Question: Did Boromir join the Fellowship just to take the ring from Frodo?
Chosen answer: No. He joined the Fellowship to help destroy the ring, but he did not have enough willpower to resist its call. He thought he could then use that power to defeat the enemies of Gondor.
Answer: Initially the Fellowship was meant to accompany Frodo to the south, with Gimli and Legolas branching off to go home and then Aragorn with Boromir headed for Minas Tirith. As the journey continued the band bonded and after Gandalf went down with the Balrog priorities shifted; Aragorn and Legolas now wanted to go to Minas Tirith with Boromir with Gimli wanting to go with the Hobbits. Boromir was haunted by his dedication to his father and his city throughout, something Galadriel noted when they met. We get a better view of this in the Two Towers; Faramir warns Frodo that if they went to Minas Tirith with Boromir they would not recognize that Boromir, who was tempted with the Ring in a way his brother was able to resist. Boromir did not want to take the ring initially but his lack of options made him want it at last, leading to Frodo abandoning everyone.
Question: How did Gollum know someone named Baggins from the Shire has the ring?
Answer: Because during the events of The Hobbit, Gollum met Bilbo, who introduced himself as Bilbo Baggins from the Shire.
Question: How did Sauron take the form of a fiery eye? Isn't he powerless without the ring?
Answer: Most of Sauron's power was poured into the One Ring, but not all of it. Sauron cannot take a true physical form until the ring is returned to him but he can still use his power to form the eye to keep watch over Middle Earth.
Is the eye actually his true form?
If by "true form" you mean the form he originally took when he was created, it is unlikely. Sauron was a good, just, and respected being prior to being corrupted and likely wouldn't have such an evil appearance in his original form. It is important to note, however that the Eye of Sauron takes on a much more physical form in Peter Jackson's film that it does in the books. In the books, the eye is a red light hovering over the tower that has the vague appearance of an eye. The films makes the eye look like an actual, literal eyeball that moves and seems to have a personality.
I meant has the eye been his true form ever since he lost the ring?
Sort of, yes. Sauron's spirit existed in a non-corporeal form and eventually built enough strength to form the eye.
No, his true form is seen at the beginning of the film.
Question: Why didn't the Fellowship use a horse for transportation?
Chosen answer: Most of the paths they took (e.g. over the mountains or through the Mines of Moria) would have been impossible to cross with horses, and besides, horses would have necessitated carrying a lot more gear and food, which they couldn't be bothered with.
Question: It's stated in "The Return of the King" that the Witch-king of Angmar is Sauron's greatest servant. Given this, why is he portrayed as somewhat bumbling in this film? A scene in the extended edition of "The Return of the King" shows him confronting Gandalf and even destroying his staff and he also has the reputation of being unkillable, but in this film he is chased off by Aragorn swinging a sword and a torch at him, and is also defeated by Arwen using a river to wash him away.
Chosen answer: The Witch-King of Angmar, as well as the other 8 Nazgûl were severely weakened since the defeat of Sauron, when they were send out to find the ring they had been dormant for decades, that's why they were so easily defeated by fire and waves. In the later movies their powers had increased significantly, especially the witch king's.
Question: Can someone please explain why the uruk hai are being born through those mud sacs and why?
Answer: There is some contention about the origin of the orcs and the Uruk-hai, and it seems Tolkien was fairly vague on these points (are orcs corrupted elves, are the uruks half-orc/half-men?). Several web sources say that on the DVD commentary for Fellowship, Peter Jackson says that the Uruk-hai emerging from mud sacs was based on an early Tolkien line that orcs "worm their way out of the ground like maggots" - not sure where or when he said this, but it seems to be a movie-only notion.
Question: Why does Saruman have the orcs cut down the trees to make the orcs, when it looks like the orcs are being "born" out of mud sacs...what's the significance of what the orcs are doing down in the hole in the ground?
Answer: In addition to "birthing" the Uruk-hai (the enhanced orc soldiers), Saruman's orcs were also forging armour and weapons for the army of Isengard, which is why they were cutting down the trees to use as fuel. They were underground as the Uruk-hai process seems to involve the earth or ground in some way.
Question: I once read a book (I think it was called "worlds of JRR Tolkien") in there Legolas was described as having short, curly, dark hair. So why was Orlando Bloom, who has short dark hair, given a long blond wig?
Answer: Any description of Legolas' hair purporting to come from Tolkien is extremely misleading. Tolkien never once gave a description of Legolas' hair. However, there is also a reference to Frodo looking up at Legolas' "dark head", but this was at night so it may not be an indicator of hair colour. Tolkien also explicitly states that only the house of Finarfin (of whom Galadriel is a descendent) had golden-hair amongst the Elves, the majority of whom were dark-haired. Despite this, we also know that Legolas's father, Thranduil, was golden-haired (this is mentioned in The Hobbit) and the film-makers may have based Legolas' hair colour on this. In addition, the blond hair may have also been chosen to help differentiate him from the dark-haired Elrond and to further illustrate his status as a visitor to Rivendell, which is primarily populated by dark-haired Elves.
Question: This question has been bugging me and I hope someone can answer this for me. I remember hearing that Viggo Mortensen did not want to reprise his role as Aragorn in the Hobbit movies, saying that the time between Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit would not make sense. Yet when I was watching LOTR there is a scene where Elrond says he was there 3000 years ago with Isildur (father of Aragorn?) to destroy the ring. Then, another scene where Arwen tells Aragorn he is not like his father. So, if Aragorn's father died 3000 years before LOTR, how old is Aragorn? It seems he's either too young for his father to have been around then, or old enough that he could appear in The Hobbit without any time issues. Can someone please explain this one?
