We apologize for any audio issue you may experience. YT was not friendly with us on this upload. Two Towers might be our favorite so far! And Gollum..... Hilarious and dark! Whats some of your favorite moments of Two Towers? Part 2 is in the editor and will be out soon! Full reactions on Patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/63492972
Treebeard is voiced by John Rhys-Davies ... who plays Gimli the dwarf ... and he created that sound by "inhaling when we usually dont do it". With this information it is easy to hear how he does it.
@Charles G2 Andy Serkis is the King of motion capture. His work as Gollum was groundbreaking but also after these movies he portrayed Kong in Peter Jackson’s King Kong movies. But he actually may be best as Caesar in the new Planet of the Apes trilogy. Absolutely an award worthy actor that gets overlooked because his face isn’t on the screen
@Charles G2 I mean they didn't even give these two first movies the best picture. When the 3rd one came out they realized how fuckin dumb they were and gave all the awards to it.
I am legally obliged to tell you that when Aragorn kicked the helmet the actor broke his toe. The scream was genuine. If no one else will post it, I will.
I was surprised by that when I learned that fact. Much like in Django Unchained how Leonardo actually cut himself when slamming his hand down on the glass, and worked his pain into his performance when his Calvin Candy holds Django and Dr. Schultz hostage after blowing their cover as bounty hunters.
Another part is that for a lot of the shots of them running through the NZ scenery, not only was that after he'd broken his toe, but Gimli's size double had also just injured one of his knees.
@acrefray I know I did, as it was my pain to bear to the end of my days. I have always had a strong memory, but when I buried my 4 month old little girl I have come to think memory can be a curse.
Tolkien never wrote this. Nor virtually any of the dialogue used in the film. I hadn't realised how awful the film was until viewing it here again after recently reading the books again. Shame on Peter Jackson.
@Ben Kelly they generally died in childbirth though, or early childhood, not when they reached their twenties. And either way it doesn't change the sentiment that I think every time it happened the parents still felt like this.
Bernard had visited the site of a big building that had burned down, and met a mother who's child had died in the fire. She said those words to him and he brought the line to the movie.
Ahhh...like others, always heard Chritopher speaking as Gandalf begins to address the trio...then clearly Ian's voice when The White Wizard is revealed. Very cool revelation. Much appreciated.
@Drix 42 highly recommend coming here (I live quite near hobbiton and I can always see the lotr tour cars driving past, pre covid ofc) just make sure you bring a lot of money cuz everything's so expensive 😭
If you watch the making of on the DVD they explain that this is even crazier. Orlando Bloom had a broken rib, the Gimli double had hyper extended his knee and Viggo was always banged up and they just had to run all day lol
It took Saruman years to build that army. The time is condensed in the movies. In the books, there is a 17 year gap between Bilbo's party and Frodo leaving The Shire.
Fun Fact: J .R. R. Tolkien actually based Treebeard on C. S. Lewis, a close personal friend of Tolkien's and also author of "The Chronicles of Narnia". C. S. Lewis also based "The Professor" in his own novels on Tolkien
Also Worm-tongue has a name closely resembling one of a character in the Screwtape letters wormwood which is the demon that Screwtape another demon is writing to as he is trying to tempt a man on earth
I know a lot of people ask why Grima Wormtongue had a horse when he left. He is still a man of Rohan, and horses are a HUGE part of Rohan's culture. In fact, the horses of the Nazgul were bred from Rohirrim steeds. They took horsemanship seriously and were called Horse-lords in several cases and earned the name. Chances are, that was Grima's own horse. I can't imagine anyone in the court of Edoras didn't have their own horse
The voice of Treebeard the Ent was none other then Gimli himself. John Rhys Davies voiced him. Also the Black Riders are now known as Nazgûl and the dragon like creatures they’re riding on are known as fellbeasts.
@Laurette LaLiberte Unless you know of another name that they were ever called. I looked a bit and saw what you mean about Legolas calling them that but everything I’ve found pretty much says that’s the only name they’ve ever been given
@Laurette LaLiberte There is no other name for them in Tolkien lore. That’s the only name that they have ever been given. That’s what they have come to be known as.
The Gandalf situation has to do with why the Wizards are in Middle Earth: When Sauron’s influence began grow, 5 spirits called “Maiar” were sent to Middle Earth to help contest Sauron’s will. These Maiar took the forms on Men and became the Istari (Wizards) They took on different roles; eg. Gandalf the Grey to be a wandering counsellor to the people of Middle Earth, Saruman the White to be a wise leader, etc. When Immortal beings like Maiar die their spirits return to Valinor to be judged, some being given new forms. Since Saruman betrayed his role, Gandalf was sent back to be his replacement. In fact Gandalf was the only Wizard to stay true to his purpose and not become corrupted or distracted by worldly interests.
@Chris Lokison He did part of his job, but he ultimately became preoccupied with animals and plants. Tolkien describes him as having failed at his greater purpose, but I guess it depends on if you agree with the author/cannon 😛
So glad you guys are watching the extended edition, obviously very long, but the extra scenes add a lot to the entire world they tried to create. Can't wait for Part 2!
The Dead Marshes cover the ground in front of Mordor. That is where the battle at the beginning of the first movie took place. The Marshes took over later and the dead are still there, men, elves, and orcs.
The battle at the beginning of the movie was by Mount Doom as stated by the movie. The dead marshes is outside of Mordor where Legolas' grandfather died because they chased the orcs into the marshes.
So glad you’re continuing! The films just get better from here! The Dead marshes were actually directly inspired by the battle of the Somme in WWI. Tolkien’s daughter remarked that her father’s experience in that battle stayed with him, especially seeing the piles of dead. Hence the “dead faces in the water.” Gandalf did die. But the wizards were sent to lead the people against Sauron. Saruman betrayed them and the other wizards also lost their way. Gandalf was the only one that stated true to his purpose. So, when he died, the God of Middle Earth basically said, “I’m sending you back as the White to do his job in defeating Sauron.” That’s why Gandalf the White is more assertive than the Grey. He’s now in the position of Leader.
@ServantOfMelian Later in his life, Tolkien decided that the two Blue Wizards went to the East and sort of led a resistance against the cults Sauron instituted. I wish we could have seen their story; it would have been amazing.
@ServantOfMelian radagast did tarry among his beloved creatures of yavanna much too much that he abandoned his watch over the first born and second. tolkien mentioned that in 'unfinished tales' under the essay 'the istari', so in a sense radagast did not succeed for all the istari were sent to assist men and elves in resisting sauron.
@Cat Bowser Fantasy Therapist, we could debate that. Saruman failed for sure. But did Radagast? He was sent at the special request of Yavanna, to watch over her part of creation. In that respect, he may have succeeded. And I understand that Tolkien himself was undecided about the fate of the blue wizards. (Oh, and Gandalf was drafted).
All of these scenes were done in New Zealand, which is where Peter Jackson (Director) is from. Some cast members bought apartments/houses in New Zealand because they were there for years, shooting these movies. Places like the Shire are still are still around because they built them in New Zealand and just let them grow.
@Badd Medicine It's also the home of WETA Workshop. The special effects and prop company responsible for the bulk of the costumes, armor, weapons, miniatures, sets, prosthetics and animation in the films. They are on par with George Lucas's other baby Industrial Light And Magic.
I haven't read all the comments yet but FYI, this movie is basically what made Andy Serkis' career explode. Gollum was the first full-fledged motion capture character at that time, I believe, one that looked so realistic and one that could physically interact with the actors. Back then, it was a real huge breakthrough in cinematography
In that running sequence that evoked "How much of this was New Zealand and how much was CGI?" - That was actual, because if you look closely, Gimli loses one of his boots but keeps running.
ALSO also - when we say "Gimli" for the running scenes, always remember - there are TWO Gimlis! Basically, Gimli was portrayed in close-up and facial reactions (and full body when no one else was in the frame with him) by John Rhys-Davies (Sallah from the Indiana Jones films if that helps place him). But for any scene of a wide shot - like the infamous "Running wounded" shots that this sub-thread talks about, it's his "little person" double - Brett Beattie - doing the work. And taking the lumps! (I say "little person" reservedly though - he really was almost normal sized at 4'10" tall. But then - dwarves are noticeably about half-way between Hobbits and men in size.) So "Gimli" being hurt wasn't JRD, but Brett Beattie. In fact, Beattie did SO much of the work that when the other 8 main actors got their Lord of the Rings tattoos at the end of filming, John Rhys Davies thought Beattie deserved the honor more than him and had him do the tattoo for Gimli!
Also during its filming the actor of Aragorn had 2 broken toes from kicking the helmet and the actor of Legolas had a broken rib from falling off a horse during the filming of another scene so they were in immense pain while running but toughed it out like absolute badasses cause they didn't want to delay the filming. Also Gimlis gear weighed like 70 pounds so his running sequence was also pretty impressive for its own right.
Treebeard was voiced by John Rhys-Davis, Same actor who plays Gimli. He spoke a lot of the dialog for Treebeard by breathing in while talking to create the effect.
@Badd Medicine He has not been the voice of Megatron. The person who most often did Megatron was Frank Welker followed by a list of other voice actors. The most famous voice of Optimus Prime is done by Peter Cullen.
