My Cultural Diet

The Return of the King contains some of Peter Jackson’s biggest liberties with Tolkien’s original epic, like the reforging of Andúril and almost everything involving the Army of the Dead, from their skull-filled underground lair to their arrival on Pelennor Fields. And don’t get me started on Denethor, especially his nonsensical death. At times, such moments almost seem like they could undermine the film, but it contains far too many grace notes for that. Gandalf’s encouraging words to Pippin. Sam’s glimpse of stars while in the darkness of Mordor. Éowyn’s battle with the Witch-king of Angmar. And of course, the charge of the Rohirrim. I find every single one of them deeply moving even to this day. (I can’t think of Théoden’s battlecry — “Ride for ruin and the world’s ending!” — and not get a little choked up.) I remember the movie often being mocked for its many endings, but how else could such an epic tale end? I love Gandalf’s line about not all tears being an evil; the fact that the film, like Tolkien’s story, ends on a melancholy note with a bittersweet farewell and a return to simple domestic life, and not some massive military victory, is precisely what makes it so endearing and enduring.

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