An Analysis of Violence within Jackson’s Adaptation of The Lord of the Rings

 Violence as a Tool for Emotive Resonance and Defining Morality

An Analysis of Violence within Jackson’s Adaptation of The Lord of the Rings

In the scene, “Saruman the White” in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf travels to Isengard, where he becomes aware of Saruman’s treachery. A dramatic battle ensues as both wizards spin and hurl magic attacks at each other, concluding with Gandalf being flung to the top of the Tower of Orthanc, later revealed as being held prisoner on the tower. In Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings there is no mention of a fight between Gandalf and Saruman, and Gandalf is simply described as being imprisoned in the tower. The vagueness of Tolkien’s description of the imprisonment would prompt questions. How was Gandalf imprisoned? Was he apprehended by Saruman’s guards or magically imprisoned? Did he resist the imprisonment? This allowed Jackson to create his own suspenseful adaptation of the scene in which it becomes more intense than the passages in the book, and Saruman is rendered a more active antagonist, highlighting the potential of film to intensify and expand on moments from Tolkien’s original source material.

            The intensity that film provides was described by Hugo Münsterberg in 1916 in his book The film: A psychological study; the silent photoplay describing the first films as an “incomparable intensity when not a lifeless photograph but a moving picture brings it to the screen” (22), highlighting the ability of film to “stir up our feelings and emotions” (72). Subsequent years would lead to the further intensification of film through the incorporation of auditory and visual experiences in one product, allowing for a multifaceted form of art.

Violence and Art

The topic of artistic depictions of violence has garnered significant discussion due to its emotional resonance and purported effects on society (Ferguson and Kilburn). The increasingly vivid and dramatic depictions of violence in film and video games have become especially targeted in this regard. Yet violence in art can be used as an artistic tool to convey messages and invoke emotions. It is because of this that the translation of violence through adaptation is a topic worth understanding.

In comparing violence as it exists in Tolkien’s 1954 novel with Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptation, violence can be understood as tool that serves to intensify emotion as well as translation and amplification of Tolkien’s morality. It is not in the spirit of this piece to argue that Jackson’s adaptation is more or less violent than Tolkien’s novel, but rather to demonstrate Jackson’s usage of violence. Before continuing, it must be noted that this essay will concern only an assessment of physical violence. 

Tolkien and Violence

It is undeniable that Tolkien’s novel contains depictions and allusions to significant violent acts. Having served in World War 1, Tolkien did not seem to express any significant anti-war or pacifist sentiment throughout his life. Yet it would be unfair to characterize Tolkien as gratuitous or excessive in his descriptions of violence. He is not vivid and prefers to be brief. Moreover, his thoughts on war are largely neutral and can be most poignantly shown in the character Faramir, the knight of Gondor whom Tolkien himself identified as the closest character to himself in The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (Carpenter, 250). When speaking to Frodo, the knight says, “War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all” (672).  Yet war itself is not to be glorified as Faramir expresses, “I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend” (672). Violence and war for Tolkien are necessary to defend values, a conventional outlook for his time.  

Violence is not a significant theme in Tolkien’s writing and is rather something that is inevitable in conflicts between good and evil. Morality remains a more prevalent theme. In Tolkien’s Middle-earth, good and evil are clear distinctions, and violence is seemingly justifiable for the greater good, yet the question of redemption and the genuine wickedness of the Orcs poses a dilemma in Tolkien’s work. Furthermore, morality is projected onto violence by Tolkien. The excessively violent acts of the novel (torture, beheadings, eating other races of Middle-earth) are all described as horrific acts that the villainous or abject characters engage in. Even descriptions of violence have a projected morality. When Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas come upon the dead bodies been slain by the Uruk-hai, it is not enough that they are just described as hewn but “hewn with many cruel strokes” (421). It is often the morally abject characters that find themselves on the receiving end of gruesome and undignified violence from equally morally abject characters, as demonstrated in Sharkey’s death at Wormtongue’s hand and the many fights amongst Orcs throughout the novel. Excessive violence becomes a manifestation and an end to the morally abject. On the contrary, significant depictions of restraint occur among the morally good as shown in Gandalf opting to stand his ground rather than aggress the Balrog, similarly shown with Frodo and the Nazgul, and Frodo with Sharkey at the end of the novel. The morally just characters are only shown to engage in violence against their adversaries when they are being attacked and when there is no other option.

