"My friends, you bow to no one"

Hi folks I'm new here.

For my first post, let me start off by saying (not sure if it's been mentioned at all on this forum previously, but I have been browsing it for a week or so), that one of the best bits that Peter Jackson did for the movie which 'trumped' the book was the bit where the hobbits are about to bow down to Aragorn and Arwen and the King stops them and says, "My friends, you bow to no one," and bows down himself - the others at the ceremony follow suit.

Very touching I felt.

[Anguirel]

I imagine I'll be in a small minority when I comment that I didn't really like this at all.

I could have just put up with it if it had been in the book, but it felt like an added, gratuitous feelgood moment. Like the excruciating bedroom scene with everyone laughing and crying and kissing and cuddling.

(Merry comes in.)

Frodo: Merryyyy!!!

(Gandalf comes in.)

Frodo: Gandalfff!!!

(Legolas comes in.)

Frodo: Legolas!!!!!

(Eomer comes in.)

Frodo: Er...who are you?

(Beregond, Imrahil, Glorfindel and Halbarad saunter in.)

Frodo: And who in Arda are you?

Chorus of cut characters: We will have our vengeance...hack, slash, hack...

Anyway, yup, I didn't like the bowing; it seemed superfluous, anachronistic, pseudo-democratic. Bad fanfic.

EDIT: Oh and welcome to the Downs deathscar.

[Folwren]

Gosh, Anguirel, that wasn't a very kind welcome.

That part in the movie was fair enough. Although it didn't move me to tears, it did some of my friends (much to my astonishment). I thought it was sweet, but never to the point of tears. It was a good touch, seeing what the hobbits did. In reality, Merry and Pippin didn't necessarily deserve it, but Frodo and Sam did. It would have been better still if Pippin and Merry and bowed, I think. But then Frodo and Sam would have felt really awkward. . .

Yes, welcome to the 'Downs. Hope you have fun.

-- Folwren

[Glirdan]

I must agree that it was a rather toughing moment, but I must also agree with Folwren that in reality, Merry and Pippin should be bowing as well because then it would have shown everyone who really saved Middle-Earth. But I believe, Folwren, that PJ had all four Hobbits to show that their race isn't as weak as was first thought, and for that matter, a legend. It shows us as the viewers that even the small can be powerful.

And welcome to the Down's Deathscar.

[alatar]

Have to agree with the those 'agreers' here. Would have been nice if Merry and Pippin were included in the act of respect, but I can see why PJ allows them to stand:

I guess that Pip feels worthy as he was able to trick an Ent into attacking Isengard, plus he lit the beacons which brought the Rohirrim to the Pelennor Fields. Truly heroic feats, to be sure. Merry helped kill the Witch-King, and that rates him over Gandalf, who was 'proned' by the King of the Nazgul. Plus he was able to ride from Dunharrow to Mundburg completely unnoticed, and this cone of invisibility was extended to Eowyn as well.

Welcome, deathscar. Just so you know, my keyboard habitually gets stuck in 'sarcasm' mode .

Thanks for the warm welcome folks.

The way I saw it, the rest were bowing down to Pippin and Merry, because they had as much to owe to them (for reasons you mentioned) and for the fact that this tiny race of hobbits ("they would only be children to your eyes") were so courageous and brave and "had stout hearts" and changed the world for a better course.

Whereas the race of men needed encouraging from the Return of the King.

I thought it was a nice touch personally, and definitely though it was something the book would've been better with.

I also personally didn't like the Scourging of the Shire in the book, and was glad PJ left it out.

The voice over by Frodo at the end (upon his return to the Shire) is also spine-tingling, the bit where he starts off "How do you pick up the threads of an old life...".


I will agree with you however, when you say the bed-happy scene was completely overdone.

[sallkid]

Originally Posted by Folwren

Gosh, Anguirel, that wasn't a very kind welcome.

That part in the movie was fair enough. Although it didn't move me to tears, it did some of my friends (much to my astonishment). I thought it was sweet, but never to the point of tears. It was a good touch, seeing what the hobbits did. In reality, Merry and Pippin didn't necessarily deserve it, but Frodo and Sam did. It would have been better still if Pippin and Merry and bowed, I think. But then Frodo and Sam would have felt really awkward. . .

Yes, welcome to the 'Downs. Hope you have fun.

-- Folwren

But there is an equivalent scene in the book, Gwaihir sings a song called "praise to the halflings" or somesuch, this could be seen as a way of doing that scene whilst peter jackson avoids putting in any of the songs that are essential to middle earth's middle-ages setting

Originally Posted by Elfchick7

True, but there were many other that did just as much if not more. For example, Eowyn and Aragorn. So, why weren't they included?

I don't think that killing the captain of Mordor is quite as incredible an achievement as rousing the ents in open warfare (remember this is an event that had NEVER happened before in the history of middle earth)

[alatar]

Could it be that, to Big Folk, all of the four looked similar? Maybe, with the exception of those that stood side by side with the Hobbits (i.e. Aragorn), many in the crowd weren't really sure which did what. So out of ignorance and politeness (and Ent-draught Merry and Pippin appear more heroic anyway ), the crowd just bowed.

[Sarumian]

Originally Posted by Folwren

That part in the movie was fair enough. Although it didn't move me to tears, it did some of my friends (much to my astonishment). I thought it was sweet, but never to the point of tears. It was a good touch, seeing what the hobbits did. In reality, Merry and Pippin didn't necessarily deserve it, but Frodo and Sam did.

Well, I think, summoning Ents into battle, saving Faramir, slaying a troll and Witch King should not be underestimated

[ArathorofBarahir]

I loved this addition to the movie! I feel that the hobbits would and could have been overlooked since not very many people knew what their mission was. I felt that that having Aragorn and all of Minas Tirith bowing to them was a way of saying that the little people of the world have sacrificed just as much if not more as the big people in the world.

[Celegost]

I think this is a really good scene, unlike the one where Frodo is in bed. That's just too wierd (what the heck are Merry and Pippin doing in the background? They start jumping up and down and pulling faces like idiots; I thought at the end they were supposed to have grown up?)

[Sauron the White]

Thought the bowing scene at the coronation was fine and worked well. It is not one of my absolute fave scenes - but I certainly have no objections to it. Thanks to Essex for giving us the text to show that Jackson was not far off with his depiction of it.

That jumping into the bed scene at the end always struck me as just plain goofy. Perhaps Jackson and the writers wanted to introduce some goofiness into the mix after all that heavy drama with putting the main characters near death for so long. But its still goofy.

[Precioussss]

I agree with ninja91 in that Eowyn and the battle cry thing was dorky. I actually laughed a little.

In the book it's really sweet how Sam and Frodo meet Merry and Pippin at the supper, and I think that should have been included in the movie. The bedroom scene was a little much.

And even though Aragorn's last line may suit (I still think it's a little lame) the hobbits (along with everyone else) should still be bowing to him. He is the king, and without him they would most certainly have been dead and Sauron would have won.

That's just my opinion. I was disappointed in this movie, so I guess I'm a litttle biased already.

[Sir Kohran]

And even though Aragorn's last line may suit (I still think it's a little lame) the hobbits (along with everyone else) should still be bowing to him. He is the king, and without him they would most certainly have been dead and Sauron would have won.

Um...they did bow to him when he first approached them. That's when he says "My friends, you bow to no-one." And bows himself.

[Lotrelf]

I liked that scene. But I won't say that it surpassed the book's. It was Touching and beautiful scene. Hobbits reactions were awesome. I also liked that look on Frodo's face. As if he was feeling "guilty" for succumbing to the Ring.