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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for The Return of the King can be found here.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is based on the third book of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, written by the English academic and author J.R.R. Tolkien [1892-1973]. The other two books in the series (both movie and novel) are: (1) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and (2) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Sauron's physical form is not seen in the film, only his eye which rests on the top of the tower. However, the 4-disc special edition dvd set has a documentary that has original footage of Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) fighting Sauron (Sala Baker). He also appears very briefly in the scene where Pippin (Billy Boyd) looks into the palantir. He is in the same form as shown in the first film's backstory. The filmmakers originally wanted to give Sauron a more active role at the end, as opposed to the static eye on top of the tower that he was in the previous films. The confrontation originally started with Aragorn walking out of the group towards the Black Gate, as he sees a ghostly apparition of Sauron in his original form, a young, long-haired man, in front of him. The group would then become surrounded by Orcs, the giant armoured Sauron among them, who would battle with Aragorn. In the finished film, it is Sauron's eye on the tower calling to him, at which Aragorn is looking. In the documentary, Peter Jackson discusses the reasons that Sauron was later replaced with a computer generated troll who battles Aragorn instead (he felt that the scene didn't ultimately work, as it reduced the struggles of the group and Frodo in particular to an Aragorn vs. Sauron match).

The book is more elaborate on this point than the film, and Peter Jackson also explains the reason during the audio commentary on the dvd. The Eagles did not take sides in the War of the Ring until the end, so they would not have assisted Frodo when he started his quest. This is similar to the Ents, who only participated when they felt they were drawn in by Saruman. The Eagles are also very proud creatures, who will not allow themselves to be used as just a means of transportation. The Eagle that rescued Gandalf (Ian McKellen) from the tower of Saruman (Christopher Lee) did so as a special service to Gandalf, whom he knew personally (Gandalf had previously saved his life). In addition to this, there are allusions that while Sauron was still in power, the Eagles would have struggled getting to Mount Doom, not least because of the wraiths on their fell-beasts and other dark creatures and powers that Sauron had at his disposal. Sending Frodo on the back of an eagle into Mount Doom would have been effectively air-mailing the ring to Sauron. A ground-based approach was decided to be much more effective and appropriate. Finally, the ring corrupts the proud much more easily than the humble. While there is no proof that the ring has the same effect on an Eagle as it does for men, there may have been too much risk in tempting the extremely proud Eagles.

In the book, while traveling with the Rohirrim, Aragorn receives a visit from Elrond's sons Elladan and Elrohir, who come and join him in battle (Aragorn had already received the mended sword back in The Fellowship of the Ring novel). Peter Jackson decided to have Elrond (Hugo Weaving) hand over the sword in the movie, and not his sons, in order to avoid introducing more new characters at such a late time, especially since they would not play major roles in the story.

They were Corsairs of Umbar, descendents of the losing side of a Gondorian civil war called the Kin-Strife, and allies of Sauron. Aragorn uses the Army of the Dead (the ghosts of soldiers who had betrayed a previous King of Gondor) to defeat the Corsairs, who then take the ships upriver to fight at Minas Tirith. This is a slight change from the novel, in which Aragorn brings a large number of Dunedain rangers who man the ships and surprise the enemy at Minas Tirith; the ghosts only assist in capturing the ships, and do not accompany Aragorn further into battle.

Peter Jackson stated that to include the Mouth of Sauron would be pointless, as the audience already knows that what he is saying is not true. In the book, the fates of Frodo and Sam had not yet been disclosed at that point, lending dramatic tension to the confrontation that would necessarily be absent from the film version. In the extended cut, the Mouth of Sauron makes a brief appearance when he tries to trick the Fellowship into thinking Sauron killed Frodo and took the Ring. Aragorn refuses to believe this and subsequently kills the Mouth.

Just before Sam begins to carry Frodo the last leg up the slopes of Mount Doom, Frodo tells him "there is no veil now between me and the wheel of fire." This references the fact that in the book, Frodo had begun to see an image of a wheel of fire in his mind beginning around the time they crossed into Mordor. By the time they have reached the mountain, he is seeing it with his eyes, as if it was a real image. The film retains his admission of this fact to Sam, but does not mention his prior visions. The wheel itself most likely refers to the One Ring.

Frodo (Elijah Wood) didn't have to leave at all. He chose to depart from his home because he couldn't settle back into his old life. The Shire folk pride themselves on the ignorance of problems outside of their homeland. The corruption of the ring, the near-fatal wound from the Witch King, and his newfound knowledge of the fragility of his little community left him with an outlook on the world that couldn't be covered by the formerly peaceful and blissfully ignorant life-style of the Shire folk. He was unable to heal emotionally from his experiences, as the wound he received from the Witch King never fully healed and caused him intense pain from time-to-time, as well as flashbacks of the event. Frodo eventually died a true death, as the Undying Lands cannot make mortal beings, such as men or hobbits, into immortal beings. In the director's commentary on the dvd, Peter Jackson says that departing to the West is a metaphor for death. Remember what Galadriël (Cate Blanchett) said to Lord Elrond in The Two Towers about Frodo: "The quest will claim his life." While the quest did not kill Frodo physically, it did end life for him as he knew it in Middle Earth.

Although the film shows the departure of only Frodo, Bilbo (Ian Holm), and Gandalf, other members of the fellowship are known to have traveled to the West. Legolas also made the journey, taking with him Gimli (the only Dwarf allowed to sail to Valinor). Samwise left after Rosie died and he had served seven consecutive terms as mayor of Hobbiton. He was allowed to make the journey because he was, for a short time, also a ring-bearer. Aragorn served his term as King and died a natural death in Middle Earth (much as Elrond described in The Two Towers). Merry and Pippin never went over the sea. They died at Minas Tirith and were buried in the tombs of the kings, and later placed next to Aragorn when he died.

More specifically, this question refers to the chapter "The Scouring of the Shire," in which the hobbits return to the Shire and find their homeland ravaged by conflict and industrialisation. It appears that Saruman, who fled to the Shire after his defeat at Isengard, was responsible for this and caused a civil war among the hobbits. The running time of the movie was already exceeding three hours, so several large sections from the book had to be omitted. As the movie had already come to a finale with the battle at the Black Gate, another conflict would have felt like an anti-climax, so the decision was made to leave it out. The actual scouring of the Shire was also left out, and Saruman's death was moved to the beginning of the extended edition of the movie. One reference to the omitted ending remains, and it was seen in The Fellowship of the Ring, when Frodo takes a look into the Mirror of Galadriël. There he sees the Shire burning and the hobbits being imprisoned by Orcs, thus witnessing what fate awaits the Shire if Sauron gets the ring back.

Ownership of the Ring gave Bilbo unnatural youth, just as it did to Sméagol-Gollum (who is over 500 years old). Once he gave the Ring away, Bilbo began to age as he should have. (It is not clear why Gollum is still alive, having lost the Ring 56 years ago, but it may be assumed that it gave him permanent strength because he had it for so long.)

For its DVD release, extended versions of all three Lord of the Rings movies have been released, and for The Return of the King, the extended version adds around fifty minutes to the running time. This includes the final confrontation with Saruman, more character scenes with Faramir, and the appearance of the corsairs of Umbar. The restoration of Gandalf's face-off with the Witch King also resulted in extensive re-ordering of the order of battle events, now more closely following the events as presented in the book. A detailed comparison, divided into two parts and with pictures, can be found here (Part One) and here (Part Two).