What Smaug might look like: A concept

By: Manuel Ferreira

I wanted to make an animation starring Smaug which harmonises between Peter Jackson’s films and my own imagination. But for that I needed references. Right now, we don’t have many, but the ones we have are enough for a concept – a concept that I wanted to share with you!

With The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug trailer, we got a clear picture of Smaug’s muzzle and eyes. In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, we saw Smaug diving into Erebor’s treasure, and although we cannot see Smaug himself, we do see his horns covered in gold. Assuming that Smaug’s look won’t change between the films, we know that he has four horns in each side of his head and one spike in the middle. Joining the horns to the muzzle we saw in the trailer gives us an idea of what his entire head would be like. I drew them together but took some precautions: Smaug was diving so his horns got ‘’stretched’’ and blurry during the picture (after all, he was at movement) so I gave them a shape. For his neck, I simply followed the spikes assuming they’re in some sort of sequence.

For the side of his face, I did the same thing, only picturing the horns side on.

Another body part of Smaug that we clearly see is his tail. It’s visible when he breaks the gates of Erebor, and one feature that caught my attention was that the tail is forked.

There are almost no images of Smaug’s body, but we can (just) see the proportions of his wings, neck and tail with his head. Mixing that with elements of the common adaptations of Smaug with a realistic tone gives us a really cool dragon. As for the color, I personally think that he is a really dark red with purple/dark tone, and exposing the color of the trailer’s Smaug to daylight, my thoughts were confirmed. This is a concept of what we can expect for the next films, but I honestly hope that PJ’s Smaug, is way cooler than mine!

For my animation I added Benedict Cumberbatch’s voice to this Smaug. You can see it here:

About the Author

Hi, my name is Manuel Ferreira, I’m 13 years old and live in Portugal. I’m a recent Tolkien fan, and discovered Middle-Earth trough Peter Jackson last year. Since then, I’ve started to read J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy and basically became a die-hard fan. Middle-Earth is currently my inspiration for my draws and videos.

Here, Ringer Captain Salt from the TORn messageboards attempts to put string together all the teasing hints that we’ve seen make their way onto the internet over the past 12-18 months.

Needless to say, this really is SPOILER country. If you don’t even want to know what the plot might be, don’t go here!

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ABSOLUTE LAST CHANCE!

An attempt to decipher The Desolation of Smaug plot

A guest feature by Ringer Captain Salt

The Prologue

Will we make an unexpected return to Bree at the start of DOS?

Act One

Most likely will open with Thorin & Co. heading for Beorn’s house, probably with Azog (or the threat of Azog) still hot on their heels. Perhaps we might have an exchange between Bilbo and Gandy here, as reported from Cinema-Con 2012:

Gandalf: You’re not the same Hobbit who set out from the Shire…what did you find down there, in the Goblin tunnels?
Bilbo (pausing, fingering the Ring): My courage.
Gandalf: Good…you’re going to need it.

Thorin & Co. arrive at Beorn’s house, apparently enraging Beorn who attacks the Company as they try to keep him out of his house. Mikeal Persbrandt has mentioned being strapped to the ceiling for a “difficult torture scene”; his Bridge Direct action figure mentions that he is “the last of his kind”; and the (possible) bear paws used a Bolg’s shoulder pauldrons have led to speculation that there may be a subplot where Bolg or the Necromancer’s minions have a personal animosity with Beorn (perhaps we might have a flashback.

Or Beorn will be introduced to the audience prior to the Company a-la the Rohirrim in TTT). There will also apparently be a scene where Beorn questions/slays at least one Orc himself.

How will the company meet Beorn?

Thorin & Co. will enter Mirkwood, while Gandy will leave them to investigate the growing shadow of the Necromancer; he seems to be departing with some urgency in the bit of this scene from one of the vlogs:

Gandalf: Give me a horse!
Ori: Why, where are you going?!
Gandalf: In search of answers!

Perhaps information given to Gandy by Beorn will spark his side-quest, but for whatever reason, he evidently will leave the Company in a flurry here. Bilbo and the Dwarves enter Mirkwood where many of the events from the novel are (or at one point were) included, such as: Bombur falling into the enchanted stream and being carried by the other dwarves; Thorin’s stag; and Bilbo’s tree/the butterflies (some of this may end up in the EE, or in my opinion, it’s likely to play-out as a rather brief montage).

Somewhere along here, Ori may find a pouch witch will elicit an alarmed (or excited?) response from Dori.

