20 Years On, Lord Of The Rings Will Never Be Equalled

Don’t forget that Jackson and Tolkien portrayed strong women WITHOUT trampling the strong male characters. Eowyn, Galadriel, and Arwen are examples of noble, beautiful, feminine, and respected characters.

2000: "I knew Tolkien personally, I'm here to carefully, respectfully depict his work" 2020: "never heard of him, I'm here to fix his work"

Honestly, the greatest trilogy of all time. I’ll never budge on that.

"I go to my fathers, in whose mighty company I shall not now feel ashamed." Breaks me every time.

“Hollywood used to depict heroic actions. Now they can only see heroic identities.” Well stated.

“Evil cannot create anything new, but can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made.” -Tolkien

My dad and I went to the midnight show for the 3rd film. Probably one of the only times he's truly shown me who he is, just a lonely kid who needed a friend to enjoy something he did. We got A&W burgers at 4am and I still think of that night when I watch LOTR every few months. ✨💜🗡️🛡️

I was 7 in the theater with my cousins watching the two towers. Afterwards we went home and played LOTR and defended helms deep in the treehouse my mom built. That was peak 2000s childhood, and what a time it was.

My wife just died due to her illness and after she got diagnosed more than 5 years ago she prepared notes about how her funeral should be like. She said that these were her favorite movies even as a child and as she struggled with her illness she was captured by the way all of the characters in the movies fight so bravely against the dark which reminded her of herself. She noted that even tough not everyone could celebrate victory in this realm, good prevailed because of this bravery. Her favorite quote was the conversation between Gandalf and Pippin: “PIPPIN: I didn't think it would end this way.
GANDALF: End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it.
PIPPIN: What? Gandalf? See what?
GANDALF: White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.
PIPPIN: Well, that isn't so bad.
GANDALF: No. No, it isn't.” So thank you Lotr for inspiring my late wife to have fought so brave for a couple more years…

Having Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee on set was almost like having source material consultants.

I remember being absolutely spellbound by liv Tyler’s portrayal of Arwen. (Yes she’s an elf) but gosh what a woman. Strong and brave, yet beautifully feminine. Shame that’s no longer in movies.

Another important thing worth mentioning when talking about the success of LOtR movies: if you watch the end credits to the extended cuts, you'll see a seemingly endless wall of names to thank all members of various LOtR fanclubs from all over the world for their contribution in terms of consultation. So, the director actually cared to make this thing work and asked the right people for help.

"My friends, you bow to no one." Not only does that make me cry every time, but it succinctly sums up the entire LOTR trilogy. Truly the apex of filmmaking.

You know what’s stood out to me recently regarding the LOTR trilogy versus many modern movies and TV shows? How dirty the cast is while filming. Viggo Mortensen would live in his costume, go fishing in it, wearing it in and looking like a man who has been in the bush his whole life. Sean Bean would hike up the mountains in full costume to film early in the morning because he was afraid of flying. So when they got to filming, the actors were covered in grit and sweat, and you could see their blood was pumping in the way a long camping trip will do to you. It looked, it felt, so real.

I've been a fan of the Drinker for about 2 years now. This is my favorite video he's put out. It actually made me emotional. I didn't know anything about the Lord of the Rings as an American growing up in San Francisco. Star Wars was king but everyone hated the prequels. I absolutely enjoyed them because I was a kid, born in 1986 but everyone else hated them. I remember hearing about The Lord of the Rings, some old British book. I had no clue what it was about, and honestly, thought it was some fairy nonsense. One night at my first girlfriends house, her very intimidating undercover SFPD father put on The Fellowship of the Ring. It's still one of the most amazing feelings I've ever had watching a film. I had no idea the world of Middle Earth existed until that second and I was in, hook line and sinker. This video voices all the feelings I had much better than a drunk like me can articulate and is why I follow the Drinker. You're doing God's work you crazy Scottish bastard. Well done, as usual.

Even if only one person reads this, its worth it. I hold this film series as the crem de la crem of Western cultural output: Why? Because i was born in the ashes of a collapsed Soviet dictatorship. I moved to the West when i was 10 years old. This was 2003, that was also the same year i saw a movie the same year it was released(Troy). Why is that noteworthy? Because where i had lived in *Eastern Europe*, poverty and misery extended to all parts of life, even the availability of art. We had at home a black/white TV the size of a microwave oven. All the state owned local TV stations could only afford to show old 80s and 90s movies, this planted a lot of nostalgia but at the time it was tedious. As we moved, we bought a small color TV with VHS function, but we could not afford many movies, those we got first were Shrek and LotR: he Two Towers - i did not understand much but was BLOWN away by the imagery, this was before we had internet so i didnt even know this was based on books or that its a sequel and nobody told me*, i probably watched the movies half a hundred times on that microwave sized VHS TV. But then one day i walked across a billboard that had all the characters i was familiar with, *i randomly bought the first cinema ticket of my life and it was the premiere for Lotr: Return of the King*. Just a dumb kid stumbling in to a packed theater with front row seats swinging a big ass Pepsi bottle i brought as refreshment. I did not know that the 7 or 8 dollar price equivalent ticket would give me a seat to THE movie of the century. This movie franchise, paired with the books and mythology of Sir J.R.R Tolkien that it was built on, is the perfect example of reaching the peak of *Western cultural accomplishment. It is a thing of beaty, its everything i love about the West and its traditions, culture, values. This will of course seat it front row in the line of *Things that should be censored*, since the parasitic socialist types have discarded the East in order to tear apart greener pastures. Keep this work, unadultered, in your hearts. Dismiss any new agitprop made to change its status as a symbol of good things in your mind, dont let cynisism replace it. Take care!

Eowyn’s iconic “I am no man” moment is one of the most hype moments in cinema in my opinion. And it’s mysteriously not cringey or annoying. I wonder why 🤔

"We were not interested in putting our message into it. We were focused on putting Tolkien's message into it."-Peter Jackson Very wise words my friend.

I was 19 in 2001 when fellowship came out but my mom came to visit me in my home city and we went to go watch it together( We lived in different cities/countries). She had a VHS rental store in a small town, so movies were our thing. She had always taken me to movies or shown me movies to engage my emotions( Godfather, American history X, Goodfellas. Sophie's choice...) But I had the privilege to take her to all 3 LOTR movie premiers. We cheered and cried together every December when it came out. I miss my mom and I miss good movies like these.

you said what we felt. we watch all three as a family every new years eve. Good work man thank you.