The Lord of the Rings (film)/Characters: Difference between revisions

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== The Fellowship ==

[[File:180px-Frodo_sting_5089.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[The Corruption]]: One of the major themes of the story.

* [[Determinator]]

* [[The Hero]]

* [[Hidden Depths]]: This applies to all the hobbits. Frodo in particular is very well educated.

* [[Hitchhiker Heroes]]

* [[Hobbits|Hobbit]]

* [[I Just Want to Be Normal]]: Laments that he wished the Ring had never come to him at one point (before he's anywhere near his darkest hour), [[Discussed Trope|prompting Gandalf to respond that all who live to see such times wish this]], and that all he has to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to him.

* [[The Messiah]]: Shares this role with Aragorn.

* [[Parental Abandonment]]: His parents drowned in the Brandywine River.

* [[The Power of Friendship]]:

* [[Pretty Boy]]: For the movies at least, he's young and beautiful; in the books, hobbits are more friendly-looking than handsome.

* [[The Quest]]

* [[You Can't Go Home Again]]: Frodo realises at the end of his [[The Quest|quest]] that he is irreversibly changed.

 

[[File:220px-Sam_8022.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Deep Sleep]]

* [[Determinator]]: "Come on, Mr. Frodo. I can't carry it for you, but I can carry ''you''!"

* [[The Everyman]]

* [[Frying Pan of Doom]]: Sam uses this to whack some goblins in Moria.

* {{spoiler|[[Happily Married]]}}: At the very end.

* [[Hidden Depths]]

* [[Hobbits|Hobbit]]

* [[Hollywood Pudgy]]: Sure he's heavier than the skinny waif that is Frodo, but he's hardly as fat as Gollum says.

* [[I Just Want to Be Normal]]

* [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness]]: Just about the only character in the story who the Ring cannot tempt.

** [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]

* [[The Power of Friendship]]

* [[The Reliable One]]

* [[Sidekick]]: [[Breakout Character|Ascended]] to hero.

* [[Tender Tears]]: More prominent in the movie adaptation, though.

* [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]

* [[Undying Loyalty]]: Sam almost defines this trope.

 

[[File:200px-248px-0006AC40-2CAA-1FD7-8DAB80C328EC0000_7317.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Audience Surrogate]]

* [[Badass Normal]]

** [[Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu]]: He, along with Éowyn (who also literally breaks her arm), nearly dies from contact with the Witch King.

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: With Pippin.

* [[The Straight Man]]: When he and Pippin are left alone, Merry is shown to be very capable and sensible, even wise, at times.

* [[Those Two Guys]]: With Pippin.

* [[Trickster Archetype]]: With Pippin, especially since Merry is the one who starts trouble.

 

[[File:220px-Pippin_5118.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Plucky Comic Relief]]

* [[Those Two Guys]]: With Merry.

* [[Trickster Archetype]]: An innocent version, with Merry, though this toned down as they make their transition to [[Badass Normal|badasses]].

 

[[File:180px-Gandalf_4125.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Cool Sword]]: Glamdring, which he found during ''[[The Hobbit]]''. Not detailed in the film, but since Jackson is filming that book also...

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]

** [[Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu]]:...but dies from the ordeal. (Don't worry, [[Unexplained Recovery|he gets better]].)

* [[Doting Parent|Doting Grandfather:]] Towards the younger Heroes and Warriors in the band.

* [[Famous Last Words]]: [[You Shall Not Pass]], but technically "Fly, you fools."

* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: Beats up the head of state of Gondor.

* [[Herald]]

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: In Moria to save the rest of the Fellowship.

** [[Unexplained Recovery|He Got Better.]]

* [[Nice Hat]]

* [[Older Than They Look]]

* [[Our Angels Are Different]]: The Wizards are really angels disguised as elderly humans.

* [[Robe and Wizard Hat]]: One of the most memorable.

* [[The Strategist]]

* [[Weapon of Choice]]: Staff and Sword.

* [[You Shall Not Pass]]: [[Trope Namer]]

 

[[File:150px-Aragorn_3_1906.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Iconic Characters]]

* [[King Incognito]].

