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The Battle of Helm's Deep is often cited as one of the best sequences of the entire Lord Of The Rings movie trilogy. Though what we saw in Two Towers was an alternative edit to hide one a very important Lord of the Rings character. But why exactly did Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson decide to alter Helm's Deep in the first place?
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This is the Battle of Helm's Deep
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It's often cited as one of the best sequences of the entire Lord of the Rings movie trilogy
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but before it could triumph in theaters and extended editions, Helm's Deep had to survive the rigorous process of film editing
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While several changes were made for the final cut, one stands out above the rest
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The decision to completely remove one character from the battle had a significant impact on the entire trilogy and is still scrutinized by fans today
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So it begins. The Battle of Helm's Deep in 2002's The Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
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is as legendary in-universe as it is to fans of the franchise
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Known to book readers as the Battle of the Hornburg, the sequence represents a major turn in the fight against Saruman's forces
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It's a tale of cunning strategy, friendship, and hope in the face of a seemingly impossible task
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The process of bringing the battle to the big screen actually boasts a fairly similar tale
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It also seemed to be an impossible task, which required hundreds of members of the cast and crew to make it a reality
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Ultimately, however, it was Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh who rode in at first light on the fifth day and changed everything
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Was it changed for the better? Well, that depends on what side of the conflict you're on
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As is the nature of adaptation, there was no way to produce a perfect recreation of J.R.R. Tolkien's words in a new medium
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If you were to just shoot the book page by page, scene by scene, it would just be a mess
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Peter Jackson and company endeavored to honor the spirit of his words. This was the case for the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, not just Helm's Deep
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As a consequence, fans have been debating the validity and necessity of every little change since the movies were first released
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Chief among those changes are the ones made to Lady Arwen Evanstar. Tolkien wrote Arwen as less of a character and more of an ornament on Aragorn's crown
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An ethereal elven maiden that stands silently at his side bears his son and weeps for him when he gone Liv Tyler portrayal of the character is very different The choice to give Arwen more agency was a deliberate one on the part of the filmmakers
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and though it made the trilogy stronger overall, it was met with a massive amount of backlash
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in the early 2000s. Before Fellowship was even out, fans had latched onto a clip in the trailer featuring Arwen
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saying the new iconic line, If you want him, come and claim him
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Online speculators feared that they would officially adopt Arwen as a member of the Fellowship
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Fear gave way to public outcry when they watched the movie, only to learn that she had effectively replaced the character of Glorfindel
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Comparisons to Xena Warrior Princess followed soon after, and a certain subset of fans were ready to write off the whole trilogy as an apocryphal blight on Tolkien's work
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Now imagine what they might have said if Arwen had fought at Helm's Deep as originally intended
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We had a romance where the two characters, Aragorn and Arwen, were in two completely different places in Middle-earth
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So how on earth can you keep a romantic story going when you can't actually have the two people connecting
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Yes, even though she isn't there in the book, the Lady of Rivendell was supposed to fight alongside Aragorn and the others at Helm's Deep
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And this wasn't just an idea that got thrown around during the writing process. Arwen's participation very nearly made it into the theatrical version of Two Towers
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Liv Tyler and her stunt double Lonnie Jackson filmed plenty of scenes on the Helm's Deep set
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It's unclear whether Haldir was there in addition to Arwen or if he was added in later to replace her
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We do know, thanks to commentary from producer Barry Osborn, that the scene in which Aragorn
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runs to save Haldir is actually footage recycled from a deleted scene where he was instead
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running to save Arwen. But make no mistake, she wasn't just a damsel in distress
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Equipped with the elven sword Hathafang, Arwen would have done more than just slay her fair share
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of orcs at Helm's Deep. She appeared in so many integral moments that she actually had to be
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digitally removed from multiple shots in the finished movie. According to an anecdote shared
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by Orlando Bloom in the appendices of the two towers Initially it was lived through down a rope and then we pulled them up together I think they painted her out or something like that because they decided that she wasn going to be in that sequence Next time you rewatch The Two Towers
