Elrond's weapon: Hadhafang Gandalf's weapon: Glamdring Aragorn's weapon: Anduril The Witch King's weapon: Damned Heavy

"And so Aragorn's heroism is not a one-on-one duel with a big villain. His heroism is his attempt to put his own life and the life of his troops on the line in the vague hope and dream that it somehow may give Frodo and Sam that little opportunity to help them complete their mission." I'm glad they came around to this instead of the cliché fight against the big bad.

"For Frodo." Still one of the most powerful moments of all time for me.

"It was not what Tolkien imagined. We realized it was totally demeaning to what Aragorn was doing." Thank you Mr Jackson not only for respecting the original material but bringing it to this unique form. Came back here totally ruined by Game of Thrones.

So Viggo Mortenson is not only a great actor but also a creative genius!

The witch king going "oh god" when someone helped him pick up his mace made me laugh pretty hard.

I'm honestly glad they made the Witch King's weapon so large. When I saw it for the first time I was thinking "holy mother of god, he could crush her to death with one swing." It was terrifying, and it made it that much more awesome when Eowyn defeated him.

I really like the design of the helmet. It makes sense because you can only see the mouth, and no other parts of the face exist. He literally is The Mouth of Sauron. Genius!

Honestly, growing up on RPGs that massively over-exaggerate medieval armoury, I was perfectly fine with that massive morning star. Didn't think it was too big til I saw this.

i like seeing actors giving their own input and advice on scenes like viggo did here for peter jackson. i think it's nice when they're not just mindlessly following what the director says and instead work as a creative team together. the idea of aragorn fighting sauron is a tempting way to end the movie but i think the way they did it worked well and is much more coherent and loyal to the book

I ended up calling it dammed heavy... Because it was.. Dammed heavy.. Best line ever xD

I'm kind of pissed The Mouth of Sauron was only included in the extended cut. The scene is fantastic.

They made the right decision to not include that stupid Sauron fight. It was totally out of line with Sauron's character and, like they said, totally undermines Aragorn's true heroism. Tolkien is a brilliant writer who created a brilliant adventure, and these guys did a hell of a job bringing it to life. The mouth of Sauron was just extraordinary.

Watching this makes me wish I was a part of it. I'm jealous of the people who worked on it!

The way Aragorn says "For Frodo" and runs toward the army and his certain death is so moving, loved that scene. Shows the true depths of his courage and faith in his friends.

I am really really positive there is nothing more terrifying then that bloody morning star. You can tell in the movie that if that thing hits you, you're DONE

Peter Jackson is such an intelligent and inspired director.

Actually, the daftness of the mace *enhanced* the fantasy for me, as I was in the theater going, "Sauron never does anything small, does he?"

Peters Jackson's LOTR trilogy IS perfect. It should be the yardstick against every movie to be measured, I dont care what you say in this instance, I will fight you. Come to your house and physically fight you.

Well, there goes two hours of studying... It was worth it though xD

"And so Aragorn's heroism is not about a one-on-one duel with a big villain" That's why The Hobbit isn't the same, and the final duel between Thorin and Azog it's so boring. There's nothing more on the play than their egos.

letting sauron take physical form without the ring would have completely destroyed the entire plot of the trilogy. thank god they didnt put that scene in the movie.

It's funny how the Mouth of Sauron actor becomes even MORE submerged in makeup and appliances in Revenge of the Sith

Perhaps the wisest decision made is very interestingly discussed here: Cutting Sauron vs. Aragorn. Thank God that didn't make it in. It's such a Hollywood action moment cliche. Good on you, Pete, for ditching the idea. Thank you!

how that last idea by Viggo was really such a smart directors approach on how to put the two side stories together... impressive off the fly.

I thought how they edited the fight between Sauron and Aragorn was really fucking brilliant and clever

I'm in tears looking back at this. This shows how much both the directors and actors respected Tolkien, compared to the showrunners of the Amazon series

It always amazes me in watching these outtakes with how brilliant everyone was in collaborating together to solve problems while constructing these movies, as well as how jolly the cast is in their endeavors. Many of them faced physically strenuous work and always had such giddy outlook on their scenes even when dealing with injuries on set.

The main problem with the Annatar appearance is that it would have contradicted the story’s premise. The whole reason Sauron is opposing the Free People so directly in LotR - no tricks or schemes, just open war - is that he’s physically unable to assume a fair form after Iluvatar took his shape shifting power from him in Numenor. He’s locked in his Dark Lord form, so trickery is not an option and he has to go at it the old fashioned way. Had he still had his full power, he would’ve found way more insidious ways of conquering Gondor and Rohan than just throwing armies of Orcs at them. The whole story of LotR would’ve turned out very differently, and probably for the worse, so it would’ve never come to the Battle at the Black Gate.

