The final LOTR: EE box set ... 2 weeks to go!

[funkymikemoses]

film was long enough in cinema as it was. The stuff cut was non essential...The other reason is tension. We know frodo is alive, so to have the mouth of sauron tell you he isn't...it's a great scene but I can understand why they cut it for the theatrical. In the book, the way its structured the last we'd heard of frodo was when he was taken away by the orcs at the end of The Two Towers (the book). Return of the king does all the aragorn stuff first so even the reader is doubting whether frodo is alive or not.

As for the eowyn scene...again, down to pacing and keeping the time down...