Ghan-Buri-Ghan, Where Are You? - Page 3
© Douglas Charles Rapier
Having apparently acquiesced to her father's will and joined a company of Elves wending their way at funereal pace to the Grey Havens, Arwen has a vision of her as-yet-unborn son by Aragorn. She then returns to Rivendell to confront her father in tears. Good Grief! The psychic aspect of the scene a-side, hadn't she ever until then realized that she might have children with Aragorn? Did she think her marriage to the Chief of the Dunedain would not involve child-bearing?
Again, I can understand and had accepted the need for Jackson et al. to simplify the story. Why, then, did they further complicate an already complicated story by Elrond claiming that the Ring was now somehow tied to the personal health of Arwen and that she would die if the Ring were not destroyed? Excuse me, but all of Middle-earth would be destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved if Frodo failed in his quest. Isn't that doom-laden enough?
By way of discovering this new dire wrinkle, moreover, Elrond states that Arwen's hands are cold and concludes that she is losing her 'Eldar' nature and becoming human. Utterly preposterous! Had no Elf maiden ever had cold hands before? (Say, on the Noldori crossing of the Grinding Ice of Helcaraxe?) Despite the screen time dedicated to this dubious development, this little thread is never picked up again in the film. Why bother?
Rohan: On the evening before Aragorn takes the Paths of the Dead, Elrond shows up in Rohan and presents Anduril to him. Debates could be waged concerning the feasibility of such a journey by the Elf which would not involve a helicopter or yet another ride hitched on an eagle. However, the scene was unnecessary and could have been avoided if the original storyline had been followed with Narsil being re-forged as Anduril BEFORE the Fellowship left Rivendell as Tolkien wrote it. (Additionally, the battles at Amon Hen and Helm's Deep would have been that much more dramatic with Aragorn wielding the Blade that was Broken, calling 'Anduril for the Dunedain', its blade 'gleaming with white fire'.)
Gondor: What happened to the palantir of Minas Tirith? Without one of the Seeing Stones being in Denethor's care, his insanity has no reason. He's just an old nut-case with disgusting table-manners. Moreover, Pippin's singing wasn't so bad but what happened to his real duties as a Guard of the Tower?
Furthermore, leaving out Aragorn's looking into the Orthanc palantir and challenging the will of Sauron, the plan to attack the Black Gates looses its rationale, as well. Would Sauron really be so concerned by an obviously vain and futile military assault upon his impregnable strong-hold if the Enemy had not been duped into thinking Aragorn and Gandalf had the Ring of Power in their possession and, in their hubris, were endeavoring to wield it against him?
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