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Bhajan

Bhajan refers to any devotional song with a religious theme or spiritual ideas, specifically among Dharmic religions, in any language. The term bhajanam (Sanskrit: भजनम्) means reverence and originates from the root word bhaj (Sanskrit: भज्), which means to revere, as in 'Bhaja Govindam' (Revere Govinda)''. The term bhajana also means sharing''.

The term bhajan is also commonly used to refer a group event, with one or more lead singers, accompanied with music, and sometimes dancing. Normally, bhajans are accompanied by percussion instruments such as tabla, dholak or a tambourine. Handheld small cymbals (kartals) are also commonly used to maintain the beat. A bhajan may be sung in a temple, in a home, under a tree in the open, near a river bank or a place of historic significance.

Having no prescribed form, or set rules, bhajans are normally lyrical and based on melodic ragas. It belongs to a genre of music and arts that developed during the Bhakti movement. It is found in the various traditions of Hinduism as well as Jainism. Within Hinduism, bhajans are particularly prevalent in Vaishnavism.

Ideas from scriptures, legendary epics, the teachings of saints and loving devotion to a deity are typical subjects in bhajans.

Bhajans have been widely composed anonymously and shared as a musical and arts tradition. Genres such as Nirguni, Gorakhanathi, Vallabhapanthi, Ashtachhap, Madhura-bhakti and the traditional South Indian form Sampradya Bhajan each have their own repertoire and methods of singing.

Etymology
The Sanskrit word bhajan or bhajana is derived from the root, which means "divide, share, partake, participate, to belong to". The word also connotes "attachment, devotion to, fondness for, homage, faith or love, worship, piety to something as a spiritual, religious principle or means of salvation".

Historical roots
In Hinduism, Bhajan and its Bhakti term Kirtan, have roots in the ancient metric and musical traditions of the Vedic era, particularly the Samaveda. The Samaveda Samhita is not meant to be read as a text, but sung as it is like a musical score sheet that must be heard.

Other late Vedic texts mention the two scholars Shilalin (IAST: Śilālin) and Krishashva (IAST: Kṛśaśva), credited to be pioneers in the studies of ancient drama, singing and dance. The art schools of Shilalin and Krishashva may have been associated with the performance of Vedic rituals, which involved story telling with embedded ethical values. The Vedic traditions integrated rituals with performance arts, such as a dramatic play, where not only praises to gods were recited or sung, but the dialogues were part of a dramatic representation and discussion of spiritual themes.

The Vedas and Upanishads celebrate Nada-Brahman, where certain sounds are considered elemental, triggering emotional feelings without necessarily having a literal meaning, and this is deemed a sacred, liminal experience of the primeval ultimate reality and supreme truth. This supreme truth is considered as full of bliss and rasa (emotional taste) in the Hindu thought, and melodic sound is considered a part of human spiritual experience. Devotional music genres such as Bhajan are part of a tradition that emerged from these roots.

However, bhajans rose to prominence as a way of expressing fervent devotion to the divine, breaking down barriers of caste and society, during the Bhakti and Sant movements of medieval India (about the 6th to the 17th centuries).

By writing verses in a variety of regional languages, saints and poets like Kabir, Mirabai, Tulsidas, and Surdas played a crucial part in popularizing bhajans and making them understandable to a larger audience. Their Bhajan lyrics emphasized the universality of divine love while praising the intimate connection between the believer and the deity.

Hindu Bhajans
A Bhajan in Hindu traditions is an informal, loosely structured devotional song with music in a regional language. They are found all over India and Nepal, but are particularly popular among the Vaishnav traditions such as those driven by devotion to avatars of Vishnu such as Krishna, Rama, Vitthal and Narayana (often with their consorts). In Southern India, Bhajanais follow a tradition (Sampradaya) called the Dakshina Bharatha Sampradaya Bhajanai. This involves a tradition that has been followed for the last several centuries and includes Songs/Krithis/Lyrics from great composers all over India encompassing many Indian languages.

A Bhajan may be sung individually, but more commonly together as a choral event wherein the lyrics include religious or spiritual themes in the local language. Bhajans often describe loving devotion to a deity, legends from the Epics or the Puranas, compositions of Bhakti movement saints, or spiritual themes from Hindu scriptures. The Bhajans in many Hindu traditions are a form of congregational singing and bonding, that gives the individual an opportunity to share in the music-driven spiritual and liturgical experience as well as the community a shared sense of identity, wherein people share food, meet and reconnect. Bhajans have played a significant role in community organization in 19th and 20th century colonial era, when Indian workers were brought to distant lands such as Trinidad, Fiji and South Africa as cheap labor on plantations.

Some Bhajans are centuries old, popular on a pan-regional basis, passed down as a community tradition, while others are newly composed. Everyone in the Hindu tradition are free to compose a Bhajan with whatever ideas or in praise of any deity of their wish. But since they are sung, they typically follow meters of classical Indian music, the raga and the tala to go with the musical instruments. They are sung in open air, inside temples such as those of Swaminarayan movement, in Vaishnava monasteries, during festivals or special events, and at pilgrimage sites.

There are some terms related to bhajan. Bhajansimran and Bhajankirtan help a disciple to achieve the higher reverence towards God.

Bhajan versus Kirtan in the Hindu traditions
A Bhajan is closely related to Kirtan, with both sharing common aims, subjects, musical themes and being devotional performance arts. A Bhajan is more free in form, and can be singular melody that is performed by a single singer with or without one and more musical instruments. Kirtan, in contrast, differs in being a more structured team performance, typically with a call and response musical structure, similar to an intimate conversation or gentle sharing of ideas, and it includes two or more musical instruments, with roots in the prosody principles of the Vedic era.

Many Kirtan are structured for more audience participation, where the singer calls a spiritual chant, a hymn, a mantra or a theme, the audience then responds back by repeating the chant or by chanting back a reply of their shared beliefs. A Bhajan, in contrast, is either experienced in silence or a "sing along".

Jainism
Stavan is a form of popular and historically pervasive genre of devotional music in Jainism. The subject of a Stavan varies, ranging from praise of Jina, Jain religious ideas and its philosophy, in a manner similar to Bhakti Bhajans.

Jainism rejects any Creator god, but accepts protector deities and rebirth of souls as heavenly beings, and its devotional singing traditions integrate these beliefs. Stavan may include dancing and worship rituals. Known as Bhajan in north and west Indian regional languages, a Stavan is typically sung as folk melodies by groups of Jain women, and are a formal part of ceremonies and celebrations within Jainism.

Buddhism
Numerous Buddhist traditions use vocal music with instrumental accompaniment as part of their rituals and devotional practices. Buddhist vocal music and chanting is often part of Buddhist rituals and festivals in which they may be seen as offerings to the Buddha.

In South Asia, there are still several traditions of Buddhist bhajan singing. One is the Newari Buddhist Gunlā Bājan tradition, which has a long history.

Bengali Barua Buddhists also have a tradition of singing songs in the vernacular, which they call Buddha-samkirtan or Buddha kirtan.

There is also a more recent tradition of Indian Buddhist bhajans which has become popular among recent Indian converts to Buddhism.

Sri Lankan Buddhists also have their own tradition of bhajans and Buddhist songs.

Sikhism
The Sikh tradition places major emphasis on devotional worship to one formless God, and Bhajans are a part of this worship. A more common form of community singing is called Shabad Kirtan in Sikhism. A Shabad Kirtan is performed by professional religious musicians, wherein bani ('word', or 'hymns') from the Sikh scripture are sung to a certain raga and tala.

Modern composers and singers of Bhajans
A modern Bhajan has no fixed form: it may be as simple as a mantra or kirtan or as sophisticated as the dhrupad, thumri or kriti with music based on classical ragas and talas.

V. D. Paluskar and V. N. Bhatkhande have combined Indian classical music with bhajan. Pandit Kumar Gandharva made famous the Nirguni Bhajans of Sant Kabir and Malwa Region. The dancer Mallika Sarabhai has produced performances based on bhajans. Abhinaya Chakravathi Sri JS Eswara Prasad Rao of Hyderabad, who is the disciple of AL Krishnamurthy Bhagavathar, Pudukkottai system, has produced performances based on Sampradaya bhajans under the title "Nitrya Sankeerthnam".

Bhajans of Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism traditions, Vedic mantras and Yoga chants have been composed, published in Western musical sheet format or recorded by western singers such as Krishna Das, Deva Premal, Miten, and by various West Indies singers influenced by East Indian heritage.

The Stavan compositions and literature of the Jainism tradition are extensive, with a historic overview provided by Sri Sudhara Stavan Sangrah, traditionally preserved in "puja box" by Jain families. It is vectored text with Jain lyrics and is canonically inspired.

Kripalu Maharaj is one of the modern era bhakti leaders and bhajan-kirtan composers. He has composed eleven thousand one hundred and eleven doha (couplets) on the leela of Radha and Krishna, and the devotional philosophy called Radha Govind Geet; 1008 pad (songs) called Prem Ras Madira; hundreds of kirtan in the form of Yugal Shatak and Yugal Ras and twelve pad which fully describe the beauty and the decorations of Krishna, and thirteen pad which describe the beauty and the decorations of Radha called Shree Krishn Dwadashi and Shree Radha Trayodashi. Renditions of Shree Maharaji's bhajans and kirtans have been recorded by well-known singers in India such as Manna Dey, Ajnish, Anuradha Paudwal and Anup Jalota.

In the olden days, Sants such as Mirabai, Surdas, and Narsinh Mehta composed several bhajans that are universally sung even today.

title: Bhajan


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Homogeneity (disambiguation)

Homogeneity is a sameness of constituent structure.

