Frodo: Please, what does it always mean, this... this "Aragorn"?
Elrond: That's his name. Aragorn, son of Arathorn.
Aragorn: I like "Strider."
Elrond: We named the *dog* "Strider".
A discussion of Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King. If you're a pervy hobbit fancier, this is the place for you.
She made it now 100% of people who I have spoken to who have not read the books that do not understand why Frodo leaves at the end.
I didn't read the books, and I think I understood it -- when I saw it, I mean; BEFORE I read people's posts in this thread. But maybe I didn't.
Frodo's been in pain for years, yes? Both mental and physical. After his experience as the ringbearer, he really wasn't part of the world of the Shire any more -- it changed him irrevocably, much more so than it did Merry, Pippen, and even Sam. (We see their sense of dislocation in the scene at the Green Dragon after they return to the Shire, yes, but Frodo never really fully returns to the Shire. Or maybe it's more accurate to say that all of Frodo never returns to the Shire.)
In the books there's a nice bit about Sam being out and about during one of Frodo's illnesses and not knowing about it. Isn't Frodo mayor once or twice, in the books?
In the book, after Rosie dies, Sam goes to the Grey Havens, too, doesn't he?
Steph, that's precisely the understanding I got from the books.
edit: to both your posts
Isn't Frodo mayor once or twice, in the books?
I think he acts as Mayor briefly after the Scouring, until Sam's elected.
Steph, that's precisely the understanding I got from the books.
t does the dance of perceptiveness, which, oddly is not unlike the dance of finding a Krispy Kreme with the "hot" light on
Frodo's been in pain for years, yes? Both mental and physical. After his experience as the ringbearer, he really wasn't part of the world of the Shire any more
Yupp. I know some people got it - but I think it's a notable misstep on Jackson's part that soo many people I've talked to didn't get it AT ALL. I mean - he's the main character and that's how his story ends - kind of bad place to leave people wondering.
Lots and lots of people must be OK with it though - or they wouldn't feel so passionate about the movie - but still - seems to be a big question mark for some.
My parents didn't really get it either. This is the reason I'd like to see that section expanded in the EE. Except that the EE is mostly for the obsessives like us who already get it, so, maybe I just invalidated my own point. Huh.
Nice get, Steph, on both points. I think it is ironic that PJ, who has made a number of creative choices on the (quite reasonable, but I'm obsessive) grounds that you have to consolidate plot threads for the cinema, fails to get across one of his primary threads (war is hell, it changes people, there is a price) in the main character, for viewers who haven't read the books.
I hadn't read the books yet when I saw the movie (actually, haven't read the end of RotK yet -- I'm about 1/3 of the way through reading TTT), and when I saw that scene, my thought process was pretty much, "Why's Frodo leaving? Oh, right, I guess when he came back, he couldn't really fit into his old life in the Shire anymore. Like shell-shocked veterans, I guess. Oh. OH! Duh. Wonder what's been happening to him? How much time has passed now, anyway?" So, I got it, but it was more of a working-backwards thought process than seeing things that would inevitably lead to him having to leave.