Jackson and Violence

Peter Jackson’s early film career was the opposite of restrained when it came to graphic depictions of violence. Jackson’s third film Brain Dead would be so excessive in its violence that it would be desensitizing, being described as laughing in the face of death (Atkinson, 79) as every character except the protagonist and his love interest are brutally killed. Jackson’s aptitude in the splatter and horror genres would remain in his filmmaking arsenal as he would adapt The Lord of the Rings. Moreover, Jackson’s filmmaking career prior to The Lord of the Rings included nuanced depictions of violence as seen in his fourth film, Heavenly Creatures (1994). Based on the true story of the 1954 Parker–Hulme murder case, the film employs a circular narrative and is enclosed by the movies only murder of Parker’s mother, Honorah, however the film is not truly about the murder, rather it is about the increasingly fantastic friendship between the two high school girls as a defense against the constraining nature of their sociological environments. The tragic killing of the mother represents a violent and perhaps misguided revolt against the societal oppression and constraints on the two young women’s friendship. In writing about Heavenly Creatures Peter M Chumo II notes that the “increasingly violent fantasy life becomes both a reaction to their community (upright, authoritarian schoolteachers and well-meaning but ineffectual parents) and a path to murder itself” (70). Heavenly Creatures may easily be Jackson’s most nuanced portrayal and usage of violence in film. Though Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings does not deal with as nuanced of a depiction of violence, the usage of violence as an emotive and tragic tool will be employed. In Jackson’s adaptation, these two opposites: the gratuitous and senseless; and the tragic and meaningful, are invoked for unique purposes. 

The Physical Nazgûl

Tolkien’s Nazgûl are known as the first significant menacing threat introduced in the novels. They are effectively the only antagonists of the first book of the first volume. To Tolkien, the main weapon that the Nazgûl employ is “the unreasoning fear which they inspire (like ghosts)” (Carpenter, 292). They are first written in the novel as voices speaking in a “strange, and somehow unpleasant” and “shrill” voice to Hamfast Gamgee, not yet physically defined (69). These Black Riders will gradually grow in prominence in the first book both descriptively and narrative-wise. The gradual definition of the Nazgûl can be attributed to their unexpected conception, with Tolkien originally attributing the Black Rider encountered by the hobbits as Gandalf (Tolkien, “The History of Middle Earth”, 1317). There is no immediate physical threat suggested by the Nazgûl when they are introduced, they become progressively more sinister and violent as the novel advances. They are only described as armored and having swords in the 11^th chapter of the first book.

In Jackson’s adaptation, this terror is much more physical and immediate. In the first scene of a hobbit interacting with a Nazgûl (FOTR, 0:34:20), the Nazgûl’s pointed gauntlets are emphasized, relating the Nazgûl to sharp weaponry. The sinister score by Howard Shore introduces a high-pitched theme contributing to a scene more menacing than Tolkien’s interaction with the curt and resolute Hamfast Gamgee. A few scenes later, before Frodo and Sam embark on their journey to Bree, a scene is shown where a Nazgûl cuts down a hobbit watchman (FOTR, 0:40:25), rendering the terror of the Nazgûl physical and deadly. This deadly violence is later shown as the Nazgûl, invade the town of Bree (FOTR, 1:03:32), trampling the town’s doorkeeper in a sensationalist fashion. They then proceed to enter the Prancing Pony with swords brandished and very methodically, stab the empty hobbit beds in a scene full of flesh piercing sound effects recalling Jackson's pencent for splatter horror. The suspenseful camera cuts from the Nazgûl’s raised swords to Samwise sleeping, further accenting the physicality of the Nazgûl’s terror. The scene, like much of the first half of the film, is frightening and an effective adaptation in conjuring up a sense of terror and suspense. In this sense, Jackson superseded Tolkien in the terror that the Nazgûl brought to the story through an augmentation of violence through the immediacy and physicality.