Yeah so like all Elven made things, the rope ofc had to be magical too lol, it actually is real tight as Sam mentioned, but the magic allows the user to undo any knot it makes in order to take the rope back and use it again, if the owner of the rope so happens to want it loosened
All real scenery. New Zealand is a stunning place. I did a 2 week LOTR tour across both north and South Island 5 years ago and went to so many locations from these films, some of private land who only let that tour company in as it was the first one so has decades of connections. These films will always be special.
Cannot wait for part 2 you guys. You each bring something special to the table and I enjoy all of your inputs, especially The Oak laughing his butt off at all the memes from Fellowship
A nice little detail about a specific scene in this movie - at the gates of Mordor, when Sam falls down the slope and Frodo has to cover him with the cloak, it's not just a trick of the light that shields them. When Celeborn gave them the cloaks, he said "May these cloaks help shield you from unfriendly eyes", so there's also elven magic at work there
16:04 Not dragon, fell beast. You're a lot closer than you realize, I'll explain a bit 😀 At first, there were only great worm-like scaled creatures. The first dark lord (Morgoth) bred the first fire-breathing dragon (Glaurung), and eventually the first winged fire-breather (Ancalagon). By the time of The Hobbit, Smaug is about the only known flying, fire-breathing dragon left. I don't know if you've read it yet so I won't spoil what happens to him, but it's worth a read for sure. Come LotR, Sauron is basically making do with what he has. He doesn't have any fire-breathing dragons, but he does have some "cold drakes" (flying dragons that lost much of their intelligence and magical abilities, including the ability to breathe fire). So over the ages it's implied he breeds and warps them into the controllable, rideable form we see here.
@SnowforPres Eeeeh kinda, that's a very European / D&D thing. Classical Loong dragons usually have 4 limbs and no wings, but can fly. I'd argue it depends more on the specific body of work and how they categorize them.
addition: 4 legs is usually a dragon and 2 legs a Wyvern. Wyverns cant spew fire but in some Fantasy worlds spew poison instead. Just general fantasy background :)
I think I’m one of the few who Two Towers is actually my favorite film of the trilogy. It’s crazy to me how I can still get so excited over these films that I’ve see countless times. I literally just watched them again in December. Yet I had to rewind in this video several times because I got too drawn into it and had to go back to enjoy your reactions. For my bit of trivia I want to add about King Theoden at the funeral. A ton of the script for these movies is pulled straight from the books. Even if it sometimes said at a different time or different character. Which means these aren’t really the kinds of movies you improv on. But the line “no parent should have to bury their child was actually added to the script by the actor Bernard Hill. He was talking with an extra on the set and the woman was also a fan of the books. (Peter Jackson really liked using people who cared about the story.) They were talking and she spoke about how she connected with Theoden’s character because she had lost a child to an illness. She said the line “no parent should have to bury their child.” Bernard Hill found it so powerful he later added it to his performance at the funeral. Before I knew this I always thought that moment and the way it was acted was incredibly, but knowing the story and that it came from a very real person. It hits me every time.
Theodred's funeral scene - Eowyn's song is a citation from Anglosaxon "Beowulf" poem. "Lament for Theodred" written in Old English : Nú on théostrum licgeth Théodred se léofa hæ´letha holdost. ne sceal hearpan sweg wigend weccean; ne winfæ´t gylden guma sceal healdan, ne god hafoc geond sæ´l swingan, ne se swifta mearh burhstede beatan. Bealocwealm hafað fréone frecan forth onsended giedd sculon singan gléomenn sorgiende on Meduselde thæt he ma no wære his dryhtne dyrest and maga deorost. Now dear Théodred lies in darkness, most loyal of fighters. The sound of the harp shall not wake the warrior; nor shall the man hold a golden wine-cup, nor good hawk swing through the hall, nor the swift horse stamp in the courtyard. An evil death has set forth the noble warrior A song shall sing the sorrowing minstrels of Meduseld That noble cousin, who always held me dear Now is held in darkness, enclosed. Éowyn is only heard singing the last four lines of the song ending with the word Bealo, which in Old English meant "evil" or "harm". The first of those lines originates from the epic poem Beowulf, line 2265. Bealocwealm hafað fela feorhcynna forð onsended!
@Faye J Isn't it? And it's so crazy to listen to, because you feel sure you should understand it, but it's not coming together into the words you know.
When I saw the extended edition for the first time and was introduced to this extra scene, it gave me chills. Absolutely one of my favorite extras. Gorgeous.
I always like to say this since everybody always talks about how Viggo (aragorn) broke his toe when he kicked the helmet. The sequence of them running in the beginning chasing the orcs was shot after he broke his toe. In addition, Orlando Bloom had some broken ribs and the stunt/short double for John rhys davies had terrible knee problems. So they're running and as soon as they call cut, the actor basically fall apart and groaning in pain and are like 'are we done? do we need another take? okay we're doing another take.' And as soon as action is called just go all in. Also, most of the locations they filmed at were remote so either had to drive on dirt trails or most often, helicopter in. At beginning of this movie when legolas talks about a red sun rising and they filmed a sunrise actually has an amazing story behind it. There was no way to really get it with how early everybody would have to get up, get in costume and helicopter in. Normally sunrise happens when the actors are in makeup. But Viggo and the actors were so dedicated to the film, Viggo suggested they camp out at the location, which is literally in the middle of nowhere, so they can get the shot. It was just supposed to be the people in the scene and the people needed to shoot. But word spread throughout the cast and crew and a lot of people showed up and they had a huge camp out, then woke up and got the sunrise shot. Edited to add: Gandalf and Saruman are two of five wizards who were sent from Valar (essentially heaven) to middle earth in the second age (about three thousand years before this) to oppose Sauron. Sauron is also from Valinor, he is a Maia (so are the wizards but there's sort of a hierarchy in there and Sauron was higher). The Maiar are sort of angels and they each serve/help different Valar (gods). Sauron followed Morgoth, who became corrupt and Sauron followed him into corruption. When Morgoth was defeated Sauron took over. Because he is corrupted he can no longer return to Valinor. The wizards can return (except Saruman who is now corrupted). Each wizard had different roles on how to help the free peoples of middle earth to oppose Sauron. Saruman was supposed to sort of be the lead opposition but abandoned that role. Gandalf's role was more subtle but we see him in the first one take the lead in how to destroy Sauron after he finds out about Saruman's betrayal. Because of this, once he dies (and because he does so trying to fulfill his purpose) the Valar send him back as Gandalf the White, now taking the role that Saruman was supposed to have. That's why you see some differences between Gandalf the Grey's character and Gandalf the White. Also of note, even though the wizards are in forms of old men, it's a deception. They do not age and do not have the physical weaknesses of an old body. They were given those forms so that the races (particularly men) would see them as wise and trustworthy and not be suspicious of them.
To add to @Brianna Lowery's comment, the other reason for Istari being old men and their strength slightly limited was due the last time Valar and Maiar came to help Middle-Earth openly and full strength, which resulted in War of Wrath that destroyed Beleriand(a large land that used be northwest area of Middle-Earth before War of Wrath).
@Vergil Arcanis he broke it when he fell off his horse and then the double for gimli fell on top of him. I think they were filming the scene when they’re attacked by wargs on the way to helms deep.
@Badd Medicine The heaven realm our friend here mentioned is actually called Valinor. The Valar are the rulers of Valinor. They belong to the primordial race of beings Eru Illúvatar (The Supreme Creator God) made in the Timeless Halls outside space/time. The race is called Ainur. The race is split into two subspecies so to say, the Valar being the greater and the Maiar being the lesser. Fun fact, Gandalf and those of his wizarding order are Maiar incarnated as Men. The Valar sent them as emissaries and helpers to the peoples of Middle Earth. Gandalf as a Maiar was renowned for his wisdom, in fact he was said to be the wisest of the Maiar; the same class as Sauron. 😊
When I saw the notification, I clicked so fast I nearly sprained a finger. So glad to be with you on your journey through Middle Earth. I've read that when Aragorn kicked the helmet and then cried out, that wasn't faked: he kicked the helmet so hard he injured his foot, and the cry was for real.
@franl155 yeah. He lost a tooth in shooting Helms Deep and they had to shoot the shots of him holding a torch in Balin’s Tomb in the first movie all from one side because he was sporting a massive black eye after taking a surfboard to the face (Pretty sure it was a surfboard)
@Trinity Birtcil - "broke a toe" is what I remember, but I didn't want to be too specific in case it was incorrect - start a debate on how many toes it was!
A little explanation to Tolkien’s genius in that scene in the dead marshes, when Frodo looks in to the water, sees ghost, and falls in. This is a direct experience Tolkien had in World War 1, he and others had to cross a river, but when he got close he saw that it was literally filled with hundreds of bodies friend and foe alike. He was so shocked that he froze, his body frozen like a statue, he fell in and started to drown. In an attempt to process the pure horror his brain made it seem like the corpses had come alive and were dragging him down. If it were not for his fellow countrymen grabbing him and pulling him out he would have joined the floating mass grave. (Note: I’m not certain if this exact story is 100% true but I can confirm that JR Tolkien used many of his horrific World War I experiences to make the many dark horrors of the Lord of the rings.)
