Q: Greetings masters of lore. My question deals with the Nazgul. I know of Khamul, but I have not found the names of the other Nazgul. If they had names, what were they as well as who were they prior to their transformation? Furthermore, is there any story about their creation and why Sauron decided to choose them specifically?

-Reginold

A: Khamul seems to be the only named Ringwraith. What we know of him is given in the section “The Hunt for the Ring” in Unfinished Tales (1980). He was second to the Chief, and his name is given as Khamul the Shadow of the East. Some more about the Nazgul, or the Ulairi, can be found in some of the volumes of the History of Middle-earth, particularly in the section “The Story of Frodo and Sam in Mordor” in Sauron Defeated (1992), and in the work on the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings as printed in The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996). But, unfortunately, the histories of the men who became the Nazgul seems nowhere to be specifically illuminated.

-Turgon

Update!

Okay, we’ve had a number of people writing in and saying that all of the Nazgul are named in one of the Middle-earth games. Yup, we know about that. But the truth is that those names were made up by the people who created the game, not by Tolkien, so we don’t view them as authoritative. They’re simply not in Tolkien anywhere!

- Turgon

Update!

A few eagle-eyed readers have noted a discrepancy between my comment above and Anwyn’s comment an answer from 9/12/99. Technically, Gothmog is described as the “Lieutenant of Morgul,” and this doesn’t tell us whether Gothmog is a Nazgûl, an Orc, or even a Man. Anwyn has interpreted that Gothmog is a Nazgûl. She may be correct, but it is not certain. In any case, a Captain can have more than one Lieutenant, so if Gothmog is a Nazgûl, and Khamul is the second to the Chief, Gothmog could have been the name of another Nazgûl.

- Turgon

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Q: In The Hobbit, at the start of the quest, the dwarves believed that Gandalf was going along with them to Mount Doom [sic], 13 dwarves + 1 Gandalf = 14 in the Party; why were they worried about another member….. and if so surely they could’ve found another greedy dwarf?

-John & Tasha Miller

A: Actually, in The Hobbit the ultimate destination was not Mount Doom, but rather the Lonely Mountain, otherwise referred to as Erebor, once the seat of Thrór’s Kingdom in the North. The clearest answer regarding Bilbo’s inclusion with Thorin Oakenshield’s party is found in the pages of Unfinished Tales (1980). Look in Part Three: The Third Age, Section III: “The Quest of Erebor.” Here we learn of a conversation where Gandalf explains to Gimli, Frodo, Pippin & Merry how he had a chance meeting with Thorin many years earlier and learned of the dwarf’s burning desire for revenge. Originally, Gandalf was not impressed with Thorin’s poorly strategized plans of making armies and war against Smaug. He meant to convince him that stealth and secrecy was his best course of action. Gandalf also had other plans of getting rid of the dragon so that Sauron would not use him as an extension of his power. The wizard himself never intended to go along with Thorin’s Quest, but he knew of a certain Hobbit that he thought would be a valuable asset.

“Suddenly in my mind these three things came together: the great Dragon with his lust, and his keen hearing and scent; the sturdy heavy-booted Dwarves with their old burning grudge; and the quick, soft-footed Hobbit, sick at heart (I guessed) for a sight of the wide world.”

The dwarves were very much against adding Bilbo to the party, especially after meeting him in person, and it took a LOT of convincing on Gandalf’s part to get Thorin to yield to his counsel.

“‘Listen to me, Thorin Oakenshield!’ I said. ‘If this hobbit goes with you, you will succeed. If not, you will fail. A foresight is on me, and I am warning you.’”

In the end, a deal was struck where Thorin reluctantly took heed of Gandalf’s urging; allowing Bilbo to accompany them in exchange for Gandalf’s temporary inclusion in the party.

“‘Very well,’ Thorin said at last after a silence. ‘He shall set out with my company, if he dares (which I doubt). But if you insist on burdening me with him, you must come too and look after your darling.’

“‘Good!’ I answered. ‘I will come, and stay with you as long as I can: at least until you have discovered his worth.’”

And so the inspired number of 14 was created at the last possible second. The poor hobbit was “volunteered” because of Gandalf’s unswerving conviction that Bilbo was more important than anyone foresaw, and also because of his exceptional debating skills with Dwarves. Please see Unfinished Tales (1980) for the full account.

