Lord of the Rings: The Scouring of the Shire = RKBA (contains spoilers!)

[ReadyontheRight]

Lord of the Rings: The Scouring of the Shire = RKBA

I am just re-reading "The Return of the King" in preparation to go to the third Lord of the Rings movie. I have heard that they shot footage for the chapter called "The Scouring of the Shire", but since the movie is already 3+ hours long, these scenes were cut, but they might make it into the DVD.

For anyone who has not read the books, or if you have not read them in a while, I suggest you read or re-read this chapter. I had forgotten all about it, but it's one of the best literary descriptions of why we need RKBA I've read.

SPOLIER ALERT:


























Basically, the Hobbit homeland has been taken over by human-sized ruffians while the rest of the land is at war. The hobbits who were in the war come back well-armed, wearing battle armor and experienced in the tactics of war. Guess who wins. I guess reading it as a pre-teen influenced this Conservative more than I thought.

 

[Oleg Volk]

 

[anapex]

Awesome Oleg

 

[seeker_two]

Is that John Rhys-Davies?

He's pro-gun & anti-illegal alien...


...just don't toss the dwarf...

 

[Coronach]

If they shot the scenes, they will almost certainly make it into the DVD. This has been SOP for the last two movies, and there is indication that it will happen in the third, as well. See the end of this post for details.

And yeah, Scouring of the Shire is indeed RKBA, epitomized, but only partly so. Recall that the Bounders were also armed, but they were quickly subdued and/or subjugated by Sharkey et. al. It is more about spirit, and motivation, and the willingness to fight for what is right, not just the ability to do the same.

OK. SPOILER ALERT:





























Ok. So, a few scenes that are almost certain to be in the Extended Edition. This is based more upon observation than on reading info from any of the various movie discussion sites.

Voice of Saruman: Word is they filmed it, and clipped it, but you can see from watching the film that there is room to fit this one back in nicely. The discussion about him being impotent is the ending of the scene after Gandalf breaks his staff, and the Palantir ends up in the water inexplicably...exactly where it should if the do the scene, but not where it should be at all with it omitted.

Scouring of the Shire: They obvioulsy filmed some scenes and used them in Galadriel's Mirror and other places, so they have a nice set-up to fold this in. Plus, if they do the Voice of Saruman scene, you also have the setup for Sharkey.

Mouth of Sauron: There was discussion of MoS's costume someplace, but MoS didn't make an appearance in the film. Also, if you look very carefully at the panoramic scene before the Morannon, you can see something shiny on the ground before the army of Gondor and Rohan...I bet that's Frodo's mailshirt.

I'm not sure about the White Tree and the deaths of Arwen and Aragorn.

Mike

 

[Triad]

I can't find the article, but I read that the Scouring of the Shire will not appear in the DVD either. They said that Peter Jackson did the scenes in the Mirror of Galadriel as a sort of tribute to the Scouring, which wasn't filmed at all.

 

[Coronach]

Well, dang.

 

[Lord Grey Boots]

What in the name of Mordor is that thing in Oleg's pic?

An MP5 in 12 guage?

 

[71Commander]

I heard (read) that the scene was not shot at all.

 

[El Tejon]

Lord, believe it is a 53. Could be cut down 32, but believe 53.

Mr. Wolf, thanks for the poster. Those of us living in The Shire in shadow of Mordor (Chicago) take heart.

 

[Graystar]

I found that part of the book very interesting. It is definitely RKBA. What I found most interesting was Frodo’s role as the anti, almost unwilling to do what, in the end, was necessary to get back the Shire. Even when Sauramon tries to kill him he doesn’t defend himself.

I think it’s pretty clear that Tolkien was very RKBA.

 

[grimlock]

I don't think that Frodo was necessarily anti during the Scouring. It was more that he'd been through war and hell, and didn't want his actions to end up getting any hobbits killed.

Plus, deep in his heart, he knew that Sam, Merry, and Pippin would be plenty to raise the countryside. Sam is really the hero of the story, in a classical sense, as he's the one who undergoes the biggest change in character over the entire story arc.

 

[mtnbkr]

In the scenes right before the battle for Helm's Deep, the neice of the King of Rohan makes a comment to the effect of "those who will not wield swords will die by those who do". I took that as very RKBA.

Chris

 

[Oleg Volk]

I find it interesting that very few fairy tales (even those set in the 16-18 centuries) have firearms a a part of them. Swords amd bows, but no guns. Wonder why...

 

[labgrade]

I think, Oleg, due to the advances, if you will, of the firearms of the time compared to the skill & lethality of the English longbow - not to mention reliability.

The ELB, known later as the ELB , was the stand-off weapon of its time.

Don't believe fireams had quite come into vogue - just yet.

Having read TLOTRs maybe 30+ times, I always found Frodo at the end of his activism = burnt out & just saddened by the turn of events - a reluctant participant in things he knew had to be done, but just sickened by its eventualities.

Nice to have a coupla hefty Hobbits w/the skill-set, & more importantly, the mind-set to do what it took.

(something about guys in the dead of night, willing to ....comes to mind )

 

[El Tejon]

Those without swords may still die upon them.

Guns in fairy tales? Where's the romance in that? That's like going into the woods and acknowledging that bears are no threat.

Peter Panism controls.

 

[lee n. field]

Nice pic, but shouldn't that be "Don't enter Moria without it"?

 

[Destructo6]

The pic appears to be a HK-51k. 7.62 NATO beast with a B&B Guns 30rnd mag.

It could be nastier, HK-51B:

 

[pax]

spoiler ahead

A really interesting perspective on the missing Scouring: http://www.clairewolfe.com/wolfesblog/00000433.html

pax