Homogeneity, homogeneous, or homogenization may also refer to:

In mathematics

 * Transcendental law of homogeneity of Leibniz
 * Homogeneous space for a Lie group G, or more general transformation group
 * Homogeneous function
 * Homogeneous polynomial
 * Homogeneous equation (linear algebra): systems of linear equations with zero constant term
 * Homogeneous differential equation
 * Homogeneous distribution
 * Homogeneous linear transformation
 * Homogeneous relation: binary relation on a set
 * Asymptotic homogenization, a method to study partial differential equations with highly oscillatory coefficients
 * Homogenization of a polynomial, a mathematical operation
 * Homogeneous (large cardinal property)
 * Homogeneous coordinates, used in projective spaces
 * Homogeneous element and homogeneous ideal in a graded ring
 * Homogeneous model in model theory
 * Homogeneous graph

In statistics

 * Homogeneity (statistics), logically consistent data matrices
 * Homogeneity of variance

In chemistry

 * Homogeneous catalysis, a sequence of chemical reactions that involve a catalyst in the same phase as the reactants
 * Homogeneous (chemistry), a property of a mixture showing no variation in properties
 * Homogenization (chemistry), intensive mixing of mutually insoluble substance or groups of substance to obtain a soluble suspension or constant

Other uses

 * Homogenization (biology), a process that involves breaking apart cells — releasing organelles and cytoplasm
 * Homogenization (climate), the process of removing non-climatic changes from climate data
 * Homogeneity (ecology), all of the same or similar kind or nature
 * Homogeneity (physics), translational invariance or compatibility of units in equations
 * Homogeneity (linguistics), when a predicate must hold of all or none of some plurality
 * Milk, to prevent separation of the cream
 * Heterogeneity (disambiguation), links relating to objects or systems consisting of multiple items having a large number of structural variations
 * Monoculturalism, ethnic homogeneity or the advocacy of it
 * Zygosity

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Homogeneity (disambiguation)


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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a 2001 epic high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Jackson, based on 1954's The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The film is the first installment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, and Andy Serkis.

Set in Middle-earth, the story tells of the Dark Lord Sauron, who seeks the One Ring, which contains part of his might, to return to power. The Ring has found its way to the young hobbit Frodo Baggins. The fate of Middle-earth hangs in the balance as Frodo and eight companions (who form the Fellowship of the Ring) begin their perilous journey to Mount Doom in the land of Mordor, the only place where the Ring can be destroyed. The Fellowship of the Ring was financed and distributed by American studio New Line Cinema, but filmed and edited entirely in Jackson's native New Zealand, concurrently with the other two parts of the trilogy.

It premiered on 10 December 2001 at the Odeon Leicester Square in London and was then released on 19 December in the United States and on 20 December in New Zealand. The film was acclaimed by critics and fans alike, who considered it a landmark in filmmaking and an achievement in the fantasy film genre. It received praise for its visual effects, performances, Jackson's direction, screenplay, musical score, and faithfulness to the source material. It grossed over $868 million worldwide during its original theatrical run, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 2001 and the fifth- highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release. Following subsequent reissues, it has grossed over $887 million. Like its successors, The Fellowship of the Ring is widely recognised as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. The film received numerous accolades; at the 74th Academy Awards, it was nominated for thirteen awards, including Best Picture, winning for Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, Best Original Score, and Best Visual Effects.

In 2007, the American Film Institute named it one of the 100 greatest American films in history, being both the most recent film and the only film released in the 21st century to make it to the list. In 2021, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Two sequels, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, followed in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

Plot
In the Second Age of Middle-earth, the lords of Elves, Dwarves, and Men are given Rings of Power. Unbeknownst to them, the Dark Lord Sauron forges the One Ring in Mount Doom, instilling into it a great part of his power to dominate the other Rings and conquer Middle-earth. A final alliance of Men and Elves battles Sauron's forces in Mordor. Isildur of Gondor severs Sauron's finger and the Ring with it, thereby vanquishing Sauron and returning him to spirit form. With Sauron's first defeat, the Third Age of Middle-earth begins. The Ring's influence corrupts Isildur, who takes it for himself and is later killed by Orcs. The Ring is lost in a river for 2,500 years until it is found by Gollum, who owns it for over four and a half centuries. The Ring abandons Gollum and is subsequently found by a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who is unaware of its history.

Sixty years later, Bilbo celebrates his 111th birthday in the Shire, reuniting with his old friend, the wizard Gandalf the Grey. Bilbo departs the Shire for one last adventure and leaves his inheritance, including the Ring, to his nephew Frodo. Gandalf investigates the Ring, discovers its true nature, and learns that Gollum was captured and tortured by Sauron's Orcs, revealing two words during his interrogation: "Shire" and "Baggins." Gandalf returns and warns Frodo to leave the Shire. As Frodo departs with his friend, gardener Samwise Gamgee, Gandalf rides to Isengard to meet with the wizard Saruman but discovers his betrayal and alliance with Sauron, who has dispatched his nine undead Nazgûl servants to find Frodo.

Frodo and Sam are joined by fellow hobbits Merry and Pippin, and they evade the Nazgûl before arriving in Bree, where they are meant to meet Gandalf at the Inn of The Prancing Pony. However, Gandalf never arrives, having been taken prisoner by Saruman. The hobbits are then aided by a Ranger named Strider, who promises to escort them to Rivendell; however, they are ambushed by the Nazgûl on Weathertop, and their leader, the Witch-King, stabs Frodo with a Morgul blade. Arwen, an Elf and Strider's beloved, locates Strider and rescues Frodo, summoning flood-waters that sweep the Nazgûl away. She takes him to Rivendell, where he is healed by the Elves. Frodo meets with Gandalf, who escaped Isengard on a Great Eagle. That night, Strider reunites with Arwen, and they affirm their love for each other.

Learning of Saruman's betrayal from Gandalf and now realizing that they are facing threats from both Sauron and Saruman, Arwen's father, Lord Elrond, decides against keeping the Ring in Rivendell. He holds a council of Elves, Men, and Dwarves, also attended by Frodo and Gandalf, that decides the Ring must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. Frodo volunteers to take the Ring, accompanied by Gandalf, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Elf Legolas, Dwarf Gimli, Boromir of Gondor, and Strider—who is actually Aragorn, Isildur's heir and the rightful King of Gondor. Bilbo, now living in Rivendell, gives Frodo his sword Sting, and a chainmail shirt made of mithril.

The Fellowship of the Ring makes for the Gap of Rohan, but discover it is being watched by Saruman's spies. They instead set off over the mountain pass of Caradhras, but Saruman summons a storm that forces them to travel through the Mines of Moria, where a tentacled water beast blocks off the entrance with the Fellowship inside, giving them no choice but to journey to the exit on the other end. After finding the Dwarves of Moria dead, the Fellowship is attacked by Orcs and a cave troll. They hold them off but are confronted by Durin's Bane: a Balrog residing within the mines. While the others escape, Gandalf fends off the Balrog and casts it into a vast chasm, but the Balrog drags Gandalf down into the darkness with him. The devastated Fellowship reaches Lothlórien, ruled by the Elf-queen Galadriel, who privately informs Frodo that only he can complete the quest and that one of the Fellowship will try to take the Ring. She also shows him a vision of the future in which Sauron succeeds in enslaving Middle-earth, including the Shire. Meanwhile, Saruman creates an army of Uruk-hai in Isengard to find and kill the Fellowship.

The Fellowship travels by river to Parth Galen. Frodo wanders off and is confronted by Boromir, who, as Lady Galadriel had warned, tries to take the Ring. Uruk-hai scouts then ambush the Fellowship, attempting to abduct the Hobbits. Boromir breaks free of the Ring's magic and protects Merry and Pippin, but the Uruk-Hai leader, Lurtz, mortally wounds Boromir as they abduct the Hobbits. Aragorn arrives and kills Lurtz before comforting Boromir as he dies, promising to help the people of Gondor in the coming conflict. Fearing the Ring will corrupt his friends, Frodo decides to travel to Mordor alone, but allows Sam to come along, recalling his promise to Gandalf to look after him. As Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli set out to rescue Merry and Pippin, Frodo and Sam make their way down the pass of Emyn Muil, journeying on to Mordor.

