Fun fact, tolkien calculated not only the distances and travel times, but also the moon phases to make sure to always describe the night sky coherently with the time of the year the characters were looking up.

Just wanna say that the Sam and Frodo absolutely did not make it look easy. They were miserable for almost the full length of their trip, and Frodo just about died of exhaustion and ring-poisoning halfway up the slope of Mt Doom.

It took only 6 months for them to destroy the ring, but gandalf 17 years to figure out what the ring was.

In Boromir's defense, he said one does not SIMPLY walk into Mordor. You can, in fact, walk in if you're careful or stealthy enough but it's not going to be easy. You have to get past a nearly impossible mountain pass, a giant spider, an army of thousands of orcs and trolls, evil Men from Rhun and Harad, fell beasts flying overhead, the Nazgul if they've been called home by their boss, and the far-seeing Eye of Sauron that is actively surveying the area.

You've got to remember that Tolkein was old enough he actually fought in WW1 as a young man. He was _very_ familiar with how far a man could walk in a day, and would have been able to accurately estimate the time required for the journey. If anything, the grueling nature of the pace required would be due to him simply forgetting to account for the hobbits having shorter legs.

"Nine were given to Disney, who above all else desire power!" This fits so freaking well!

I didn't realize that having to climb a giant staircase practically straight up, sleeping on said staircase, getting stung by a giant spider after climbing up the big @$$ staircase, and trying to make sure one's master didn't get eaten by that giant spider was a simple thing. You must have such difficult lives if those things are simple for you.

I think what most people leave out is that Boromir was most likely talking about an army invading Mordor, not about a small stealthy party. Thus, his words at the counsil about 10 thousand men.

When Sam wielded the ring, it tempted him to use its power. It showed him turning the desolate landscape of Mordor into a lush garden. That's it. That was Sam's greatest desire

One can walk to Mordor, but not SIMPLY walk to Mordor. It is a difficult task, not a simple one.

"everyone was tempted by the ring" Well to be fair... Gimli was the only one who actually attempted to destroy the ring by himself

i never actually realized that they covered like 80% of the way in the first movie and the remaining 20% in the remaining two :O

Boramir didn't say " one does not walk into Mordor" He said " one do's not SIMPLY walk into Mordor" And he was right. It wasn't simple, it was quite difficult.

I always took that line to mean that it's not a simple task. You don't just stroll into Mordor; there's more to it than that. They needed to sneak in. They needed a whole battle to act as a distraction. There needed to be a plan.

As a thru-hiker on the AT, I can say with confidence that it is DEFINITELY possible. We used to make jokes about LOTR all the time. Katahdin was our Mt. Doom. I even knew a guy whose trail name was Frodo. He had a ring that he wore around his neck that he planned to chuck off the top of the mountain

The strain of the hike is actually accountes for by the end of the movies too when you come to think of it. Both Frodo and Sam are utterly exhausted by the time they reach the mountain, and are at their breaking point, so it adds up in that regard as well.

This was also the reason Bilbo was able to survive his encounter with Smaug. The dragon could basically smell everything he'd ever touched, or done, and every place he'd ever been, but he wasn't familiar with the scent of a Hobbit, having never before encountered one.

This theory just proves how much of a masterpiece The Lord of the Rings is.

Tolkien made a statistic to measure the stride of the hobbits to ensure that the hobbits could have made it to mordor in the time he stated. That is how dedicated Tolkien was to this story.

12:00 literally if you act confidently enough and wear appropriate clothes, you can waltz in just about anywhere that doesn't have a fingerprint scanner. I've genuinely used this tactic in some cases, though obviously not to rob a museum. Just know that it works like a charm and if anyone looks at you weirdly, look back weirdly. They'll likely think they haven't gotten an obvious memo and back off before they're caught "uninformed"

Actually, Samwise's weightloss was because Sean Astin took up Marathons and Triathlons during the course of the trilogy. In fact, he got too fit at one point, and Jackson told him to stop training while filming. Little did Jackson realize, the weightloss made the toll of the quest more believable.

“Nine were given to Disney, who above all else desired power…” Spot-on as usual, MatPat. 😎

"One does not simply walk into Mordor..." Actually it's going to be Super-Easy, Barely even an inconvenience😆😂🤣

There's also one thing to note. Time in elven realms doesn't pass normally, but it's kind of "slowed down". So the two months that they spent in Rivendell weren't actually two months

It boils down to one word. Simply. You can walk into Mordor, but it's not a simple thing. The hobbits needed to be pushed to even start the journey. Then they needed protection. They needed rest at friendly areas and at times needed transportation. And in the end they needed Sauron to be distracted. It was no simple Sunday stroll.