Meanwhile, Gandy investigates the King’s Tomb (crypts of the Nazgul) along with Radagast, only to find that they are empty. There was mention of Gandalf and Elrond scouting out Dol Guldur, but this seems to have been replaced with Raddy as Gandy’s sidekick.

Bilbo and the Dwarves will encounter the spiders; the dwarves will be “webbed” by the spiders, but will apparently be given chase by the beasts before they’re captured – Bilbo evidently escapes and has a confrontation with the spiders here, where Sting will most likely be named. The Wood-elves including Legolas and Tauriel are involved in fighting off the spiders in the film. The dwarves are captured, and Thorin will have a rather tense encounter with Thranduil (Thrandy: It has been a long time since Thorin Oakenshield ventured north…for what purpose?) after which the Dwarves are imprisoned.

Thranduil and Thorin will not get on.

A subplot will involve Tauriel, a young Silvan elf who is a Captain of the Elvenking’s guard and who feels strongly about intervention in the “rise of evil” (potentially a response to the growing power of the Necromancer) while Legolas, apparently taking a cue from his father, is initially isolationist. There is rumored to be a romantic subplot involving Tauriel as well; supposedly Kili will become attracted to her (though for all we know, this is one-sided and a Gimli/Galadriel type-thing); there are pursistant rumors of a Legolas/Tauriel romance; and (IMO most intriguingly) rumors that Tauriel will have an unrequited thing for Thranduil.

Craig Hall has been cast as Galion, the King’s butler, while Eli Kent is playing an Elf named “Lethuin”. (?!?) Robin Kerr also plays an Elf named “Elros” (probably of Rivendell), but obviously we don’t know how he fits into the film.

At one or more point(s), the Elves will battle ranks or Orcs — either on the parapets of the Woodland Realm, on Dol Guldur, somewhere along the River Running, or some combination of these options. At least one Orc will be captured and interrogated by the Elves.

Legolas: There was more the Orc could have told us.
Thranduil: There was NOT more he could have told me!

Azog and his hunters will continue to track Thorin’s Company into DoS; presumbably, Fimbul — who was originally intended to be Azog’s lieutenant, and who appears on the DoS Annual — probably plays a larger role reminiscent of Yazneg in the first film. Ben Mitchell also plays “Narzug” who it doesn’t seem was in AUJ. Conan Stevens as Bolg will also have a part to play amongst the Orcs, probably not only in relation to Azog but in the Necromancer story as well.

Azog will stalk the dwarves across Mirkwood.

The day-to-day operation of the website, and the events we host, require a lot more resources than when we first started nearly 15 years ago. We sometimes find it hard to ask our readers for the help we need to keep running, so we began discussing what it is that makes TheOneRing.net worth helping out. It started out as a search for the Top Ten Moments of TORn, but the list got so long because each staff member had their own idea of important moments in TORn history. Here, instead, is something more encompassing: Ten Ways TORn helps serve Tolkien and Lord of the Rings fandom (listed in no specific order).

And, if you enjoy what we do, consider a donation (no amount too small, because every bit does help!) to keep us running!

If you can’t, that’s fine as well — keep reading, commenting and contributing. Because TORn is as much you as it is us!

If you’ve ever sent in an article, submitted a photo or report, posted on our messageboards, visited our chat, or commented on our twitter, facebook or g+, you’re the reason TheOneRing.net is among the largest and most-respected pillars of the Tolkien community on the web.

• Spy Reports

• Spy reports were a big part of our content when the website first started. From casting announcements to secret location pictures to leaked images of important plot points, spy reports were our bread and butter stories. Some of the reports were from random, anonymous sources, while others were official leaks from cast and crew. In fact, there were many production members who said they used TheOneRing.net to keep track of what some of the other filming units were doing. Other spy reports were just someone stumbling upon a film location and sending in a story or images and then we’d all try and guess what location it actually was. Some of our biggest spy reports were of Arwen at Helm’s Deep (which subsequently didn’t happen), Saruman’s prone body on a spiky wheel (which did happen), and TheOneRing.net was given the honor of introducing Thorin to the world. And very soon, we will be seeing stories from MrCere’s visit to the set from his Production Embed last year.

