Important Part of LotR Canon That Peter Jackson's Movies Ignored
Peter Jackson may have made a great film adaptation of Lord of the Rings, but he definitely missed an important part of the canon.
Peter Jackson's The Lord of The Rings movies were probably as faithful an adaptation of the notoriously unfilmable book as realistically possible. But still, they included a ton of deviations from the book canon, as well as outright omissions.
Some of these were of pretty minimal importance, significant only to lore buffs. Others were way more important.
And still in some cases all but the most purist among Tolkien's fans are willing to forgive Jackson for skipping some elements of the book.
Yes, the detour from Tom Bombadil to the Barrows, ending with the hobbits obtaining a bunch of enchanted blades, was important plot-wise and theme-wise. As was the Scouring of the Shire. However, one could see that including them would have crushed the pacing of already-long movies.
But there is one omission that has no real excuse.
The reason why Merry and Pippin ended up on the quest to destroy the Ring was skipped from Jackson's movies, and they were dragged along pretty much by sheer accident. In the books, however, the story unfolded quite differently.
Not only the two were longtime friends of Frodo Baggins – they were perceptive enough to notice a change in him, figure out that Frodo fears some sort of danger and plans on leaving the Shire (a very big deal for a hobbit, most of whom hardly ever leave their village's neighborhood). And then they have confronted him with the fact that they are going to accompany him on whatever insane journey he has in mind, whether he wants them to or not.
Yes, Merry and Pippin were not the only characters whom Jackson's movies turned into bumbling clowns. See Gimli, for instance. But Gimli at least kept his core motivation and role in the plot intact. With Merry and Pippin getting turned from intelligent and determined young gentlemen, who had their hearts in the right place from the start, but at first did not realize how far over their heads they were, into morons, who got involved in the events due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, they not only were slotted into the comic relief roles. The reason for them to be in the Fellowship of the Ring was undermined, and their genuine heroic moments down the line became much less natural.