10 Iconic Movie Scenes You Didn't Realise Happened By Accident
8. The Two Towers - A Falling Flag Reflected Rohan's Downfall
To say that the Lord of the Rings trilogy is epic is doing the word 'epic' injustice. It's a sprawling, gorgeous masterpiece of fantasy film-making, with each set-piece topping the previous. Peter Jackson did the book trilogy justice, which is something other film-makers tried, and failed, to do.
In the Two Towers, there is a scene where Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Gandalf ride for Rohan. Eowyn, anxious for their arrival, steps onto a windswept porch to wait and watch. If you look carefully as she comes onto the porch, the flagpole on the right side of the screen showing the flag of Rohan is visibly swaying.
Shortly after Eowyn spots the arriving heroes, we hear a rip of fabric and the Rohan pennant rips away from it's pole. The breeze carries it high into the sky, then brings it back to earth near where the actors were on their marks to enter the city.
Despite the amazing timing and result, Jackson swears this moment was not scripted and that the reactions and looks of confusion by Miranda Otto and Viggo Mortensen are completely natural.
If this was indeed the case, it was a lovely piece of unexpected flair and story-telling, foreshadowing the downfall of Rohan.