A Lesson on Perspective from LOTR

I’ve always considered myself a pretty big fan of the Lord of the Rings franchise.

I started watching the first LOTR movie a little late. My sister was a big fan by the time all three movies were out, and she kept telling me it definitely was going to be my cuppa tea, but I procrastinated.

One afternoon, I watched it at her insistance (again), but fell asleep because I was already too tired. It was also a very hot day.

Fast forward to my college days, where I had to take a lesson in video production. Lo and behold, my professor made us watch clips from different LOTR movies - and not for fun.

He made us watch to spot all the mistakes!

So, yes my introduction to LOTR, was a mistake, so to speak. I still cannot unsee those scenes, but it did spark my love interest into the trilogy, and I never looked back.

As of today, I've watched the movies more times than I can count. After being introduced, I found myself loaning the DVD from the school library numerous times and watching it every time I had a few hours to spare between classes or over the weekend.

I’ve even read the books (okay, fine, I'll admit this was the hardest read of my life). Although I'm a bookworm, in the case of the Lord Of The Rings, my preference is the movies over the book.

It's just one of those things, I guess.

To cut the long story short - I take pride in knowing the ins and outs of Middle-earth.

My husband, however, is NOT a fan.

Until a few weeks ago when he decided to give in to my constant pleas of watching the movie together.

As he started watching the movies, I found my confidence being shaken.

My husband finally decided to watch 𝘓𝘖𝘛𝘙: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘪𝘯𝘨, and just 10 minutes in, he asked a question that completely stumped me.

I didn't have an answer. Let’s just say… while he was watching, I was spiralling.

Googling answers. Digging through theories. Reading Reddit/Quora threads.

It hit me: I’ve watched this movie easily a hundred times and never once thought of 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 question.

The question?

"If between Bilbo finding the ring, and the Nazguls finding Gollum was 60 years, and Gollum knew who took the ring and where he lived, WHY DIDN'T HE GO FIND THE RING HIMSELF?"

I found many versions of this answer from threads on Quora, Reddit, the interwebs. Everything.

What this made me realise are two things:

1) I clearly don't know LOTR too much

2) The power of perspective.

I was so deep into the LOTR universe, that I didn't think about this. I mean, I had other theories, but how did I miss this?

I lost sight.

And then it made me realise another thing...

It’s the same with marketing.

When you’re so close to your own product or brand, you start to assume everyone else sees it the same way you do. You lose the fresh eyes, the curiosity, the “why.”

That’s where an outsider’s perspective can be game-changing.

Sometimes you don’t need a full rebrand or complete overhaul of your strategy. You just need someone (like a third-party agency or consultant) to ask the right questions. Shift the spotlight. Remind you of what your team is already capable of.

I help businesses do this through my marketing consultancy service.

But I don't claim to know everything.

It's all a learning process.

p/s As I said, I found many versions of answers for his question. If you want to chat about this, drop a comment. Won't say no to a conversation about LOTR.