Historical Analogies with "LOTR" Quiz

Answer: The One Ring has a golden colour.

"One Ring to rule them all, one Ring to find them, one Ring to bring them all, and in darkness bind them." The One Ring is as shiny as gold, although we later find out that it was made from the molten material in Mount Doom. The Nibelungen Ring was made of the gold treasure hidden in the river Rhine.
Sauron, who forged the One Ring, is shown only once in his physical appearance: in the beginning of "Fellowship of the Ring", we can notice a giant Sauron striking at Isildur's army. The Nibelungen Ring was forged by a dwarf, named Alberich.
When someone puts on the One Ring, the bearer becomes invisible. The Nibelungen Ring has no such qualities, but the Nibelungen saga mentions a helmet (the Tarnhelm) that allows shape-shifting. The one who bears the Tarnhelm can assume the physical appearance of any man or animal he thinks of.
Water can't destroy the One Ring. This is proven when Isildur loses the One Ring, and it sinks to the bottom of a lake only to be discovered several centuries later. The One Ring can only be destroyed by the fire in Mount Doom, where it was made. The cause of destruction of the Nibelungen Ring is unclear: at the end of the story, Brunnhilde rides into a pyre to destroy the Nibelungen Ring, and at the same time the river Rhine floods and destroys all the world.

Answer: Samwise Gamgee

The quote comes from "Fellowship of the Ring", when Frodo and Sam have just set out for Bree. Alas for Sam, but he'll have to walk across almost the entire continent before returning home.
Sean Astin plays Samwise Gamgee, gardener and great companion to Frodo (Elijah Wood). Later on, they'll meet the Elf Legolas Greenleaf (role by Orlando Bloom). Saruman the White is a wizard (portrayed by Christopher Lee), who defected into the camp of Sauron. Thorin Oakenshield is not in "The Lord of the Rings". In the prequel trilogy "The Hobbit", this Dwarf is portrayed by Richard Armitage.
Alexander the Great was confronted with mutinous soldiers after the Battle of Hydaspes (326 BC), near the Indian border. His troops found crossing half a continent more than enough. Alexander gave in and started the long voyage home, but he died before returning to Macedonia and Greece.

Answer: Balrog

Frodo and his eight companions are fleeing a host of Orcs in the mines of Moria, when they are attacked on the Bridge of Khazad-Dum by an ancient creature. Gandalf has warned the others that their weapons are too feeble to withstand such a fierce foe. Gandalf turns around as the last man standing on the bridge, and addresses the Balrog with the words "You Shall Not Pass!" Then he drums his staff on the bridge, and the bridge collapses. Alas: the Balrog catches Gandalf with a fiery whip, and both tumble down in the deep ravine.
In this scene, Ian McKellen had to play the role of Gandalf facing a ping pong ball and imagining a huge, dark creature surrounded by molten lava. The Balrog is indeed fully computer generated.
Dolores Ibarruri (1895-1989) was a Spanish communist leader. She rallied the Republicans against the Fascists with the battle cry "No Pasaran!" (by the way: this slogan was used before, but Ibarrruri's use is the best known.) Later on, this slogan would also be invoked in several social matters.

Answer: Blow their horn

In the movie, we see Boromir drawing his sword and killing about a dozen Orcs, after blowing his horn. He succumbs to the arrows shot at him by the Orc leader, Lurtz. In spite of Boromir's bravery and the late intervention of Aragorn and Legolas, the Orcs kidnap Merry and Pippin.
In this scene, Sean Bean portrays Boromir. The other characters mentioned here are portrayed by Lawrence Makoare (Lurtz), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), Orlando Bloom (Legolas), Dominic Monaghan (Merry) and Billy Boyd (Pippin).
According to the "Chanson de Roland", Charlemagne's paladin, Roland, and a few companions guarded the rear of Charlemagne's army, when suddenly some hundreds Moors attacked them. Roland slew many of them, and as he laid dying, he blew his horn to alert the rest of the army.
Boromir tried protecting Merry and Pippin, not by sending them away. Roland never knew what a hobbit could be, so he certainly did not send any hobbits away.
Roland died in Ronceval, a mountain pass in the Pyrenees, several miles from the sea. Boromir was also several miles from any sea.
As for the prayer: there's no definite argument in either the "Chanson the Roland" or in "The Fellowship of the Ring" whether our heroes do or don't say a prayer. But Roland seems too proud to say a prayer, while Boromir has perhaps not enough time to say a prayer.

Answer: Saruman

Saruman has defected to the evil side and dreams of an alliance with Sauron, which would result in Saruman and Sauron sharing power - each from their own tower (Sauron from Barad-Dur in Mordor, Saruman form Orthanc in Isengard). Of course this daydream can only become truth if Rohan and Gondor are defeated, so Saruman sends an army to extinguish the Rohirrim. One of the Uruk-Hai captains sent by Saruman will use the landmine when necessary.
Christopher Lee portrays Saruman. Brad Dourif plays Grima Wormtongue, who lulled Theoden into apathy until Gandalf exorcised Theoden.
Thoeden (King of Rohan), Haldir (one of the Elves) and Gimli (a Dwarf who joins the Fellowship of the Ring, and bravely fights side by side with Aragorn and Legolas) are some of the few opponents of Saruman and Sauron. Bernard Hill plays Theoden, Craig Parker plays Haldir, and John Rhys Davies excels at playing the Dwarf Gimli.

