Film analysis: 'LOTR: The Return of the King' (2003)

This analysis of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2003) will consider how the screenplay's five plot points create the story's deep structure. These discrete story points include the 'Inciting Incident' in Act 1, 'Turning Points 1 and 2' in Act 2, and the 'Crisis Decision' and 'Climax' in Act 3. Spoiler alert: this structural analysis will reveal crucial plot moments; you may prefer to read this after viewing the film. For actors' names I refer you to the analysis of 'The Fellowship of the Ring'.

This movie's back story is a follow-on from the events of Books 1 and 2. Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, having set out from Helm's Deep, arrive on horseback at the ruins of Isengard, where they find Merry and Pippin savoring a day of rest after accompanying the Ents in their siege of Saruman's stronghold.

In this movie two plot-lines see each of the five plot points mentioned above. The two plot-lines are Frodo/Sam and the alliance forces that gather at Minas Tirith.

The Inciting Incident in the Frodo/Sam plot-line occurs when Smeagol (Gollum) speaks to his vicious alter-ego in his reflection in the pond, who divulges his plan to let the spider in the cave near Mordor kill the hobbits, so he can get back his 'precious', the ring. The Inciting Incident in the Minas Tirith plot-line sees Pippin use the 'palantia' to see Mordor, which also enables Sauron to see him'. Gandalf rescues him at the last second and questions Pippin, who had seen Mordor's forces gathering near Minas Tirith. Gandalf says they must warn Minas Tirith, and he sends Aragorn to gather other human forces to join in that city's defense. Thus is the action of this third part of the story unleashed.

Turning Point 1. Frodo/Sam plot-line: Frodo, Sam and Gollum have arrived at the long stairs cut into the side of the sheer cliff-face leading up to the plateau that surrounds Mount Doom at the center of Mordor. The stairs are also adjacent to the large portcullis leading to Minas Morgul, where Sauron's forces have been gathered. Frodo wants to enter by that route to get directly to Mount Doom, so strong is the quest in his mind. Sam and Gollum pull him away from certain death, and bring him to the stairs, which the begin to climb. Minas Tirith plotline: Gandalf is with Pippin at a stronghold on the frontier, and assigns the hobbit the task of stealing up behind the guards to light the signal fire there. Pippin succeeds, and the signal will now eventually be visible to Rohan, asking them to come to assist in Minas Tirith's defense.

A movie's Midpoint usually provides the story with a coherence and symmetry that the audience feels unconsciously, and for this reason is important structurally. Frodo/Sam plotline: Gollum steals lembas bread from Sam's pack and throws it away, to incite Sam to speak against him, which he hopes will divide Sam from Frodo. It works as predicted, and Frodo asks Sam to stay behind. Sam is devastated by this final rupture in their friendship. Minas Tirith plot-line: the weak and cowardly king at Minas Tirith, Denethor (John Noble), sends his dutiful son, Faramir (David Wenham), back to certain death to defend Osgiliath.

Turning Point 2. Frodo/Sam plot-line: Frodo is too weakened by the climb to fight the spider in the cave. Despairing, he runs from the spider and hides. Galadriel speaks to him from Lothlorien, in a vision. She repeats her earlier injunction: "This task has been appointed to you, Frodo of the Shire. If you do not fulfill it, no one will." Frodo sees his duty, knows his oath, and turns back to face the spider. He falls, and the enormous spider spins a cocoon round the hobbit, and leaves him in the cave. Minas Tirith plot-line: the siege of Minas Tirith is fully under way, with Orc/Urukhai forces pouring across the defenses. Gandalf and Pippin catch a moment together behind a locked door, and Pippin asks Gandalf of what follows death. Gandalf speaks of the 'white city of joy', and describes it. Pippin is greatly cheered, and replies, "Well, that's not so bad, is it?" Gandalf smiles, and agrees.

Act 3's Crisis Decision. Frodo/Sam plot-line: Sam followed Frodo, after Frodo was carried away by Orcs and taken to their lookout post near Mount Doom. He and Frodo battle their way out of the post, and are now crossing the last smoking, sulfurous marshland surrounding Mount Doom. Frodo is sincerely grateful for Sam's loyalty, and comments that there'll be no lembas for their return journey. Sam replies, half-smiling, "I don't think there'll be a return journey, Master Frodo." They both have come to accept that the quest will kill them, but know they must see it through to the finish. There truly is no turning back. Minas Tirith plot-line: Gandalf despairs as he sees Minas Tirith's imminent fall, and says: "I sent Frodo to his death, for nothing." Aragorn replies that what they need, hoping against hope, and to give Frodo the extra time to destroy the ring, is a diversion.

