The realm of Middle Earth is a dark place. Sauron's great eye looms overhead. The Nazgul and Uruk-hai torment the innocent. But the darkest thing facing the Fellowship might just be... the fan theories. Merry and Pippin have the secret ambition to sabotage Frodo's journey. Denethor loses his mind by eating too many tomatoes. Samwise lies about the entire quest. Truly, it's dark out there in the Shire.
If you're not afraid to learn some of Middle Earth's most sinister could-bes, check out this list of dark fan theories from Lord of the Rings movies.
- 1
Aragorn And Legolas Are Devastated By Gandalf's Death
From Redditor /u/Ranchking91:
In the LOTR movies there are these little details that only last for about a second. First, when Aragorn witnesses Gandalf fall he freezes for a few seconds and almost takes an arrow to the face. It takes Boromir shouting at him to snap him out of it. Also, when the sad music is playing and all the hobbits are crying we just see Legolas staring at the ground in disbelief. My theory is that Aragorn and Legolas where more distraught then any of the group but just didn't show it because they are hardened warriors but they are also educated and know who Gandalf is.
In the LOTR lore, it is revealed that Gandalf isn't just some mysterious Wizard but something equivalent to an archangel like Saint Micheal and Satan. He and the rest of the wizards of Middle Earth are on the same power level as Sauron and Morgoth and Legolas and Aragorn know it because they were raised by the elves and were educated. To the Hobbits, losing Gandalf was like losing a grandfatherly figure and Gimli and Boromir, both hardened warriors themselves, are barely affected by it but to Aragorn and Legolas it was like watching Jesus die. What was probably going through boths' minds afterward was "we are truly f*cked now."
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 2
Boromir Is Poisoned By Blood Of Sauron
From Redditor /u/The_Actual_Pope:
Shortly after arriving in Rivendell, Boromir cuts himself on the index finger with the exact part of the broken sword that last cut off Sauron's index finger. The Elves kept it pretty much as-is after it was broken, so there could still be blood on it.
Immediately before cutting himself he seems pretty friendly toward Aragorn, and right after he seems angry. Later it's like he can barely stand to be in the presence of Galadriel, while she looks confused by him.
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 3
Denethor Goes Mad From Lead Poisoning
From Redditor /u/HipHopAnonymous23:
First, a brief history lesson. The tomato was introduced to Europe in the early 1500's when the Spanish conquistadors brought it back from Mesoamerica. Because tomatoes are so acidic, when they were placed upon European pewter plates or cooked in pewter pots, the acidity would cause a greater amount of the lead in the pewter to leach into the food. The resulting increase of lead poisoning lead to the tomato being blamed for causing sickness and death.
In The Return of the King, as Pippin sings for Denethor as he feasts, he is explicitly shown eating tomatoes from a pewter platter. He is also shown drinking from a pewter cup.
I believe this was very intentional by Peter Jackson to subtly imply that lead poisoning was contributing to Denethor's unbalanced mental state.
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 4
Theoden Is A Terrible Leader
From Redditor /u/leadalloyammo:
To begin with, I have read the unabridged trilogy, albeit a while ago. Right now I'm just rewatching the trilogy for the 80th time because it's on Netflix.
We first meet Theoden cursed and frail, allowing Grima Wormtongue to speak for him and influence his thoughts. Now I know that Saruman was corrupted by a Palantir (as was Denethor), but that doesn't exactly explain Wormtongue's position. Theoden was merely an unwise king, allowing for a literal worm to influence his thoughts and actions even before Saruman curses him. When Saruman corrupts Theoden, he's already got a man on the inside.
Later, in The Two Towers, he makes some fairly questionable decisions. It's apparent that the Rohirrim are more than capable of taking on the Uruk Hai, but only in their natural fighting grounds: the open field. Had Theoden followed Aragorn's advice and fought them head on, many civilians could have been spared, the walls of Helm's Deep would not have been breached, and perhaps he could have inspired more Men to join the cause. Strategically, everyone, even Saruman, expected Theoden to retreat to Helm's Deep. That's why he preemptively created the explosive device and the large ladders (built to height for Helm's Deep). These would have been largely useless had the Rohirrim done as they were trained to do: ride.
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 5
Gandalf Sent Multiple Hobbits Because He Thinks Frodo Will Die
From Redditor /u/kwonza:
Think about it: you are sending a task force of die-hard fighters on an almost suicidal mission into the heart of the enemy's territory. Then some hapless teenagers (and despite their age that's what Hobbits mostly were) claim they would like to tag along. Of course you would bring them to their senses and send them home, unless...
