History WhatAnIdiot / TheLordOFTheRings

'''Instead:''' He rebuffs Faramir's claims, saying that he and his men ran away because of cowardice, and orders him to lead a small army to retake Osgiliath, which leads to disastrous results. This is another example exclusive to the film canon; in the books, Osgiliath is still held by Gondor when Faramir returns to Minas Tirith, with Denethor sending him and the other Gondorians to reinforce the city. While Osgiliath inevitably falls, it's still a far less tactically suicidal move on Denethor's part, and in any event Faramir's presence during the retreat minimizes Gondor's losses, while also buying the Minas Tirith defenders more time to shore up.

'''Instead:''' He rebuffs Faramir's claims, saying that he and his men ran away because of cowardice, and orders him to lead a small army to retake Osgiliath, which leads to disastrous results.

'''Instead:''' Against all logic, everyone ''completely'' forgets about Faramir, and leaves him and Denethor up there in the courtyard while they go to defend the city, including Pippin, who knows for a fact the guy is alive. This becomes a waste of time for Pippin, who is told to go back to the Citadel as requested by Gandalf. Unfortunately, by the time Pippin gets back, Denethor woke up, and is still under the delusion that his son is dead, and decides a VikingFuneral is in order.
** When Denethor carries Faramir's unconscious body to the Tomb of the Stewards, to kill himself along with Faramir, he tells his members of the Citadel Guard to "bring wood and oil" for the funeral pyre.\\

'''Instead''': They continue blindly following Denethor's orders without question like it's a brilliant idea (What?!?), despite the fact that he has clearly lost his mind, and don't even seem to care that they might be burning Faramir alive.\\
'''Worse Still''': When Pippin comes in, yelling "HE'S NOT DEAD!" and trying to save Faramir by taking the pyre apart.\\
'''You'd THEN Expect''': At least one of the guards or anybody that isn't Denethor to stop and ask Denethor something like, "Sir/My Lord, what if he's right?" Even though Denethor's an a-hole, asking is at least better than nothing.\\
'''Instead (!!!)''': The guards straight up ignore Pippin like brainless idiots as Denethor drags him out.\\

'''You'd ''THEN'' Expect:''' Pippin to open the doors, walk back in, maybe try to talk some sense into the guards or anyone who isn't Denethor.\\

'''Instead''': He just lets him go and makes no attempt to stop him from escaping with the fact that Saruman has allied with Sauron. Less of a problem in the book, since we don't see Saruman using fireballs (and [[AllThereInTheManual some of Tolkien's notes]] give multiple versions of Gandalf's escape that agree on Saruman not being there at the time).

'''Instead''': Pippin just *has* to go investigate the dang well. In the book he drops a stone into it, whereas in the film he touches a corpse's hand and the whole thing, plus a bucket with a chain, falls in. In both cases, any hopes of passing through Moria quietly are ruined, and it isn't long afterwards that the Company ends up having to fight their way through a bunch of orcs. Then things go from bad to worse because the orcs end up stirring up the Balrog, and they barely manage to make it out of Moria alive, minus Gandalf.

'''Instead:''' Sam, Merry, and Pippin make a fire while Frodo's asleep to cook their evening breakfast, tomatoes, sausage, and nice crispy bacon, which unfortunately gives away their position to the Nazgul (aka the Ringwraiths), even when Frodo tries putting the fire out.\\
'''The Result:''' The Nazgul attack the Hobbits, and Frodo gets impaled by the Witch King's blade, and is nearly killed as a result of it. This is an inverse of the book, where Aragorn ordered the Hobbits to build a fire, as the Nazgul knew where they were and fire was their only ally.

'''You'd Expect:''' Denethor would listen to Gandalf, who has proven to be wise -- if somewhat obtuse at times -- and pretty much the one thing that can push the Nazgul back. And even if Gandalf supports Aragorn as King of Gondor, it does not mean that he cannot maintain his position, advising the king on important matters.\\

-->--'''Gandalf''', ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings: The Fellowship of the Ring''

* On a related note, Frodo siding with Gollum against Sam the whole journey.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Frodo, even if he ''was'' being influenced by the Ring, to pick up on the fact that Gollum is a selfish and cold-hearted murderer who wants nothing more than the ring for himself, or at least notice Gollum is very clumsily trying to manipulate him. And even if he missed all that, he should have at least remembered that he and Sam have been friends for ''years'', and that he knows Sam is a good person who wouldn't do any of the shit Gollum accused him of. Especially not eating all the bread, given Sam was the one who was rationing food for a return journey that Frodo hadn't even considered.\\
'''Instead''': He believes every word Gollum says, turns against Sam, and gets predictably sold out by Gollum in Shelob's cave.