-Quickbeam (@quickbeam2000)

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Q: Why did Sauron never come forth himself to do war? Couldn’t he have flattened all of Minas Tirith with one outstretched hand?

-from the Q & A Introduction

A: Perhaps. But perhaps not. Remember that without the Ring, Sauron was not at his full power. When he created the Ring, Tolkien tells us that he allowed “a great part of his own former power [to] pass into it, so that he could rule all the others.” This allotment of power to the Ring seems to have been permanent. This is evidenced by the fact that if he *could* have won the War without the Ring, he would have done so. *With* the Ring, he would have been terrifyingly unstoppable. Without it, he had perhaps half, perhaps as much as two-thirds the power he possessed in the end of the Second Age, when it took *all of the combined power of Elves and Men* to defeat him. I.E. the Last Alliance of Gil-Galad and Elendil, when both races brought out and sacrificed their best to defeat him. When at last he was defeated and the Ring stripped from him, he became crippled as regards the amount of his power. Tolkien seems to imply that he was able to nurse himself back to health somewhat when he states “always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes shape and grows again.” But it is clear that he could never return to full power without the Ring. So the conclusion is that if he could be attacked and defeated by Gil-Galad and Elendil, Elendil’s sons and the Hosts of Gil-Galad *with* the Ring, then perhaps the combined might of Gandalf, Aragorn, the Sons of Elrond, Theoden, Eomer & Eowyn, Denethor’s & Theoden’s armies, and Faramir… could have defeated him *without* it. I think it’s safe to say that if he could have captured Frodo and regained the Ring, we probably would have seen him make some attacks in a more personal way, but it’s as Denethor said: “He will not come save only to triumph over me when all is won. He uses others as his weapons. So do all great lords, if they are wise, Master Halfling. Or why should I sit here in my tower and think, and watch, and wait, spending even my sons?”

-Anwyn

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Q: The Istari are a council of wizards. They number 7 total but we only know about 3 of them, Saruman the White/Many colors, Gandalf the Grey/White, and Radagast the Brown. Each had their own particular abilities and interests. Who are the other 4 and what are their interests/abilities?

-Karl J. Jurek

A: This question has been asked by many visitors to the TheOneRing.Net. As to the Istari, only three seem to play any role in events related to The Lord of the Rings, Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, and Radagast the Brown. Saruman’s outburst at Orthanc, when he spoke of ‘the rods of the Five Wizards,’ seems to have been letting out some private information. Nowhere in The Lord of the Rings do we learn anything more about the two other wizards, though Tolkien seems to have considered the question on a few occasions, and come up with a few different theories. Some of Tolkien’s notes on the Istari appear in Unfinished Tales (1980). In one of these passages, apparently written around 1954, Tolkien named the other two as Ithryn Luin, ‘the Blue Wizards,’ who passed into the East and never returned. Some other notes indicate that they were named Alatar and Pallando. To complicate matters, some more notes are published in The Peoples of Middle-earth(1996), in a small section “The Five Wizards” in the section titled “Last Writings.” There Tolkien wrote:

“No names are recorded for the two wizards. They were never seen or known in the lands west of Mordor.” In a still further note, Tolkien wrote: “The ‘other two’ came much earlier, at the same time probably as Glorfindel, when matters became very dangerous in the Second Age. Glorfindel was sent to aid Elrond and was (though not yet said) pre-eminent in the war in Eriador. But the other two Istari were sent for a different purpose. Morinehtar and Romestamo. Darkness-slayer and East-helper. Their task was to circumvent Sauron: to bring help to the few tribes of Men that had rebelled from Melkor-worship, to stir up rebellion…”

These various notes are very interesting, and certainly worth looking up. Plus they give as best an answer as we’ll ever know to questions about the Istari.

-Turgon

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Q: If Samwise hated Bill Ferny so much, (bad enough to waste an apple, by throwing it at him) why then did he name the pony that he bought from Ferny, (the one he loved so much) Bill?

