LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring | Movie Reaction 

I never skip a LOTR watchalong, I love seeing other people enjoy my favourite movies😊❤

The pain on Gandalf’s face when Frodo offers to bear the ring always gets me.

I feel like the older you get, the more you get out of this trilogy. When you're a kid you're amazed at the spectacle, the story, the excitement, etc. Then you get older and Gandalf's words to Frodo about deciding what to do with the time that is given to you in hard times hits like a ton of bricks. Not to mention how easy it is to identify with Boromir succumbing to temptation in order to do what he thinks is right. Or Aragorn running away from his responsibility of leadership because he is afraid of failing like his ancestor did. Plus many other things.

RIP Bernard Hill. RIP Christopher Lee. RIP Ian Holm. RIP Noel Appleby. And everyone else I missed that brought us this masterpiece.

40:22 Boromir placing a hand on Gimli’s shoulder just then always gets me. Boromir was first and foremost Gondor’s protector and he’s out here with the Fellowship, all the while there’s a real chance that Gondor could end up exactly like Moria. Gimli’s essentially living Boromir’s greatest nightmare.

"I would have gone with you to the end, into the very fires of mordor."

Something which I noticed on watching all these reaction videos, is that the Nazgul is not CONTROLLING the bugs, as I thought it was all this time, but its that the Nazgul is so unnatural that even the BUGS are trying to escape it.

"I would have followed you my brother. My captain. My King." "Be at peace. Son of Gondor." 😭 Every time.

You didn't really comment on it but lots of people think the worms and spiders crawling over the Hobbits in the scene with the Nazgul sniffing them out are like summoned by the Nazgul or something. When really those critters are just as afraid as the Hobbits and just try to get away. It's because Nazguls emit an aura of fear.

At 57:48, Tolkien writes: The River had taken Boromir, son of Denethor, and he was not seen again in Minas Tirith, standing as he used to stand upon the White Tower in the morning. But in Gondor in after-days it long was said that the elven-boat rode the falls and the foaming pool, and bore him down through Osgiliath, and past the many mouths of Anduin, and out into the Great Sea at night under the stars."

See here's the thing, Maple. These movies will make you cry HARDER the second, third, and fourth time than they do the first.

Elrond's expression 31:40 when Merry and Pippin barge in: "Wait . . . how many of these little f*ckers are there?"

I love how Maple has technically seen these movies and Arianna has technically read the books but apparently neither one remembers anything from watching/reading them lmao

"... Extended Edition!" There they are, the magic words that make or break any LotR reaction for me 😄

Boromir's journey from, "Gondor has no king; Gondor needs no king." to "I would have followed you, my brother. My captain. *My king!"* 😭

Gandalf's black speech is such an underrated scene. I love how everyone is affected, but the elves recoil in pain.

The actor who plays Saruman, Christopher Lee, was the biggest Tolkien fan and the only man who actually met him in the entire production. He was also the biggest IRL badass: a WW2 spy who was the person Ian Flemming based James Bond on. You can Google that shizz.

the uncontrollable laughcrying around @59:01 is just the Peak Diegesis moment of all time for me!

My mother fell in love with the books when she was in college and she was over the moon when the first trailer premiered for Fellowship. She handed me the boxset and insisted I read through them before it came out. There will never be another film project quite like LOTR. Powerful script, perfect casting, flawless performances, outrageous production value, groundbreaking VFX, iconic soundtrack. When the trilogy came out on DVD (and then again with the Extended Editions), we spent literal weeks watching all the behind-the-scenes material, and rewatching the movies will every commentary track.

In the book there is a 17 year gap from when Bilbo leaves and when Frodo leaves. The Ring has become more aware since Bilbo.

Gandalf bumping his head was not part of the script. He did it by accident and just kept rolling with it

48:14 Galadrial is one of the 3 or 4 oldest elves in Middle-Earth. Her daughter is married to Elrond, and her Grandaughter is Arwen, who is in love with Aragorn.

Something else you have to remember about Boromir, is that he's got a TON of pressure to essentially take over governing Gondor when his dad passes away. Gondor is the closest kingdom to Mordor, and they're the ones under the most threat from Sauron. So Boromir feels like his people are desperate for a secret weapon and he's doing the best he can to try and find it so he can save them. He was not meant to rule Gondor, but because Gondor has been without a king for a very long time, he feels like he has to be their advocate.

