I do love the Brothers Mir.

And thanks to everyone who's answered my questions and put up with my pestering. I do sincerely appreciate it, and since I'm writing my final, this is the last time I'll hijack the thread.

If anyone cares to hark back to the first LotR thread, they will find my posts loudly lamenting the fact that Aragorn was sadly miscast, that Bean was clearly the better actor, better voice, yadda yadda.

With me, I think it was before we even created a LotR thread. I watched FotR and fell for Sean Bean within five seconds of his first appearance on the screen. "WHY, WHY did they cast him as the one who dies?" thought I. "He should be Aragorn and be in all three movies." I lamented on Natter, and I think it was Hec who pointed me toward the Sharpe series.

I forgave Viggo for not being Sean halfway through TTT, but I still kinda wish the casting had been flip-flopped. They both give good sexy-n-scruffy, but Sean cleans up prettier. And he's got the sexiest voice of any man on the planet not named Avery Brooks.

And he's got the sexiest voice of any man on the planet not named Avery Brooks.

Word, big huge heaping helpings of word. With...little sprinkles of...Sean Bean reading...words.

I was *so* secretly pleased that, even though his rumored "vision" appearance to Faramir was cut from the theatrical TTT, his face, well, his profile, was in it, when he grabs Frodo at Khazad Dum in Frodo's dream in the opening sequence. And he was in RotK, too, when Pippin remembers his dying defense of Pippin and Merry at Amon Hen, and thus he did manage to be in all three movies. Made me happy.

I completely did not remember that his death isn't even in the book Fellowship. It's dispensed with in about two lines at the beginning of TTT.

One further change with regards to Denethor and the Palantir - with or without the Palantir, his death in the book would have been far, far better then the firey plunge off the heliport o'doom.

Denathor's death was the biggest, 'hey! that never happened!' moment for me. Not sure why, in all the changes, that one bugged me the most. Frank, your working crystallized if for me.

Right. There is burnign yourself on a funeral pyre like some strange pagan king, and then there is having your dress catch fire and leaping off the end of a heliport like the lighting of an Olympic flame in reverse. Guess which one has the bizarro dignity?

That was what book-Denethor had, above all: dignity. There are all those mirror characters -- Faramir:Boromir, Gandalf:Saruman, Strider:Boromir -- and I think that Denethor is Strider's other mirror. Knowing Denethor allowed me to understand/imagine the greatness of the former kingdoms, and how they had fallen totally to pieces.

Denethor was Greatness Fallen. He had pretty much single-handedly stood between the forces of good and evil for decades. In the movie he's just a nut job who hates his younger son for not dying in his brother's place. He actually would have been a smart choice to send to Rivendell, especially since Boromir was managing the defense of Osgiliath and all.

and I think that Denethor is Strider's other mirror

I think Denethor also acts as a mirror figure of Gandalf was well - the Gandalf who acts as mentor (specifically to Boromir).

Right. There is burnign yourself on a funeral pyre like some strange pagan king, and then there is having your dress catch fire and leaping off the end of a heliport like the lighting of an Olympic flame in reverse. Guess which one has the bizarro dignity?

bing bing bing

Exactly why it earned a snort of derision from me even the first time around.

eta there's not even hippo dignity in how movie Denethor went out.

No hippo dignity.

And the squishy eating scene gave me the quease. But I suppose that was intentional. "Look! He's crazy...he's got bad table manners!