Out of the couple of facts we know about Hobbits are: they are rather silent, they have hairy legs, they have unusual resistance to the powers of the Ring. It was stated a few time that the Ring corrupts the f*ck out of its bearer. Hell, the wizard didn't even trusted himself with the damn artifact. So what would happen if somewhere in the middle of the road Frodo catches an arrow and is no more? The whole operation on which the fate of the world depends in jeopardized.
Solutions? Have a spare ring-barer. Maybe two, four won't hurt either. Sure, the Gray loves the Hobbits, but its better to sacrifice four so that thousands may live.
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 6
Frodo Never Wanted To Destroy The One Ring
From Redditor /u/patrckhh:
Watch the Council of Elrond scene. After Frodo puts the ring on the table, he begins to experience uneasiness. After Elrond says the ring must be destroyed, Frodo becomes even more uneasy and even starts to hear the voice of Sauron calling to him. When everyone stands up and starts shouting at each other, the voice of Sauron intensifies in Frodo, and he sees flames in the ring, and then he stands up and says he will take it to Mordor. He does not say he will take it there to destroy it, just, he will take it there.
Also, he decided to take it, not having shook off the bad feelings, and not having resolved to destroy it. After he hears Sauron calling to him, he immediately stands up and says he will take it. This makes it look more like an act of obedience than anything else.
This makes the end, where he decided not to destroy the ring, more believable. What seemed like great resistance to the ring through out the movies, was actually because Sauron was empowering him to bring the ring to Mordor.
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 7
Elrond Orders The Fellowship To Sacrifice Frodo
From Redditor /u/equalsnil:
Rationale: The One Ring invariably corrupts anyone who holds it to the point where it's impossible for anyone to knowingly attempt to destroy it. It's why Gollum had to accidentally fall off the ledge. Elrond and figures of similar knowledge were aware of this, to some degree, and might very well have been willing to sacrifice one hobbit in exchange for the final death of Sauron.
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 8
The Ring Requires A Sacrifice
From Redditor /u/IndependentAnteater3:
I was rewatching Return of the King last night and was thinking about the two scenes at Mount Doom with Isildur and Frodo. What if the Ring required the sacrifice of its holder to be destroyed? This would explain why the influence of the ring is so strong at Mount Doom which causes both carriers to abandon their mission. Only when Gollum gets the ring and is tossed into the lava is the ring destroyed, fulfilling the need of the ring of self sacrifice.
I know there's not a lot of supporting evidence, but it seems plausible to me.
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 9
Middle Earth Is Our Post-Apocalyptic Future
From Redditor /u/Whitepill-rescue:
Plot twist: Lord of the Rings was NEVER about a PAST ancient era or medieval alternate universe, it was actually a movie about a FUTURE post apocalyptic Britain/New Zealand, roughly 4500 AD, while Mad Max is about a post apocalyptic Australia next door.
I believe this may have been the ultimate interion of the author, but no one got it. One irrefutable clue he provided is numenor.
Numenor was a highly advanced past civilisation thought to be a kind of middle earth Atlantis that existed before the middle earth era. Nothing could be further from the truth. The literature describes numenor as having “metal ships that sailed without sails” (petrol driven ships), “tall unsighlty towers (skyscrapers) and most tellingly, “missiles” that could strike at enemies from far away (cruise missiles).
Aka newsflash, numenor is NOT ancient Atlantis, it is none other than our 21st century earth. Middle earth takes place 2500 years after a great catastrophe, probably nuclear (example: fell lands that remain infertile for millennia like Mordor, mutations) wiped out the modern world, throwing humanity back into the dark age.
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 10
Gandalf Isn't Resurrected, He's Reset
From Redditor /u/TheMediocreCritic:
Tl;DR: When Gandalf is resurrected in The Two Towers, he is not “leveling up” to the next stage in his powers because of his sacrificial death. He is merely “reset” to his original Maiar self without the experience and empathy he gained from a thousand years in middle earth.
Theory synopsis:
Gandalf, as a Maiar(demi-god), started robed in white. When he came down to help the peoples of Middle-Earth, he was influenced and changed by his love of the people. This love and his experience gained causes him to adopt the grey physically and metaphorically. This experience, knowledge, and love of middle earth help him grow past his original form and purpose. He shed the white of the Maiar, choosing grey to symbolize his experience and change in mindset due to his love of middle earth people.
He is different from Saruman, who never sees past his own experience and never changes past his original form. Sadly, When Gandalf dies and comes back as Gandalf the White, He loses his “Grey” form and is reset back to his original, demi-god form.
