Curious?, questions about the Fellowship of the Ring feature film?

Question

Alright. I know its been years but I watched the extended edition this weekend and I noticed some curious things. Ok, so Isildur and Elrond battled Sauron bitterly 6000 years before the events of the Fellowship. Elrond leads Isildur into Mt. Doom the only location on Middle-Earth where this ring can be destroyed. Isildur changes his mind and proceeds to walk past Elrond with the ring...why didn't Elrond just push him into the fires of Mt. Doom? Also, in the scene in Moria. The huge winged demon Balrog cannot fly? I understand it wasn't prepared to fall, but it couldn't recover enough during it descent to flap those huge demon wings and get some air? I am just curious.

Answer 1

The debate about whether the Balrog had wings arose due to a reference in the first book of the trilogy, "The Fellowship of the Ring". - "... suddenly it drew itself to a great height and its wings were spread from wall to wall."

In the movie versions of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, the Balrog was depicted as a very large winged monster resembling fire or lava covered with a dark crust. During the fight with Gandalf, it looks like the Balrog could not fly because the wings like the rest of the Balrog's body appeared to be made out of shadow and fire).

The movie version also differs from the book regarding Isildur and his actions regarding the Ring. In the books, he is advised to destroy the Ring in the cracks of Mt Doom but decides against it and keeps it leading to his doom. The movie scene of Isildur and Elrond at Mt Doom is Peter Jackson's version and is more dramatic. I think that Elrond decided not to do anything as the power of the Ring to seduce its wearers was not known. Alternatively it would look really bad killing your ally after a great victory.

Answer 2

for your first question, elrond did not push isildur off because the elves and men where alies of old(dispite events 6000 years later) if he would to push isildur in he would have caused the world of men to shater and start a war with gondor.


the second question was the balrog did not care for the ring he only cared to kill gandalf as he was not sarons pet and distroy the wizard

Answer 3

Isildur was the king of gordon....you can't just kill him cause you disagree with what he is doing(plus if he did there would be no lotr) and the balrog was fighting gandoff the entirer way down

Answer 4

("... its wings were spread from wall to wall...").
there was no room for the balrog to fly, according to the text.

As to Elrond not taking it, there are a few reasons.
Perhaps he did not think physically he could challenge him.
Perhaps he hoped his friend would change, since they were friends.
Or, perhaps he didn't want to get near it (therefore not trying to steal it from him and toss it in himself) for fear of the ring taking over him.