Fails the Bechdel test
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2003. Directed by Peter Jackson, written by J.R.R. Tolkien and Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
"One ring to rule them all. One ring to find them. One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them." In the conclusion of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, as armies mass for a final battle that will decide the fate of the world--and powerful, ancient forces of Light and Dark compete to determine the outcome--one member of the Fellowship of the Ring is revealed as the noble heir to the throne of the Kings of Men. Yet, the sole hope for triumph over evil lies with a brave hobbit, Frodo, who, accompanied only by his loyal friend Sam and the hideous, wretched Gollum, ventures deep into the very dark heart of Mordor on his seemingly impossible quest to destroy the Ring of Power.
- Released
- 17 Dec 2003
- Genres
- Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 9 / 10
- Metascore
- 94 / 100
- Awards
- Won 11 Oscars. 215 wins & 124 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Gandalf 86 lines, man
- Sam 80 lines, man
- Frodo 58 lines, man
- Pippin 45 lines, man
- Aragorn 42 lines, man
- Gollum 40 lines, man
- Theoden 38 lines, man
- Denethor 31 lines, man
- Merry 24 lines, man
- Eowyn 21 lines, woman
Full cast, 74 people
- Elijah Wood as Frodo
- Ian McKellen as Gandalf
- Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn
- Sean Astin as Sam
- Andy Serkis as Gollum / Smeagol
- Dominic Monaghan as Merry
- Billy Boyd as Pippin
- John Noble as Denethor
- David Wenham as Faramir
- Miranda Otto as Éowyn
- Bernard Hill as Théoden
- John Rhys-Davies as Gimli
- Orlando Bloom as Legolas
- Hugo Weaving as Elrond
- Liv Tyler as Arwen
- Cate Blanchett as Galadriel
- Karl Urban as Éomer
- Ian Holm as Bilbo
- Sean Bean as Boromir
- Lawrence Makoare as Witchking / Gothmog
- Marton Csokas as Celeborn
- Paul Norell as King of the Dead
- Noel Appleby as Everard Proudfoot
- Sarah McLeod as Rosie Cotton
- Ali Astin as Elanor Gamgee
- Maisy McLeod-Riera as Baby Gamgee
- David Aston as Gondorian Soldier 3
- John Bach as Madril
- Sadwyn Brophy as Eldarion
- Alistair Browning as Damrod
- Richard Edge as Gondorian Soldier 1
- Jason Fitch as Uruk 2
- Bruce Hopkins as Gamling
- Ian Hughes as Irolas
- Bret McKenzie as Elf Escort
- Bruce Phillips as Grimbold
- Shane Rangi as Harad Leader 2
- Todd Rippon as Harad Leader 1
- Thomas Robins as Déagol
- Harry Sinclair as Isildur
- Peter Tait as Shagrat
- Joel Tobeck as Orc Lieutenant 1
- Stephen Ure as Gorbag
- Sala Baker as Featured Orc
- Robert Pollock as Featured Orc
- Ross Duncan as Featured Orc
- Pete Smith as Featured Orc
- Jed Brophy as Featured Orc
- Lee Hartley as Featured Orc
- Billy Jackson as Featured Child
- Katie Jackson as Featured Child
- Alan Howard as The Ring (voice)
- Jane Abbott as Coronation Elf (uncredited)
- Gino Acevedo as Corsair of Umbar (uncredited)
- Aidan Bell as Orc (uncredited)
- Jarl Benzon as Coronation Elf (uncredited)
- Jørn Benzon as Rivendell Elf (uncredited)
- Emma Deakin as Diamond of Long Cleave (uncredited)
- Michael Elsworth as Círdan the Shipwright (uncredited)
- Clint Elvy as Haradrim Warrior (uncredited)
- Zo Hartley as Orc Helper (uncredited)
- Peter Jackson as Corsair Bosun (uncredited)
- Sandro Kopp as Coronation Elf (uncredited)
- Andrew Lesnie as Corsair of Umbar (uncredited)
- Henry Mortensen as Pelennor Orc (uncredited)
- Craig Parker as Gothmog / Orc Lieutenant 1 (voice) (uncredited)