Cast

Before filming began on 11 October 1999, the principal actors trained for six weeks in sword fighting (with Bob Anderson), riding and boating. Jackson hoped such activities would allow the cast to bond so chemistry would be evident on screen as well as getting them used to life in Wellington. They were also trained to pronounce Tolkien's verses properly. After the shoot, the nine cast members playing the Fellowship got a tattoo, the Elvish symbol for the number nine, with the exception of John Rhys-Davies, whose stunt double got the tattoo instead. The film is noted for having an ensemble cast, and some of the cast and their respective characters include:
 * Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins: A young hobbit who inherits the One Ring from his uncle Bilbo. Wood was the first actor to be cast on 7 July 1999. Wood was a fan of the book, and he sent in an audition dressed as Frodo, reading lines from the novel. Wood was selected from 150 actors who auditioned. Jake Gyllenhaal unsuccessfully auditioned for the role after his agency miscommunicated his direction to an American accent.
 * Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey: An Istari wizard and mentor to Frodo. Sean Connery was approached for the role, but did not understand the plot, while Patrick Stewart turned it down as he disliked the script. Patrick McGoohan was also offered the role, but turned it down due to health issues. Anthony Hopkins and Christopher Plummer also turned down the role. Richard Harris expressed interest in the part. John Astin auditioned for Gandalf. Sam Neill was also offered the role but declined due to his scheduling conflict with Jurassic Park III. Before being cast, McKellen had to sort his schedule with 20th Century Fox as there was a two-month overlap with X-Men. He enjoyed playing Gandalf the Grey more than his transformed state in the next two films, and based his accent on Tolkien. Unlike his on-screen character, McKellen did not spend much time with the actors playing the Hobbits; instead he worked with their scale doubles.
 * Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn: A Dúnedain ranger and heir to Gondor's throne. Daniel Day-Lewis was offered the part at the beginning of pre-production, but turned it down. Nicolas Cage also received an offer but declined because of family obligations. Stuart Townsend was cast in the role, before being replaced during filming when Jackson realised he was too young. Russell Crowe was considered as a replacement, but he turned it down because he does not want to be typecast and believed it to be a similar role in Gladiator. Day-Lewis was offered the role for a second time, but declined again. Executive producer Mark Ordesky saw Mortensen in a play. Mortensen's son, a fan of the book, convinced him to take the role. Mortensen read the book on the plane, received a crash course lesson in fencing from Bob Anderson and began filming the scenes on Weathertop. Mortensen became a hit with the crew by patching up his costume and carrying his "hero" sword around with him off-camera.
 * Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee: Better known as Sam, a hobbit gardener and Frodo's best friend. Astin, who had recently become a father, bonded with the 18-year-old Wood in a protective manner, which mirrored Sam's relationship with Frodo. Before Astin was cast, James Corden read for the part.
 * Sean Bean as Boromir: A son of the Stewards of Gondor who journeys with the Fellowship towards Mordor. Bruce Willis, a fan of the book, expressed interest in the role, while Liam Neeson was sent the script, but passed.
 * Billy Boyd as Peregrin Took: Better known as Pippin, an extremely foolish hobbit who is a distant cousin of Frodo and travels with the Fellowship on their journey to Mordor.
 * Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc Brandybuck: Better known as Merry, a distant cousin of Frodo. Monaghan was cast as Merry after auditioning for Frodo.
 * John Rhys-Davies as Gimli: A dwarf warrior who accompanies the Fellowship to Mordor after they set out from Rivendell. Billy Connolly, who was considered for the part of Gimli, would later portray Dáin II Ironfoot in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film trilogy. Rhys-Davies wore heavy prosthetics to play Gimli, which limited his vision, and eventually he developed eczema around his eyes. Rhys-Davies also played Gimli's father Glóin during the scene where the fellowship is forged.
 * Orlando Bloom as Legolas: A prince of the elves' Woodland Realm and a skilled archer. Bloom initially auditioned for Faramir, who appears in the second film, a role which went to David Wenham.
 * Liv Tyler as Arwen: An elf of Rivendell and Aragorn's lover. The filmmakers approached Tyler after seeing her performance in Plunkett & Macleane, and New Line Cinema leaped at the opportunity of having one Hollywood star in the film. Actress Helena Bonham Carter had expressed interest in the role. Tyler came to shoot on short occasions, unlike the rest of the actors. She was one of the last actors to be cast, on 25 August 1999.
 * Cate Blanchett as Galadriel: The elven co-ruler of Lothlórien alongside her husband Celeborn. Lucy Lawless was considered for the role.
 * Christopher Lee as Saruman the White: The fallen head of the Istari Order who succumbs to Sauron's will through his use of the palantír. Lee was a major fan of the book, and read it once a year. He had also met J. R. R. Tolkien. He originally auditioned for Gandalf, but was judged too old.
 * Hugo Weaving as Elrond: The Elven-Lord of Rivendell who leads the Council of Elrond, which ultimately decides to destroy the Ring. David Bowie expressed interest in the role, but Jackson stated, "To have a famous, beloved character and a famous star colliding is slightly uncomfortable."
 * Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins: Frodo's uncle who gives him the Ring after he decides to retire to Rivendell. Holm previously played Frodo in a 1981 radio adaption of The Lord of the Rings, and was cast as Bilbo after Jackson remembered his performance. Sylvester McCoy, who would later play Radagast the Brown in The Hobbit, was contacted about playing the role, and was kept in place as a potential Bilbo for six months before Jackson went with Holm.
 * Andy Serkis as Gollum (voice/motion-capture): A wretched hobbit-like creature whose mind was poisoned by the Ring after bearing it for 500 years. This character appears briefly in the prologue. In Mordor, one can only hear his voice shouting and in Moria, only his eyes and his nose appear. Serkis was working on the 1999 six-episode Oliver Twist miniseries when his agent told him that Jackson wanted to approach him to play Gollum. Despite ultimately accepting the role, Serkis was initially doubtful about taking the part as one of his Oliver Twist fellow actors opined that it was not a good idea if his face was not going to appear onscreen, aside that Jackson was unsure if Gollum could be portrayed with motion-capture performance as they wished.

The cast also includes:

 * Sala Baker as Sauron: The Dark Lord of Mordor and the Ring's true master, who manifests as an Eye after the destruction of his physical form. Alan Howard provides Sauron’s voice.
 * Marton Csokas as Celeborn the Wise: The Elven-Lord of Lothlórien and Galadriel's husband.
 * Lawrence Makoare as Lurtz: The commander of Saruman's Uruk-Hai forces.
 * Craig Parker as Haldir: The leader of the Galadhrim warriors guarding the border of Lothlórien.
 * Mark Ferguson as Ereinion Gil-galad: The last Elven-King of the Noldor.
 * Peter McKenzie as Elendil the Tall: The last High King of Arnor and Gondor.
 * Harry Sinclair as Isildur: Elendil's son and Aragorn's ancestor who originally defeated Sauron.
 * Director Peter Jackson has a small cameo as a man with a carrot in Bree.

Comparison to the source material
Jackson, Walsh and Boyens made numerous changes to the story, for purposes of pacing and character development. Jackson said his main desire was to make a film focused primarily on Frodo and the Ring, the "backbone" of the story. The prologue condenses Tolkien's backstory, in which The Last Alliance's seven-year siege of Barad-dûr is a single battle, where Sauron is shown to explode, though Tolkien only said his spirit flees.

Some events and characters from the book are condensed or omitted (such is the case of Tom Bombadil) at the beginning of the film. The time between Gandalf leaving the Ring to Frodo and returning to reveal its inscription, which is 17 years in the book, is compressed for timing reasons. The filmmakers also decided to move the opening scenes of The Two Towers, the Uruk-hai ambush and Boromir's death, to the film's linear climax.

The tone of the Moria sequence was altered. In the book, following the defeat on the Caradhras road, Gandalf advocates the Moria road against the resistance of the rest of the Fellowship (save Gimli), suggesting "there is a hope that Moria is still free...there is even a chance that Dwarves are there," though no one seems to think this likely. Frodo proposes they take a company vote, but the discovery of Wargs on their trail forces them to accept Gandalf's proposal. They only realise the Dwarves are all dead once they reach Balin's tomb. The filmmakers chose instead for Gandalf to resist the Moria plan as a foreshadowing device. Gandalf says to Gimli he would prefer not to enter Moria, and Saruman is shown to be aware of Gandalf's hesitance, revealing an illustration of the Balrog in one of his books. The corpses of the dwarves are instantly shown as the Fellowship enter Moria. One detail that many critics commented upon is that, in the novel, Pippin tosses a mere pebble into the well in Moria ("They then hear what sounds like a hammer tapping in the distance"), whereas in the film, he knocks an entire skeleton in ("Next, the skeleton ... falls down the well, also dragging down a chain and bucket. The noise is incredible.").

Development
Director Peter Jackson began working with Christian Rivers to storyboard the series in August 1997, as well as getting Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop to begin creating his interpretation of Middle-earth. Jackson told them to make Middle-earth as plausible and believable as possible, and to think of it in a historical manner.

In November, Alan Lee and John Howe became the film trilogy's primary conceptual designers, having had previous experience as illustrators for the book and various other tie-ins. Lee worked for the Art Department creating places such as Rivendell, Isengard, Moria, and Lothlórien, giving Art Nouveau and geometry influences to the Elves and Dwarves respectively. Though Howe contributed with Bag End and the Argonath, he focused on the design of the characters' armour, having studied it his entire life. Weta and the Art Department continued to design, with Grant Major turning the Art Department's designs into architecture, and Dan Hennah scouting locations. On 1 April 1999, Ngila Dickson joined the crew as costume designer. She and 40 seamstresses would create 19,000 costumes, 40 per version for the actor and their doubles, wearing them out for an impression of age.

Filming locations

Filming took place in various locations across New Zealand. Below is a list of filming locations, sorted by appearance order in the film:

Special effects
The Fellowship of the Ring makes extensive use of digital, practical and make-up special effects. One notable illusion used in almost every scene involved setting a proper scale so that the characters all appear to be the correct height. For example, Elijah Wood is 5 ft tall in real life, but his character, Frodo Baggins, is barely four feet in height. Various techniques were used to depict the hobbits and Gimli the Dwarf as being of diminutive stature. Fortunately, John-Rhys Davies – who played Gimli – happens to be the correct height in proportion to the hobbit actors, so did not need to be filmed separately as a third height variation. Large- and small-scale doubles were used in certain scenes, while entire duplicates of certain sets (including Bag End in Hobbiton) were built at two different scales, so that the characters would appear to be the appropriate size. At one point in the film, Frodo runs along a corridor in Bag End, followed by Gandalf. Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen were filmed in separate versions of the same corridor, built at two different scales, and a fast camera pan conceals the edit between the two. Forced perspective was also employed, so that it would look as though the short hobbits were interacting with taller Men and Elves. Even the simple use of kneeling down, to the filmmakers' surprise, turned out to be an effective method in creating the illusion.

For the battle between the Last Alliance and Sauron's forces that begins the film, an elaborate CGI animation system, called MASSIVE, was developed by Stephen Regelous; it allowed thousands of individual animated characters, or "agents" in the program, to act independently. This lent the illusion of realism to the battle sequences. The "Making of" Lord of the Rings DVD reports some interesting initial problems: for instance, in the first execution of a battle between groups of characters, the wrong groups attacked each other. In another early demo, some of the warriors at the edge of the field could be seen running away. They were initially moving in the wrong direction, and had been programmed to keep running until they encountered an enemy.

The digital creatures were important due to Jackson's requirement of biological plausibility. Their surface texture was scanned from large maquettes before numerous digital details of their skeletons and muscles were added. In the case of the Balrog, Gray Horsfield created a system that copied recorded imagery of fire.