Nobody saw Bilbo’s scary face coming! All of us were startled by that in theaters. The Nazgûl's shrieks were created by distorting recordings of producer and screenwriter Fran Walsh's scream. Thanks to The special feature on the extended edition DVD, I got to hear the woman’s scream and it was eerie!

The thing about Merry and Pippin... they did not hesitate for one second to help Frodo and Sam. They might not be the brightest bulbs... but those are the sort of friends that you want.

The movie kind of glosses over how ridiculously old Elrod (and Galadriel by extension) are but that moment in the books is amazing. Up until the Council of Elrond chapter, readers will only know Elrond as a Loremaster who helped Bilbo and the dwarves back in the hobbit. Now, Frodo finds out Elrond's true history: "Thereupon Elrond paused a while and sighed. 'I remember well the splendour of their banners,' he said. 'It recalled to me the glory of the Elder Days and the hosts of Beleriand, so many great princes and captains were assembled. And yet not so many, nor so fair, as when Thangorodrim was broken, and the Elves deemed that evil was ended for ever, and it was not so.' 'You remember?' said Frodo, speaking his thought aloud in his astonishment. 'But I thought,' he stammered as Elrond turned towards him, 'I thought that the fall of Gil-galad was a long age ago.' 'So it was indeed,' answered Elrond gravely. 'But my memory reaches back even to the Elder Days. Eärendil was my sire, who was born in Gondolin before its fall; and my mother was Elwing, daughter of Dior, son of Lúthien of Doriath. I have seen three ages in the West of the world, and many defeats, and many fruitless victories." Elrond was not only there at Sauron's defeat, three thousand years ago, but he was also at Thangorodrim, the final battle with Sauron's master (and kind of the Satan of the LOTR universe), Morgoth. He has fought and won countless wars, watched his people die, and yet has lived long enough to always see evil return to plague Middle-Earth regardless of the sacrifices he has already made.

One important detail that didn't come across in the movie is that there is a 17 year gap between Bilbo's party and Frodo finally leaving the shire. During that time Gandalf did a lot of investigating and spent a lot of time hunting Gollum along with Aragorn. During that time the nine were trying to figure what the heck "Shire, Baggins" even means.

The moment that makes me cry is when Frodo says the first time, “I will take the ring,” and no one hears him but Gandalf, and Gandalf’s close-up shows how heartbroken he is.

Reaction channels are perfect for us who've watched LOTR 100 times. Now I get to watch these 2 enjoy it too!

Re: Strider: "I kinda want him to smolder at me" BIG SAME WELCOME

"Sam comes in fucking clutch" -Eru Eluvatar probably

“Beautiful and terrible as the dawn” is such an amazing line! Her whole monologue is beautiful but I love the old use of “terrible,” which is basically so awe inspiring and transcendent that it’s scary.

Bill, the pony has a wonderful side story that deserves an honorable mention.❤

Isildur got screwed in his movie portrayal. For those who don’t know, there was no moment where the strength of Men failed between Elrond and Isildur. He realized fairly quickly that the ring was corrupting him and was on his way to discuss with Elrond what to do when he was ambushed and killed. Isildur was the best of the race of Men in his time. I mean He’s the reason there’s the white tree in Gondor by saving a seed of the original one during Numenor’s destruction.

I grew up on these books, read them over and over, and then read the series through to my kids at least twice. When the movies came out, I was terrified that they would butcher my childhood. And then overjoyed with how reverently Peter Jackson recreated the material. When we eventually got to the Return of the King and I got my first look at Minas Tirith, I wept like a babe.

"Did you watch the Olympic Break Dancing?" - Girl you took me out 🤣

You'll appreciate Boromir even more after watching the extended version of Two Towers! The man was under tremendous pressure. As a lover of the books, I think the movies are superb. In fact, I'd rate every aspect of the movies as superb -- sound effects, music, photography, acting, pacing -- all amazing. Really looking forward to watching "The Two Towers" with you two towers of reacting!