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 11
Gandalf Is A Recovering Alcoholic
From Redditor /u/pgibso:
There's a noticeable change between The Hobbit and LOTR regarding Gandalf.
In The Hobbit, Gandalf (The Grey) is organizing the party of Dwarves to meet at Bag End when one of the party offers Gandalf a cup of fresh brewed tea. He declines and replies "I'll take a glass of wine" to which he is handed a (Hobbit sized) glass which he drains instantly and seems to disappointed about.
When we arrive to The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf is reunited with his old companion Bilbo Baggins. When they meet Bilbo implores Gandalf to try a fine wine laid down by his Grandfather for celebration, to which Gandalf replies, "Just tea, thank you!" A clear parallel to the previous film in which Gandalf is clearly trying to avoid his old habits. Not to mention he's still in throws of the of the Old Tovy, a weed he still smokes which Sauraman openly accuses him of abusing and thus missing the ability to see the importatance of the task that was laid before him which was to detect the one ring.
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 12
Merry And Pippin Try To Sabotage The Journey
From Redditor /u/ChimneyHendrix:
In the Fellowship of the Ring, a huge problem that the group has is that Merry and Pippin keep doing things seemingly by accident that cause huge problems for everyone. Because they're goofy immature hobbits at the time, it's reasonable to chalk it up to general clumsiness and inattention. My theory is that because they aren' the brightest characters, the ring uses this to its advantage and tempts them to work against the group in any way they can. Examples of this would be:
1) Mentioning Frodo by name in the tavern in Bree.
2) Lighting a campfire at Weathertop to attract the Wraiths.
3) Causing the stir in the mines of Moria.
It's also only because the two are dim-witted that their attempts to sabotage the journey fail.
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 13
Frodo Dies On The Journey; Samwise Lies About It
From Redditor /u/Murray_the_miser:
Frodo is a goner. That becomes very clear from the very first movie on. His main combat-strategy is looking scared and droping his blade. During the journey Frodo walks from one death-trap into the other. He gets stabbed by a bewitched nazgul-blade, almost eaten by a gigant octopus, speared by an oger, hustled by Boromir, strangled by Gollum, drowns in a swamp, gets stung by a gigant (poisonous-)spider, captured by orcs, etc. and he survives all of it?
Seems almost like he's indestructible. My theory; Frodo dies somwhere on the journey and Sam forfilled the ring quest all by himself. He tells the story to his children, inventing that Frodo survived and made it to the mount doom and back to shire. By this the story seems less lonely and maybe Sam had the dire wish for company, that he imagined his friend to not get crazy.
My guess, Frodo already dies in the mines of Moria. Certainly after Fellowship of the Ring, Sam is all by himself.
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 14
Pippin Is Possessed By Sauron
From Redditor /u/[deleted]:
In The Lord of the Rings, Pippin's actions at more than one point were influenced by Sauron. This mostly happens when Sauron's forces are near.
They first run into Frodo's journey when he is leaving the shire. This was after the Nazgul had arrived. Was it purely by chance that he just bumped into him?
He continuously makes efforts to alert the Nazgul; attracting their attention on the roads, causing the stir up in Bree, lighting the fire at weathertop to attract the Nazgul. Notice how the Nazgul don't try to kill the other hobbits except the one with the ring; they know one of them serves their master.
Later he is so eager to accompany the Fellowship on their journey, why? He knows his skills are useless, it is a deadly journey, far more competent warriors are going, and why would the affairs of the rest of the world interest him?
Actually makes a lot of sense? - 15
Elves Keep Hobbits As Pets
From Redditor /u/thebeginningistheend:
So the big question about Hobbits is where exactly they came from. Their origin is not in the Silmarillion and even Treebeard, the oldest creature in Middle Earth, doesn't seem to know the answer.
While they are human, they weren't apparently directly created by Eru. And evolution from baseline humans doesn't seem likely, not only because of the short timeframe but also because of their small size doesn't really confer much of an evolutionary advantage.
"Their most ancient legends hardly looked further back than their Wandering Days. It is clear, nonetheless, from these legends, and from the evidence of their peculiar words and customs, that like many other folk Hobbits had in the distant past moved westward. Their earliest tales seem to glimpse a time when they dwelt in the upper vales of Anduin, between the eaves of Greenwood the Great and the Misty Mountains. Why they later undertook the hard and perilous crossing of the mountains into Eriador is no longer certain. Their own accounts speak of the multiplying of Men in the land, and of a shadow that fell on the forest, so that it became darkened and its new name was Mirkwood."
Actually makes a lot of sense?
