Film · New Line Cinema
The Lord of the Rings: where to start reading
Adapts The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Say how far you watched, and pick the book up exactly there.
Fantasy
You watched through
After The Fellowship of the Ring, in the books you are
at The Fellowship of the Ring.
the whole book.
Covers the whole first volume through the Fellowship's breaking. Cuts the Old Forest, Tom Bombadil and Barrow-downs, and pulls Boromir's death (which opens the next book) into its climax.
Start reading at The Two TowersSpoiler-safe, only what the show already showed you.
What the show changed here
- CutThe Old Forest, Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-downs are cut entirely from the hobbits' journey.
- CombinedGlorfindel is dropped and Arwen takes his place, riding Frodo to the Ford of Bruinen herself.
- ChangedArwen is credited with raising the river against the Ringwraiths. In the book that is Elrond's and Gandalf's work.
- MovedBoromir's death, which opens the next volume in the book, is pulled forward into this film's climax.
- ChangedThe 17-year gap between Gandalf leaving the Ring and returning to test it is compressed to keep the story moving.
- ChangedGandalf resists the road through Moria as foreboding. In the book he is the one who argues for taking it.
- CutGaladriel's lament Namarie and much of the Lothlorien interlude are trimmed from the film.
The full map
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
the showthe bookstap a season
The books, in order
- 1The Fellowship of the Ring1954
- 2The Two Towers1954
- 3The Return of the King1955
The films follow the books closely and never run past them, but they rearrange the seams: material is shifted between films around the volume breaks, and chapters like the Old Forest and the Scouring of the Shire are dropped.
Ratings
How is The Lord of the Rings so far?
Spoiler-safe ratings are coming. You will rate and read reviews only up to your place in the story, never a hint of what is ahead.
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