10 More Scrapped Movie Scenes Better Than What We Got

Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy isn't exactly lacking in the deleted scenes department.

While a number of the compelling moments that didn't quite make the theatrical cut ultimately ended up becoming part of the equally adored extended editions later down the road, there were still some undeniably interesting scenes that didn't make their presence known in those much longer updates. Arguably the most fascinating of the lot would have originally gone down during The Fellowship of the Ring's epic opening sequence.

As the armies of men and elves joined forces to take down Sauron in the Battle of Dagorlad, the elven king Gil-galad and king of Gondor Elendil eventually would have clashed with the maker of the One Ring. Sure, The Fellowship of the Ring did at least show Elendil being wiped out by Sauron's destructive mace. But one of the big bad's most diabolical acts sadly never saw the light of day.

During the moments leading up to that Elendil smash, images that found their way online as the years rolled by revealed that Gil-galad's own demise was seemingly shot and never used for the prologue. Here, the elven king would have been shockingly burned to death after being lifted into the air by his throat, showing off just how savage the Dark Lord could be within the flick's opening minutes.

Instead, though, Jackson and co. decided to put more of the spotlight on Hugo Weaving's Elrond during this Middle-earth-changing war, all but erasing Gil-galad from the battle.