70 Fantastic Moments in Peter Jackson's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Films

Regardless of your feelings about The Hobbit trilogy, the sheer scope of Peter Jackson's six film exploration of JRR Tolkien's Middle-Earth mythos is a the kind of thing we're unlikely to ever see attempted again. Unlike the open-ended narratives of superhero films, The Lord of the Ringsand The Hobbitmovies have definite end points. What's more, the Tolkien estate has made it fairly clear that they won't be making more of his writings available for adaptation. In short: it's over.

So, in celebration of fourteen years of Peter Jackson bringing the most seminal works of fantasy fiction to life, we look at our (many) favorite moments from the entire saga. 

The Fellowship of the Ring

Battle of Mt. Doom/Sauron's Intro

There's considerable heavy lifting that needs to be done in order to tell Sauron's origin and get the necessary exposition out of the way to set up the general Middle-Earth mythology at the start of Fellowship of the Ring. It's handled elegantly, with plenty of reverence and just the right touch of spectacle. Watching Sauron annihilate soldiers by the half-dozen with each swing before getting his digits severed was a breathtaking moment when first beheld, and the fact that these opening moments also managed to summarize key events from The Hobbit (no jokes, please) is all the more impressive.

Meet Gandalf

Fellowship of the Ring is such a perfect film that it's tough to not just make this into a scene-by-scene triptych. But in this case, the introduction of Ian McKellen's Gandalf is so important. If this first on-screen interaction between two of the key players of the films, separated by height, species, age, and potential power, didn't work on every imaginable level, then the entire trilogy would be built on sand. 

Fortunately, from the moment Ian McKellen appears on screen there is no doubt that he is indeed Gandalf the Grey, brought to life in live-action for the first time, and perfectly embodied.

Gandalf Goes Scary on Bilbo

Gandalf the Grey really does seem to live up to his name for most of Fellowship’s first act. With his long flowing beard of silver, and his absent-mindedness when he meets Frodo with a feeble excuse for his tardiness, this is a big man with a big heart. Thus when it finally runs cold, on dear old friend Bilbo no less, it’s one of the most frightening moments of the trilogy. Forget Saruman and Sauron, hearing Bag End creak and twist in the shadows cast by Ian McKellen’s mere annoyance is the stuff of nightmares.

“Do not take me for some conjuror of cheap tricks!” Dear Elrond, we don’t! Take the ring; don’t hurt us, just take the ring!

Almost Had Him

The beauty of Fellowship of the Ring is how classical its approach seems compared to the rest of the Jackson/Tolkien affairs. Lacking the CGI windswept battles of the rest of its own trilogy, or the overabundance of 48fps and blue screen wizardry of The Hobbit Trilogy, this first 35mm feels frankly old fashioned. It even turns to animation for one of its best moments involving Elijah Wood and a stunt guy in an elaborate costume.

Emulating a famous scene from the 1978 Ralph Bakshi The Lord of the Rings, a Ringwraith corners Frodo and his companions on the side of the road. His mere presence causes the ring to go in a frenzy of hypnosis. As Merry, Pip, and Sam struggle to ignore all the nasty spiders and creepy crawlies running away from the wraith, Frodo is having his first true battle of temptation with the ring. At this point it isn’t exhausting to witness struggle; it’s terrifying, much like the contorted Dutch angle staring up at this grim reaper.

Second Breakfast

This doesn’t need much explaining. Pippin takes a moment to illustrate hobbit dining habits to a less than interested Strider. “We’ve had one breakfast yes, but what about second breakfast?” Aye, that sounds as delightful as afternoon tea, which stateside is as much a fantasy as everything else here!

Wizard Battle!

You'd better make your saving throws, because Gandalf and Saruman are having a throwdown. The revelation that Saruman is a dick is the cinematic equivalent of Shawn Michaels kicking Marty Jannetty through a barbershop window. Well, not quite...nobody expected Christopher Lee to be playing someone with noble intentions, did they? But any nerd worth their 12-sided dice got a little shiver watching these two go at it, even if ol' Gandalf ended up on the wrong end of the staff. 

Strider Takes on the Ringwraiths

For a series that occasionally has to deal with macho detractors howling about how in touch with their feelings everyone is, there are plenty of moments of sheer badassery on display. Watching Strider throw the Ringwraiths a beating while Howard Shore's music, which had been fairly reflective until it takes on a more heroic tone, swells around him is plenty of fun...but it's the grace and style he does it with that really drives it all home.

The "torch right to the face" is a nice touch.

An Arwen Ride Along

As masterfully important as J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel is…at the end of the day Lord of the Rings is not flawless. In addition to having the two potential loves of Aragorn’s life (also the only major female characters in the story) share names so similar that it’s befuddled scholars for generations, the theoretically more important of the two, Arwen Undomiel, never even shows up until the end of Return of the King for a wedding and an infuriating appendix-stuffed back story.

So, Peter Jackson’s intuition to beef up her role was the right one, albeit in this boy’s club narrative, especially in a movie titled Fellowship of the Ring, there is only so much he could fiddle with. However, for this brief and stunning set-piece, he found magnificence, as well as one of the most thrilling sequences of the film. What especially heightens it in retrospect is how low-tech this chase turned out to be in contrast to the rest of the trilogy.