Score
James Horner turned down the offer to compose the score. The musical score for The Lord of the Rings films was composed by Howard Shore. It was performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Voices, The London Oratory School Schola, and the Maori Samoan Choir, and featured several vocal soloists. Shore wrote almost four hours of finalized music for the film (of which just over three hours are used as underscore), featuring a number of non-orchestral instruments, and a large number (49–62) of leitmotives.

Two original songs, "Aníron" and the end title theme "May It Be", were composed and sung by Enya, who allowed her label, Reprise Records, to release the soundtrack to The Fellowship of the Ring and its two sequels. In addition to these, Shore composed "In Dreams", which was sung by Edward Ross of the London Oratory School Schola.

Theatrical
The world premiere of The Fellowship of the Ring was held at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 10 December 2001. It was released on Wednesday, 19 December 2001 internationally in most major territories on 10,000 screens. It opened in New Zealand on 20 December.

Marketing
A special featurette trailer was released in 2000. The trilogy sizzle reel was shown before Thirteen Days and the teaser trailer before Pearl Harbor. The theatrical trailer was attached with the television premiere of Angel and before Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Both trailers appeared as Easter eggs on the Rush Hour 2 and Little Nicky home video releases.

Theatrical version
The theatrical version of The Fellowship of the Ring was released on VHS and DVD on 6 August 2002. It was the best-selling DVD release at the time with 14.5 million copies being sold. This record was dethroned by Finding Nemo the following year.

The Blu-ray edition of the theatrical The Lord of the Rings trilogy was released in the United States on 6 April 2010. There were two separate sets: one with digital copies and one without. The individual Blu-ray disc of The Fellowship of the Ring was released on 14 September 2010 with the same special features as the complete trilogy release, except there was no digital copy.

Extended version
On 12 November 2002, an extended edition was released on VHS and DVD, with 30 minutes of new material, added special effects and music, plus 19 minutes of fan-club credits, totalling 228 minutes. The DVD set included four commentaries and over three hours of supplementary material.

On 29 August 2006, a limited edition of The Fellowship of the Ring was released on DVD. The set included both the film's theatrical and extended editions on a double-sided disc along with all-new bonus material.

The extended Blu-ray editions were released in the US on 28 June 2011. This version has a runtime of 238 minutes, with the Blu-ray's additional 10 minutes resulting from lengthier rolls of the fan club members updated at the time of the release, not any additional story material.

The Fellowship of the Ring was released in Ultra HD Blu-ray on 30 November 2020 in the United Kingdom and on 1 December 2020 in the United States, along with the other films of the trilogy, including both the theatrical and the extended editions of the films.

Box office
On its opening day, The Fellowship of the Ring grossed $18.2 million in the United States and Canada from 3,359 cinemas and $11.5 million in 13 countries, including $3 million from 466 screens in the United Kingdom. It grossed $75.1 million in its first five days in the United States and Canada, including $47.2 million on its opening weekend, placing it at number one at the US box office, setting a December opening record, beating Ocean's Eleven.

The film also opened at number one in 29 international markets and remained there for a second week in all but the Netherlands. It set a record opening day gross in Australia with $2.09 million from 405 screens, beating the record $1.3 million set by Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. It had a record opening weekend in Germany with 1.5 million admissions and in Spain with a gross of $5.3 million from 395 screens. It also grossed a record $2.5 million in 15 days in New Zealand. This record would last for less than a decade before being surpassed by Avatar. In its first 15 days, it had grossed $183.5 million internationally and $178.7 million in the United States and Canada for a worldwide total of $362.2 million.

In its initial release, it went on to gross $319.2 million in the United States and Canada and $567.3 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $887.2 million. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 54 million tickets in the US and Canada in its initial theatrical run. Following subsequent reissues, the film has grossed $319.4 million in the United States and Canada and $567.4 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $887.4 million.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 235 reviews, with an average rating of 8.20/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Full of eye-popping special effects, and featuring a pitch-perfect cast, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring brings J.R.R. Tolkien's classic to vivid life." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 92 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Colin Kennedy for Empire gave the film five stars out of five, writing "Brooking no argument, history should quickly regard Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring as the first instalment of the best fantasy epic in motion picture history... Putting formula blockbusters to shame, Fellowship is impeccably cast and constructed with both care and passion: this is a labour of love that never feels laboured. Emotional range and character depth ultimately take us beyond genre limitations..." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars and stating that while it is not "a true visualization of Tolkien's Middle-earth", it is "a work for, and of, our times. It will be embraced, I suspect, by many Tolkien fans and will take on aspects of a cult. It is a candidate for many Oscars. It is an awesome production in its daring and breadth, and there are small touches that are just right". USA Today also gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "this movie version of a beloved book should please devotees as well as the uninitiated". In his review for The New York Times, Elvis Mitchell wrote, "The playful spookiness of Mr. Jackson's direction provides a lively, light touch, a gesture that doesn't normally come to mind when Tolkien's name is mentioned". Lisa Schwarzbaum for Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A grade and wrote "The cast take to their roles with becoming modesty, certainly, but Jackson also makes it easy for them: His Fellowship flows, never lingering for the sake of admiring its own beauty ... Every detail of which engrossed me. I may have never turned a page of Tolkien, but I know enchantment when I see it". In his review for the BBC, Nev Pierce gave the film four stars out of five, describing it as "Funny, scary, and totally involving", and wrote that Jackson turned "the book's least screen-worthy volume into a gripping and powerful adventure movie". In his review for The Guardian, Xan Brooks wrote "Rather than a stand-alone holiday blockbuster, The Fellowship of the Ring offers an epic act one", and commented that the ending was "closer in spirit to an art-house film than a popcorn holiday romp".

In her review for The Washington Post, Rita Kempley gave the film five stars out of five, and praised the cast, in particular, "Mortensen, as Strider, is a revelation, not to mention downright gorgeous. And McKellen, carrying the burden of thousands of years' worth of the fight against evil, is positively Merlinesque". Time magazine's Richard Corliss praised Jackson's work: "His movie achieves what the best fairy tales do: the creation of an alternate world, plausible and persuasive, where the young — and not only the young — can lose themselves. And perhaps, in identifying with the little Hobbit that could, find their better selves". In his review for The Village Voice, J. Hoberman wrote, "Peter Jackson's adaptation is certainly successful on its own terms". Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Travers wrote, "It's emotion that makes Fellowship stick hard in the memory... Jackson deserves to revel in his success. He's made a three-hour film that leaves you wanting more". A mixed review was written by Peter Bradshaw. Writing for The Guardian, he lauded the art direction and the visual look of the film, but he also commented "there is a strange paucity of plot complication, an absence of anything unfolding, all the more disconcerting because of the clotted and indigestible mythic back story that we have to wade through before anything happens at all". Overall, Bradshaw found the tone of the film too serious and self-important, and wrote "signing up to the movie's whole hobbity-elvish universe requires a leap of faith... It's a leap I didn't feel much like making – and, with two more movie episodes like this on the way, the credibility gap looks wider than ever." Jonathan Rosenbaum was also less positive about The Fellowship of the Ring: in his review for the Chicago Reader, he granted that the film was "full of scenic splendors with a fine sense of scale", but he commented that its narrative thrust seemed "relatively pro forma", and that he found the battle scenes boring.

Accolades
In 2002, the film won four Academy Awards from thirteen nominations. The winning categories were for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, and Best Original Score. It was also nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Ian McKellen), Best Art Direction, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Original Song (Enya, Nicky Ryan and Roma Ryan for "May It Be"), Best Picture, Best Sound (Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Gethin Creagh and Hammond Peek), Best Costume Design and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The film won the 2002 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. It also won Empire readers' Best Film award, as well as five BAFTAs, including Best Film, the David Lean Award for Best Direction, the Audience Award (voted for by the public), Best Special Effects, and Best Make-up. The film was nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Fight between Gandalf and Saruman.

In June 2008, AFI revealed its "10 Top 10"—the ten best films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. The Fellowship of the Ring was acknowledged as the second best film in the fantasy genre. The film was also listed as the 50th best film in the 2007 list AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition).


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George Girard

George Girard (October 7, 1930 – January 18, 1957) was a New Orleans jazz trumpeter. He was known for his great technical ability, playing in a style that combined traditional New Orleans Dixieland jazz with the big-band-style trumpet, and a member of the Basin Street Six.

Girard was born in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. In highschool he studied music under Johnny Wiggs and became a professional musician immediately after graduating in 1946. He played and toured with the bands of Johnny Archer and Phil Zito before cofounding the band The Basin Street Six, made up mostly of friends he had grown up with, including clarinetist Pete Fountain. The band got a regular gig at L'Enfant's Restaurant in New Orleans, as well as regular television broadcasts over WWL. The band started receiving favorable national attention, but Girard was dissatisfied with it and broke up the band in 1954 to found his own band, George Girard & the New Orleans Five which included trombonist Bob Havens, drummer Paul Edwards, and bassist Bob Coquille. Girard landed a residency at the Famous Door in the French Quarter, recorded for several labels, and got a weekly broadcast on CBS's affiliated local radio station WWL. The broadcasts, from O'Dwyer's on Jefferson Highway, were recorded and made available through the AFRTS. Girard had ambitions to make a national name for himself (and according to many fellow musicians the musical ability to do so), but became ill and had to give up playing in 1956. Girard died from colon cancer in New Orleans on January 18, 1957.

title: George Girard


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William Whittingham

William Whittingham (c. 1524–1579) was an English Puritan, a Marian exile, and a translator of the Geneva Bible. He was well connected to the circles around John Knox, Heinrich Bullinger and John Calvin, and firmly resisted the continuance of the English liturgy during the Marian exile. At last, he was ordained by the Presbyterians in Geneva. Upon his return to England, he became a well-known opponent to the rites of the Church of England. Through the patronage of the Earl of Leicester, he was collated to the Deanery of Durham, but in 1579 action was started to deprive him of all holy orders on account of his Presbyterian ordination. The process of deprivation was in process, when Whittingham died in 1579. The full record of Whittingham's appointment and trial may be found in Strype's Annals, II.ii., pp. 167, 168, 620.