That mace scared me more than anything else in these films

how did i get specifically part 7 of this recommended to me lmao

The mace/morning star of the witch-king was perfect! I actually felt the horror of having to stand up against something like that. When he started to swing it at Eowyn all I could think of was: "Oh no one hit and she gets decimated."

"But Pete kind of knew that those 14-foot monsters very, very, very rarely ever work." Proceeds with having Aragorn fight a 14-foot troll...

Funny fact they were so late redesigning the witch Kings helmet that this more sauron like version appears in the return of the King video game

Hearing the mouth speak with a normal voice made my day ^^

Australians: “That’s not a knife... THAT’S a knife.” New Zealanders: “That’s not a mace... THAT’S a mace.”

Thank god they didn't put in that standoff between Aragorn and Sauron. It might have ruined the ending of the best movie ever.

I think the point of the “ludicrously large” morning star is that it’s ultimately being wielded by a supernatural entity of great power and sever darkness, who delights in causing terror and pain in the living. Only something with unholy strength would be able to wield something so impractical; and it’s only Impractical to us because there’s no way we could wield such a thing with effectiveness. Put it in the hands of the Witch King of Angmar, and suddenly nobody would be scoffing at that thing. I actually still remember my reaction to that scene during my first time watching RotK in the theaters: “Jesus fkin Christ...no way would I go up against something like that. She’s totally screwed.” I’m glad that kept it the way it was. Otherwise it’d have just been another scene in the film, rather than an iconic jaw-dropping moment; a bit of a realization as to why mortals don’t fuck with a ring wraith.

This made me think how random true perfect art is in the end. So many things could have gone wrong, but they listened to feedback and each other, and hundreds of people came together to finally create the ultimate masterpiece.

“It is ludicrously large ... and you see the look on Eowyn’s face when she sees it. She’s terrified.” 😳 Well there’s some subtext that I never picked up on as a kid!

"some people call it a mace, some people call it a morning star, i ended up calling it damned heavy' love that part

Even though I'm glad they decided against the Aragorn vs. Sauron scene, having him appear as the angelic Maia Mairon and then morph into the evil Sauron was beautifully done in the my opinion. They could have even had a light moment with Gandalf saying something "Maia to Maia-like," like, oh hey, I remember you! Nice to see you again in physical form on Middle-Earth! lol

5:04 - a man who doesn't want to lose his job ;)

What a labor of love. Thank you Peter Jackson, thank you!

Did you see Gimli kinda hiding behind Legolas in that one bit? XD Haha

"I've never been so submerged in costume, makeup, and masks, et cetera, as I have been in this." *me, thinking of his role in Revenge of the Sith* "give it time."

Every time I watch the appendices to the LotR movies, I find myself in complete awe of the creativity and the immense level of nerdiness portrayed in the making of these films. Everything was just so detailed from the costumes and makeup design to the sets and props... even the acting, the writing, and the music composition are completely on point. I kind of wish I was born 20 years earlier than I was so that I could've been a part of this incredible piece of art.

6:59 Now that is a horse who is taking his role seriously.

I was always curious about the Mouth of Sauron

Having Sauron appear as Annatar was a really interesting idea, and the concept art and early stills make it look incredibly disturbing. Would have been cool to see in it's completed form. But, all that said, I'm very glad they chose not to go that route. They made the right decision for both the films, and in sticking to the source material.

Okay, can we just appreciate for a minute here the fact that Peter Jackson actively changed his script because he felt his original vision was demeaning to what Tolkien had intended? Today, very few directors would actually show such creative appreciation to the original author and just do whatever they wanted. *COUGH COUGH* Star Wars *COUGH*

"But he deed, Gandalf, he deed"... why the hell was this not in the theatrical version is beyond me

I enjoyed this far too much. Cheers lexie!

2:40 Childish middle aged man playing with a deadly medieval weapon next to dead horses

I absolutely love his creativity in the cutting room, blends different scenes for different purposes and ending up with something just great

The love and care they put in this moving is amazing.

I suppose Sala Baker might have been a tad disappointed at having been replaced by a cave troll ;p Although I agree that that fight was a stupid idea. I think Tolkien interfered from beyond the grave in this one. It would've ruined the movie and one of the greatest villains of all time. I'm really glad they cut it out.

