The Lord of the Rings was popular before Peter Jackson's trilogy of films, but the films were so iconic that they shaped people's visions of the books as well. However, as most filmmakers have to whenever they adapt something to the screen, Jackson and his crew changed a lot of details from the books to better suit a streamlined cinematic narrative. This has created a lot of misconceptions about certain characters and mythology. For example, the Eye of Sauron is not meant to be taken as literally as the films depict it, as it simply represents Sauron always watching. Let's take a look at some false facts about The Lord of the Rings that a lot of people believe.
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00:00J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings remains a full-on cultural phenomenon, with movies,
00:06video games, comic books, and even new novels coming out all the time.
00:10But while you might think you know everything there is to know about elves, orcs, and hobbits,
00:14some of that might not actually be accurate.
00:17Here are some false facts about the Lord of the Rings you always thought were true.
00:22Hobbits are weak
00:23Perhaps the biggest misconception regarding the world of Middle-earth is that hobbits
00:26are, as a race, pretty weak.
00:28Sure, the four main hobbits each get heroic moments, but they're treated like outliers.
00:33In the books, though, there's another ending we don't see in the movies, where a depowered
00:37Saruman conquers the Shire, and we get to see the true mettle of the hobbit race.
00:42Led by Merry, Sam, Frodo, and Pippin, the hobbits free themselves and slaughter a whole
00:47army of ruffians sent against them.
00:49Turns out all those extra breakfasts made them pretty strong.
00:52Comic relief
00:53Some fans believe that Samwise Gamgee is little more than a source of comedic relief.
00:58It's understandable, given Sean Astin's charming performance, which was filled with mean-worthy
01:03moments about potatoes and sharing the load.
01:06But the most badass Samwise moment is one that's all too easy to overlook.
01:10When Sam thinks Frodo has been killed by Shelob, he takes the ring and prepares to finish the
01:14quest alone.
01:15That would be heroic enough, but when he finds Frodo alive, he simply hands the ring back
01:19over.
01:20It may not sound like much, but he's pretty much the only character who is able to resist
01:24the ring's temptation.
01:25Even Gandalf refused to take the ring because he knew he'd be corrupted.
01:29Don't tempt me, Frodo!
01:32I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe.
01:37And Frodo himself gave in to the ring at the end, only finishing the quest because Gollum
01:41bit his finger off.
01:43Samwise?
01:44He doesn't seem tempted at all, just scared of how the ring affects everyone else.
01:48That makes Sam more than just… well, this.
01:51Potatoes!
01:52Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew!
01:57Next stop?
01:58Valinor
01:59One of the many endings in the Return of the King movie shows Frodo and Gandalf taking
02:03a fateful boat trip.
02:04They're heading off to Valinor, the legendary heaven on Middle-earth, where the gods live
02:08in harmony with their immortal children, the elves.
02:11Heading to Valinor or staying with Aragorn was the choice Arwen had to make, remember?
02:15So you are justified in assuming that getting to heaven is probably a pretty difficult thing
02:19to do.
02:20But in fact, it's pretty much as easy as just building a boat and sailing there, which is
02:24exactly what Legolas and his hetero-life partner Gimli do in the books in order to join their
02:29departed friends.
02:30That doesn't seem so hard.
02:32Get rich or die trying
02:33Fans of the film can be forgiven for thinking that when you lose the One Ring, you instantly
02:38age.
02:39After all, Bilbo seems hale and hearty during his birthday celebration at the beginning
02:43of The Fellowship of the Ring, but when we see him at the end of Return of the King,
02:47he's a shriveled old man.
02:48But in fact, it's exactly the opposite.
02:50After all, Gollum has been alive for centuries thanks to the Ring's power, surviving for
02:55several decades after losing the Ring to Bilbo.
02:57The Ring doesn't age you, it extends your life.
03:00So why does Bilbo look so feeble after giving up the Ring?
03:03Well, turns out the movie forgot to mention the simple fact that there's actually a 20-year
03:07gap between the opening and closing scenes of the trilogy, so Bilbo's aging is simply
03:12due to the natural passage of time.
03:14Thanks for confusing everyone, movie!
03:16Helm's Deep
03:17Among die-hard Lord of the Rings fans, there are four words almost guaranteed to inspire
03:22blind rage — Elves at Helm's Deep.