I always took the expression "one does not simply walk into Mordor" to mean you need more than that, including preparation, caution, and an acknowledgement that you likely aren't coming back

Fun fact, in the book Bilbo actually starts to get corrupted by the ring. We also saw the game thing with Gollum, according to his backstory, Gollum was a hobbit, his friend found the ring and Gollum loved it so much he unalived him to get it, Gollum then hid in a cave to try and protect his ring, his precious, fact, even Bilbo started to call the ring his precious at the start of The fellowship of the ring. So making a theory on Hobbits not being corrupted is false, but it’s a very cool theory never the less!

The eye also isn't a genuine literal eye in the books, it's just the manifestation of Sauron through the Palantír and his armies, and being able to see the world from that lens.

It's the "simple" part of that quote that's the most accurate. "One does not simply walk into Mordor": can you walk in there? Yes. Is it simple? Absolutely not: that is why there is story to tell after Rivendell. So yeah, Boromir did kinda know what he was talking about.

I love how Sauron is barely seen throughout the trilogy, but his presence is constantly felt. Part of what makes him an iconic villain.

thank you Mat, now I will go binge watch the whole movie once again because you gave me nostalgia

One mustn't forget that hobbits, being halflings, have to take about twice the amount of steps. Very thoughtful & thorough of you to bring that detail up!

This took “Walk in there and act like you own the place” to a whole new level.

I always thought Boromir actually referred that you can't just walk in by the multiples dangers that there are in the whole path: orcs (a LOT of orcs), goblins, the nazguls, men from rhun and harad, saruman, men that follow saruman, he didn't knew it at the time but uruk-hais, plus every living thing that follow its own way and didn't care of the ring, PLUS those who get tempted by the ring (example: his own father)

Tolkien 100% thought about how long it would take to travel. I think your distance estimate is a bit too high, other estimates are closer to 1k miles. But really liked the ending where you explained how Tolkien did it all on purpose. He was extremely brilliant which is why they stand up today (unlike the trash Amazon series).

I'm pretty sure that orcs did see sam walking into mordor in the books but the effect of the ring made him look like an extremely formidable opponent. They were terrified of him so turned a blind eye.

This was a really good one. Honestly kind of refreshing to see a story proved feasible, and then hammering home Tolkien’s themes was icing on the cake. I think it’s also mentioned in the books that Sauron couldn’t conceive of someone trying to destroy the ring. In its whole history, the only people to willingly give it away were Bilbo, Sam, and Frodo (sort of, Gandalf refused and Frodo ends up taking it back as the official ring bearer at the Council of Elrond)

More insight on the Ring's inability to attempt hobbits: in the books, it tried to make Samwise take it for himself, but all it could do was make him imagine Mordor covered in flowers.

The stride length may be accurate, but the cadence can also go up with the shorter stature, so the total impact to speed may be surprising.

Calling Sauron a light house and Saruman a hype man made my day.

Borimir was referring to Mordor crawling with orcs, and nearby lands being riddled with spies rather than the actual distance.

Well, at the end even Frodo was tempted. Gollum had to bite his finger off. But Sauron is definitely the greatest dude in the universe. They should make a car brand or Sauron clothes.

Also the distance here isn’t even taking account for how long they possibly walked in circles in those mountains before hitting the marshes

Frodo and Sam didn't "simply" walk into Mordor though. They had to take the hidden way that only Gollum knew, which nearly cost them both their lives b/c of Shelob. And the orcs weren't worried about that weak spot b/c they knew anyone going through would likely be killed by Shelob.

The best possible in and out of universe explanation for how Frodo and Sam were able to destroy the ring is that Sauron in his ambition was quite hubris and it never even occurred to him that someone would ever want to try to destroy the ring. Beautiful thematic storytelling and very plausible! It makes perfect sense and is just so perfect that he wrongly assumed anyone who had it would try to use it.

11:21 The orcs are also canonically stupid brutes, it doesn't take a lot to fool them

I might point out the interesting fact that Tolkien derived "Gollum" from the word "golem" which is similar to a homunculus. A golem in many cultures was considered to be a humanoid form lacking a soul, a mind, or a will of its own and created merely as a puppet. This applies to Gollum because this is what the Ring did to him: it robbed him of his will and sense of a true self (though a very small shard of that sense remained) and made him essentially a puppet of Sauron's will. One thing I always found strange though was that Gandalf explained to Frodo that prolonged and repeated use of the Ring would cause the wearer to eventually become a shade, yet in 60 years of Bilbo using the Ring, and 500 years of Gollum using the Ring, it did not have this effect on either of them at all except to slowly subsume their identities. Anyway, just an interesting point.

Sauron wasn't worried about the ring being destroyed. Even Frodo actually turned away from destroying it at the last minute. The only reason it is destroyed is because Gollum attacks him to steal it and in his greed accidentally falls into the volcano with the ring.

