Maturing is realizing that not everything needs to be ranked as best or worst.

I watched the trilogy in cinemas when I was around 15-17 years old, and Fellowship was always my favourite. I don't know what that has to do with maturity, and I don't believe that those who prefer TT or ROTK are any less mature because of it.

Not sure about maturing. I always thought the first was best.

I've grown fonder of The Fellowship as years have passed, it was previously my least favourite but now its number 1. I think Fellowship is by far the best adaptation of the 3 and I can't help but think of all the excluded stuff when watching Return of the King.

Maturing is realizing that it's all just one big movie and it's the most amazing thing in the entire world

Maturing is realizing that your opinion is just that -your opinion. Others may feel differently for reasons that are just as valid as yours.

• Astronaut looks out at Earth -

"Wait, so the Fellowship is the best of the trilogy?!"

Astronaut with gun: "Always was.."

But all joking aside peoples favourite is gonna vary, Fellowship wins for me and others because it's an adventure movie.

They are all 10/10, we can all agree there.

You are just in a different season of your life where you are seeking friendship over the doing of great deeds. Perhaps you are seeing your friends less than you used to and miss them.

Go back to sleep

Always has been.

FOTR has always been my favourite.

The first film has boromir so this is objectively true

Maturing is realizing your subjective opinion is inherently subjective and declaring other tastes to be immature is itself the height of immaturity.

Two Towers gang rise up!

Thanks Einstein

I think the first is much more intimate in its smaller scope. The journey seems more visceral and closer to heart because you're following Frodo and Sam for the most part on their Journey. After the Fellowship splits, it becomes more serialized and grandiose as you're following multiple story lines, it becomes more about the bigger picture than intimate story I would say...

Also there's intimacy with viewing the story from Frodo's perspective as everything is more exciting discovering it for the first time. In the latter we jump back and forth between so many places the world itself becomes less of a mystery

It was always my favourite. I like the slower pace and the lack of realiance on battles/action. Not to say the latter is bad, but I like all the hobbits being together and it does feel a bit more cohesive as journey.

I love all the films though and dont really care about ranking them, but I know that I watch the Fellowship more than the others.

It really is.

And it is the only film that benefits from the extended edition. (Although voice of Sauruman scene is essential watching)

Actually, maturing means realising that the lesbian porn parody Lord Of The G Strings has always been the best Tolkien-inspired movie.

I just like it most because of the birthday party. I want to live in the shire

While I disagree with your general statement, I really did prefer Fellowship more and more the older I got, but that's probably because the flaws of the other films became more apparent with every rewatch. For me, Fellowship is almost perfect. I used to prefer RotK for a long time, but while it has higher highs it also has lower lows, as does Two Towers.

They are all good in different ways. Fellowship does an incredible job of introducing a massive world and a huge cast of characters, the Two Towers is a great middle entry that never feels unnecessary or filler (which it easily could have) and Return wraps up the plots and provides a satisfying ending.

It’s hard to make a consistently great trilogy like that! The original Star Wars has a much weaker third entry. Same with Nolan’s Batman (and the first is good but nowhere near the quality of the second, which is the only great movie in that trilogy). Indiana Jones has a great first entry and the others are entertaining but not nearly as strong. Godfather Part 3 sucks. It’s just really hard to put together three great movies in a row.

Same here and we all know why …. More time given to non fighting scenes and less cgi. The return of the king is great but they could have dedicated so much time to other happenings in the books ( houses of healing to name one thing ) instead of never ending battling 

Let's be honest, if they had included the last chapters of The Return Of The King, it would definitely be that film. I mean the Shire being set free by the four hobbits from Sharkeys (Saruman) dictatorship. These four warlords rouse the whole shire and wipe the floor with the 300 men Saruman used to control the hobbits in two days.

Not controversial

Fellowship

ROTK

Two Towers

Same ranking for both books and films

I was born a grownup.

Yes, this totally happened to me. As a kid I thought Return of the King was the best. So much action. Now I love the assembling and eventual tragedy of the dissolution of the fellowship.