" I will not say do not weep; for not all tears are evil" J.R. Tolkien

I loved this reaction for 2 reasons. First, you can really tell that this is Maple's second watch because she is more emotional, now knowing how it all ends and the characters. The more times you watch it, the more emotional it is. Second, you can tell Arianna really knows the story well, from the books, but is seeing it come to life for the first time. Very genuine reaction. Look forward to the next ones.

The theatrical version omitted the description of hobbits 5:13, the scene of Frodo and Sam coming on the migrating elves, Aragorn singing the Lay of Luthien, Elrond's backstory 27:19 of Isildur failing to destroy the ring, some parts of the Council of Elrond 29:06 , Galadriel showing Frodo her ring Nenya, and Galadriel's gifts to the Fellowship.

Luke Skywalker: "NOOOOOooooo.........." Frodo: "Hold my ale...."

At 14:33 you say, "It's like a [ _ ] opera happening in the background." Howard Shore deliberately composed the score for the movie in operatic terms. He used a device, the "leitmotiv," popularized in 19th-century opera by Richard Wagner, where objects, emotions, or actions have characteristic musical phrases associated with them. So the Ring has several leitmotivs associated with it, as does the Shire, and later Rivendell, the Mines of Moria, and Lothlorien. Shore created over a hundred leitmotivs in the scoring of the three movies. He won the Academy Award for Best Film Score for FOTR and ROTK.

I know y'all were in pain but I am so happy at how much you cried and felt for these characters!

Arwen's horse was named Asfaloth. In the original book it wasn't her but Glorfindel that took Frodo and fled to Imladris. _"Noro lim, Asfaloth!" (Fly on, Asfaloth!)_

I don't know if ya'll knew this, but the guy playing Gimli also played Salah in "Indiana Jones".

The moment I saw Maple's reaction to Gandalf's words of wisdom in Moria, I knew the ending would destroy her. You could see it speaking to her so deeply.

I saw this film opening day with my dad; the moment Frodo came into view and we see The Shire for the first time, I wept. The cinematography, the score by Howard Shore...an amazing feat of film making that will never happen again; the stars aligned for this to happen. It's the perfect trilogy of films.

to be fair to pippin, he has Literally never been in a situation where touching something could get him murdered. like never not even a little. he has No Clue that touching some random thing in a cave could even get anyone murdered, let alone someone considered a god-adjacent-guy

Tolkien was a genius, in the hobbit whenever Bilbo was in trouble he would put on the ring and just escape but here putting the ring on instantly put Frodo in danger

One of the funny bits about this movie is that Billy Boyd was, in real life, scared of fireworks, so when pippin and merry set off the firework and pippin screams, that was actually a real scream from Billy Boyd. He wasnt acting that one. Every time i hear that scream, i laugh. The nazgul screech is generated by an ancient form of warhorn - celtic or mongolian, i forget which. Imagine youre about to start a battle and some bugger on the other side is blowing that thing at you. The birds speak. Speaking to crows, is an ability the dwarves also have. The extended version of FOTR has extended bits mostly around Galadriel, but the extended bits in the other two movies give lots of background.

You are never late to watch this great saga. Nor are you early. You are watching precisely as you means to.

The books and the movies differ in the same way myths about the Olympian gods differed in different parts of the ancient Greek world. I love both. One does not supplant the other. I've read the books around 15+ times.

no that is not Papyrus. LOTR uses multiple combinations of real fonts with Tolkien's hand lettering style.

EXCELLENT! 👏👏👏👏 The insane re-watchability of these movies is partly why everyone wants to react to other people viewing them. Maple’s initial viewings were so memorable (when she broke at the end of Two Towers “I love Sam SO much…” - Ugly sobbing), so it’s going to be amazing to see her ‘2nd viewing’ - knowing what comes next, but the impact only deepens Arianna is going on a hell of a ride here, too Will Maple be able to hide her excitement/ anxiety from Arianna….? 👍 NB: brave step for Chad heading into this editing nightmare. AGAIN. 😃

"He sounds lit." That's actually the line from the script and the book. He's saying, "one hundred and eleventyeth birthday. Best. Mike.

