LOTR Secrets: Arwen's Hidden Role in Helm's Deep!

In The Two Towers, a significant portion of Arwen's storyline was cut, particularly her involvement in the Battle of Helm's Deep. Originally, Arwen was depicted as the leader of the Elves at Helm's Deep and appeared in numerous scenes, including those later reshot with Haldir. Despite being digitally removed, some traces of her remain in the final cut, such as a background shot where she can still be seen running. Scenes like Aragorn running to save her and Legolas pulling her up with a rope were modified to exclude her. Additionally, her presence on a white horse during a ride was also digitally altered.

[JourneywithBrandon]

To be fair, none of the elves were supposed to be there at all. To call it an incredible movie though is an understatement.

[irishgiant]

It leaked during production that she would be fighting at Helms Deep. Fans reacted so negatively that they changed the script.

[praxiann]

Arwen was a beautiful and great actress, but her being there with and leading the Lothlorien elves, doesn't make a great deal of sense.

[charlotteluker]

I would have loved seeing Arwen fight more, but I think it was a good choice to cut her out and replace with Haldir. Her being there would have ruined the Eowyn arc super early and made her decisions in Return of the King less interesting. Also, Arwen is supposed be fading, and it would have ruined Aragorns arc of choosing the good of middle earth over running back to save her, because he would have just known she was ok🤷‍♀️

[wolpertinger.]

Im happy this was cut. Haldir was the right choice

[mcvenne]

In the special features, they said they wanted to add this because they were scared so few moments with Arwen would make it difficult for her to carry the love story, but she did anyway, so they removed the added stuff at Helm's Deep.

[richard]

It’s insane that there are hours worth unused footage that simply hasn’t been released in a new cut of the film yet.

[TheMagicAround]

I am glad she was cut cause there is no sense of her being there. If she was in Rivendell - then in Helm's deep - why wouldn't she be in the Fellowship and in battles for Gondor in the first place? How would she pass Moria or Isengard?

[rhyswong]

I love to see Arwen fight. And I do remember seeing her outfit in Helms Deep. However I think not having her is the right choice, cause the Elves werent there in, and those Elves are from Lothlorien and to have Arwen commanding them is strange.

[TheCodeTinkerer]

Lool "Arwen's deleted storyline" - Persons who haven't read the books don't know why she shouldn't be there :D

The scene, where Arwen saves Frodo and the hobbits it's actually Glorfindel, who saves them. The Nazgul riders fear him by sight, because he shines like a sun in their eyes in the shadow world.

[mary-kittybonkers]

It makes more sense for Aragorn to be running up the stairs to save Arwen. But I completely understand why they had Haldir as the leader of the Elves.

[di]

I am glad that scene was cut. It would have been ridiculous.

[fergalosanchez]

I’m glad we got Haldir but I’m sure Liv Tyler would of been pissed

[TheJocke]

In the books, however,  the Elves are not present at the Battle of Helm's Deep. Peter Jackson wanted to show more of the elves, but it's weird that if he wanted to do that, why did he deleted the scene from Moria to lothlorien fights with the goblins 🤔

[marisamar]

I am glad they backtracked on this. Arwen already did great at the flight to the ford.

[nathansimpson]

I had no idea. So glad they did not do it.

[eidolon-]

I see the reasoning behind the change, and all the arguments made for the elves presence at Helms Deep...


But can we all agree that seeing the High King and Queen of the future Reunited Kingdom fighting side by side would have been SO fucking badass.

[Lily_of_the_Forest]

As much as I’d have loved Arwen kicking butt, it would not have made much sense.

[Marvolo]

I feel bad for Liv. That was a lot of work and she was really proud of those scenes. Jackson should have released that version of Helm's Deep as a deletes scene on the home video release.

[MOTA-Vation]

In the books the Elves never came to the aid of Rohan at Helms deep.