• Hall of Fire Chats and the Message Boards

• Literary discussions on the message boards and Hall of Fire chats – From the very beginning of TheOneRing.net, discussions of the books, chapter by chapter, has been a hallmark. After all, while we waited for news on who would be cast, where filming would take place, and rumors of what might be cut out, we had the books to talk about. Discussions worked by talking about one chapter at a time, and luckily, there are enough books with enough chapters, to keep those discussions going on for a long while. Since the beginning, we’ve looped through the books several times, but luckily, there are always new readers joining the discussion, and new interpretations to be had. And for something a little more dynamic, there are the Hall of Fire chats in Barlimans. Sometimes the talk is about a specific chapter, or a certain character, and sometimes it is about current events, such as new character images or reviews of a recently released trailer. No matter which forum you use, there is always someone to talk to about some aspect of Tolkien, the books or our fandom.

• TORns Live Videos

• We began with TORn Live, which consisted of Red Carpet interviews at premieres, awards ceremonies and special events like Cannes 2001 and SDCC. These would be recorded, edited and released online a few days or weeks later. But technology now allows for live streaming interviews and vlogs and the like. Quickbeam hosts a weekly TORn Tuesday event with interviews and discussions, while he interacts with a live chatroom. The Happy Hobbit ladies record and post their vlogs and post them within a day or two of their recordings, for a much quicker turnaround on video content. And right now we have the Road to DragonCon in full swing with live streaming from across the country.

• Conventions

• Convention appearances – Calisuri and Quickbeam hosted a panel at San Diego Comic Con in 2001, before the release of FOTR, and since then barely a year has gone by that TORn hasn’t had a presence at at least one convention. At many of the conventions we appear at we also have a presence on the exhibit hall floor where we have sold some of our classic TORn shirts. We love it when we get up on stage for a panel and half the people in the audience are wearing some of our older shirts.

•  

  

  Baggins Birthday Party sign

  Line Parties and Fan Events

• Line Parties and other fan hosted events – TheOneRing.net has always been a grass roots type of fan-site and that is no more apparent then looking at the Line Parties of years past. Whether it is just a few friends, or some hundreds of people signing up on the website to attend, fans like you all over the world hosted Line Parties. A few even took place over several days, and included costume contests and trivia games for prizes. Other fan hosted events over the years have been the Hobbit Day/Baggins Birthday Bash events on Sept. 22, the Tolkien Toast on Jan. 3 and the Tolkien Reading Day on March 25. TORn staff in Los Angeles have been hosting a Baggins Birthday Bash party for 11 years now, but there are fan groups around the world that have hosted similar events. Smaller moots happen around the world all the time, there is a very active group in Wellington and one in Croatia. If you are hosting a fan event in the next year or two, please feel free to tell us about it.

• The Oscar Parties

• Originally conceived as a fan event to help raise funds to buy TORn a new server, who could have imagined the Cast and Crew actually showing up to the FOTR oscar party? Even more surprising, who could have imagined the ROTK sweep and all those Oscars on stage at a fan hosted party?

• O.R.C and E.L.F.

• TheOneRing.net hosted conventions – The One Ring Celebration on the West Coast (O.R.C.) and the Eastern Lord of the Rings Festival on the East Coast (E.L.F.) were co-productions with a professional convention company, but they definitely had a TORn stamp on them. The conventions allowed us to combine our love of the films by interacting with cast and crew with our love of the books through academic discussions, the art shows and costume displays. We really did break the mold on how a commercial scifi convention is run and hope everyone who attended had a blast.

• Academic essays and editorials

• TORn has long standing relationships with many in the academic community who have posted guest essays and editorials. Over the year several staffers have posted in depth analysis to fan questions on the site as well. In fact, we have a whole section on the ‘old TORn’ (pre-crash) called Green Books for academic posts. This section had so much good stuff in it, we published a book called “The People’s Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien” and a sequel book as well.

• Driving fan initiatives

• After Return of the King was done and Peter Jackson moved on to do King Kong, the fans waited to see what would happen with The Hobbit afterwards. Months turned to years and still no word while studios went bankrupt, copyrights issues got tangled up and various lawsuits were filed for missing payments. Finally, a few fans decided they had had enough and started a petition to ‘Make the Hobbit Happen’. They brought it to TORn and we got thousands of you to sign so that a big pile of names was delivered to TPTB. A similar thing happened when there was talk that the production would be moved out of New Zealand. The fans could see no where else as Middle-earth, so the ‘Keep the Hobbit in NZ’ campaign was born, but this time on Social Media. And most recently, there was an explosion of Tolkien fan love over the #Votebilbo twitter event prompted by an MTV Audience Award.