* [[The Medic]]: He has [[Healing Hands]] and other special healing powers due to his lineage.

* [[Memento MacGuffin]]: The Ring of Barahir. Not explained in the films but he is shown wearing it as an [[Easter Egg]] or [[Mythology Gag]] for readers.

* [[Older Than They Look]]: Thanks to Numenorean descent, he is at his prime at 87.

* [[Older Sidekick]]

* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]] - Well, eighty-seven, anyway.

* [[Requisite Royal Regalia]]

* [[Weapon of Choice]]: Sword.

 

[[File:220px-1Legolas_3832.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[The Archer]]

* [[Bishounen]]: In the movie, oh so '''very''' much.

* [[Elves vs. Dwarves]]: Averted, eventually.

* [[The Fair Folk]]

* [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]: Regular in the original, [[Up to Eleven|taken a ridiculous level]] in the PJ films.

* [[Odd Friendship]]: With Gimli.

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]

* [[The Smart Guy]]

* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: With Gimli. The fact that Legolas' father kept Gimli's father captive in ''[[The Hobbit]]'' doesn't help.

* [[Warrior Prince]]

 

[[File:180px-Gimli_at_the_siege_of_moria_3253.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Odd Friendship]]: With Legolas.

* [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]]: [[Trope Codifier]].

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]

* [[Violent Glaswegian]]: In the film.

* [[Weapon of Choice]]: Axe.

 

[[File:220px-Seanbean_boromir_6600.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Adaptation Dye Job]]

* [[Annoying Arrows]]

* [[Badass Normal]]

* [[The Big Guy]]

* [[Foil]]

** [[The Lancer]]

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]

* [[Honor Before Reason]]

* [[Posthumous Character]]: Even though he died early on, his background and character is explored by the other characters.

* [[Psychic Dreams for Everyone]]

 

== Men ==

[[File:180px-Screen_shot_2011-10-30_at_5_01_02_PM_2093.png|frame]]

 

* [[Battle Cry]]

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]

* [[Foil]]: To Denethor. Where Denethor went mad from grief from Boromir's death, Theoden managed to pull himself out of his despair and find the courage to save the day. He's also a lot more noble than the more devious Denethor.

* [[He's Back]]

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]

 

[[File:220px-Eowyn_3991.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends]]: Ends up with Faramir after learning that Aragorn does not feel the same way toward her.

* [[Death Seeker]]

** [[Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu]]: She literally broke her arm in the struggle, but she also nearly died from contact with the Witch King.

* [[Go Through Me]]

* [[Hair of Gold]]

* [[Lady of War]]

* [[Loving a Shadow]]: Aragorn's response to her is the [[Trope Namer]].

* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Orphaned at a young age, raised by [[Parental Substitute|her uncle]].

* [[Pair the Spares]] / [[Hooked Up Afterwards]]: With Faramir.

* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race Girl]]

* [[Rebellious Princess]]

* [[Sweet Polly Oliver]]

 

[[File:220px-Eomer_1812.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Composite Character]]: He is combined with Erkenbrand, who provided soldiers for the relief of Helm's Deep.

* [[Demoted to Extra]]: More or less just there to fight in the movies.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: "Horse-famous."

* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Orphaned at a young age, raised by [[Parental Substitute|his uncle]].

* [[Warrior Prince]]

 

[[File:220px-Denethor_5123.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Abusive Parents]]: Clearly favors Boromir over Faramir, and doesn't seem to care about Faramir until he seemingly dies.

* [[Adaptational Villainy]]: In the novel he starts off as a wise ruler dedicated to his people who personally has the beacons lit and the civilian population of Minas Tirith evacuated, though it's balanced out by his verbally abusive treatment of Faramir, though he does admit this later on. In the film he's a paranoid Jerkass from the start, sends Faramir on a suicide mission, and never really shows any redeeming qualities.

** Type V at best in the film.

* [[The Chessmaster]]

* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: vs. Sauron, via the Palantir. [[The Abyss Gazes Also|Sauron looked back]].