I want to know MatPat's definition of "easy". Because Frodo and Sam's journey to Mt. Doom never came across as easy to me.

Loved the video dude it's always so entertaining how much detail goes into them haha

Good video but kind of missed the point They didnt simply walked there, they went through the backdoor while the camp was kind of empty because it was thought the ring was with someone in the front door

Mordor is a massive fortress in a world shaped by World War 1. Boromir always meant "Mordor is really hard to get into. It's not entering Wal-Mart". Those challenges mentioned are precisely the things Boromir feared

Thing is, Tolkien probably thought of each and every one of these points when making the story

Something tells me alot of people, even The Film Theorist here, overlooked or misinterpreted, a couple key parts of what Boramire said. "One does not SIMPLY walk INTO Mordor." About half this video talks about the trip they took walking TO Mordor. Which yeah, is conpletly possible. However, Boramire said walking INTO, usually refering to going through the front door/gate, not sneaking around and through some hidden side/back entrance. Also, they didn't so much WALK INTO Mordor, as Frodo was poisoned and dragged/carried in and Sam managed to sneak in behind them. Also, there wasn't really anything SIMPLE about the trip TO let alone getting INTO Mordor itself. The Fellowship as well as Frodo and Same had to overcome a number of difficult challenges, from goblins, trolls, orcs and ring wrathes, to climbing hills and mountain, traversing difficult terrain, an surviving an avalanche and being guided through a haunted bog/marsh, not to mention getting past Shelob and escaping capture. That said, they were lucky to find their disguises and that they didn't quite reek of "Man Flesh!", as orcs are quite good at sniffing them out. Though that may be due to them not quite knowing what hobbits smell like, or passibly even taste like. Not to mention having traveled such a long way and for quite a long time with little to no chance or means to bathe. They probably ended smelling alot like orcs by the time they reached Mordor.

Observer bias is how I got into so many college parties in highschool lol

Honestly, I already know about observer bias because of the Hitman games. You didn't always need a disguise as long as everyone didn't look too closely. They usually look at the uniform rather than the face.

That makes perfect sense about casually sneaking into places where you don't belong. A lot of people aren't gonna look at you twice if you act like you're supposed to go into the place you're sneaking into. Many people will look out for people that have nervous appearance cuz they might be trying to do something they aren't supposed to do. I tell my friends that all the time when we sneak into places. "Look like you're supposed to be here and no one will double check your story."

I am all for more LOTR theories! That was fascinating! Thank you guys for always doing your research and chasing down your curiosities.

Love that "clipboard&ladder" being a key to everything. Had to use it few times before. Recently it was a Van and correct attitude. Managed to get through security gate into the yard on a warehouse.

Mordor always seemed too conveniently fortified by the mountains surrounding it, to me. The thought that Morgoth, ages ago, may have made it that way intentionally and strategically for future plans is something I really like.

As far as the lore goes another reason why Sauron doesn't catch them sneaking into Mordor is because he can't imagine anyone destroying the ring, he can only imagine that anyone who has the ring would attempt to use it. So that's what he prepares for; someone like Elrond or Aragorn using the ring in the last battles. It never crosses his mind that they might just want to destroy such an immensely powerful weapon. *also forgot to mention it but if you want some good videos on just this kind of question Mattpat is talking about go check out IndeepGeeks videos on Tolkien. Just some of the best LOTR stuff out there.

Just as a note - the larger feet of the hobbits would increase their average walking speed slightly and allow them to regain more energy with every step - so over longer travels they may actually have a higher average speed.

Boromir said "One does not simply walk into Mordor." We still don't know if that's true because there were two of them that walked into Mordor

He has some excellent dry humour and referencing.

I found out from a VERY young age that you can just walk into almost any restricted area confidently as if you’re supposed to be there and no one will give a second glance. Got into a lot of places I shouldn’t have been

The last part about the lore should have been called “The Lore of The Rings”

also what saruman meant by saurons gaze is that sauron had a palantir, which basically works like a seeing orb that sees through anything to a specific distance

As regards the Hobbits dressing up as Orcs: you can pull off pretty much everything if you act like you're supposed to be there. I think I've heard of an experiment where a group of people pretended to be burglars. They emptied out a flat in the middle of the day on a busy road. Everyone assumed they were simply moving - to the point that bystanders were asked to lend a hand in moving this object or that and they did so.

Hearing about observer bias reminded me of when we played mat ball in gym and I would just walk from one mat to the next and nobody tried to get me out because they didn't realise that I was moving from one base to the next and instead thought I was just one of the kids on their team walking around. I saw my gym teacher after I left the school and he said I was "the best walking mat ball player" he had ever seen

Arguably, they would have been seen at the start if not for the elven cloaks they had. Also, Frodo got caught and Sam was lucky to break him out without Sauron being alerted.

