The Game Attempts-Part Twenty Six-Part Twenty Four: The Moria sequence is easily my favorite part of the entire first movie in the Jackson saga. It’s here that we really get to know Gandalf for the first time in the movie and get to see him at his best. McKellen shines in particular in this section of the movie. In the next half hour he acts out all the wisdom, authority, and power that everyone’s favorite wizard (second maybe only to Merlin) possesses.
Cue the very first real traveling montage of the Fellowship together. Had this been the Bakshi version, we’d have had about five so far skipping over things. In this case, they’re jumping over nothing too important, just shortening the trip through Moria. In the Extended Cut of the film, we do get one additional stop along the way. Gandalf tells the group what the dwarves mines in Moria: Mithril, silver steel. Hard as dragon’s scales, light as a feather. When they come across a deep pit, he shines the light of his staff down the chamber and we’re greeted with a bunch of shiny Mithril still in the walls reflecting off of the light. Unfortunately, no film can ever capture the beauty Mithril is described as being, so we have to make do with just seeing it reflect the light.
He then goes on to tell about the Mithril vest Bilbo was given, and how much it was worth. Its worth is greater than the entire Shire. Frodo suddenly looks very uncomfortable as Gandalf speaks, as is to be expected since I’m sure the hobbit’s mind had to be just blown right about now. Gimli comments on the fact that the vest was a kingly gift.
The film cuts ahead a bit to the crossroads where Gandalf got lost. The wizard stops in front of the three entrances and gives them each a befuddled look before he admits that he doesn’t remember which way goes where. Well, if the lackluster RPG The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, in which you play second fellowship following the footsteps of the first one (don’t ask; it's really long and stupid story) is anything to go on, both ways lead to dead ends.
We cut to the Fellowship sitting at the cross roads while Gandalf tries to remember which way to go. We see Boromir and Aragorn making some small talk while Pippin complains about being hungry, much to Merry’s annoyance and our laughter. Frodo’s eyes boredly wander their dreary surroundings, and suddenly…!
He catches sight of an early prototype of the Gollum design and is repulsed by its overall lackluster appearance compared to the finished product in The Two Towers. He retreats over to Gandalf’s side and exclaims that Gollum has a long ways to go before eventually becoming the most believable CGI character in all of cinema (no, Cameron fans, the Na'Vi have not topped him).
“It is Gollum. He hates and loves the Ring, as he hates and loves himself, and it has brought him here. He will never be rid of his need for it.”
To this Gollum quietly mutters something quietly to himself in response. I think he might just be gurgling his usual sound, but it always sounds like “oh yeah” to my ears. Frodo claims that Bilbo should have killed him, but Gandalf shoots back that Bilbo’s pity was not a mistake, and that many that live do indeed deserve death, but some that die deserve to live. Then he challenges Frodo’s ability to give it to them justly. After Frodo wordlessly admits that he can’t (Wood conveys the quiet response in his eyes well).
Gandalf tells Frodo not to eagerly deal out judgment to others. Then he assures the hobbit that Gollum has some role left to play, but he just doesn’t know what. “The pity of Bilbo might rule the fate of many.”
Frodo then asserts that he wishes that the Ring hadn’t come to him and that Sauron hadn’t returned to power. Gandalf assures him that he’s not alone in that, but these things happen anyway, and can and will happen in anyone’s lifetime if there’s someone out there causing turmoil. Then he says the best line of the entire series; “All you have to decide to what to do with the time that is given to you.” It’s a very good thing to say to people, especially in modern times, as we have currently been hit with nigh endless hardships and the future looks very uncertain at this point, and the only thing we can do is live as best we can. As such, the moment is very poignant and moving especially to modern audiences living in these troubled times. I'm convinced these films came out at the right time and that helped their success. They're just so positive and at a time when people literally needed something like this.
Then he asserts that other forces than the will of evil are at work in this world. Bilbo was meant to have the Ring, also as Frodo was meant to have it. He says that the Ring wouldn’t have gone to someone who couldn’t make it to Mordor and the crack of Doom. This successfully cheers Frodo up somewhat and almost like a miracle, Gandalf finds the right passage when fresh air comes up from it.
