The Lord of the Rings trilogy

[Ftxavanga Txe′lan]

Hm.. Very difficult question. 0_0 I think I'd have to say the last one, in front of the Black Gate! Just because it was fought only with the aim of giving time to Frodo. :3 I also love the way Merry and Pippin are the two first to start running, it's wonderful!

[Tsäroltxe te Eyrutì Tantse'itan]

Hm.. Very difficult question. 0_0 I think I'd have to say the last one, in front of the Black Gate! Just because it was fought only with the aim of giving time to Frodo. :3 I also love the way Merry and Pippin are the two first to start running, it's wonderful!

Oh yes!  That one is epic!

I also have to say Pelennor Fields, just because it is sooooo long and awesome.

[Alyara Arati]

Now to revive this:  What is everyone's favourite battle out of the three films?

Mine would have to be the Battle for Helm's Deep.  Legolas stair-surfing is so cool.  But I really like the book version better.  Ha ha, the huorns got you!

Also, since I come late to this thread, Tolkien Rules Forever!

[Amaya]

My favourite battle isn't even in the movies

I love the battle of the Shire

[Lance R. Casey]

I think I'd have to say the last one, in front of the Black Gate! Just because it was fought only with the aim of giving time to Frodo. :3 I also love the way Merry and Pippin are the two first to start running, it's wonderful!

I'll turn this around and go for the first one, in the prologue (which as a whole was a stroke of genius). After Galadriel's haunting narration starting with the words

   I Amar prestar aen.
   Han mathon ne nen,
   han mathon ne chae
   a han noston ned 'wilith

we were treated to an astounding sequence of the Last Alliance's assault on Mordor, where Elendil met his end. Being the first real action sequence of the first film, it had incredible detail and depth, and set the bar for everything that was to follow. And Sauron was menacing.

I'd also like to draw attention to a specific point in another battle, namely that of the Pelennor Fields:

It was even as the day thus began to turn against Gondor and their hope wavered that a new cry went up in the City, it being then midmorning, and a great wind blowing, and the rain flying north, and the sun shining. In that clear air watchmen on the walls saw afar a new sight of fear, and their last hope left them.

For Anduin, from the bend at the Harlond, so flowed that from the City men could look down it lengthwise for some leagues, and the far-sighted could see any ships that approached. And looking thither they cried in dismay; for black against the glittering stream they beheld a fleet borne up on the wind: dromunds, and ships of great draught with many oars, and with black sails bellying in the breeze.

'The Corsairs of Umbar!' men shouted. 'The Corsairs of Umbar! Look! The Corsairs of Umbar are coming! So Belfalas is taken, and the Ethir, and Lebennin is gone. The Corsairs are upon us! It is the last stroke of doom!'

[...]

Stern now was Éomer's mood, and his mind clear again. He let blow the horns to rally all men to his banner that could come thither; for he thought to make a great shield-wall at the last, and stand, and fight there on foot till all fell, and do deeds of song on the fields of Pelennor, though no man should be left in the West to remember the last King of the Mark. So he rode to a green hillock and there set his banner, and the White Horse ran rippling in the wind.

   Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising
   I came singing in the sun, sword unsheathing.
   To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking:
   Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!

These staves he spoke, yet he laughed as he said them. For once more lust of battle was on him; and he was still unscathed, and he was young, and he was king: the lord of a fell people. And lo! even as he laughed at despair he looked out again on the black ships, and he lifted up his sword to defy them.

And then wonder took him, and a great joy; and he cast his sword up in the sunlight and sang as he caught it. And all eyes followed his gaze, and behold! upon the foremost ship a great standard broke, and the wind displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered a White Tree, and that was for Gondor; but Seven Stars were about it, and a high crown above it, the signs of Elendil that no lord had borne for years beyond count. And the stars flamed in the sunlight, for they were wrought of gems by Arwen daughter of Elrond; and the crown was bright in the morning, for it was wrought of mithril and gold.

Thus came Aragorn son of Arathorn, Elessar, Isildur's heir, out of the Paths of the Dead, borne upon a wind from the Sea to the kingdom of Gondor; and the mirth of the Rohirrim was a torrent of laughter and a flashing of swords, and the joy and wonder of the City was a music of trumpets and a ringing of bells. But the hosts of Mordor were seized with bewilderment, and a great wizardry it seemed to them that their own ships should be filled with their foes; and a black dread fell on them, knowing that the tides of fate had turned against them and their doom was at hand.

This, the quintessential Return of the King, is a definite high-point. I only deplore that it was not included as such in the movie, for I believe it would have been a glorious moment on screen. Imagine Éomer's utter despair at the black sails turning into astonishment, and the camera panning up the prow of the lead ship breaking a wave as the music swells; the ancient royal banner of Gondor unfurled by the wind, and Aragorn Elessar standing proud and grim beneath it with Gimli and Legolas at his sides...

Oh well.

[Sіr. Ηaxalot]

"my foot hair is tingling!"..... what?

[Tsäroltxe te Eyrutì Tantse'itan]

I think I'd have to say the last one, in front of the Black Gate! Just because it was fought only with the aim of giving time to Frodo. :3 I also love the way Merry and Pippin are the two first to start running, it's wonderful!