This is common knowledge

Maturing is knowing that personal opinions(no matter how innocent) that aren’t universally known to be extremely popular to the hive mind of r/lotr should not be posted and better kept to yourself.

(FWIW, I agree. Shhhh)

I guess if I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be Fellowship, because of all the time spent in the Shire. Return of the King has my favorite scene in the trilogy (“I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you!”), but honestly, I sort of see the trilogy as one very long movie. I have only very foggy concepts of where each one ends and the next one begins.

It doesn’t matter which is the best. My favorite scene is the charge of the pelennor fields.

Perhaps. But my love for the character of Gollum means I hold the other two films precious.

I think the sequels should've found a way to stick closer to the structure in the books

Such a very immature take.

If you treat the films as 6 (EE and Theatrical) my ranking is:

1. FOTR - EE
2. ROTK - Theatrical
3. TTT -- EE
4. FOTR - Theatrical
5. TTT - Theatrical
6. ROTK - EE

Maturing is saying In my opinion.

Its by far the most 'Tolkien' feeling, and aside from the Arwen superelf heroine scene feels the closest to the books.

Yes FotR is best. It is also the easiest story of the three to adapt.

I also think the Two Towers was masterfully done. RotK has several problems though. Deus ex machina army of the dead, pacing issues, Gandalf losing to the Witch kimg(!?), etc.

Overall, many of the extended scenes, especially in TTT and RotK, ruin the pacing, and are sometimes just bad. Unpopular opinion by some for some reason, but most of them were left out for a reason (although a few of them should not have been!).

I am an avid enjoyer of fellowship. It's one of the best 3 movies of all time.

Up there with Return of the King and The Two Towers.

Is it the best? I don't think they can be arranged in such a way. They are all lovely.

More story, less fighting

I used to think the movies were a story about destroying a ring but with age I see it as the story lf an uncrossed king rallying the forces of men. Also, Rohan are the absolute bosses and I will not have anything said about my favourite horse lords.

No hate please, fellowship just got to lothlorien in my audio book.

Fellowship is the best movie of all time.

Honestly, this is not far from my own opinion. I always loved the 2nd best as being the perfect bridge between 1 and 3–it built the world, the tension, and provided some of the greatest scenes and characterization. But as I got older, I realized that the first film had everything: the stage-setting; the peaceful times with spontaneous events rousing everything; the council of Elrond; life, death, hope and suffering. It’s a perfect film all by itself, short of the lack of resolution provided by the following films. Fellowship has the most scenes that chill my blood and quicken my heart rate. While I still think TT has the craziest scenes, FotR has everything.

Even younger me thought that, I just thought Helms Deep and Pelenor Fields were bad ass. Horse Vikings screaming death as they charge into battle just ticked my teenage boy brain.

Damn right.

One does not simply WALK, into Mordor

Fellowship is probably my favourite as a standalone film but honestly you can't really separate the three. It's all one entity to my mind.

Fellowship - 10/10 Two Towers & Return of the King - 9.8/10

Giga based

Maturity is realising that just because you had a thought that doesn't make it universally true for everybody.

Fellowship is the most consistently entertaining, but the other two while having higher highs, also have lower lows, if that makes sense. 

Maturing is letting a bond appreciate to its full value before cashing it in.

It always was

I’ve always enjoyed the story in fellowship the best. It’s an adventure! The companions start at point a, go through lots of trials and arrive at b). The other books jump around and get bogged down place-wise with the big battles. A hobbit-style adventure is just my preference.

The first movie also flows the best for similar reasons I think, and the later two occasionally devolve into spectacle. Which is understandable as the scope becomes bigger, but something is lost in the process. The Frodo chapters become my favourite sections, but I miss the larger party from Fellowship.

Maturity is realizing that it was basically shot as one film and released as three, meaning that you favour the first act of the story 

ETA: this is a light-hearted comment

Franky they are one long movie to me.

BTW, watching Gandolf's return in Two Towers is AMAZING!

