Adorkable: Sam is a sweet-natured gardener who is endlessly supportive of his best friend and too shy to talk to the girl he likes (at least until the last film). His awkward adorableness accounts for his popularity among the fandom.
The relationship between Frodo and Sam is subject to Ho Yay interpretations just like in the books.
And just like with the books, fans debate whether Frodo was the real hero of the book or if the real hero was actually Sam, since Sam was able to resist the ring's influence despite being in close proximity to it as opposed to Frodo, who eventually did become corrupted by it, if only temporarily, after carrying it for so long. A third party argues that Sam and Frodo are both heroes and saying that either of them could have finished the quest on his own misses the point.
Saruman's line: "There are none who can (contend with the will of Sauron)." A simple boast? Or perhaps somewhat even apologetic, saying that even he couldn't contend with Sauron's will, no matter how he tried?
Did Denethor purposefully send Faramir to his death, only to be overcome with remorse when it looked like he succeeded? Or did he mean for him to complete his mission and return alive?
Aluminum Christmas Trees: "Second Breakfast" is a real thing in some European cultures, including England, which The Shire is based on. In real life, second breakfast is more of a mid-morning snack than a full meal (though given Hobbit culture, for them it probably isa full meal). "Elevenses" is real too, again more of a snack.
One aspect of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy that raised a lot of eyebrows in the film industry during production was the choice of having Howard Shore serve as composer. Before LOTR, Shore was almost exclusively known for his work in composing scores for thriller filmsnote Such as The Fly (1986), The Silence of the Lambs, and Se7en and more family-oriented movies.note Like Big and Mrs. Doubtfire He had never dabbled into scoring either the fantasy genre or in large-scale epics. On top of that, the other main contender to score the films was James Horner, who did haveexperiencein theaforementionedgenres and had recently received acclaim for composing the score of Titanic (1997), which won him the Academy Award for Best Score.note Horner wasn’t able to score the trilogy because he was committed to working on other films Many assumed that having Shore serve as composer for LOTR was a poor choice, a sign that the films were doomed to fail, not to mention an incredibly risky gamble. Needless to say, Howard Shore’s Score for the LOTR Trilogy was a massive success, garnering universal acclaim. It twice earned him the Academy Award for Best Original Score and is regarded as one of the greatest film scores in cinematic history.
Anti-Climax Boss: Saruman, despite being the main villain for two whole movies and getting a more formidable showing with his magical powers than his book counterpart. In the theatrical release he's last seen in the second film looking distraught on his balcony, as he is undone by an act of villainy whose consequences he didn't consider. He was cut entirely from the third film, with a character simply asking, "Say, should we do something about Saruman?" And Gandalf being like, "Nah, he's powerless now," and that's it.
He does appear in the extended edition, but still has an anti-climactic if somewhat Rasputinian Death: he's talking with Gandalf when he's suddenly stabbed in the back by his treacherous servant and falls a thousand feet from his tower, whereupon he is skewered on the metal spoke of a giant wheel, which rolls away into the flood waters.
Audience-Coloring Adaptation: The success of the films has dramatically colored public perception of the work, since the films put their own dramatically different spin on various themes. The number of people who read the books for the first time prior to seeing the films or knowing everything that happens therein is pretty small. The studio struggled for a while to get The Hobbit off the ground, due in part to the pressure of making it conform to the existing films and turning it into a trilogy.
In particular, many people seem to have forgotten that The Hobbit was originally a children's story and not an action-adventure tale for grown-ups. Or, for that matter, that Tolkien came up with the Middle Earth mythology merely as a hobby and only gradually worked out the details of the entire saga.
Some specific aspects that have colored perception include Frodo's age. He was played by Elijah Wood, then 18, which was appropriate seeing as Frodo, at 33, was the Hobbit equivalent to 18. The problem is the movies leave out the 17-year time gap between Gandalf's leaving the Shire and returning to tell Frodo he must leave. Frodo in the novel was 50 for most of the story, not a child; although he still looks young due to possessing the One Ring, he's considerably more mature and educated than the other hobbits.
Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers losing Best Picture to A Beautiful Mind and Chicago at the Academy Awards. Despite this, the trilogy along with the Harry Potter series is credited for upending the Sci Fi Ghettonote Some people believe that the trilogy's win for Return of the King, along with all the other awards it won, was basically a win for the series as a whole, with the Academy waiting until the full trilogy was out to fully "judge" it.