• TORn Community

• This list compiles many of the things that TheOneRing.net does to keep you informed, entertained and engaged, but there is really just one thing that makes TheOneRing.net so important to keep around. And that is the community of fans that convene on our message boards, in Barliman’s chat, on Facebook and Twitter.

This site was built by fans getting together to discuss what they hoped for from Peter Jackson long before FOTR ever saw the light of day. The fact that a long existing fan-base gathered here meant engaged and informed discussion began from day one, including analyzing all the spy reports about casting and location details. We didn’t have to wait for the release of the films, or for several episodes of a new show to take off before we could discuss the minutia of every detail because our fan base was already well established.

And what is ‘fandom’ if not a community of like minded people passionate about the same thing. Sure, everyone has their own opinions, so every time a new image was released, or a new trailer appeared, the message boards and chatroom erupted into heated discussions. But as the years wore on friendships were made, some turning into marriage, and we all began meeting up at various moots, conventions, concerts, premiere events, trips to New Zealand or just coffee and a movie. How many of you newer fans were galvanized by the #Votebilbo campaign and now have a wider array of Twitter friends because of it? The fact that TORn was able to continue to exist during all those lean years between film productions is due mostly to you, the readers, sticking around to discuss anything and everything to do with Tolkien, and sometimes other bits of pop culture. We know that after the release of The Hobbit: There and Back Again we will see another decline of readership, but we also know that the community is strong, the friendships have been forged and all of you take that fandom with you where ever you go next.

So again, if you are so inclined to help support us and keep the website going, please do make a pledge or bid on one of the many cool auction items we’ve been posting about the past few days. On behalf of the All Volunteer Staff at TheOneRing.net, you have our deepest gratitude for all the support over the years.

Which is your favourite?  Tell us via disqus or share your thoughts on our Message Boards.

Several TORn staff have compared the Sanders’ 48fps interpolation and the 24fps rendition initially released by Warner Bros. side-by-side — and we feel that even Sanders’ “amateur” (and that word seems unfair for something that looks so good) interpolation reduces picture blurring blurring from camera panning and fast movement.

The scene we’d particularly draw your eye to is the one where the barrels drop down the chute from the bowels of Thranduil’s underground stronghold into the river. There’s a noticeable increase in clarity there.

An aside: It’s even clearer in this version that the lids are not on the barrels as they roll down the chute from Thranduil’s cellar, and drop into the water. So: no lids. Sorry folks.

The Desolation of Smaug trailer in shiny 48fps

Anyway, you can watch Sanders’ 48fps version of the trailer directly below. Then, if you’d like to compare it against the original, head to Warner Bros.’ original trailer release which we’ve handily embedded at the bottom of this post. After all, there’s nothing better than comparing apples against apples, right?

Have a look at both, and let us know your thoughts below!

A couple of notes from Sanders on the work that went into his HFR interpolation, and how he accomplished it:

Faster actions scenes proved somewhat problematic, but overall it turned out pretty interesting. I may improve on it later. The true frame rate is 48fps, but the actual video file is rendered in 60fps, since many players (including VLC) can have trouble with 48.

I used Adobe After Effects CS6. For each cut, I would try both AE’s built-in pixel motion and Re:Vision’s Twixtor plugin, and use whichever one had better results. For some pieces of the cuts where the warping and ghosting artifacts really got out of hand, I just used plain old frame blending which just layers the previous frame over the next frame. At 48fps, it goes by so quick you can generally get away with it in very short spurts. however, I plan on revisiting these cuts in particular with Twixtor using tracking points and/or foreground masks. And of course, the most important thing is you always have to separate out the first and last frame of a cut and leave it un-interpolated so you don’t get a real nasty “morph” between cuts. That’s probably one of the more time-consuming parts with really fast trailers with lots of cuts.

TORn Staffer Mr Cere adds this thought, too:

48 fps doesn’t need to be with 3D, but the studio choose to make it so, which is a bad decision IMHO. They could release a non-3D 48 fps but never did. BIG loss for this consumer.

Enjoy!

But we wonder whether, at 30 seconds shorter than the last one, this will merely be a cut-down version for different markets — a bit like we saw with the rendition of the AUJ trailer that was attached to Pixar’s Brave last year. In fact, Ringer TheHutt on the messageboards suggests that it might be this version below, which seems to been floating around a while, and contains no new scenes. If anyone has better information, get in touch with us!

Smuag as first viewed in the June 2013 trailer.

