Lord Of The Rings: 10 Smartest Changes Peter Jackson Made From The Books

3. Including Boromir's Death In The Fellowship Of The Ring

lord of the rings aragorn
New Line Cinema

The first entry of Tolkien's epic tale, The Fellowship of the Ring, leaves you on a bit of a cliff hanger. The final chapter, The Breaking of the Fellowship, ends with Frodo departing for Mordor, and the rest of the Fellowship desperately searching for him.

We only find out Boromir has been slain at the start of the Two Towers. Aragorn finds him, pierced with arrows and near death. He reveals his attack on Frodo and that a party of orcs captured the other hobbits. The thing is, we never get to see Boromir's heroic redemption, he is simply found surrounded by dead enemies.

It would have been an anti-climactic end to the movie, if as soon as everyone realises Frodo is missing, it abruptly ends... Lucky Peter Jackson saw this as an opportunity to give Boromir the send off he deserved. Doing battle with the Uruk-hai gave the heroes a chance to flex their bows and axes, and really put their money where the mouths were. It set Aragorn up on his quest, not only to save the hobbits, but to fulfil his promise to Boromir and save Minas Titith.

It also gave Sean Bean another brilliant on screen death...

Contributor

Before engrossing myself in the written word, I spent several years in the TV and film industry. During this time I became proficient at picking things up, moving things and putting things down again.