* [[Insufferable Genius]]

* [[Parental Favoritism]]

* [[Pride]]

* [[Regent for Life]]: "Word has reached my ears of this [[King Incognito|Aragorn son of Arathorn]] and I tell you now... '''I will not bow to some ranger from the north!'''"

* [[Sanity Slippage]]

 

[[File:220px-Faramir3_3072.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Sensitive Guy and Manly Man]]: Faramir is the sensitive one in this pair.

** And being the ''sensitive'' one of the pair he is shown leading a commando team well behind enemy lines, holding troops together with nothing but charisma while the Nazgûl are hovering above him, and defeating a great warrior in single combat. From all of which you will infer, he is part of a [[Badass Family]].

* [[The Unfavorite]]

* [[Unwitting Instigator of Doom]]: In the film version, his capturing Smeagol after Frodo coaxes him out of the Forbidden Pool leads to him thinking Frodo betrayed him, and plotting to kill him and take back the Ring (in the book, Gollum had that one planned out already.)

* [[Warrior Poet]]

* [[Warrior Prince]]

 

 

== Elves ==

[[File:220px-Elrond_8400.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|Really Sixty-Five Hundred Years Old]]

 

[[File:220px-100_beautiful_arwen_1490.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: She gives up her immortality to stay with Aragorn, but it's indicated that he eventually dies, and she follows him not long afterward.

* [[Composite Character]]: Takes over Glorfindel's role as the Elf who takes Frodo to Rivendell, and some aspects of Luthien.

* [[Heroic Lineage]]

* [[The High Queen]]

* [[My Girl Back Home]]

* [[No Ontological Inertia]] / [[Ill Girl]]: Film only, as a consequence of her choice of mortality.

* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|Really Twenty-Seven Hundred Years Old]]

 

[[File:220px-Galadriel04_1834.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: Galadriel's temptation.

* [[Good Counterpart]]

* [[Large Ham]]: "You offer it to me freely? I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired this... {{spoiler|In place of a dark lord you would have a QUEEN! NOT DARK, BUT BEAUTIFUL, AND TERRIBLE AS THE DAWN! TREACHEROUS AS THE SEA! STRONGER THAN THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH! ALL SHALL LOVE ME, AND DESPAIR!"}}

* [[Leave Your Quest Test]]

* [[Psychic Powers]]

* [[The Final Temptation]]

* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|Really Very Old]]: Galadriel was born in the Year of the Trees 1362, before the Sun, the Moon, and the waking of Man. A moderate estimate of Galadriel's age is 10,000 years old.

* [[Time Abyss]]

 

== Other Main Characters ==

[[File:220px-Smeagol_2890.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Accidental Hero]]

* [[Cain and Abel]]

* [[Catch Phrase]]: "My Precioussss", "Gollum, Gollum!"

* [[Foil]]

** [[Shadow Archetype]]: Gollum is a shadow to both Bilbo and Frodo. He is to some extent a shadow to Sam.

* [[Gollum Made Me Do It]]: [[Trope Namer]].

* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]

* [[Heel Face Revolving Door]]

* [[Hero Antagonist]]: [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Possibly]].

* [[Iconic Characters]]: Even people who haven't seen the book or film are familiar with Gollum, if only through [[Popcultural Osmosis]] or his role as childhood [[Nightmare Fuel]] in ''[[The Hobbit]]''.

* [[I'm Melting]]

* [[Monster Sob Story]]

* [[Not So Different]]: From a hobbit once, or from Frodo under the power of the Ring.

* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|Really Five Hundred Years Old]]

* [[Reformed but Rejected]]: In the Jackson films, Sam never completely trusts him even when he's loyal to Frodo. [[Properly Paranoid|When he begins plotting in earnest, though]]...

* [[Sanity Slippage]]

* [[Serkis Folk]]: [[Trope Codifier]] (in the Jackson-films)

* [[Split Personality]]

* [[Starring Special Effects]]

* [[Sympathetic Murderer]]

* [[Trademark Favourite Food]]: Fisssh.

