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Ursula K. Le Guin

Arwen's incantation against Nazgûl THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING 2001 — dir. Peter Jackson

I love this scene. It forced me to grow as a person, because it's Not What Happened In The Book, and at the time, I was annoyed about it.

The thing I understand now is that movies and books are extremely different, and the way they land emotions is different, too. My favourite example of this is North & South. The book and the miniseries have wildly different endings, both of which are perfect, and neither of which would work if reversed.

We tell ourselves that LotR is timeless, and it might be, but we aren't. The movie needed a more cohesive character list, and the Jacksons and Boyenne (rightfully!) needed a way to make Arwen more visible. This was a a great solution, because we don't really need Glorfindel, and Frodo is much less fae in the movies, so having him raise the river would also be a distraction.

Instead we get Liv Tyler. We get "A ranger, caught off his guard?" We get "If you want him,come and claim him." We get Arwen Fucking Undomiel standing up to the servants of Sauron physically, so that it will make sense later when she does it mentally.

So yes. It wasn't like the book. Because it was a movie. And I'm grateful for that lesson, because it influences both how I read stories and how I write them.

ALSO IT'S JUST VERY COOL.