Top Ten Differences Between the Lord of the Rings Books and Films

I have the utmost respect for Frodo in both the books and films, considering the perils he faced on his journey. But in the books, he shows more courage in the face of danger.

I still haven't gotten this far in the book. I get about halfway into Return of the King and I stop reading because I don't want the story to end!

The Battle of Bywater is integral to the plot! The characters' arcs are unfinished in the film.

It was really something new for me when I read the books for the first time.

Frodo still gets paralyzed by Shelob, but in the books, Sam is held back and strangled by Gollum in Shelob's lair, so he can't warn Frodo.

The story flows better in the book. Frodo is captured by the orcs is a much better cliffhanger than they're going back to where they were at the beginning because Faramir dragged them back to Osgiliath for some reason.

The reason for this was because Frodo and Sam wouldn't have much to do in the final film otherwise.

It isn't a month in the films. It's an entire year. Still shorter than 17 years, I'll give you that.

Only about a month or so. In the books, it is 17 years.

For example, Lurtz doesn't exist in the books, and Gothmog is only mentioned once.

Who says they were the same age in the films? Oldest to youngest: Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin. Funny thing, Elijah Wood was the youngest actor to play a hobbit, and Billy Boyd was the oldest - the opposite of their characters, lol.

In the books, they are 50, 38, 36, and 28, respectively.

Peter Jackson stated that this decision was the most difficult to make.

This should be number one, folks.

These are the Orcs that discovered Frodo after he was paralyzed by Shelob. Gorbag was an Orc and Shagrat was a Uruk in the books. In the films, it was the other way around. However, the roles remained the same.

I am only voting to say that I do not understand this "difference." In the book, he didn't know she was female until she said so, just like in the movie. The scenes are not different except for Eowyn's wording of the sentence!

In the film, it does the feminist thing of having the Witch King say, "No man can kill me." Eowyn then says, "I am no man!" She takes off her helmet and stabs him in the face. Always works.

We associate Sauron with the big, fiery eye we see in the Jackson films, but in the books, it's not literally an eye. It's a metaphor for Sauron's immense presence and far-reaching grasp across Middle-earth.

I don't actually want to vote for this, but I'm pretty sure when Peter Jackson was reading the book, he thought it was an actual eye. Wild imagination, that is.

Sauron is more interesting without his physical form appearing.

One of the more memorable scenes from The Two Towers is where our heroes fight off Orcs on Wargs, with the battle nearly killing Aragorn when he topples over a cliff into a river. None of this actually happens in the books. In fact, Aragorn is never forcefully separated from the group.

In the book, after Gollum bites off Frodo's finger and gets the ring, he becomes so overexcited that he accidentally leans off the cliff and into the volcano. The filmmakers changed it to Frodo pushing Gollum instead because they thought Gollum just leaning over was anticlimactic.

In the book, he doesn't say that he wishes Faramir were dead. He only says that he wishes Boromir were in Ithilien instead of Faramir. He also doesn't eat tomatoes sloppily - he would never do that.

I like that he's more confident in the book. Aragorn in the films is too angsty about being king.

The Battle of Helm's Deep is actually called The Battle of the Hornburg in the books. Another difference is that in the film, there are only 300 men fighting for Rohan, but at the last second, they're aided by a group of elves. In the book, however, there are around 2,000 Rohan soldiers who are able to withstand the assault with the elves' help.

In both versions, they face well over 10,000 Orcs from Isengard, making it an impressive victory either way.

He knew about the ring since he was a teenager, and he organized a conspiracy to make sure Frodo didn't leave all alone.

He's much stronger and smarter in the books. I don't get why they made him as he is in the movies.

Though Aragorn is identified as a ranger in the films, we don't learn about their history or the fact that Aragorn is part of the Dúnedain, an ancient race of men, many of whom become rangers of the north. They played an important role in protecting the north from the forces of evil.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we didn't get to see any of this in the movies.

In the book, when Gandalf is facing the Balrog, the Balrog uses its whip to drag him down with him. In the film, he gets hit by the Balrog's whip but suddenly hangs onto the cliff before falling and facing the Balrog.

Meaning they have more than one emotion. Elves are not Vulcans!