Early life
Born at Chester about 1524, he was son of William Whittingham, by his wife, a daughter of Haughton of Hoghton Tower, Lancashire. In 1540, at the age of sixteen, he entered Brasenose College, Oxford, graduating B.A. and being elected fellow of All Souls' College in 1545. In 1547 he became senior student of Christ Church, Oxford earning the M.A. on 5 Feb 1547–8. On 17 May 1550, he was granted leave to travel for three years to study languages and civil law. He went to France, where he spent his time chiefly at the University of Orleans, but he also visited Lyon and studied at Paris, where his services as interpreter were used by the English ambassador, Sir John Mason or Sir William Pickering.

Towards the end of 1552 Whittingham visited universities in Germany and Geneva. He briefly returned to England in May 1553. Whittingham had adopted radical Puritan views, but the accession of Queen Mary, the return of Anglo-Italian ecclesiastical policies of De Haeretico Comburendo in the form of Cardinal Pole's repatriation to England, and the vulnerabilities and liabilities associated with burnings-to-come (e.g. William Tyndale, 1536), anticipated persecutions, interfered with hopes of usefulness in ministerial labours. Late in August, however, he made intercession, which was ultimately successful, for the release of Peter Martyr; but after a few weeks he himself left England with difficulty by way of Dover to France.

At Frankfort
In the spring of 1554 Frankfort was the ecclesiastical centre for the English Marian exiles on the continent, and Whittingham was one of the first who reached the city on 27 June 1554; he sent out invitations to exiles in other cities to join them. Difficulties soon arose, however, between the party led by Whittingham and John Knox which sought to abolish all English liturgies and adopt the Genevan and Presbyterian mode of worship; and those who sought to retain the Anglican Prayerbooks, in particular Edward VI's second prayer-book. Whittingham was one of those appointed to draw up a service-book. He procured a letter from John Calvin, dated 18 January 1555, which prevailed; but the compromise adopted was disturbed by the arrival and public disruptions of Richard Cox, an uncompromising champion of the 1552 Book of Common Prayer. In the party with Cox was John Jewel, the famed later bishop of Salisbury, who resolutely opposed Whittingham and Knox in their program. In the ensuing struggle between the two parties, Whittingham was Knox's chief supporter. However, he failed to prevent Knox's expulsion from Frankfort on 26 March; he gave his support to the form of church government established at Frankfort under Cox's influence. He was dissatisfied with the outcome, however. About 22 September 1555, he followed Knox to Geneva, a veritable beehive of growing scholarship and, in time, international influence. There, he was ordained in the Presbyterian manner.

There exists a nearly eye-witness narrative of the conflict, published in 1575, entitled '' 'A Brieff Discours off the Troubles begonne at Franckford in Germany, anno Domini 1554. Abowte the Booke off Common Prayer and Ceremonies, and continued by the Englishe men theyre to thende off Q. Maries Raigne,''' 1575. Recent scholars have argued that Whittingham is indeed the author of the narrative.

At Geneva
On 16 December 1555, and again in December 1556, Whittingham was elected a Presbyterian elder; on 16 December 1558, he was ordained as a deacon, and in 1559 he succeeded Knox as Presbyterian minister at Calvin's insistence. Upon Queen Mary's death, most of the exiles at Geneva returned to England, but Whittingham remained to complete the translation of the Geneva Bible. He had laboured with other scholars in the review of earlier English editions—Tyndale's, Coverdale's, the Thomas Matthew's Bible and other versions. He had already produced a version of the New Testament, which was issued at Geneva by Conrad Badius on 10 June 1557. He also took part in the minor revisions of the Old Testament. The critical and explanatory notes were largely textual and explanatory. It was printed at Geneva by Rowland Hall in 1560; after 1611, its popularity was not lost. More than 150 editions were printed up to 1644. It was an influential version for at least one hundred years. By the 17th century, as Laudian influences would gain ascendancy, all-things-Genevan grew to be condemned.

Besides the translation of the Bible, Whittingham issued metrical versions some of Psalms. Seven of these were included among the fifty-one psalms published at Geneva in 1556; others were revised versions of Thomas Sternhold's psalms. A metrical rendering of the Ten Commandments by Whittingham was appended. Another edition of 1558, now lost, is believed to have contained nine fresh psalms of Whittingham; these were reprinted in the edition of 1561, to which Whittingham also contributed a version of the 'Song of Simeon' and two of the Lord's Prayer. Besides these, Whittingham translated four psalms in the Scottish psalter. These do not appear in any English edition. Whittingham revised for press Knox's work on predestination, published at Geneva in 1560. He contributed a dedicatory epistle to Christopher Goodman's  'How Superior Powers ought to be obeyed'  (Geneva, 1558). As well, he was the Latin translator of the martyr Nicholas Ridley's  'Brief Declaration of the Lord's Supper' (Oxford, 1555); regarding his translation, a recent editor of the Declaration said this:"'... the Latin Version, to a reader who has learnt to love Ridley's noble combination of courage and decision with fairness of thought and restraint of expression, is a painful study. Its diffuseness is such as to make it much more a parahprase than a version; and this diffuseness is largely displayed in the rendering of Ridley's quiet English into an embittered rhetoric, or in quite gratuitous and disputable additions. A few examples may suffice...'"

Return to England
Whittingham took formal leave of the council at Geneva on 30 May 1560. In January 1561, he was appointed to attend Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford during his embassy to the French court. In the following year he became a chaplain to Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, a minister at Le Havre, then occupied by the English under Warwick. He won general praise; but William Cecil complained of his neglect of conformity to the English Book of Common Prayer. Owing to the support of Warwick and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, another Puritan sympathizer, Whittingham was collated on 19 July 1563 to the deanery of Durham.

In keeping with his past, Whittingham took his duties seriously, holding two services a day, devoting time to his grammar school and song school, and church music. Before the outbreak of the Rising of the North in 1569 he unsuccessfully urged James Pilkington, the bishop of Durham, to put the city in a state of defence, but he was more successful at Newcastle, which resisted the rebels. In 1572, when Lord Burghley became lord treasurer, Whittingham was suggested, probably by Leicester, as his successor in the office of secretary. In 1577, Leicester also promised Whittingham aid in securing the see of York or Durham, both being vacant; but Whittingham did not press for preferment.

A Dean of Durham
In 1564, Whittingham wrote a long letter to Leicester protesting against the 'old popish apparel' and the historic associations with Massing-vestments and theology. He refused to wear the surplice and cope, and proceedings by Church officials were begun against him in 1566. Whittingham eventually yielded, taking Calvin's moderating advice not to leave the ministry for external and minor matters of order. In 1577, however, he incurred the enmity of Edwin Sandys, the new archbishop of York, by resisting his claim to visit Durham Cathedral. According to William Hutchinson a commission had been issued in 1576 or 1577 to examine complaints against him. But this proved ineffectual because the Earl of Huntingdon and Matthew Hutton sided with the dean against the third commissioner, Sandys. A fresh commission was issued on 14 May 1578. This included the three former commissioners and about a dozen others.

The articles against Whittingham are printed from the domestic state papers in the 'Camden Miscellany'; the charge that 'he is defamed of adulterie' is entered as 'partly proved' and that of drunkenness as 'proved;' but the real allegation against Whittingham was the alleged inadequacy and invalidity of his ordination in Geneva. He admitted to not having been ordained according to the rites of the church of England. Archbishop Sandys further added that Whittingham had not even been validly ordained even according to Genevan standards, but had been elected preacher without the imposition of hands. Huntingdon repudiated the Archbishop and suggested a stay of the proceedings against Whittingham, arguing that 'it could not but be ill-taken of all the godly learned both at home and in all the reformed churches abroad, that we should allow of the popish massing priests in our ministry, and disallow of the ministers made in a reformed church'. However Archbishop Richard Bancroft, in  'Dangerous Positions' , referred to him as 'afterward unworthily Dean of Durham', and ranks him with Goodman, Gilby, and other Puritans. So does Roger L'Estrange in his violent philippic,  'The Holy Cheat'.

As the proceedings to deprive Whittingham of holy orders were proceeding, he was met with death, on 10 June 1579. He was buried in Durham Cathedral, where his tomb (ironically) was destroyed by the Presbyterian Scots in 1640. His will, dated 18 April 1579, is printed in 'Durham Wills and Inventories' (Surtees Soc. ii. 14–19).

Family
Whittingham's wife Catherine, daughter of Louis Jaqueman, was probably born not before 1535 and married to Whittingham on 15 November 1556. Her eldest son, Zachary, was baptised on 17 August 1557, and her eldest daughter, Susanna, on 11 December 1558; both died young. Whittingham was survived by two sons, Sir Timothy and Daniel, and four daughters.

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The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a 2002 epic high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, and Jackson, based on 1954's The Two Towers, the second volume of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The sequel to 2001's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the film is the second instalment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, and Andy Serkis.

Continuing the plot of the previous film, it intercuts three storylines: Frodo and Sam continue their journey toward Mordor to destroy the One Ring, now aided by Gollum, the ring's untrustworthy former bearer. Merry and Pippin escape their orc captors, meet Treebeard the Ent, and help to plan an attack on Isengard, the fortress of Saruman. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, in their pursuit, come to the war-torn nation of Rohan and are reunited with the resurrected Gandalf before fighting against the legions of the treacherous wizard Saruman at the Battle of Helm's Deep.

The Two Towers was financed and distributed by American studio New Line Cinema, but filmed and edited entirely in Jackson's native New Zealand, concurrently with the other two parts of the trilogy. It premiered on 5 December 2002 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City and was then released on 18 December in the United States and on 19 December in New Zealand. The film was acclaimed by critics and audiences, who considered it a landmark in filmmaking and an achievement in the fantasy film genre. It received praise for its direction, action sequences, performances, musical score, and visual effects, particularly for Gollum. It grossed over $936 million worldwide during its original theatrical run, making it the highest-grossing film of 2002 and, at the time of its release, the third- highest-grossing film of all time behind Titanic and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Following subsequent re-releases, it has grossed $951 million.

