120
votes
Accepted
Why didn't Gollum take the ring back from Bilbo between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings?
He did eventually (after some years: remember that Gollum has a hatred and fear of the Sun, the Moon and other creatures, so it took some time) leave the Misty Mountains in pursuit of Bilbo Baggins, ...
- 14.2k
85
votes
Why are the railings in Rivendell so low?
There are a few possible reasons for this:
The room was specially made for Bilbo, and therefore everything
was proportioned for a Hobbit
The room was a recovery room for Elves, and so the railings ...
- 59.6k
63
votes
Accepted
Why does Sauron think Pippin has the ring when Pippin holds the Palantír?
Sauron is aware that Gollum owned the ring for many years and lost it to "Bagginses" from "The Shire". He sends the nine Ring Wraiths to look for it. They will have learned that the ring is being ...
- 52.2k
55
votes
Accepted
Copyright of name in movies
For a character to be protected by copyright, it must be an original creation. Tolkien never had a copyright on elves or orcs, because both of those creatures existed in literature prior to The Lord ...
- 1,893
53
votes
Accepted
Why didn't Sauron try to find the Ring first before preparing for the war on Middle Earth?
You'll find a lot of explanations on our sister site Science Fiction & Fantasy, e.g. Why didn't Sauron guard Mount Doom?. Those focus on the books, and most texts there didn't make the movies, but ...
- 2,785
53
votes
Accepted
Does Bilbo Baggins realize his ring was the One Ring?
I've always attributed that to dementia; remember that Bilbo was very old for a hobbit (about 128 years); only the Old Took had been older.
Bilbo attended the Council of Elrond where the history of ...
- 2,785
45
votes
Accepted
Why was Tom Bombadil left out of the LOTR movies?
Tom Bombadil as a creation precedes much of the LOTR mythology. He appears first in a 1934 poem "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", where he is a "'merry fellow' living in a small valley close to the ...
- 616
44
votes
Why does Sauron think Pippin has the ring when Pippin holds the Palantír?
Sauron knew that a hobbit had the ring, and knew that Saruman had been searching for it as well.
The book makes it clear (if we trust that Gandalf's guesses about Sauron's state of mind are correct) ...
- 540
41
votes
Accepted
What does "Gollum" mean?
As explained on the Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange:
The name "Gollum" goes back a long way, back to shortly after he found the Ring. See "The Shadow of the Past", the second chapter ...
- 48.7k
40
votes
Accepted
Clearing the Shire of Orcs and Goblins
The movies as a whole primarily tell the story of the destruction of the ring. So when the ring is destroyed, that is the climax of the movie, and movies almost always end shortly after the climax.
I ...
- 8,553
39
votes
Why didn't Sauron try to find the Ring first before preparing for the war on Middle Earth?
This is a key plot point: Sauron never even thinks of the possibility that the Ringbearer will try to destroy the Ring. He cannot imagine somebody voluntarily giving up that much power. From the book:
...
- 491
38
votes
Accepted
Why did Grima shed a tear?
In the book it was explained that Grima's final plan in Rohan (or at least what Saruman had promised him) was to marry Éowyn and become the next King of Rohan (of course still at the orders of Saruman)...
- 1,099
36
votes
Accepted
Are elves in Middle Earth mortal or immortal?
They can't die by age, but they can die by the sword or grief.
According to Tolkien, once an Elf becomes an adult, they stop getting older. They are also less vulnerable against physical damage, but ...
- 1,663
34
votes
Who was Balin? Was he part of the company of Thorin Oakenshield?
Yes, the Balin referred here is in fact the same Balin that was part of Thorin's company. And yes, in Moria, Gimli is referring to the same Balin, who was the Lord of Moria, by the time he was slain ...
- 851
34
votes
What initially awakened the Balrog?
It is as Saruman said - the mining activity of the Dwarves who originally built the mines awakened the Balrog. They are so sure because this was a historic event which resulted in the downfall of the ...
- 2,795
34
votes
Why did Grima shed a tear?
While I think @SJuan76's answer is on the right track, it's too specific. There is no indication he sheds a tear for Eowyn specifically, as he can't even be sure she's at Helm's Deep. I think many ...
- 4,041
33
votes
Accepted
Why does Gandalf say that he is Saruman?
You need to listen to the entire line of dialogue or you won't understand the meaning. What Gandalf says is:
Indeed I am Saruman, one might almost say, Saruman as he should have been.
He clearly is ...
- 35.5k
27
votes
Accepted
Why does Gimli ask for Galadriel's hair?
Wikipedia
Historically, giving a lock of ones hair to someone has been considered a sign of love and devotion, especially before an impending separation. It is still a popular trope in fiction, ...
- 133k
23
votes
Accepted
Is it because the time gap that Legolas's eyes are different in Hobbit and LOTR?
No.
It's a technical issue (sort of)
Original Source - Quora
Wikipdia
Due to technical mishaps involving Bloom's contact lenses, in the films Legolas' eye colour sometimes changes between brown, ...
- 133k
23
votes
Accepted
What initially awakened the Balrog?
There have been two awakenings.
According to the lore of the books, this Balrog (one of many), known as Durin's Bane,
lay dormant for more than five thousand years at the roots of the mountain ...
- 5,945
22
votes
Why did Grima shed a tear?
Grima has just been arguing with Saruman about how strong Helm's Deep is and how it is virtually un-breachable. My interpretation is that he has always seen Helm's Deep as the ultimate in protection ...
- 30.7k
19
votes
Accepted
Does the sun rise from the West in Middle Earth?
This might have been taken from the books without the explanation from the books included in the movie. In the books, Orodruin/Mount Doom is spewing out ash and smoke as Sauron starts the War of the ...
- 11.1k
16
votes
Why was Tom Bombadil left out of the LOTR movies?
He didn't play a signficant part in the books. In terms of plot pacing, his role was to provide a little bit of down-time between the tense times of Old Forest, and the Barrow-downs .
Tolkien's ...
- 261
16
votes
Why did Grima shed a tear?
This question has a word of god answer on the SciFi sister site. Turns out, both theories are right, to some extent; that is: the tear is both from awe at the military might, and regret at the ...
- 261
15
votes
What does "Gollum" mean?
The Riddle of Gollum
Abstract:
Tolkien's sources for Gollum were most likely the same as his sources for ents--
his love of word origins (philology), literature (poetry and prose), and life (...
- 151
15
votes
Why was Tom Bombadil left out of the LOTR movies?
Screenwriter Phillipa Boyens explains in the extended edition documentary that the central message they wanted to emphasise with respect to the one ring is that no-one (not Gandalf, Aragorn, Elrond - ...
- 271
15
votes
Who was Balin? Was he part of the company of Thorin Oakenshield?
Ok, let's do this one by one:
Balin was one of the 12 dwarves who were in Thorin II Oakenshield's company.
Balin got a younger brother called Dwalin.
Both of them are cousins of Glóin.
Glóin is ...
- 482
15
votes
Why didn't Gimli know the password to enter Moria?
He wasn't from Moria.
Gimli was from the Dwarves who settled Erebor. Here' a Quora post that summarizes it nicely.
There are a couple of reason.
As everyone has stated he wasn’t from Moria....
- 8,858
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