So I'm going to see Return Of The King on Thursday...

[Jonster]

<font color="#99CCFF">... but I've never seen all the first one, and almost fell asleep during the 2nd, and I really can't remember what's going on.
Not going to see it isn't an option :shifty:
I don't really want to buy the first 2 movies either, so if you could bring me up to speed on what's going on, without spoiling the 3rd, it'll be a) much appreciated, and b) I'll rep you good ;) </font>

[Wengerland]

To be honest as long as you know the characters you'll be ok.I couldn't remember the 1st one too much and stopped watching the 2nd after about an hour and i was ok with the Return Of The King,just found it to be too long for me personally.

[loopydate]

Okay, here's the story:

The Fellowship of the Ring

At his 111th birthday party, Bilbo Baggins disappears (with the aid of a magic ring), preparing to leave the Shire to write a book about his adventures. He leaves the ring in the care of his nephew Frodo. Upon finding the ring, wizard Gandalf the Gray discovers that the ring is actually the Ring of Power (or One Ring), forged by the Dark Lord Sauron to control the people of Middle-Earth. The Ring must be destroyed or else Sauron, who is coming back into power, could take over the world. This conversation is overheard by Frodo's gardener Sam, and Gandalf entrusts Sam with the task of protecting Frodo. Frodo and Sam are to meet Gandalf at an inn in the town of Bree after Gandalf goes to meet his mentor, Saruman the White.

On their way to Bree, Frodo and Sam run into their friends Merry and Pippin and (after an encounter with Sauron's Ringwraiths {former kings of men possessed to seek the ring}), Merry and Pippin join the "team."

Meanwhile, Gandalf goes to see Saruman. It turns out that Saruman has allied himself with Sauron, and Gandalf and Saruman fight. Saruman essentially locks Gandalf on the roof of his tower (Orthanc).

The hobbits arrive at Bree, but Gandalf is nowhere to be found. However, they are confronted by a Ranger named Strider, who somehow knows what the Ring is. The Wraiths show up in Bree and try to kill the hobbits and Strider, but Strider tricks them by switching rooms in the inn and the Wraiths get nothing but empty beds. From Bree, Strider and the hobbits make for the elvish city of Rivendell.

Along the way, they are attacked by Ringwraiths in a place called Weathertop. Frodo is stabbed by one of the Wraiths, and the blade begins to turn him into a wraith. Strider fights off the wraiths and he and Sam try to find a plant that can cure Frodo before he slips into darkness. While searching, Strider is discovered by Arwen, an elvish princess from Rivendell. She takes Frodo the rest of the way to Rivendell where her father, Lord Elrond, can try to heal him.

When Frodo comes to, Gandalf (having escaped Orthanc), the hobbits, and Strider are all there. Gandalf and Elrond have a discussion about getting the ring to Mordor (Sauron's land), and a gathering is held with leaders of men, elves, and dwarves. At the council, everyone finds out that Strider is actually Aragorn, the long-lost heir to the throne of the kingdom of Gondor. Aragorn, the hobbits, and Gandalf (as well as a Gondorian "steward" named Boromir, an elf named Legolas, and a dwarf named Gimli) form the Fellowship of the Ring.

They begin to make their way to Mordor by attempting to cross a mountain. Saruman begins controlling the weather, making their voyage even more difficult. The Fellowship decides to head into the Mines of Moria, a dwarvish mine. While inside, they have a battle with a cave troll (which nearly kills Frodo), and then a confrontation with the Balrog (a creature of fire and shadow). After Gandalf forces the Balrog to fall into a pit, the Balrog catches Gandalf by the ankle and drags him down into the pit with him.

Despondent over their friend's death, the Fellowship continue on their path. They make it to the Elvish city of Lothlorien, home of Galadriel (the "White Lady"). In the night, Galadriel shows Frodo a possible future where the Fellowship fails and the Shire is overrun by orcs and other evil creatures. Boromir confesses to Aragorn that he is becoming restless.

This whole time, Saruman has been creating an army of hybrid Uruk-Hai (half-orc, half-goblin) to try to reclaim the ring.

Boromir begins to lose his mind, thinking that the Ring can be used as a weapon against Mordor, and tries to take it from Frodo. Frodo escapes, but runs into Aragorn. Aragorn, like Galadriel before him, manages to overcome the Ring's power, and sends Frodo off on his way. The Fellowship is attacked by an army of Uruk-Hai. Frodo and Sam manage to escape thanks to a distraction from Merry and Pippin.