Then they enter the great hall of the old kingdom of the dwarves. Great big pillars reach up into a near endless abyss with a ceiling they can barely make out it’s so high even after Gandalf risks turning the light up a little more. All are in marvel of the feat of constructive genius as they pass through it. Now this is how Moria should look. This place looks like a grand palace. It puts Bakshi’s to shame. Their trek to the other side is brought to a dead halt when Gimli spots the final resting place of Balin.
Gimli reaches the stone coffin of the dwarf lord and collapses on his knees in grief and begins a death pray for his fallen lord. This very well illustrates in what revere the dwarves have for their leaders. The rest of the fellowship enters the chamber and crowd around the coffin while Gimli begins weeping. Gandalf announces that it does indeed belong to Balin. Poor Balin. He was my favorite dwarf from The Hobbit. When we came to this part of the book, I felt my heart break. The feeling is captured here. You can sense everyone’s sadness over the issue.
Gandalf spots the corpse of a dwarf clutching a journal and picks it up and begins reading it. From it, we learn what befell the dwarves. All the while this, combined with the threatening atmosphere creates a since of urgency as Gandalf reads on and the situation becomes more dire with each passing word. Legolas tries to urge everyone to get moving again while Pippin backs into a skeleton sitting on the edge of a well for Valor knows what reason.
And just as Gandalf says “they are coming”, Pippin stupidly twists the arrow in the corpse, causing it’s head to fall off into the well, banging all the way down, followed by the body, which snags a chain attached a bucket. So everyone else stands in shocked silence as the dwarven skeletal remains fall down the well, alerting every orc in Moria to their presence and possibly some undiscovered tribes in Africa as well. Gandalf slams the book shut and scolds Piippin, shouting, “Fool of a Took. Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity!”
Pippin can only stand there is silence, knowing he’s just cocked it up royally. Not even a full beat after Gandalf has scolded him, the “drums in the deep” which the journal spoke of begin. At once, the battle cries of the orcs can be heard echoing through the halls. Legolas verbally identifies them while Boromir runs to the entrance of the burial chamber and nearly gets struck by a pair of arrows. He glances out into the open space where the orcs approach from. Aragorn runs up next to him and they close the double wooden doors and then bar them.
“They have a cave troll,” Boromir announces wearily.
After the door as secured as well as they can get it, the Fellowship backs up into the main burial chamber, weapons at the ready. The audience can feel the tension and fear kicking in, because one, the dwarven corpses paired with the fact that no one wants to see any of this fellowship bite it makes this entire sequence effective.
The goblins crowd around the old wooden door and begin hacking at it while Legolas and Aragorn stand with their bows and arrows at the ready. The instant cracked big enough open up, the two begin skillfully shooting into them, killing a goblin each time. Finally, the big double doors swing open and the goblins charge in.
The goblins are met with superior skill and are easily vanquished by the numbers, which is how it’s done. No more Aragorn having trouble one-on-one-ing a goblin like in Bakshi’s version. During this fight, and especially in the Extended Edition, the film showcases the Fellowship watching each other’s backs and saving each other’s hides multiple times. Such as Sam narrowly avoiding getting stepped on by the troll that’s led into the chamber when Aragorn and Boromir pull on it’s chain leash, forcefully backing it away from Sam.
Then Aragorn saves Boromir when he’s knocked senseless by the troll. Then Legolas saves Gimli from the troll by distracting it with arrow shots (yeah, it’s mostly Fellowship members saving each other from the troll). Then the troll turns its attention to Legolas who saves himself from it running up its chain leash and onto its back after it gets caught on a stone pillar and firing shots into troll’s head. Yeah, Legolas is portrayed as the supreme badass of the group. Not that that’s unfitting…
Eventually the troll sets its sights on Frodo, and begins spamming his email with flame baiting remark… Wait, wrong kind of troll. It raises its giant club and brings it down at Frodo, Merry, and Pippin. The dynamic duo duck behind one pillar, and Frodo behind another. Frodo scurries over to the other side of it to hide from sight just as the troll peeks around the corner, and then does so again when the troll peeks around the other side.
