The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Director: Peter Jackson
Cast: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Bernard Hill, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Karl Urban, Brad Dourif, John Noble

The film begins with a flashback of how Sméagol acquired the One Ring, before his degeneration and name change to 'Gollum', taking Frodo and Sam to Minas Morgul. Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Théoden and Éomer meet up with Merry, Pippin and Treebeard at Isengard, now under the Ents' control, and Gandalf deduces that Saruman will pose no further threat. They also recover the palantír. Pippin's curiosity gets the better of him at Edoras, and he looks into it. The vision he sees (of a dead white tree in a burning stone courtyard) alerts Gandalf that Sauron is planning to attack Minas Tirith, and he rides off there with Pippin. In Rivendell, on her way to the Undying Lands, Arwen has a vision of her son by Aragorn and convinces Elrond to reforge Narsil, the sword that cut the Ring from Sauron's finger long ago. She then forsakes the gift of immortality to be with Aragorn; her fate now rests with the outcome of the war.