* [[Tragic Villain]]

** [[Verbal Tic Name]]

* [[Was Once a Man|Was Once A Hobbit]]: The prologue of ''Return of the King'' shows us his gradual corruption by the Ring from a normal Hobbit into the creature Gollum. This was done at the insistence of Andy Serkis, who wanted viewers to see there really was an actor behind Gollum.

 

[[File:248px-Treebeard_6197.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Badass Grandpa]]

* [[Constantly Curious]]

* [[Green Aesop]]

* [[Heroic Neutral]]

* [[Hidden Depths]]

* [[Plant Person]]

* [[Time Abyss]]: Perhaps the third-oldest physical creature ([[Our Angels Are Different|Maiar]] don't count) in Middle-Earth. Cirdan, having awoken with the first generation of Elves at Cuivienen way back in the [[The Time of Myths|Years of the Trees]], is older still, and Tom Bombadil is older than the world.

 

== The Forces of Evil ==

[[File:220px-Sauron-2_9655.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Fountain of Expies]]: After the publication of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', it became ''de rigueur'' for the villain in a fantasy story to be a manipulative, rarely-seen [[Evil Overlord]] who lives in a dark tower in an evil realm, employs various horrible creatures to do his work, and is dependent on an artefact of his making for power and survival.

* [[Keystone Army]]: Raised and lost several.

* [[Large and In Charge]]: In the movie he appears to be a good 15 feet tall, at least.

* [[Mind Rape]]: His specialty. <small>"Thy flesh shall be devoured and thy shriveled mind left naked to the Lidless Eye."</small>

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: "Sauron" is Quenya for "abomination". His less-often-seen Sindarin name, Gorthaur, means "terrible dread".

* [[Obviously Evil]]

* [[Take Over the World]]: Sauron wants world domination, a smaller and more practical goal than Morgoth's desire to remake the universe in his image.

* [[Tin Tyrant]]: Whenever we actually see Sauron in the films, he's fully covered in plate armor.

* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: Before his physical body was destroyed in the fall of Númenor.

** Even afterwards he's implied to still possess the ability, though he never really gets a chance to use it--he just can't conceal his true nature any more, meaning it's no longer useful as a disguise.

 

[[File:180px-TheOneRing_9587.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Invisibility Cloak]]: Wearing the Ring makes you invisible in the normal world, but you become visible in the Wraith-World, where you can be seen by Sauron and his Ringwraiths.

* [[Lust Object]]

* [[Nigh Invulnerability]]

* [[Ring of Power]]: THE Ring of Power.

* [[Soul Jar]]

 

[[File:220px-Saruman-the-white_6912.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]

* [[Big Bad Wannabe]]

* [[Break the Haughty]]

* [[Compelling Voice]]: Especially when played by [[Christopher Lee]].

** [[Most Wonderful Sound]]

* [[Evil Counterpart]]: To Gandalf. He even says that he is what Saruman should have been.

* [[Evil Old Folks]]

** [[The Rival]]: To Gandalf.

** [[Shadow Archetype]]: After his [[Face Heel Turn]], he's this to Gandalf.

* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: Saruman became too obsessed with using the powers of the Ring against Sauron.

* [[Insufferable Genius]]

* [[Mage Tower]]

* [[Manipulative Bastard]]

* [[Not So Different]]

* [[Our Angels Are Different]]: The Wizards are really angels disguised as elderly humans.

* [[Spikes of Villainy]]: His dark tower, Orthanc, is crowned with four spikes, and his staff also has four spikes at the top.

* [[You Can't Make an Omelette]]: Discussed. <small>[[Kirk Summation|"He who breaks a thing to discover what it is has left the path of wisdom."]]</small>

 

[[File:200px-Grima_4563.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Manipulative Bastard]]

* [[The Mole]]

* [[Obviously Evil]]

* [[Oh Crap]]: Realizing that his men failed to confiscate Gandalf's staff.

* [[Treacherous Advisor]]

 

[[File:179px-Witch_king_Sword_1992.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[The Dragon]]

* [[The Dreaded]]

* [[Evil Is Deathly Cold]]

* [[Evil Sorcerer]]

* [[Prophecy Twist]]

* [[The Undead]]

* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: Sunlight, fire, non-men.

