4. The Scouring Of The Shire And Sarumans Real Death
From: The Return of the King
In the movie: In the extended version of The Return of the King, Gandalf and his good guy friends go to evil wizard Sarumans recently-flooded tower and have a chat with him and his sun-deprived servant Wormtongue. On top of the tower, Saruman spits smack-talk and disses Wormtongue in front of everyone. After hes called a cur and slapped in the face, the disgruntled Wormtongue pulls out a dagger and stabs Saruman in the back. Elven archer Legolas shoots up and arrow from below and hits Wormtongue, killing him. Saruman, teetering from his wound, falls off his tower, only to impale himself on one of his spike-ridden machines of war. Five hundred hours later, Frodo (58-year old spoiler!) destroys the Ring and Saurons dominion comes to an end. After a coronation and much other stuff, Frodo and Sam return to the peaceful green hills of the isolated Shire, which has remained untouched during the strife.
In the book: Like in the film, Gandalf and crew do go to Sarumans flooded tower. Saruman and Wormtounge talk trash, but no ones dies. Gandalf and friends leave them in the tower. Later, after the Ring is destroyed, Frodo and his Hobbit buddies return to the Shire, but soon learn that it has been taken over by nasty club-bearing thugs. It doesnt take long for the Hobbits to learn the thugs leaders are the two-timing Saruman and his lackey Wormtongue, whove left their tower and taken up residence in Frodos house. After a battle, Frodo meets with the traitorous wizard and his buddy, telling them they can leave the Shire unharmed if they agree to go right then. The two agree and head on their way, but on the pathway down from Frodos house, they start fighting. As Tolkien wrote:
He kicked Wormtongue in the face as he grovelled, and turned and made off. But at that something snapped: suddenly Wormtongue rose up, drawing a hidden knife, and then with a snarl like a dog he sprang on Saruman's back, jerked his head back, cut his throat, and with a yell ran off down the lane. Before Frodo could recover or speak a word, three hobbit-bows twanged and Wormtongue fell dead.
Why It Would Have Been Awesome: In terms of the film, the whole entire "Scouring of the Shire" sequence would not work. Up to this point, the movie has solely been about the Ring of Power and its destruction. Once that's done, it was best to get right to the ending(s). It is true that we do see the Shire under attack in a some possible flashforwards, but it nothing is ever shown beyond that. How far can a Hobbit bow actually shoot? The world way never know.