20 Idiotic Decisions Made By Characters In The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy

18. Arwen Poses Dramatically When Frodo Is Dying Of Poison - The Fellowship Of The Ring

Arwen deserves complete credit for saving Frodo from his mortal wound, but the way she handles it is a bit bonkers toward the end. Following an intense and desperate chase, she takes him to the very border of Rivendell, the very place Frodo needs to get before he can be healed, and then she stops to have her dramatic confrontation with the Ringwraiths. She takes a great deal of time time exchanging taunts with the Nazgul before drawing them into Rivendell's magical defenses. There are some flaws with her thinking here. She has a rapidly fading Hobbit on her horse, so every moment is precious. And yet she does not trust the Magic surrounding Rivendell to work on its own. By the end of her dramatic showdown, Frodo is agonizingly close to succumbing to his wound, and she has to pray for her father to come and bail them out at the last possible second. Frodo lives, and everything turns out right, but surely there could have been a more considerate way to handle this "magical defences" act.

17. Gandalf Forces The Fellowship To Take The Pass At Caradhras - The Fellowship Of The Ring

Detours are always a pain. Case in point, the journey to Mordor to destroy the One Ring - it contains hundreds and hundreds of tiny detours that prevent Frodo and company from taking the most direct route to Mount Doom. When they first set out on their journey, the Fellowship of the Ring intends to take the Gap of Rohan as their main route, a fairly strait shot southeast toward Mordor. However, they are forced to desert it when they realize Saruman's spies watch the Gap, which is mercilessly devoid of cover. They have two choices: the Mines of Moria, or the Pass at Caradhras. Neither are particularly appealing. The path that Gandalf chooses takes them over snowy cliffs, which appear to be quite vulnerable to Saruman's magic, as he strikes them with avalanches and storms all the way from the roof of Isengard. Gandalf is so desperately afraid of going through Moria he forces the rest of the Fellowship to endure blistering cold and dangerous terrain. Eventually they give up on this route, because even the Mines of Moria would be safer than the path Gandalf chose here.