One of the single most anticipated characters or creatures in 2013 cinema, (honestly it is difficult to think of anything close) is the marriage of the voice and performance of Benedict Cumberbatch and the digital artistry of Weta Digital together in Tolkien’s dragon Smaug the Magnificent.

We all saw the creature’s head move in the latest “Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug” trailer, but it is still a good bit removed from the total performance. But for now, you can listen to the voice, or at least the voice originating from the same human, doing a reading of “Ode To A Nightingale.”

Nobody (outside of the team making the movie) knows how his performance will change as a dragon, nor how the sound team will change or enhance or filter the original performance. But this is a great chance to hear the raw voice in a short, satisfying reading. Thanks to staffer Justin for the find. Enjoy.

On June 12th Warner Brothers released the first official trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. It can be viewed in its entirety at TheHobbit.com.

Staff here at TheOneRing.net have now – a week later – watched the trailer again and again… and again… We’ve also been poring over large screencaps, with a magnifying glass, to spot any tiny details which just might give us some further insight into what we will see when the movie comes out at the end of this year. Check out what we spotted, below!

The following screen caps and commentary are not confirmed and are only speculation by the staff at TheOneRing.net. We plan on providing additional updates and insights as staff chime in – so keep this page bookmarked!

If you would like to easily browse all high res imagery of the trailer, check out page 11.

We’d like to thank G.T. Denny, author of ‘Deep into the Heart of a Rose,’ for sponsoring this effort!

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! And Click the images to see larger versions

Calisuri – Stunning shot of the Lonely Mountain!

greendragon – Beautiful, majestic – love it. Also, this looks like the boat we saw in the ‘sneak preview’ last April, when Martin Freeman kept saying his line about ‘never venture East!’

Elessar – The Lonely Mountain looks stunning. A truly beautiful view.

MrCere – Isn’t this the logo for film studio Paramount Pictures?

Earl – The Mountain seems really majestic… enough to take one’s breath away.

Kelvarhin – Just a beautiful shot of the mountain… wouldn’t mind that on a poster

Garfeimao – Wait, this isn’t a Paramount film, just waiting for the Stars to stream across the lake and circle the mountain. And actually, this is kinda pretty, but they are taking a boat to the Lonely Mountain, rather than ponies around the lake, so one big change right off the bat from the beginning.

ImladrisRose – Cue Paramount studio music… Honestly, looks like the exact same mountain!

deej – Gorgeous – reminds me of a Maxfield Parrish painting

grammaboodawg – The colours, texture, and stunning look of the Lonely Mountain is so intense! To have the scale of the Company in the boat as it approaches puts Long Lake and the Mountain in great perspective.

Calisuri – Love the stairway – I just feel bad for Dori as he’s gonna have quite a time scaling that next step. Its a doozy! (bottom zig-zag stairs)

greendragon – This is brilliant. OK, a bit ‘Argonath–ish’ – but in a good way. Very dramatic. I’m assuming this is how the dwarves climb the side of the mountain to reach the hidden doorway… Who’s that who looks like he’s been left behind – is that Dwalin down in the bottom right of centre?

Elessar – Looking for the hidden door. I was curious how they would put this in the movie and I love that they have to walk up a really cool stairway within those great looking Dwarven statues.

Saystine – i love this idea that they have to climb the statues to get to the door, rather than just climb the mountain.

MrCere – As GD said above, it evokes the Argonath. Perhaps Gimli had never seen these or he might not have been quite so in awe as he was from his boat in FOTR. I like to think Dwarves, rock hewers that they are, either made those film Argonath or taught the world of men how. Clearly the same process at work in Middle-earth.

Magpie – I love how the ‘pixilated’ square-based Dwarf designs are worked into a staircase. (cropped image here). The scale of this shot when it came on screen was stunning.

Earl – We get to see another glimpse of the Dwarves’ craftsmanship at the height of their power – a towering statue carved into the mountainside, with a stairway zigzagging across it. The beard reminds me of Thror’s rather magnificent beard we see in AUJ.

Kelvarhin – Love the way the hidden steps have been worked into the Dwarven statue, they’re basically right there out in the open, but made to look like they’re just part of the design. As Earl says a great nod to Dwarven craftsmanship.

Garfeimao – Very cool sense of scale with the characters climbing up the axe of the Dwarf statue outside Erebor. I can’t wait to see this statue up close.