I'll turn this around and go for the first one, in the prologue (which as a whole was a stroke of genius). After Galadriel's haunting narration starting with the words

   I Amar prestar aen.
   Han mathon ne nen,
   han mathon ne chae
   a han noston ned 'wilith

we were treated to an astounding sequence of the Last Alliance's assault on Mordor, where Elendil met his end. Being the first real action sequence of the first film, it had incredible detail and depth, and set the bar for everything that was to follow. And Sauron was menacing.

I'd also like to draw attention to a specific point in another battle, namely that of the Pelennor Fields:

It was even as the day thus began to turn against Gondor and their hope wavered that a new cry went up in the City, it being then midmorning, and a great wind blowing, and the rain flying north, and the sun shining. In that clear air watchmen on the walls saw afar a new sight of fear, and their last hope left them.

For Anduin, from the bend at the Harlond, so flowed that from the City men could look down it lengthwise for some leagues, and the far-sighted could see any ships that approached. And looking thither they cried in dismay; for black against the glittering stream they beheld a fleet borne up on the wind: dromunds, and ships of great draught with many oars, and with black sails bellying in the breeze.

'The Corsairs of Umbar!' men shouted. 'The Corsairs of Umbar! Look! The Corsairs of Umbar are coming! So Belfalas is taken, and the Ethir, and Lebennin is gone. The Corsairs are upon us! It is the last stroke of doom!'

[...]

Stern now was Éomer's mood, and his mind clear again. He let blow the horns to rally all men to his banner that could come thither; for he thought to make a great shield-wall at the last, and stand, and fight there on foot till all fell, and do deeds of song on the fields of Pelennor, though no man should be left in the West to remember the last King of the Mark. So he rode to a green hillock and there set his banner, and the White Horse ran rippling in the wind.

   Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising
   I came singing in the sun, sword unsheathing.
   To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking:
   Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!

These staves he spoke, yet he laughed as he said them. For once more lust of battle was on him; and he was still unscathed, and he was young, and he was king: the lord of a fell people. And lo! even as he laughed at despair he looked out again on the black ships, and he lifted up his sword to defy them.

And then wonder took him, and a great joy; and he cast his sword up in the sunlight and sang as he caught it. And all eyes followed his gaze, and behold! upon the foremost ship a great standard broke, and the wind displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered a White Tree, and that was for Gondor; but Seven Stars were about it, and a high crown above it, the signs of Elendil that no lord had borne for years beyond count. And the stars flamed in the sunlight, for they were wrought of gems by Arwen daughter of Elrond; and the crown was bright in the morning, for it was wrought of mithril and gold.

Thus came Aragorn son of Arathorn, Elessar, Isildur's heir, out of the Paths of the Dead, borne upon a wind from the Sea to the kingdom of Gondor; and the mirth of the Rohirrim was a torrent of laughter and a flashing of swords, and the joy and wonder of the City was a music of trumpets and a ringing of bells. But the hosts of Mordor were seized with bewilderment, and a great wizardry it seemed to them that their own ships should be filled with their foes; and a black dread fell on them, knowing that the tides of fate had turned against them and their doom was at hand.

This, the quintessential Return of the King, is a definite high-point. I only deplore that it was not included as such in the movie, for I believe it would have been a glorious moment on screen. Imagine Éomer's utter despair at the black sails turning into astonishment, and the camera panning up the prow of the lead ship breaking a wave as the music swells; the ancient royal banner of Gondor unfurled by the wind, and Aragorn Elessar standing proud and grim beneath it with Gimli and Legolas at his sides...

Oh well.

Hmm..that would've been really awesome!

I agree, Sauron and his big mace were pretty menacing at the beginning.

[Ftxavanga Txe′lan]

Now to revive this:  What is everyone's favourite battle out of the three films?

Mine would have to be the Battle for Helm's Deep.  Legolas stair-surfing is so cool.  But I really like the book version better.  Ha ha, the huorns got you!

Also, since I come late to this thread, Tolkien Rules Forever!

Oh my god, definitely! And I agree.. The stair-surfing is epic! Seems like there's nothing Legolas can't do. :3

I think I'd have to say the last one, in front of the Black Gate! Just because it was fought only with the aim of giving time to Frodo. :3 I also love the way Merry and Pippin are the two first to start running, it's wonderful!

I'll turn this around and go for the first one, in the prologue (which as a whole was a stroke of genius). After Galadriel's haunting narration starting with the words

   I Amar prestar aen.
   Han mathon ne nen,
   han mathon ne chae
   a han noston ned 'wilith

we were treated to an astounding sequence of the Last Alliance's assault on Mordor, where Elendil met his end. Being the first real action sequence of the first film, it had incredible detail and depth, and set the bar for everything that was to follow. And Sauron was menacing.

TRUE. The battle of the Last Alliance is indeed wonderfully powerful.. Don't know how I could forget it!

[Alyara Arati]

HRH I like that! It would be interesting to taste lembas! Or to actually have any such food that can give you energy for hours in one bite. :3

I think I'd go for the Ent drafts (although I'm happy enough with my height).  There's just something about Treebeard and Fangorn forest in general that I love.  Hoom hom.

[Lance R. Casey]

This is both necro and almost entirely off topic, but I just can't resist posting today's C&H:


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net