The Lord of the Rings film trilogy has its share of epic moments, but many of the books were left behind the scenes. For example, the scene where Sam looks into Galadriel's Mirror and sees frightening images of the future. Peter Jackson decided not to include the episode in his "magnum opus", and for good reason, because it is a real spoiler, revealing almost the entire third act of the story.
What did Sam see in the Mirror?
In the book, Galadriel invites Sam to look into her magic mirror, which shows "what was, is, and can happen." And good-natured Sam with, who at first only wanted to spy on how things are going in the Shire, suddenly gets a powerful kick from fate.
First, the image of Frodo appears before him, pale, exhausted, lying somewhere near a cliff. Then he sees himself wandering along a dark corridor (most likely, these are the tunnels of Cirith Ungol). And then, the native Shire, but no longer cozy and green, but devastated: trees are falling, the mill is demolished, and in its place a brick factory is smoking.
This is the "Scouring of the Shire" , an episode that was not shown in the film at all, but in the book it became the final test for the hobbits.
Why is this not in the film?
Peter Jackson has already gone all out with three-hour films, adding Sam's prophecies would have been too much. Especially since the audience would have immediately understood that:
- Frodo would almost die on the way to Mordor;
- that Sam would have to carry the Ring instead of him;
- that the Shire would face a catastrophe in the finale.
It turns out that Jackson simply spared us from premature discoveries. After all, it is much more interesting to follow the story when the future of the heroes remains a mystery.
