The whole issue about whether or not there is a hood is being vigorously debated on the costume sites. The publication of costume photos from Two Towers and the release of the extended DVD may help to answer this question. I have watched the movie a number of times and am reasonably certain it does have a hood (it is quite distinctive in one close-up head shot from the front), although it must be fairly close-fitting to avoid covering up the embroidered chain design. The hood shown has a drawstring which keeps it close to the neck and prevents it from covering the embroidery on the back of the cloak.

The cloak has edge trim of gold soutache and a knotwork design of overlapping circles, or waves, which cirles the shoulder of the cloak. To recreate this scale of knotwork - sew down the center base line first. Then using the cord of your choice (soutache braid is not flexible enough) measure 1 inch of cord to each 3/4 inch of base line and tack it down.

The design takes 4 strands of the cord in addition to the baseline which is of soutache braid (in this case). I put two strands on simultaneously, weaving the wave shape to make the bottom set of circles, then did the same thing, but slightly offset to make the top row.

I found that to keep the circles rounded I had to stitch at minimum, all four compass points of each one. To make a larger scale design just increase the inches until you have the size you prefer. I was also careful to overlap the cord in the same pattern each time.