Books to Movies: Lord of the Rings, Background Information as Prologue and Action Plus Frodo's Age

Prologue:

As I mention with The Hobbit, I approve of background information being presented upfront. The selected material here is an impressive example of "how to summarize several 1,000 years of material" into less than 5 minutes. It presents the main characters and the problem.

In the book, this information is presented in "A Shadow of the Past," mostly through dialog. The movie divides up this information--partly through the prologue and partly through the scene where Gandalf returns to the Shire.

Likewise, background information about Gandalf's confrontation with Saruman, presented in the book as mostly exposition (in dialog form), is presented in the movie as visual action. And, yes, watching two classic old guy actors beat the crap out of each other is all kinds of fun!

The writing here is quite smart.

Frodo's Age:

In the book, Frodo is about the age portrayed in the movie at the time of "The Long Expected Party" (taking into account that hobbits age about 10 years behind humans, so Frodo's 33 is the equivalent to the human age of 21).

He doesn't leave on his quest with the Ring until he is Bilbo's age in The Hobbit: 50 (about 40).

The younger age works, in part because Frodo is quite different in personality from Bilbo. They share qualities but Frodo is more bookish, more contemplative, more introverted, and more reserved. He also has a more authoritative aura, which Elijah Wood's Frodo doesn't always have. However, generally, I think Jackson's decision is the right one here.

For one, having a younger age (to begin) avoids the detective in long-lasting mystery series problem. Writers start a series with a detective who is about 40ish. By the time the series ends, the detective ought to be 120!

A younger Frodo is not only quite attractive to watch and worry about, he invites the possibility of aging. In comparison, Bilbo's journey is not one of discovery but one of expansion or reckoning (mid-life crisis). Frodo, however, undertakes the classic hero journey in which characters discover more about themselves or undergoes a metamorphosis (or become, in this case, the fisher king). Youth isn't a given. But it is often expected in myth and fairy tales.