What's even crazier about the shooting of these movies is that it was all done back to back as a single grand endeavor over a few years, so you can really feel how every actor/actress lived in their role as well as their relationship to those around them (not to say movies shot separately don't but lotr was and probably still is the undisputed king)
Gandalf was sent back to Middle-earth as the White because the former White Wizard, Saruman, had betrayed his purpose. In the book, this is made even more explicit - when Gandalf went to visit him in _Fellowship,_ Saruman declares that he is no longer "Saruman the White" but "Saruman of Many Colours." Gandalf was not impressed, and neither were the Valar who sent them to Middle-earth in the first place. When Gandalf was killed in Moria, the Valar sent him back as the new White Wizard, with greater power... and a more urgent purpose. The fight against Sauron was coming to a head, which makes the betrayal of Saruman all the more tragic. Imagine running a race, and two inches from the finish line you stop dead and start throwing out bear traps to catch the other runners.
10:15 Whenever you see a group shot of the riders of Rohan, who are meant to be all men, they're actually almost all female riding extras with fake beards and bulky armor. When they sent the casting call out for horse riders during filming they discovered there were way more women riders in New Zealand than men, so they just went "Ah, well, glue on some facial hair and slap on a few helmets and no one will know the difference! :D"
i wonder if a show you guys might like to react to is black sails? it's notoriously underrated, and it might just be up your alley. incredible action, incredible storytelling and scripts, great characters, and if you have even a passing interest in pirates or treasure island, i think you will love it.
@Tap Sin yeah, the part with "Tell me where is Gandalf for I much desire to speak with him" was in that song too, was waiting for them to laugh at it :D
You guys really gotta watch all the behind the scenes footage, now that you're done the trilogy. The background stuff about how they did the perspective changes is all reaaaally fascinating!!
I believe in the lore that swamp area was where Isildur was killed and lost the ring. He was returning to his father's kingdom in the north when he was killed, hence why the ring didn't stay in Gondor. From those fields/swamps it slowly travelled downriver and was picked up by Deagol. Technically both Aragorn and Boromir are of royal blood, but Aragorn is Isildur's direct heir whereas Boromir is an heir of Isildur's nephew.
The scene between Gollum and Sméagol I know word for word and we were watching the lord of the rings in 10th grade English to follow the “hero’s journey” and my teacher saw me mouthing the words during that scene, paused the movie and had me recite the scene in front of the class. What would normally have been an anxiety inducing incident to be put on the spot like that, was actually incredibly fun. A bunch of people had never seen the movie and were astounded that I had the movie memorized. But then again I was never invited to any parties so why wouldn’t I have it memorized? The teacher gave me an A for the essay I would’ve had to write about the journey Frodo took, but because I knew it so well he just let it go.
The Dead Marshes were based on the Battle of the Somme from WW1. Tolkien fought there used what he saw (men dying and laying in the mud, unable to be taken off the battlefield) as inspiration.
For some background lore that isn't explained in the movies: Gandalf and Saruman are Maiar, spirits which serve the Valar (basically the Gods of Tolkien's stories). Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast and 2 more Maiar were sent to middle earth in order to guide the people and help with the fight against Sauron, who by the way is also a Maiar but turned to darkness and serves Morgoth (something like Lucifer in Christianity). Saruman was meant to be the leader of the 5 Maiar who were sent to middle earth, but since he joined Sauron and became evil, Gandalf has been sent back to replace him. Which is why Gandalf says "I am Saruman as he should have been". Also, although Gandalf has taken human form, he is still a spirit and consequently immortal, in fact he has been roaming Middle Earth for about 2000 years and has lived as a spirit for more than 9000 years. Hope this is interesting and clears some things up for you guys.
Nice reaction guys, looks like most of your questions were answered below. It's great to share this story with folks that have never seen it before, very enjoyable and entertaining so really thanks for that. Cheers and looking forward to continuing the saga.
I remember Samwise was very happy to get the elf rope, so excited in fact the elves said he should've mentioned his love of rope as they would have shown him how to twist it. The magic rope is an awesome tool they use often in the book
And just so you know, Saruman didn't raise an army in a matter of weeks. These three movies span over years. In the first one, 17 years passed between Gandalf leaving to research the ring and him coming back to throw it into the fire. So it might look quick, but it's really weeks, months and years
Wizards were Maia, each served a specific purpose, created by the Valor, who were essentially gods. Since Saramon left his purpose, Gandalf was sent back to fulfill that purpose. So not necessarily barrowed time, but who Saramon shouldve been. Saron is or was a maia as well but followed Morgoth, a Valor, who essentially is the devil, and Sauron was his right hand. So even Sauron as powerful as he was, still had a master.
17:35 In the lore, Gandalf has been sent to Middle Earth many times in his role of advising and guiding the people of the world, he's a sort of immortal angelic being called a Maiar (Sauron is one as well). His physical body can be killed, but he can then be sent back (which is what we saw in the movie).
Yes, you are correct, the ring allows Frodo to see what happened to Gandalf. That is because Gandalf is wearing one of the three elven rings of power, Narya, the Ring of Fire. Galadriel has Nenya, the Ring of Water and Elrond has Vilya, the Ring of Air.
When the actor kicks the Helmet, Viggo (the actors) mothers got a letter from her dad saying he was sorry for not moving to Norway when they had the chance.
Fun Fact: When the Aragorn actor kicked the uruk-hai helmet, he broke his nail ( i guess ), and that scream was for real, but instead of calling the medics, he used his pain to make the scene even more real.
Badd Medicine coming in for a win again :D always an entertaining dive when you guys hop into Middle Earth. During the whole filming of Lord of the Rings, Brad Dourif (who plays Grima Wormtongue) used an English accent, even off set, so when he dropped the accent on the last day of filming, Bernard Hill (who plays Theoden) thought he was actually English the whole time, In reality, Brad is the voice actor for Chucky, very easy to hear it once you know what to listen for lol
All scenery scenes are actually landscapes and all structures are either large miniatures(The Black Gate and Helms Deep) or a life size set( The city of Edoras).
So Treebeard is voiced by John Rhys Davies (actor for Gimli). The techniques used to get his voice to feel that deep is pretty clever actually, something along the lines of speaking into a glass jar/container?
They sent John Rhys-Davids' voice through a long wooden tunnel thingy that distorted his voice. I can't really describe it very well, but it looks awesome.
Gandalf is not on borrowed time. Well, I guess for a type of divine being with hierarchical obligations you're technically always on borrowed time, but he came back to life a new person. His time spent in "the darkness" was lifetimes over lifetimes, Gandalf the Grey is dead, in the movies we dont see a lot of tht but the new Gandalf really has to search his memories to remember the fellowship as The Gray would
the best thing about th movies is you get questions. You look for answers and then suddenly you find yourself knee deep in lore learning how gandalf was sent back, who sent him back, why is he now the new white wizard, his duty, who assigned it, and what he really is.
This is my favourite start to a movie. Blew my mind when I saw it for the first time at the cinema. I watched each movie 3 times when they came out and must have watched them all over 20 times. The Fellowship probably 50 🤓🤓🤓
I hope you are going to watch "behind the scenes" materials becouse one of my fav is about two acclaimed Tolkien illustrators, artists J. Howe and A. Lee who made all these general plans of architecture and landscapes and creatures. The two of them were concept-artists in this movie. AFAIR Howe is also specialist of armours and weapons and he arrived in New Zealand with his own set of armours as a model - how to make a plate armour - for the filmmakers. AFAIR at first they wanted to make all of the swords and such just from foam and from aluminium. But they could not get the proper weight of such sword for the training of the actors, and the proper colors of such aluminium swords for camera. So they decided to forge swords from proper materials instead. Howe AFAIR helped them to build proper smithy to develop hundreds of pieces of weapons and armors. The weapons of main heroes and first line soldiers were always real weapons - made in smithy from real steel. Only the background charachters in the armies got gum/foam weapons. And we must rememeber that for any of main heroes their sets of armors and weapons (swords, knives, axes) had to be made in at least 3 versions. One proper heavy weapons for actors training (behind camera), one beautiful and shiny set of weapons for scenes with close ups on the weapons (like the scene when Bilbo gives Frodo his sword), AFAIR one other set for other scenes probably with stunts, and then part of these sets of weapons had to be copied for the use of 5 short doubles of main actors. We have to remember that most of props from the scenes with persons of two sizes were also doubled - tables, cups, chandeliers, bagpacks, everythings was made in two sizes, for tall and for short charachters. And all this material about making weapons in their smithy is such fun how they present the process of forging and decorating the weapons, not every sword but also decoration on every sword was planned according to who will use it and to what kind of acting. For example they made Aragorn's sword (ranger sword) with the addition of little knife - for daily use in travels - wore in leather satchel on the sword's grip.
Gandalf is really a top level angel sent to Middle Earth by Eru Iluvatar (God) to watch for the return of Sauron. Gandalf, Saruman, that Balrog and Sauron are all high level spirits but they all took different forms in Middle Earth. The "Wizards" all took the forms of old men so they appear unthreatening to the general population.
The dead bodies in the water were from the battle of the last alliance, 3000 years before Frodo's quest. That was the battle portrayed in the prologue of The Fellowship. The main leaders of both elves and men perished along with thousands more since the battle was 7 years long. Isildor, heir to Elendil of Numinor , lived only for a short while after the battle, but, as you can see Elrond is still around and one of the most powerful and wise elves in middle earth.
