Prologue
– The Orcs of Sauron are described by Aragorn as bearing a Red Eye as symbol [3.I.]. This is very well depicted here.
Gil-Galad is shown for a few seconds in the Prologue, and you can actually see him stab an Orc with his spear Aeglos, which is mentioned at the Council scene as a pendant to Elendil’s sword Narsil.
– The account of how Isildur lost the Ring is actually quite accurate: Isildur, thinking that all his enemies are slain, neglects to post enough guards outside his camp near Loeg Ningloron (the Gladden Fields). When the camp is attacked by Orcs, Isildur manages to escape using the Ring to make him invisible, but the Orcs follow his trail of smell and when Isildur tries to escape by jumping into the Anduin, the Ring avenges his original master by slipping off his finger.
– On the extended edition of FOTR, Galadriel shows her Ring, Nenya, to Frodo. It is also called the Ring of Adamant, and it looks very similar to Tolkien’s description of it: a ‘ring wrought of mithril, that bore a single white stone flickering like a frosty star’. [6.IX]

1.I. A Long-Expected Party
– The sign on Bilbo’s door, ‘No Admittance Except On Party Business’, is also used in the movie; you can see it here.
– The map lying about on the table in Bag End is an exact copy of the map that was featured in The Hobbit. It’s the map Thorin and his party used to travel to Erebor and find the way in.
– Bilbo offers Gandalf some wine, saying he has ‘a few bottles of the Old Winyard left. 1296 – a very good year. Almost as old as I am!’ This is taken from another scene in the same chapter, namely when Frodo is distributing gifts to Bilbo’s friends and relatives, Tolkien writes: ‘Old Rory Brandybuck, in return for much hospitality, got a dozen bottles of Old Winyards: a strong red wine from the Southfarthing, and now quite mature, as it had been laid down by Bilbo’s father’.
– The band playing at the beginning of the party, which features Pippin, is also mentioned in the book: halfway through the speech, when the audience is starting to get bored, ‘some of the young Tooks and Brandybucks, supposing Uncle Bilbo to have finished… now got up an impromptu orchestra, and began a merry dance-tune’.
– Bilbo makes his speech standing under a huge tree, as he also does in the book.
– The song that both Gandalf (when he arrives on the cart) and Bilbo (when he leaves) sing, is based on the famous poem ‘The road goes ever on and on’.
– Two chapter titles are used in dialogue in this sequence, both by Gandalf: A Long-expected Party (the first chapter of Fellowship Of the Ring, on which this sequence is based) and Riddles In the Dark, the chapter in The Hobbit that tells the tale of how Bilbo found the Ring.

1.II. The Shadow Of the Past
– Before Frodo enters Bag End, we see Sam leave. In the movie it’s suggested that they both returned from the Green Dragon Inn, and though this is not the case of the book Tolkien does write: ‘But that evening, as Sam was walking home and twilight was fading, there came the once familiar tap on the study window.’

The Treason of Isengard
– When the Orcs are pulling the trees in the vale down, you can hear them moan. This is not described in the books; however, Tolkien does have a very specific view on nature, in which trees are living creatures with a personality.
– Gandalf is saved by an immense eagle: this is Gwaihir, Lord of the Eagles, who resides in the Misty Mountains and plays a prominent role in The Hobbit.

1.XII. Flight to the Ford
– The glade where Strider leaves the Hobbits to tend to Frodo is the same spot where Bilbo encounter the three Trolls, who were turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. In the background, you can even see them!
– Arwen’s horse is called Asfaloth, as is Glorfindel’s horse in the books.
– When the river rises, great white horses of foam appear: these were added by Gandalf, in the book, to increase the effect.

2.I. Many Meetings
– This sequence kicks off with the exact same lines as the Many Meetings chapter in the book: ‘Where am I, and what is the time.’ – ‘In the House of Elrond, and it is ten o’clock in the morning. It is the morning of October the twenty-fourth, if you want to know.’
– When Sam enters the room, he takes hold of Frodo’s left hand and strokes it gently. This is a reference to the book, and one mentioned by Ian McKellen who thought that heterosexual actors would easily overlook this small token of affection and care. The reason why it is the left hand, is that this hand became numbed after Frodo was stabbed; a first sign of his changing into a wraith himself.
– There is a moment, before Frodo decides that it’s time to return to the Shire, when Sam is packing his bags and mumbles: ‘Now what have I forgotten?’ Rope, of course, as he will remember in the book when the Fellowship sets out from Rivendell.
– The book Bilbo has written is called ‘There and Back Again. A Hobbit’s Tale by Bilbo Baggins’. That’s not only the title which is used in the trilogy, it’s also the full title of ‘The Hobbit’, which is presented as Bilbo’s account of his journey with the Dwarves. When Frodo leafs through it, we can see a drawing of two swords, Sting and Glamdring, which is also in the original book.
Elrond is described as having ‘hair (…) dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver’.
– One of the Dwarves that enters Rivendell in this sequence is an elderly looking fellow with a snow white forked beard and snow white hair: this is the aforementioned Glóin son of Gróin, father of Gimli. He doesn’t appear at the council, however.
– When standing on the bridge, Aragorn says about their first meeting: ‘I thought I had strayed into a dream’. As a matter of fact, Aragorn walked into Arwen in the gardens of Rivendell after she had spent a rather long time in Lórien, whilst singing the lay of Beren and Lúthien. Because she resembled Lúthien so much, he called out to her, as Beren had: ‘Tinúviel, Tinúviel’.
– The Evenstar is described as ‘a white gem like a star that lay upon her breast hanging upon a silver chain’.

