Look, I’m going to start this article off by saying that I love The Lord of the Rings. I love The Hobbit, I love The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin, and everything else Tolkien has brought to the world. In honor of the late Sir Christopher Lee, I make sure to read the books at least once a year. I have a Door of Moria tattoo on my back and I asked my partner if I could walk down the aisle to May It Be at our wedding. He said I could, but not the recognizable bit!
But all acts of greatness have their flaws. As a fan, I’d rather we talked about these things. We can’t ignore them, covering our ears with our hands and whistling The Road Goes Ever On. One of the best ways to honor our favorite books is to talk about their mistakes rather than ignore them. J.R.R Tolkien was a genius who created languages and wrote stories that remain in our hearts decades later. But he was also a human, and we tend to make mistakes.
This list will focus on both the books and the movies separately as I feel there are several examples of flawed logic in the films that can be explained when you read the books. It was Peter Jackson's fault for not including the explanations!
At the end of the day, this list is meant for fun.
30 Happy Birthday, Bilbo
It’s a minor point, I know, but it’s probably a great place to start. It’s obviously very sweet for Gandalf to make the time to stop by for Bilbo and Frodo’s birthday’s (although I’ve always questioned why it’s only Bilbo’s that is celebrated in the films). Gandalf has clearly been a big part of Frodo’s life and is a great attraction for the people of The Shire.
He has stayed very close to Bilbo since all that business with the dragon.
But while there isn’t evidence that he’s missed all sixty of Bilbo’s birthdays since the end of The Hobbit and the beginning of The Lord of the Rings, I doubt he rocked up to all of them. Middle-earth is a big place and there is other wizard stuff to be done.
29 Not My Friend Anymore
This is a very interesting one, as a lot of Frodo’s behavior could be, and is, blamed on the corruption of the Ring. The longer he possesses the ring, the more of himself he loses. The Frodo we see in Mt. Doom isn’t the same Frodo who left the Shire. But while this could potentially reason why he abandoned Sam, it certainly doesn’t explain why he believed Gollum over Sam.
Sam hasn’t shown any interest in the Ring, whereas Gollum is completely possessed by it. His madness could convince him without reason that Sam wanted the Ring, but I can’t think of any way it would convince him it would be safe with Gollum, who obviously wants it and tried to end him! I guess the Ring had its reasons.
28 I’ll Come Back, Right?
This is one of the things that really irritated me in the movies. Gandalf comes back from fighting the Balrog because he is a celestial being of the Gods. The Gods decided that check-in to the afterlife was still going to take a little while, so they sent him back to hang out in Middle-earth a little longer.
Aragorn, however, is a mortal human.
This is established. Falling off a cliff into a river filled with jagged rocks after being beaten up on the battlefield is not survivable. Even if he did survive the fall, he would have been highly injured and unable to simply ride a horse back to safety even if one had found him. The whole scene was a ridiculous and pointless decision on the filmmakers' part.
27 And My Axe
I mean… yeah…. he certainly did. Gimli literally slammed his axe against the ring, then bits of axe were all around the stone table thing the ring was on. That axe certainly broke.
Again, Gimli doesn’t do this in the book, so this is all Jackson’s bad. But what makes it particularly interesting is that in The Hobbit films, Jackson makes sure that Glóin has the same style of axe, so that he could pass it on to his son. Forgetting that his son impulsively slams it into the One Ring, smashing it up! Gimli does also carry a double-bladed axe that is seen later in the trilogy, but he also uses a single bladed axe throughout very similar to the one Glóin uses and the one he smashed on the Ring.
26 Simply Walk In
I know that this couldn’t have happened, no matter how often Legolas defies gravity and the laws of physics in the film series. But given that elves have the technology to make swords that light up when enemies are nearby and cloaks that turn you into rocks when enemies are looking for you, along with a shiny torch in a bottle, one likes to think there could have been a better idea, than just walking into Mordor. Which, let's face it, is the idea they decide on.
This is a world where magic exists.
Besides, given Legolas’s impossible shots in the movies, in film canon, he probably could have made this. Yes, I know he’s an elf, but some of them really make you cringe!
25 Wormtongue
I’ve touched on this a little bit in the past when talking about Cruella De Vil, how villains' names pretty much cement their future endeavors. But while her parents could have just named her Ésme De Vil or something and she probably could have survived school Grima Wormtongue was pretty much screwed from the start.
Villain logic in stories is sometimes very bizarre. The story of Grima is that he used to be loyal to the king, but made a deal with Saruman to betray him, with the promise that he could have Éowyn, but very little is known about him before the events of The Two Towers. Maybe when he rocked up to Théoden’s door he had less of a child between Snape and Voldemort vibe going on. Perhaps he looked like a perfectly good guy. Just named Grima Wormtongue.
