Countdown: The Top 11 Dumbest Moments in The Lord of the Rings films
- Those Eagles Who Could've Stopped Everything (The Eagles' neglected chance to save the world from the start.)
- Sara-who? (Saruman's absence in the theatrical cut of Return of the King.)
- The homoerotic undertones of Frodo and Sam's relationship — specifically, according to the Critic,
as a detriment to showing their strong friendship. - "Arwen's life is now tied to the fate of the Ring." (The ring's connection to Arwen's fate [and, by extension, her reduced role in the later films].)
- "I'm Not Dead!" (Constant death fake outs.)
- Denethor (John Noble's over-the-top performance of Denethor, and by extension, his Adaptational Villainy into a not-so sympathetic character.)
- Those Close-Up Shots (Pointless wide-angle close-up shots, specifically in the first movie.)
- Legolas's Perfect Moments (Legolas's lack of weakness and frequent show-off moments.)
- Gimli's Idiot Moments (Gimli's reduction to comic relief.)
- The numerous false endings in Return of the King.
- Just Letting Gandalf Die (The Fellowship letting Gandalf fall down an abyss in the first film without any real justification.)
Tropes present:
- Adaptational Comic Relief: The Critic doesn't like how this happened to Gimli.
- Badass Decay: The Critic states that this happened to Arwen after being written out of the story via her "life [being] tied to the fate of the Ring."
- Ending Fatigue: In regards to the ending of The Return of the King.
- God-Mode Sue: What the Critic thinks Legolas became over the course of the movies.
- Like You Would Really Do It: Discussed by the Critic in #5.
- Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading: The Critic's problem with Sam and Frodo's relationship. "If Frodo and Sam were actually gay in the story, I wouldn't care...The intention was not to show The Power of Love; it was meant to show The Power of Friendship. Having a friendship and being in love are two very different things." To the Critic, it was obvious that Tolkien's intention was to show the friendship aspect more.
- Marty Stu: The Critic considers Legolas to have become one over the course of the movies.
- Not That There's Anything Wrong with That: What his "if they were actually gay that'd be cool" comments about Frodo/Sam comes off as, right before he makes not-impressed faces about lines that were in the book.
- Running Gag: The skits with Legolas solving everyone's problems by shooting an arrow with the Ring tied to it at Mount Doom, destroying it instantly.
