Capturing Tolkien's Vision vs. A Literal Interpretation

[Wayfarer]

I note with a sigh that the extended lengths that you're going to to try and justify X, Y and Z component of the film really isn't as bad as it seems only make them seem more like... well, like screw-ups which need to be explained away and justified.

Iron Parrot, above you have argued that the aforementioned attack resolves problems, and yet you fail to realize the problems it creates.

Let me add to what Melko has already said. Helm's deep was, at the time of the battle, inhabited by the much of the population of the westfold. That's quite a few people.

In the films, however, after a brief scene which depicts an attack on generic Rohirrim, we are given to believe that somehow the tiny population of Edoras is the really important group. Why? Why does the population of Edoras make it any more dramatic than the much larger group of civilians that were already there?