When Gandalf says he was "Sent Back", this is because his order of wizards (called the Istari) are essentially an order consisting of 5 angels, sent to Middle Earth to fight Saruman, appearing as old men to offer the forces of Middle Earth council, rather than some great champion. Saruman was sent as as the head of the order, also the most powerful (receiving the title "The White"). Then there was Gandalf the Grey, or the "Not quite white, but still in the ballpark", he was called the "Grey Pilgrim" as he found it best to rally strength among the common folk, while Saruman would be tasked with advising the likes of Rohan and Gondor. There was also Radagast the Brown, who took more care for the forest and its creatures. And finally, the 2 blues, who would work in the east of Middle Earth, likely sewing discontent and rebellion against Saruman in the Easterlings (which not much is said about them, but Tolkien played with the idea of them actually agreeing with Saruman, joining Sauron, and actually being the potential antagonists when he was deciding whether or not to write a sequel. As you can gather, Gandalf was the only one of the Istari (Wizards) to actually be working towards his goal, and with Saruman having fallen to the will of Sauron, he was essentially expelled from the order, and any power he exercised from then on was remnant of his former power, Gandalf was sent back as "Gandalf the White", head of the order, and most powerful of the wizards.
Eomer is played by Karl Urban a native New Zealand Actor and also Billy Butcher in The Boys. Tree beard is voiced by John Rhys-Davies the actor who played Gimli
Trivia: Balrogs are fire spirits that were corrupted by Morgoth, Sauron's former boss. They are of the Maiar class, same as Sauron (another fire spirit) and the Istari/wizards (whereas Morgoth was one of the Valar, the more powerful spirits). The only fire spirit who wasn't corrupted was Arien, who became the captain of the vessel of the sun. Even Morgoth feared her piercing gaze, and orcs couldn't go out in daylight because of her. There are only three people who ever managed to kill a Balrog: Gandalf, Ecthelion and Glorfindel. All three of them died in the process - Ecthelion drowned himself and his foe in a fountain, and Glorfindel got dragged to his death off a mountainside by his long, shiny, golden hair. Moral of the story: tie back your hair when you go into battle, even if you're a fancy elf lord. Fun fact: The majority of the Rohan soldiers are women, since they couldn't find enough men who could ride. They would get their hair and make-up done before breakfast, and then complain whenever food got stuck in their beards. Viggo Mortensen war rather smitten with one of these "men". Oh, and since John Rhys-Davies is taller than the actors who played the Hobbits, they didn't need to green screen him when it was just the five of them.
17:40 Basically five wizards were sent to try and stop Sauron (that’s their task) Saruman, Gandalf, Radagast and the two blue wizards (Alatar & Pallando) Gandalf is the only one who actually doing his task that’s why (Eru Ilúvatar) (The God) sends him back after he dies
Gandalf and saruman along with sauron are actually all the same species they're angelic like species difference between their powers is that gandalf and saruman are not allowed to use the full extent of their power they were also reduced in power they are guides to the free people so that they could save themselves instead of relying on the higher powers of the world to rescue them all the time that's what he means by his task
So, the creatures the Nazgûls are riding on are bot dragons. They are called Fellbeasts. And the voice of Treebeard is actually the actor of Gimlis voice
Treebeard is voiced by John Rhys-Davies, ie Gimli! The Black Gates weren't built my Sauron. They were originally built by the Numenoreans to keep the Orcs IN Mordor. The Numenoreans also built the Argonath, Helm's Deep, Orthanc (The Tower of Isengard), Minas Tirith, Osgiliath, Minas Ithil (Minas Morgul), the Great Watchtower of Amon Sûl.
In the Lore Gandalf is a Maia. Like a Demigod sent by the Gods of the Undying Land in the West. They took the Form of Wizards they were Gandalf the Grey, Rhadagast the Brown and Sauroman the White. There were two Blue Wizards who went into the other lands. They like the Elves are immortal they were sent to over throw Sauron.
I just realized that Gandalf told Aragorn Sam had gone with Frodo, he didn't know that before, but when he, Legolas, and Gimli left in The Fellowship, he knew they were only searching for Merry and Pippin. This begs the question, what did he think happened to Sam? Did he care? (Not to question Aragorn's compassion, because of course he's cares but like, in the context of the story, due to the situation was Sam just the least of his concern, because Sam got forgotten a lot?)
The voice of treebeard is John Rhyss Davies 😊 He is Gimli the dwarf😊 he plays sallah in Indiana Jones 😊 The LOTR is filmed in New Zealand, and Yes it does look like this 😊
the worst part was that Peter Jackson made him kick the helmet like 3-4 times and finally the last kick, Viggo broke his toe. And it just so happens that Peter liked that one the most.
We apologize for any audio issue you may experience. YT was not friendly with us on this upload. Two Towers might be our favorite so far! And Gollum..... Hilarious and dark! Whats some of your favorite moments of Two Towers? Part 2 is in the editor and will be out soon!
Full reactions on Patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/63492972
Treebeard is voiced by John Rhys-Davies ... who plays Gimli the dwarf ... and he created that sound by "inhaling when we usually dont do it". With this information it is easy to hear how he does it.
I love the Rohan scenes! (Also, I think Theodred and Eomer are both kinda hot so-)
@Charles G2 Andy Serkis is the King of motion capture. His work as Gollum was groundbreaking but also after these movies he portrayed Kong in Peter Jackson’s King Kong movies. But he actually may be best as Caesar in the new Planet of the Apes trilogy. Absolutely an award worthy actor that gets overlooked because his face isn’t on the screen
@Charles G2 I mean they didn't even give these two first movies the best picture. When the 3rd one came out they realized how fuckin dumb they were and gave all the awards to it.
IT’s so terrible that Andy Serkis was not recognized at the Oscars for his work as Gollum/Sméagol
I am legally obliged to tell you that when Aragorn kicked the helmet the actor broke his toe. The scream was genuine.
If no one else will post it, I will.
You’re doing the lord’s work.
Ahem, Viggo Mortensen. If you plan to share that trivia, you should at least know his name.
I was surprised by that when I learned that fact. Much like in Django Unchained how Leonardo actually cut himself when slamming his hand down on the glass, and worked his pain into his performance when his Calvin Candy holds Django and Dr. Schultz hostage after blowing their cover as bounty hunters.
Another part is that for a lot of the shots of them running through the NZ scenery, not only was that after he'd broken his toe, but Gimli's size double had also just injured one of his knees.
"No parent should have to bury their child" is such a strong moment, every moment in these movies is strong though.
@acrefray I know I did, as it was my pain to bear to the end of my days. I have always had a strong memory, but when I buried my 4 month old little girl I have come to think memory can be a curse.
Tolkien never wrote this. Nor virtually any of the dialogue used in the film. I hadn't realised how awful the film was until viewing it here again after recently reading the books again. Shame on Peter Jackson.
@Ben Kelly they generally died in childbirth though, or early childhood, not when they reached their twenties. And either way it doesn't change the sentiment that I think every time it happened the parents still felt like this.
It's a great line, but a terrible anachronism. Losing most of your children was the norm until relatively recently.
Bernard had visited the site of a big building that had burned down, and met a mother who's child had died in the fire. She said those words to him and he brought the line to the movie.
For the reveal of Gandalf the White, they got Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee to do an impression of each other and then blended the two voices
That's awesome
Ahhh...like others, always heard Chritopher speaking as Gandalf begins to address the trio...then clearly Ian's voice when The White Wizard is revealed.
Very cool revelation.
Much appreciated.
Like a morph, but with voices. Brilliant!
No wonder they sounded almost the same. Great actors with even greater voices.
You can even see Saruman very slightly in the light 🤯 just recognized that the other day
All of the wide scenery panning shots of them chasing the Uruk's are real, that's why they're so amazing!
@Drix 42 highly recommend coming here (I live quite near hobbiton and I can always see the lotr tour cars driving past, pre covid ofc) just make sure you bring a lot of money cuz everything's so expensive 😭
From what I heard, they used a helicopter to get those shots
@Albert Cornett I hope to go to New Zealand one day and see what you have seen, too, and eat and drink and be merry. ^_^
If you watch the making of on the DVD they explain that this is even crazier. Orlando Bloom had a broken rib, the Gimli double had hyper extended his knee and Viggo was always banged up and they just had to run all day lol
It took Saruman years to build that army. The time is condensed in the movies. In the books, there is a 17 year gap between Bilbo's party and Frodo leaving The Shire.
@Badd Medicine it also took roughly two years for osgiliath to fall back into enemy hands after Boromir said "never again"
Lol maybe it wasn't as quick as I thought 🤷
Fun Fact: J .R. R. Tolkien actually based Treebeard on C. S. Lewis, a close personal friend of Tolkien's and also author of "The Chronicles of Narnia". C. S. Lewis also based "The Professor" in his own novels on Tolkien
Tree beard was quite different in the books than the movies.
Also Worm-tongue has a name closely resembling one of a character in the Screwtape letters wormwood which is the demon that Screwtape another demon is writing to as he is trying to tempt a man on earth
I know a lot of people ask why Grima Wormtongue had a horse when he left. He is still a man of Rohan, and horses are a HUGE part of Rohan's culture. In fact, the horses of the Nazgul were bred from Rohirrim steeds. They took horsemanship seriously and were called Horse-lords in several cases and earned the name. Chances are, that was Grima's own horse. I can't imagine anyone in the court of Edoras didn't have their own horse
The voice of Treebeard the Ent was none other then Gimli himself. John Rhys Davies voiced him. Also the Black Riders are now
known as Nazgûl and the dragon like creatures they’re riding on are known as fellbeasts.