Merry and Pippin get themselves in trouble, though, as they are soon surrounded by Uruks. Boromir comes to their rescue, though, redeeming himself before the head Uruk-Hai (Lutz) kills him with three arrows to the chest. Before the rest of the Fellowship can come to their rescue, Merry and Pippin are taken off by the Uruk-Hai.

After giving Boromir a burial at sea, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli decide to head off after Merry and Pippin, letting Frodo and Sam try to sneak into Mordor alone. Against Frodo's better wishes, Sam convinces him to let Sam accompany him on the voyage. The film ends with Frodo and Sam looking out toward Mordor and Frodo saying that he's glad Sam came along.

THE END

I'll be back later with the rundown of "Two Towers," unless somebody wants to beat me to it.

[Jonster]

<font color="#99CCFF">Loopy- you're a fu</>cking god send man!
:love: :kiss: :love: :kiss:

-edit-
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to loopydate again.
:( I think I only rep'ed you once, thought that only appeared after many times repping?</font>

[Jonster]

To be honest as long as you know the characters you'll be ok.I couldn't remember the 1st one too much and stopped watching the 2nd after about an hour and i was ok with the Return Of The King,just found it to be too long for me personally.

<font color="#99CCFF">(I think) I know some of the characters, I just don't know what they're all doing there.
Return of the King sounds like a long movie (3 hours 20 when I looked on the Odeon site) :|
But I kinda promised the girlfriend I'd go see it with her (well I mentioned I hadn't seen it, and she wanted to see it again, and I'm off to see her Thursday, so it's kinda come about from that)
I may take a cushion with me tho</font>

[loopydate]

Sorry for having taken so long doing this. Been busy (am actually supposed to be writing a paper right now, but...)

The Two Towers
The plot's a little crazy, because there are so many different stories going on at once. If I miss something, may the ghost of J.R.R. Tolkien haunt my dreams. Also, the stories are probably out of order. I'm doing this by memory and I haven't seen Towers in a while, so bear with me.

The film starts with Frodo and Sam out in the wilderness, continuing their trek to Mordor. Frodo has a dream in which he sees Gandalf falling with the Balrog. As they fall, they fight, and just as it appears they're going to land, Frodo jolts awake, screaming "Gandalf!"

Merry and Pippin are being taken to Isengard (Saruman's land) by the Uruk-Hai who captured them in the first film. One of the Uruks mentions that he smells "man-flesh," which Pippin takes to mean that Aragorn is tracking them. He tears off the broach of his cloak with his teeth and drops it as the Uruks run, leaving it as a clue.

Meanwhile, in the thus far unvisited kingdom of Rohan (specifically, the city of Edoras), King Theoden's sun, Theodred is dying of wounds suffered in battle. His cousin, Eowyn (Miranda Otto :drool: ) keeps a vigil at his bedside. Grima Wormtongue, an advisor to Theoden, enters and essentially tries to pick Eowyn up. She shoots him down, and he's pissed.

Eowyn implores her uncle to go to his son, but the withered king is basically a shell of himself. He can barely speak, and moving seems painful. Grima does the talking for him, and we can see that there's more to Mr. Wormtongue than meets the eye. When Eowyn's brother Eomer confronts Theoden about Saruman's rising power, Grima has him (and his warriors, the Rohirrim) thrown out of the kingdom for insubordination.

Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli continue their search for the hobbits, and Aragorn finds Pippin's "leaf." They renew their search with new energy.

While Frodo and Sam sleep, they are stalked by the creature Gollum. Gollum makes a move for the Ring, but Frodo snaps awake, and a fight ensues. Gollum grabs Sam and tries to strangle him, but Frodo holds his sword (actually, Bilbo's old sword Sting) to Gollum's throat. Gollum releases Sam, and they take him hostage.

The Uruks stop their trip to Mordor briefly. An argument begins when a couple begin to complain that they "ain't had nothin' but maggoty bread for three stinkin' days." One of the orcs threatens to eat Merry and Pippin, but is held back ("They are not for eating!"). Another makes a move to kill them anyway, but gets his head cut off, and meat's back on the menu. As a feeding frenzy begins, Merry and Pippin start to escape, only to be stopped by the orc who first threatened them. However, just before he can have a Hobbit meal, he's impaled by a spear. Just as Merry's about to be crushed to death by a horse hoof, the film cuts away.

Frodo and Sam, and their new captive, make their way toward Mordor, with Gollum complaining about the Elvish rope that Sam is using as a leash "burning us." He promises to do whatever Frodo wants, as long as he takes the rope off. Gollum has been to Mordor before (he was captured by Sauron's forces and it was him who revealed that the Ring was in the Shire, setting all this off), and the hobbits are hopelessly lost. If Gollum acts as their guide, Frodo will undo the leash. Gollum agrees, and is freed. Sam doesn't trust Gollum, but he goes along with Frodo.

