*Note****^(1)****: The dividing line is quite arbitrary. How many mentions should equal 1 minute of screen time? Without a single main character to base this off of, I decided to go with the linear regression “line of best fit”.*
*Note****^(2)****: A word on names… Tolkien freaking loves names. His world has SO many characters, and each character has multiple names. It would be near impossible to visualize all characters in LOTR, so I chose the most prominent. Some honorable mentions who didn’t make the visualization above include Rosie Cotton, Shadowfax, the Balrog, Hama, Gamling, Isildur, and the King of the Dead, all of whom fell in the “under-represented category”. When it comes to multiple names for the same character, the count includes all name variations of that character (ex. Gollum = Gollum + Smeagol, Gandalf = Gandalf + Mithrandir + Olorin + Grey Pilgrim, Aragorn = Aragorn, Strider, Elessar, Estel, etc.)*
Tom Bombadil breakin’ my heart down there on the Y Axis.
That’s crazy that Boromir had more screen time than Gimli
Really neat idea, but I do wonder if a different presentation could be better – since there’s so much unused space in like 2/3 of this figure here.
Maybe a different axis scaling since everything seems to be happening in the bottom-left, with the top-left and bottom-right being entirely unused.
Overall pretty good. Expected rohan characters, surprised a bit about Gimli, Merry and Pippin, would have expected that they were overrepresented, and surprised about Arwen, because it felt like she barely appeared after the first one. Overall I think this shows they did a really good job in the movies, because in general there are no characters that feel like they should have more or less weight than they had, and those that maybe could feel like that actually had even less or more weight in the books.
Its remarkable how close most characters are to the line even the ones who are “far” off from it (except the ones in the beginning).
Also does this count the appendix as if it does, I thibk Aragorn might be closer to the line than he is.
I feel like screen time may not paint the whole picture of a character being “represented”. For instance, Sauron may not have as much screen time in the film, but he is mentioned quite a bit (in the film by other characters), so his presence is still felt while he’s not on the screen.
Dumb concept. Screen time is not a good measure of the importance of a character to a movie story. For one thing, action sequences eat a lot more time in film than they do words on a page. The fight with Godmog, for example, eats tons of time in the movies, because it’s an actions spectacle, where in the books most of that fight is relayed by Gandalf in very vague terms. For another, a wide shot with a bunch of characters just existing in-frame doesn’t mean those characters are important, or feature significantly in the story at that time. Finaly, many “under-represented” characters are very effects-heavy supporting characters, like Gimli or Bilbo or Merry, who require specific framing tricks to put them in the picture with the rest of the cast, where regular-sized peole like Legolas, Aragorn, and Theoden can just walk into frame with no setup required.
So hotter actors get more screen time.
Théoden King? Over-represented?
A curse upon thee, vulgar graph maker. The last King of the Rohirrim should have been placed yet more prominently, as due his station!
Wait, where was Glorfindel in the movies?? The chart is showing a non zero screen time for him
This is very cool! Now make one of the Rings of Power
No female characters (except arguably Shelob) are underrepresented…
Um, Gothmog was not the Balrog in the movie or the books, he was the captain of the Balrogs in the Silmarillion.
edit: if this is just a nerd trap I will happily fall into it.
second edit: apparently the Gothmog in question is the orc lieutenant at the battle of Pelennor fields and not the Balrog.
Most of the mentions of Sauron and Saruman in the books are made when they’re not even present. The usually occur when someone else is talking about what they’re doing, or how to defeat them.
Prince Imrahil in shambles.
Why is the linear line stars from 1 and not 0?
Boromir being over represented while Faramir is under represented seems incredibly ironic given the nature of their story and relationship.
This makes no sense, a mention in a book does not equal a feature so how are you going to rate by on screen appearance?
Legolas is tricky because he probably had more dialog in the books even though his screen time is very high
Sad to see no Hobbits over the line. I wouldn’t call it egregious, but aren’t they kind of the point of the whole story?
I’m glad Arwen and Eowyn are in the movies more.
Your scales are weird
How did you count the “mentions in books”? e.g in the opening paragraph what is your count? I make it 11
*When Mr.* ***Bilbo*** *Baggins of Bag End announced that* ***he*** *would shortly be celebrating* ***his*** *eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.* ***Bilbo*** *was very rich and very peculiar, and had been the wonder of the Shire for sixty years, ever since* ***his*** *remarkable disappearance and unexpected return. The riches* ***he*** *had brought back from* ***his*** *travels had now become a local legend, and it was popularly believed, whatever the old folk might say, that the Hill at Bag End was full of tunnels stuffed with treasure. And if that was not enough for fame, there was also* ***his*** *prolonged vigour to marvel at. Time wore on, but it seemed to have little effect on Mr.* ***Baggins****. At ninety* ***he*** *was much the same as at fifty. At ninety-nine they began to call* ***him*** *well-preserved; but unchanged would have been nearer the mark. There were some that shook their heads and thought this was too much of a good thing; it seemed unfair that anyone should possess (apparently) perpetual youth as well as (reputedly) inexhaustible wealth. ‘It will have to be paid for,’ they said. ‘It isn’t natural, and trouble will come of it!’*
Radagast should really find a better agent.
Tom deserves a spin-off. Huge part of the books I think.
Now we’re talking, more points of contention for the nerds, keep the pop culture conflicts raging on.
Not enough Gimli. I knew it. Though i would have said this regardless of outcome.