The Black Riders have always been called the Nazgûl that’s their real name the Black Riders is name given because of their disguise
Smaug was the last of the Fire-Drakes, basically true dragons. And he wasn't even that large.
@Laurette LaLiberte Unless you know of another name that they were ever called. I looked a bit and saw what you mean about Legolas calling them that but everything I’ve found pretty much says that’s the only name they’ve ever been given
@Laurette LaLiberte There is no other name for them in Tolkien lore. That’s the only name that they have ever been given. That’s what they have come to be known as.
@522abet No, he refers to them as fell beasts, meaning dark beasts. It's an adjective.
The Gandalf situation has to do with why the Wizards are in Middle Earth: When Sauron’s influence began grow, 5 spirits called “Maiar” were sent to Middle Earth to help contest Sauron’s will. These Maiar took the forms on Men and became the Istari (Wizards) They took on different roles; eg. Gandalf the Grey to be a wandering counsellor to the people of Middle Earth, Saruman the White to be a wise leader, etc.
When Immortal beings like Maiar die their spirits return to Valinor to be judged, some being given new forms. Since Saruman betrayed his role, Gandalf was sent back to be his replacement. In fact Gandalf was the only Wizard to stay true to his purpose and not become corrupted or distracted by worldly interests.
@Chris Lokison He did part of his job, but he ultimately became preoccupied with animals and plants. Tolkien describes him as having failed at his greater purpose, but I guess it depends on if you agree with the author/cannon 😛
Don't forget Radagahst. He did his job and did it well, even if it wasn't a glamorous one.
I mean, he did indulge in the west farthing a bit
Thank you for this🤙
gollum is a freakin emotional roller coaster. he's adorable, terrifying, disgusting, cute, awesome all at the same time
And it makes sense!
Very well said!
Fun fact: Andy Serkis voiced not just Gollum, but also the hungry orc ("What about them? They're fresh!")
And the gollum sound was inspired by his cat having hairballs.
I didn’t know this! Makes me love Andy Serkis even more now
Hahaha that orc!? That orcs voice was something else 🤣
So glad you guys are watching the extended edition, obviously very long, but the extra scenes add a lot to the entire world they tried to create. Can't wait for Part 2!
I want to go and watch the theater version now to see what was not in it.
The Dead Marshes cover the ground in front of Mordor. That is where the battle at the beginning of the first movie took place. The Marshes took over later and the dead are still there, men, elves, and orcs.
The visual description of The Marshes definitely refers to the battlefield of "no man's land" in WW1 that the author saw firsthand.
The battle at the beginning of the movie was by Mount Doom as stated by the movie. The dead marshes is outside of Mordor where Legolas' grandfather died because they chased the orcs into the marshes.
@Badd Medicine the Bodies in the marshes aren't physically there in the books, they are just shapes in the water
@Badd Medicine nope.
Do they ever come to life?
It doesnt even matter if you like Fantasy, Everybody loves the LOTR world. peter Jackson really brought these movies to life with such a good vision!
Damn, wish my Ex gave it a chance. She watched Game of Thrones, but refused vehemently to watch the trilogy
Because it’s not fantasy, it’s mythology, that’s why!
He did. These are great.
So glad you’re continuing! The films just get better from here!
The Dead marshes were actually directly inspired by the battle of the Somme in WWI. Tolkien’s daughter remarked that her father’s experience in that battle stayed with him, especially seeing the piles of dead. Hence the “dead faces in the water.”
Gandalf did die. But the wizards were sent to lead the people against Sauron. Saruman betrayed them and the other wizards also lost their way. Gandalf was the only one that stated true to his purpose. So, when he died, the God of Middle Earth basically said, “I’m sending you back as the White to do his job in defeating Sauron.” That’s why Gandalf the White is more assertive than the Grey. He’s now in the position of Leader.
@ServantOfMelian Later in his life, Tolkien decided that the two Blue Wizards went to the East and sort of led a resistance against the cults Sauron instituted. I wish we could have seen their story; it would have been amazing.
@the barghestsurely mirkwood wouldn't be a thing if he succeeded?
@ServantOfMelian radagast did tarry among his beloved creatures of yavanna much too much that he abandoned his watch over the first born and second. tolkien mentioned that in 'unfinished tales' under the essay 'the istari', so in a sense radagast did not succeed for all the istari were sent to assist men and elves in resisting sauron.
@Cat Bowser Fantasy Therapist, we could debate that. Saruman failed for sure. But did Radagast? He was sent at the special request of Yavanna, to watch over her part of creation. In that respect, he may have succeeded. And I understand that Tolkien himself was undecided about the fate of the blue wizards.
(Oh, and Gandalf was drafted).
Oh yes! Return of the king right after part 2 of two towers
All of these scenes were done in New Zealand, which is where Peter Jackson (Director) is from. Some cast members bought apartments/houses in New Zealand because they were there for years, shooting these movies. Places like the Shire are still are still around because they built them in New Zealand and just let them grow.
@Badd Medicine It's also the home of WETA Workshop.
The special effects and prop company responsible for the bulk of the costumes, armor, weapons, miniatures, sets, prosthetics and animation in the films.
They are on par with George Lucas's other baby Industrial Light And Magic.
New Zealand just has some awesome scenery!
I haven't read all the comments yet but FYI, this movie is basically what made Andy Serkis' career explode. Gollum was the first full-fledged motion capture character at that time, I believe, one that looked so realistic and one that could physically interact with the actors. Back then, it was a real huge breakthrough in cinematography
I hope Andy got paid well! Cause it crushed it here.
In that running sequence that evoked "How much of this was New Zealand and how much was CGI?" - That was actual, because if you look closely, Gimli loses one of his boots but keeps running.
@logandarklighter Nice, fresh stuff.
ALSO also - when we say "Gimli" for the running scenes, always remember - there are TWO Gimlis! Basically, Gimli was portrayed in close-up and facial reactions (and full body when no one else was in the frame with him) by John Rhys-Davies (Sallah from the Indiana Jones films if that helps place him). But for any scene of a wide shot - like the infamous "Running wounded" shots that this sub-thread talks about, it's his "little person" double - Brett Beattie - doing the work. And taking the lumps! (I say "little person" reservedly though - he really was almost normal sized at 4'10" tall. But then - dwarves are noticeably about half-way between Hobbits and men in size.) So "Gimli" being hurt wasn't JRD, but Brett Beattie. In fact, Beattie did SO much of the work that when the other 8 main actors got their Lord of the Rings tattoos at the end of filming, John Rhys Davies thought Beattie deserved the honor more than him and had him do the tattoo for Gimli!
@zGamerGodz Don't forget Sean Astin's lacerated foot in the final Falls of Rauros scene.
Also during its filming the actor of Aragorn had 2 broken toes from kicking the helmet and the actor of Legolas had a broken rib from falling off a horse during the filming of another scene so they were in immense pain while running but toughed it out like absolute badasses cause they didn't want to delay the filming. Also Gimlis gear weighed like 70 pounds so his running sequence was also pretty impressive for its own right.
🤘
Treebeard was voiced by John Rhys-Davis, Same actor who plays Gimli. He spoke a lot of the dialog for Treebeard by breathing in while talking to create the effect.
@Victor Garcia And John Noble (Denethor) voiced Unicron in the Transformers Prime finale.
Interestingly, Hugo Weaving voiced Megatron in a few of the live-action Transformers movies.
Ohhh... Ok. Thank you for clearing that up. 🤙🤙🤙 Much appreciated 👍
@Badd Medicine He has not been the voice of Megatron. The person who most often did Megatron was Frank Welker followed by a list of other voice actors. The most famous voice of Optimus Prime is done by Peter Cullen.
Ok. Ill have to look up see if he did Megatron too.
Yeah so like all Elven made things, the rope ofc had to be magical too lol, it actually is real tight as Sam mentioned, but the magic allows the user to undo any knot it makes in order to take the rope back and use it again, if the owner of the rope so happens to want it loosened
@Andy Callahan it’s also why he can’t eat the Elven bread right?
The Rope also really does burn Gollum. all Elven thing cause pain of some kind to those with less than pure hearts
So many layers to this story
All real scenery. New Zealand is a stunning place. I did a 2 week LOTR tour across both north and South Island 5 years ago and went to so many locations from these films, some of private land who only let that tour company in as it was the first one so has decades of connections. These films will always be special.
How was the tour?
King Theoden is my absolute favorite character. His pay off in film 3 is incredible.
Redemption in film always makes for good viewing
@The Movie Hobbit We'll take them head on!
Reform the line !!!
If he lives through film 2, that is. SPOILERS! 🤦♂️
Can't wait🤘
Cannot wait for part 2 you guys. You each bring something special to the table and I enjoy all of your inputs, especially The Oak laughing his butt off at all the memes from Fellowship
🤣🤣🤣 thank you and much appreciated 👍🤘
I think of any movie, LOTR reactions will always be my favorite
A nice little detail about a specific scene in this movie - at the gates of Mordor, when Sam falls down the slope and Frodo has to cover him with the cloak, it's not just a trick of the light that shields them. When Celeborn gave them the cloaks, he said "May these cloaks help shield you from unfriendly eyes", so there's also elven magic at work there
16:04 Not dragon, fell beast. You're a lot closer than you realize, I'll explain a bit 😀
At first, there were only great worm-like scaled creatures. The first dark lord (Morgoth) bred the first fire-breathing dragon (Glaurung), and eventually the first winged fire-breather (Ancalagon).
