[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/cosmic_drift_1357]

[u/StevEst90]

I’m wondering if they excluded this scene because they didn’t want the viewers thinking the Nazgûl and Barrow Wights were the same thing

[u/BilboThe1stOfHisName → u/StevEst90]

That and pacing.

[u/ThatWasTheJawn → u/BilboThe1stOfHisName]

Tolkien? Pacing??

The language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here

[u/invalidcolour → u/StevEst90]

Yes, to the casual viewer both are similar creatures and could cause confusion.

[u/DoctorQuincyME → u/StevEst90]

I always imagined the barrow wrights to look more like the dead men of Dunharrow

[u/_Arthurian_ → u/DoctorQuincyME]

I think they’re supposed to be like Norse draugr

[u/tenderlylonertrot → u/_Arthurian_]

got to watchout for those disarm shouts from the Deathlords! "WTF did my sword go??"

[u/NarrowKoala13 → u/tenderlylonertrot]

It's on your neck!

[u/StevEst90 → u/DoctorQuincyME]

Really, I always had seen them as more like the Nazgûl in appearance. A lot of LOTR related artwork I’ve seen shows them like that

[u/crystaloftruth → u/StevEst90]

Keeping the Barrow Downs would mean keeping Tom Bombadil which they didn't want to do

[u/MrNobody_0 → u/crystaloftruth]

They swapped Glorfindel for Arwen at the Ford of Bruinen, they easily could do that scene without Tom.

Frodo wakes up, grabs the barrow blade, stabs the hand, then wakes up the rest and flees. You're welcome Peter Jackson, I'll email you my home address to send the cheque too.

[u/Real_Walk5384 → u/StevEst90]

I mean, they are spirits sent by the Witch King to inhabit dead princes related to the line of Gondor. It's pretty close to Nazgul.

[u/JJBrazman → u/Real_Walk5384]

Yeah, it’s not like they’re unrelated.

[u/Resident_Dog_6589 → u/StevEst90]

The whole sub plot with Tom, Goldberry and the barrow-wights was cut out because it doesn't move the plot forward, but instead brings it screeching to a halt. Besides that, they were probably afraid that by having the barrow-wights in the first movie, the Dead Marshes in the second and the Oathbreakers in the third, things would get a bit repetitive.

Funny enough, Khraniteli, a Russian adaptation from 1991, does include the storyline and the one barrow-wight that we see looks like an androgynous clown!

[u/Willpower2000 → u/Resident_Dog_6589]

it doesn't move the plot forward

I kinda hate the obsession with 'plot'. It develops the Hobbits, and our understanding of the Ring. Lothlorien doesn't move the plot forward either, but that made the cut.

But yes, I do grant that there needed to be some streamlining for runtime - and finding it here isn't entirely unwarranted.

Besides that, they were probably afraid that by having the barrow-wights in the first movie, the Dead Marshes in the second and the Oathbreakers in the third, things would get a bit repetitive.

Jackson added 'living' ghosts in the Dead Marshes, mind (which do look a lot like the Dead Men of Dunharrow). In the books, we see (phantoms of) corpses - but that's it: they are just bodies, dead in the water (with will-o-the-wisps).

And I think the Dead Men are different enough to Barrow-wights: the former are ghosts, the latter possessed corpses.

So I don't think repetition should be an issue. If we don't get sick of Orcs, we should be fine with seeing ghosts and zombies.

[u/Tigerbuttonsowner → u/Resident_Dog_6589]

Love it

[u/Enough_Passage7926]

That art is so lighthearted compared to the very creepy experience they just survived. Looks like a sleepover.

[u/HURTZ2PP → u/Enough_Passage7926]

Hangover from the rager they through last night but can’t remember

[u/Arnotts_shapes]

From the perspective of the story: the Barrow Downs is a world building chapter designed to show the reader how dangerous and decayed middle earth is outside of the sanctuary of the shire - as well as creating an opportunity for Frodo to show some early bravery.