ImladrisRose – Like the Argonath, but IMHO even cooler than the sandal clad kings of old. Love how they showcase the scale in this shot!

deej – Agree with the others regarding the comparisons to the Argonaths. The level of detail in this shot alone is impressive.

grammaboodawg – That looks like the Company is walking up that sculpture towards a hidden door! What a fascinating possibility! Again… a great reference to scale!

greendragon – another beautiful, stunning shot. These are the moments I love in PJ’s films – such great artistry.

Elessar – Dale looks torn all to pieces, which is so much different than how we see it basically in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I can’t wait to see more detail if we get inside Dale. It looked so beautiful in the first movie and its sad I think to see it so torn up. Its going to add a real emotional impact to that scene.

MrCere – There it is, the geographic location of the titular Desolation of Smaug.

Calisuri – Check out the caved in dome! Pretty sweet.

Earl – This looks a lot like the city of Leh up in the Indian Himalayas (http://www.myhimalayas.com/likir/image/likir_gompa.jpg) I love how sad the ruined city looks… just as described in the book where Bilbo couldn’t bear the sorry sight of it.

Kelvarhin – another lovely scenic shot, but personally I always envisaged Dale as being more ruinous, it just seems too “intact” to me, but maybe that’s just the distance.

ImladrisRose – Stunning cinematography, as usual. The use of blue color grading to emphasise the mood of what is being seen by the company is superb. Blue = sadness.

Garfeimao – The ruins of Dale don’t look half bad covered in snow. I imagine it gets much sadder looking once inside.

deej – Beautiful shot of Dale. I can’t wait to see the city in more detail.

grammaboodawg - Wow… devastated Dale looks like the first image we saw of the Mountain. The colour, the rough and crumbled look of it yet still holds the strong bones or foundation it was built upon. So sad.

greendragon – the dwarves – not surprisingly – look like they have their hands bound in this shot. That’s a LOT of elven guards! Check out the red hair at the front of the line – looks like Tauriel and Legolas leading the group. Thranduil’s realm looks more like Lothlorien that I would have expected – it’s more open and airy than I imagined. Yet the pillars in this shot remind me of Dwarrowdelf, which does suggest being underground. You can see Alan Lee and John Howe’s influence in this shot – gorgeous.

Elessar – Mirkwood looks great! I will say that moment does have a bit of the same feel you get when the Fellowship is shown going through Lothlorien. However, it looks beautiful. I love that it is bright and beautiful with this still being Greenwood the Great compared to the darker parts of the Mirkwood.

Saystine – this must be inside the elven realm. It seems underground, but still very airy. I am very excited to see more of this!

MrCere – I am slightly bothered that this is a distinct and intentional echo of the LOTR trilogy. Obviously intentional, these stuck out to me a lot in Hobbit #1. I hoped we were over them.

Earl – I can’t imagine how this team comes up with such distinctively wonderful designs for every single culture. And is that Thranduil’s throne at the very top?

Kelvarhin – Thranduils halls! Really glad that they seem to have kept in the design that they’re supposed to emulate, but not quite reach, the grandeur of Thingol’s halls. Not sure why there’s a waterfall in there though.

ImladrisRose – LOVE seeing Mirkwood!! The detail on the bridge reminds me of Rivendell architecture, but the deeper into the shot you look, it looks more like Lothlorien. Beautiful blending of two gorgeous environments, however I can’t wait to hopefully see unique elements that make up the darker environment that is Mirkwood.

Garfeimao – The Mirkwood Elven realm seems to be a cross between Moria and Lothlorien, with a mix of Stonework and Woodwork, love how the bridge they are walking on is made of stone with tree roots either carved or actual ones worked in. The other bridge off to the right is from a tree root, unadorned.

deej – This shot is at once distinctly Elvish and also different from anything else we’ve seen in the LotR or first Hobbit films.

grammaboodawg – Amazing!! This is a thousand times grander and beautiful than anything I ever imagined! Wow! Again, great reference to scale as we see as many as 2 Elves to each Dwarf. And there’s the River running below! Are those barrels I see riding down the rapids? Those pillars have elements of both Rivendell and Lothlorien.

greendragon – is that a lone figure on the staircase, at right? If so, who is it?

Magpie – the structure toward the top right intrigues me. It looks a bit like a throne but I’ve found other images of a throne that seems to use or be modeled after the antlers of the elk-like animal Thranduil rides in AUJ. The structure reminds me of Thranduil’s crown. (comparison image here)

Calisuri – Yea, the guy on the right is oblivious to the company of dwarves being marched in.

ImladrisRose – I’m looking for Galadriel’s swan boat.