By the time of The Hobbit, Smaug is about the only known flying, fire-breathing dragon left. I don't know if you've read it yet so I won't spoil what happens to him, but it's worth a read for sure.
Come LotR, Sauron is basically making do with what he has. He doesn't have any fire-breathing dragons, but he does have some "cold drakes" (flying dragons that lost much of their intelligence and magical abilities, including the ability to breathe fire). So over the ages it's implied he breeds and warps them into the controllable, rideable form we see here.
@SnowforPres Eeeeh kinda, that's a very European / D&D thing. Classical Loong dragons usually have 4 limbs and no wings, but can fly. I'd argue it depends more on the specific body of work and how they categorize them.
addition: 4 legs is usually a dragon and 2 legs a Wyvern. Wyverns cant spew fire but in some Fantasy worlds spew poison instead. Just general fantasy background :)
Thank you the explanation. Much appreciated 👍
I think I’m one of the few who Two Towers is actually my favorite film of the trilogy. It’s crazy to me how I can still get so excited over these films that I’ve see countless times. I literally just watched them again in December. Yet I had to rewind in this video several times because I got too drawn into it and had to go back to enjoy your reactions.
For my bit of trivia I want to add about King Theoden at the funeral.
A ton of the script for these movies is pulled straight from the books. Even if it sometimes said at a different time or different character. Which means these aren’t really the kinds of movies you improv on. But the line “no parent should have to bury their child was actually added to the script by the actor Bernard Hill. He was talking with an extra on the set and the woman was also a fan of the books. (Peter Jackson really liked using people who cared about the story.) They were talking and she spoke about how she connected with Theoden’s character because she had lost a child to an illness. She said the line “no parent should have to bury their child.” Bernard Hill found it so powerful he later added it to his performance at the funeral.
Before I knew this I always thought that moment and the way it was acted was incredibly, but knowing the story and that it came from a very real person. It hits me every time.
This is my favorite of the trilogy too
Honestly, I think this is better than fellowship. Really enjoyed this one. 🤙
Theodred's funeral scene - Eowyn's song is a citation from Anglosaxon "Beowulf" poem.
"Lament for Theodred" written in Old English :
Nú on théostrum licgeth Théodred se léofa
hæ´letha holdost.
ne sceal hearpan sweg wigend weccean;
ne winfæ´t gylden guma sceal healdan,
ne god hafoc geond sæ´l swingan,
ne se swifta mearh burhstede beatan.
Bealocwealm hafað fréone frecan forth onsended
giedd sculon singan gléomenn sorgiende
on Meduselde thæt he ma no wære
his dryhtne dyrest and maga deorost.
Now dear Théodred lies in darkness,
most loyal of fighters.
The sound of the harp shall not wake the warrior;
nor shall the man hold a golden wine-cup,
nor good hawk swing through the hall,
nor the swift horse stamp in the courtyard.
An evil death has set forth the noble warrior
A song shall sing the sorrowing minstrels of Meduseld
That noble cousin, who always held me dear
Now is held in darkness, enclosed.
Éowyn is only heard singing the last four lines of the song ending with the word Bealo, which in Old English meant "evil" or "harm". The first of those lines originates from the epic poem Beowulf, line 2265.
Bealocwealm hafað
fela feorhcynna forð onsended!
And Tolkien gave us one of the more unique translations of Beowulf as well, so it's an excellent choice.
@Faye J Isn't it? And it's so crazy to listen to, because you feel sure you should understand it, but it's not coming together into the words you know.
When I saw the extended edition for the first time and was introduced to this extra scene, it gave me chills. Absolutely one of my favorite extras. Gorgeous.
I love watching people enjoy these movies for the first time. I'll wait until part 2 comes up first, the cliffhangers are rough.
@Badd Medicine Grea! They're all amazing movies, love to see people who get to enjoy them for the first time.
Its in the editor! Two towers was great!
It’s like enjoying them for the first time all over again. Love first time reactions to these movies!!
"This isn't like a TV series. They don't have to give you "Previously on .."" Well, remember, this movie did come out one year after the previous one.
@George Chapman Absolutely!
Awesome scene though! My 2nd fav of the three film openings
True!
I always like to say this since everybody always talks about how Viggo (aragorn) broke his toe when he kicked the helmet.
The sequence of them running in the beginning chasing the orcs was shot after he broke his toe. In addition, Orlando Bloom had some broken ribs and the stunt/short double for John rhys davies had terrible knee problems. So they're running and as soon as they call cut, the actor basically fall apart and groaning in pain and are like 'are we done? do we need another take? okay we're doing another take.' And as soon as action is called just go all in.
Also, most of the locations they filmed at were remote so either had to drive on dirt trails or most often, helicopter in. At beginning of this movie when legolas talks about a red sun rising and they filmed a sunrise actually has an amazing story behind it. There was no way to really get it with how early everybody would have to get up, get in costume and helicopter in. Normally sunrise happens when the actors are in makeup. But Viggo and the actors were so dedicated to the film, Viggo suggested they camp out at the location, which is literally in the middle of nowhere, so they can get the shot. It was just supposed to be the people in the scene and the people needed to shoot. But word spread throughout the cast and crew and a lot of people showed up and they had a huge camp out, then woke up and got the sunrise shot.
Edited to add: Gandalf and Saruman are two of five wizards who were sent from Valar (essentially heaven) to middle earth in the second age (about three thousand years before this) to oppose Sauron. Sauron is also from Valinor, he is a Maia (so are the wizards but there's sort of a hierarchy in there and Sauron was higher). The Maiar are sort of angels and they each serve/help different Valar (gods). Sauron followed Morgoth, who became corrupt and Sauron followed him into corruption. When Morgoth was defeated Sauron took over. Because he is corrupted he can no longer return to Valinor. The wizards can return (except Saruman who is now corrupted). Each wizard had different roles on how to help the free peoples of middle earth to oppose Sauron. Saruman was supposed to sort of be the lead opposition but abandoned that role. Gandalf's role was more subtle but we see him in the first one take the lead in how to destroy Sauron after he finds out about Saruman's betrayal. Because of this, once he dies (and because he does so trying to fulfill his purpose) the Valar send him back as Gandalf the White, now taking the role that Saruman was supposed to have. That's why you see some differences between Gandalf the Grey's character and Gandalf the White.
Also of note, even though the wizards are in forms of old men, it's a deception. They do not age and do not have the physical weaknesses of an old body. They were given those forms so that the races (particularly men) would see them as wise and trustworthy and not be suspicious of them.
To add to @Brianna Lowery's comment, the other reason for Istari being old men and their strength slightly limited was due the last time Valar and Maiar came to help Middle-Earth openly and full strength, which resulted in War of Wrath that destroyed Beleriand(a large land that used be northwest area of Middle-Earth before War of Wrath).
@Vergil Arcanis he broke it when he fell off his horse and then the double for gimli fell on top of him. I think they were filming the scene when they’re attacked by wargs on the way to helms deep.
The orlando bloom breaking his ribs was in moria, when he pulled Sean Bean's character on him from the edge.
@Badd Medicine The heaven realm our friend here mentioned is actually called Valinor.
The Valar are the rulers of Valinor. They belong to the primordial race of beings Eru Illúvatar (The Supreme Creator God) made in the Timeless Halls outside space/time. The race is called Ainur. The race is split into two subspecies so to say, the Valar being the greater and the Maiar being the lesser. Fun fact, Gandalf and those of his wizarding order are Maiar incarnated as Men. The Valar sent them as emissaries and helpers to the peoples of Middle Earth. Gandalf as a Maiar was renowned for his wisdom, in fact he was said to be the wisest of the Maiar; the same class as Sauron. 😊
To
When I saw the notification, I clicked so fast I nearly sprained a finger. So glad to be with you on your journey through Middle Earth.
I've read that when Aragorn kicked the helmet and then cried out, that wasn't faked: he kicked the helmet so hard he injured his foot, and the cry was for real.
@Drix 42 - lol I hold my sword in my other hand!
"I clicked so fast I nearly sprained a finger." You and I wouldn't last a minute in Middle Earth. ^o^
@franl155 yeah. He lost a tooth in shooting Helms Deep and they had to shoot the shots of him holding a torch in Balin’s Tomb in the first movie all from one side because he was sporting a massive black eye after taking a surfboard to the face (Pretty sure it was a surfboard)
@Trinity Birtcil - "broke a toe" is what I remember, but I didn't want to be too specific in case it was incorrect - start a debate on how many toes it was!
If I remember right he broke at least one toe
John Rhys-Davies who played Gimli was also the voice of Treebeard the Ent.
Hugo Weaving who played Elrond was the voice of Megatron.
Hugo... Man of many talents
that line gets me every time... "no parent should ever have to bury their kids"
as a father of 3 this hits hard
A little explanation to Tolkien’s genius in that scene in the dead marshes, when Frodo looks in to the water, sees ghost, and falls in. This is a direct experience Tolkien had in World War 1, he and others had to cross a river, but when he got close he saw that it was literally filled with hundreds of bodies friend and foe alike. He was so shocked that he froze, his body frozen like a statue, he fell in and started to drown. In an attempt to process the pure horror his brain made it seem like the corpses had come alive and were dragging him down. If it were not for his fellow countrymen grabbing him and pulling him out he would have joined the floating mass grave. (Note: I’m not certain if this exact story is 100% true but I can confirm that JR Tolkien used many of his horrific World War I experiences to make the many dark horrors of the Lord of the rings.)
