Unofficial Tex Murphy

Oh yeah I forgot about that... It isn't in the book, but they might show us what happened with all of that... It would be nice to know...

I can't wait to see how they do the whole Dragon scene...

Actually, Tom Bombadil played a critical role in LOTR, but not realizing its importance at the time. How so?

When the Hobbits left his house they soon found themselves deep in a barrow and facing a wight of eveil intent. Frodo sung the song Tom taught him and soon he came to their rescue. He chased the wight away, help them find their ponies and then....and here it is....gave them gifts from the barrow. Among those gifts were ancient swords made in the ancient days of Westernese. Later, Merry, mustering courage from deep within, stabbed the witch king of Angmar with his sword. Any other sword would NOT have had the same results! Certainly not the dull blades given to them by Aragorn in the movie. That distraction and pain allowed Eowyn the opportunity to destroy the ringwraith and they both became persons of great renown.

So, while Tom did not play a major role in the books and was left out of the movies, he was, nonetheless, partially responsible for bringing down Sauron's chief wraith.

You know, when the first trailer for Fellowship came out, I actually thought the ringwraiths were the barrowights.

In the trailer, they were showing the Weathertop scene when Frodo put on the ring.
The wraiths were wight and ghost like, just as the wights were described.

I was mildly disappointed when I saw the movie to realize they took that entire part out.
I forgave them though by the time I was finished watching it, because it was just that good, even without the scene.

Just out of curiosity Jim... how many times have you read LOTRs?
You must have read it many times to remember details like that.

They left out the Barrow Wights, Tom, just a huge segment from the book... Yes I agree that Tom was a decent role from the books and should have definitely been in the movies... I was highly disappointed when I watched Fellowship Of The Ring and he wasn't there...

Tom (and his wife) was an annoying character and I was a very happy man to see him struck from the movie. He was one of the many reasons why the first book is so God awful boring, and his absence is one of the many reasons why the first movie is awesome.

Well, you love him or hate him...there's no middle ground. Personally, I love the character Tom Bombadil, mostly due to his mysteriousness. A walking enigma over which the ring had no power and everything in nature was subject to his beck and call (except the weather).

I have read the books MANY times as I consider them to be an incredible work of art. Tolkien's style of writing coupled with his command of the English language was more than a little captivating. Also, his innovative design and creative expertise in literally making new languages is nothing short of genius. Therefore, I read the books at least once a year, sometimes twice. I never tire of them.

I like to think of him as kind of like a Mother Teresa, except that he was Male... Nothing has power over him, be it the Ring of Power the Dark Lord or the Wizards of the White Council, so be it good or evil he cared not, just so long as the grass grew and the birds sang and he could whistle while he worked...

Yes I'm with Jim, I loved his character and was so disappointed that it was not in the Movie...


It's been a little while since I've watched the Extended versions, but is there a very small part of the Barrow Downs in there??? For some reason I'm thinking there is, but might just be confusing it with something else...

I'm seeing Frodo waking up in like a make shift jail cell and then escaping, but little else is coming to memory...

No, there was zero reference to the barrow downs in any of the movies, extended or otherwise. Also, one of the most interesting chapters of all 6 books was 'The Scouring of the Shire'. It recounts the events the Hobbits faced upon arriving back to the Shire. That, too, was totally left out of the movies.

Oh yes, where "Sharky" had come and taken over... Sharky being Saruman, along with Wormtongue had somehow gotten out of the Tower and turned the Shire into a Work Farm so to speak... And the 4 Hobbits over throw him and kill him...

I could go either way with this seen... Maybe on the DVDs they should have made it an alternate ending or something, but the released movie, I think they went ahead and ended it the right way...


I do like in the Extended version where the Trees finish off the Orc Army at Helm's Deep...

Yeah, that was a great scene, Baf.

Not to be too nit-picky here, but it was Wormtongue who killed Sauraman, not the Hobbits. Then, as he tried to run away, he was shot down by other Hobbits.

Yes, Details, Details, Details... lol

I'm going to re-read LOTR as soon as I'm done with the Kolbrin Bible... Just need to find time to finish that... You seem to lose a lot of free time when you take on the Parenting Role solo...