03:27This, of course, was a major part of the climax of the Two Towers movie, with a small company
03:32of Elves arriving to help the humans drive off a huge army of invading Orcs.
03:37But not only is this not in the books, it runs directly counter to one of the main themes
03:42of the books, which is the decline of Elves, who are sailing off to Valinor and leaving
03:46the affairs of the mortal world behind.
03:48Frankly, if the Elves cared enough about the world to get involved at Helm's Deep, they
03:52probably could have prevented Sauron's return in the first place, only they weren't really
03:56paying any attention.
03:57The Great Eye
03:58If it weren't for Sauron being a giant eyeball, the internet would never have had one of its
04:03more enduring and beloved memes.
04:05But that whole giant eyeball thing is a creation of Peter Jackson, who used it to make the
04:09implicit threat of Sauron more explicit.
04:12In fact, while Sauron doesn't physically show up in the books either, Tolkien's letter
04:16indicated that Sauron did, in fact, have a physical form at the time of The Return of
04:21the King.
04:22We don't know exactly what he looked like, but chances are it was less like a giant eyeball
04:25and more like, uh, Michael Fassbender or something.
04:30Old Man Aragorn
04:31Thanks to Viggo Mortensen and the face that launched a thousand fanfics, it's easy to
04:36take Aragorn's age at face value.
04:38After all, Mortensen was 43 years old when Fellowship of the Ring came out, and it seemed
04:43a reasonable age for a seasoned warrior who can still kick major butt.
04:47However, the character of Aragorn is actually nearly 90 at the time of the movies, eventually
04:52living to be 210 before passing away in super slow motion.
04:56Of course, this wasn't really discussed much in the movies, though a deleted scene from
05:00Two Towers pretty much explains the whole thing.
05:03You are one of the Dúnedain, a descendant of Númenor blessed with long life.
05:09It was said that your race had passed into legend.
05:12There are few of us left.
05:15The Northern Kingdom was destroyed long ago.
05:18Faramir is a jerk
05:20When Faramir captures Frodo and Samwise and almost delivers them to his creepy dad, it
05:25kind of makes sense, because, after all, he is Boromir's brother, and Boromir was seduced
05:30by the dark side of the Force.
05:32No.
05:34No!
05:35No!
05:36But as fans of the books well know, Faramir is actually nothing like his brother.
05:40In the original story, Faramir figures out what Frodo and Sam are doing, and rather than
05:45taking the ring and turning them over to his exceptionally creepy dad…
05:49Come, sing me a song.
05:52Faramir actually helps them on their journey, and isn't tempted by the ring at all.
05:56Thanks to Peter Jackson, though, tens of millions of viewers think Faramir is just another jerk.
06:01No Man's Land
06:02One of the most powerful and progressive moments from Return of the King is when Eowyn the
06:07Shield Maiden defeats the Witch-King.
06:09The Witch-King feels pretty confident because of a prophecy that basically says no man can
06:14kill him, at which point Eowyn does the most epic of mic drops.
06:22I am no man.
06:27Damn!
06:29It's a powerful moment, but if you think she won just because she's a woman, you're wrong.
06:33It was actually because she had a ton of help from Merry.
06:36Before Eowyn gets her awesome killing stroke in, audiences see little Merry stab the Witch-King
06:41with his blade.
06:42The movies gloss over the importance of these blades, with Aragorn simply handing them out
06:46at Weathertop.
06:47Tolkien, however, made clear that these blades were forged by the Rangers years ago with
06:52magical enchantments specifically made to hurt the Witch-King.
06:55In the books, Merry stabs the Witch-King with one of the only weapons that can hurt him,
07:00opening the door for Eowyn to complete the prophecy.
07:03Those eagles
07:04Okay, everyone in the entire world seems united by one thing, wondering why the heck the Ring
07:09gang didn't just ride those giant eagles into Mordor in the first place!
07:14But this question has already been answered if you pay close attention to the plot.
07:17The whole reason they sent a tiny group to destroy the Ring in the first place is because
07:21Sauron is constantly watching everything.
07:23"...One does not simply walk into Mordor.
07:28Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs.
07:33There is evil there that does not sleep, and the great eye is ever watchful."
07:41So while a couple teeny tiny hobbits might go unnoticed, a flock of massive eagles would
07:45have been really obvious, and easy prey for Nazgûl and their felbeasts.
07:50The eagles were only able to fly in after Sauron was defeated.
07:54Question answered, Internet!