Deagol is Smeagol's cousin; the 'my love' is a conventional phrase between them.

The same way anyone would lift boulders in to a catapult.

This film along with the first two movies, were all shot in tandem with each other over the span of a year and a half. Along with some additional reshoots added during post production.

There were five that came to Middle Earth: Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, and two blue wizards.

Shelob is the distant daughter of Ungoliant, the oldest and first giant spider.

No one has answered this question yet.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is based loosely on the third book of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, written by the English academic and author J.R.R. Tolkien [1892-1973]. The other two books in the series (both movie and novel) are: (1) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and (2) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002). The novels were adapted for the movie by New Zealand screenwriter Philippa Boyens, director Peter Jackson, and Jackson's wife, screenwriter Fran Walsh. The movie won the 2004 Academy Award for Best Motion Picture.

The Dark Lord Sauron is the Lord of the Rings.

Earlier in the story, Gollum was captured by Sauron and tortured and interrogated. When he "escaped" he left via the pass of Cirith Ungol. So the paths he leads Sam and Frodo on are the ones he took when he fled from Mordor. Gollum, being the crafty sort and in possession of the ring for 5 centuries, may have learned how to use stealth to avoid dangerous situations. In the time he took to escape Mordor, he applied this skill to sneaking through the tunnels of Shelob's lair. In the novel, Tolkien explains that, during Gollum's escape from Mordor, he was confronted by Shelob, but he was released on the condition that he would return to her and bring her new and fresh food. This would explain why Shelob did not hunt for Gollum. He had fulfilled his condition by bringing her Frodo, and he was not hers to eat.

The book is more elaborate on this point than the film, and Peter Jackson also explains the reason during the audio commentary on the DVD. The Eagles did not take sides in the War of the Ring until the end, so they would not have assisted Frodo when he started his quest. This is similar to the Ents, who only participated when they felt they were drawn in by Saruman. The Eagles are also very proud creatures, who will not allow themselves to be used as just a means of transportation. The Eagle, Gwahir, that rescued Gandalf (Ian McKellen) from the tower of Saruman (Christopher Lee) did so as a special service to Gandalf, whom he knew personally (Gandalf had previously saved his life). In addition to this, there are allusions that while Sauron was still in power, the Eagles would have struggled getting to Mount Doom, at least because of the wraiths on their fell-beasts and other dark creatures and powers that Sauron had at his disposal. Sending Frodo on the back of an eagle into Mount Doom would have been effectively air-mailing the ring to Sauron. A ground-based approach was decided to be much more effective and appropriate. Finally, the ring corrupts the proud much more easily than the humble. While there is no proof that the ring has the same effect on an Eagle as it does for men, there may have been too much risk in tempting the extremely proud Eagles.

In the book, while traveling with the Rohirrim, Aragorn receives a visit from Elrond's sons Elladan and Elrohir, who come and join him in battle (Aragorn had already received the mended sword back in The Fellowship of the Ring novel). Peter Jackson decided to have Elrond (Hugo Weaving) hand over the sword in the movie, and not his sons, in order to avoid introducing more new characters at such a late time, especially since they would not play major roles in the story. And it also makes for a more dramatic introduction of the mended sword, now named Anduril.

Essentially, the Istari were not allowed to use their magic to directly influence or affect the people of Middle-earth. They were to remain in the background and aid when and where they could. But when confronted by other immortals such as the Balrog, Ringwraiths, other Istari, etc, they were allowed to use whatever means at their disposal.

One of the Istari breaks this rule: Saruman. Saruman's fall is deeply intertwined with his desire for the Ring, power to contend with Sauron, and to rule. It's not unfair to suggest that the more Saruman broke the guidelines laid out for the Istari, the more he became like Sauron, even if only a shadow of that Shadow. The Valar learned from past experience that using their might against a Dark Lord wasn't a winning strategy for Middle Earth (see the Silmarillion and the struggles against Morgoth).

Just before Sam begins to carry Frodo the last leg up the slopes of Mount Doom, Frodo tells him "there is no veil now between me and the wheel of fire." This references the fact that in the book, Frodo had begun to see an image of a wheel of fire in his mind beginning around the time they crossed into Mordor. By the time they have reached the mountain, he is seeing it with his eyes, as if it was a real image. The film retains his admission of this fact to Sam, but does not mention his prior visions. The wheel itself most likely refers to the One Ring.

In the Special Features section of the movie, the total number is stated to be 600,000 strong.

Gimli was the only one as part of the fellowship, but Dwarves were fighting Sauron's army in their own lands. The War of the Ring was fought throughout Middle-Earth - we only saw a portion of it.

There were five Wizards (or Istari): Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown (who spent most of his time with animals and plants and lived near Mirkwood), then the two "Blue Wizards"—Alatar and Pallando (later changed to Morinehtar and Romestamo)—who went into the East and were never heard from again. After the Council of Elrond (as per the novel), Elvish scouts tried to find Radagast at his home near Mirkwood but he was gone. His absence was never explained. Radagast was not in the film version though he does appear in The Hobbit film trilogy.

Convenience! Laying siege to a city means that getting supplies, like regular rocks or other ammo, inside is nearly or totally impossible. Also, it makes for a great dramatic statement onscreen: seeing what you destroyed hurled back at you is a great way to say "UP YOURS!!" to the Host of Mordor. Interestingly enough, in the books the walls of Minas Tirith were supposed to be unbreakable, like Saruman's tower in Isengard.

It's a form of irony. Gothmog and his army had captured them, and probably tortured and beheaded them. Launching the heads over the wall of Minas Tirith was a terror tactic. Calling them "prisoners" was a way to make Gothmog seem even more evil, meaning the closest thing to a prisoner he would keep was a severed head. Orcs are famous for their ruthless nature and probably for keeping prisoners alive for a short time at the most.

They are tortured versions of elves originally captured by Morgoth the first Dark Lord or they are poor imitations (a mockery) of elves created by Morgoth-depending on the source. Tolkien worked this over most of his life and had several versions of the same story that he refined over the years. Both are versions that he had come up with. The Two Towers cites the first explanation. Trolls are believed to be wicked imitations of Ents.

Mostly no. Most Hobbits did not grow facial hair, the primary exception being those of the variety known as Stoors (who were also known for their unusually large hands and feet).

For their DVD releases, extended versions of all three Lord of the Rings movies have been released, and for The Return of the King, the extended version adds around fifty minutes to the running time. This includes the final confrontation with Saruman, more character scenes with Faramir, and the appearance of the corsairs of Umbar. The restoration of Gandalf's face-off with the Witch King also resulted in extensive re-ordering of the order of battle events, now more closely following the events as presented in the book.

They were Corsairs of Umbar, descendents of the losing side of a Gondorian civil war called the Kin-Strife, and allies of Sauron. Aragorn uses the Army of the Dead (the ghosts of soldiers who had betrayed a previous King of Gondor) to defeat the Corsairs, who then take the ships upriver to fight at Minas Tirith. This is a slight change from the novel, in which Aragorn brings a large number of Dunedain rangers who man the ships and surprise the enemy at Minas Tirith; the ghosts only assist in capturing the ships, and do not accompany Aragorn further into battle.

Sauron may have wanted her to be alive for the protection of his fort, considering the fact that Orcs are so enourmous in number , occasional feeding of Orcs to Shelob wouldn't cause significant problem. Orcs on their part fear their Master for the same reason. As it turns out, Shelob, and not the vast army of Sauron, nearly undid all the hard work of the two hobbits and the whole mission