Tragic Violence

Viewing violence through film arouses neural networks associated with emotional regulation (Murray et al.), moreover, exposure to violence and tragedy towards characters that the audience empathizes with can allow for an appropriate release of emotion (Goldenberg et al.). This is a byproduct of violence and is seen in Tolkien’s novel and Jackson’s adaptation. Yet just as Jackson’s adaptation augmented a sense of horror and terror through the physicality of the Nazgul, an emotional and tragic element is augmented through violence.  

Boromir’s death is an example of emotion intensification through violence. In both the novel and film, Boromir’s death is framed as a redemption for his tragic flaw (pride). Yet the novel and the film depart on many accounts. Boromir’s death in the novel is brief. He is found by Aragorn having been pierced by arrows and after 1 line of dialogue in which he repents for his attempt to take the ring he dies. Though Aragorn is described as “bent with weeping” (414), the event is remarkably short. In the film, Boromir’s death and struggle are depicted on screen (FOTR, 3:08:44). He is seen fighting Uruk-hai as he is shot by the arrows of Lurtz (a character unique to the film). The film’s audio falls silent as the first arrow is shot. Merry and Pippen witness in shock and distress. They function as audience proxies. Boromir’s death is accented, the film slows down, yet he continues to fight in defiance, but the audience, just like Merry and Pippen know this is his end, yet his death is prolonged, and he becomes an object to be shot by arrows, capturing the violence done to his body in a dramatic spectacle. The interaction between Aragorn and Boromir is significantly more emotive and prolonged in the film, giving more value to his death. This augmentation or rather insertion of death and violence can be seen in the similar slow motion, emphasized death, of Haldir during the battle of Helm’s Deep (TT, 3:00:31). The character’s death is unique to Jackson’s adaptation and would allow for the battle to have a recognizable casualty similarly allowing for the second film to have a somewhat tragic and bittersweet climax.

Another, minor but unique scene in Jackson’s adaptation that demonstrates the tragic element of violence is shown in the scene “The Burning of the Westfold” (TT, 0:21:59) in which two children become separated from their mother to escape Saruman’s pillaging army. Meant to evoke a sense of tangible destruction to the everyday lives of the people of the Westfold. The scene conjures up violence to augment a sense of tragedy and emotion. Jackson is not afraid to say that war, violence, and death are tragedies, and the encapsulation of violence as meaningful towards the protagonists in these moments allows Jackson’s adaptations to gain emotional resonance through violence.

The Good, and the Bad and Ugly

How violence is itself depicted in Jackson’s adaption can be seen as a demonstration of morality through film and an amplification, yet often an extrapolation of Tolkien's morality. In Jackson’s adaptation, violence enacted on the good, morally scrupulous characters is typically seen in slow motion, with demonstrations of agony emphasized through camera cuts to the face. This is a person who is suffering. The previous tragic events as well as the two stabbings of Frodo, are examples of this. Furthermore, the bodies of the good characters are not seen mutilated or dismembered when they are killed. The bodiless human heads that are catapulted by Orcs during the attack on Minas Tirith may seem like a potential anomaly, but they are more of an indictment of the cruelty of the Orcs (ROTK, 2:00:01). The actual act of decapitation is not shown on the good characters. This can be contrasted with the vivid and swift hacking and dismemberment of Orc bodies throughout the series. Just as in Tolkien’s novel, atrocious acts of violence are performed by the more villainous characters. Yet in Jackson's adaptation, as the story leaves the Shire and Orcs are introduced, this principle is slightly altered, and it is the villainous characters who become on the receiving end of swift, often gratuitous, impersonal violence, not only enacted amongst themselves but by the morally good characters. This may be due to the increasing prominence of warrior-type characters (Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, etc.) who are absent during the beginning of the film. Perhaps one of the more excessive demonstrations of this violence occurs when Aragorn beheads the Mouth of Sauron during what is effectively a parley (ROTK, 3:19:15). This scene in the novel is perhaps the most effective demonstration of Tolkien’s morality and approach to violence. The passage reads “though Aragorn did not stir nor move hand to weapon, the other quailed and gave back as if menaced with a blow. ‘I am a herald and ambassador and may not be assailed!’ he cried. ‘Where such laws hold,’ said Gandalf, ‘it is also the custom for ambassadors to use less insolence. But no one has threatened you. You have naught to fear from us, until your errand is done'" (889).  This interaction demonstrates that the Mouth of Sauron acknowledges Aragorn’s power and potential for violence, yet is not able to comprehend that he would refrain from demonstrating it. The restraint that Aragorn displays is emblematic of Tolkien’s moral principle that benevolent characters would not aggress in violence even against a seemingly irredeemable enemy. In Jackson’s film, the Mouth of Sauron’s categorization of an irredeemable henchman of evil permitted his brutal death to be justifiable for Jackson and the audience. His death is a cathartic indulgence in violence and assertion that the evil are not worth redeeming, demonstrating a major deviation and infraction on Tolkien’s depictions of morality and just usage of violence.

