Some of TORn’S staff chime in with their thoughts regarding the rampant Trailer Speculations we’ve been posting today. More to come, hopefully!
WHO IS EOMER HOLDING?
Melian, head of Barliman’s ‘Hall of Fire’ discussion group, writes:
This is a tough scene to speculate, which is all we can do, because — no matter who Eomer is holding — the scene is an obvious departure from the book by Peter Jackson.
In the published account, Eomer weeps when he sees Theoden die on the fields. However, Eomer doesn’t hold the fallen King. Nor does he hold Eowyn — or shed tears at her death:
“He stood a moment as a man who is pierced in the midst of a cry by an arrow through the heart; and then his face went deathly white, and a cold fury rose in him, so that all speech failed him for a while. A fey mood took him.
” ‘Eowyn, Eowyn!’ he cried at last. ‘Eowyn, how come you here? What madness or devilry is this? Death, death! Death take us all!’ ” Eomer then “spurred headlong back to the front of the great host, and blew a horn, and cried aloud for the onset.”
THE WHITE BEAST
Demosthenes, TORn Senior Staffer, writes:
It’s extraordinarily hard to make out this white outline. It seems to “flutter” like a banner would, yet it seems elevated quite high into the air. This could be a trick of the eye, since the camera is very close to the ground. Yet the shape is also extremely odd compared to all the banners that we’ve seen previously. It *could* be an orc banner – those are fairly tall. There’s also definitely two Fell Beasts in the shot, flapping around. Could it be that this shape is a Fell Beast with it’s wings folded back and stooping for a kill? …Food for thought.
‘HE IS HERE’
Presumably at Erech, Legolas says “He is here,” obviously meaning the King of the Dead on the other side of the White Mountains.
SHAFT OF LIGHT FROM MORDOR
maegwen, TORn jack-of-all-trades, suggests:
From “The Stairs of Cirith Ungol”:
“But it was too late. At that moment the rock quivered and trembled beneath them. The great rumbling noise, louder than ever before, rolled in the ground and echoed in the mountains. Then with searing suddenness there came a great red flash. Far beyond the eastern mountains it leapt into the sky and splashed the lowering clouds with crimson. In that valley of shadow and cold deathly light it seemed unbearably violent and fierce. Peaks of stone and ridges like notched knives sprang out in staring black against the uprushing flame in Gorgoroth. Then came a great crack of thunder.”
This is clearly seen at the very beginning of the trailer, as the red glow throbs on the horizon and a crack of thunder resounds. Later, as we see Frodo climbing, below him are the troops of the enemy issuing forth from Minas Morgul — which is bathed in a “cold deathly light”
“And Minas Morgul answered. There was a flare of livid lightnings: forks of blue flame springing up from the tower and from the encircling hills into the sullen clouds. The earth groaned; and out of the city there came a cry.”
As the light erupts from Minas Morgul, we see the winged beast go aloft — bearing the Witch King?
WINGED WITCH KING?
mallorn, ‘Hall of Fire’ moderator, writes:
First, about the Witch King appearing on a winged fell beast: my guess is that Peter Jackson is keeping all of the Nazgul, including the WK, on winged beasts to be more consistent with the post-Ford Nazgul, rather than have the WK switch back to ride in on a horse to meet Gandalf, and then shift back to a winged beast to battle with Eowyn, as he does in the book. So, PJ may just change the WK’s steed to eliminate any potential confusion from the non-book audience, and keep him consistently on a winged beast. He may also feel the winged beasts to be more dramatic. I also don’t think personally this would take away from the drama of the moment, which is the encounter, rather than how the WK arrives at it (although personally I don’t think the winged beasts are so well done).
As far as to why Pippin is behind Gandalf, I questioned that myself, and wonder what sequences may be changed to result in that. I hope that the WK encounter does not occur as soon as Gandalf and Pippin arrive in Minas Tirith, but I can see that could be a way to speed up things. I wonder if Gandalf and Pippin together discover what Denethor has planned for Faramir, rather than Pippin by himself. I see Faramir’s goings back and forth as something that PJ will cut down considerably on, and he may reduce it to only one return that results in his serious wounding with the dart.
StarLady, site developer, writes:
Random things that occurred to me:
later: “Towers fell and mountains slid; walls crumbled and melted, crashing down…” After all, we get a vivid description of what goes on in Mount Doom at the End, but not what is going on over at Minas Morgul. However, what descriptions we DO get (from the vantage point of the Armies of the West) all involve a giant shadow rising… definitely not a shaft of green light. So obviously I’m a little torn on this one. 😉
WeeTanya, HTML-izer extraordinaire, writes:
Mia, TORn artist, writes:
1) If it is Shelob, she is indeed too small.
2) Sam yelling “No!!” in red glow as the camera is falling away from him – if PJ decided to kill Frodo at Mt. Doom, I will enjoy the film more than I expected to until now, being increasingly dissapointed with the first two. This could actually save it for me, for reasons that would be too ranty atm.
Maybe someday. 🙂
Have your own thoughts? Head over to Barliman’s to hash them out with other fans!