It’s never said in the movie. But Gandalf has a ring of power as well that was given to an elf (who’s now dead 😭) and it’s a ring that gives people courage. So Gandalfs speeches and dialogue is written so amazingly, he inspires and gives hope everytime he talks. Incredible really ❤❤❤❤

Fun fact: in the mountain scene 34:00, the actors and crew flew to the top of the mountian each day by helicopter for shooting except Sean Bean (Boromir) who is afraid of flying. So everyday, he would leave two hours before shooting started to climb the mountian in full costume to get there at the same time as the others!

The ENTIRE trilogy was filmed in New Zealand. You can actually book LoTR tours and visit the sights.

At 29:30, Gandalf's words are the inscription on the Ring, in the Black Speech. When he discovered the inscription in Frodo's house, he said, "The language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here." You can see why he wouldn't utter the words in the Shire.

When Gandalf falls, it is the angelic voice of that choir boy singing that sends me over the edge.

If I could wave a magic wand and enable all these movie reactors to experience these three films for the first time on the big screen, I would.

The original reaction with Maple was the reason why I started watching this channel and seeing her so emotionally moved by the movies just reignited in me how good the movies are.

Maple's fellowship reaction was the first reaction video I ever watched. Gandalf's words at the end "it’s what you do with the time given to you" accompanied with her breaking down hit me so hard and made me cry, something I hadn’t done in ages. It was rough, but afterwards I felt really good and have been hooked to this channel ever since. Thanks for dodging the copyright, it was fun

The laugh-sobbing at the end was the best.

The orcs are awesome. I kind hate the hobbits movies because its all CG instead of makeup. Fun fact : the tallest actor in the cast is the actor playing the dwarf.

Speaking of crying, the freaking _Appendices,_ which I watch every year, move me to tears! The love and dedication the entire cast and crew poured into this trilogy is astounding.

Gandalf's wisdom *is* for you. Tolkien's inspiration for these books comes from life experiences, written as allegory.

The music that plays when Gandalf falls is the sound a heart makes when it’s breaking.

No one dies on screen better than Sean Bean.

Christopher Lee (Saurmon) is the coolest guy in the film, you should look into his past- it's amazing.

Maple, “I love dark fantasy”. Show. Them. Berserk. Also, I always love Arianna’s facial to monsters and gross creatures lol. By the way she reacts you’d think she was actually in the room with the orcs and troll. It never ceases to amaze me how sincere and empathetic you two are. Maple has already seen these, and Gandalf’s death still gets her teary eyed. It is very sweet.

I shall die on this hill: IT WASN'T A RIDDLE ON THE DOOR. It was the Dwarves welcoming the Elves by writing the entrance in their language. It wasn't "Speak 'friend' and enter." It was "Speak friend, and enter." ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS SPEAK. READ THE INSCRIPTION OUT LOUD AND IT WOULD HAVE OPENED. The only reason everyone thought it was a riddle was because Gandalf translated the inscription into English. If Gandalf had simply read the words AS THEY WERE F***ING WRITTEN, the doors would have immediately opened.

So I vividly remember seeing this is theaters 3 times, but it may have been more in totale times. The first time I saw it the theater in question was undergoing a transition for traditional "theater" style to the urban and modern Multi-Megaplex plaza. The owners of the theater had purchased the arcade next door ANS four or five of the surrounding shops and renovations were on going WHILE the cinema halls were in operation. Anyway the first time I was just getting comfortable seeing Sauron swiping away mofos left and right when the subwoofer overloaded the entire surround system and blew out all the speakers except the main center speaker, which is under the screen. Instantly over 80% of people left and about five minutes after several ushers came in and gave everyone a voucher to come back for a free showing when the system was repaired. We were also advised to come back the next weekend because it was 100% to be fixed by then. The extra cherry was that even if we chose to stay and finish watching with the limited sound we'd still get the free voucher.

16:28 The Nazgul scream was actually recorded by Fran Walsh (director Peter Jackson's wife). They struggled to find a scream that was ominous enough for the Nine, and one day she just screamed form the top of her lungs, they edited it a bit in the recording studio and that's basically it :) I think she was horrified by some spider that wondered on set, but I'm not sure 'bout that... Peter spoke about it in the making-of documentary :)

The "Burping and eating a carrot" man in Bree is Peter Jackson! He's got cameos in all three movies.

