As the creator of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King I included examples of the ways in which individuals take responsibility for themselves. I, Peter Jackson, am here to explain these examples better for those of you who found it difficult to understand or missed these examples. I portrayed in the film that every individual takes their own amount of time, which can be long or short, to accept and act upon their responsibility.
A character that took very little to no time to know what he must do to accept his responsibility was Gandalf the White. He had his fair share of difficulties in this story especially the earlier movies, being killed and resurrected and all, but he never hesitated to carry out his responsibility. He knew that he had to be a leader and did his best, which was an excellent job, to lead everyone to the best possible outcome. He helped Pippin during the movie as well as the army at Gondor. Without the leadership of Gandalf the White the army at Gondor would have surly been defeated and the age of man would have come to an end with Gondor captured. Gandalf was able to accept his responsibility to lead these people and prevent Gondor from being taken. Had he not been able to accept his responsibility as quickly as he did the outcome of the movie would have been quite different.
Faramir was another character that I used to develop the idea that each individual takes their own amount of time to take on their responsibility. This character was faced with a difficult situation. He had to choose between acting upon his responsibility to take orders from his father, the Steward of Gondor, or ignore the orders to save many lives. With such a large decision to make he took longer to know what to do, as is expected, then Gandalf the White, for example, who knew that he had to be a great leader for the people in hard times. By having comparisons like this I was able to show the idea that every individual will need a different amount of time to know that he or she must act upon their responsibility even if it takes decades to do so.
Another character that I included was Theoden. As the King of Rohan he had to make the hard decision of leading his people to a battle which he believed to be a lost cause, or ignoring the cries of help from Gondor. Theoden knew that his army would be out numbered but he also knew that it was his responsibility as King to lead his people to the battle since Gondor needed their help. Similar to Faramir, Theoden was not able to commit to acting upon his responsibility the instant he found out what had to be done. A large decision like the one that he was faced with deserves time to think it over and know that you have made the right choice. In the end Theoden accepted his responsibility and the fate that he was leading his army to, which would in the end take his life along with hundreds of other soldiers. I further showed that everyone will in the end have to accept and act upon their responsibility, the only question is how long before they finally take on their responsibility.
Frodo, as the one of the main characters was faced with an impossibly large task, especially for a hobbit. He accepted the responsibility of carrying the ring and destroying it with little delay. However as time with the ring progressed he became more and more reluctant to destroy it but since it was his responsibility to destroy it, in the end he did. With Frodo I was able to portray that even one who accepts responsibility and acts on it rapidly can develop a fear or reluctance to finish acting upon that responsibility. At Mordor, Frodo was so close to finishing the task and fulfilling his responsibility but was unable to do so until attacked by Gollum. By including this twist at the end I was able to show the audience that although you may delay completing your task and fulfilling your responsibility in the end every individual will take on and finish what they are responsible for.
As I developed the character of Aragorn I showed another reason for why an individual might delay in taking on their responsibility. As the heir to the throne of Gondor, Aragorn was responsible for becoming King and leading the people of Gondor to greatness. This however took him a long time to accept. Aragorn was a strong character who had little to be physically afraid of, however there was the great fear of failure like the man he was descendant to, Isildur. He was afraid of making the same mistakes and letting down Gondor like Isildur did. With such a heavy burden placed on his shoulders Aragorn delayed in becoming King and taking on his responsibility for as long as he possibly could but when Gondor needed him the most he came through for them. I developed this character as such to show that individuals will always know when they can no longer put off their responsibility, and when this time comes they will accept the responsibility that was placed on them and act upon it.
I included The Dead Army in this movie to show that responsibility can be ignored for a very long time, however in the end it will be carried out. Although the Dead Army was many soldiers and not and individual it acted as an individual. The army never wavered in its choices; if a choice was made the entire army acted upon that choice. The Dead Army had ignored their responsibility to Gondor for hundreds of years but when the time came again that Gondor required their assistance they finally were able to act upon the responsibility that they had ignored many years ago. Even though in our lives it would be impossible to ignore responsibility for hundreds of years, with this drastic amount of time that responsibility was delayed I showed the audience that eventually all of us will fulfill the responsibility we are faced with in life.
I hope that this explanation has further developed your understanding of the ways in which individuals take on responsibility. Although the main reason for creating the film was not to showcase this idea I felt the need to include it. I wanted to present the idea that we will all have to accept and take on our responsibility in life to my audience and by doing so I hope that I have made things clearer in your life or at the very least entertained you with the film Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
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