-John & Tasha Miller

A: First of all, your question lies more in the realm of subjective interpretation than it does in hard black & white facts. But my best interpretation is this: If you look closely at the text, Samwise does not actually refer to Bill Ferny as ‘Bill’… it seems he was using the Hobbit-ish practice of referring to an individual by the informal means of last-name-only, ‘Ferny.’ Perhaps because of his contempt for Bill Ferny we never hear Samwise give the courtesy of addressing him by first name. Several chapters later, before the Fellowship makes their departure from Rivendell, Samwise names the pony. Certainly not out of memory of Bill Ferny, but maybe because he was just fond of the name ‘Bill.’

-Quickbeam (@quickbeam2000)

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Q: Why do the Black Riders, though painted as so utterly terrifying, seem to have so little power for actual harm?

-from the Q & A Introduction

A: My answer to this is in two parts: the answer that is indicated by the content, i.e., what is it about the characters that makes them this way, and secondly the fact that it constitutes a literary device that Tolkien used.

Part One: Yes, the Black Riders are terrifying. But what is the main strength of their image? Just that: an image. The tall, black shadow. (Please, don’t anybody jump on the George Lucas/Jar Jar Binks racism bandwagon. I am using “black” here not as a color of a person/creature, but as Darkness, or a Shadow. Evil images, not skin color.) The tall black shadow, towering over smaller creatures, intimidating. Tolkien tells us their weakness flat out. They do not see well, hardly at all, in daylight. Thus they are at the mercy of the black horses for direction and guidance much of the time. They can smell. Well and good, but it takes time to sniff out prey, and as we’ve seen, rescue or help can come in the time it takes to sniff somebody out. The five Black Riders, advancing over the lip of the dell… horrifying image. But what was the main fear? The knife. They had to rely on steel weapons just like the “good guys,” or at least until Frodo succumbed to the temptation of the Ring and became one of them, visible in their world, when they would then be able (presumably) to wrest the Ring from him by force. Again, in Return of the King, we see the Witch-King relying on a weapon, his mace, to kill Eowyn. So when it comes to actual physical combat, they are hampered by their limited daylight vision, and just as reliant upon weapons as any mortal. We’re not talking about Dungeons and Dragons dark mages or dark clerics here, who can cast spells with a single word. No. These are formerly mortal beings who have crossed into the spiritual realm, but are still able to wield a presence in the physical. Personally I think they’re fortunate to be able to wield the influence that they do! Now if Frodo were to put on the Ring, it would be another matter. They got him with the knife when he put it on at Weathertop, and they would have done more had not the others with their flaming brands driven them away. At that point they let them alone not because they couldn’t do more, but because they believed there was no need: the wound would overcome Frodo and all they had to do was follow, and he would fall into their hands. So spiritually, they are a horror to any rational being. Physically, they are hampered, and can be foiled with fire, rushing water, and even by broad daylight.

Part Two: I believe Tolkien deliberately used them this way to create a literary device by which Frodo would have no choice but to continue the journey. Everybody has to have some strong motive for leaving their home and pursuing a Quest. Desire to serve the Good is one motive, but Fear is usually stronger. With these creatures driving behind, Frodo and the gang had no choice but to continue to Rivendell or risk capture and wraith-making at the hands of the Black Riders and the Dark Lord. Since my other answer was so long, I’ll keep to that. I think it’s clear enough.

-Anwyn

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Q: Why do the Eagles never show up until the very last minute?

-from the Q & A Introduction

A: I must confess I stole this question from a friend of mine who was frustrated with The Lord of the Rings because he felt Tolkien used too much of what is known as “deus ex machina.” Basically what this means is that just as soon as we see the hero getting into a situation that looks totally inextricable, something we never knew could be part of the equation swoops in to rescue them! As I understand it, it’s based on an old technique of Greek Theater–when the hero got into trouble, they raised him out of the action in a chair, signifying that the Gods had stepped in to rescue him. Thus, “deus ex machina” or “machine of the gods.” So the Eagles, in three instances, act very much like our chair of the gods. First in the Hobbit, rescuing the party from Wargs and goblins and coming in at the last minute in the Battle of Five Armies, then in The Lord of the Rings, helping to win the battle before the Black Gate, and most importantly, pulling Sam and Frodo out of the lava once their Quest was complete. Not to mention Gwaihir’s little “side trips,” rescuing Gandalf from the pinnacle of Orthanc and bearing him from the top of Silvertine.

