Obviously, more tidbits could be add here. So we’re counting on you to fill in the blanks. If you have any other details that come straight off the page, or small bits of information that you think belong in a list celebrating the richness and details of this movie, feel free to pm Figwit.

3.01.*a. Prologue
– The title of the opening track on the soundtrack, and also the name of the first scene of ‘The Two Towers’, is ‘Foundations of Stone’. This is derived from a line in the book: Thither I came at last, to the uttermost foundations of stone. [3.V.]

3.01.*c. The Three Hunter
– The three hunters are described as running in single file, (…) like hounds on a strong scent… [3.II.]

– Aragorn laying his ear to the ground to track the Orcs is taken straight from the book, where he says ‘Where sight fails the earth may bring us rumour. (…) The land must groan under their hated feet.’ He stretched himself upon the ground with his ear pressed against the turf. He lay there motionless, for so long a time that Gimli wondered if he had swooned or fallen asleep again. [3.II.]

3.02. The Riders of Rohan
– In one of the coolest horse-trick scenes, Jackson has managed to follow Tolkien’s words almost to the letter: With astonishing speed and skill [the Riders of Rohan] checked their steeds, wheeled, and came charging round. Soon the three companions found themselves in a ring of horsemen moving in a running circle, up the hill-slope behind them and down, round and round them, and drawing ever inwards. Aragorn stood silent, and the other two sat without moving, wondering what way things would turn.
Without a word or cry, suddenly, the Riders halted. A thicket of spears were pointed towards the strangers;… Then one [horseman] rode forward, a tall man, taller than all the rest; from his helm as a crest a white horsetail flowed. [3.II.]

– The Uruk-head on a stake, which many people assume is a really PJ-kind of detail, is actually taken from the book: Upon a stake in the middle was set a great goblin head;… [3.II.] Another nice detail: the head was modelled after Sean Bean’s face! (If you don’t believe me, just compare this pic with this one, and tell me you don’t see the striking resemblance!)
U.S.-based fans however may not have a clue what I’m talking about, because the stake was digitally covered up with a helmet exclusively for the U.S. television broadcast copies!

3.03. The Uruk-hai
– The Orcs speak a sort of cockney English. In one of his descriptions of the Orcs, Tolkien lets Pippin notice that many of the Orcs were using ordinary language. Apparently the members of two or three quite different tribes were present, and they could not understand one another’s Orc-speech. [3.III.]

3.04. Treebeard
– One of the main complaints about movie Treebeard is that he is rash, and not wise at all, during his encounter with Merry and Pippin. In the movie, he immediately assumes them to be Orcs. However, in the book he admits: if I had seen you before I had heard you, I would have trodden on you, taking you for little Orcs, and found out my mistake afterwards. [3.IV.] In the movie, Treebeard does see the Hobbits before he hears them… so this ‘mistake’ is actually a bookie detail!

– In one of the extended scene there’s a little tribute to Tom Bombadill – a character from ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ that was left out of the movie. When Treebeard has to rescue Merry and Pippin from the squeezing roots of an old tree by commanding the tree to ‘dig deep, eat dirt, drink water’ [1.V.], he is in fact re-enacting a scene from ‘Fellowship’ where Bombadil has to save said Hobbits from the trunk of Old Man Willow.

3.05. The White Rider
– The prologue-scene is based on a painting by John Howe that Peter Jackson absolutely adored. The scene was shortened, according to the writers because their idea of having the Balrog fight Gandalf up the Endless Stair would have cost too much: the Slimy Balrog alone would have cost approximately 50.000 $.

– Gandalf’s return to Middle-earth is filmed as a weird metaphysical transformation. According to Peter Jackson a nude Gandalf walking through Lothlórien asking directions for Galadriel would just not have fitted his movie. Too bad! The only hint of nude Gandalf we get, is this shot…

3.06. The King of the Golden Hall
– The banner of Rohan fits the description of the book, as you can see here: the running horse, white upon green, that was the emblem of the House of Eorl. [3.VI.]

– There are two shots of Éowyn standing outside Meduseld, one in ‘The Two Towers’ (here) and one at the beginning of ‘The Return of the King’ (here). Both resemble a line depicting Éowyn as she watches the men ride out from Edoras: Far over the plain Éowyn saw the glitter of their spears, as she stood still, alone before the doors of the silent house. [3.VI.]

– However freaky it looked, Théoden’s metamorphoses after his exorcism, is actually a nod to the book, where it says that after he breathes in the fresh air again [he] smiled and a she did so many lines of care were smoothed away and did not return. [3.VI.]

– The burial of Théodred was modelled after the traditional Maori funeral: the body is taken by the men, and handed over to the women who place him in the tomb. The Maori are the original inhabitants of New Zealand, and populated a great segment of the stunt crew.

– The song Éowyn sings at Théodred’s funeral was written by David Salo, and based on the epic poem ‘Beowulf’. This ancient Danish tale, told in Old English, was the subject of a study by Tolkien and provided him with a lot of inspiration for the Rohirrim. You can find more about this song, and the poem, here.

– Théoden’s line, ‘No parent should have to bury his child’, was a suggestion from Bernard Hill. He heard it from an Irish woman.