* [[Was Once a Man]]

 

[[File:180px-Lord-of-the-rings-orcs_819.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[The Ageless]]: Like the Elves they were supposedly created from, but it isn't fully clear.

* [[Bad Boss]]: Any given orc in a position of power will probably be one of these

* [[Black Blood]]

* [[Blood Knight]]: All the Uruk-hai, but Ugluk stands out in particular.

* [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]]: The Uruk-hai,

* [[Dirty Coward]]: "Standard" orcs, which is why whip-wielding superiors and/or Nazgûl stand ''behind them''...

* [[Evilly Affable]]: For the most part.

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: Against Elves, Men, and even other Orcs (there is a rivalry between the Orcs of Mordor, the 'Northerners' from the Misty Mountains who are used to running their own affairs, and Saruman's Uruk-hai).

* [[I'm a Humanitarian]]: They're not very... selective in their diet, though unlike in the movies they generally don't eat each other if they can get anything else.

* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: Grishnakh.

*** Gothmog also appears in the book, but it's never specified whether he is an orc or a human.

* [[No Cure for Evil]]: Averted. Orcish medicine is among the most advanced in Middle-Earth but it tends to be very painful and has heavy scarring.

* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]: Uruk-hai only. "Standard" orcs are sneaks and cowards.

* [[Smug Snake]]: Grishnakh.

* [[Torture Technician]]: Just about any orc with brains will be one of these.

 

[[File:180px-Olog-hai_7231.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[All Trolls Are Different]]: Tolkien's trolls are giant-like monsters with rocky hides and beast-like intelligence. They permanently turn to stone when exposed to sunlight. The exceptions are Sauron's Olog-hai, more intelligent trolls that are immune to sunlight.

* [[Dumb Muscle]]

* [[Elite Mook]]: The Attack Trolls followed by the Olog-Hai.

* [[Smash Mook]]

 

 

* [[Ass in Ambassador]]: After meeting with Aragorn, he essentially demands his surrender.

* [[Dirty Coward]]

* [[Evil Sorcerer]]

* [[I Shall Taunt You]]: Pretty much his whole "negotiation" with Gandalf.

* [[Mouth of Sauron]]: [[Trope Namer]]

* [[Slasher Smile]]

* [[Smug Snake]]

 

[[File:164px-Shelob_fighting_4756.jpg|frame]]

 

** The book emphasizes that unlike dragons, Shelob has no weak spots save for her eyes. Sam is only able to pierce her skin and tissue because she unwittingly slams on his blade with her own, massive strength.

* [[Casting a Shadow]]: Like her mother, she weaves webs of unlight that are perceptible to the Hobbits.

* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: In spider-form, but an abomination nonetheless.

* [[Eye Scream]]: Sam stabs her in one eye with Sting during their fight.

* [[The Voiceless]]: The fact that she was able to work out a deal with Gollum implies she ''can'' speak, but she never does during her appearance in the text.

** Or just that she understands speech, and relented her attack when Gollum begged for his life and promised to bring her tasty things to eat.

 

[[File:s_Balrog_5113.jpg|frame]]

 

* [[Knight of Cerebus]]: The story was already serious, but he upped the ante and paved the way for the Fellowship's breaking by bringing down Gandalf. (Of course, Gandalf [[Unexplained Recovery|got better.]]) It also introduced the epic one-on-one fights that would occur later in the story.

* [[Large and In Charge]]: Much larger than the orcs and trolls in Moria, and they seem to be almost as afraid of him as the Fellowship is. In the [[Peter Jackson]] films, Durin's Bane is nearly twenty feet tall.

** And [[Casting a Shadow|shadow]].

* [[Rasputinian Death]]: Falls down a deep pit along with Gandalf, as they try to stab one another as they plummet down to the bottom. Once they land, they are immediately submerged, carried down the stream presumably, until they reached the base of a mountain, climb the [[Endless Corridor|Endless Stair]] to the peak of Celebdil, where they fought until Gandalf manages to pierce its heart, causing it to fall down to its death.

* [[Whip It Good]]: He uses a flaming whip [[Dual Wield|in conjunction with]] a [[Flaming Sword]].