Then Frodo gets the chance to something else incredibly stupid. Instead of just sliding over to the other side, he goes around one corner and stays there. Then, of course, the troll jumps around the roars at him. Frodo slips (again) and starts trying to crawl away instead of trying to run away. Frodo does not have good escapability. The troll grabs him and drags him closer and is about to smash with its club when Aragorn jumps in and sticks it with a spear he took from a goblin. The troll backhands him away and he’s knocked out.
While Frodo tries to wake him, the troll pulls the spear out and then finally Frodo tries to run for it, but is blocked and knocked against the wall. The troll stabs Frodo and seemingly kills him as his friends and comrads stare in horror. Then Merry and Pippin become enraged and hop into its back and begin stabbing it relentlessly while Gandalf, Sam, and Boromir begin hacking and slashing like crazy to get closer to it. Oddly, Boromir never gets close again. Then once the goblins’ numbers have waned Gandalf, Gimli, and Legolas begin ganging up on the troll. It manages to drag Merry off its back and knock Gimli back.
Then one well placed stab by Pippin allows Legolas to land an arrow in either its throat or mouth, I’ve never been able to tell. Either way, the troll finally gets banned from the forum… Damn it! It finally dies. The Fellowship goes over to Frodo to loot his corpse, er, make sure he is in fact an ex-person. Aragorn turns him over and they discover that he is still alive. Aragorn mutters that the troll’s spear would have skewered a boar, and thus a hobbit should have been run clean through.
Frodo unbuttons the first few his shirt to reveal… He’s Superman! (It was either this or a striptease joke, folks.) No, he’s wearing the Mithril vest Bilbo gave him, and as such, the enchanted silver saved him from even the impact of the blow killing him. Gimli comments that Frodo is full of surprises and they begin running the hell out of the chamber and into the main hall of pillars.
The fight scene in Balin’s burial chamber: well, it was well-paced, choreographed, and very intense. The possibility of Frodo’s death lacked in impact because of the scene where Bilbo gave the vest to him, but the film couldn’t very well do without it. Overall, it was great and another testament of what makes the Jackson films great.
In masse, the goblins begin pouring like a wave out of each and every crack and crevice, filling the great hall and surrounding our heroes, and the effect is truly chilling. The goblins form a circle around the Fellowship and are about to kill then, when suddenly, a great fiery light shines in the darkness, indicating the approach of the Balrog. On cue, the goblins flee in terror and most of the Fellowship stare on cautiously while Gandalf wears a “oh man this is gonna suck” expression.
Gandalf informs the group as to what it is, and says they need to run. This abomination is beyond their ability to contend. When Gandalf’s afraid, you know things have gotten bad. Period. He orders the Fellowship to run for it, and the audience feels the urgency. The huge, unseen presence giving off that unholy fiery glow is definitely intimidating, and it fast approaches. Completely unlike the slow moving…thing, from Bakshi’s version.
The Fellowship begins descending a flight of stairs out in a open void, basically, in a large chamber. There are no safety railings, so any tripping will result in a plunge to certain doom. In the book, it was just a tunnel with stairs they ran through, but this works better on camera. At once, goblins begin raining arrows down on the Fellowship as they make for the exit. Then they come to the infamous crack on the stairwell.
First Legolas jumps across, and then like a bunch of idiots, they don’t toss the Ring Bearer over next. This is a great film, I will repeat that again, but this one scene when looked at objectively, falls flat. Instead of the all-important Ring Bearer, Frodo, being tossed across next, Gandalf makes the jump. Then Boromir carries Merry and Pippin across as some of the steps collapse.
Then Aragorn tosses Sam across instead of tossing Frodo. Gah! This scene always drives me nuts. Then Gimli stupidly jumps across and almost falls to his death because of his vanity, and has to be pulled up by the beard. Then more stairs give out and now the uncrowned king and the all-important ring bearer are trapped on the other side. Then part of the stone ceiling breaks loose and destroys a section of staircase above them, and the tall, thin tower the stairs are built on begins to collapse.