Like the other films in the trilogy, The Two Towers is widely recognised as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made as well as one of the greatest sequels in cinema history. The film received numerous accolades; at the 75th Academy Awards, it was nominated for six awards, including Best Picture, winning for Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects.

The final instalment of the trilogy, The Return of the King, was released in 2003.

Plot
Awakening from a dream of Gandalf fighting the Balrog in Moria, Frodo Baggins finds himself, along with Samwise Gamgee, lost in the Emyn Muil near Mordor. They discover that they are being tracked by Gollum, a former bearer of the One Ring. Capturing Gollum, Frodo takes pity and allows him to guide them, reminding Sam that they need Gollum's help to infiltrate Mordor.

Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli pursue a band of Uruk-hai to save their companions, Merry and Pippin, entering the kingdom of Rohan. The Uruk-hai are ambushed by a group of Rohirrim, allowing Merry and Pippin to escape into Fangorn Forest. Meeting Aragorn's group, the Rohirrim's leader Éomer explains that he and his men have been exiled by Rohan's king, Théoden, who is under the control of Saruman and his servant Gríma Wormtongue. Éomer believes Merry and Pippin were killed during the raid but leaves the group with two horses. In Fangorn, Aragorn's group encounters Gandalf, who, after his fight against the Balrog was resurrected as Gandalf the White to help save Middle-earth.

Gandalf leads the trio to Rohan's capital, Edoras, where Gandalf frees Théoden from Saruman's control. Aragorn stops Théoden from executing Wormtongue, who flees. Learning of Saruman's plans to destroy Rohan with his Uruk-hai army, Théoden evacuates his citizens to the fortress of the Hornburg at Helm's Deep. Gandalf departs to find Éomer and his followers, hoping they will fight for their restored king. Aragorn befriends Théoden's niece, Éowyn, who becomes infatuated with him. When the refugees travelling to Helm's Deep are attacked by Saruman's Warg-riding Orcs, Aragorn falls from a cliff and is presumed dead. He is found by Théodred's horse Brego and rides to Helm's Deep, witnessing Saruman's army marching toward the fortress.

In Rivendell, Arwen is told by her father Elrond that Aragorn will not return. He reminds her that if she remains in Middle-earth, she will outlive Aragorn by thousands of years, and she reluctantly departs for Valinor. Elrond is contacted by Galadriel of Lothlórien, who convinces him that the Elves should honour their alliance to men, and they dispatch a company of Elves to Helm's Deep.

In Fangorn, Merry and Pippin meet Treebeard, an Ent. Convincing Treebeard that they are allies, they are brought to an Ent Council, where the Ents decide not to take part in the coming war. Pippin asks Treebeard to take them in the direction of Isengard, where they witness the deforestation caused by Saruman's war effort. Enraged, Treebeard and the Ents storm Isengard, trapping Saruman in his tower.

Aragorn arrives at Helm's Deep, warning Théoden of Saruman's army approaching. Théoden prepares for battle despite being vastly outnumbered. A company of Lothlorien Elves arrives to aid the people of Rohan, shortly before Saruman's army attacks the fortress. The Uruk-hai breach the outer wall with explosives and during the ensuing charge, kill the Elves' commander, Haldir. The defenders retreat into the keep, where Aragorn convinces Théoden to meet the Uruk-hai in one last charge. At dawn, as the defenders are overwhelmed, Gandalf and Éomer arrive with the Rohirrim, turning the tide of the battle. The surviving Uruk-hai flee into Fangorn Forest and are killed by the trees. Gandalf warns that Sauron will retaliate.

Gollum leads Frodo and Sam through the Dead Marshes to the Black Gate, but recommends they enter Mordor by another route. Frodo and Sam are captured by Rangers of Ithilien led by Faramir, younger brother of the late Boromir. Frodo helps Faramir catch Gollum to save him from being killed by the Rangers. Learning of the One Ring, Faramir takes his captives to Gondor to bring the Ring to his father Denethor. Passing through the besieged city of Osgiliath, Frodo tries to explain to Faramir the true nature of the Ring, and Sam explains that Boromir was driven mad by its power. A Nazgûl nearly captures Frodo, who falls under the Ring's power, but Sam saves him and reminds a disheartened Frodo that they are fighting for the good still left in Middle-earth. Impressed by Frodo's resolve, Faramir releases them. Feeling betrayed by his capture, Gollum decides he will reclaim the Ring by leading Frodo to "her" upon arriving at Cirith Ungol.

Cast
Like the other films in the series, The Two Towers has an ensemble cast, and the cast and their respective characters include:
 * Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins: A young hobbit sent on a quest to destroy the One Ring, the burden of which is becoming heavier.
 * Ian McKellen as Gandalf the White: An Istari wizard who fell fighting a Balrog and has now returned, more powerful than ever, to finish his task.
 * Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn: The heir-in-exile to Gondor's throne who has come to Rohan's defence.
 * Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee: Better known as Sam, Frodo's loyal hobbit gardener and companion.
 * Andy Serkis as Gollum (voice/motion capture): A wretched hobbit-like creature originally known as Sméagol, who owned the Ring for 500 years and now guides Frodo on his quest.
 * Billy Boyd as Peregrin Took: An extremely foolish hobbit who is a distant cousin of Frodo and travels with the Fellowship on their journey to Mordor.
 * Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc Brandybuck: Better known as Merry, a distant cousin of Frodo's who is mistakenly captured along with Pippin by the Uruk-hai.
 * John Rhys-Davies as Gimli: A dwarf warrior and one of Aragorn's companions.
 * Also voices Treebeard: The leader of the ents, who is roused to anger after seeing that Saruman had decimated a large part of Fangorn Forest.
 * Orlando Bloom as Legolas: An elven archer and one of Aragorn's companions.
 * Bernard Hill as Théoden: The King of Rohan, who is under Saruman's spell until Gandalf heals him so he can lead his people once more. Kevin Conway was offered the role but he declined.
 * Christopher Lee as Saruman the White: An Istari wizard waging war upon Rohan and devastating Fangorn Forest, who allied himself with Sauron in the previous film.
 * Hugo Weaving as Elrond: The Elven-Lord of Rivendell who expresses doubt over his daughter's love for Aragorn.
 * Miranda Otto as Éowyn: Théoden's niece, who is in love with Aragorn. Uma Thurman was offered the role but turned it down and later regretted it.
 * David Wenham as Faramir: A prince of the Stewards of Gondor and captain of the Ithilien Rangers, who captures Frodo, Sam and Gollum.
 * Brad Dourif as Gríma Wormtongue: An agent of Saruman at Edoras, who renders Théoden incapable of decisions, and desires Éowyn.
 * Karl Urban as Éomer: Théoden's nephew and previous Chief Marshal of the Riddermark who was exiled by Gríma.
 * Liv Tyler as Arwen: An elven princess of Rivendell and Aragorn's true love.
 * Cate Blanchett as Galadriel: The Elven-Queen of Lothlórien, who discusses Middle-earth's future with Elrond.
 * Sean Bean as Boromir: Faramir's older brother and a fallen member of the Fellowship who appears in flashbacks since his death, more prominently in the film's extended edition.
 * Craig Parker as Haldir: The leader of the Lórien Elves sent by Elrond and Galadriel to defend Helm's Deep.
 * John Leigh as Háma: The loyal doorwarden of the Golden Hall and a majordomo of Théoden.
 * Bruce Hopkins as Gamling: Théoden's chief lieutenant and a skilled member of the Royal Guard of Rohan.
 * John Bach as Madril: Faramir's closest aide, who informs him of battle preparations.
 * Nathaniel Lees as Ugluk: The leader of the band of Uruk-hai who kidnapped Merry and Pippin.

 * The following appear only in the Extended Edition:
 * John Noble as Denethor: The corrupt Steward of Gondor and the father of Boromir and Faramir.

In the Battle of Helm's Deep, Peter Jackson has a cameo appearance as one of the men on top of the gate, throwing a spear at the attacking Uruk-hai. His children and Elijah Wood's sister cameo as young refugees in the caves behind the Hornburg, and Alan Lee and Dan Hennah also cameo as soldiers preparing for the battle. The son of a producer's friend, Hamish Duncan, appears as a reluctant young Rohirrim warrior. Daniel Falconer has a cameo as an Elvish archer at the battle.

Comparison to the source material
Screenwriters did not originally script The Two Towers as its own film; The Lord of the Rings trilogy was initially written as a two-part series to be produced by Miramax, with parts of The Two Towers written as the conclusion to The Fellowship of the Ring. The two films became a trilogy under New Line, and writers Jackson, Walsh and Boyens shuffled their scripts.

The most distinct difference from the book by J.R.R. Tolkien is its structure. Tolkien's The Two Towers is split into two parts, opening with the war in Rohan, and concluding with focus on the journey of Frodo and Sam. The film omits the book's opening, Boromir's death, which was used as a linear climax at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring. Where the book ends with the Fellowship going to Isengard and Frodo's confrontation with Shelob, the film climaxes with the Battle of Helm's Deep, leaving the aforementioned scenes for the film adaptation of The Return of the King. This was done partly to fit more closely the timeline indicated by the book.

In the film, Théoden is possessed by Saruman, whereas in the book he is depicted as depressed and deluded by Wormtongue. Afterwards, in the film, Théoden is still unsure of what to do, and flees to Helm's Deep. In the book he rides out to war, only ending up besieged when he considers helping Erkenbrand. Erkenbrand does not exist in the films: his character is combined with Éomer as the Rohirrim general who arrives with Gandalf at the film's end. Éomer himself is present during the entire battle in the book.

