Hegemon of the Rings

UNUSED AUDIO COMMENTARY BY HOWARD ZINN AND NOAM CHOMSKY, RECORDED FOR THE RETURN OF THE KING (PLATINUM SERIES EXTENDED EDITION) DVD

CHOMSKY: "Let us together rebuild this world," Aragorn says. And bury all the Orc carcasses before any tribunals can be established. Look at his outfit. It probably took 50 Haradrim orphans six months to assemble.

ZINN: I bet it still couldn't repel a good Orcish arrow.

CHOMSKY: The so-called Fourth Age of Middle Earth begins. Gandalf's plot is complete. Elvish rule is absolute.

ZINN: And no one, of course, is talking about the single greatest instance of Orcicide in the history of Middle Earth, nor the countless numbers of endangered triceratops and oliphants slaughtered on the battlefield.

CHOMSKY: Strange how all the ringleaders head immediately to the Grey Havens.

ZINN: No extradition laws there, I'm sure. And those who remain in Middle Earth won't have any Orcs to bother them with talk of independence. "Stability" is established, and the foolish Hobbits can return to their homeland.

CHOMSKY: With all the invisibility cloaks and illegal drugs they need. "It's good to be home." Samwise says this.

ZINN: Sam doesn't really understand the legal consequences of what they've done.

CHOMSKY: He's just a murdering, ill-tempered fool, a patsy.

ZINN: Yes, what Sam doesn't know is that the small, hirsute hand of some bravely independent Hobbit in Bree or South Farthing is dutifully investigating his war crimes, and will soon be knocking on his circular door.

CHOMSKY: But not before Frodo leaves him the very chronicle of their crimes—with a blank page at the end! As if to say, "Wrap this up, Sam. See if you can put a nice gloss on it." So concludes The Lord of the Rings.

ZINN: Just disgusting.

CHOMSKY: I know. I feel wonderful.