Wish he had remembered that bit about not what Tolkien imagined when he filmed The Hobbit.

neither a mace nor a morning star but a flail.

i'm in love with all this the final sauro story is amazing, it's great how much thought they put into every detail, like the mouth of sauron and Aragorn's fight. simpli amazing :)

Excellent and very interesting, - all these outakes. Thanks for posting! I really enjoyed this!

the part where Annatar is shown and the music playing in background *such goosebumps*

All I can say is that Peter is brilliant and thanks so much for not destroying the story by inserting the duel with Sauron

Awesome to see that it was thanks to Viggo that absolutely brilliant moment of “for Frodo”, such an emotional heartfelt scene

Viggo is a very underrated actor, been in some great films

Thanks a ton for uploading these! They were great fun to watch... even more so when I was supposed to be writing term papers...

Ok seriously, the way they salvaged the shots from the Sauron fights is fuckin GENIUS

This is another reason I love these films. They were opportunities for all these people to make great memories and friendships on and offscreen, not to mention we get such interesting stories about the making of them.

if i'm not mistaken, the mouth of sauron was in the exctended movie

Pretty sure that painting of Ungoliant and "The Witch King" is actually Melkor, not the witch king.

Movie making and production of epics like LOTR is really fascinating. Everyone has to literally "imagine" what the landscape is like when you shoot before a blue screen. I bought the LOTR trilogy on blue ray and I would rewatch it every so often. The extended versions have so much more details and context.

Sauron has a poor dental plan for his minions.

Man, I thought the Mouth of Sauron's mouth in the extended edition was all practical effects. I didn't know it was also enlarged 2x.

I ended up calling it damned heavy. lol. thanks lexie for the vids

I need to rewatch these again. These were my childhood I remember going to the theater with my grandparents to watch these! When the orcs were being “birthed” my grandma put her hands over my eyes 😂 good times

I'm amazed by how much of a difference enlarging the mouth did in the Mouth of Sauron scene, that genuinely made the character so much creepier

What an incredible trilogy

Viggo's voice is so soothing :')

Good on Viggo for that idea! That was one of the best moments of the film!

I bloody love that "for Frodo" moment I always imitate in when i was younger.... (even now)

The early design for the Witch-King can still be found in the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King video game. Always wondered why he looked differrent there

I remember, years and years ago, reading a 'spy report' from the set that swore blind that Sauron would be in the final battle. I dismissed it as BS, and when the movie came out I saw proof that it had been... *except it wasn't!* From here on I will believe every rumour I ever hear. ;-)

They improved the Witch King's appearance massively, quite honestly. I love how he looks in the movie. I also absolutely adore the logic behind removing the Sauron fight scene.

Amazing to see how much thought, trial and error goes into the final experience.

“Alright alright- fucking- Jesus” ~the mouth of Sauron

I guess you could say Bruce suffered greatly at the hands of his host.

The scene with the mouth of Sauron is one of my personal favourite, his voice and design is pure genius

I was literally just thinking about The Mouth of Sauron just now, and I wondered if there was any behind the scenes footage. Thank you for providing exactly what I was looking for. 😄

"The spikes somehow evoke the crown of thorns. I don't know quite what that means." Well, maybe it would be time to find out, seeing how the crown of thorns is a symbol standing for precisely the opposite of what the Witch King actually is. It's like putting Arwen's amulet on Sauron's neck; a complete juxtaposition of themes.

Real funny story is that Ian Mckellan (Gandalf) had never read the books before so during shots he would always have a copy and would be reading it.

I felt sad when I saw Andrew Lesnie again. 15 years and still coming back for those appendices. Such a masterpiece, film and what happened behind the scenes.

Seeing all of these clips, and appreciating all of the amazing attention to detail Peter Jackson and all of the actors put forth to make this a truly epic adaptation of the books, makes me wonder what in the BLOODY HELL they were thinking with this string of Hobbit movies. It's like an alien in Peter Jackson's body.

10:00 "heir of Ildor" lololol

so interesting,,,,,,,,,,, i wish i could watch the whole series again!

AWWW, the way Viggo says "Angelic presence" with that soft, angelic tone!! ♥ ; 3

True craftsmen at work

The Mouth of Sauron's horse was probably like "fuck this, leave me alone you creepy masked monster" 😂

Glad they didn't use annatar because Sauron actually lost the ability to use that form during the sinking of númenor

The design of everything in the lord of the rings movies is top notch. It immerses you in the universe in an unique way.

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting insight to the process.