Now why is this, that if they were such a force to be reckoned with, that they did not come south and join the armies to begin with? Why would they only offer help when it was dire? Doesn’t it say something about their character that they would hold back until things were desperate?

My answer is, I readily admit, not verifiable in print. I can only offer a hypothesis that fits the facts and let you take it as you will. My opinion is this: they are animals. Talking animals, yes, but animals nonetheless. As such they are not one of the Free Peoples. Now, Tolkien’s use of animals falls into two categories: much beloved servants, such as the horses of the Rohirrim, Shadowfax and Sam’s faithful Bill. Or, they fall into the villainous category, usually in the form of giant spiders (Mirkwood and Shelob) but also the horrible carrion beasts which carried the flying Riders. (Servitude again, but for the other side.) I think the Eagles fall into this category also, kind of an antithesis to the horrible carrion creatures of the Riders. We do not know about the intelligence of these creatures. They may have been speechless animals, but they retained enough intelligence to know a foe (recall the beast “screaming” at Eowyn after she defied the Witch-King). The Eagles retain that much intelligence and much more, so that they can put forth their strength for the use of the Good when they are most needed, but perhaps know they would not fit into the grand scheme of the war as a regular force. I guess they would fall into the category of Special Forces, used as a last resort! But that is my answer, that as animals they are not one of the free peoples and their primary role is service to the Good, *when* it becomes necessary. Even Shadowfax was not in use all the time, and when Gandalf wasn’t riding him, he did not go out to war as a soldier.

-Anwyn

Update!

Well, folks, some readers thought that I was not specific enough with my Eagles answers. There were several people who wrote in to tell me the following information, so I’m only posting a few versions. Thanks to all who wrote to clarify for me!

–Anwyn

The answer to the question of the Eagles lies in The Silmarillion. It is revealed there, that the Eagles and the Ents were both, in a sense, agents of the Valar (of one particular one, in fact, the one associated with nature-was it Yavanna? I’m at work and can’t look it up). They were created after she saw what had been done in the creation of the dwarves. So the Eagles only interfere when the Valar allow, so the deus ex machina is an appropriate analogy indeed. (There are also one or two instances where they interfere in The Silmarillion – one I recall was the rescue of Fingon-I think-from Thangorodrim.)

–Tim Frankovich

As an aside on the subject of the Eagles, and why they are usually late to the fray… Manwe‘ was the Lord and Master of the winds and the creatures of the winds, and so the appearance of the Eagles at the last minute is seen as a form of Divine intervention (the form being the Valar overriding their usual modus operandi and stepping in to influence events in Middle-earth).

–Tony Hillerson

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Q: Did Tolkien ever draw a detailed map of Numenor? If so does anyone out there know where its possible to find one?

-Aaron

A: Tolkien only ever drew one sketch-map of Numenor, and Christopher Tolkien redrew it to appear in Unfinished Tales (1980). It’s facing page one of the Introduction in the Houghton Mifflin hardcover edition.

-Turgon

Update!

Also: For an in-depth look at Numenor and many other fantastic maps of Middle-earth, grab yourself a copy of The Atlas of Middle-earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad. This book has been around for many years, but with Christopher Tolkien’s publication of The History of Middle-earth volumes, many changes were made and a new edition appeared. You’ve never seen anything so comprehensive in your life! Zillions of details from all Four Ages and across all the volumes of Tolkien’s masterworks are represented. Cartography, languages, battles, journeys, and amazing cross-sections of underground cities. I highly recommend it as a companion piece to anything you read by Tolkien, and you’ll never be lost in the woods again! The paperback edition is readily available on Amazon.com.

The main character is really Samwise Gamgee, though you may not know it. I’m telling you now, it’s all about Sam.

You can safely argue Frodo Baggins should be the centerpoint of the tale. In The Hobbit Bilbo had the limelight for an entire book, and no one came close to grandstanding him (except maybe Smaug). Seems like Tolkien intended to chronicle the history of the Baggins family; first through Bilbo’s adventures–then with Frodo inheriting more adventures than he bargained for.

The story takes Frodo’s point of view often enough. Throughout the trilogy we share his experiences though personal sensations, his internal thoughts, and even his dreams. Tolkien lets us inside his suffering. And through that suffering we understand the dynamic of true sacrifice. He’s the Ringbearer, after all.