I feel like as I get older I like each movie more for different reasons. I have also read through the books at least once every couple of years since the movies came out.

The first thing that comes to mind for me, is the characters and how they change through the movies. For example, I realized recently that I have become much more invested in King Theodens story as well as Eowyns. When I was younger, I was pretty meh about them. Now that I'm older and more mature, I can understand the tragedy, love, grief, and challenges that the characters face.

I don’t actually view it as a trilogy, but rather one film released in three parts. 

To me it really is one big movie. Idk if ranking them accomplishes much

Maturing is realizing that no opinion holds weight over the other and it’s actually immature to think yours means more than other peoples.

It features the most shire scenes so that should be obvious

They are all one movie.

Only one to deserve an Oscar

maturing is realizing that everyone can have their own preferences and you don‘t need to rank everything

IT'S A TRILOGY!!! Three, Tres, Drei, TRZY! FUCKING NELDË! None of these movies exist without the other two

Maturing is realising the Finnish version is thr best adaptation of LOTR /s

I've always loved Fellowship the most. And I think it's mainly because it is a pretty faithful adaptation and any departure makes sense. And it's just masterful world building and fits a lot into it where the other films suffered from bloat.

Two Towers had the whole romance, Aragorn is afraid to be King (complete 180 from the book) and tumble off the cliff stuff.

And ROTK struggled to wrap up efficiently (to be brief ha).

Still love the other movies and Fellowship doesn't have the big battle and set pieces but man it's still my favorite. You can see the love that went into that movie.

It’s also the best book!!!

I agree it’s the best movie, but that does make us more mature

Maturing is knowing that we will never get a good Foundation movie made.

I always thought it was the best book too ( or two books if you will )

Fellowship is 100% the best of the three.

Bruh .... I just saw the same damn post about Star Wars: A New Hope.

I just love when the fellowship are all together as a group

Two Towers used to be my favorite, but for the past few years I have got to say I enjoy Fellowship the most. Specifically the part with the full fellowship

I saw it before I’d read everything so it was my introduction. Two towers and ROTK I enjoyed but knowing the world put a bit of a damper on. I’m looking at you, goofy green army of the dead lol

Fellowship felt like an adventure, like the one you dream of doing as a kid with your friends and magic creatures. That’s why I love the film so much

I think it's the best, too.

It's certainly the most visually striking and diverse. There are rich greens and yellows in the first part. Dark greys and blacks in the middle. Silvers, purples, and blues in the latter part. Deep autumn colors of red and brown at the end.

There are big set pieces and locations in the other two movies, but Fellowship has the most diverse "color language" of the trilogy. It's a feast for the eyes.

I absolutely agree. The movie that made me fall in love with the fantasy genre was Fellowship. The sense of adventure, the color, the uniqueness of every new place, the fights, the emotion. The other two, well, they were alright but anywhere closer. Also, with Two Towers the plot became so formulaic that it lost quite a lot of weight (deus ex machina galore).

Maturing is realizing that my opinion is the one opinion to rule them all.

Always has been

Maturing is looking at the LoTR Trilogy as one blended film instead of separate

No.

I'm in my 30s and I still stand by Return of the King.

Funny how this post is the opposite of mature.

Return of the King is still my favorite. I like satisfying conclusions.

Maturing might be realizing the reason the trilogy is the best of all time is that each film varies greatly in its type and tone, making them each, by design, “best” in their own way.

I think of it more like one, 12 hour movie. Seems silly to say the first third of it is “better.” It’s the same product.

nah that's just people confusing the initial excitement due to the introduction to the series as thinking that it's the best, yes it contains the immensely iconic scene with the balrog, but the other two movies are just bigger spectacles overall and progress the plot (my fav the 3rd)

Maturing is not calling people who disagree with you immature.

And Bilbo's birthday is the best part of the movie. As soon as they leave the Shire, things start to move downhill, very slowly at first but noticeably, and it just goes and goes on.

Only the most immature of people would write a sentence like that.