Comic by ThePigeonGazette.
24 Epic Battles
The battle of Helms Deep probably is one of the most epic and iconic scenes in the movies, so it seems pretty pointless to chastise it. I can’t argue that watching a visually interesting battle sequence, with fire, explosions, and skateboarding down some stairs ending bad guys keeps the attention span longer than someone sitting down reading a description of these events to you.
The Entmoot isn’t really the most interesting scene in the book either, if I’m honest.
Although I would certainly recommend reading it before seeing the film, as it paints the Ents in a better life. What I will say about Tolkien’s battle sequences is that Tolkien himself saw battle. Tolkien served in the First World War, which gives his battle scenes a lot more heart than shooty-shooty, bang-bang explosions.
Comic by Dorkly.
23 Why Not Eagles?
What’s interesting about the eagles is that Tolkien explains in The Hobbit why the eagles don’t take them all the way. The eagles drop them off and say they’re not carrying them any further because they have stuff to do. The towns are dangerous for them as they’ll get shot with arrows. Basically, they’re cowards and lazy, but help Gandalf out sometimes because he saved their king.
Trouble is, despite spreading everything out for six movies, Jackson never slips this in once. So, in film-canon, this explanation is never given and therefore doesn’t exist. This leads most people who haven’t read the books to ask, why not use the eagles? It’s a shame, really, since the eagles saving the day is a lot more powerful if you’ve read the books, as it becomes a redemption for them.
Comic by Dorkly.
22 The Lord Of The Oscars
I would like to point out that I am in no way saying that the Twilight franchise should have won an Oscar. Those films and books are better off forgotten and left in a dark pile in the past of humanity.
It does, however, surprise me that the Harry Potter films never won any Oscars.
When The Lord of the Rings won all the awards it did, it felt like doors were going to be open for fantasy films in the future. But for some reason, despite having almost three times the amount of films The Lord of the Rings had and various nominations, Harry Potter never won an Oscar. Even if the awards are more who you know and what you spend than the opinion of the public, it’s a very curious observation.
21 Maybe Block The Door?
Okay, so Sauron probably wasn’t expecting someone to simply walk into Mordor, but this security risk here seems like a big one. Granted, he does have a massive gate the remains shut and locked up tight when not in use, along with thousands of orcs guarding it along with his magical tower. But you can’t deny that building a door for the entrance to the volcano, putting a couple of guards in front of it or even just a massive boulder would have made all the difference in security. Let’s be honest, it’s not like Sauron has much use for that doorway nowadays. Sure, it would have been useful when actually forging the ring but given that he spends most of his time towards the end as a spiritual construct, he probably wouldn’t have had any reason to make a visit there.
20 Oh, Professor Tolkien
Tolkien has always been one of the biggest inspirations to me and his creations are obviously works of genius. When he’s created so many marvelous characters and stories that have brought joy to generations of children and adults, it does seem pedantic to pick on him for one of his place names.
But if I wasn’t pedantic then I wouldn’t be much good at these lists.
Yep, despite his characters having meaningful names, some coming from ancient languages alongside creating several of his own languages for the purposes of his story, he still named the volcano “Mt Doom.” That sounds like someone a supervillain would call his not so secret layer in the seventies. Or what a seven-year-old would call their fort that you’re not allowed into. I’m sorry, Tolkien!
19 Legolas’ Guide To Perfect Hair
As someone who spends far too much time thinking about their hair, I’m with Legolas on the importance of keeping your locks silky smooth, even in the heat of battle. It is curious how Legolas’s hair remains perfect. After escaping the dark, goblin invested mines of Moria, his hair is still great. He fights a bunch of new super mutant orcs at Amon-Hen, resulting in Boromir’s death, and his hair is still great. He runs across Middle-earth for days with barely any rest. Then he fights long, tiring battle, during which it rains, but his hair STILL looks great! I don’t know what products Legolas is using but I’m sure we’d all like to try them. Sure, his super ethereal elven genes certainly help, but there has to be more to his secret.
18 Super Subtle Glow
This is a point about Sting that I’d never really considered before. Bilbo is chosen by Gandalf to be a burglar for Thorin’s company because he is a small Hobbit and can often slip by unnoticed.
This is also one of the reasons why Frodo is chosen to take the ring to Mt. Bad-Guys.
Now, if you’re a lot smaller than everybody else and are a light-footed person, you can sneak past a lot of people, especially if there are a lot of convenient things to hide behind. But if you have a sword which is designed to light up whenever the people you are avoiding turn up, you are compromising your situation a little bit. It’s certainly good for a warning if you want to know if they’re getting close, but when sneaking past enemies that you already know are there, it’s a bit silly.