But a character-driven story like LOTR is not strictly about sacrifice (or heroism, or the impermanence of beauty, or all those themes that are intrinsic). I must admit the novel is woven of many threads but the groundwork of the tale, the telling of it, spins on a single proviso: Who is transformed the most between the opening and the closing page, taking the reader through his transformation?

Aragorn is the most heroic character. But it’s not his story.

Gandalf is greatest manipulator of events. But it’s not his story.

Sauron is the ever-present antagonist. But it’s not his story.

Let me give you the clearest example from another fantasy, familiar to all but the most sheltered–Star Wars. You think the original Star Wars films are about some farmboy named Luke Skywalker? You think he’s the main character? BUZZZ! I’m so sorry… thanks for playing! If you had said Darth Vader, you’d be walking home with the grand prize.

The guy in the black helmet is pulling all the strings. Vader begins the first scene of the first episode by walking through that laser-blasted door looking for Leia. He is the first character the audience has a relationship with. More importantly, his choices put the plot in motion for all three films. Every facet of the story we experience is an after-effect of what Darth Vader is doing. When Return of the Jedi comes to its conclusion, it is only after Vader’s most difficult redemption and after we see his glowing form with his predecessors, that we know the story is over. He’s redeemed. Roll credits. The end.

When you write a 1,200-page novel, you have the luxury of branching off into other subplots and you can take time to work with various characters. But you still need one common thread that thematically brings your story full circle. The transformation of Sam is Tolkien’s central storytelling device, though not the most obvious one. There are many clues that reveal Sam, not Frodo, as the main element.

Sam goes an extreme route: from simple gardener to a participant in legend. He starts things off in The Fellowship of the Ring as the first new character we learn about, through a description offered by his father, the Gaffer:

Crazy about stories of the old days he is, and he listens to all Mr. Bilbo’s tales… Elves and Dragons! I says to him. Cabbages and potatoes are better for me and you.

So you see, our dear Sam is the contact point that we immediately relate to. Just like him, we are daydreaming of fairies, elves, and elephants. That is why Tolkien introduces Sam at once. All the magnificent events of the War of the Ring, the journey, battles, treachery and triumph, are diluted down to this profound effect: Sam is transformed beyond what he recognizes in himself. In the end he becomes the subject of all his dreams. Even he acknowledges that his feats might someday be the subject of future stories and songs.

Sam’s conversation with Frodo in the pass of Cirith Ungol says it all:

‘But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually–their paths were laid that way, as you put it… I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into?’

‘I wonder,’ said Frodo. ‘But I don’t know. And that’s the way of a real tale… The people in it don’t know…’

And when Sam realizes the grand stories of the First Age, of Beren and the Silmarils, are indeed connected to the present unfolding events he says:

‘Why, to think of it, we’re in the same tale still! It’s going on. Don’t the great tales never end?’

‘No, they never end as tales,’ said Frodo. ‘But the people in them come, and go when their part’s ended.’

To this Sam replies, ‘…Still, I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales.’ And with that strangely self-referential remark, the Professor quietly moves Sam into his greatest moments of peril and deliverance.

As final proof, I offer a closer look at the novel’s conclusion. The epic story does not end with the destruction of the Ring, not even with Frodo’s departure from the Grey Havens. The final moment we cling to as the story closes its doors, is of Sam coming back to his family, sitting at his table and declaring that his role in the formation of a myth is done. Three simple words, “Well, I’m back,” are his final admission that there is no more story for him to contribute to.

Sam’s perspective is that he can finally return to domestic life without any further adventures. An end has come to chronicling his tale. He is now back with his family, back to his private life; and the intrusive eyes of future generations can leave him in peace.

Much too hasty,

Quickbeam
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Follow Cliff “Quickbeam” Broadway on Twitter: @quickbeam2000

———————————————————————-

This article was first published on March 1st 2001 in Green Books. In an effort to introduce new Tolkien fans to our nearly 14 years of archived content, we will be publishing articles like this on a regular basis. We hope you enjoy it!

Of course, the question we’re all pondering is: what scenes will be slated for this period of filming?  We already know that 3 foot 7 were looking to cast extras with ‘character faces’, as described in their ad, here.   Spanish Tolkien site elanillounico.com and French site Tolkiendrim.com both report that, apparently, these extras are sought for scenes which will take place in Bree; which of course does seem to fit with a need for character faces.