I think you'd love Princess Mononoke. it's one the best dubbed anime, and the rewritten(by Neil Gayman!) dialogue is better than the original.

Yeah people do Sauron Cosplay and it goes hard. If you want to really swoon, look up "Annatar" cosplay. They dress up as Sauron in his "fair form" that he used to deceive the other races into accepting his Rings of Power as gifts. People also cosplay his original form before he became evil named Mairon, all really great cosplays.

the Ext versions have LOTS of lore drops and mega increased tensions

Can't lie, while I didn't think she would notice, a part of me was hoping Arianna would recognize Bilbo (Ian Holm) as Ash from Alien and it would immediately plant a seed of mistrust for him. Still love her reactions to the Alien films.

DUUUUDE I’m so happy y’all doing this! I can’t wait, best trilogy of all time!

24:32 Maple said "you don't have to ask me twice"... some of us know what Aragorn said before Arwen rode away... XP

@Diegesis Looking forward to Arianna and Maples journey in Lord of the Rings, I hope they enjoy them. I hope they will also react to The Hobbit Films and Rings of Power Series. Despite its haters they are fun and enjoyable.

I just love how sincere these movies are.

"But something happened then, that the ring did not intend.. it was picked up by the unlikeliest of creatures, the same kind of creature who had it for more than five hundred years!"

I always love how the introduction to the Hobbits and the Shire makes the audience really at ease, comfy houses, nice food and ale, and tranquil life in nature. You care about the place and the people within minutes and it lasts for the rest of the trilogy.

The mark of quality is how rewatchable something is.

There's a flashback scene in the second movie where we see Boromir is ordered by his father, the Steward of Gondor, to retrieve the ring and bring it back to Gondor. That's why he's the first tempted. The idea is already in his mind.

watching lotrs again?

For the question at 5:12 or so: I read somewhere that people stopped making houses with intricate detailing after the Spanish Flu. The theory was that all the nooks and crannies were places that dirt and bacteria could accumulate; society was traumatized enough by the pandemic of 1918-19 that they would do anything to avoid that. Take this theory for what it's worth.

Wait, neither of them has seen it before? 🤔 I coulda sworn I've watched at least one of them react to it already. Oh well, might be wrong. 🤷‍♂️

Its ok to do two 1 hour videos for each of the movies. Many reactors do it that way. Extended editions preferrably, it still keeps great pace overall, with extra lore and scenes that make sense cause you'll end up wanting to know more about middle earth so it can be a missed opportunity. Worth it!

For maximum emotional impact I would suggest getting to the last 2 parts as soon as you can! Each one is amazing. The next two movies you'll see why Boromir was trying to get the ring. How they made such a masterpiece that stands the test of time and has no curse words and no sex scenes really highlights the great writing, acting, music and cinematography.

Omg thank you for watching the extended version. You have no idea. Especially for the next two films, it adds so many important scenes that they removed for the theatrical versions.

Its only when you go back and watch the Unextended that you realize what they cut out and then it just makes you uneasy knowing how much of the story is missing. It feels more shallow. Then every time after that you feel you MUST watch the extended cuts of all 3.

I love how the hobbits call Sting a sword. Its not a sword its a dagger, its only a sword to hobbits cause they're so small

Sad to see so many reactors skipping the Aragorn Boromir talk in Lothlorien, one of the best scenes of the triology, fantastic acting by Sean Bean.

The constant swings from awe to horror to comedy to despair to hope and back around is one of the things I think makes these movies operate on just a whole other level. Like, I grew up watching the original Star Wars trilogy literally all the time, it was like my comfort food, and I will forever defend it as a cornerstone of modern culture and will allows love it for that reason. But The Lord of the Rings trilogy, particularly Fellowship, is timeless in a way that so few movies made these days really gets right.

She's the first person I've ever seen say that she read the books and has not watched these movies. Very interesting

Everyone gives so much love for the moment when Viggo breaks his toes, but Sean Astin cut his foot really badly running into the river when he’s chasing Frodo.

"These hobbits have sturdy feet." Yeah, especially when you realize that Sam is carrying two cast iron pans and a pot the whole way. My man is hiking all across the world, straight into literal hell, and he's carrying a kitchen on his back.