I was watching TTT the other night (for the third time), and something hit me that didn’t seem quite right. Most of PJ’s slight story deviations were forgivable if not downright justifiable. For example, he had elves from Lorien show up to help at Helm’s Deep. I liked that bit of license, and I could understand PJ’s motive in doing it. In the books, there are so many events happening, and mention of events in various scenes regarding the elves and what they have done throughout the history of Middle Earth and what they are still doing to help in the War of the Ring. This does not work in the movie, and the elves start coming off as a bunch of wusses who are running away from the war, abandoning Middle Earth. I think PJ did it just to make sure people who never read the books didn’t take that image of the elves. However, there was one plot deviation for which I could find neither justification nor forgiveness . I can’t for the life of me understand why PJ decided to have Faramir try and take the ring to Gondor. It just ruins Faramir’s character. One of the things about him that made him one of my all-time favorite characters was his wisdom and strength of will. The movie makes him look like a brooding, almost villainous man who didn’t need even the slightest provocation to get sucked into the ring’s treachery.

The one part of this that created a huge mistake (at least to me), is the moment where Frodo, under the control of the ring, stands face to face with a Nazgul in Osgiliath, ready to practically give it over then and there. This wouldn’t be so bad, except that in ROTK, PJ is going to push the notion of the Dark Lord thinking Pippin has the ring, or so according to the documentary. So here you have our protagonists making moves to try and draw Sauron’s attention away from Mordor by making him think a different hobbit has his Precious. Now the Nazgul have seen Frodo first hand with the ring before in FOTR, and now here is a Nazgul within a few feet of both the hobbit AND the ring. Wouldn’t this Nazgul then immediately go and report to the Dark Lord that Baggins has the ring and was in Osgiliath? Now some may argue that the Nazgul do not see as mortal men do, but they are certainly drawn to the power of the ring, and if a Nazgul is THAT close to it, he will certainly be vastly aware of its presence, and that of the owner, especially if he has seen him face-to-face before. At least I would think so. Some may also argue that Sauron may think it was ANY hobbit who carried the ring, not necessarily Frodo Baggins. Still, it seems that if a Nazgul would have been that close to the ring, and that close to Mordor at the same time, that Sauron would have immediately unleashed every Nazgul and every resource at his command to seize the ring right then and there.

This bit of deviation from the book bothered me greatly. It just seems like a glaring mistake to me that PJ will have to juggle in ROTK.