And this is where the wild speculation begins – get ready, because we’re guessing outside the box here!  What scenes for The Hobbit movies might be set in Bree?   Surely there is no need for An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition material to take us back to Bree on the journey of Bilbo and the dwarves? More interestingly, perhaps it could be a flashback to Gandalf and Thorin’s first meeting on the road, when they passed a night at Bree, as described in The Quest for Erebor? What important information  might the film makers wish to disclose in such a scene – more about the back story of Azanulbizar and the disappearance of Thorin’s father, Thrain?

In their article, our French friends go even further and speculate that this may be a chance for some of the oft discussed ’bridge’ material between the stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.  Perhaps we will get to see Aragorn and Gandalf meeting in Bree, during Aragorn’s ranging days in the North, before the beginning of the hunt for Gollum.  Viggo Mortensen only recently stated again, this time to Total Film magazine, that he would be keen to play a role in The Hobbit trilogy.  He is reported here as having said, ‘Would I play Aragorn again? Sure, if it seemed sensible to do so.  He’s not in the book of The Hobbit, but if they’re working with the appendices they may be intending to bridge the 60-year Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings gap.’  Mortensen went on to say, ‘I think I would have heard by now so I have to assume [not]… But Peter Jackson is famous for his reshoots, so you never know!’

Now that is something exciting to think about.  Total idle speculation of course; we don’t even know for sure that scenes ARE being filmed in Bree. But it’s fun to dream of a little glimpse of Strider….

Thanks to our friends at Tolkiendrim.com for their report!

What a fun movie! Dominic Monaghan (Meriadoc Brandybuck) came on board to be our wonderful narrator! Actually this film is a time capsule of many decades of pop culture history — giving us the full story on how the world has embraced Tolkien’s masterpiece THE LORD OF THE RINGS over 50 years and more!

Winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival, RINGERS was produced in association with TheOneRing.net — this remarkable little film was forged BY fans and FOR fans, just like our website, with the production/writing talent of Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway (who hosts TORn TUESDAY every week), Jeff Marchelletta, and supercool director Carlene Cordova. It was executive produced by X-Men/Transformers guru Tom DeSanto.

With a wonderful rock-driven score and detailing all the outpouring of love bestowed on Tolkien over many generations, this film is a must-have for your digital collection! Get it on iTunes now for only $9.99!

From the original Sony Press Release:

“RINGERS is comprehensive, entertaining and informative pop culture history.”
– The Toronto Star

“…Will always be a salient part of ‘LORD OF THE RINGS’ history…
See it, absorb it, love it.” – FilmThreat

Winner of “Outstanding Achievement” Award at the
Newport Beach Film Festival

RINGERS: LORD OF THE FANS

FASCINATING DOCUMENTARY CAPTURES THE HISTORY, INFLUENCE AND PHENOMENON THAT IS LORD OF THE RINGS

CULVER CITY, Calif. (September 12, 2005) – Sony invites you to return to the Shire with the release of the feature-length documentary RINGERS: LORD OF THE FANS, direct to DVD.  In association with the popular fan-site TheOneRing.net, Carlene Cordova produced, directed and wrote this award-winning film with executive producer Tom DeSanto(X-Men, X2: X-Men United and Transformers), which charts the incredible influence and ripple-effect that Lord of the Rings has had on worldwide pop culture over the past five decades.  Whether you are a fan or first timer, critics agree, RINGERS, stands as the most comprehensive film documenting the ongoing impact of J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary achievement.

Dominic Monaghan (star of ABC’s Lost and the Academy Award^® winning Lord of the Rings trilogy) narrates the documentary as it looks behind the curtain between Lord of the Rings and how it inspired so many artists of different mediums.  The film moves beyond “cult classic” and through different generations unearthing the way legendary rock musicians, filmmakers, professors, actors and authors all unite under the banner of ‘Ringer.’  Interviewees included in the film are Lord of the Rings trilogy filmmaker Peter Jackson as well as Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin and David Carradine.  Infused with a dynamic rock-driven score, irreverent cut-out animation (á la Terry Gilliam), and a centerpiece audience sing-a-long, RINGERS is a genre-busting documentary that shows how a single literary work continues to spark the minds and hearts of millions.

