3.4 General Thoughts and Comments

I wish I had read The Lord of the Rings before seeing the first movie. By reading the book after having seen The Fellowship of the Ring, I did not get a chance to make my own images of the characters and environments in The Fellowship of the Ring; instead the ones in the movie were the ones that came to mind as I read the book. It must have been a great experience to have read the book and then see how well one's imagination corresponded to the movie. From now on, whenever I read the book I will undoubtedly see in my mind the characters as they are portrayed by the actors and actresses in the movies.

There have been many changes made in the movies, but nevertheless I think that the spirit of Tolkien's work is present in them. Even though I do not agree with every single change, I am still of the opinion that Peter Jackson and everybody else involved in the Lord of the Rings movies should be lauded for bringing Middle-earth to life on the screen. Compared to this, the changes, errors, and omissions that have been made seem to be an issue of less importance, especially when the fact that movies can never capture the complex book in its entirety is taken into account.

After having seen all three movies, I am beginning to wonder if there really had not been better to portray Sauron in another way, rather than as a giant eye. As I have understood it, Sauron actually had a physical body during the War of the Ring, and to imagine him actually being a giant eye at the top of Barad-dûr as opposed to the eye merely being a metaphor is incorrect and also leads to problems such as how Sauron could wield the Ring. Furthermore, how does Aragorn expect Sauron, being a disembodied eye, to come forth from the Black Gate so that justice can be done upon him?

The idea with extended editions is great. The theatrical versions work, but to me it is the extended editions that are the real movies. For those not familiar with the book the theatrical versions may suffice, but the extended editions contain additional scenes, and so are a must for anyone who wants the most out of these movies. In addition to the longer movies, the bonus stuff that comes with the extended editions has been of very high quality and given many informative and enjoying insights into the production of these historical movies.

I can honestly say that no movies have ever touched me like these have. All the various elements have come together in a fantastic way in these movies. This movie trilogy is truly the best trilogy I have ever seen, and I am quite sure that I will never have a movie experience that surpasses this one, save possibly a remake of The Lord of the Rings. Let there be no doubt that The Return of the King is the best movie ever, ever, and I cannot fully express in words my experience and all my feelings when it comes to the trilogy as a whole.

My thanks, appreciation, and admiration go to the cast and crew and everyone else involved in making these fantastic movies. Your dedication and interest permeate this project, and without them I believe it would not have been possible to bring The Lord of the Rings to the screen. I am very happy to have experienced the movies and the whole Lord of the Rings phenomenon, and I can honestly say that it has been a life-changing experience.

4 Final Thoughts
It has been an interesting journey for me to discover the book The Lord of the Rings at the same time as it was being transferred to the screen. The book is certainly a literary masterpiece and the movies a cinematic masterpiece. It has been, and still is, a profound experience at the beginning of which I had no idea what awaited me, and now I am a full-fledged Tolkien fan.

Now that all three movies are out in their extended versions, it is time to reread the book, something I will do in a not-too-distant future. The book and the movies have become entangled in my mind, and each contributes to the other: whenever I read the book, scenes from the movies will come to mind; whenever I watch the movies, changes, omissions, and passages from the book will come to mind.

Now, two years after I first published this document on the Web and a little more than three years after I saw The Fellowship of the Ring in the theater, my story comes to an end. Writing this account of my experience of the Lord of the Rings book and movies has been very interesting and I have learned a great deal as the document has developed alongside the movies. Though this story ends here, my interest in Tolkien's work continues unabated. It will certainly be there for the rest of my life.
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