• Pia Douwes as Empress Elisabeth
• Danique Dusée as Young Elisabeth / Jonge Elisabeth
• Milan van Waardenburg as Der Tod / De Dood
• Ann Van den Broeck as Archduchess Sophie
• William Spaaij as Lucheni
• Ronald Jorritsma as Rudolf
• Guido Gottenbos as Franz Joseph
• Sjoerd Oomen as Maximilian of Bavaria

• Pia Douwes as Empress Elisabeth
• Danique Dusée as Young Elisabeth / Jonge Elisabeth
• Milan van Waardenburg as Der Tod / De Dood
• Ann Van den Broeck as Archduchess Sophie
• William Spaaij as Lucheni
• Ronald Jorritsma as Rudolf
• Guido Gottenbos as Franz Joseph
• Sjoerd Oomen as Maximilian of Bavaria

• The Return of the King is a restoration fantasy: the one true king sits on his throne and that, in itself, causes the kingdom to flourish.
• The restoration is expressed, in addition to Aragorn's coronation, by the finding and planting of a new sapling of the white three. (In the movie, the old tree flowers again, which is a sound adaptational decision, but a slightly different metaphor.)
• The White Tree of Gondor is descended, through various saplings over thousands of years, through Númenor and Tol Eressea and Valinor, from Telperion, one of the Two Trees of Valinor, shining with silver light. Saplings of the tree were passed from Valar to elves to men, losing their light, diminishing, but still containing a true trace of the original divinity.
• Replanting that tree is restoring light in the world.
• But there were two trees: the Silver and the Gold, Telperion and Laurelin. What's happened to the other one? Doesn't someone plant a golden tree at the end of the book?
• Galadriel, queen of the Golden Wood gifts a single mallorn seed to Samwise Gamgee, who carries it throughout his quest, and finally plants it in the Shire to replace the Party Tree that was cut down by Saruman's cronies. Replanting trees, and specifically planting that one tree is a crucial part of rebuilding and restoring the Shire after all the damage done to it. Sam, the gardener represents the restoration of the Shire, and completes the restoration of the whole of Middle Earth by adding a Golden Tree to the White one.
• Pippin becomes the Thain, Merry becomes the Master of Buckland, but Sam is elected Mayor seven times, and runs the Shire for half a century.
• The last words of the book are "Well, I'm back." The title is "Return of the King." Perhaps he is also a king who returns and comes into power and restores the land.
• Which would make LOTR a surprisingly egalitarian book for all its faith in the divine right of kings. Tolkien was definitely conservative, but as far as he's concerned Labour can run the country if they plant more trees.

On sunny days I go out walking I end up on a tree-lined street I look up at the gaps of sunlight I miss you more than anything... +original idea: ssapphirebun's beautiful video edit