On the way to Helm's Deep, the refugees from Edoras are attacked by Wargs, similar to a scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where the Fellowship battles a group of Wargs. Here, a new subplot is created where Aragorn falls over a cliff, and is assumed to be dead; Jackson stated that he added it to create tension. This scene also resonates with a new subplot regarding Arwen, where she decides to leave Middle-earth after losing hope in the long-term possibilities of her love. In the book, Arwen's role is primarily recorded in the Appendices, and she is never depicted as considering such an act.

A larger change was originally planned: Arwen and Elrond would visit Galadriel, and Arwen would accompany an army of Elves to Helm's Deep to fight alongside Aragorn. During shooting, the script changed, both from writers coming up with better ideas to portray the romance between Aragorn and Arwen, as well as poor fan reaction. The new scene of Arwen leaving for the West was created, and the conversation scene remains, edited to be a flashback to a conversation between them in Rivendell, on the evening before the Fellowship's departure. A conversation between Elrond and Galadriel in Lothlórien was edited to be a telepathic one. Nonetheless, one major change (already filmed) remained that could not be reversed: the Elven warriors fighting at Helm's Deep, although Jackson and Boyens found this romantic and stirring and a reference to how, in the Appendices of The Return of the King, Galadriel and the Elves of Lothlórien, and Thranduil of Mirkwood were first attacked by an army out of Dol Guldur in Mirkwood, and then later counter-attacked and assaulted the fortress itself.

Another change is the fact Treebeard does not immediately decide to go to war. This adds to the tension, and Boyens describes it as making Merry and Pippin "more than luggage". Here, the Hobbits show Treebeard what Saruman has done to the forest, prompting his decision to act. Another structural change is that the Hobbits meet Gandalf the White early on, explaining why the Hobbits do not react to his return when they meet him again following Isengard's destruction. This was explained in the book by Gandalf arriving at Isengard in the middle of the night to talk to Treebeard.

The filmmakers' decision to leave Shelob for the third film meant that Faramir had to become an obstacle for Frodo and Sam. In the book, Faramir (like Aragorn) quickly recognises the Ring as a danger and a temptation and does not hesitate long before letting Frodo and Sam go. In the film, Faramir first decides that the Ring shall go to Gondor and his father Denethor, as a way to prove his worth. In the film, Faramir takes Frodo, Sam and the Ring to the Battle of Osgiliath—they do not go there in the book. Jackson winks to readers with Sam's line, "By all rights we shouldn't even be here, but we are." After seeing how strongly the Ring affects Frodo during the Nazgûl attack, Faramir changes his mind and lets them go. These changes reshape the book's contrast between Faramir and Boromir, who in The Fellowship of the Ring attempted to take the Ring for himself. On the other hand, (which can be seen only in the film's extended version), it is actually their father who wants the Ring and urges Boromir to get it, while Faramir only wants to prove himself to his father. Boyens contends these plot changes were needed to keep the Ring menacing. Wenham commented on the DVD documentaries that he had not read the book prior to reading the script, so the film's version of Faramir was the Faramir he knew. When he later read the book and noticed the major difference, he approached the writers about it, and they explained to him that if he did say "I wouldn't pick that thing up even if it lay by the wayside", it would basically strip the One Ring of all corruptive power.

The meaning of the title itself, 'The Two Towers', was changed. While Tolkien considered several possible sets of towers he eventually created a final cover illustration and wrote a note included at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring which identified them as Minas Morgul and Orthanc. Jackson's film names them as Orthanc and Barad-dûr, symbolic of an evil alliance out to destroy Men that forms the film's plot point. The film depicted Saruman openly presenting himself outright as Sauron's servant, whereas this association was not explicitly stated in the novel (and indeed analysis by Gandalf and Aragorn in the chapter "The White Rider" stated that there was a rivalry instead, as Saruman was afraid of the prospect of being at war with Sauron, if Rohan and Gondor fell).

Production design
When Alan Lee joined the project in late 1997, Helm's Deep was the first structure he was tasked to design. At 1:35 scale, it was one of the first miniatures built for the film, and was part of the 45-minute video that sold the project to New Line. It was primarily drawn from an illustration Lee had once done for the book, though the curved wall featured in the film was proposed by fellow illustrator and designer John Howe. Used in the film for wide shots, Jackson also used this miniature to plan the battle, using 40,000 toy soldiers.

Helm's Deep, a pivotal part of the film's narrative, was built at Dry Creek Quarry with its gate, a ramp, and a wall, which included a removable section as well as the tower on a second level. A 1:4-scale miniature of Helm's Deep that ran 50 ft wide was used for forced perspective shots, as well as the major explosion sequence.

The film explores the armies of Middle-earth. John Howe was the basic designer of the evil forces of Middle Earth, with the Uruk-hai being the first army approved by Jackson. Howe also designed a special crossbow for the Uruk-Hai characters, which was significant because it did not require external tools to rearm. This design was the realisation of a 16th-century manuscript. Also created were 100 Elven suits of armour, for which emphasis was placed on Autumnal colours due to the theme of Elves leaving Middle-earth. Two hundred and fifty suits were also made for the Rohirrim. The designs for Rohan were based on Germanic and Anglo-Saxon patterns, with most of the weapons designed by John Howe and forged by Peter Lyon. Each sword took 3 to 6 days to make.

The exterior of the Rohirrim's capital of Edoras, including its thatched roofs, took six months to build on Mount Sunday. The interior of the buildings doubled as offices and lunch halls. The interior of the Hall of Edoras was filmed at Stone Street Studios with tapestries designed by Lee, and Théoden's wooden throne was partly created by his daughter. Hill endured heavy make-up for the possession scene where his skin was pulled back and released for increased wrinkles. Dourif shaved off his eyebrows and put potato flakes as dandruff in his hair for unnerving effect.

Through Frodo and Sam's story, the film also provides a look at Mordor and Gondor. Barad-dûr is fully seen in a tracking shot, a design which Howe called a mockery of Gothic Cathedrals. He and Lee created the Black Gate (though a typo in the script made the miniature into two ) and Osgiliath, a ruined city reflecting London during the Blitz or Berlin in 1945. The set on a backlot was based around a bridge and reused some of Moria.

Principal photography
The Two Towers shared principal photography with The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King. The trilogy was filmed between 11 October 1999 and 22 December 2000. The scenes which take place in Rohan were shot earlier in the production, during which time Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies's stunt double Brett Beattie sustained many injuries. Mortensen broke two toes when he kicked an Orc helmet while filming the scene in which he, Legolas, and Gimli find the remains of the Uruk-hai and believe Merry and Pippin to be dead (a shot which is included in the film). Furthermore, during filming Bloom fell off his horse and cracked three ribs, and Beattie dislocated his knee. These injuries led to the actors suffering two days of pain during the running sequence in the first act of the film, leading Jackson to jokingly refer to them as "The Walking Wounded."

The filming of the Battle of Helm's Deep took approximately three months, with most of the nighttime shots handled by John Mahaffie. Some injuries were sustained during the filming of the sequence, including Mortensen chipping his tooth, and Bernard Hill's ear getting slashed. The sequence also features 500 extras, who insulted each other in Māori, and improvised scenes such as the Uruk-hai stamping their spears before the beginning of the battle. However, there was alleged annoyance among the film's crew for the strength of the gates, which were claimed to be too reinforced during the Battering Ram scene. Mortensen greatly respected the stunt team, and head bumped them often as a sign of that respect.

Wood and Astin were joined by Serkis on 13 April 2000.

Special effects
As with The Fellowship of the Ring, Jim Rygiel served as the visual effects supervisor for The Two Towers, while newcomer Joe Letteri joined the visual effects team to supervise Andy Serkis's motion capture performance in the creation of the character Gollum. During the production of The Two Towers Weta Digital doubled their staff members of 260. In total, they would produce 73 minutes of digital effects with 799 shots. The film would feature their first challenge in creating a battle scene, as well as creating two digital characters who needed to act rather than be a set piece, unlike the previous film's Cave Troll and Balrog.

 * Gollum

Weta began animating Gollum in late 1998 to convince New Line they could achieve the effect. Andy Serkis "played" Gollum by providing his voice and movements on set, as well as performing within the motion capture suit later on. His scenes were filmed twice, with and without him. Originally, Gollum was set to solely be a CGI character, but Jackson was so impressed by Serkis' audition tape that they used him on set as well.

Gollum's CGI model was also redesigned during 2001 when Serkis was cast as Sméagol, Gollum's former self, so as to give the impression Andy Serkis as Sméagol transforms into the CGI Gollum. The original model can still be glimpsed briefly in the first film. Over Christmas 2001, the crew proceeded to reanimate all the previous shots accordingly within two months. Another problem was that the crew realised that the cast performed better in the takes which physically included Serkis. In the end, the CGI Gollum was rotoscoped and animated on top of these scenes.

Serkis's motion capture was generally used to animate Gollum's body, except for some difficult shots such as him crawling upside down. Gollum's face was animated manually, often using recordings of Serkis as a guide. Gino Acevedo supervised realistic skin tones, which took four hours per frame to render.

While the novel alludes to a division within his mind, the film depicts him as having a split personality. The two personas—the childlike Sméagol and the evil Gollum—are established during a scene in which they argue over remaining loyal to Frodo. The two personalities talk to each other, as established by contrasting camera angles and by Serkis altering his voice and physicality for each persona.

Treebeard took between 28 and 48 hours per frame to render. For scenes where he interacts with Merry and Pippin, a 14-foot-tall puppet was built on a wheel. Weta took urethane moulds of tree bark and applied them to the sculpt of Treebeard to create his wooden skin. Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd sat on bicycle seats concealed into Treebeard's hands to avoid discomfort and were left alone on set sitting in the puppet's hands during breaks. The puppet was shot against bluescreen.
 * Treebeard

Score
The musical score for The Two Towers was composed, orchestrated, and conducted by Howard Shore, who also composed the music for the other two films in the series. While the scores for its predecessor and sequel won the Academy Award for Best Score, the soundtrack for The Two Towers was not nominated. Initially there was confusion over the score's eligibility due to a new rule applying to sequels, but the academy did declare it eligible.

