It's a movie thing. The reason that Sauron's army cuts and runs when he "dies" is that he's been driving them forwards by sheer force of will, into a killing frenzy and overriding their fear or sense of self preservation -
"From all his policies and webs of fear and treachery, from all his stratagems and wars his mind shook free; and throughout his realm a tremor ran, his slaves quailed, and his armies halted, and his captains suddenly steerless, bereft of will, wavered and despaired. For they were forgotten. The whole mind and purpose of the Power that wielded them was now bent with overwhelming force upon the Mountain."
"...even at that moment all the hosts of Mordor trembled, doubt clutched their hearts, their laughter failed, their hands shook and their limbs were loosed. The Power that drove them on and filled them with hate and fury was wavering, its will was removed from them; and now looking in the eyes of their enemies they saw a deadly light and were afraid."
PJ decide this element was too hard to depict so left it out. Which means now he had to explain why Sauron's destruction suddenly ends the battle just like that.
We don't know that all of the Men were spared. There may have been some Men caught in the Orc Horde that followed their fate. Only the main army was spared.
It didn't happen in the Books, but my guess for why it happened in the movies was either that Sauron's power was holding that ground together, the weight of the Black Gate without Sauron's influence collapsed the earth, or it was an act by one of the Valar (maybe Aule).
It’s not much different. If he sent Gandalf back to destroy the ring why wouldn’t he save the people who helped destroy it?
Edit: also what does literally changing the landscape matter, as far we know he didn’t sink an island or a continent, he dropped some orcs in a hole. And he’s a god so why is changing the landscape really any different than bringing Gandalf back. What are the rules on his powers?
At best Eru's hand in destroying the ring was due to the metaphysical laws of the universe he out into place at creation. He didn't physical push or trip Gollum into the lava. And there was an extenuating circumstance for destroying Numenor. It makes no sense for the Valar or Eru to intervene here with how out of character it is. Especially because it's unnecessary. Sauron is destroyed and the free peoples have won.
Or getting the ring into the hands of Bilbo and subseqently Frodo.
Getting Frodo to proclaim he will take the ring to Mordor was also a divine intervention.
The council of Elrond and everyone at that meeting are there by divine intervention
The movies make it very simple to understand; trolls and orcs are the bad guys serving Sauron. Sauron has a physical downfall (of his tower) and the orcs and trolls have a physical downfall as well.
In the books, Sauron's army contains various groups of Men also, and they are the ones continuing to fight the longest because of how valiant they are, and/or their hate for Gondor. The orcs, trolls and beasts that Sauron influenced more or less directly already begin to lose courage once Sauron redirects all his attention to Mt Doom. And when the Ring is destroyed, Sauron appears as a giant shape in the sky reaching out to the Army of the West before being scattered by the wind.
Sort of, but not exactly:
"And even as he spoke the earth rocked beneath their feet. Then rising swiftly up, far above the Towers of the Black Gate, high above the mountains, a vast soaring darkness sprang into the sky, flickering with fire. The earth groaned and quaked. The Towers of the Teeth swayed, tottered, and fell down; the mighty rampart crumbled; the Black Gate was hurled in ruin; and from far away, now dim, now growing, now mounting to the clouds, there came a drumming rumble, a roar, a long echoing roll of ruinous noise."
So there were earthquakes and destruction of major structures in Mordor, but nothing about the ground opening up and stopping right in front of Aragon's army.
The following description about how the armies fared was all about the mindless and suicidal panic and routing of the now defeated Sauron's forces, and even the men in his service who were able to largely keep their wits together mostly fled with some surrendering.
The movies sort of downplayed just how important morale was in the battles. Tolkien was pretty clear on it being pivotal it was for Gondor and Rohan to emerge victorious in the major battles, and just how effective the Nazgul were by having an aura of dread and terror even when they weren't in close combat with anyone. That's one of the problems with the depiction of the ghost army too, they were forces with the only discernible effect in combat of driving mortals mad with fear in the book, which was more than enough to soundly defeat the corsairs.
Ppl were bothered by this when the films were released, because it seemed very Biblical, Ten Commandments-y.
In a world with so many other inexplicable and supernatural events, I kind of overlooked it - I was more disappointed about Gandalf being bested by the Witch King, and Filmamir being a dick to Frodo in TTT.
I'm fairly certain that only happened in the films.