Although there are significant augmentations and insertions of violence against the antagonists in Jackson’s adaptation. Jackson’s portrayal of violence against the antagonists should not be seen as always a demonstration that he inserts. It can be seen as a simplification of Tolkien’s moral dilemma pertaining to evil. Violence and death can be seen as auxiliary concepts that complement Tolkien’s theme of morality. The dilemma of whether Orcs are inherently evil or just corrupted men and elves makes their impersonal deaths questionable. This has remained an unsolved issue for Tolkien scholars. Tolkien seems to paradoxically assert that Orcs have the potential for redemption, yet they are the spawn of evil (Shippey, 265). This dilemma remains unsolved, as it is uncertain whether Orcs have the potential for redemption. The impersonal nature of killing enemies can be seen in the killing competition Gimli and Legolas have during the battle of Helm’s Deep, an incident maintained in Jackson’s adaptation. In this sense, the impersonal kill counts of these antagonists can be seen as faithful to the portrayal of war as necessary, yet the violence enacted by Aragorn on the Mouth of Sauron would not be seen as justifiable to Tolkien. Likewise, the emphasis on brutal, swift deaths for the irredeemable Orcs and the overly emphasized deaths of the good and tragic characters can be seen as an intensification of Tolkien’s morality.

The deaths of Saruman, Denathor, and Gollum remain different from the previously mentioned. Unlike the Orcs and other fell creatures previously mentioned, their deaths are not curt and impersonal yet they perish in a dishonorable and tragic fashion, succumbing to their tragic flaws without redemption. They all die in some way by their own doing, emphasizing their sentience and potential for redemption. Saruman, the representation of the Fallen Angel, dies a curt death in the novel, while in the film it is a spectacular and lengthy death as he is repeatedly stabbed and falls off his tower to be impaled in a theatrical demonstration of cosmic punishment (ROTK, 0:16:32). It is through these two poles of death and violence: meaningful and tragic, and meaningless and impersonal that Jackson can further potentiate Tolkien’s morality on screen. Furthermore, the redeemable but dishonorable occupy a space in the middle of this spectrum of morality.

The translation of Tolkien’s story into film allowed Jackson to employ various tactics to play with the concept of violence. Violence was demonstrated as a tool to intensify and augment emotions through the physical terror of the Nazgûl and the violence and death depicted to good and morally neutral characters. Furthermore, violence was used in a similar vein to that of Tolkien to demonstrate morality, with antagonists being seen as violent entities committing atrocities. Tolkien’s complex often contradictory morality was difficult and perhaps unfeasible to demonstrate on the screen, and his notion that excessive violence is only enacted by evil characters was deviated. Perhaps owing to the medium differences between novel and film, Tolkien’s morality as depicted through violence was difficult to fully capture and portray on film. Likewise, the differing portrayals of violence may indicate cultural and philosophical deviances between Jackson and Tolkien and the social periods in which they emerged.

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