No nomination for Andy Serkis' mesmerizing work as Gollum, with his chances almost certainly being hurt by motion capture bias from the academy.
Better Than Canon: One particular aspect of the adaptation that's generally preferred by fans is the size of orcs, who are all human-high rather than smaller like in the books (to the point that even a huge orc is only almost as tall as a human). This change makes Sauron's force far more imposing, as it doesn't predominantly consist of children-sized critters.
Can't Un-Hear It: Most, if not all, of the main cast. Some notable examples:
Sean Astin's distinctive accent for Samwise Gamgee is very similar to one of the most famous (extant) audio dramatizations of the book, done by BBC Radio in the 1980s, though Astin claims he wasn't aware of the audio version. Eerily, Sam is never actually written with such an accent in the books, making it all the weirder.
Christopher Lee was born to be the voice of Saruman. He even mentions this trope during a behind the scenes featurette.
Speaking of distinctive accents, Billy Boyd's Scottish tone as Pippin, Dominic Monaghan's slight Manchester twang as Merry and John Rhys-Davies' deep, guttural Welsh-Scottish mix as Gimli (and Treebeard).
Ian McKellen as Gandalf, to the extent that the thought of re-casting him in The Hobbit was deemed unthinkable.
The Nazgûl are the Ringwraiths, not the giant dragon-like beasts they ride on in Two Towers onward. To a book reader this is obvious, as would it be to anyone who actually listened to Aragorn call them that in a single line in Fellowship, yet there were still numerous people who referred to the flying mounts as Nazgûl when the movie first came out. Part of this can be blamed on marketing, however, as in various other mediums such as toys, commercials, and video games the Nazgûl were only referred to as "Ringwraiths". Also Faramir shouting out "Nazgûl!" as the creatures fly over them at the end of Two Towers led people to believe he was just calling out the winged beast.
Peter Jackson is often mocked for turning the Eye of Sauron (supposedly originally intended as a mere metaphor) into a literal giant eye on top of Barad-dur. Not only had this been done multiple times before, some stretching back decades (there's an unproduced script by John Boorman from 1970 that makes this creative decision, for example), but the original text has a line suggesting there might actually be something that at least looks like a giant eye on top of the tower in book-canon.
Crosses the Line Twice: In The Two Towers, the Uruk ring-leader decapitates a hungry orc who tries to eat Merry and Pippin. That's quite frightening, until he yells "Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!" and the other orcs and uruks starts ripping the corpse apart within seconds.
Common complaint of the end of the third movie. It doesn't help that the screen fades out in about five places and really looks as though the film is ending there, only for it to reappear again. Slightly different cinematography may have made this a much less common complaint.
Discussed on the cast commentary track, where somebody says that the fade after "Here, at the end of all things" could be the end of the movie, albeit a very artsy and far-out ending.
Inverted for some fans of the original books, who actually claimed that the ending was too short due to the Scouring of the Shire being turned into a vision that Galadriel gives to Frodo in the first film.
Enhanced on DVD: The extended editions of all three films included better depth to the films as well as scenes that are more faithful to the book.
Figwit, an unnamed elf played by Bret McKenzie, is probably the epitome of this trope. One scene, no lines, and an entire Wiki article. He returned in specially reshot scenes for the third movie precisely because of the fandom around him, and he gets a few lines.
The Haradrim leader in Return of the King only appears in around four scenes, is unnamed, and dies relatively quickly. Yet his Large Ham, Blood Knight personality, combined with the great costuming, and how Eomer takes him out, made him a surprisingly popular character among viewers.
Ugluk, the Uruk-Hai leader in Two Towers, though this one's much more of a joke. He's often praised by the fandom for being an upstanding gentleman of an Uruk commander for respecting the chain of command (refusing to allow Mordorian Orcs to order them around), allowing his men to rest when tired, giving medicine to a sick hobbit, offering medicine to the other hobbit as well, keeping the mood light with jokes, preventing the prisoners from being harmed, and even providing meat when asked.
Evil Is Cool: Heavy amounts of appeal to the villains, with their menacing weapons and armor and imposing architecture. At its peak in the final film with Sauron's army looking badass, with huge menacing trolls in armor and giant War Elephants. Indeed, one line of complaints raised against the films was that they make the evil seem cool, instead of just scary.
