Return of the King: Final Book Changes, Explained

Everyone loves to complain about adaptations that change the source material, and nowhere more so than in stories set in Middle-earth. The Prime Video television series “The Rings of Power” makes shocking (but hard to avoid) changes to the Tolkien canon. Magic The Gathering has reimagined several “Lord of the Rings” characters for its recently released card expansion. The anime “War of the Rohirrim” glorifies Hera, Helm's daughter, even though she is nameless and almost irrelevant in the books.

While there is always much to criticize when adaptations of Tolkien's world emerge, it is important to remember that Peter Jackson's trilogy is not perfect. Jackson's “Lord of the Rings” films are considered the gold standard for all fantasy films, not just about Middle-earth. They capture the emotion and heart of the books and generally follow the story, but they don't do it well. Arwen's appearance to save Frodo, the elves at Helm's Deep, and the eerie green ghosts on the fields of Pelennor were some of the worst adjustments made in the transition from book to screen. (Don't even get me started on Aragorn having a beard…)

One of the biggest changes of all, the movies. No show, especially at the end of “The Return of the King.”

It's okay, it's okay. If you want to be thorough, the actual conclusion to Jackson's trilogy is pretty good. Frodo goes to the West and Sam returns home, embraces his growing hobbit family and says, “Well, I'm back.” Beautiful and precise.

But the tagline (the line is the end of the story of both the movie and the book) implies a major adjustment to the ending of “The Return of the King.” To start, let's point out the obvious. This story has a lot of endings. I feel like the movie is almost over several times, but it continues. And that's not necessarily a bad thing: Many endings are a necessary part of “The Return of the King.” Let's go through the collection of results (based on a more complete extended version).

After the destruction of the One Ring, we get a sequence of the fall of Sauron and the victory of the Western Men. Later, we get an extended scene in Gondor, where Aragorn is crowned king, Arwen becomes queen, and the hobbits bow to no one. We then follow the Hobbits back to the Shire, where they return to normal life and Sam finally marries Rosie Cotton. Frodo finishes the Red Book of Westmarch, hands it to Sam to complete the final pages, and begins the journey west with Bilbo, Gandalf, and company. Sam comes home, all is right with the world, and that's where the story of the movie ends..

The book “The Return of the King” has similar rhythms with one important exception.. Before we dive into the progression, I want to point out that you can have the book “end” for at least six chapters. So, yes, a long movie ending is practically guaranteed. In those final chapters, we begin with the destruction of a ring and a multi-day celebration near the Black Gate. Finally, the party returns to Gondor, where half an episode is dedicated to Faramir and Eve's love story (although I won't blame Jackson for this, at least there's a brief scene in the extended version. Moment).

From there, Aragorn is officially crowned, Arwen becomes queen, and finally, a grand cavalcade homeward heads north for another chapter, and we say goodbye to one major character after another. When the four Hobbit heroes arrive in Bree again, things start to go wrong again. They discover that Saruman (who does not fall to his death from Orthanx as in the extended version of the film) has taken over the Shire with his henchmen, known as “Ruffians”. The episode “The Scouring of the Shire” depicts the events that follow Merry and Pippin raising an army of hobbits and defeating the invaders of their land. Sam helps where he can, and the spiritually exhausted Frodo plays the role of peacemaker, trying to avoid bloodshed as much as possible.

Eventually, the ruffians die or flee, and the hobbits confront Saruman at the gate of Back End. The unrepentant wizard is unexpectedly killed by an enraged and humiliated Wormtongue, who stabs him in the back before being killed by hobbit arrows. From there, the hobbits begin to clean up and restore their homeland, a process that takes months. However, they eventually reap the fruits of their labor and the following year is considered exceptionally blessed and fruitful. From there, Frodo heads west and tells Sam that he has come home, and that's it.

Both the book and the movie have long, progressive endings and, for the most part, fit together well. However, the glaring exception is Scoring of the Shire. The unnecessary destruction of the Hobbits' homeland is an important part of the story. In the book, Gandalf specifically tells the hobbits: “You must establish yourselves [The Shire’s] Affairs yourself; “That's what you're trained for.” Tolkien himself wrote in the preface to The Fellowship of the Ring that the score of the Shire was “an essential part of the plot, foreshadowed from the beginning, but modified with the passage of time. Because of Saruman's character in the story…”

In other words, The Hobbits' need to reclaim their homeland on their own is a key part of the story's ending, and its elimination sends silent but critical shockwaves through the story that precedes it.. For example, in the film we get a glimpse of oppression in the Shire in Galadriel's mirror, but Jackson had to stand out. He gives a horrified look that says “maybe” if Frodo fails. In the books, Sam sees the vision as something that could come true and must choose between Frodo and the quest or protecting his home. In this case, they wisely choose to save all of Middle-earth by continuing the quest, but in the end they have to deal with the consequences of leaving the Shire. In “The Fellowship of the Ring”, Elrond speaks of the defense of the Shire to warn the hobbits of imminent danger. They didn't go and finally had to face a small battle.

The removal of Scoring of the Shire doesn't completely derail the film. However, a significant and moving point in the story is needed, designed to demonstrate the maturity, skill and confidence that the hobbits develop throughout their adventures. Besides, who wouldn't want to see a hobbit army attack a group of human ruffians? It sounds like noise.