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.
Individually, I enjoy Merry's story so much more in the book than I do the movie.
Totally with you on this. Merry's relationship with Theoden is something I hope gets more airtime in the EE, because it was always one of my favorite things. His grief when Theoden dies gets me every time. *sniff* I love Rohan and all her people.
In addition to the smiting, I wish they had left Eowyn saying "No living man am I. You look upon a woman." I understand that might not play as well on screen, but it's more Tolkien-y.
The only thing that bothered me about the Merry/Pippin characterization was how they joined the quest. They came off as slightly stupid, whereas in the book they seem more naive than anything. They
choose
to go with Frodo. They might not know exactly what they're letting themselves in for, but they don't just get swept along for the ride.
Smite sounds much less fierce and powerful than kill. When Gandalfe used it he was telling a story, a natural place for poetic language--when Eowyn used it she was making a threat--a natural place for more direct languge.
I'm emotionally very attached to a lot of Tolkien's language, but I didn't miss that much of it on a poetic level. He has some clunky moments.
See, in any given instance, I'll take smite over kill. Killing is done to death. Smiting also has that biblical implication of righteousness to it.
I miss "Begone if you be not deathless!"
"...for living or dark undead..."
But smiting is not a word people use in conversation. It's a word we are more comfortable reading rather than hearing. It takes a second to process and slows down the impact. In film you don't want people puzzling over information, because they are being given new information all the time and can't go back to clarify or take time to savor things as they can with a novel. The films keeps rushuing forward and the audience needs to stay with it.
But smiting is not a word people use in conversation.
Speak for yourself.
(edit: I actually agree with your points about writing for film. I just, you know, do.)
Tolkien wrote very booky books. PJ had a million things to do to translate to screen. Pacing and interleaving, action and dialogue. I've read the books, love the books, and am really glad there wasn't a huge amount of verbatim Tolkien.