As the Fellowship (what I'll now refer to Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas as, so I don't have to write "Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas") closes in on the Uruks, they encounter the Rohirrim. Aragorn asks Eomer what news they have from Rohan. Eomer reveals that they have been expelled from the kingdom. Upon hearing that the Fellowship was tracking the Uruks, Eomer tells them that the Rohirrim had slaughtered the Uruks in the night. When Gimli asks if they saw any hobbits, Eomer shakes his head and says "We left none alive." The Rohirrim ride off, and the Fellowship find the pile of burnt Uruk corpses, but not before warning the Fellowship about the White Wizard. While kneeling in frustration, Aragorn notices prints and other evidence that Merry and Pippin managed to escape into Fangorn Forest.

GIMLI: Fangorn Forest! What madness drove them in there?

Merry and Pippin are on the run, and that pesky orc is still following them (though he's not exactly in the best shape of his life). They hear him coming, so they scale a nearby tree. Merry is pulled down from the tree, and the orc threatens to "cut a maggot hole" in his belly. Pippin screams, and the tree's...eyes open? The orc turns around, just in time to be crushed by a giant root-foot. Pippin loses his grip in fear, and the tree catches him. Merry tries to run, but the tree picks him up. Assuming they're little orcs, he starts to crush them. Merry and Pippin plead their case, but this tree has never heard of hobbits. But the White Wizard will know...

In the night, Frodo overhears Gollum talking to himself about the "preciousss" (the Ring). It turns out Gollum used to be a hobbit-like creature named Smeagol who was corrupted by the Ring. Upon hearing his real name, Smeagol softens.

The Fellowship enters Fangorn, searching for the hobbits. Suddenly, Legolas says that he sees the White Wizard. All three go for their weapons, but the man in a beam of light (whose face is obscured), disables their weapons. Suddenly, stepping out of the light is...GANDALF? Yep, turns out our favorite wizard survived the fall, and the battle with the Balrog. He "slipped into darkness," but was brought back as Gandalf the White. He "comes to you now at the turn of the tide."

More to come later... I really DO need to get to work.

[loopydate]

(I forgot something earlier. Saruman sent a pack of wild men into a Rohanian city to pillage and burn. A couple of children are sent off by horse by their mother to Edoras to sound the alarm.)

In another part of the forest, the walking tree (who isn't a tree at all, he's an Ent {a "tree-herder"}) named Treebeard is taking Merry and Pippin with him. Gandalf entrusted their safety to Treebeard, and he's going to take care of him. They discuss Saruman. Treebeard mentions that Saruman used to walk in his woods, but he only cares for machines now.

The Fellowship and Gandalf arrive in Edoras for a council with Theoden. They are not welcome, because Theoden has been possessed by Saruman and we all remember how good of friends Gandalf and Saruman are. Gandalf performs what amounts to an exorcism while Grima, Eowyn, and a handful of guards (including trusty sidekicks Hama and Gamling) look on. Suddenly, Saruman is expelled, and Theoden is back to his middle-aged-handsome self. He asks where his son is. After being ejected from Rohan, Grima returns to his master at Isengard.

In the night, Gollum and Smeagol go to war over control of their collective mind. Gollum says "If it weren't for me, we wouldn't be alive." Smeagol responds "Master takes care of us now. We don't need you anymore. Leave now and never come back!" And Gollum does. Smeagol is free!

The next morning, a jubilant Smeagol brings coneys (rabbits) to the hobbits to eat. He starts to eat one raw, but Sam snatches it away from him. Frodo thinks he's just being mean until...he makes a stew from the rabbits. Sam and Smeagol have a hilarious conversation about fish and "taters." Sam still does not trust Smeagol, but Frodo seems to think he can help him. Suddenly, the horrible screech of a Ringwraith is heard. The trio duck for cover as one of the Nine ride overhead on a winged fellbeast.

Theoden is crushed by the news that his son is dead. Gandalf tries to console him, and sees the two children ride up on their horse. They're taken inside. Eowyn explains about how their city was overrun. Gandalf says they must fight. Theoden does not want to go to war, but Aragorn explains that war is upon him whether he would chance it or not. Theoden decides to evacuate the city and take all of his people to the great fortress at Helm's Deep. Gandalf tells Aragorn that Theoden is behaving foolishly. He heads off on other business, but tells Aragorn to "look to my coming on the third day. At dawn, look to the east."

