with shortness of breath

Between the mountains and the sea

• “I made a promise Mr Frodo— a promise! Don’t you leave him Samwise Gamgee. And I don’t mean to. I don’t mean to.”
• In general all the scenes where there’s no words/dialogue, and the music and visuals and actor’s performances are allowed to carry the story instead….something that’s impossible to do in a book. The standout moment for me is the moment after the ring is destroyed, Bard-Dur collapses, and it’s portrayed as.relief beyond words.
• THE SOUNDTRACK IN GENERAL
• The scene in mount doom that’s like “don’t you let go. Don’t let go.”
• The hobbits returning home to find everything the same,  and being heartbroken because they’ve changed so much.. I’m not saying it’s better than the book’s plotline where they returned home to find the Scouring of the Shire™, but it’s impactful in a completely different way
• The scene where Eowyn hears Theoden’s last words, instead of Merry hearing them like he did in the books. Again, not necessarily “better,” but impactful in a different way
• “my brother, my captain….. my king.”
• Flm!Boromir in general. He’s a drastically different character than he was in the books, and YMMV on which version you like better, but I’m so glad film!Boromir is here
• “No parent should have to bury their child.”
• Arwen’s expanded role in general, and the way they we actually got to see her make her choice to stay in Middle Earth
• That subplot in the Two Towers where Aragorn tames a wild unruly horse, basically becoming the protagonist of a Horse Girl Movie
• THE PACING!!!!!!!!!!!! 
• The way they moved around a lot of the dialogue to places that made it hit differently. .Like in the books Gandalf says the line “many that live deserve death– and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them?” when he’s still in the Shire with Frodo. But in the films, he says it in Moria instead, in his last conversation with Frodo before his own death. 

• Legolas’ miniature character arc of growing to understand death. Gandalf dies? Just pure shock. He looks like he got punched. Boromir dies? He’s just so. Sad and confused. Like a little kid who doesn’t know what dying is but he knows it’s bad. They think the Hobbits are dead? Legolas bows his head and murmurs a farewell in Elvish, but he still doesn’t seem to comprehend. He thinks Aragorn is dead? He practically shuts down because now he gets it. Battle of the Black Gate, when it looks like Aragorn is about to die? That is the only moment besides Moria when we see Legolas is genuinely afraid.
• “Never thought I’d die fighting side by side with an Elf.” “What about side by side with a friend?” “…Aye. I could do that.”
• Éomer finding Éowyn after the battle instead of in the middle of it and letting out that gut-wrenching scream.
• “They have a Cave-Troll.”
• Basically the entire fight sequence in Balin’s tomb, which was much shorter in the book.
• That EPIC charge down the mountain at Helm’s Deep. Looks like a freaking Renaissance painting.
• Boromir training the Hobbits to fight. It’s just so pure and wholesome.
• Actually that whole scene because it’s the one moment—before the crebain show up—that we get to see the Fellowship just being friends without some immediate crisis.
• Sam getting to say a proper goodbye to Bill the Pony because I have FEELINGS about that pony, okay?!
• Arwen and Aragorn having an essentially telepathic connection. Idk if it’s better than the books, but honestly it’s a good way to expand her character without changing it completely—which is what they were gonna do originally by having her show up at Helm’s Deep to fight.
• The Elves showing up at Helm’s Deep. I don’t like that literally none of them survived, but that moment when Haldir said they came to honor the old allegiance of Men and Elves? That is some Good Content.

The Third Age of the world is ended, and the new age is begun; and it is your task to order its beginning and to preserve what must be preserved.

We set out to save The Shire, Sam. And it has been saved…but not for me.

• “All that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost.”
• “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
• “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
• “There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”
• “Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”
• “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
• “Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”
• “I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.”
• “Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
• “I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things.”
• “Courage is found in unlikely places.”
• “It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.”
• “May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.”
• “Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.”
• “A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a shortcut to meet it.”
• “I warn you, if you bore me, I shall take my revenge.”
• “In this hour, I do not believe that any darkness will endure.”
• “It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.”
• “The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.”
• “If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. ”
• “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”
• “It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.”
• “You have nice manners for a thief and a liar.“
• “It is useless to meet revenge with revenge; it will heal nothing.”
• “Yes, I am here. And you are lucky to be here too after all the absurd things you’ve done since you left home.”
• “Pay heed to the tales of old wives. It may well be that they alone keep in memory what it was once needful for the wise to know.”
• “It is perilous to study too deeply the arts of the Enemy, for good or for ill.”
• “I wished to be loved by another, but I desire no man’s pity.”
• “The whole thing is quite hopeless, so it’s no good worrying about tomorrow. It probably won’t come.”
• “Sorry! I don’t want any adventures, thank you. Not Today. Good morning! But please come to tea -any time you like! Why not tomorrow? Good bye!”
• “How do you move on? You move on when your heart finally understands that there is no turning back.”
• “A red sun rises. Blood has been spilled this night.”
• “Don’t go where I can’t follow.”
• “I may be a burglar…but I’m an honest one, I hope, more or less.”
• “For victory is victory, however small, nor is its worth only from what follows from it.”
• “I have passed through fire and deep water, since we parted. I have forgotten much that I thought I knew, and learned again much that I had forgotten.”
• “Why must you speak your thoughts? Silence, if fair words stick in your throat, would serve all our ends better.”
• “If you sit on the doorstep long enough, I daresay you will think of something”
• “There’s some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”
• “On their deathbed men will speak true, they say.”

Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry. There many foes he fought, His cloven shield, his broken sword, they to the water brought. His head so proud, his face so fair, his limbs they laid to rest, And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, bore him upon its breast.