Sauron's physical form may only appear in the prologue, but his badass armour and single-handed wiping out of his enemies cements him as one of the most iconic fantasy villains in cinema.
Saruman thanks to his grand speeches and epic voice, courtesy of the late Christopher Lee.
The Nazgûl, in particular the Witch-King of Angmar, for their terrifying designs and presence.
Franchise Original Sin: The things people complain about in The Hobbit trilogy like Padding, Slapstick, and Romantic Plot Tumors have their seeds here, showing up more and more as the trilogy progresses. Similarly, the awkward pacing was also very prevalent in the original theatrical cuts of both trilogies.
Genius Bonus: A little bit of extra awesome for those versed in The Silmarillion. In the scene in the extended edition where Sam tells Frodo, "There's light and beauty up there that no shadow can touch," the star he sees is no ordinary star. That's the Star of Eärendil, the Evenstar - yeah, the one Arwen was named after. We would call it Venus. In Middle-Earth, though, it's an elf (Arwen's grandfather, no less,) on a flying ship with one of the three Silmarils, which contain the light of the Two Trees; holy light that predates the sun and moon. The Star of Eärendil was the source of the light contained in Galadriel's Phial.
Genre Turning Point: Along with the Harry Potter series, the LOTR trilogy proved that fantasy films didn't have to belong to cheesy B-movie fare and could be critically and commercially successful. A literal torrent of high-budget, CGI-heavy fantasy, sci-fi and superhero blockbusters followed in the next few years, and there seems to be no end to it. This extends to television, with Game of Thrones following in its footsteps and launching a slew of its own imitators, and being (in terms of cinematic production values, Multiple Demographic Appeal and lasting pop culture impact) to the television landscape what LOTR was to the film landscape, not to mention the megabudget Amazon series trying to recapture at least some of its magic.
Dwarf-tossing being played for laughs, after Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage gave a Shout-Out to dwarf Martin Henderson, who was injured in such an event, and stirring up a controversy about similar events. It gets worse when you realize the films probably inspired such events (even more, at least).
In the 1950s, Tolkien was contacted by producers who wanted to make an animated adaptation (unconnected to Ralph Bakshi's effort, which happened after his death). He was sent a draft script to review. His response, included in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (#210), was filled with complaints that sound a lot like the ones some fans would make about the live-action trilogy, including "a preference for fights."
On the flip side, Tolkien was willing to accept changes if the financial benefits were satisfying enough - as he put it (letter #202): "Art or Cash: Either very profitable terms indeed; or absolute author's veto on objectionable features or alterations". While he greatly objected to some aspects, such as beaks and feathers on the Orcs, he actually suggested some changes that would be more acceptable. So he wasn't as unyielding as some fans can be.
Legolas riding the Uruk-hai shield like a surfboard in The Two Towers becomes a lot funnier when you learn that Tolkien originally intended for Bilbo to kill Smaug in the earliest drafts of The Hobbit. How? Bilbo would have infiltrated Smaug's lair, then stabbed him through the bare spot in his chest with Sting (which went so deep it vanished completely), and then ride a golden bowl like a surfboard on the massive amount of blood pouring out of Smaug's belly before triumphantly exiting the mountain.
Peter Jackson joking about giving Treebeard his own spin-off detective show in the commentary ("He solves crimes!... Very slowly".) Then in The Hobbit trilogy Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch from Sherlock were both cast. So alternate universe Bilbo and Smaug have three seasons of a detective show!
That infamous Nazgûl scream now sounds a bit like 4chan's REEEEEEE meme.
Galadriel's big speech about what would happen if she took control of the ring, since she's played by Cate Blanchett. Cate stars in Thor: Ragnarok as Hela - a death goddess who is indeed as "terrible as the dawn" and it takes a literal apocalypse to stop her.
Even better knowing that Arwen and Tauriel went on to become heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Liv Tyler as Betty Ross in The Incredible Hulk (2008) and Evangeline Lilly as The Wasp in Ant-Man and the Wasp. It would seem that many Middle Earth elves are destined to become a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they will only stay on the side of good if they had an on-screen Love Interest during these films or its prequel trilogy.