Act 3's Climax. Frodo/Sam plot-line: Frodo is fully seduced by the odious power of the one ring, and standing on the lip of the abyss within Mount Doom, he claims it for himself, as had Isildur so many years before. Gollum sees Frodo's lust to possess the 'precious', and have for himself the ring's power, and rushes him. Frodo slips the ring on his finger, turns invisible, and they struggle, oblivious to the edge of the abyss just inches away. Gollum bites off Frodo's finger and slips the ring on his own finger, and capers at the edge, slips, and falls into the abyss. Frodo reaches after him, horrified at the loss of the ring, and nearly falls himself, hanging by one hand to the edge. The ring dissolves in the fiery lava of the pit, and as the sound of Sauron's shrieks rend the sky, Sam comes to the edge and hauls Frodo to safety. Minas Tirith plot-line: everyone believes the quest has failed, and that the ring-bearer and his friend are dead. As a last defiant gesture against utter tyranny Aragorn surges out in front of the alliance army of the city's defenders, among Rohirrim, elves, dwarfs, and hobbits, and turns back, holding his sword into the sky before the Orc onslaught, and shouts: "For Frodo!" and the good Aragorn charges forward. As the alliance forces hurtle forward after him, the sound of Sauron's shriek reaches a new height, as the certain knowledge instantly reaches him that the one ring has been destroyed.

The Orc and Urukhai forces' strength which comes from Sauron's dark arts is suddenly rent, and the Dark Lord's forces begin imploding and shrinking in on themselves, and falling into gaping holes that open up in the earth around the formerly-surrounded, shrunken cell of alliance forces. Sauron's army disintegrates as it falls to its doom, even as they turn and try to flee.

This third movie in the series has an extensive Slow Curtain sequence, as follows: Frodo and Sam are rescued from the overflowing river of lava around Mount Doom following the destruction of the ring; Frodo awakes to a joyous reunion with the surviving members of the Fellowship; the hobbits are honored at Aragorn's marriage to Arwen (Liv Tyler); the hobbits return to the Shire; Frodo surprises the other hobbits with his decision to accompany the Elves to their ancestral home, in a different world from this; and Sam settles down to a long life of domestic peace with his new wife in the Shire.

The world of Middle Earth is again at peace, at long last.

It is difficult not to see the 3-part narrative arc of 'The Lord of the Rings' as an allegory on the modern world's struggle with radical Islamists and those who collude with them, the radical Left. The reluctance of the residents of the Shire to get involved in the gathering storm of evil facing Middle Earth, almost until it's too late, resonates with the reluctance of democratic states to confront the gathering storm of evil in our own world. Sauron's demented lust for power was concealed by an ideology that professed to be bringing peace to Middle Earth through the power of the one 'ring'. We face similar delusions - that the Islamists can be talked out of their seemingly implausible goal of global dominion. Meanwhile the 'Wormtongues' of the Left do everything in their power to subvert our willingness and capacity to resist, or even to recognize that any struggle exists against which resistance is required.

Art, especially literary art, almost always has an allegorical element. 'The Lord of the Rings' series was certainly no exception.

Film analysis: 'LOTR: The Two Towers' (2002)

This analysis of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' (2002) will consider how the screenplay's five plot points create the story's deep structure. These discrete story points include the 'Inciting Incident' in Act 1, 'Turning Points 1 and 2' in Act 2, and the 'Crisis Decision' and 'Climax' in Act 3. Spoiler alert: this structural analysis will reveal crucial plot moments; you may prefer to read this after viewing the film. For actors' names I refer you to the analysis of 'The Fellowship of the Ring'.

This movie's back story is a follow-on from 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. There are two primary plot-lines in 'The Two Towers': 1) Frodo and Sam, and 2) the Aragorn/ Legolas/Gimli plot-line. Five story plot points, as mentioned above, appear in each plot-line, and will be outlined in this analysis.

Inciting Incident. Drawn from the events of Book 1. The abduction of Merry and Pippin by Sauron's forces (in the belief that one of them is the Halfling ring-bearer), is the central Inciting Incident. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli have taken up the pursuit in an attempt to rescue their two hobbit comrades. Meanwhile, a second Inciting Incident is Frodo and Sam's having struck off on their own to fulfill the Fellowship's quest: to reach Mordor and Mount Doom to destroy the ring.

Turning Point 1. The Frodo/Sam plotline: Frodo, Sam, and Gollum cross the marsh, where Gollum saves Frodo from the lights' given off by fallen warriors who are held in the marsh by the power of Mordor. Aragorn/Legolas/Gimli plot-line: Gandalf the White, having returned now to his friends after falling into the chasm and subduing the Balrog, now frees King Theoden (Bernard Hill) of Edoras from Saruman's sorcery.

A movie's Midpoint usually provides the story with a coherence and symmetry that the audience feels unconsciously, and for this reason is important structurally. The Frodo/Sam plot-line's Midpoint occurs when Frodo defends Gollum against Sam's baiting. Frodo sympathizes with Gollum's addiction to the ring, showing Frodo to be imperceptibly passing over from the Fellowship's cause to the ring's side. The A/L/G plot-line's Midpoint occurs when Aragorn falls while fighting the Orcs/Urukhai, and left for dead.

Turning Point 2. Frodo and Sam plot-line: Frodo turns Gollum over to Faramir (David Wenham), of Minas Tirith, to protect him from being shot with an arrow. The A/L/G plotline: Aragorn rides into Helm's Deep, where the inhabitants of Edoras have retreated to; a great welcoming and homecoming ensues.

