Sam Quote?

[L.Greenleaf]

I have a question about a quote made by Sam. It is the part when Aragorn takes Frodo. Then Sam, Merry, and Pippin go into the room and Sam has his fists in the air. The he says something like "Unhand him longshanks?" What is longshanks?

 

[Mindy_O_Lluin]

Longshanks is another of the many names that Aragorn had been donned with in the books. I was really happy to see PJ got that into the movie, as I am very annoyed that so many other Iconic names DID NOT get into the movie. Such as:
'Weathertop'
'The Watcher in the Water'
'Mithrandir'
And we will probably not hear 'Sharkey' either.


(Or were you asking what does the word itself mean?)

 

[LordOfMoria]

But if that was another name of aragorn, how did sam gamgee know it? I always liked aragorns strider name! It sounded like who he was!!!

 

[Mindy_O_Lluin]

In the movie?
It was just used as a descriptive term in the movie. They knew his name was Strider so a logical descriptive nickname for a tall man with long legs who strides, might be 'longshanks' (to a country bumpkin like Sam).

But don't ask me too often to try to analyze PJ's train of thought in his script writing - that would give me a headache.

 

[lightingstrike]

I am not sure how Sam learned that name of Aragorn. Maybe he asked a local at the bar and that man only knew him by Longshanks. PJ did not explain that very well in the dialoge of the movie. Had it been the book, we would know what it meant.

 

[L.Greenleaf]

Thanks. I read the book but forgot Aragorn was also called Longshanks. There are just so many names for 1 person I forget some of them. Who is known as Sharkey?

 

[Mirabella]

Sharkey is what Saruman's servants at Isengard called him.

 

[Odo Proudfoot]

Sam calling Aragorn 'Longshanks' in the movie is not intended to suggest that he knew this to be a nickname for Aragorn. Sam uses it as a general term for someone striding about on long legs. Nowhere in the movie is it suggested that Longshanks is in fact another one of Aragorn's name.

It is a nod from PJ to the book lovers, one of many. No-one unfamiliar with the book would understand.

Odo

 

[joxy]

Originally posted by Odo Proudfoot
It is a nod from PJ to the book lovers, one of many. No-one unfamiliar with the book would understand.

Yes, to change the metaphor, a morsel gratefully snapped up and appreciated.
I thought we were supposed to forget about the books and appreciate the film on its own merits, so why does he bother, especially as the people who matter, the non-readers, would not understand?

 

[Kiroshar]

Longshanks was a term in Old England to mean a man of great hight (tall) or of great wealth or stature.

Although the line was a bone to the book reader, it also has the original meaning as well. Obviously, Strider was much taller than Sam, but little did he know the irony of the use of that term by its further meaning.

Either that, or he confused Strider with King Edward I, and the line should have been given to Pippin.

"Every Hobbit dies; but how many really live!"