The moment is intense enough that you don’t think about the stupidity of not making sure Frodo got across the gap first, but while writing this, I sure am. Anyway, Aragorn and Frodo lean forward and the section of stairs tumbles into the part down below where the rest of the Fellowship waits. They jump onto safe ground and descend the rest of the steps. Personally, I always thought Gandalf’s magic should have made the save here, but whatever.
Then once they’re at ground level again, Gandalf stops and makes sure everyone is still there and running for the bridge. Then, from a flaming crack in the earth behind him, the Balrog finally emerges. It chases them to the bridge, which they have to cross single file. Now the Balrog looks very big and dangerous, like a demon made out of volcanic rock, and as such, the audience feels the need for the Fellowship to escape and escape quickly. The entire sequence looks great, and the bridge is exactly how it was in the book. The Fellowship being forced to go one at a time just ups the tension, and Tolkien definitely knew this.
Gandalf stops halfway across the bridge and turns to face the Balrog. With a defiant glare, he shouts with an authoritative tone: “You cannot pass.” The Fellowship meanwhile watches in awe, able to do nothing for their comrade. Gandalf proclaims his power to the Balrog and raises his staff above his head and it forms a protective barrier around him.
The Balrog brings its flaming sword down on Gandalf, but the barrier holds and it retreats a step while Gandalf again orders it back. Then it brings out its whip and defiantly steps onto the bridge. Gandalf then shouts at full volume (and we see what McKellen’s lungs are capable of) that it will not pass and slams his staff into the bridge. The creature steps back again and takes a long look at what Gandalf must have done. After a moment, it looks as if nothing happened as the result of Gandalf pounding the bridge, so the Balrog rushes onto it. Then it of course collapses.
Gandalf turns around to walk away, but the whip catches his leg and he is pulled into the abyss. He manages to grab onto the bridge with his fingers and holds on for a moment. While Boromir holds Frodo back from attempting to help the wizard, Gandalf and the young Baggins’s eyes meet.
“Run, you fools,” Gandalf orders, and let go, falling into the abyss. When he does so, take a good look. He holds his body straight and stiff with his arms outstretched on either side, resembling a cross. To this day, I am not completely sure if this was intentional or not. I can only comment on what I’ve observed in these films overall. Jackson keeps the Christian symbolism in these books very much intact, and often times, they’re a lot less subtle than Tolkien ever made them. Given that Gandalf is a wise mentor figure and that this is a scene in which he makes a sacrifice of his own life and comes back more powerful than ever later, the only conclusion I can draw is that it was very intentional.
Back to Gandalf’s “death” here. McKellen’s wonderful performance paired with Jackson, Boyens, and Walsh’s sharp writing made him a profoundly likeable character. McKellen captures the heart and soul of Gandalf perfectly. His ability to snark like no one else’s business, his temper, and his grandfatherly ability to comfort an motivate others are kept intact. So even to readers who know what happens, seeing him go in such a dramatic fashion in truly heart-breaking. That paired with the slow motion, the sad music, and the great acting of everyone playing the remaining Fellowship members make this scene truly tear jerking. This film was the first I’ve ever, ever cried at a movie. And I repeat, this was in the full knowledge that he’s coming back.
The best acting on part of the other actors in this scene definitely come from Mortensen, Astin, and Boyd. An absolutely inconsolable Pippin collapsed on his side was very compelling, as were Sean Astin’s own crying (Astin had a talent for moving the audience to tears in this saga), and Mortensen as the shocked, but then stoic Aragorn was very sad, too. The film has given every indication that Aragorn and Gandalf are close, so you know that there’s a war raging inside Aragorn underneath the surface.
Wood’s single shell shocked tear at the end is truly chilling, by the way.
Yet inspite of the sorrow, Aragorn is insistent that they have to press on and the other big folk are made to get the hobbits up. As a final note, that also brings to note how much it would have to suck to be a soldier in war who just lost a buddy, yet there’s no time to grieve. The mission comes first. Yeah, as if this scene couldn’t get more depressing. Tolkien was genius for deciding to lay it on thick whenever someone died (and took from his own experiences during World War I while writing about death), and everyone who worked on these movies were, too, for being able to duplicate the effect.
The Fellowship then races for Lothlorien before night falls and the countryside is swarming with orcs.