The Frodo/Sam plot-line Crisis Decision/Climax sees Frodo confront the nazgul at Osgiliath, where he is injured and escapes only by putting on the ring. Sam speaks up in Frodo's defense to Faramir, who now understands, and is astounded by the horrific burden the two Halflings labor under. He honors their courage and sacrifice, and releases them. The A/L/G plotline Crisis Decision/Climax sees Theoden at Helm's Deep, despairing over the inexhaustible horde of Mordor's forces sent against them. He says bitterly, "How can any one defend against such reckless hate!" Aragorn sees the truth in this, yet will not yield, and says to Theoden: "Ride out with me!" (let us meet hate head on). Perhaps somewhat implausibly, at this juncture Gandalf the White arrives on a distant hillside, accompanied by the forces of the Rohirrim, and the tide of battle shifts.

A third plot-line woven into through this second Book was Merry and Pippin's escape from their Orc captors, and meeting with the Ents. The two hobbits had tried to convince the Entfolk to join in the attack on Isengard, yet the Ents only joined battle when they saw the horrific devastation Saruman had visited upon the forests surrounding his stronghold.

The story's primary reversal (to a new stasis) sees the friendship between Frodo and Sam restored, after Sam's defense of Frodo. Yet this also suggests that Frodo will again be drawn by the ring's power, and see a rupture in his friendship with Sam. The new stasis in human affairs sees Helm's Deep saved, and Saruman and Sauron's forces held off, in part because the alliance held, so that humans and elves, and the forces of Rohan and Edoras, each fought side by side. Yet this was also due to the luck of Gandalf's timely arrival at Helm's Deep, which the alliance won't have the benefit of in the final conflict.

Movie analysis: 'LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring' (2001)

This analysis of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' (2001), will consider how the screenplay's five plot points create the story's deep structure. These discrete story points include the 'Inciting Incident' in Act 1, 'Turning Points 1 and 2' in Act 2, and the 'Crisis Decision' and 'Climax' in Act 3. Spoiler alert: this structural analysis will reveal crucial plot moments; you may prefer to read this after viewing the film.

This movie was of course an adaptation of the well-known J.R.R. Tolkien classic of the same name. The film's back story is as follows: at the ancient struggle over the Elf-fashioned ring', the one ring that bound and held the power of the original nine rings, the human warrior chieftain, Isildur (Harry Sinclair), had won the ring. But alas, he had kept it instead of destroying it, thus breaking his sacred oath. This had begun the trail of destruction that was to follow in the wake of an object of such power. Much later the hobbit who would become Smeagol, or Gollum (Andy Serkis), would steal it, and kill to do so. Later still, the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) would find it, and keep it, just as Gollum had. Bilbo possessed it still, there in the Shire, a fact until now unknown to the dark forces at large in the world of Middle Earth.

In any Hollywood movie the 'Inciting Incident', occurring usually in the first 1/2 hour, challenges the hero to respond to a new development or opportunity. To achieve that response, the hero must internally expand, irrevocably changing his life. The hero is then thrown into a series of escalating accommodations on his journey to understand and solve the Inciting Incident's original problem. This film's Inciting Incident occurs when Bilbo Baggins reluctantly attends his birthday party. Unknown to anyone in the Shire, he has in fact, and perhaps unworthily, grown tired of his quiet, suffocating life there. He has secretly decided to leave the Shire, and does so in a most surprising way, by putting on the one 'ring'. This one act caused him to disappear to mortal eyes, but it also caused him to become visible to the non-mortal, non-human, single, malevolent eye of the dark Lord of Mordor Sauron (Sala Baker). The moment Bilbo slipped the ring on his finger, Sauron knew beyond all doubt that the ring still existed, he also knew the kind of creature who possessed it, and he knew approximately where it was. Bilbo had made a grievous error. The wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), soon due to arrive in the Shire, would be appalled at Bilbo's action.

After Bilbo had been relieved of the ring by Gandalf, and had left on his trek to live among the Elves; and after the ring had passed to Bilbo's nephew, Frodo (Elijah Wood), Gandalf charged the same with the task of carrying it safely to Rivendell. Frodo set out on the journey, accompanied by three hobbit companions and their new protector, a human, Strider, the future Lord Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen).

Turning Point 1. The Council of Elrond (Hugo Weaving), an Elf Lord, has been called to decide what is to be done about the one ring, which all had believed was destroyed. They conclude that it must still be destroyed; and that the only way of doing so is to cast it into the fiery pit at Mount Doom. Several present at the Council step forward to carry out this task, but suspicions between dwarfs, elves, and humans make any choice all but impossible. Moreover, Gandalf reminds them of the ring's endless power to corrupt any who possess it. Into the clamor that follows Frodo sends his small voice, volunteering to be the one who will carry it. Gandalf sighs, deeply pained. He does not want to see the ring's odious power again taint his favorite folk in the world, the Halflings, or hobbits. Moreover, Frodo and Bilbo are his favorites among the hobbits. He sighs, and accedes. A vote is taken and it is decided: Frodo shall be the ring-bearer. Several step forward to rally round Frodo as his protectors in this quest, and form a Fellowship of this ring: a dwarf, Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) , an elf, Legolas (Orlando Bloom), two human