RINGERS continues the momentum of the motion picture trilogy Lord of the Rings, a winner of 17 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Peter Jackson, who made history as the first person to direct three major feature films simultaneously. 

From the official synopsis:

Ringers: Lord of the Fans is a feature-length documentary that reveals the ongoing cultural phenomenon created by The Lord of the Rings.  Very funny and often moving, Ringers shows the hidden power behind Tolkien’s books — and how after 50 years a single literary work continues to spark the minds and hearts of millions, across cultures and across time.

Shot with groundbreaking new digital technology in 24P, Ringers explores the real foundations of Middle-earth; a community of true fans who share a common bond.  Moving beyond “cult classic” and over several different generations, the film unearths academics, musicians, authors, filmmakers, and a plethora of pop junkies — the people gathered under the banner of ‘Ringer.’  From the hippie counter-culture to the electronic age; from the Bakshi animated film to Jackson’s epic trilogy; this documentary brings together extensive footage from across the globe.  With units in Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Bonn, Germany, Wellington, New Zealand, and Oxford, England, our cameras capture the most fascinating “Ringers” and Lord of the Rings events.

What began as the private amusement of a tweedy Oxford professor has now become a new mythology for the 21^st century. Ringers: Lord of the Fans shows how an adventure story published in 1954 has had dynamic ripple-effects through Western pop-culture.  Ringers carefully pulls away the veil between Tolkien’s book and the creations of art, music, and community that have been inspired by it.

Check out the official trailer here:

Jed was a great host along side Peter Jackson who explained certain things on the way to the editing room, we saw snippets of work in progress, Azog and an Orc in motion capture, some Pre-Viz of Smaug the Dragon, of whom we only saw snippets of in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which is akin to the unfinished Gollum in his first but brief appearance in Fellowship of The Ring, before he was fully realized as a digital character in the Two Towers, he was a mere shadow of himself you could say..

Peter Jackson must have been walking around in bare feet all the way because I didn’t see him taking off his shoes on the way to the editing room..

Once there they made themselves comfortable, and they showed us one scene of Bilbo with the dwarves  and Bard the Bowman in a boat, who is transporting them across to Laketown just after picking them up in the barrels from the river, Peter explained about all the various camera angles which he used for that scene and how he could choose one from them for the final edit.

Then we were greeted and introduced to some new and old new actors, who will appear in the second movie the Desolation of Smaug, via a pre-recorded video, and then caught glimpse’s of them in character and in action on set.

A few fans were lucky enough to have their questions answered too, and we were presented with video or artwork of the new locations as answers, and a very tasty teaser of things to come, Very Cool!

So much was said in that one hour, and with only a one off chance (before the modified version landed on the net) of trying to take it all in, I took it upon myself to transcribe what I heard, this took away the flutter of videos and pictures, and let me hear what was being said and there were quite a few interesting things as you can read below:

Transcript:

Jed: Thank you for joining us here at Park Road Post. I’m Jed Brophy I play ‘Nori’ in the hobbit, films,  this morning you get to see behind the scenes, how we make these movies and where we make them and later on you get to ask Sir Peter Jackson some questions live, and speaking of which, its Peter Jackson himself, Morning Peter.

PJ: Jed how are you?
Jed: Very good nice to see
PJ: Great thank you, and here are all our folk tuning in, thank very much for making the time in your day or your night, speaking of which, for most of you in the America’s or Europe its Sunday March the 24th, not only is this live there actually a time travel element to this because of you look at today’s paper, down here in New Zealand its the 25th of march, Monday its 8:00 o’clock in the morning on Monday so your actually going ahead into time not just live, and I’ll tell you what look out your windows 7:00 o’clock Monday morning it’s amazing, spoiler alert but its incredible

Jed: bizarre there’s more of you cricket English cricket fans

PJ: Because England and New Zealand are playing a very intense game of cricket at the moment and just for the fans in England we thought you might like to look at the back of paper, yesterdays paper,  never mind, never mind lets ah move on

Jed: What are we going to look at today?

