As incredible as Peter Jackson’sThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy is, it’s not a completely faithful adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels. The movie does away with many of the songs written by Tolkien, and one of the franchise’smost beloved characters, Tom Bombadil.But, the movies also improved on Tolkien’s world in many ways. One of the standout changes alters a single word from a line of dialogue, and it transformed it into one of the most memorable movie lines in cinema history.
Speaking toJake’s Takes,Lord of the Rings' screenwriter Philippa Boyens discussed the Mines of Moria sequence fromThe Fellowship of the Ring, and explained why they changed Gandalf’s most iconic line. Facing down the Balrog, Ian McKellen’s grey wizard shouts the iconic phrase “You shall not pass!”, before slamming down his staff and destroying the bridge. But the line is actually different in the novel. Boyens changed a single world from the line, but it made a massive difference. She explained:
“The reason why we went to ‘You shall not pass’ is because it’s one thing to write a piece of prose, but when you perform that moment… it’s an invocation. It’s not a spell, per se. But he is drawing upon something very powerful. So ‘you shall not pass’ has the same sense of commitment to a thought that you would put into a spell. It’s almost like he’s trying to create an invisible force field. And also, ‘shall’ as a word carries a quality of time to it. A quality of: this shall never happen. All of Gandalf’s power is being put forth to deny this demon from the deep. I think, in that moment, it felt right.”
In Tolkien’s novels, the line reads, “You cannot pass.” While the change is as tiny as a few letters, it makes all the difference on the big screen. The sceneestablishes Gandalf as an immensely powerful wizard.“You shall not pass!” is now one of the most quoted lines in movie history. The scene has been spoofed in countless other films and shows, and turned into an endless plethora of memes online.
Ian McKellen was Skeptical About The Line Change
Philippa Boyens got onto the subject of the line change when discussing Ian McKellen’s performance as Gandalf the Grey. McKellen played the beloved wizard across the entire trilogy, starting withThe Fellowship of the Ringin 2001, andending withThe Return of the Kingin 2003.He then returned for the less well receivedThe Hobbittrilogy. She recalls McKellen approaching her, asking about the line change, and pointing out that Tolkien wrote it differently.
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“I have a very vivid memory of- Ian used to carry the book around, and whenever he did, we knew he had a question,“she began.“That was one of those questions. He was always incredibly respectful and gentle, and he’s got an incredible sense of humor. And he would look at you and say, ‘you know it’s not actually ‘you shall not pass?’’ and I was like ‘yes, yes, I know.’ And he said, ‘hm. Interesting, interesting.'“Boyens then gave McKellen the same explanation, to which he responded:
“He went away and he did it. And he came back and said, ‘I think we’ll leave it. ‘You shall not pass! Yeah’”
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
