“The Lord of the Rings” is a massive trilogy that’s cumulatively more than 1,000 pages long. It’s complex and digressive and packed with details of the world of Middle-earth dreamed up by J.R.R. Tolkien. So naturally “The Late Show” had “The Lord of the Rings” actors and “The Friendship Onion” podcast hosts Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd try to explain the plot of each “Lord of the Rings” book and predecessor “The Hobbit” in 15 seconds or less.
Monaghan and Boyd – who quizzed Stephen Colbert on “LOTR” trivia on Tuesday’s show – are Tolkien obsessives who know what they’re talking about, as well as charming fellows who are fun to watch, so they did a pretty good job of briefly summarizing the books.
They started with Boyd on “The Hobbit:” “Bilbo Baggins lives in a Hobbit-hole, and 13 dwarves come, and a wizard takes him on an adventure to a mountain. He gets a ring, he kills a dragon. Everybody goes home, and all the dwarves are happy ever after.” Done, with two seconds to spare.
On to Monaghan on “The Fellowship of the Ring:” “Bilbo’s much older now, now it’s Frodo. Frodo has the ring. Gandalf comes to tell him that he has the ring and it’s a dangerous ring and he needs to–”
“He has to run away!” Boyd interjects.
“He runs away with his mates, but then they get in a little bit of trouble–”
“Nine of them!” Boyd interjects again.
“They do the Council of Elrond, and they all get together and form the fellowship, the fellowship breaks up–” Monaghan says, as time runs out, and Boyd is shouting “Frodo goes himself! ‘You can’t go yourself!’” It’s very chaotic. Then they do it again two more times, for “The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King.”
If you’re a “Lord of the Rings” fan, do yourself a favor and watch the bit.
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