Garfeimao – This hall has a ‘Grotto’ feel to it, with the streams running through and the ferns growing, and bits of sunlight streaming through the darker parts of the cavern.

deej – Love the little details in this shot, like the beams of sunlight coming through.

grammaboodawg – OK! Comparing this shot with the previous one, I really think I can make out barrels and now very small figures standing in and by the water above them higher up the River where the barrels would have come from!

MrCere – How good is Lee Pace? How good was casting? How great is this costume design? Better than anything we see in this trailer, including lots of things I like, including my initial dragon responses.

Calisuri – Check out that crown concept. Absolutely love the costume design on Thranduil. And could Lee Pace be any more suited to play this role?

ImladrisRose – The crown is incredible. Lee Pace, I don’t think anyone is more suited to play Thranduil. This shot is stunning. I don’t know why, but it reminds me of a shot of Brad Dourif in Two Towers that I loved. Would also like to add, the color palette for Mirkwood is so warm and fall like, love the irony.

Garfeimao – I like that they changed the crown to Wood and dried pine boughs rather than the more metallic images we got last year as our first image of Thranduil. Great profile.

deej – I’m sure costumers are studying shots like this intently; prepare to see a few Thranduils at conventions for the next few years.

grammaboodawg – Thranduil! He exudes strength, poise, mystery, and is as tense as a bowstring pulled back to the cheek. Stunning!

greendragon – ‘The quest to reclaim a homeland…’ line sounds a little too much like ‘Frodo begins to understand… the quest will claim his life…’ I somehow feel like this is trying too hard to echo the LotR movies; and maybe it’s just because I know those films so well, but I can’t help feeling like the actors here are doing impersonations of the elves from those films! ‘Let’s all …. speak slowly… like an .. elf…’ :/

Elessar – Thranduil looks pretty cool. Still not sure I dig the crown but I think I can warm to it.

MrCere – I read greendragon’s comments here after making a similar comment above. It is nice to know I am not alone in my feelings about trilogy similarities.

ImladrisRose – His eyes are very blue. I also noticed that Orlando’s eyes were strikingly bluer than in LOTR. I don’t know if this is a color grading choice or if PJ had the actors wear the bluest of blue contacts, but for me, it’s very distracting because they are almost too blue. It seems unnatural to me. Oh, but that crown!!!

Garfeimao – Legolas thrilled the fangirls 12 years ago, now we finally get to see where he get’s it from. I’m just going to say it here, Hubba Hubba.

deej – Lee Pace seems to have captured just the right amount of haughtiness and beauty needed for an Elf.

grammaboodawg – Powerful and immovable. Nothing is going to change this guy’s mind.

Elessar – Thorin looks like a Dwarf put through the ringer and none too happy about it.

Saystine – I love this shot of Thorin. Richard is right. He looks best when he is kind of scruffy and dirty!

MrCere – He seems to have shredded lint stuck to him – or spider web strands. This is the go-to Thorin hero shot it seems.

Kelvarhin – Sort of echoing MrCere, but can’t help thinking “It’s gonna take him hours to get that stuff out of his fur coat”. Maybe that’s the real reason he brought his nephews along, “Boys! Clean my stuff!” Apart from that, the fangirls are gonna love that photo.

ImladrisRose – Here we have Thorin, taking hair styling advice from Radagast…

Garfeimao – Caption this: ‘I’ve got spider web remnants all over me and you want to chat about whether or not I have the right to reclaim my homeland? I don’t think so!’

deej – If I were Thorin, and had just gone through what he and his friends had, I wouldn’t be too thrilled with taking any crap from the elves, either.

grammaboodawg – You don’t often see Thorin like this. Most of his gazes have that low brow, eyes drawn up appearance… but here he shows apprehension or even fear. He’s wearing the events he’s endured. The spiderwebs, dirty, lost, and captured by the very Elf he feels betrayed them in the dragon attack. That’s cruel-hard on this very proud Dwarf.

Saystine – the barrel escape is going to be epic!!!

MrCere – This evokes for me the need to suspend my disbelief as the Goblin section did in Hobbit 1.

Calisuri – At first I thought it was Bilbo that was rolling out first…which as we know would be very very wrong. hah. The beard seems to imply that is Kili first?

Kelvarhin – how on earth did he not brain himself on those rocks!

ImladrisRose – I agree, I think it’s Kili. I hope that in the final version these kinds of shots are easier to visually process.