17 You’re Not Real!
This is what really irritated me about The Hobbit movies. I have no problem with the concept of new characters. When I first heard about Tauriel, I thought she was representing the unnamed guard captain in the book. But when the film came out and she did nothing the character does, but instead got in the way of the canonical story, being the subject of a nonsensical romance, I found it very annoying. I had very similar feelings about Legolas.
It’s almost unbelievable that this tiny book was stretched into three films, but they still cut out so much between the dwarves to make room for these two characters and their pointless plot. Bombur doesn’t get any lines in the films, but these guys have too many! And don’t even get me started on Alfred!
16 I Can’t Believe You Fell For It
This isn’t so much an example of flawed logic as an example of how much more trusting Frodo is than me (and I suspect most people). Frodo, at this point, knows very little about the Ring. All he knows is that it once belonged to his Uncle Bilbo, who left it to him, and it was very special to him.
Gandalf does this to prove that it is the Ring and little explanation is given beforehand.
If you come in, take my ring and toss it in the fire (of which Frodo’s book reaction of “???” is perfectly natural regardless of how powerful the ring is), I’m not letting you put that in my hand. I don’t care if the ring is magic and I don’t care if it’s a magic ring. As we learned in kindergarten: Fire = Hot!
Comic by WalkingInSquares.
15 The Slow Reach
This is a moment that is mocked by fans and haters alike. It’s one of the reasons why Sauron is often thought of as a self-defeating villain. Sauron is an experienced warrior, what with his ambition of being the dark lord of all Middle-earth. One thing you learn on your first day in weapons training is that swords are sharp... even when you step on them and crush them, the pieces are still sharp and could potentially cut fingers off.
Even if Isildur wasn’t right next to a sword, if the only way that I could possibly be defeated in battle was if my finger was cut off- I’m going to battle with my hand in my pocket! Never would I let anyone get close to my finger, let alone reach for them slowly with my weak hand.
14 Poor Sean
You can’t really blame anyone for the casting of Sean Bean. He’s a fabulous actor and made a perfect Boromir. But one can’t deny that if you weren’t already familiar with the story of The Lord of the Rings, his casting was pretty much a spoiler.
In a bit of a chicken and the egg kind of way, I wonder whether he just coincidentally got cast in a lot of roles where he had to meet his untimely end or whether he had his first few tragic scenes and directors decided he was good at shuffling off that mortal coil. It is impressive that no Sean Bean final scene is the same. It’s a credit to his acting ability that he still manages to pull the same emotions out of us every time. But still, if Bean’s cast, then the guy is doomed!
13 Baby Son Of Arathorn
If I’m entirely honest, out of all the fandom inconsistencies they brought, all The Lord of the Rings characters who were needlessly shoehorned in, all the unnecessary love triangles and all the show-stealing original characters, this is the moment from The Hobbit films that confused me the most.
Firstly, when Legolas turns up to the Council of Elrond, he’s there to deliver a message from Mirkwood, therefore he hadn’t left yet.
Secondly, Thranduil gives him no reason to find Aragorn. Thirdly, and most importantly – HE WAS TEN! Yep, at the time of The Hobbit, Aragorn was ten years old, lived in Rivendell which he wouldn’t leave for another ten years and certainly didn’t have the nickname Strider at that point. That’s a long quest you're sending your son on, there, Thranduil.
Comic by EmilyOnTheWall.
12 Where’s The Magic?
For a great and powerful wizard, Gandalf rarely uses magic. Sir Ian McKellen actually asked Peter Jackson, when discussing the battle for Minas Tirith: “Why don’t I just zap them?” To which the only reply Jackson could give was: “You’re out of batteries.”
One argument could be that he is a good sportsman. Sportswizard? He has no problem using magic when he is fighting Saruman, shoving each other about with powerful knock-back spells. But when he is on the battlefield, he is the only person with magical abilities. Perhaps he thought it was unfair to use magic when Sauron’s armies only had swords, so decided to fight only with a sword. Probably not the best course of action when you’re trying to save Middle-earth from eternal evil, but very considerate.
11 Unlimited Arrows
Nobody likes a cheat, Legolas. It’s worth mentioning that in the books, Legolas scours the battlefields afterward to retrieve his used arrows. But not once is he seen doing this in the films! The only moment where this is hinted at is when he goes over to speak to Gimli after the battle of Helms Deep and has a used arrow in his hands.
But I don’t think it’s the lack of retrieving that makes people mock his magical quiver of unlimited arrows.
It’s that in battle, no matter how many enemies he kills or how long the battle goes on for, he never seems to run out of arrows! Except for that one inconvenient moment in The Hobbit movies. And given the number of daring sequences Jackson makes him go through, he probably applied some sort of cheat.