It's fun to hear your theories (and your teams)

I think it's good that you talked about the *film's* canon, not confusing it with book canon, as in the actual lore, Sauron is not really an actual floating eyeball. The Eye of Sauron is more of a metaphorical thing in the books as he does actually still possess a body, but he uses the symbol of the Eye for his armies. He also has a Palantir, like the one Saruman had, which lets him see across vast distances. The literal fire Eye on top of the tower is really only a liberty taken by the filmmakers.

it would be really cool to see more fantasy stuff covered here. the Loring opening was beautiful

When you start calculating a hobbit’s stride… I knew I was in the right place!😂

Also add that in the books it says that hobbits have excellent endurance and resistance so that can help a lot

Um, Mat, I don't think the saying literally means that it's physically impossible to walk into Mordor. They're saying that there are so many dangers waiting for you both there, and on your journey there, that no one in their right mind would actually try to get in that way.

Such a video man! Loved it

Walking that distance isn’t unheard of even in the relatively modern day. Terry Fox ran 42 miles a day for 143 days, covering 3,339 miles (5,373km), so more than far enough to get into Mordor. He also did it with one leg. And cancer. Given the distance the hobbits walked and Terry Fox’s running pace, he would have covered that distance in about 43 days.

Literally just a few days ago a Navajo woman walked 2,400 miles from Sweetwater Arizona to Washington D.C. on a prayer walk. And it took her just over 3.5 months

Well considering the fact that in this video you listed out that they needed to travel thousands of miles, have specially qualified people to bring the ring in who were stealthier, and literally throw a hail Mary pass to distract the dark lord at the very end, I'd say it wasn't a simple walk into Mordor.

12:23 is that about the scarf? i don't get how a fedora and a purple scarf has realatibility to the normal undertale au???

9:17 One of my favorite shots in the trilogy

I am actually shocked that you didn't address the guardians at the gates. If Golum wasnt there to show them the secret passes to stay hidden, they would never have been able to get past the gates at Morgul and Mordor.

The clever intros never cease to amaze me 😂😭

This was very cool to see. I like that the books match some level of reality, for a fantasy story. That being said, the comment was about waking through the front door. Which we know was not done. They went through the least likely path. Because it was so dangerous and unknown that nobody thought it could be done. There was nothing "simple" about it. Still, I learned a lot about the map, timeline, and distance which was cool.

One thing MatPat didn't touch on explicitly: The hobbits are a hardy race. Look at their way of living, the way they move around the Shire. They jog around barefoot all the time with glee. I think they could've held an even higher average speed.

Middle earth's calendar is actually slightly different to ours, and also to be precise, the Hobbit calendar the books use

As divided as we all are, one of the most unifying features of our culture is our love for this one story. It cuts across so many groups, generations, demographics. It's really a pleasure to have watched the film series adaptation as a unifying cultural touchstone, and I'm glad to have shared my moments of inspiration watching this film series with many close friends and strangers.

It was a series of very specific events that allowed them to "simply walk into mordor" -only made it past Shelob due to having Sting and the Phial of Galadriels -only made it across the Dead Marshes with guidance by Gollum -only had as easy as easy a time as they did due to Aaragorn and Gandlaf bringing the army to the back gates -Sauron expected Aargorn or Pippin to have the ring and knew their location, hence even less attention paid for some random back door hobbits They absolutely were not just some bros who waltzed in, Boromir 100% knew where it was at.

10:11 Fun fact: Apparently Lembas was based off of Hard Tack bread, which was a kind of ration eaten during wars like the Civil War. It was little more than flour, water and salt and soldiers have reportedly survived months on end from eating it. Multiple cases of scurvy did happen, though.

When I worked at Best Buy, they said the most commonly stolen item was big screen TVs because when you act like you bought it, people don't question it. So sneaking in like they did is very plausible

this is the greatest opening matpat has ever done, the first 40 seconds had me almost in tears. i need more lotr theories now please?

The fact that Sam and Frodo had to physically push themselves to complete their journey just adds to their heroism. They had to exert their bodies to their physical limit in order to save the world and it makes for nice headcanon.

The intro was epic :)

Yes! We want more theories like this one please!

fun fact Tolkien had a response to "why didn't the fellowship just use eagles to fly it and be done with it?" his response is really good and you can find recorded audio from Tolkien himself giving the answer, well worth the listen :)

Aragorn whispering YOLO is actually the best joke I've heard Mat Pat say.

Loved the intro ❤

The fact he said rings of power was “pretty good” got me dying lol

To be fair to Boromir here, if it wasn't for the elvish equipment they had they still wouldn't have been stealthy enough to sneak through reliably and Sam never would have been able to reach Frodo after he was captured, since even on that back path there was some weird spell on the gate to stop people from just waltzing on through. I think. It's been a while since I read it.