for a film version by Forest J. Ackerman, he said they should probably skip the Hornburg entirely so that the Ents' attack on Isengard as well as the final battle would look that much more impressive. (We’re all glad the filmmakers didn’t take him up on that.)
** Postponing his acquisition of Andúril to the third film gave Aragorn greater credibility as a ranger earlier on, as he got to demonstrate his knife skills more. Having him leave Narsil's shards in Rivendell also avoided the visible incongruity of a trained survivalist, who needs to travel light, hauling a priceless historical artifact all over the wilderness with him.

** In the books, as Saruman's power wanes and Gandalf's grows, the white of Saruman's robes and hair fragments change so much that he becomes "Saruman of Many-Colours." The film-makers, realising how [[FashionVictimVillain utterly ridiculous a rainbow-coloured wizard would look]], represent this by having Saruman's robes get dirtier as he descends into evil.

* RefugeInAudacity: Seemingly Pippin's near-suicidal plan to go back to the Shire by ''going past Isengard.''

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The troll, that Aragorn was fighting at the end runs away when Barad-dûr is exploding. Also, the goblin horde at the mines of Moria scatters when Balrog approaches.

!!These films provide example of:

* AgeCut: Averted in the ''Fellowship Of the Ring'' when Elrond talks to Gandalf about an incident thousands of years in the past. We cut to a shot of Elrond in the past and he looks exactly the same, since [[WeAreAsMayflies elves are immortal]].

* 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.

* AngelicBeauty: A rejected idea from the third film was to have Sauron (who is basically a FallenAngel only appearing as an EvilOverlord) appear in his fair form as Annatar to beguile Aragorn during the final battle at the gates of Mordor. This did result in some deleted footage, but was replaced with the Aragorn vs. Troll fight.

* ArrowCam:
** ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' features another "point of view" arrow shot.
** ''Return of the King'' mounts its Arrow Cam behind a tumbling chunk of broken city masonry as it sails from its catapult and over the walls to fall among the massed orcs outside.

** Arwen was pretty much a background character in the book, and barely appeared or talked. In the film, while still mostly a SatelliteLoveInterest, she also has a badass moment saving Frodo from the Nazgûl (in the book it was a male elf called Glorfindel, and Frodo took that ride ''by himself!''), and her importance as a driving motivation for Aragorn is played up.

* OnrushingArmy: The orcs ''love'' to charge. As do any humans fighting with them. Aragorn and his army do it too at the climax of ''Return of the King''.

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Gandalf, Saruman, Sauron, and the Balrog are Maiar, the Middle-Earth equivalent of angels. The latter two were corrupted by Morgoth during the First Age, while the former two were sent to Middle-Earth in the Third Age to help defeat Sauron.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Faramir is benevolent enough to offer Frodo the chance to talk Gollum out of the Forbidden Pool before Faramir's troops shoot Gollum for violating the law, but instead of carefully explaining to Gollum that there are soldiers waiting above and that Gollum can either risk capture or be killed on the spot, Frodo doesn't bother to explain the situation beyond "you ''must'' come with Master." When Gollum obeys and is captured by Faramir's men, Gollum confuses the "come with me" offer for a betrayal [[spoiler:and shortly begins plotting his revenge]].
* PowerOfFriendship: One of the biggest themes. They were not known as the Fellowship of the Ring for nothing!