'''You'd Expect:''' Frodo, even if he ''was'' being influenced by the Ring, to pick up on the fact that Gollum is a selfish and cold-hearted murderer who wants nothing more than the ring for himself, or at least notice Gollum is very clumsily trying to manipulate him. And even if he missed all that, he should have at least remembered that he and Sam have been friends for ''years'', and that he knows Sam is a good person who wouldn't do any of the shit Gollum accused him of.\\

* The Witch-King overpowers Gandalf, when he's suddenly distracted by the warhorns signalling the arrival of the Rohirrim.
'''You'd Expect''': The Witch-King would take advantage of his winded foe, depriving Gondor of a mighty ally and ''then'' going after Rohan.
'''Instead:''' The Witch-King just leaves Gandalf and goes after the Rohirrim, where he's eventually vanquished.
'''What's More:''' The Witch-King did absolutely nothing until the Rohirrim had ploughed through the orc batallion and done considerable damage to the Haradrim cavalry.

* Possibly the biggest ''What an Idiot'' moment from the entire series happens when Elrond leads Isildur to Mount Doom to destroy the ring. There he witnessed Isildur becoming corrupted by the ring and taking it for himself.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Elrond would shoot Isildur with a couple arrows and destroy the ring himself.\\
'''Instead:''' Elrond just calls out Isildur's name and lets him run off with the one ring.\\
'''The Result:''' The entire series.

'''Instead:''' One of the Orcs attacks the Hobbits, claiming that he just wants a nibble. He gets his head [[OffWithHisHead lopped off]], and the party decide to eat ''him'' instead.

'''The Result:''' Grima goes straight back to Saruman and reveals Théoden's plans and weaknesses, which Saruman exploits several times, nearly costing Rohan the battle of Helm's Deep.

'''Instead:''' He rebuffs Gandalf's quite sensible suggestions and rage about the fact that he'll never let Aragorn take the throne, saying that the throne of Gondor is his, and no other's. And in the film, when Pippin lights the beacon that will call Rohan to battle, at Gandalf's prompting, he gets angry with Gandalf. (Note: This is film only, in the books the beacons are already lit which makes the bit below make more sense.)\\

** Once Gandalf finally shows up to "stop this madness", Denethor grabs a torch from one of his guards and lights the pyre (in the extended edition, before doing so, he says, "You may triumph in the field of battle for a day. But against the power that is risen in the East, there ''is'' no victory.").\\

'''Instead''': Gandalf only gives a vague answer that he would only go there if he had no choice, and when Saruman blocks the other paths, he punts the decision to Frodo rather than confess to his fears. Furthermore, even in this instance, Gandalf refuses to warn them until said demon is basically on top of them. Again, not a problem in the book because Gandalf didn't know there was a Balrog; all he knew was that there was some vague danger.\\
'''For Added Stupidity:''' Up to this point, Gimli has been constantly boasting about the hospitality of the Dwarves, having no idea that they're all dead, so Gandalf's refusal to go there makes even less sense because it looks like he's actively making the Fellowship take more dangerous routes rather than go through an area controlled by allies.

Even though it is considered one of the most popular trilogies of all time, it doesn't mean there aren't any moments of stupidity.

* In a flashback, we see that Elrond accompanied Isildur to the Crack of Doom, in order to oversee the Ring's destruction. However, the Ring overpowers Isildur's mind, and he declares himself as the owner of the Ring and turns to leave.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Elrond to do everything possible to prevent Isildur leaving and to ensure the Ring is destroyed for good. He knows that leaving it intact is risking Sauron returning one day, and even if that weren't the case, it's still a dangerous weapon with power nobody should have. Isildur may be the King of Men, but if shoving him into the volcano is what is needed to save Middle Earth, then that's what needs to happen.\\
'''Instead:''' He impotently stands and yells "Isildur!" while the man strolls out, allowing the Ring to continue to exist for centuries more, until the events of the books.

* King Theoden and his forces have driven away the orcs from the White City, then an army of Haradrim shows up on their steeds, the Mumakil (basically giant war elephants).\\
'''You'd Expect''': Théoden would order his men to keep their distance from the Mumakil and shoot arrows at them or throw spears (like what Eomer does during the below "Instead") at the riders.\\
'''Instead''': He orders his men to charge the Mumakil and we're then treated to a montage of them getting trampled, tossed aside by their tusks or shot by the Haradrim.

'''Instead:''' He rebuffs Gandalf's quite sensible suggestions and rage about the fact that he'll never let Aragorn take the throne, saying that the throne of Gondor is his, and no other's. And in the film, when Pippin lights the beacon that will call Rohan to battle, at Gandalf's prompting, he gets angry with Gandalf.\\ (Note: This is film only, in the books the beacons are already lit which makes the bit below make more since)