Interesting tidbits here. Really interesting to see how much Tolkien pulled from his experience.
What's even crazier about the shooting of these movies is that it was all done back to back as a single grand endeavor over a few years, so you can really feel how every actor/actress lived in their role as well as their relationship to those around them (not to say movies shot separately don't but lotr was and probably still is the undisputed king)
The common rule is, if it has 2 legs its a Wyvern, if it has 4 its a Dragon
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Gandalf was sent back to Middle-earth as the White because the former White Wizard, Saruman, had betrayed his purpose. In the book, this is made even more explicit - when Gandalf went to visit him in _Fellowship,_ Saruman declares that he is no longer "Saruman the White" but "Saruman of Many Colours." Gandalf was not impressed, and neither were the Valar who sent them to Middle-earth in the first place. When Gandalf was killed in Moria, the Valar sent him back as the new White Wizard, with greater power... and a more urgent purpose. The fight against Sauron was coming to a head, which makes the betrayal of Saruman all the more tragic. Imagine running a race, and two inches from the finish line you stop dead and start throwing out bear traps to catch the other runners.
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10:15 Whenever you see a group shot of the riders of Rohan, who are meant to be all men, they're actually almost all female riding extras with fake beards and bulky armor. When they sent the casting call out for horse riders during filming they discovered there were way more women riders in New Zealand than men, so they just went "Ah, well, glue on some facial hair and slap on a few helmets and no one will know the difference! :D"
As always lot's of laughs with this reaction🤣 glad you guys are enjoying these!! Looking forward too part2🍻
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i wonder if a show you guys might like to react to is black sails? it's notoriously underrated, and it might just be up your alley. incredible action, incredible storytelling and scripts, great characters, and if you have even a passing interest in pirates or treasure island, i think you will love it.
We can add it to the list 🤙🤘
I look forward to watching Oak find the memes lmao he cracks me up
@Tap Sin yeah, the part with "Tell me where is Gandalf for I much desire to speak with him" was in that song too, was waiting for them to laugh at it :D
Yeah! I was sad they missed "they are taking the hobbits to Isengard" from this upload :c
You should see our group chats lol Memes all day.
Loved your Fellowship reaction. Really looking forward to this one!!!
Thank you! We hope you enjoy Two Towers!!!
You guys really gotta watch all the behind the scenes footage, now that you're done the trilogy. The background stuff about how they did the perspective changes is all reaaaally fascinating!!
I believe in the lore that swamp area was where Isildur was killed and lost the ring. He was returning to his father's kingdom in the north when he was killed, hence why the ring didn't stay in Gondor. From those fields/swamps it slowly travelled downriver and was picked up by Deagol. Technically both Aragorn and Boromir are of royal blood, but Aragorn is Isildur's direct heir whereas Boromir is an heir of Isildur's nephew.
So does boromir have a bit of numenorean blood?
They were travelling by the river, but not through the dead marshes
The scene between Gollum and Sméagol I know word for word and we were watching the lord of the rings in 10th grade English to follow the “hero’s journey” and my teacher saw me mouthing the words during that scene, paused the movie and had me recite the scene in front of the class.
What would normally have been an anxiety inducing incident to be put on the spot like that, was actually incredibly fun. A bunch of people had never seen the movie and were astounded that I had the movie memorized.
But then again I was never invited to any parties so why wouldn’t I have it memorized?
The teacher gave me an A for the essay I would’ve had to write about the journey Frodo took, but because I knew it so well he just let it go.
The Dead Marshes were based on the Battle of the Somme from WW1. Tolkien fought there used what he saw (men dying and laying in the mud, unable to be taken off the battlefield) as inspiration.
For some background lore that isn't explained in the movies:
Gandalf and Saruman are Maiar, spirits which serve the Valar (basically the Gods of Tolkien's stories). Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast and 2 more Maiar were sent to middle earth in order to guide the people and help with the fight against Sauron, who by the way is also a Maiar but turned to darkness and serves Morgoth (something like Lucifer in Christianity). Saruman was meant to be the leader of the 5 Maiar who were sent to middle earth, but since he joined Sauron and became evil, Gandalf has been sent back to replace him. Which is why Gandalf says "I am Saruman as he should have been". Also, although Gandalf has taken human form, he is still a spirit and consequently immortal, in fact he has been roaming Middle Earth for about 2000 years and has lived as a spirit for more than 9000 years.
Hope this is interesting and clears some things up for you guys.
Nice reaction guys, looks like most of your questions were answered below. It's great to share this story with folks that have never seen it before, very enjoyable and entertaining so really thanks for that. Cheers and looking forward to continuing the saga.
Thank you and thanks for watching. We appreciate it 🤙
I remember Samwise was very happy to get the elf rope, so excited in fact the elves said he should've mentioned his love of rope as they would have shown him how to twist it. The magic rope is an awesome tool they use often in the book
When shadowfax runs up and stops in front of Gandalf there was a mat for the horse to run to and it did it in one take
@MangoBango 😂😂😂
Have my eyes been cheated by some spell? Yes they have, its actually a donkey legolas.
“Shadowfax. He's the lord of all horse actors, and he's been my friend through many dangers.”
And just so you know, Saruman didn't raise an army in a matter of weeks. These three movies span over years. In the first one, 17 years passed between Gandalf leaving to research the ring and him coming back to throw it into the fire. So it might look quick, but it's really weeks, months and years
Wizards were Maia, each served a specific purpose, created by the Valor, who were essentially gods. Since Saramon left his purpose, Gandalf was sent back to fulfill that purpose. So not necessarily barrowed time, but who Saramon shouldve been. Saron is or was a maia as well but followed Morgoth, a Valor, who essentially is the devil, and Sauron was his right hand. So even Sauron as powerful as he was, still had a master.
That makes sense
Anyone else get so invested with one storyline, that they forget about the others for a while?
I have watched the trilogy so many times, and watching with you guys is like rewatching the trilogy through new eyes. ^_^
Man i love when the people reacting to Lotr know of the memes and have a reaction when they appear.
20 years for the Oak 😂
17:35 In the lore, Gandalf has been sent to Middle Earth many times in his role of advising and guiding the people of the world, he's a sort of immortal angelic being called a Maiar (Sauron is one as well). His physical body can be killed, but he can then be sent back (which is what we saw in the movie).
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Viggo Mortensen actually broke toes on that helmet kick...that scream of anguish was real.
Yes, you are correct, the ring allows Frodo to see what happened to Gandalf. That is because Gandalf is wearing one of the three elven rings of power, Narya, the Ring of Fire. Galadriel has Nenya, the Ring of Water and Elrond has Vilya, the Ring of Air.
When the actor kicks the Helmet, Viggo (the actors) mothers got a letter from her dad saying he was sorry for not moving to Norway when they had the chance.
🤣🤣 that's awesome
Fun Fact: When the Aragorn actor kicked the uruk-hai helmet, he broke his nail ( i guess ), and that scream was for real, but instead of calling the medics, he used his pain to make the scene even more real.
Knowing that makes that scene even better
He broke a couple of toes, put the pain into his scream.
20:22 The magic cloaks "blended in with any background, either green grass, green trees, green rocks, or green sky" - Ch. 5, Bored of the Rings
Badd Medicine coming in for a win again :D always an entertaining dive when you guys hop into Middle Earth.
During the whole filming of Lord of the Rings, Brad Dourif (who plays Grima Wormtongue) used an English accent, even off set, so when he dropped the accent on the last day of filming, Bernard Hill (who plays Theoden) thought he was actually English the whole time, In reality, Brad is the voice actor for Chucky, very easy to hear it once you know what to listen for lol
Hell yeah! 🤘🤘🤘 Let's goooooo! Oh dang... Chucky?! That's awesome!
All scenery scenes are actually landscapes and all structures are either large miniatures(The Black Gate and Helms Deep) or a life size set( The city of Edoras).
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I know it takes a lot to edit and get these out. Thanks for going through it!
So Treebeard is voiced by John Rhys Davies (actor for Gimli). The techniques used to get his voice to feel that deep is pretty clever actually, something along the lines of speaking into a glass jar/container?
oh really? If so, impressive.
They sent John Rhys-Davids' voice through a long wooden tunnel thingy that distorted his voice. I can't really describe it very well, but it looks awesome.
The voice of Treebeard (the ent) was actually Gimli! Also, I just found out that Megatron was played by Hugo Weaving (Elrond) in Transformers aaaaaa
Never would have guessed it either until people said it here in the comments lol
Treebeard's voice may not be the voice of Optimus Prime, but it is the voice of John Rhys-Davies, who plays Gimli.
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It doesn’t have to be in the reaction but the song during the credits is amazing. Could y’all comment on the score overall?
Personally, I thought the score was great! One that you can always go to.
Is that the sad smeagol song? I can't remember which one that was from.
Landscape wise I'm pretty sure it's all real. Some models were used for buildings and so on but this trilogy really showcases the beauty of NZ :D
Gandalf is not on borrowed time. Well, I guess for a type of divine being with hierarchical obligations you're technically always on borrowed time, but he came back to life a new person.
