Lord of the Rings: Extended Trilogy

Young hobbit Frodo Baggins, after inheriting a mysterious ring from his uncle Bilbo, must leave his home in order to keep it from falling into the hands of its evil creator. Along the way, a fellowship is formed to protect the ringbearer and make sure that the ring arrives at its final destination: Mt. Doom, the only place where it can be destroyed.

An edit that brings the Hobbit trilogy closer in line with the book (down to the structure, narrative, and characters) and also pushes the atmosphere closer to what was seen in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, while still being careful to keep the lighthearted and fun side of The Hobbit (which made it so special). With all of the useless made up characters & sideplots gone, both Tolkien fans and casual fans alike can now love Peter Jackson’s adaptation in a new way.

I, like many other massive fans of both Tolkien’s works and Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, was in many ways disappointed with the subsequent big-screen adaptation of The Hobbit. But unlike with many other flawed adaptations, I always felt that with The Hobbit, a single good movie did exist within what we received; it was only a matter of chiseling away the excess. And now, with an abundance of free time and a fledgling YouTube channel on my hands, I have finally set about forging my first fan edit. My goals with this cut were to trim The Hobbit Trilogy down to a single movie, not to exceed a length of four hours (excluding credits), that was as faithful to the spirit of the novel as I could manage working with the materials I had. I will provide a brief overview of the changes here, but a comprehensive list of the edits, with timestamps and information on transitions, will be available at the bottom of this post.

The future of civilization rests in the fate of the One Ring, which has been lost for centuries. Powerful forces are unrelenting in their search for it. But fate has placed it in the hands of a young Hobbit named Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), who inherits the Ring and steps into legend. A daunting task lies ahead for Frodo when he becomes the Ringbearer - to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom where it was forged.

The culmination of nearly 10 years' work and conclusion to Peter Jackson's epic trilogy based on the timeless J.R.R. Tolkien classic, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" presents the final confrontation between the forces of good and evil fighting for control of the future of Middle-earth. Hobbits Frodo and Sam reach Mordor in their quest to destroy the `one ring', while Aragorn leads the forces of good against Sauron's evil army at the stone city of Minas Tirith.

Two young soldiers prepare for battle during World War I.

Aragorn is revealed as the heir to the ancient kings as he, Gandalf and the other members of the broken fellowship struggle to save Gondor from Sauron's forces. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam take the ring closer to the heart of Mordor, the dark lord's realm.