LOTR Rant: The Movies Are Superior

*This post is from like January 2021, but I just realized it was a draft lol* I've been a fan of the Lord of the Rings movies for almost a decade at this point, it's a family tradition to watch all of them over winter break most years. This past week I started reading Fellowship of the Ring for the first time, and I have to say the movie is way better than the book. Note: I'm only 200 or so pages into Fellowship, so I'm just basing this post after that part only. Reason 1: Tom Bombadil I don't have much to say, because I don't know what I was reading when they were with Tom Bombadil. It was relaly weird, and probably unnecessary (he could end up being important later in the books, I haven't gotten that far, hence the PROBABLY- if you 're a superfan of the books please don't comment about how he actually saves the day or something else like that- I didn't forget and/or not care, if that does happen I haven't read it yet). So needless to say, I'm really glad that they cut him from the films. Reason 2: The Time Gap/ Frodos' Age & Broken Characters ( A Larger Rant) My biggest problem is probably that Frodo aged up from 33 to 50 sitting in Bag End with the ring before having to leave on his adventure. One of the things the movie does so expertly is that sense of urgency after the party when Gandalf is explaining everything to Frodo. But in the books, it's chill... Frodo can just wait for almost 20 years. Not only does this destroy the sense of urgency, but it also makes Frodos' character work less for me personally, and made what I know his arc will be from the films less tragic. This is where broken characters come in. At the start of the films, we're introduced to him as a carefree young hobbit, reading under a tree and talking with his good friend Gandalf. This is also helped along by the bright scenery and vibrant colors of the Shire. As Frodo goes through his traumatic journey (and as the Ring takes more and more control of him), he (and the films overall) get much darker, both (obviously) in tone and content, but also in color palate. His face is all sooty, his clothes are darker, and it just serves as a great parallel to the overarching story. The problem with him waiting in the books is that by that point he is no longer a young,carefree character to begin with. He's already fairly aged. Also, that makes him significantly older than Merry, Pippin, and Sam which also feeds into his tragic arc and conclusion later on. One of the most heartbreaking lines in the film is (to paraphrase) at the end of Return of the King when Frodo is explaining why he's leaving to Sam and says something along the lines of "We saved the Shire- but not for me". I don't know if this made any sense, but I hope you enjoyed the blog post regardless.