Chosen answer: Viggo Mortensen meant that Aragorn was a child during the time of the Hobbit. Isildur is not Aragorn's father (his father's name was Arathorn), Isuldur is Aragorn's long-ago ancestor. This is why Aragorn is referred to numerous times as "Isildur's Heir" rather than "Isildur's Son."
Question: Why did Bilbo decide to leave the Shire?
Question: The narrative for this franchise takes place over thousands of years, yet Middle Earth is always in a medieval stasis. Has any reason been provided as to why Middle Earth never advances technologically?
Chosen answer: The presence of real magic in the world, and the fact that evil demi-gods and sorcerers keep trying to destroy it every few thousand years, makes technological advancement an endeavor no one sees much need for. Saruman makes some advances in it at Isengard, and in the novel the Shire had been very industrialized by Saruman's takeover when the hobbits return home to it.
Question: When the rings were being handed out, why didn't the hobbits receive any?
Answer: Because Sauron doesn't consider them any sort of threat, unlike the races of Men, Elves and Dwarves. He only gave the rings to the races he was worried about.
Question: I can't remember which film it is (I think it's the second one but I'm not sure). In the film there is a scene where Gollum and Smeagol are fighting and Smeagol tells Gollum to go away. Gollum calls Smeagol a murderer and Smeagol looks ashamed and says something. Gollum laughs and says "Go away" patronisingly. I assume it's "Go away," but it always sounds to me like "You win." Is it "you win" or "go away"?
Answer: It's quiet and a little muffled, but he does say "Go away".
Question: Gollum knew that Bilbo had the ring, so why is he only now trying to get the ring back? Why didn't he try to recapture it from Bilbo?
Answer: His fear of the Sun kept him in hiding under the Misty Mountains for three years, and when he finally came out, he faced another problem: He did not know where the Shire was! He made his way towards it very slowly, piecing together Bilbo's story from what he overheard Men talk about, but was unable to resist the summons from Mordor, and turned Eastwards instead, wandering there for many years. This is when he met Shelob, and was captured and tortured by the Orcs. After his release, he started hunting for the Ring again, until he, to his surprise, discovered the Fellowship in Moria, and started following them.
Question: Questions about the ring-wraiths: In the scene where the hobbits are hiding under the tree, Merry tosses his pack a few feet to distract the ring-wraith following them: we see that the ring-wraith is fast, so how can this possibly allow the hobbits time to escape? If the ring-wraiths can't be killed by any living man, why are they so scared of Aragorn that they run off from Weathertop and leave the ring that was nearly in their grasp? We see that ring-wraiths can go into water with their horses in the scene where they are chasing Arwen and Frodo, so why don't they follow the hobbits on the ferry?
Answer: (1) The Nazgul goes off to investigate the noise, giving the hobbits more than enough time to run in the other direction. Do bear in mind that the Nazgul doesn't actually know that they're there, so he's not going to be looking back - he's focused on whatever he heard elsewhere. (2) It's only the Witch-King who "no living man can kill", not the others. And even if they can't be completely destroyed by Aragorn, he can still injure them enough to immobilise them, leaving them stuck. Far better to escape and leave themselves with the possibility of catching up later, than getting badly injured and allowing the Ring to get away. (3) They don't follow the hobbits on the ferry because the Brandywine river is deep and they'd simply get swept away. When they're chasing Arwen, that particular river is very shallow at that point, allowing their horses to pass largely unhindered (at least until Arwen does her thing).
Question: In the prologue to the movie, Galadriel states that the ring has been forgotten, but Galadriel herself was around during the historic war against Sauron, and Elrond encouraged Isildur to throw it into the lava in Mount Doom, and there's even a mural in Rivendell of Isildur cutting the ring from Sauron's hand, so obviously the ring has not been forgotten. What gives? It can't be that "forgotten" means "believed now only to be a myth" ("History became legend; legend became myth") because Elrond and Galadriel (and countless other elves) would know that the ring wasn't a myth because they were a part of the earlier events. Nor can it be that Galadriel is referring to general history when she says, "For none now live who remember it," because she is not extemporizing on the nature of history, she is specifically referring to the ring: "For two and a half thousand years the ring passed out of all knowledge." Not just men's knowledge, or dwarves' knowledge, but all knowledge. Similarly, Gandalf has been in Middle-Earth for "300 lives of men", but Gandalf has to look up the story of the ring in historical papers; how did such an epic and giant war escape his notice?
Answer: Elves usually count themselves out of affairs like this, preferring to keep to themselves. It was a man who took the ring, so it is a man's tale until the elves choose to involve themselves again. And Gandalf is well aware of the war that saw the supposed defeat of Sauron. He's researching the historical documents looking for any clues, any seemingly irrelevant yet ultimately useful minutia, he may not yet be aware of.
Your answer doesn't make any sense. She says has fallen out of all knowledge. Whether or not elves prefer to keep to themselves doesn't change that they have knowledge of the ring.
The ring was deemed lost for good, eventually those that were there forgot it existed (or could still exist) untill the dark shadow over Mirkwood and later Mordor jolted their memories.
Answer: There is a little bit more to it. There is a scene in the Extended Edition of the second movie where Faramir flashes back to when he and Boromir successfully reclaimed Osgiliath from the forces of Mordor, and in the celebration afterwards, they are approached by Denethor, who informs Boromir of the Council of Elrond and that he suspects it's about the Ring. Denethor wants Boromir to get the ring and bring it to Gondor, to use it. That is why he is so hell-bent on leading the Fellowship past Minas Tirith: he wants to take the ring there.
Friso94