Aragorn fought a troll at the end of the Lord of the Rings movies, but this isn’t the villain he was originally meant to face off against. Peter Jackson’s film trilogy is often praised for its faithfulness to J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, but the director still played around with a variety of non-canon concepts. Characters were cut or added in, and a great deal of action was added to the mix that either never happened in the books or was only implied. Jackson managed a fair balance in the end, but one scene he developed for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King would have tipped the scales.

Near the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Aragorn led his army to the Black Gate of Mordor. His goal here wasn’t to defeat the Dark Lord, but to draw the attention of his fiery eye and give Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee a better chance of destroying the One Ring. Of course, they were all ultimately successful. Sauron had feared Aragorn throughout The Lord of the Rings, since he assumed Isildur’s heir would claim the One Ring and attempt to use it to challenge him. The villain was wrong, but Jackson almost had him face Aragorn in battle to see this for himself.

Aragorn’s Troll Battle At The Black Gate Was Supposed To Be Against Sauron

Viggo Mortensen Was Originally Filmed Fighting The Dark Lord

During the battle at the Black Gate in Return of the King, Aragorn found himself face to face with a massive armored troll. He fought this beast as best he could, but was ultimately overpowered and pinned to the ground under the troll’s foot. Legolas tried desperately to get to his friend, but was blocked off by the battle. Thankfully, the One Ring fell into the fires of Mount Doom just as the troll prepared to deliver the final blow, and Aragorn was saved. It’s a thrilling scene, but the troll in Lord of the Rings was only a last minute addition.

Actor Viggo Mortensen had initially filmed this Return of the King fight scene with a hulking armored figure who was meant to be the Dark Lord Sauron. The top villain of The Lord of the Rings was meant to appear before the Black Gate in a white light, beckoning Aragorn to join him. When the king of Gondor turned to his friends and said “for Frodo,” it was intended to be the dramatic leadup to this doomed battle. However, Jackson changed his mind about this Return of the King scene and used CGI to edit a troll over the Sauron character.

Peter Jackson Thought An Aragorn Vs. Sauron Battle Would Distract From Frodo

The True Battle With Sauron Happened Inside Mount Doom

Jackson ultimately decided that Aragorn facing off with the Dark Lord Sauron would take too much attention away from Frodo and Sam’s big conflict with the Ring inside Mount Doom. “We realized it was actually totally demeaning to what Aragorn was doing,” the filmmaker explained, referring to the fact that Aragorn’s entire purpose at the Black Gate was to serve as a distraction. The King of Gondor was never meant to be the real hero of Lord of the Rings, but a battle with Sauron implied otherwise. It was Frodo who was really facing off with the villain at the end of Return of the King, though not in the flesh.

Aragorn is a far more traditional hero, but the whole point of The Lord of the Rings is that he wasn’t Sauron’s true opponent.

Inside Mount Doom, the end of Frodo’s journey came down to his final big fight against the One Ring’s temptation. Frodo, Sam, and Gollum all took part in this conclusive battle, and though Sauron had his eye fixed on Aragorn, it was he whom the little heroes of Lord of the Rings were fighting against. Having the Hobbits battle Sauron’s Ring while Aragorn battled the villain in the flesh outside would have significantly lessened this impact. Ultimately, it was far better that Jackson made this big shift for the ending of his movie trilogy.

Aragorn’s Fight With The Troll Is Much Closer To Tolkien Canon

Tolkien Had A Different Plan For Aragorn

Though arguments could be made for why the Aragorn and Sauron fight should have been left in Return of the King (it surely would have looked cool), the primary fact that Tolkien didn’t write the battle this way is enough to win out. The author made it clear in his books that Sauron had regained a physical form and had all his attention fixed on Aragorn. However, Tolkien never even hinted that Sauron would march onto the battlefield to face Aragorn. This would have been quite silly on his part, since the whole point is that Sauron thought Aragorn had the One Ring.

Tolkien knew what he was doing with his Lord of the Rings ending, and Jackson was better off trusting in the legendary author’s version of the story.

If Sauron had fought Aragorn at the Black Gate, he would have quickly realized that Isildur’s heir did not possess his weapon after all. This might have tipped him off to the fact that there was more going on here. Perhaps, he would have realized that the Hobbit captured within Mordor wasn’t a spy, but a Ring-bearer preparing to destroy Sauron’s only hope of domination. Tolkien knew what he was doing with his Lord of the Rings ending, and Jackson was better off trusting in the legendary author’s version of the story.