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pay attention to the moment where Aragorn orders everyone to retreat behind the walls
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and you'll see a conspicuous elven woman in a red dress running beside him
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Later, when the Rohirrim descended onto the orcs at dawn, you can catch a glimpse of her again in the chaos
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Though they did their best to digitally disguise her when she couldn't be totally removed
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it's easy to spot her and her horse Asfaloth once you know where to look. So you may be wondering, why go to all this trouble
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Why write Arwen into the Battle of Helm's Deep, film Liv Tyler and Lainey Jackson on set
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and then go through the painstaking effort to digitally remove her? The answer is multifaceted, yet it can be summarized with one word
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Intent. You could in fact tell the story as written, with these two main characters being apart from each other
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because they were always together. In Tolkien's work, the two of them are rarely in the same physical location and barely speak to each other
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While Jackson, Boyens, and Walsh did set out to make Arwen feel like her own character
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they also wanted her relationship with Aragorn to be believable and emotionally satisfying
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When they see each other at the end of Return of the King, it's important that the audience understands the depth of their devotion to one another
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Several choices were made to reflect that intent over the course of all three movies
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including a more antagonistic relationship with Arwen's father Elrond, a handful of dreams and vision sequences, and the aforementioned Ringwraith chase scene
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Arwen fighting at Helm's Deep was supposed to be just another addition to her character and story
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As Jackson put it in a behind-the-scenes commentary track, Originally, we thought that's a great opportunity for Arwen to reappear
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and to have another connection between her and Aragorn. Remember that Jackson, Boyance, and Walsh were deeply concerned with paying homage to Tolkien's work
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In-universe, there's an emphasis on the last alliance of elves and men
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But there aren't actually any elves at Helm's Deep other than Legolas
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Rather, Elrond sends his two sons to aid Aragorn on his quest to recruit the dead men of Dunharra
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Of course we don see Elrond sons in the movie adaptations so the alliance is instead represented by having the elves fight in the Battle of Helm Deep Arwen would have been a facsimile for her brother thematic role in Aragorn story In lieu of Arwen we left with Haldir whose minimal role and useless death
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do very little to serve the narrative. From this perspective, it should be easy to understand why
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the writers chose to bring Arwen to Helm's Deep. So why did they decide against it in the end
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While they've never explicitly stated as much, it stands to reason that the backlash against
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Arwen's action scene in The Fellowship of the Ring had some effect on the direction they took
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her character in the subsequent films. Arwen, warrior princess, wasn't the image the filmmakers
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intended to portray. Still, there's more to it than petty fan discourse
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People don't think that we ever look at this stuff, and I once made the mistake of going and
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reading some of the stuff, and I cried so hard. Having a female character jump so easily into battle in Two Towers could have seriously diminished
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the impact of Eowyn's storyline in Return of the King. Arwen and Eowyn are two of only three women
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with speaking roles in the entirety of The Lord of the Rings, so Jackson and his co-writers simply couldn't afford
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to undermine Eowyn's contribution to the plot. Whatever happens, stay with me
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I'll look after you. If that's not convincing enough, perhaps the most compelling reason
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to take Arwen out of Helm's Deep comes from Liv Tyler herself. I just, like, went right back into the book
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and what we came to realize was that You don't have to put a sword in her hands to make her strong
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Tolkien's Lord of the Rings explores the horrors of war and champions peace above all
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He isn't trying to glorify violence or set his reader's heart racing with adrenaline-fueled action
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He's telling a story about friendship, brotherhood, and how even the smallest person can make a difference if there's good in their heart
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So even though seeing Arwen going toe-to-toe with orcs at Helm's Deep would have been inarguably cool to see
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it isn't in keeping with the most important aspect of Tolkien's story
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While her presence represented the last alliance of elves and men and strengthened her on-screen bond with Aragorn
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it ultimately would have had a negative effect on the rest of the trilogy and on Tolkien's intent
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