His time spent in "the darkness" was lifetimes over lifetimes, Gandalf the Grey is dead, in the movies we dont see a lot of tht but the new Gandalf really has to search his memories to remember the fellowship as The Gray would
the best thing about th movies is you get questions. You look for answers and then suddenly you find yourself knee deep in lore learning how gandalf was sent back, who sent him back, why is he now the new white wizard, his duty, who assigned it, and what he really is.
This is my favourite start to a movie. Blew my mind when I saw it for the first time at the cinema. I watched each movie 3 times when they came out and must have watched them all over 20 times. The Fellowship probably 50 🤓🤓🤓
🤣🤣🤣 didn't think of that
@Badd Medicine is that Balrog poop?
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I hope you are going to watch "behind the scenes" materials becouse one of my fav is about two acclaimed Tolkien illustrators, artists J. Howe and A. Lee who made all these general plans of architecture and landscapes and creatures. The two of them were concept-artists in this movie. AFAIR Howe is also specialist of armours and weapons and he arrived in New Zealand with his own set of armours as a model - how to make a plate armour - for the filmmakers. AFAIR at first they wanted to make all of the swords and such just from foam and from aluminium. But they could not get the proper weight of such sword for the training of the actors, and the proper colors of such aluminium swords for camera. So they decided to forge swords from proper materials instead. Howe AFAIR helped them to build proper smithy to develop hundreds of pieces of weapons and armors. The weapons of main heroes and first line soldiers were always real weapons - made in smithy from real steel. Only the background charachters in the armies got gum/foam weapons. And we must rememeber that for any of main heroes their sets of armors and weapons (swords, knives, axes) had to be made in at least 3 versions. One proper heavy weapons for actors training (behind camera), one beautiful and shiny set of weapons for scenes with close ups on the weapons (like the scene when Bilbo gives Frodo his sword), AFAIR one other set for other scenes probably with stunts, and then part of these sets of weapons had to be copied for the use of 5 short doubles of main actors. We have to remember that most of props from the scenes with persons of two sizes were also doubled - tables, cups, chandeliers, bagpacks, everythings was made in two sizes, for tall and for short charachters. And all this material about making weapons in their smithy is such fun how they present the process of forging and decorating the weapons, not every sword but also decoration on every sword was planned according to who will use it and to what kind of acting. For example they made Aragorn's sword (ranger sword) with the addition of little knife - for daily use in travels - wore in leather satchel on the sword's grip.
Lots of great info in here. TY.
I can't help but laugh with you, so thank you! A joy as always, can't wait for the next
Thank you! much appreciated! Next one is coming soon.
Gandalf is really a top level angel sent to Middle Earth by Eru Iluvatar (God) to watch for the return of Sauron.
Gandalf, Saruman, that Balrog and Sauron are all high level spirits but they all took different forms in Middle Earth.
The "Wizards" all took the forms of old men so they appear unthreatening to the general population.
Just glad he's back🤙
The dead bodies in the water were from the battle of the last alliance, 3000 years before Frodo's quest. That was the battle portrayed in the prologue of The Fellowship. The main leaders of both elves and men perished along with thousands more since the battle was 7 years long. Isildor, heir to Elendil of Numinor , lived only for a short while after the battle, but, as you can see Elrond is still around and one of the most powerful and wise elves in middle earth.
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Frodo feels the sharp stab on his left shoulder and starts to have flashbacks of the ringwraiths true form when he wore the one ring.
That dang ring is unreal. Dig the story on it.
I believe in the books it says his nightmares he just keeps reliving his point of view in the dream, he wasn't dreaming about the fall that we seen.
Ok. Interesting 🤙
When Gandalf says he was "Sent Back", this is because his order of wizards (called the Istari) are essentially an order consisting of 5 angels, sent to Middle Earth to fight Saruman, appearing as old men to offer the forces of Middle Earth council, rather than some great champion. Saruman was sent as as the head of the order, also the most powerful (receiving the title "The White"). Then there was Gandalf the Grey, or the "Not quite white, but still in the ballpark", he was called the "Grey Pilgrim" as he found it best to rally strength among the common folk, while Saruman would be tasked with advising the likes of Rohan and Gondor.
There was also Radagast the Brown, who took more care for the forest and its creatures. And finally, the 2 blues, who would work in the east of Middle Earth, likely sewing discontent and rebellion against Saruman in the Easterlings (which not much is said about them, but Tolkien played with the idea of them actually agreeing with Saruman, joining Sauron, and actually being the potential antagonists when he was deciding whether or not to write a sequel.
As you can gather, Gandalf was the only one of the Istari (Wizards) to actually be working towards his goal, and with Saruman having fallen to the will of Sauron, he was essentially expelled from the order, and any power he exercised from then on was remnant of his former power, Gandalf was sent back as "Gandalf the White", head of the order, and most powerful of the wizards.
Eomer is played by Karl Urban a native New Zealand Actor and also Billy Butcher in The Boys. Tree beard is voiced by John Rhys-Davies the actor who played Gimli
Trivia: Balrogs are fire spirits that were corrupted by Morgoth, Sauron's former boss. They are of the Maiar class, same as Sauron (another fire spirit) and the Istari/wizards (whereas Morgoth was one of the Valar, the more powerful spirits). The only fire spirit who wasn't corrupted was Arien, who became the captain of the vessel of the sun. Even Morgoth feared her piercing gaze, and orcs couldn't go out in daylight because of her.
There are only three people who ever managed to kill a Balrog: Gandalf, Ecthelion and Glorfindel. All three of them died in the process - Ecthelion drowned himself and his foe in a fountain, and Glorfindel got dragged to his death off a mountainside by his long, shiny, golden hair. Moral of the story: tie back your hair when you go into battle, even if you're a fancy elf lord.
Fun fact: The majority of the Rohan soldiers are women, since they couldn't find enough men who could ride. They would get their hair and make-up done before breakfast, and then complain whenever food got stuck in their beards. Viggo Mortensen war rather smitten with one of these "men".
Oh, and since John Rhys-Davies is taller than the actors who played the Hobbits, they didn't need to green screen him when it was just the five of them.
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Basically five wizards were sent to try and stop Sauron (that’s their task)
Saruman, Gandalf, Radagast and the two blue wizards (Alatar & Pallando)
Gandalf is the only one who actually doing his task that’s why (Eru Ilúvatar) (The God) sends him back after he dies
Gollum was one of the river hobbits before the ring corrupted him you’ll see his story in the next movie
Return of the king drops Tuesday part 1
Looking forward to part 2.
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Gandalf and saruman along with sauron are actually all the same species they're angelic like species difference between their powers is that gandalf and saruman are not allowed to use the full extent of their power they were also reduced in power they are guides to the free people so that they could save themselves instead of relying on the higher powers of the world to rescue them all the time that's what he means by his task
So, the creatures the Nazgûls are riding on are bot dragons. They are called Fellbeasts. And the voice of Treebeard is actually the actor of Gimlis voice
ahhh Thank you!
Fun fact is that Viggo Mortenson (Aragorn) Broke his toe in that take. It was the best one, so they used it.
Couple others mentioned it. Went back and watched. It's funny now knowing that.
Treebeard is voiced by John Rhys-Davies, ie Gimli!
The Black Gates weren't built my Sauron. They were originally built by the Numenoreans to keep the Orcs IN Mordor. The Numenoreans also built the Argonath, Helm's Deep, Orthanc (The Tower of Isengard), Minas Tirith, Osgiliath, Minas Ithil (Minas Morgul), the Great Watchtower of Amon Sûl.
In the Lore Gandalf is a Maia. Like a Demigod sent by the Gods of the Undying Land in the West. They took the Form of Wizards they were Gandalf the Grey, Rhadagast the Brown and Sauroman the White. There were two Blue Wizards who went into the other lands. They like the Elves are immortal they were sent to over throw Sauron.
John Davies, the actor for Gimli, was also the voice actor for Treebeard the Ent
The name of the creature the Nazgûl are flying is only given as “Fell Beast”
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I just realized that Gandalf told Aragorn Sam had gone with Frodo, he didn't know that before, but when he, Legolas, and Gimli left in The Fellowship, he knew they were only searching for Merry and Pippin. This begs the question, what did he think happened to Sam? Did he care? (Not to question Aragorn's compassion, because of course he's cares but like, in the context of the story, due to the situation was Sam just the least of his concern, because Sam got forgotten a lot?)
The Teo Towers regular edition is much easier to follow than the extended edition. The extended works with Fellowhip but not the last two movies, imo
16:53 It's actually both of them. Peter Jackson recorded both Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee saying those lines and blended them together.
The voice of treebeard is John Rhyss Davies 😊 He is Gimli the dwarf😊 he plays sallah in Indiana Jones 😊
The LOTR is filmed in New Zealand, and Yes it does look like this 😊
@Badd Medicine really good😊 And the tourguides were great. One of the tourguides was an extra in LOTR 😊
How were the tours?
@Badd Medicine ohhhh Yes 😊
Went there 4 years ago, where I went on many LOTR tours 😊
Thank you. And NZ has great views🤙
You can tell the difference between Gollum and Smeagol by the change of his eye pupils.
Smeagol has wide pupils while Gollum's are small
the worst part was that Peter Jackson made him kick the helmet like 3-4 times and finally the last kick, Viggo broke his toe. And it just so happens that Peter liked that one the most.
Treebeard is voiced by gimili's actor and Hugo Weaving voiced Megatron in Transformers