Hiroshi Yanaka, Japanese dub actor for Lord Celeborn, would go on to voice white-haired elven prince Nuada in Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
In 2019, the first image of a black hole was released. It looked a great deal like the Eye of Sauron.
Ho Yay: Kind of inevitable given the gender ratio of the main cast.
Frodo and Sam, as usual. Actor Ian McKellen, who is gay, was interested in the close relationship between the two characters. He noted the attention to detail in the pair's close relationship from page to screen, such as when Sam grabs Frodo's hand after he awakens from unconsciousness. In fact, both pairs of hobbits can reasonably be called Heterosexual Life-Partners. It's worth noting that Sam is ironically the only hobbit to show interest in any specific woman in the films. In this regard, Merry and Pippin might be closer to this trope than Frodo and Sam. This is pushed up to eleven in the DVD cast commentaries for the three films (but especially The Two Towers), where all four hobbit actors play with this trope at one point or another.
The cast commentary even provided some for the actors. Sir Ian rather comes off as if he has a little crush on Elijah Wood. Everyone else sounds like they've got a crush on Sir Ian.
Aragorn/Legolas also get a lot of this. Actually, Aragorn/anyone do. Viggo kind of encourages it.
It really doesn't help that some scenes with just Aragorn and Legolas together (like after the battle of Helm's Deep) were originally supposed to be romantic scenes of Aragorn and Arwen.
And not only Legolas. Viggo kissed Billy Boyd offscreen. Really
Improved by the Re-Cut: All of the films in the trilogy have extended cuts, and all are considered even better than their already-praised theatrical cuts, with scenes added to expand the world-building or even explain major moments, such as the death of Saruman, which were not present in the theatrical cuts.
A lot of fans cheer for Éowyn because, unlike Arwen, she's an Action Girl who gets a lot ofaction and fighting, while Arwen does no fighting and her arc mainly revolves around her love for Aragorn. Modern fans tend to miss that Tolkien chose to write strong heroines whose dreams are portrayed as equally valid to one another, as well as that Arwen's choice is a difficult one and entirely her own and no less right than Éowyn's choice to fight (and they sometimes forget Éowyn retires from war once it's over and happily settles with Faramir). Also, they tend to not realize that Tolkien was heavily anti-war, and that Éowyn's fighting, and indeed the entire war, was meant to be seen in a negative, What a Senseless Waste of Human Life kind of way. There's a list of the major and minor dead after every large battle. Not to mention that Éowyn is a Death Seeker who is not fighting to show she's as strong as the guys, but to die in battle due to her severe depression.
Theoden's line, "You have no power here!" has become a memetic way to mock someone's real or perceived powerlessness, ignoring what happened next in the movie.
Many lines were perfectly fine originally, but have become Narm due to Memetic Mutation. One does not simply walk into Narm Charm.
They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard! note This is a bit of an odd one as the line was perfectly fine in the book, but then the film failed to make clear that there was some question of whether the orcs were going to Isengard or Mordor, making it seem like just another one of Legolas's Captain Obvious moments. And then someone went and made a techno-remix using the line which became an internet meme for the ages.
Just about every bonding scene between the Hobbits, Frodo and Sam, rely on the film earning audience respect for them beforehand.
Gollum again.
Boromir's anguished rant at no one in particular in Fellowship of the Ring, punctuated by falling into a pile of leaves. In any other film, utterly ridiculous. But Boromir's Tragic Hero status and Sean Bean's acting sell the hell out of it, and it's a near-Tear Jerker.
Never Live It Down: While more of a Base-Breaking Character than a scrappy, Frodo is often accused and criticized for doing nothing but get his ass saved from the trouble he's in and abusing poor Sam. Many, however, tend to forget that he chose to bear the weight of the One Ring which is physically and mentally wearing him down throughout the entire trilogy, and that said "abuse" is due to the Ring warping his mind and he often shows remorse for it. The results would no doubt be the same if another person were to take up the task (in fact, it's doubtful if many others could last as long as he did).
CombiningWarrior Prince Éomer with Erkenbrand, the Rohan captain who leads The Cavalry at Helm's Deep (actually infantry) in the books, was first done in the Ralph Bakshi film.
Making the Eye of Sauron a literal Eye like a lighthouse had been done years before, perhaps most notably in the Rankin/Bass animated version of The Return of the King.