27 comments
I was inspired by u/chartr’s post a few years ago on [Harry Potter characters](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/kgwl1h/harry_potter_characters_screen_time_vs_mentions/), so I decided to do the same with LOTR! The data comes from the LOTR books text found [here](https://gosafir.com/mag/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tolkien-J.-The-lord-of-the-rings-HarperCollins-ebooks-2010.pdf) and from [Matthew Stewart](https://x.com/MatthewAStewart/status/1162750380025008129?lang=en). The visualization itself is made entirely by me in RStudio.
*Note****^(1)****: The dividing line is quite arbitrary. How many mentions should equal 1 minute of screen time? Without a single main character to base this off of, I decided to go with the linear regression “line of best fit”.*
*Note****^(2)****: A word on names… Tolkien freaking loves names. His world has SO many characters, and each character has multiple names. It would be near impossible to visualize all characters in LOTR, so I chose the most prominent. Some honorable mentions who didn’t make the visualization above include Rosie Cotton, Shadowfax, the Balrog, Hama, Gamling, Isildur, and the King of the Dead, all of whom fell in the “under-represented category”. When it comes to multiple names for the same character, the count includes all name variations of that character (ex. Gollum = Gollum + Smeagol, Gandalf = Gandalf + Mithrandir + Olorin + Grey Pilgrim, Aragorn = Aragorn, Strider, Elessar, Estel, etc.)*
Tom Bombadil breakin’ my heart down there on the Y Axis.
That’s crazy that Boromir had more screen time than Gimli
Really neat idea, but I do wonder if a different presentation could be better – since there’s so much unused space in like 2/3 of this figure here.
Maybe a different axis scaling since everything seems to be happening in the bottom-left, with the top-left and bottom-right being entirely unused.
Overall pretty good. Expected rohan characters, surprised a bit about Gimli, Merry and Pippin, would have expected that they were overrepresented, and surprised about Arwen, because it felt like she barely appeared after the first one. Overall I think this shows they did a really good job in the movies, because in general there are no characters that feel like they should have more or less weight than they had, and those that maybe could feel like that actually had even less or more weight in the books.
Its remarkable how close most characters are to the line even the ones who are “far” off from it (except the ones in the beginning).
Also does this count the appendix as if it does, I thibk Aragorn might be closer to the line than he is.
I feel like screen time may not paint the whole picture of a character being “represented”. For instance, Sauron may not have as much screen time in the film, but he is mentioned quite a bit (in the film by other characters), so his presence is still felt while he’s not on the screen.
Dumb concept. Screen time is not a good measure of the importance of a character to a movie story. For one thing, action sequences eat a lot more time in film than they do words on a page. The fight with Godmog, for example, eats tons of time in the movies, because it’s an actions spectacle, where in the books most of that fight is relayed by Gandalf in very vague terms. For another, a wide shot with a bunch of characters just existing in-frame doesn’t mean those characters are important, or feature significantly in the story at that time. Finaly, many “under-represented” characters are very effects-heavy supporting characters, like Gimli or Bilbo or Merry, who require specific framing tricks to put them in the picture with the rest of the cast, where regular-sized peole like Legolas, Aragorn, and Theoden can just walk into frame with no setup required.
So hotter actors get more screen time.
Théoden King? Over-represented?
A curse upon thee, vulgar graph maker. The last King of the Rohirrim should have been placed yet more prominently, as due his station!
Wait, where was Glorfindel in the movies?? The chart is showing a non zero screen time for him
This is very cool!
Now make one of the Rings of Power
No female characters (except arguably Shelob) are underrepresented…
Um, Gothmog was not the Balrog in the movie or the books, he was the captain of the Balrogs in the Silmarillion.
edit: if this is just a nerd trap I will happily fall into it.
second edit: apparently the Gothmog in question is the orc lieutenant at the battle of Pelennor fields and not the Balrog.
Most of the mentions of Sauron and Saruman in the books are made when they’re not even present. The usually occur when someone else is talking about what they’re doing, or how to defeat them.
Prince Imrahil in shambles.
Why is the linear line stars from 1 and not 0?
Boromir being over represented while Faramir is under represented seems incredibly ironic given the nature of their story and relationship.
This makes no sense, a mention in a book does not equal a feature so how are you going to rate by on screen appearance?
Legolas is tricky because he probably had more dialog in the books even though his screen time is very high
Sad to see no Hobbits over the line. I wouldn’t call it egregious, but aren’t they kind of the point of the whole story?
I’m glad Arwen and Eowyn are in the movies more.
Your scales are weird
How did you count the “mentions in books”? e.g in the opening paragraph what is your count? I make it 11
*When Mr.* ***Bilbo*** *Baggins of Bag End announced that* ***he*** *would shortly be celebrating* ***his*** *eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.* ***Bilbo*** *was very rich and very peculiar, and had been the wonder of the Shire for sixty years, ever since* ***his*** *remarkable disappearance and unexpected return. The riches* ***he*** *had brought back from* ***his*** *travels had now become a local legend, and it was popularly believed, whatever the old folk might say, that the Hill at Bag End was full of tunnels stuffed with treasure. And if that was not enough for fame, there was also* ***his*** *prolonged vigour to marvel at. Time wore on, but it seemed to have little effect on Mr.* ***Baggins****. At ninety* ***he*** *was much the same as at fifty. At ninety-nine they began to call* ***him*** *well-preserved; but unchanged would have been nearer the mark. There were some that shook their heads and thought this was too much of a good thing; it seemed unfair that anyone should possess (apparently) perpetual youth as well as (reputedly) inexhaustible wealth. ‘It will have to be paid for,’ they said. ‘It isn’t natural, and trouble will come of it!’*
Radagast should really find a better agent.
Tom deserves a spin-off. Huge part of the books I think.
Now we’re talking, more points of contention for the nerds, keep the pop culture conflicts raging on.
Not enough Gimli. I knew it. Though i would have said this regardless of outcome.