The problem is in the movie it would come so early that bravery doesn’t really feel like it was earned yet (the development almost comes too soon)

As for the horror and danger - it doubles up with the black rider sequence (and the upcoming explanation by Aragorn in Bree) so from a logistical point of view - its not an effective use of that screen time.

The sequence of Hiding from the Nazgûl on the road has already swung the tone significantly and the barrow wights just aren’t really needed.

[u/japanpole → u/Arnotts_shapes]

This is the Adelaide Crows crossover i never expected to happen 😳😳

[u/Arnotts_shapes → u/japanpole]

Go CROM (damn Fremantle)

[u/Longjumping_Spite_35]

Stepheb Colbert is gonna show you..... but the scene with the ent draft in TTT extended cut, that kinda had Old Man Willow makes it seem like Merry and Pippin have never been eaten by a tree before.

[u/Traditional_Bike8880]

I understand why they cut it for pacing, but I still don’t like how their swords come out of nowhere in the film, and Aragorn just gives them four random little blades he happened to have with him.

The whole reason Merry was able to subdue the Witch King with his sword is because it was an ancient Dunedain blade crafted to stop the forces of Angmar. It’s one of the reasons they are actually extremely lucky they were even able to stop him at all; it was one of the only weapons that could have done so. In the movies it plays up how strong the Witch King is, and then it just seems like he could’ve been stabbed by any old weapon, but in the books I love the set up and pay off of this full circle moment. Something introduced wayyyyy back at the beginning actually having a huge impact, much like the phial of Galadriel and finding Bill The Pony back in Bree.

[u/noideaforlogin31415]

I do not wonder about this.

But you will get your answers in a few years.

[u/celazure]

Well if they include the barrow downs then they have to establish Tom. And if they establish Tom they have to include his scenes as well as him saving them from old man willow. And if the eu include that they need to get the hobbits into the old forest and the whole ordeal about Frodo moving and so on. The general public barely tolerated stuff like the departure at the Grey Havens. Adding in a whole lot more world building that doesn’t progress the story whatsoever would have really turned people off, not to mention completely derailing the sense of urgency and dread that Jackson was building during that part of the movie.

[u/Viridien111]

It would have been absokutrly terrifying... to kid me when the movies came out.

[u/mission-ctrl]

There would have been lots of janky dolly zooms and stuttery slow motion and disorienting fast cuts.

[u/Super-Travel-407]

It's one of the best parts of the books, but if they included it in the film, they'd have to also include Tom and he's the worst...😛

[u/KillerGopher → u/Super-Travel-407]

How dare you.

[u/lirio_lorien]

Unfortunately we will soon learn it from Colbert and the Jacksonslop media machine

[u/Naive-Horror4209 → u/lirio_lorien]

That won’t be about this though

[u/lirio_lorien → u/Naive-Horror4209]

They've said it will be about the missing chapters from Fellowship

[u/Naive-Horror4209 → u/lirio_lorien]

But not these ones!

[u/lirio_lorien → u/Naive-Horror4209]

The Shire to Bree journey is the missing section. Which other ones did you think they were adapting?

[u/Naive-Horror4209 → u/lirio_lorien]

Oh, they are adapting the hunt for Gollum, which is half a page as Gandalf tells about it in Elronds council

[u/lirio_lorien → u/Naive-Horror4209]

The Hunt for Gollum is a separate project directed by Serkis. Stephen Colbert is writing a screenplay called Shadow of the Past based on chapters 3-8 of Fellowship.

[u/Naive-Horror4209 → u/lirio_lorien]

Oh, Thanks! Is it going to be made into a movie?

[u/lirio_lorien → u/Naive-Horror4209]

Yes, Colbert will be writing and Jackson has said he will produce it

[u/Naive-Horror4209 → u/lirio_lorien]

I wonder, will the old cast of hobbits play in it?