Comments on: Why the Hobbit trailer is a test of character

By: Falathar

Falathar — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:51:00 +0000

Thanks Geo. That’s a good enough and nerdy (in the best of meanings) explanation.

By: Tooie Hales

Tooie Hales — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

The look of concern from the troll in LOTR when the catapult hurled block lands beside him shows some understanding. I am interested to see how the troll scene plays out, along with alot of other “fairy tale” like parts of Hobbit that do not necessarily jive with The Rings.

By: Tooie Hales

Tooie Hales — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

By: Tooie Hales

Tooie Hales — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

By: Usssuperman

Usssuperman — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:50:00 +0000

I’m kind of thinking they may do something like subtitles…. All LOTR showed was moans, even though they didn’t seem mindless (example: ROTK battle when they are in armor leading the battle) Maybe Bilbo’s imagination led him to believe they were deciding what to do with him….

By: Cody Chance

Cody Chance — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:41:00 +0000

One way to explain the difference in the effects of the Ring is simply Sauron. He is in an extremely weak form and hasn’t yet become The Eye. His powers are much diminished and he wasn’t yet seeking the Ring. The Ring likely had less power to infect Bilbo with its evil. It had had hundreds of years to affect Gollum, but much less time to work at Bilbo.

It will be interesting to see how PJ deals with it, though. Tolkien never meant for the Ring to be evil in the 1st edition of The Hobbit. It was magical, but Gollum simply gave Bilbo the Ring when he lost the riddle contest. He changed it when he realized this would never work into the Lord of the Rings story, but could only change so much. So, the Ring had a grasping effect in the 2nd edition, but still had it clarifying effect and diminished (compared to LotR) evil.

As far as talking creatures are concerned, I sincerely hope they DO talk in the movies. I believe it is explained quite clearly in the books that these ancestors of modern animals were much more intelligent than they are now. The spiders aren’t our spiders. They are giant, evil, talking variants. The Eagles aren’t our Eagles. They can easily carry one or more men and destroy the Winged Beasts; why shouldn’t they talk? And, Smaug is one of the most cunning of creatures and loves riddles and mind-games. How could he, if he couldn’t even speak?

By: Shmerl

Shmerl — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 03:51:00 +0000

Well, if they’d present it as small beard it would be better I agree. Another strange thing – Bombur’s shaved chin (and you can tell that it’s shaved, and not some kind of natural thing with no hair). That bothers me more than Fili really.

By: Shmerl

Shmerl — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:26:00 +0000

Did you read the book? Fili and Kili were the youngest (around 50 years younger than others), so missing beards can well be within the context.

By: Bayoured

Bayoured — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:10:00 +0000

Absolutely. There are different races of trolls in Middle Earth . . . talking stone trolls, and the more primitive cave trolls who grunt and bellow.

By: Rochendil

Rochendil — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:44:00 +0000

I accept that – to a degree, and i was prepared for Fili and Kili to have shorter beards than the rest. But Kili is not an adolescent child, he’s clearly an adult (albeit young) dwarf who has had more than a few shaves in his lifetime. Also take a look at the chins of Bombur, Bofur, Thorin and Dwalin. They’ve all been clipped, trimmed and shaved into a style that is just not dwarvish. Dori and Nori show how it can be done if you want to do something a bit different with a beard whilst still maintaining its essential dwarvish-ness. I’m actually more forgiving of Fili’s appearance as they were always going to be less dwarvish by virtue of their age… but Kili is just ridiculous!

By: Azure Shumway

Azure Shumway — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:47:00 +0000

i thought somewhere in Tolkien he said that dwarves grow into their beards like humans do so a younger dwarf might not have reached the age where he starts a beard

By: Sarn ford

Sarn ford — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:25:00 +0000

The split might happen at Beorn’s or just as they are about to enter Mirkwood.
As far as some of the Dwarfs not having beards, maybe they are too young for beards?