Treebeard takes Merry and Pippin into a clearing in the forest, where a meeting of the Ents converges. They discuss whether they will play a part in the coming war.

Frodo, Sam, and Smeagol hear a chanting in the distance. It turns out to be a pack of wicked men, heading to their master at Mordor. However, they're quickly ambushed by cloaked men. Frodo and Sam turn to run away, but plow headlong into the leader of the men, Faramir. Faramir and his men take Frodo and Sam into custody.

On the way to Helm's Deep, the Rohanian refugees and the Fellowship are attacked by Orcs on Wargs (wolf-like mounts). Theoden tells Eowyn to get the women and children to safety. Eowyn insists she can fight, but Theoden won't budge. In the heat of battle, Aragorn gets his wrist tangled in a warg stirrup and is dragged over the side of a cliff.

Faramir takes the hobbits to a cave hideout. He asks the hobbits' identities and, when he finds out who they are, reveals that he is Boromir's brother. He's going to succeed in his father's (the Steward of Gondor) eyes by taking the Ring to Gondor. Sam berates Faramir, saying that Boromir died because he tried to take the Ring.

After surviving his fall and riding a released Rohanian horse named Brego, Aragorn arrives at Helm's Deep, much to Eowyn's delight. However, when Legolas returns to Aragorn a jewel he received from Arwen, her heart sinks again.

Faramir takes the Hobbits to the besieged city of Osgiliath. The city is soon attacked by the Ringwraiths. Upon seeing what could happen should Frodo's journey fail, he decides to let the hobbits go. A lieutenant explains that, due to his father's law, Faramir's life is now forfeit. His response? "Then it is forfeit."

On a rainy night, the haphazard army of men assemble at Helm's Deep. Off in the distance, they hear a horn. It is a troop of Elves, sent by Elrond to renew an alliance that once existed between Men and Elves. Their leader is an Elf named Haldir, who is an old friend of Aragorn's. The army of Uruk-Hai arrive at the walls of Helm's Deep, and the battle begins.

The Ents have decided not to go to war. Treebeard begins to take Merry and Pippin to the edge of the wood to set them on their way home. Along the way, Pippin decides that they should go south. That way, they can slip past Isengard unnoticed. "The closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm." Treebeard doesn't understand, but obliges.

Gollum is back, tempting Smeagol once more after Smeagol was captured and abused by Faramir's men under "Master"'s nose. Nonetheless, he/they lead the hobbits to the Black Gate of Mordor. Sam goes to get a closer look at a line of wicked men marching to the Gate, but the rock he's on gives way, he takes a long fall, and gets stuck in deep gravel. Frodo goes down to help him and obscures the both of them under a magical Elvish cloak. Once the men are safely inside the Gate, the hobbits get up to enter the gate, but Smeagol pulls them back. There is another way into Mordor.

Things are not going well at Helm's Deep. The main wall has been breached and the Fellowship are fighting their asses off, trying to protect the keep within. They are ordered to fall back. In the process, Haldir is killed by an Uruk.

Treebeard gets the hobbits to the edge of the forest, only to discover...it's been cut down! Saruman's orcs have been harvesting the trees for their Uruk factories. This enrages Treebeard, and the Ents go to war after all!

Meanwhile, back at Helm's Deep, the Fellowship and Theoden prepare to make their last stand. But...it's the third day! Aragorn looks to the east. "Ride out with me." The Fellowship and Theoden charge out on their horses, fighting off several Uruks when a brilliant light appears on the horizon. It's Gandalf and...the Rohirrim! The cavalry has arrived!

The Ents storm Isengard, crushing orcs beneath their feet and demolishing others with large boulders. A couple of Ents break down the dam which has been holding back the Isen River, which soon floods the entire land. Saruman has been beaten.

The Rohirrim, Gandalf, the Fellowship, and the Rohanians drive the Uruks out of Helm's Deep and into a mysterious forest that has shown up out of nowhere. From outside, all we can hear are screams and a grinding noise. The Uruks never stood a chance.

Amidst all the victory, Smeagol/Gollum is torn. How could Master have betrayed them? They ought to ring his filthy neck! "Or...we could let HER do it." In the distance, Sam and Frodo call out to him.

SMEAGOL: Over here, hobbitses! Hurry! No time to lose!
GOLLUM: (ominously, under his breath) Follow me.

FADE TO BLACK

*Whew* That was a lot of work, but I hope this catches you up on everything before you see the movie tomorrow. Enjoy!

[Jonster]

<font color="#99CCFF">Loopy, I can't thank you enough man! :love: :kiss: </font>