10 Subtle Signs Movie Characters Were Getting Smarter

One of the keys to any good story is the characters that make it, and for them, there is little to no room for stagnation. Whether a protagonist or an antagonist, there simply has to be an evolution, or a journey, that brings them to the conclusion of their arc a changed person.

This could be something utterly life-changing, like how Tony Stark went from playboy to Earth's Best Defender, or when Aragorn took his rightful place as the King of Gondor. Alternately, such changes can be on a smaller scale. How about someone just taking their experiences and learning from them?

This happens all the time, and in movies are often signposted to ensure they aren't missed by the audience. However, other times filmmakers will resist the temptation to draw attention, and leave them in the background for the eagle-eyed to notice. Were they able to kill an enemy after seeing defeat themselves? Did they learn from their mistakes and ensure they didn't repeat them? Or did they just listen to the right music at the right time?

Subtle layers like this can enrich the depth of a character, even if much of the audience isn't consciously aware.

It goes without saying that in The Lord of the Rings, although Frodo (Elijah Wood) was the sole ring bearer, he wouldn't have been able to get anywhere close to the fires of Mount Doom if it weren't for the help of the Fellowship of the Ring. Among his eight companions were great warriors, and they helped carve the path to Mordor.

There was even a little healthy competition between Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) as to who could kill the most Orcs, Uruk-hai, and enemies in general. When the former took down a hulking oliphaunt, the latter was quick to point out that it still only counted as one kill, and it may have been none had they encountered such a beast earlier in their journey.

As the company were forced through the Mines of Moria, they were attacked by Orcs, and more than one cave troll. During the fight, Legolas climbed on top of one of the beasts' shoulders to shoot an arrow through its skull, but his weapon merely deflected away.

Fast forward to near the end of their journey as Legolas found himself with the task of bringing down an oliphaunt at least ten times bigger than the troll. Learning from his fight in the Mines of Moria, Legolas still climbs up towards the head, but instead of aiming at the top of the skull, he fired his bow into its base, and instead of using just one arrow, fired three to be certain.