Gandalf’s best line of The Lord of the Rings explains the magic of the trilogy

There are countless iconic lines from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, but “Thou shalt not pass” sits on the cusp of the (Doom) mountain. Reading Ian McKellan’s line is often quoted on doorsteps, by annoying siblings, or simply when holding a large stick. It has been parodied countless times. More than any other, it is the Gandalf line.

Even McKellan has absorbed “Thou shalt not pass” as it is your public catchphrase, like Leonard Nimoy and “Live long and prosper”, and Mark Hamill and “May the force be with you”. Which is right. It is penalty fee.

The thing is: there is a better line from Gandalf, one that has all the power of “Thou shalt not pass” and more. It’s a display of the Gray Wizard’s awesome power, it’s a time for McKellan to flex his skills, and it’s a point of great tension for the audience. He is Gandalf in his most powerful and human form. And deep down the line is the key to how Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Fran Walsh managed to adapt JRR Tolkien’s work. Lord of the Rings.

The affairs of the magicians

The line in question is delivered early The Fellowship of the Ring, before the adventure has really started. Bilbo has just returned from his surprise party disappearance, and he and Gandalf are discussing his old ring, and the wizard is very much in favor of Bilbo leaving it for his nephew. Bilbo had planned to do that all along, but here in the moment he abruptly changes his mind. Gandalf’s jostling only agitates him until he finally makes a low accusation: Gandalf simply wants the ring for himself.

This produces an immediate change in the kind old wizard, as he yells Bilbo’s full name at him. The room darkens, a wind blows out of nowhere, Gandalf’s voice grows gravely deep as he shouts a warning:

“Don’t take me for a cheap trick wizard!”

Which is ironic, because this is the first time a new audience has been shown that Gandalf it is more than just a cheap trick magician. The scene is not the first time we have seen magic in the contemporary (that is, it is not a flashback). Fellowship setup: Bilbo blew up the ring just a few minutes earlier, but it’s the first time we’ve seen the magic being scary. Before a single Black Rider has set foot in the Shire, Gandalf transforms into a monster.

The round trip ends with Gandalf in his most human form, which is the point. One line after the “conjurer” snippet, the old wizard gives Bilbo a friendly “I’m trying to help you” and a hug, stroking his hair like a family member or a close friend. This is the duality of Gandalf; everything you need to know about your character in all three movies, delivered in about 15 seconds.

It’s also one of the most literally translated moments in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. First, as in the movie, Bilbo taunts Gandalf by hinting that he wants the Ring. “But you won’t. I’m not giving away my precious, I’m telling you, “he yells, and Tolkien writes” His hand drifted towards the hilt of his little sword. ”

Gandalf’s eyes gleamed. “It will be my turn to get mad soon,” he said. “If you say that again, I will. Then you will see Gandalf the Gray unmasked. ”He took a step toward the hobbit, and he seemed to grow tall and menacing, his shadow filling the small room.

Bilbo backed up to the wall, breathing heavily, his hand clutching his pocket. They stood facing each other for a while, and the air in the room shook. Gandalf’s eyes remained fixed on the hobbit. Slowly, his hands relaxed and he began to tremble.

“I don’t know what happened to you, Gandalf,” he said. “You have never been like this before. What is all this? It’s mine, right? I found it and Gollum would have killed me if I hadn’t kept it. I’m not a thief, whatever I say. “

“I have never called you one,” Gandalf replied. And neither am I. I am not trying to rob you, but to help you. I wish you would trust me, like you used to. ”He turned and the shadow passed. He seemed to shrink back to a gray old man, hunched over and worried.

But what’s really remarkable about this little moment is the brilliance with which Jackson brings a rather strange glimpse of Gandalf’s power to life, and how little he chose to push him to do so.

Subtle and quick to get mad

The effect is quite simple. Jackson doesn’t even push and pull on the lens. Low lighting, the sound of crunchy woods adds to the audio, Howard Shore’s score strikes some awkward strings. A fan shakes the candles and Bilbo’s jacket. The rest is all on Ian McKellan.

He drops his voice in his chest and doesn’t even turn up the volume, apart from the startling first bellow of “Bilbo Baggins!” Throw your shoulders back and let your arms dangle, lengthening your silhouette, seemingly growing taller without actually growing taller. He drops his sleeves over his hands, emphasizing his face and beard as the brightest objects in the frame. His mouth opens at the end of the sentence, as if his body is simply a puppet for the being within him, or like an old man who has just exerted himself.

From what I can tell, there is no green screen effect that magnifies Gandalf against the Bag End frame. There is no detectable filter on McKellan’s voice. There is no flash of wind and an inverted polar color in it as in Galadriel, although Tolkien describes his turn in notably similar language:

She raised her hand and from the ring she was wearing came a great light that illuminated her by herself and left everything else dark. She stood in front of Frodo, looking now tall beyond measure, and beautiful beyond bearable, terrible and adoring. Then he dropped his hand and the light faded, and suddenly he laughed again, and lo! she was cowering: a slim elf, dressed in plain white, whose soft voice was soft and sad.

The scene does a long time with a bit, which was exactly Tolkien’s focus.

Magic and meddling

Our idea of ​​what magic is like has evolved (like all cinema) in part from theater. And in this case, of the theatrical effects and the deviant aesthetics of stage magicians. What is like Fellowship features Gandalf, with his fireworks that amuse both young and old hobbits – a cheap trick wizard!

Tolkien was trying to do something decidedly different. Magic wasn’t the point, as it would have been if Frodo had been a student at a wizarding boarding school, or a surgeon turned superhero, or if it had been the creation of a group of friends rolling dice to explore. a dungeon.

And so in their stories, the flashy things, making things explode and disappear in a cloud of smoke, the colorful costumes, that wasn’t real magic. Real magic was rare, subtle, and strange.

It makes perfect narrative sense for Boyens, Jackson, and Walsh to jump at this particular point in the book to include it almost literally in the movie. It is a transition point in the script. Our hobbit hobbit are about to connect with the dark history of FellowshipIt’s the opening battle scene, and that transition will only work if audiences can viscerally feel that these little creatures are on the brink of something much more dangerous and strange than they thought.

The brilliance of the screenwriters is creating a moment that what’s more performs the extremely vital task of establishing what “real magic” looks like in Middle-earth and puts it in direct contrast to the flashy “cheap tricks.”

Boyens, Jackson, Walsh would have known that their audience had a learned visual shorthand for movie magic, and there is nothing wrong or good about that shorthand. Cinema is a world where what you see and hear is the only thing you get. Tolkien’s medium of prose allowed him to describe magic by how it feels, and that is exactly what he did. Gandalf “it seemed to grow tall and menacing, “Galadriel” stood before Frodo apparent now high beyond measure. ”

Finding a way to visualize those feelings and resist the urge to do more (perhaps because the production had already survived many setbacks), Boyens, Jackson, and Walsh made “Don’t take me for a cheap trick magician” in a statement from purpose. One that went on to serve throughout the trilogy, from the smallest costume details to the greatest excesses of computer-generated effects.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy believed in the power of Tolkien’s aesthetics not only to communicate his ideas, but to captivate audiences. It is a sign of confidence, not only in the adaptation itself, but in the material it comes from.

In other words, Boyens, Jackson, and Walsh believed in magic.