LotR Challenge 01

Since I've had so much fun doing the February Fandom Challenge, I've decided to give another one a go:



As you can see, it's officially a 30 days challenge, but I won't do it like that. I should be working on my bachelor's thesis and semester starts again next week, so I doubt I will find time to write every single day. So I'll do a number whenever I have some minutes (or hours - this is about LotR after all! I want to do it justice!) to spare - if it takes 5 weeks or 5 months, I don't care ;)

(And yes, I've created a new icon especially for this occasion :D I sorely lacked a LotR-themed icon up until now.)

Right, folks, here we go:

01 - Favourite Film

That's a tough one. *sigh*
If I have to choose one, I'll probably go with: Return of the King

Why? Because it's the one that makes me laugh and cry the most - and more importantly: it makes me laugh and cry at the same time, which is a feat in and of itself.

I love RotK because it closes the trilogy with a bang. For me, it's the most emotional part at the same time as it's the part with the biggest and best battles. I particularly love the Extended Edition because it gives us quite a few of the more personal, quiet scenes that balance out the tension and violence.

I've watched the film too many times to count by now, and still it makes me cry like the first time around. I'm a mess at the very latest when the beacons are lit (my absolute very favourite non-actor scene EVER! I'm covered in goose bumps every time. It's the perfect combination of score and majestic visuals.) And once Sam says "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you!"/we're at the gates of Mordor and Legolas sees Aragorn nearly getting trampled I'm a mess. The floodgates open and I can't stop bawling my eyes out until the credits roll.

The scene that makes me cry out of happiness is when Frodo wakes up and the Hobbits are jumping around. There's a quote in the books about Gandalf smiling (“Pippin glanced in some wonder at the face now close beside his own, for the sound of that laugh had been gay and merry. Yet in the wizard's face he saw at first only lines of care and sorrow; though as he looked more intently he perceived that under all there was a great joy: a fountain of mirth enough to set a kingdom laughing, were it to gush forth.”) that always touched me - and for me Ian McKellen brings this quote to life in the "Frodo awakes in Gondor"-scene. "To set a kingdom laughing" - that's it!

If I manage to stop my crying for a few minutes the next scene that sets me off again is Aragorn's "My friends, you bow to no-one". Frankly, this scene gets me even completely out of context. I still remember the wonderful Oscar night - for whatever reason they used this scene as "trailer" for RotK and I had tears in my eyes every damn time ... which was quite often with 11 nominations ;)

And then there's the "smile of all smiles" as I termed it (don't ask).
I'm not sure why, but this smile hits me hard every damn time. It's - well, maybe it's the way I'd like to have people smile one day in the future when I move on to the other path that we all must take when our path in this world is at an end, as Gandalf tells Merry. There's tears and sadness, but what's more, there is happiness and thankfulness to have known the other person/hobbits. It's a bitter-sweet moment and a smile that's just as bitter-sweet.

Right, and now I've successfully made me cry by watching a YouTube video of the scene. Time to end this entry, I guess...