Lord Of The Rings: 10 Smartest Changes Peter Jackson Made From The Books

10. Condensing The Early Timeline

Early on in the writing process, Peter Jackson and his team decided to significantly reduce the opening chapters of the Fellowship of the Ring. One of the major changes involved shorting the timeline between Bilbo's birthday and Frodo setting out for Rivendell.

In Tolkien's book, seventeen years pass between Bilbo leaving the Ring to Frodo, and Gandalf returning to inform the hobbit of its true origin. During this time Gandalf was uncovering the secrets of the Ring, while Frodo was doing literally nothing... , it would have made for some dull viewing.

This had the knock of effect of changing the age of Frodo, however. By the time he set out, Frodo was 51 years old, and in the books this worked; he's portrayed as a wise and well-informed hobbit, in significant contrast to his fellows. But it was necessary to portray him as a more naive and innocent figure in the films.

He essentially serves as the audience's eyes and ears in Middle Earth. It was far easier to empathise with his struggle, when we felt as though he knew as little about the wider world as we did.