Answer: Helm's Deep

The epic battle is fought at the entrance of the fortress Helm's Deep, also known as the Hornburg. Three hundred riders of Rohan guard the entrance way, while the women and children of Rohan hide in the cavern's behind the fortress. As every man who can wield a sword or draw a bow is called under arms, our three heroes, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, do not spare their comments. According to Legolas, many of the potential defenders "have seen too many winters", whereupon Gimli replies "or too few". These first two remarks remind me vaguely of the last stand in Berlin of Nazi troops, consisting mostly of veterans (over 40 years) or young boys (even 14 year olds).
Legolas then cites in Elvish the exact number of the forces.
Just before the battle starts, an unexpected host of Elves led by Haldir comes to join the defenders. At Thermopylae, the Spartans sent away all other soldiers, seeing the battle could not be won. But 700 Thebans remained and fought side by side with the Spartans.
The outcome of the two similar battles is however quite different. At Thermopylae, a traitor shows the Persians a secret passage, and all 300 Spartans are killed. The Battle of Helm's Deep however ends when King Theoden of Rohan commands an outbreak, just as Gandalf arrives with fresh reinforcements. The Rohirrim then soundly defeat the foes.
The Green Dragon, an inn situated in Bywater, is never seen in the movies. Merry and Pippin sing a song of praise to the ale served at the Green Dragon.
The Prancing Pony is an inn situated in Bree, on the edge of the Shire. Here, Frodo and Sam are to meet Gandalf. As Gandalf doesn't show up, Strider (later identified as Aragorn) takes them on route to Rivendell.
Amon Sul is the watchtower on Weathertop, where the Nazgul briefly fight the hobbits and injure Frodo.

Answer: By busting a dam

When Treebeard is guided by Merry and Pippin towards Isengard, he witnesses how a former forest has been transformed in a sheer desert. Weeping for his felled friends, some of whom he knew "from nut and acorn", he calls the other Ents to vengeance. "This might be the Last March of the Ents. The Ents go to war."
Operation Chastise was a night bombardment of two of the main hydroelectric dams in the Ruhr region. Twenty-one aircraft would drop their bombs at low speed and extremely low altitude, with the hope of destroying the dams. Two aircraft did indeed cause a major breach in the two primary targets.
Likewise, the Ents decide to remove blocks of stone from the dam that protects Isengard from the river Isen. The resulting flood annihilates the underground Uruk-Hai factories.
Tickling the clouds is not likely an action the Ents would undertake. This action does seem quite useless in battle, unless one could spark lightning - but that's a force which the Ents fear.
Sowing acorns could be useful in the very long term. But in war, all actions have to be executed rather swiftly - the enemy will not wait until the acorns one sows, are grown into full trees.
Blocking the supply road is a classical battle tactic. However, this tactic is not available at Isengard: Saruman's defenders have sufficient storage room to withstand a siege and are numerous enough to mount a counter-attack.

Answer: Kills his "brother"

Genesis, chapter 4 is the story of Cain and Abel, two of Adam's sons. While God respected Abel's sacrifice, He took no notice of Cain's sacrifice. Anger got hold of Cain, and he hit Abel over his head.
Likewise Smeagol and Deagol are fishing. Although their relation is not commented in the movies nor in the books, the actors Andy Serkis (Smeagol) and Thomas Robbins (Deagol) seem to be as close as brothers. Deagol finds the One Ring, and Smeagol asks for it as a birthday present. But Deagol refuses, and Smeagol angrily strangles Deagol.
The "forbidden fruit" is the one Adam and Eve ate in Genesis, chapter 3: the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.
Noah built a boat in Genesis chapter 6 and planted a vineyard in chapter 9.

Answer: Enemy troops march into Gondor

The beacon of Amon-Din is the last in a series of beacons connecting the capitals of the two main human realms: Edoras in Rohan and Minas Tirith in Gondor. When one end lights the beacon, the signal is transferred over several relay posts on hill tops towards the other end of the chain. So the interpretation is quite clear: "Gondor is calling for help". King Theoden of Rohan doesn't doubt very long: "And Rohan will answer". Even though Rohan narrowly escaped extermination, Theoden rallies his men to continue the fight elsewhere.
Bernard Hill plays Theoden, king of Rohan.
From the Old Church in Boston, lanterns were used to signal which main road the British army would take. If they'd march over the main land road, one lantern would be raised, while two lanterns would signify the British army preferred sailing up the river Charles.
The "Lord of the Rings" movies have no siege of Rivendell nor Orc movements against the Shire. Moria was not connected by any beacons to Rohan nor Gondor.

Answer: Denethor

Tennyson's poem relates how a group of 600 cavaliers charged near Balaclava against a heavily fortified stronghold. Although the Light Brigade reached its target, it came at a terrible cost: two of each three men were killed, wounded or taken prisoner.
In "The Return of the King", Faramir and his fellow horsemen ride out against the town of Osgiliath, that was recently conquered by fierce Orcs. Neither the movie nor the book specify how many accompany Faramir, but judging on the widescreen image I would guess there may be about 600 Gondorians. Alas: the Gondor brigade charges over open terrain against an enemy who has just hidden a brigade of heavy archers behind the city walls.
The result is devastating for Gondor: only one horse returns, carrying the body of Faramir. At first sight, Faramir doesn't survive the charge.
Faramir obeyed orders by his father Denethor, steward of Gondor. Denethor did not think about the risks, but hoped that Osgiliath could have been recaptured.
At this point, Boromir (Faramir's brother) was already dead, and Treebeard nor Bilbo were in Gondor.
The movie shows us alternating scenes of the desperate ride by Faramir and his companions, of the enemies aiming their arrows, and of Denethor meanwhile having lunch, as Pippin would sing to him "Home is behind, the world ahead... and there are many paths to tread... Through shadow... To the edge of night... Until the stars are all alight... Mist and shadow, cloud and shade... All shall fade... all... shall... fade."