2.III. The Ring Goes South
– For those thinking the special-effects on Bilbo when he sees the Ring are a little over the top, this is what the professor wrote about this moment: ‘To [Frodo’s] distress and amazement he found that he was no longer looking at Bilbo; a shadow seemed to have fallen between them, and through it he found himself eyeing a little wrinkled creature with a hungry face and bony groping hands.’ [2.I.]
– The mithril vest Bilbo hands to Frodo is described as ‘close-woven of many rings, as supple almost as linen, cold as ice, and harder than steel. It shone like moonlit silver, and was studded with white gems. With it was a belt of pearl and crystal.’ [2.III] Save for the belt, the costume department followed this passage quite closely.
– The inscription on Gilraen’s grave reads ‘Onen i-Estel Edain, ú-chebin estel anim’, which translates out of Sindarin as ‘I gave hope to the Dúnedain, I have kept no hope for myself’, which is a line Gilraen uses in Appendix A (v). We’ll hear this line again in Return Of the King, when Elrond says the first few words and has Aragorn finish it, finally acknowledging his heritage.
– ‘Boromir wore a long sword, in fashion like Andúril but of less lineage, and he bore also a shield and his war-horn.’ [2.III] I’m certain Sean Bean didn’t like the prop department sticking to the books this closely.
– Sam is the first one to spot the crebain, both in the movie and the book.
– Although some complained that it was hardly noticeable, Legolas does walk on top of the snow while the others struggle to get on. He’s also the only one not suffering from cold. This hardly makes up for the loss of ‘I go to find the sun!’ though.
– Boromir and Aragorn both carry two Hobbits up the hill, whilst in the books they each carry two Hobbits down the hill after the snowstorm.

2.IV. A Journey In the Dark
– The design for the Gate of Moria was taken from the good professor himself, who’s original drawing was also incorporated in the books.
The overall set design was based on a painting by John Howe, which has in turn this drawing as inspiration.
The symbols in the door each have a specific meaning: the hammer, anvil and crown with seven stars are the symbols of Durin, Father of the House to which Gimli belongs and founder of Khazad-dûm (now called Moria); the two trees are the emblems of the High-elves who dwelt in Valinor; and the single star belongs to the House of Fëanor.
The two holly-trees that stand beside it point to the Elves of Eregion, or Hollin as it is called in the common tongue. Celebrimbor, who helped manufacture these doors, was one of the Elves who lived in this land, which borders on the West flank of the Misty Mountains.
– The first spell Gandalf uses, ‘Annon edhellen, edro hi ammen!’, is taken directly from the books. The second spell in the book (‘Fennas nogothrim, lasto beth lammen!’) is replaced by ‘Ando Eldarinwa a lasta quettanya, Fenda Casarinwa!’.
– Sam is the first one to cut off a tentacle. In the books, he’s also the only one.
– The Great Hall that leads to the Chamber of Mazarbul is described as having ‘ a vast roof far above their heads upheld by many mighty pillars hewn of stone. Before them and on either side stretched a huge empty hall; its black walls, polished and smooth as glass, flashed and glittered.’ [2.IV] The concept art for this scene was based on a painting by Allan Lee.

2.VII. The Mirror of Galadriel
– Sam’s few verses about Gandalf’s fireworks (EE) come straight from the book; there he adds them to Frodo’s longer lament for Gandalf, and concludes that they don’t do him justice by a long shot.
– There’s a cruel irony to Boromir’s words to Aragorn: ‘She spoke of my father and the fall of Gondor. She said to me, ‘Even now there is hope left. But I cannot see it. It is long since we had any hope.’ The Elvish name given to Aragorn in Rivendell is Estel, meaning hope.

2.IX. The Great River
– The arrangement of the boats is exactly as described in ‘Farewell to Lórien’: Aragorn with Frodo and Sam, Boromir with Merry and Pippin and Legolas with Gimli.
– Aragorn already noticed Gollum in Moria, both in the book and the movie, a sign of his Ranger skills.
– Boromir keeps glancing at Frodo in Aragorn’s boat, as he does in the book.
– Legolas is the first one to spot the Orcs.
– The set designers read Tolkien’s description of the Argonath carefully: ‘The left hand of each was raised palm outwards in gesture of warning; in each right hands there was an axe; upon each head there was a crumbling helm and crown.’ [2.IX]

2.X. The Breaking of the Fellowship / 3.I. The Departure of Boromir
– Aragorn’s battle cry is ‘Elendil!’, the name of his ancestor. In this scene, we hear him shout it when he jumps on the Seat of Sight.
– The scene of Boromir’s death resembles the book description very closely: Boromir’s horn is cloven in two, and he was ‘sitting upright as if resting’ with ‘many black arrows piercing his chest’ when Aragorn found him. Aragorn ‘knelt for a while, bent with weeping, still clasping Boromir’s hand. So it was that Legolas and Gimli found him.’
– Legolas searches for arrows amongst the fallen because his quiver is empty.
– The ending of the movie is almost exactly the same as the ending of the book: ‘We will go, and may the others find a safer road! Strider will look after them. I don’t suppose we shall see them again.’ To which Sam replies: ‘Yet we may, Mr Frodo. We may.’

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