– In the stables, Aragorn talks to mad horse Brego in two ‘foreign’ languages. In fact, he switches between Elvish (Sindarin) to emphasise his link to the Elves and how this has brought him in touch with nature; and Rohirric (Old English), which he would know because he has served with Thengel, Théoden’s father, when he was a young man.

3.06.*a. The Journey to Helm’s Deep
– Aragorn’s comment about Dwarf women having beards is derived from the Appendixes (A.III.) where it is told that Dwarf males and females look so much alike other races, even Elves, cannot discern them from each other.

– Aragorn being 87 may come as a surprise to some, but it’s a nice nod to the bookies to mention his real age. As a bonus, according Philippa Boyens, ‘Viggo loved the concept of being 87’.

3.06.*c. Isengard Unleashed
– The scene outside Orthanc with Saruman giving his troops a final pep-talk, was modelled after a famous scene from ‘Triumph des Willens’, a German movie about Nazi-dictator Adolph Hitler.

3.07. Helm’s Deep
– The scene with Aragorn almost decapitating a young Rohir, was suggested by Viggo Mortensen, who figured Aragorn needed a turning point somewhere. The boy playing Haleth is Kellum, Philippa Boyens’ son. When he went back to dub his lines, however, his voice had already started to change and they had to find someone else to read them.

– We can only assume that Háma is a cruel man: Haleth is a girl’s name.

– The boy standing in the background while Aragorn plays with Haleth’s sword is Viggo Mortensen’s own son, Henry.

– More extra’s trivia: the scared people in the Glittering Caves were added for effect, because ‘you’re not defending a stone castle, you’re in fact defending the future of your whole race.’ So in re-shoots a whole bunch of people were thrown together on a Styrofoam set and told to cry and look frightened. Among them: the inevitable Billy and Katie Jackson, and Hannah Wood, Elijah Wood’s sister.

– At least one person will be happy with Elves at Helm’s Deep: Even more I would give for a hundred good arches of Mirkwood. [3.VII.] Looks like Legsy’s dream sort of came true.

– The Rohir with the empty eye-socket had never taken off his eye-patch before. Apparently, it had a very therapeutic effect for him. Never say ‘The Lord of the Rings’ doesn’t change lives!

– The idea for the ladders and catapults used in the attack on Helm’s Deep came from John Howe.

– Haldir’s death is, according to the authors, a sort of honourable nod to Gil-Galad and his death at the end of the Battle of the Last Alliance.

3.10. Flotsam & Jetsam (Entmoot)
– The different Ents at the Entmoot were designed by Alan Lee, and each based on different kinds of trees.

– At the Entmoot, Treebeard sums up the guests that have come: Beech. Oak. Chestnut. Ash. Good. Good. Good. Many have come. Beech and oak are also mentioned in Tolkien’s description of the kinds of Ents that joined Entmoot.

– When Treebeard calls the Ents after seeing the destruction of Isengard, he raised his curled hands to his mouth so that they made a hollow tube; then he blew or called through them. [3.IV.] This is Treebeard’s call to gather the Entmoot, in the book.

– Poor ol’ burning Beechbone made it into the movie too: One of [the Ents], Beechbone I think he was called, a very tall handsome Ent, got caught in a spray of some liquid fire and burned like a torch: a horrible sight. [3.IX.]

– Amongst the flotsam, Merry and Pippin find barrels of pipeweed, namely Longbottom Leaf. In the book, Merry says to Gimli: It is Longbottom Leaf! There were the Hornblower brandmarks on the barrels, as plain as plain. [3.IX.]

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4.01. The Taming of Sméagol
– The little box of salt that Sam carries with him is supposed to remind Frodo of home, of The Shire. For most fans though, it was mostly a subtle reminder of the gift from Galadriel that Sam takes home with him, and in which he finds many seeds to restore The Shire after the scouring. So in a way, this is a nice little (unintentional?) nod to that deleted chapter.

– This shot of Frodo threatening Gollum with Sting, trying to make him let go of Sam, is based on this painting by Alan Lee called ‘The Taming of Sméagol’.

4.02. The Passing of the Dead Marshes
– The poem Gollum cites is derived from a poem cited at the Barrow-downs, which you can read in its original version in our Poems Section.

4.03. The Black Gate Is Closed
– A painting by Alan Lee served as inspiration for one of the overview shots of the Black Gate. You can compare the painting here, with the shot here.

– This scene in the movie is the only time the Elven cloak is used as a means to camouflage the bearer.

4.04. Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
– Sam’s line about the Harad warrior was given to Faramir, because the writers wanted to waylay the criticism that Tolkien is a pro-war racist. Faramir is portrayed as a soldier who hates his work, and this is very close to Tolkien’s own views of what being a soldier is about; and ties in with his experiences during World War 1. You can find more information about this in our Tolkien Section.

– David Wenham got the part of Faramir, amongst other reasons, because of his striking resemblance to Sean Bean, who plays his brother Boromir.

4.05. Window of the West
– The little scene between Faramir and Mablung, looking at a map, was cut into the movie because New Line felt the audience needed something more to be able to discern two sets of villains (Sauron and Saruman), attacking two sets of people (Gondorians and Rohirrim) in two different places (Osgiliath and Helm’s Deep). This provides us with a nice shot of the familiar map, even if there’s a slight spelling mistake on it.

– Henneth Annûn was modelled after a painting by Alan Lee.