Editing Minas Tirith (section)

== Adaptations ==

=== Film ===
 
{{multiple image
 | total_width = 500
 | image1 = Roturn King-Minas Tirith.jpg
 | image2 = Mont Saint-Michel France (cropped).jpg
 | footer = In [[Peter Jackson]]'s film ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King]]'', Minas Tirith was modelled on [[Normandy]]'s [[Mont Saint-Michel]].<ref name="Morrison 2014"/>
}}

In [[Peter Jackson]]'s [[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|film adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings'']], Minas Tirith was according to the concept designer [[Alan Lee (illustrator)|Alan Lee]] given an ancient appearance reminiscent of [[Byzantium]] or ancient Rome.<ref>{{cite web |title=ROTK Production Notes: A Note from Peter Jackson |url=https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2003/11/20/25172-rotk-production-notes/ |website=The One Ring.net |access-date=1 February 2024 |date=20 November 2003 |quote=One of the most complex locations in The Return of the King is Minas Tirith, a seven-tiered city of kings where a huge portion of the film unfolds. “We were looking a little bit towards an equivalent for Ancient Rome or Ancient Byzantium,” comments Alan Lee. “It would be an extraordinary structure.”}}</ref> However, the appearance and structure of the city was based upon the inhabited [[tidal island]] and [[abbey]] of [[Mont Saint-Michel]], France.<ref name="Morrison 2014">{{cite web |last1=Morrison |first1=Geoffrey |title=The real-life Minas Tirith from 'Lord of the Rings': A tour of Mont Saint-Michel |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/take-a-tour-of-mont-saint-michel/ |publisher=CNET |date=27 June 2014}}</ref> In the films, the towers of the city, designed by Lee, are equipped with [[trebuchet]]s.<ref name="Russell2004">{{cite book |last=Russell |first=Gary |title=The Art of The Lord of the Rings |url=https://archive.org/details/artoflordofth00gary|url-access=registration <!--ebook--> |year=2004|publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] |isbn=0-618-51083-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/artoflordofth00gary/page/n104 103]–105<!--print-->}}</ref> The film critic [[Roger Ebert]] called the films' interpretation of Minas Tirith a "spectacular achievement", and compared it to the [[Emerald City]] from ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''. He praised the filmmakers' ability to blend digital and real sets.<ref name="ebert">{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031217/REVIEWS/312170301/1023 |title=Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=17 December 2003 |access-date=15 November 2021 |archive-date=11 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111211075754/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20031217%2FREVIEWS%2F312170301%2F1023 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Games ===

The setting of Minas Tirith has appeared in video game adaptations of ''The Lord of the Rings'', such as the 2003 video game ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (video game)|The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King]]'' where it is directly modelled on Jackson's film adaptation.<ref name="GS diary6">{{cite web | last=Dobson | first=Nina | url=http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-return-of-the-king-designer-diary-6/1100-6077465/ | title=The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Designer Diary #6 | publisher=[[GameSpot]] | access-date=15 November 2014 | date=28 October 2003}}</ref>

=== Art ===

{{further|Illustrating Tolkien}}

[[File:Ted_Nasmith_Gandalf_Rides_to_Minas_Tirith.jpg|thumb|[[Ted Nasmith]]'s painting of Gandalf riding to Minas Tirith has been described as the most fully rendered and realistic image of the city, free of the silliness of much fantasy art.<ref name="Tuthill 2020"/>]]

Christopher Tuthill, in ''[[A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien]]'', evaluates the paintings of Minas Tirith made by the major Tolkien illustrators [[Alan Lee (illustrator)|Alan Lee]], [[John Howe (illustrator)|John Howe]] (both of whom worked as concept designers for Peter Jackson's film trilogy), [[Jef Murray]], and [[Ted Nasmith]]. Tuthill writes that it has become "hard to imagine" Middle-earth "without the many sub-creators who have worked within it", noting that the "dreaded effects" of what Tolkien called "silliness and morbidity" of much fantasy art in his time "are nowhere in evidence" in these artists' work.<ref name="Tuthill 2020">{{cite book |last=Tuthill |first=Christopher |chapter=Art: Minas Tirith |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Stuart D. |editor-link=Stuart D. Lee |title=[[A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien]] |date=2020 |orig-year=2014 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |isbn=978-1-1196-5602-9 |pages=495–500 }}</ref> In Tuthill's view, the most "fully rendered and realistic-looking" painting is Nasmith's ''Gandalf Rides to Minas Tirith'', with a "wholly convincing city" in the background, majestic as the Wizard gallops towards it in the dawn light. He notes that Nasmith uses his architectural rendering skill to provide a detailed view of the whole city.<ref name="Tuthill 2020"/> He quotes Nasmith as writing that he studied what Tolkien said, such as likening Gondor to the culture of ancient Egypt. Tuthill compares Howe's and Murray's versions of the same scene; Howe shows only a corner of the city, but vividly captures the movement of the horse and the rider's flying robes, with a strong interplay of light and dark, the white horse against the dusky rocks. Murray similarly uses strong contrast, with the white city against dark clouds overhead, but using "flat bold lines and a deep blue hue", while Howe's city more closely resembles a traditional castle of [[fairytale]]s with pennants on every pinnacle, in [[Fauvist]] style. Lee chooses instead to look within Minas Tirith, showing "the same glimmering spires and white stone", a guard standing in the foreground in place of Gandalf and his horse; his painting gives a feeling of "how massive the city is", with close attention to the late [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] or early [[Gothic architecture|Gothic architectural]] detail and [[Perspective (graphical)|perspective]].<ref name="Tuthill 2020"/>