Arwen comes like a true elfin dream into Frodo’s reality and then saves him from a stampeding Nazgul! Simply nine guys on black horses and one woman (or she-elf) on another riding through the New Zealand countryside, it’s instantly visceral and swiftly heart-stopping under Howard Shore’s pounding score. The antithesis of much of Lord of the Rings, it’s a woman doing something important in an action sequence that is blessedly brief and reliant mostly on practical effects, which makes the digital water horses all the better when they do show up.

One Does Not Simply Walk into Mordor

It became a meme for a reason, and Sean Bean is awesome. He gives Boromir more sympathy and charisma in this moment than dozens of pages devoted to this man in the book.

Dark Bilbo

While Bilbo and Frodo's reunion is wonderfully played by both Elijah Wood and Ian Holm, communicating a genuine affection between these two characters and the sadness that comes with seeing your loved ones age, that brief moment when Bilbo turns while in the presence of "his old ring" was worth a jump on the first viewing, and may still give you a quick start if you've forgotten it's there.

It's the fangs...

Epic Casting Call Walk

Rarely has ridiculously posed strutting seemed so awesome and so perfect. In the closest to a Dungeons and Dragons movie moment that you're likely to ever get (except, you know, cool) the entire Fellowship of the Ring strolls up a mountain pass outside Rivendelle with the kind of self-aware badassery usually reserved for The Right Stuff clips. As Howard Shore's music swells, so does the audience instantly caring about this band of plucky heroes. It also gives them each a moment to shine within the span of a few seconds, the likes of which a dozen dwarves never enjoyed.

The Bridge of Khazad-Dum

Really, the entire Mines of Moria sequence is masterful. Once they're in, the tension and quiet mount to almost unbearable levels until the tussle with the Cave Troll (one must love Sean Bean's exasperated, "they have a cave troll"), and then, well...the Balrog shows up. Having drained the formerly lush setting of all color with the snowstorm on the mountain, the nighttime exterior of the mines, and the blue-grey darkness of the mines themselves, it's ominous when the orange flames begin to rise. Once that Balrog and his flaming whip make the big entrance, you know you've reached the high point of the film, if not the entire genre.

"You shall not pass," may as well refer to anyone else who thinks they'll ever get a wizard taking on a fire demon as right as this ever again.

After Gandalf’s Death

“You shall not pass!” is arguably the most iconic and intense moment in the entire Tolkien oeuvre. But it’s so good that an equally powerful sequence is often overlooked: the aftermath. Following Gandalf’s fall into darkness, the rest of the Fellowship is ready to descend into despair. On a rocky New Zealand hillside, all of the actors are allowed to mark the various stages of grief with nuance, grace, and even silence. Save for Aragorn and Boromir’s arguing, the tears are silently drowned out by the heart-wrenchingly solitary use of Howard Shore’s backend for “The Bridge of Khazad-Dum.”

Aragorn must take on the role of leader so he is allowed to talk over the music, but there’s no need in regards to Frodo. His grief is too full to even cry or make a noise. In fact, he’s already one footstep removed from the whole Fellowship.

"All shall love me and despair!"

The test of Galadriel is a haunting, scary sequence. Masterfully played by Cate Blanchett, Galadriel's sudden transformation from a figure of beauty and grace to one of pure power and terror might just be the best visual representation of the ancient forces at play in Middle-Earth in the entire saga. This is a fictional world that has been fully realized since long before you started watching, and the viewer may as well be Frodo, helpless in the face of Galadriel's fury.

Aragorn Refuses the Ring

An uncomplicated moment, it’s also a special one. By the end of Fellowship, Frodo has embarked on his many hours of pity and paranoia, and it got its first reinforcement due to Boromir’s weakness. But Aragorn proves he is indeed a cut above most men, including his countrymen. After our own species coming up so short for three hours, it is nice to see its once and future monarch is of greater divine stuff.

And the empathy in Viggo Mortensen’s eyes is so truly sorrowful that you can forget about Tolkien; why can’t Aragorn come with Frodo? But then, like a true badass, it’s gone and his sword is drawn as he single-handedly faces down a horde of Uruk-hai!

Boromir Finds His King

Strangely, death for good guys in Tolkien’s world is almost unheard of. Thus the few surprising times the heroes are actually punished seems numbingly unfair. Boromir was the weakest of the Fellowship, and he indeed hastened its dissolution when he gave in to the ring’s seduction. Nonetheless, he found atonement when he valiantly fought to save Merry and Pippin, two Halflings that this one-time arrogant diplomat from Gondor would have likely not even noticed if not for his quest.

While he fails, it is only because of the cowardly actions of an Uruk-hai behind a bow and arrow from a distance (only Legolas can get away with that!). His final moments with Aragorn miraculously avoids feeling schmaltzy or trite. He has simply in his last moments found his captain, his brother, and his king.

Don’t Forget Sam

And speaking of sequences that risk descending into schmaltz, Sam would literally drown before abandoning Mr. Frodo on their quest. It is a sequence that once again is buoyed by Howard Shore’s elegant instrumentations, channeling every pastoral soundscape imaginable. However, after three hours of nigh death and despair for these two hobbits, seeing them genuinely overjoyed to not be alone is a relief for all involved, including us. “I’m going to Mordor alone.” “Of course you are, and I’m coming with you!” 

Perfect.

We've got the best moments from The Two Towers on the next page!