Where will TT end? and other editing issues

[IronParrot]

It's already been said that TT and ROTK will be edited so that the events happen roughly sequentially.

But then when will TT end? I find that the ending in the novel is the perfect cliffhanger conclusion to that volume. However, by the time Frodo and Sam even get to Shelob, the Pelennor is already under siege, and Faramir is already there; furthermore, the Grey Company has already taken the Paths of the Dead.

Possibilities:

1) The bridging between TT and ROTK will not necessarily be done sequentially. (I mean, juggling the dates here and there... who'll notice but us...) In this case, TT would probably end just after Shelob wounds Frodo and the latter is captured, as in the book, though ROTK does not progress so far along the timeline.

2) TT will end with the conquest of Isengard, the death of Saruman on the spiked wheel and the recovery of the Palantir. On the whole, highly unlikely, since it means that TT ends before Frodo and Sam even meet Faramir, and we'd see almost nothing of the Frodo-Sam-Gollum storyline.

3) "Eh, screw the timeline!" Would work with a bit of juggling, though the amount of time it takes Faramir to get from Henneth Annun to the Pelennor will be questionable, since it's really the "bridge" between Books IV and V as far as timing goes.

Issues to consider:

- Fellowship is three hours long. This is already taking into account the cutting of most of the journey from Hobbiton to Bree, which is partially offset by the actual portrayal of a confrontation between Gandalf and Saruman. The question: can we expect TT or ROTK to be about the same length?

- The Scouring of the Shire is being cut. That's a big chunk out of ROTK, which is already pretty short. The question: will ROTK be too short? Consider that the journey of Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli will probably be given much greater coverage than in the books, similar to the Gandalf-Saruman conflict in Fellowship.

Again, it's an issue of balance. It would be rather awkward if TT covered both timelines all the way to Shelob, which would mean including the Muster of Rohan and the beginning of the siege of Minas Tirith, and leave ROTK only an hour and a half in length in comparison to Fellowship's three.