Things are about to get emotional, and I can’t wait. If you missed last week’s themed Top 10 of favorite characters, check it out here. This week, we’re going to break down my favorite Middle Earth moments. We’ll be focusing on just The Lord of the Rings (movie) because I’ve got a whole other post coming for you next week about The Silmarillion, and tomorrow is dedicated entirely to The Hobbit, and I don’t want to spoil anything before we get there.

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“You bow to no one.”

Why did I start with this one? It’s literally the one that makes me cry, even if I’m not watching the scene. All I have to do is think about it, and I start weeping uncontrollably. Aragorn is legit crowned king of all mankind, and there are thousands of people there to witness his coronation, and he gets all my friends like he can’t even believe they’re even considering they should bow to him. He’s like BUT I DID NOTHING YOU LITERALLY WALKED INTO MORDOR and the king of everyone bows, and so, of course, so do the thousands of people around him, and wow okay, I’m crying now.

“I can’t carry the ring for you, but I can carry you!”

Wow, we’re just going hard on this list, huh. I talked about this scene a little bit in last week’s discussion post, and it’s one of the main reasons why Sam is my favorite character in all of literature. He knows that he can’t carry the ring. He’s tried, and it overcame him almost immediately. But he also knows that Frodo truly can’t go on without help at this point, so he does the only thing left to him–he bodily picks Frodo up and carries him up the mountain. Sam is just the best.

Helm’s Deep

Is Two Towers the best of the trilogy? (There’s only one correct answer here.) Is Helm’s Deep also the most badass battle ever? Growing up, I told myself that I was only allowed one battle in the rain because this scene killed me so much that I wanted to put every single scene in the rain.

“Put aside the ranger. Become who you were born to be.”

Someday, I’m getting this sword (Andúril, not the shards of Narsil) tattooed on me, and I cannot wait. It’s going to be badass, and my mom is going to hate it. Throughout the trilogy, we watch Aragorn transform from a ranger to a kind of leader to starting to accept his role to a straight up king, and it’s amazing. But this moment, watching the camera pan up and up and up is one of my favorite Aragorn moments.

Ride of the Rohirrim

Oooooh buddy, I have to be careful with this scene because it’s six minutes long and I will, at any given moment, watch all six minutes of it at least four times in a row. It’s easily one of my favorite scenes of the entire trilogy because a) the Rohirrim and b) Minas Tirith and c) ROTK is fucking incredible, fight me.

“There’s some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”

Have I quoted this scene in my yoga class a minimum of ten times in the last year? Oh, heck yeah. I’ll probably end up getting some of it tattooed on me at some point. I mean, not only is it Sam, but it’s my favorite line from everything Tolkien’s ever written, and it also comes at such a pivotal time in the story.

Concerning Hobbits

I admit, a little of why this is one of my favorite scenes is (one) because I love hobbits so goddamn much and (two) the song, Concerning Hobbits, will never not make me weep. It’s such a good introduction to hobbits, and it’s so sweet and soft, and it just makes me nostalgic as heck.

Journey to the Grey Havens

OKAY, LOOK, I KNOW THIS IS QUITE POSSIBLY THE SADDEST SCENE IN THE ENTIRE TRILOGY, and I know we give Tolkien grief all the time about the 37 endings in ROTK, but THIS SCENE gets me every time. I honestly really do love Tolkien’s 37 endings to ROTK because there are no loose ends, and you get to see everyone come to a happy(ish) end, and it’s just very satisfying, okay. But also, Sam destroys me in this scene.

Last March of the Ents

UGH YES DOWN WITH INDUSTRIALISM! I love a lot of things about the Ents, but mostly, I love that Tolkien saw industrialism and was like “wow fuck I hate this” and made his trees destroy the biggest piece of industry in Middle-earth. We see you, Tolkien, and we’re hugging trees in your absence.

“The beacons are lit!”

I AM COVERED IN GOOSEBUMPS. God, this song alone would have made this list, but this scene. It’s just so damn cool, okay, and so clever TOLKIEN, and I just love this more than anything. But the thing that really gets me? It’s not the beacons being lit all across Middle-earth it is it so is, it’s Théoden, after an entire movie of saying no, finally agreeing to go to Gondor’s aid. UGH I DIE.

Annnnnnd, a quick honorable mention:

Because y’all know we’re all only actually here for the five seconds of the Fellowship slow-walking through the mountains.