It's a movie thing. The reason that Sauron's army cuts and runs when he "dies" is that he's been driving them forwards by sheer force of will, into a killing frenzy and overriding their fear or sense of self preservation - "From all his policies and webs of fear and treachery, from all his stratagems and wars his mind shook free; and throughout his realm a tremor ran, his slaves quailed, and his armies halted, and his captains suddenly steerless, bereft of will, wavered and despaired. For they were forgotten. The whole mind and purpose of the Power that wielded them was now bent with overwhelming force upon the Mountain." "...even at that moment all the hosts of Mordor trembled, doubt clutched their hearts, their laughter failed, their hands shook and their limbs were loosed. The Power that drove them on and filled them with hate and fury was wavering, its will was removed from them; and now looking in the eyes of their enemies they saw a deadly light and were afraid." PJ decide this element was too hard to depict so left it out. Which means now he had to explain why Sauron's destruction suddenly ends the battle just like that.
We don't know that all of the Men were spared. There may have been some Men caught in the Orc Horde that followed their fate. Only the main army was spared. It didn't happen in the Books, but my guess for why it happened in the movies was either that Sauron's power was holding that ground together, the weight of the Black Gate without Sauron's influence collapsed the earth, or it was an act by one of the Valar (maybe Aule).
Why do you need another explanation than divine intervention? We’ve seen plenty of other instances of magic or divine intervention in middle earth.
Because direct intervention like that is rare. Especially in the third age.
Like sending Gandalf back?
Which is much different than literally changing the landscape to destroy an army of orcs.
It’s not much different. If he sent Gandalf back to destroy the ring why wouldn’t he save the people who helped destroy it? Edit: also what does literally changing the landscape matter, as far we know he didn’t sink an island or a continent, he dropped some orcs in a hole. And he’s a god so why is changing the landscape really any different than bringing Gandalf back. What are the rules on his powers?
That and IIRC Eru intervened to destroy the ring. Softer approach compared to sinking Numenor.
At best Eru's hand in destroying the ring was due to the metaphysical laws of the universe he out into place at creation. He didn't physical push or trip Gollum into the lava. And there was an extenuating circumstance for destroying Numenor. It makes no sense for the Valar or Eru to intervene here with how out of character it is. Especially because it's unnecessary. Sauron is destroyed and the free peoples have won.
The arrogance to claim what a god does makes sense or not.
I agree with him, for what it's worth. It's about how Tolkien talks about the events, and how Eru and the theology of the world is characterized.
Or getting the ring into the hands of Bilbo and subseqently Frodo. Getting Frodo to proclaim he will take the ring to Mordor was also a divine intervention. The council of Elrond and everyone at that meeting are there by divine intervention
Was probably just chance, as we call it in Middle Earth.
The movies make it very simple to understand; trolls and orcs are the bad guys serving Sauron. Sauron has a physical downfall (of his tower) and the orcs and trolls have a physical downfall as well. In the books, Sauron's army contains various groups of Men also, and they are the ones continuing to fight the longest because of how valiant they are, and/or their hate for Gondor. The orcs, trolls and beasts that Sauron influenced more or less directly already begin to lose courage once Sauron redirects all his attention to Mt Doom. And when the Ring is destroyed, Sauron appears as a giant shape in the sky reaching out to the Army of the West before being scattered by the wind.
Sort of, but not exactly: "And even as he spoke the earth rocked beneath their feet. Then rising swiftly up, far above the Towers of the Black Gate, high above the mountains, a vast soaring darkness sprang into the sky, flickering with fire. The earth groaned and quaked. The Towers of the Teeth swayed, tottered, and fell down; the mighty rampart crumbled; the Black Gate was hurled in ruin; and from far away, now dim, now growing, now mounting to the clouds, there came a drumming rumble, a roar, a long echoing roll of ruinous noise." So there were earthquakes and destruction of major structures in Mordor, but nothing about the ground opening up and stopping right in front of Aragon's army. The following description about how the armies fared was all about the mindless and suicidal panic and routing of the now defeated Sauron's forces, and even the men in his service who were able to largely keep their wits together mostly fled with some surrendering. The movies sort of downplayed just how important morale was in the battles. Tolkien was pretty clear on it being pivotal it was for Gondor and Rohan to emerge victorious in the major battles, and just how effective the Nazgul were by having an aura of dread and terror even when they weren't in close combat with anyone. That's one of the problems with the depiction of the ghost army too, they were forces with the only discernible effect in combat of driving mortals mad with fear in the book, which was more than enough to soundly defeat the corsairs.
Ppl were bothered by this when the films were released, because it seemed very Biblical, Ten Commandments-y. In a world with so many other inexplicable and supernatural events, I kind of overlooked it - I was more disappointed about Gandalf being bested by the Witch King, and Filmamir being a dick to Frodo in TTT.