FILM: The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (EE)

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yes!

[gkgyver 1,645]

I agree with Stefan, something is up with the Arwen subplot of the films, I noticed it when watching the trilogy on the big screen last weekend. It does seem to be that an important part of it was deleted. The scenes with her in the beginning of ROTK seem to be a combination of two scenes (One of her deciding not to go to Valinor, one of her convincing Elrond to reforge Narsil), hastily recut together.

What's curious is I don't think there have been any special features that delve into what's missing (other than her fighting at Helm's Deep).

What's non-Tolkien about her kissing Aragorn?

Did you ever listen to the audio commentary track of the film (with PJ, Walsh and Boyens)?

In there, when it cuts from Arwen going to the shards of Narsil to her sitting on a bed reading a book, Boyens ask PJ "where is the library scene?"

Nobody really knows what's the content of that scene, it's rumored that Arwen looks up the paths of the dead and reads what awaits Aragorn there. This is based on the moment when Arwen lets the book slip, and you can briefly see what appears to be a drawing of the Door in the Mountain.

I'm not sure if this adds anything to it, since Arwen giving up hope because Aragorn is marching towards apparent death is only marginally better than her "fate" being suddenly "bound to the ring".

I wonder what possessed PJ to not restore it all for the ROTK EE?

Alas, even though Boyens inquired, PJ did not tell. He did however joke about including it in the 20th anniversary edition of the film, which is now merely 10 years away.

Nobody knows the mindset of PJ when doing the extended cuts, as he also said in the same commentary track, when Boyens again asked where all the epilogue stuff went, that he doesn't put stuff back in that he doesn't find "fun" to put back in, and that he doesn't really go any deeper than that.

If I remember correctly the EE versions of FOTR and TTT even disagree with each other at some point concerning the story of Arwen and Aragorn.

in the FOTR EE Aragorn tells Galadriel that Arwen will remain in Middle Earth. in TTT we see that he encourages her to leave, and actually tells Eowyn this.

If I remember correctly, Aragorn doesn't directly say to Galadriel that she will stay, he only says that he would let her go to the Undying Lands and be with her people, to which Galadriel replies that that choice is yet before her.

Which is logical because Aragorn more or less only tells her that they won't be able to be together anymore, but she tells him she doesn't believe him and lets him keep the Evenstar.