Figwit, aka "Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?", a random elf that got a sudden fanbase.
Sauron in his physical form in the prologue.
The Mouth of Sauron in the Return of the King Extended Edition.
The Easterlings in the Two Towers. In an army comprised mostly of ragged orcs, these highly disciplined, heavily armored human warriors marching to aid Sauron would certainly stand out. Unfortunately, after the scene of them marching into Mordor, they are never seen again.
Some older LotR fans objected to Elijah Wood being cast as Frodo, as they believed that he looked too childlike. However, it can be justified, as the book specifically points out that the Ring (which he acquired just as he came of age) stopped Frodo's aging. The timeline is different to the book anyway. Frodo is 33 (the cusp of adulthood for a Hobbit) at Bilbo's party. In the book, seventeen years pass before he sets out on the adventure; the film is a bit vague but certainly implies that Frodo sets off far sooner, possibly as little as a few days later. Also, contrary to popular belief, Hobbits mature at the same rate as humans. The 33 thing was college professor Tolkien's droll way of commenting that Hobbits, as a sensible folk, didn't consider young people in their "irresponsible tweens" adults.
Sacred Cow: Not only are these movies considered amazing adaptations, but also downright legendary on their own, often held as one of the film medium's crowning achievements. While criticising certain aspects of the movies is acceptable, if you call the movies bad, overrated, or claim that they "aged poorly", the fans will tear you a new one.
Signature Line: Gandalf's "YOOOOOOUU! SHAAAALL NOT! PAAAAAAAASS!" is arguably the most remembered and most often quoted line out of the trilogy. Even if he only said it a couple times in one scene in the first movie.
Frodo and Sam parting ways at the end of the series.
Special Effect Failure: For films from the early 2000s, they hold up. But as screen resolutions get higher and higher, more defects start to show. These start to pop up to the trained eye after repeated viewings:
In the shot during the prologue where Isildur puts on the One Ring to try to escape from attacking orcs, he is quite obviously composited over footage of the fight happening in the background.
In the aerial shot where the ring is destroyed and the ground under the orcs surrounding the good guys is collapsing, the dust is obviously swirling on a plate behind the little CGI orcs, as it doesn't pass in front of them.
The montage of the Minas Tirth warning beacons being lit. Yes, it's a climactic moment in the film and the music and sweeping landscapes were breathtaking, but the fire effects were on the whole poorly done, with the Minas Tirith and Amon Din beacons being engulfed within five seconds with an obvious flame superimposed over the wood stacks, which just as obviously aren't burning at all. Plus, most of the montage has beacons alighting atop the very narrow peaks of towering, snow-covered and wind-blasted mountains (a task that would redefine being Reassigned to Antarctica), with nobody shown to be lighting them even in shots where the beacon is close enough to the screen where such details should be seen.
In fight scenes, it's quite common for people being "stabbed" to actually have the sword tucked under their arm, which is one of, if not the oldest tricks in the moviemaking book. It's always in the background of shots, but once you start to notice...
When Aragorn and Frodo are on the Collapsing Stairs of Khazad-Dum, it is... rather obvious that they are in front of a green screen, with a fan blowing at their hair. (Understandably, since they couldn't possibly be filmed on an actual collapsing 500-ton staircase...) This was a very rare case of a failure that was quite easily visible on first viewing.
Another obvious green screen: when Saruman descends the stairs at Orthanc the first time he's seen.
When the Fellowship is running from the Orc army in Moria, there is a scene just after their escape from Balin's Mausoleum where the tiny, running figures are clearly CGI characters rather than the actors themselves. If you look at them, rather than the Orcs gathering around them, you can see their legs aren't bending as they run, and their heads are swiveling evenly, as if they were all made of Lego.
Some of the methods used to depict the height differences between the main characters are more easily noticeable than others. In particular the very cheap method of rarely showing their faces at the same time, so you see Elijah Wood and the back of a seven foot tall scale double dressed as Gandalf; then the camera cuts to a different angle and you see Ian Mckellen talking to a four-foot-tall scale double dressed as Frodo. Once it's pointed out to you that the character with their back to the camera isn't the same person who plays them when facing the camera, it becomes very hard not to notice the wigs and body proportion differences between cuts.