- Rick Porras as Corsair of Umbar / Beacon Guard (uncredited)
- Christian Rivers as Corsair of Umbar / Beacon Guard (uncredited)
- Michael Semanick as Drinking Rohan Soldier (uncredited)
- Howard Shore as Drinking Rohan Soldier (uncredited)
- John Stephenson as Witchking (voice) (uncredited)
- Richard Taylor as Corsair of Umbar (uncredited)
- Royd Tolkien as Gondorian Ranger (uncredited)
- Sam Kelly as Coronation Elf/Gondorian Soldier (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 201
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 5 | 0 | 11 |
| 6 to 10 | 0 | 31 |
| 11 to 15 | 2 | 57 |
| 16 to 20 | 0 | 44 |
| 21 to 25 | 9 | 10 |
| 26 to 30 | 0 | 4 |
| 31 to 35 | 0 | 37 |
| 36 to 40 | 0 | 5 |
| 41 to 45 | 0 | 7 |
| 46 to 50 | 0 | 3 |
| 51 to 55 | 2 | 7 |
| 56 to 60 | 0 | 16 |
| 61 to 65 | 0 | 61 |
| 66 to 70 | 0 | 8 |
| 71 to 75 | 0 | 8 |
| 76 to 80 | 5 | 10 |
| 81 to 85 | 4 | 27 |
| 86 to 90 | 1 | 15 |
| 91 to 95 | 1 | 25 |
| 96 to 100 | 0 | 4 |
| 101 to 105 | 0 | 15 |
| 106 to 110 | 0 | 7 |
| 111 to 115 | 1 | 22 |
| 116 to 120 | 1 | 5 |
| 121 to 125 | 0 | 26 |
| 126 to 130 | 3 | 15 |
| 131 to 135 | 1 | 17 |
| 136 to 140 | 3 | 21 |
| 141 to 145 | 0 | 16 |
| 146 to 150 | 0 | 20 |
| 151 to 155 | 0 | 4 |
| 156 to 160 | 0 | 3 |
| 161 to 165 | 0 | 6 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 9 |
| 171 to 175 | 0 | 8 |
| 176 to 180 | 0 | 0 |
| 181 to 185 | 0 | 5 |
| 186 to 190 | 0 | 7 |
| 191 to 195 | 0 | 5 |
| 196 to 200 | 1 | 23 |
| 201 to 201 | 0 | 4 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 5 are women's.
34 lines from women, 628 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
8 women and 59 men in the cast. 5 women and 50 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 50 of 727.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 118 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 5% of the words (354), men 95% (6,579).
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
0
Two men
82
Exhibit E: behind the camera
8 of the 19 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Peter Jackson (man)
- Written by
- Fran Walsh (woman), Peter Jackson (man), Philippa Boyens (woman)
- From the novel by
- J. R. R. Tolkien (man)
- Produced by
- Barrie M. Osborne (man), Peter Jackson (man), Fran Walsh (woman)
- Shot by
- Andrew Lesnie (man)
- Edited by
- Jamie Selkirk (man)
- Music by
- Howard Shore (man)
- Production design by
- Grant Major (man)
- Costumes by
- Richard Taylor (man), Ngila Dickson (woman)
- Cast by
- Liz Mullane (woman), Victoria Burrows (woman), John Hubbard (man), Amy Hubbard (woman), Ann Robinson (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
5 women, 23 men, 11 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 24 men, 11 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 8 men, 16 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 20 men, 6 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 10 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 10 men
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
2 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Miranda Otto 36
Men
Elijah Wood 22, Dominic Monaghan 27, Sean Astin 32, Billy Boyd 35, David Wenham 38, Andy Serkis 39, Viggo Mortensen 45, John Noble 55, Ian McKellen 64
Exhibit G: the money
It made 11.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $94 million
- Box office
- $1.1 billion
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 201 scenes and 727 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