Garfeimao – Everyone sing – ‘Roll out the Barrel, we’ll have a barrel of fun.’

deej – You’ve heard of the Barrel of Monkeys game? Get ready for Barrel of Dwarves!

grammaboodawg – Here they come! I hope they don’t crack their heads on those rocks! I can see the trap door pulled up against the ceiling above the opening. There wood on the sides of that opening, too. What is that line of what looks like plates on a shelf to the left and on the side of the wall from where the barrels are?

greendragon – I think I’d have felt happier with a lid on my barrel, if I were going to drop from that height!!

ImladrisRose – Splash, crash, oww…

Garfeimao – The question here is: ‘Why No Lids?’ That just seems so very impractical, while swamping seems much more likely to happen. BTW, with no lids on the barrels, they have to float downriver upright, which begs another question ‘what barrel does Bilbo scramble on top of and how if they are open?’

deej – A barrel lid would definitely have been a good idea.

grammaboodawg – No! Those are crashing one on top of the other. Bam! Crack! There’s no getting out of the way! Pushed down and pinned in the water! Yoikes!

The Dwarves take a boat to the Lonely Mountain, but it is not yet known if they will be met on the far side by ponies to get them the rest of the way to the mountain. The scene of them sailing out of town with all the Townspeople singing them on their way is straight out of the book, but Bard’s warning that the whole town will be in jeopardy because of the Dwarves’ quest is not. Bard’s skepticism was always hinted at in the book, but it appears he get’s to play the ‘voice of reason’ in Laketown, which should give more dramatic weight to his character.

Thorin is captured by the Elves ‘with the rest of the Company’, rather than having been caught the night before while crashing an Elven party. In the book, the rest of the Company does not quite realize Thorin is gone because the forest is so dark and they soon become quite busy with giant spiders. After Bilbo frees them of the spiders and the elves capture them, they are imprisoned away from Thorin, not knowing he is there as well. This gives Thranduil an advantage when questioning Thorin since he has no idea what the fate of the rest of his Company is. By capturing them altogether in the film, this changes the dynamics when the Dwarves are brought before Thranduil. Again, this may not make a big difference in the overall story, we shall see this December.

The barrels have no lids, which means there is a higher risk of swamping, but may add a little bit of drivability for the dwarves. It also means poor Bilbo has nothing to perch on. The fact that they hit some white water rapids, it is amazing that Bilbo is still  hanging onto Kili’s barrel.

The Dwarves’ escape from the Mirkwood Elves apparently does not go unnoticed by the Elves, or Orcs for that matter. This is shown with the Elves running through the trees above the river as the barrels go by on the river. But there may well be an inside person involved in the escape, since Kili has his bow and Thorin has Orcrist. This is a much bigger change from the books than some of the previous events, we’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out.

Bilbo climbs the trees of Mirkwood to give the Company their bearings, and gets to see a cluster of butterflies. Martin expresses such joy on his face at the sight, this will be a nice break from the darkness of the forest.

Gandalf gets into a scuffle in Dol Guldur with what appears to be a Dwarf, presumably Thrain. This should be a flashback to how Gandalf came into possession of the Key and Map to the Secret Door.

Bilbo will be fighting the giant spiders, and he looks scared. It also appears he gets to do a bit of gymnastics in those trees, should be a rather awesome sequence of events when Bilbo leads the spiders on a merry little chase.

Beorn in bear form is ginormous. That is, if the critter busting through the door the Dwarves are trying to close is Beorn.

Gandalf and Radagast explore the Tombs where the Witch King and his cohorts were supposedly locked away forever. Radagast seems more hesitant, while Gandalf is resolute in exploring, and neither seem happy with what they find.

Tauriel tells Legolas that they should get involved, a coming fight is also their fight. We do not know entirely what she is referring to, but this appears to happen after the Elves have fought with the Orcs chasing the Dwarves down the river.

This week on LOTR Movie Board Jay236 wants to know “Who is Tom Bombadil?” Come and see what our members have to say about this most mysterious character.

The hot topic on Hobbit Movie Board comes from jtarkey who ponders “Will The Hobbit trilogy finally be understood once it is completed? Or will it go down as a failed attempt to push the envelope of technology?”

Lindele decided to make a revised edition of the DOS trailer, you can take a peek at it over on Fan Art, see if you can spot the changes

We’ll share more topics next week. We hope you’ll come and join in the conversations!  Don’t forget, TheOneRing.net’s message boards have over 9,770 registered Tolkien fans, just like you.  Let your voice be heard!

Enjoy, or something.