The Two Towers is hit the worst with this. While Gollum looks good, he is often poorly composited against the ground he is on, particularly during the final scene or when he is curled up after Faramir’s rangers beat him.
During Theoden’s epic charge at the end of the Battle of Helm’s Deep, take a closer look at the bridge and the mountains around the horses, and you will see graphics out of an early 2000s video game, with visible pixels on the bridge. There are also moments when the horses are very obviously clipping through the CGI Uruks, and their riders are slashing at thin air because they can't see what they're swinging at. Considering this is the only place anywhere in the movies with special effects this poor, it’s possible that this was just missed before it could be finished.
Tough Act to Follow: Just about every future adaptation of Tolkien's works (and the prior ones, for that matter, due to the surge in interest in them after the fact) has had to be compared to the Jackson films, which is rather unfortunate when they got a lot right. Not only do they deal with the most widely-acclaimed of Tolkien's works, but they also managed to execute most of the scenes, ideas, characters, and iconography in those works so authentically that for many people, those things simply arewhat they look like. Consequently, a large number of the critiques for other Tolkien adaptations involves direct comparison to the Jackson films in some way, whether in terms of casting, design and prop work, deviation from the source material, or simple overall quality. It notoriously happened with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power which, while having qualities of their own, don't come close to the universal acclaim the first Jackson trilogy got.
Notably lessened as allusions to Aragorn's inherently "more noble" or "kingly" status and bearing are greatly reduced in the movies. The book also gives a sense of great destiny looming over him since birth, most explicit in the "Tale of Aragorn and Arwen" in the Appendices. Aragorn's characterization is inverted as he has a personal reluctance to be king and fulfill his destiny, instead of quietly working towards it both as part and parcel of opposing Sauron and as an Engagement Challenge. There are really two issues here:
While the book's account is steeped in classic mythological motifs and Aragorn starts off as the King IncognitoHero of Another Story entering Frodo's, Peter Jackson's theories of "character growth" were at work here, as he felt that seeing Aragorn go from "zero to hero", so to speak, would be more realistic and acceptable to modern audiences.
In the book's backstory, Aragorn's kingly status was explicitly magical, as mythology was wont to do; he's descended from the Men of Númenor, the setting's version of Atlantis, and the Númenoreans/Atlanteans were divinely-blessed supermen compared to other humans - the "Kings of Men" (manifesting in attributes like height, strength, and some degree of vague psychic powers like foresight, and also cultural development), and the Númenorean royalty were superior even to other Númenoreans. Aragorn ascending to the throne is meant to be a (partial) restoration of Númenorean glory. Though the book's backstory and The Silmarillion elaborates that the Númenoreans and their descendants/remnants the Dúnedain (Gondor etc.) were/are just as susceptible to falling into evil as other Men, and in fact the majority of Númenoreans became corrupted by Sauron into a tyrannical Master Race lording over lesser Men and ultimately got their island sunk by divine intervention, the very notion of having inherently "better" or "superior" humans is just glossed over in the movies, and instead Aragorn and Elrond emphasize the "weakness" of Men. It's still present in Gandalf's speech to Pippin in Return of the King (given lines that were spoken by Denethor in throes of madness in the book), how the rule being given to "lesser men" (i.e. non-royal Númenoreans) caused Gondor to fall to ruin. This change also results in Aragorn's fellow Dúnedain of the North cut from the movies which thus give the impression he is the very Last of His Kind. Since they are Aragorn's kin, they are all also superhuman.
This downplaying of any concept of "superior" status also affects Frodo and Sam's class-based relationship as master and servant, as while Sam remains Frodo's gardener, the movies emphasize them being friendly neighbors who become comrades instead of a master-servant pair who become comrades, to the point that Tolkien compared Sam to men serving under officers and particularly the officers' personal assistants or "batmen" in World War I; he himself had been an officer and said that these batmen and privates were better men than himself.
Frodo. Perhaps overly so, as a common criticism of the character (or at least Elijah Wood's portrayal thereof) is how he spends basically the entire trilogy with a pained expression on his face.
Treebeard. He witnesses Saruman- who once appreciated the trees- turn to evil, and loses several beloved tree friends that he knew since they were "nut and acorn" to Saruman and the orcs.
, Andy Serkis as Gollum.
