Parents Guide for
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) More at IMDbPro »

Two characters marry. They hug and kiss at their wedding affectionately and are shown to have children.

Two other characters marry, and hug and kiss. They are shown to have children.

Thousands of goblins, some in transportable towers, charge a city of men. The goblins fire catapults into the city taking out several buildings. We see several dead bodies on the ground, some with blood. The humans return fire and take out several catapults. The goblins charge, and the humans take out several with arrows. The goblins climb the walls and engage the defenders. Soldiers on both sides are shot, stabbed, speared, decapitated and limbs are hacked off (though no blood splatters, we see bloodied swords). One principal character takes out several goblins and we see his bloodied sword. A hobbit stabs a villain, kills him, and he looks at his bloodied sword.

In one battle scene, thousands of cavalry riding humans charge a thousands strong army of goblins. The goblins fire arrows and take out several humans. The humans engage the goblins. Soldiers on both sides are decapitated, slashed, limbs are hacked off, stabbed, shot and speared. The sheer carnage is incredible. We see several soldiers on both sides getting killed or wounded with every camera shot. Elephant riding people arrive (they fight for the villains), and take out several humans with arrows and spears, and the elephants stomp down on horses and people, crushing them to death. The goblins even bite people in the face occasionally. Wherever we look, several men and goblins are being killed or wounded by the second.

We see the aftermath of a battle. The battlefield is covered in dead bodies, some with spears or arrows sticking in them. We briefly see one dead man with his arm severed--we can see his arm lying next to him and his bloody stub--blood soakes the ground. The camera moves away and it is for at most a second.

A principal character is fatally wounded by one of the principal villains. We see his bloodied mouth. However, another principal character arrives and fights the villain. He wields a mace and chain and breaks her arm with it. She then stabs him in the face while another character stabs him in the leg (no blood here).

The enemies catapult human heads into Minas Tirith. We see somewhat close-ups of the bloody heads and their severed necks.

A principal character attempts to burn his own, wounded son who is beleived to be dead (he has several arrows in him and we see blood draining out of the wounds). However, he is rescued by another principal character. The character who attempted to burn his son catches on fire, is enflamed, and jumps off of the castle to his death.

A deformed hobbit (Gollum) fights Frodo. They punch, kick and bite each other.

A main character hav his finger viciously bitten off by another main character. Lots of blood runs and oozes out.

In the Extended edition a man walks out of the black gate he is wearing a mask but he has cuts around his mouth and a little dried blood. A man then angrily decapitates him, we see the head roll (no blood), though we do see blood on the man's sword.

Characters are threatened.

No swearing. Various insults by the bad guys.

A party is shown where various characters drink beer or ale, and get very drunk. A character gets so drunk he passes out (mostly comedic).

A lot of characters smoke pipes, and one character coughs once or twice as a result.

The long, violent battlefield sequences are quite scary as the heroes are always under threat of death or serious injury.

A trio of characters journey through "The Paths of the Dead" and encounter ghosts.

One character's battle with a huge spider.

People may find the scenes with the Witch-King scary. He is dressed all in black, rides a scary flying creature, and emits loud, disturbing screams and talks scary.

Two of the characters descend into violent madness. The first of these is marked by a transformation into a creepy creature. Very disturbing and grotesque.

The part where the heads are catapulted is intense.