The score features The London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Voices, The London Oratory School Schola and several vocal and instrumental soloists, including soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, and Irish fiddler and violinist Dermot Crehan, who also performed on the Hardanger fiddle, which is used in this film in conjunction with the various Rohan themes.

The funeral song Éowyn sings during her cousin Théodred's entombment in the extended edition is styled to be a traditional song of the Rohirrim, and has lyrics in their language, Rohirric (represented by Old English). The song does not appear in the book, and the tune is a variation upon a theme of the rímur Icelandic folk tradition; it can be heard as part of track 7 in the 1999 recording of a musical version of the Edda by Sequentia.

The soundtrack was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. The soundtrack has a picture of Peter Jackson (barefoot), the composer, and two producers crossing Abbey Road, referencing The Beatles' album of the same name.

Marketing
The teaser trailer premiered in theatres on 3 July 2002 with the release of Men in Black II. The theatrical trailer was then released theatrically on 4 October 2002 with the debut of Red Dragon.

VHS and DVD
The Two Towers was released on VHS and DVD on 26 August 2003 in the United States. The date was originally intended to be a simultaneous worldwide release, but due to a bank holiday weekend in the United Kingdom, some British outlets began selling DVDs as much as four days earlier, much to the ire of the UK distributor, Entertainment in Video, which had threatened to withhold advance supplies of subsequent DVD releases. During its first five days of release, the DVD release sold over 3.5 million units. The film also generated $22.8 million in rentals, breaking The Bourne Identity's record for having the biggest rentals of any DVD release. By December 2003, it was reported that The Two Towers sold 16.4 million copies and earned $305.4 million in sales revenue, becoming the second-highest selling home video release of 2003, after Finding Nemo.

As with Fellowship, an extended edition of Two Towers was released on VHS and DVD on 18 November 2003 with 45 minutes of new material, added special effects and music, plus 11 minutes of fan-club credits. The runtime expanded to 235 minutes. The 4-disc DVD set included four commentaries along with hours of supplementary material.

In August 2006, a limited edition was released on DVD, and included both theatrical and extended editions on a double-sided disc along with all-new bonus material.

Blu-ray
The theatrical Blu-ray version of The Lord of the Rings was released in the United States in April 2010. The individual disc of Two Towers was released in September 2010 with the same special features as the complete trilogy release, minus digital copy.

The extended Blu-ray editions were released in the US and Canada in June 2011.

Two Towers was released in Ultra HD Blu-ray on 30 November 2020 in the United Kingdom and on 1 December 2020 in the United States, along with the other instalments, including both theatrical and extended cuts.

Box office
The Two Towers opened in theatres on 18 December 2002. During its opening day, the film grossed $26 million, making it the second-highest opening Wednesday, behind Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. It earned $62 million in its opening weekend in the US and Canada, becoming the fifth-highest opening weekend of that year, behind Austin Powers in Goldmember, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Spider-Man. This was also the third-highest opening weekend for a New Line Cinema film, trailing only behind Rush Hour 2 and Austin Powers in Goldmember. The film then made $101.5 million during its five-day Wednesday opening.

Outside the US and Canada, The Two Towers made $99.4 million from 25 territories during its opening weekend, which made it the highest international opening weekend. The combined total opening weekend gross increased to $189.9 million, making it the highest worldwide opening weekend of all time. The film would hold both records until 2003 when they were given to The Matrix Reloaded and its successor The Matrix Revolutions respectively. The Two Towers set opening day records in Germany, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden and Norway, as well as a single-day record in Denmark. It then made opening weekend records in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany and South Korea.

The film went on to gross $339.8 million in North America and $596.9 million internationally for a worldwide total of $936.7 million against a budget of $94 million. The Two Towers was the highest-grossing film of 2002 worldwide. Box Office Mojo estimates over 57 million sold tickets in the US in its initial theatrical run.

Following subsequent reissues, the film has grossed $345.5 million in the United States and Canada and $606 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $951.6 million.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Two Towers holds an approval rating of 95% based on 258 reviews, with an average rating of 8.50/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "The Two Towers balances spectacular action with emotional storytelling, leaving audiences both wholly satisfied and eager for the final chapter." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, has assigned the film a score of 87 out of 100 based on 39 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, a grade up from the "A−" earned by the previous film.

Like its predecessor, The Two Towers was released to universal critical acclaim and is widely considered to be one of the greatest sequels in cinema history. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, describing it as "one of the most spectacular swashbucklers ever made", and stating "It is not faithful to the spirit of Tolkien and misplaces much of the charm and whimsy of the books, but it stands on its own as a visionary thriller". Nev Pierce for the BBC gave the film four stars out of five, and wrote that while it lacked "the first film's wow-factor", it surpassed The Fellowship of the Ring "in terms of wit, action and narrative drive". Pierce described Gollum as "the first believable CG character" and the Battle of Helm's Deep as "one of the finest, most expansive combat sequences ever filmed". Writing for The Observer, Philip French described The Two Towers as a "stunning visual epic". French commended the battle scenes and the visual style of the film, relating it to the paintings of "Caspar David Friedrich, the Pre-Raphaelites, Art Nouveau illustrations for children's books, and the apocalyptic biblical landscapes ... of the Victorian visionary John Martin". He concluded the review looking forward to the release of the final chapter, writing "This is likely to be happier, more decisive and infinitely more satisfying than anything that will happen to our world in the next 12 months."

Joe Morgenstern for The Wall Street Journal lauded the narrative construction of The Two Towers: "Elaborate preparations are required for the payoff in this instalment -- the massing of troops plus much individual struggle as splintered groups of the Fellowship make their separate ways toward the defining battle of Helm's Deep ... Yet these preparations count as payoffs too ... Seldom has a popular entertainment set its stage so carefully or evocatively, with such lavish respect for its audience." Morgenstern also highlighted the digital effects and the battle scenes, and said of the series "The Lord of the Rings continues to stake its singular claim on movie history; it's a gift of epic proportions." In his review for the Evening Standard, Alexander Walker wrote that the Battle of Helm's Deep was "probably the greatest battlepiece composed for the screen since Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible", and that with The Two Towers the trilogy had achieved "a majestic proportion, chivalric and quixotic, earthly and magical, an experience that reaches beyond the dimensions of the cinema screen and somehow reflects the global unease of the world in the first years of the 21st century".

In his review for Newsweek, David Ansen commended Jackson's direction of the battle scenes, writing "Few people can stage a battle -- and the eyepopping siege of Helms Deep is one of the most spectacular you'll ever see -- with such sweep and clarity that the carnage doesn't seem an oppressive end in itself". Ansen also praised the complexity of the character of Gollum, commenting "While everyone else in Tolkien's myth falls neatly into the camps of Good and Evil, the self-lacerating Gollum is at war with himself. In an epic drenched in medievalism, he's the dangerously ambiguous voice of the modern." Caroline Westbrook, for Empire, gave the film five stars out of five, and wrote "It may lack the first-view-thrill and natural dramatic shape of Fellowship, but this is both funnier and darker than the first film, and certainly more action-packed. An essential component of what is now destined to be among the best film franchises of all time." Westbrook lauded Jackson's ability to temper the spectacular scenes "with some heartstring-tugging moments - peasants despondent as they are forced to abandon their villages, Aragorn and Arwen's troubled relationship, and, of course, the return of Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen, superb as ever), one of the film's most powerful, memorable images that may well leave Ring devotees a little misty-eyed."

A less enthusiastic review was written in The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw, who had already written a mixed review of The Fellowship of the Ring. Bradshaw gave The Two Towers three stars out of five, appreciating it as "a very watchable, distinctive, if over-extended FX spectacle". However, he commented that the film could not be taken as "a serious evocation of good and evil", and dismissed the subject as "lots and lots of interminable nerdish nonsense".

The Battle of Helm's Deep has been named by CNN as one of the greatest screen battles of all time, while Gollum was named as the third favourite computer-generated film character by Entertainment Weekly in 2007.

Accolades

 * Academy Awards
 * Winner: Best Visual Effects (Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke) and Best Sound Editing (Ethan Van der Ryn and Michael Hopkins).
 * Nominee: Best Picture (Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair and Peter Jackson, producers), Best Art Direction (Art Direction: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Dan Hennah and Alan Lee), Best Film Editing (Michael J. Horton) and Best Sound (Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek).
 * British Academy Film Awards: Best Costume Design, Best Special Visual Effects, Orange Film of the Year (voted on by the public)
 * Empire Awards: Best Picture
 * Grammy Awards: Best Score (Howard Shore)
 * Hugo Awards (World Science Fiction Society): Best Dramatic Presentation — Long Form
 * 2003 MTV Movie Awards: Best virtual performance (Gollum)
 * Saturn Awards: Best Fantasy Film, Best Costume (Ngila Dickson), Best Supporting Actor (Andy Serkis)

American Film Institute Recognition

 * AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
 * "My precious." – #85

title: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers


text:
User:Parmentier~enwiki

François Parmentier's page
Let's talk about me, since it seems to be my page. My name is François Parmentier (maybe you found it out?). My nickname on IRC is H_I.

My web page talks about me (studies, resume, ...), but also about my family, and about my hobbies: Artificial Intelligence and chatterbots.

I wrote a chatterbot for IRC: Achille, which was based on a simple stimulus/response system, and was written with C. I program another one (with PHP/MySQL) on my web site. It's named ECTOR. One can speak with it here, but, as it is still a "baby bot", one can't await miracles. As a prototype, it is not yet optimized, but this will come (sooner or later).

Oh yes: I also wrote (and pass) a PhD on the use of a generic AI architecture to automatically recognize bibliographic references fields. You can have a look (in French). But if you can't read French, go to Everything, and go to the BAsCET article, I began to translate some parts...

I contribute to the French Wikipedia.

title: User:Parmentier~enwiki