I'm planning on seeing it again today. I'm still trying to figure out if it was better than the first, but it was the shortest 3 hour movie I've ever seen. I didn't notice the eyes, but maybe it is because Gimli is full of it. I think some of the orcs and Northerens have red eyes. I'll look again.
As for the Ents, the tree guys, it gets laid out pretty well in the book. Treebeard is one of the very oldest beings on the planet. The ents are the guardians of the trees and the shepherds for the Hourns, the trees which move; they are somewhere between trees and Ents. The Ents are pissed because Sauraman and his orks are destroying the forest. (In the book, either Treebeard or Quickbeam, a young Ent not in the movie, I think actually has names for some of the destroyed trees). Lots of them were killed, going back to the first movie, to power the weapons factories of Sauraman.
What made the orcs evil? They were created that way by Sauron and Sauraman, out of elves, years ago. Trolls are genetically engineered Ents. The Uriks, the baddest orcs, are orc/goblin crosses.
Yes, they are being driven by the evil wizzes, who are driven by the ring and thoughts of power. What is Bush's excuse?
A good site to get you started...
theonering.net
Don't try too hard to figure it out. Somebody just gave me a beastiary of Tolkien, which covers all the races, etc. The more I learn, the more complicated it gets, and the more confused I am. Tolkien ( his eleventy eleventh birfday is tomorrow)creatd his world in such detail; absolutely genius. If you have the books, read the appendix.
Gimli ben Gloin |