PJ: Well, we are going to end up in the cutting room, most of this is going to take place in the cutting room, but before we get there I just wanted to give everyone a tour, around our building for those of you how’ve watched our blogs Stone Street Studios where the filming is done about hundred yards down the road, and so this is our post production place, were we find ourselves for months and months after the film is finished, and this is the motion caption stage, performance capture stage, and Christian is doing in the middle of doing a bit of motion capture for the second Hobbit movie

Christian:.. Where doing the part where Azgo’s um and the Orcs…

PJ: All right spoiler alert, spoiler alert, let’s just stick to the look this is Azog you  see Azog, one of our chief Orc’s he’s actually friendly when he’s in a motion capture suit, more friendly then he is in the movie

*cut* to movie posters

PJ: Seven or Eight years old

Jed: Fantastic

PJ: Good movie

Jed: oh what have we got here?

PJ: Well this is a poster collection (six sheets) it’s a size. of a poster they don’t make any more, I’ve spent a few years trying to collect every James bond six sheet / 3 sheet, so this is just like the James Bond walk of fame

Jed: Wow

PJ: Its good

Jed: Which is your favorite?

PJ: Well this is the first bond movie I saw live and let die, but you know the posters, in the old days where just fantastic

Jed: Yeah

PJ: They used to paint movie posters, which

Jed: Alright

PJ: Never happens anymore unfortunately

PJ: That’s a great poster isn’t it?

Jed: Yeah it is,

PJ: You Never Live Twice

Jed: The detail in it is amazing

PJ: We should walk down this corridor and makes you feel good

Jed: Yeah, Yeah, you’ve got room for the ones coming up

PJ: Yeah, we got room for all of them, yep, yep

PJ: Now were are heading into the Pre-Viz department

Jed: That stands for per-visualization

*walks through doors*

PJ: Which is like story boards, except we really don’t do story boards any more we do these, like, like, animated you know animated…some sequences, which we work on for quite a few months, before we give them to Weta Digital for the final shots, and we have quite a lot of people working for this department its a big team

PJ: Hey guys

Jed: How’s it going?

PJ: Yeah so we got a little bit of spider work happening over here, Ah Christian

Jed: Ah, Christian

PJ: Christian is here, yep, so Christian has been working on um, designs for Smaug ,the dragon

Christian: ….

PJ: Let’s just have a little quick peek these are all friends, you’re not going to put this on the internet are you? let’s just have a quick look

PJ: Looks like he’s coming along well Christian

Christian: Yeah I kind of ah….we came up with this ourselves

PJ: Yeah that’s fantastic, no your doing so good, its original, great okay, keep up the good work

Jed: I don’t find it very scary

PJ: (whispers something I can’t hear to the camera), let’s keep going

Jed: Hey

PJ: Hey guys

PJ: So what we got? this is another Smaug is it?

Weta Motion capture guy: Ah some motion studies yeah, some ideas, what do you think

PJ: Yeah it looks a lot like kind a T-Rex with wings

Weta Motion capture guy: So close?

PJ: Well close no not close don’t think you close, But I think your wings should be bigger anyway, if a T-Rex is ever going to take off its going to need much bigger wings than that

Jed: We got a wee way to go

PJ: Shall we carry on

Jed: So these are some of the artworks from the Pre-Vis?

PJ: When you’re doing Pre-Vis you got to actually build a model of the set so you know, can actually portray the scenes, this is uh a set that we built for uh, it’s the Rivendell library, that we never used in the movies at the end of the day it was a sequence we never shot we cut that from the script before it ever got shot but we did do some early Pre-Vis on it

PJ: So we are officially entering the editing department now, and the first room is the room with all the brave editing team, the editing of this movie wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for all these people at the height of all there professional powers

Jed: The claim all this room the bunker  don’t they? The bunker

PJ: The bunker yep

Jed: Bunker

PJ: How’s it going guys alright?

Editing staff: Yeah

*spoiler on a monitor *

PJ: whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, lets don’t put ah oh dear oh dear

Jed: The elves are always watching, always

PJ: So now let’s head down the corridor, and then we will make ourselves comfortable, alright

Jed: That’s my favorite, Gold finger, everything he touch’s turns into excitement, just like my carrier

PJ: Hah, alright through here Jed

PJ: Here we are this is the editing room

Jed: Wow

PJ: Yep, its, its ah always a bit strange because, you know when we are shooting a movie, where dealing with two to three hundred people on set and, and while there’s a lot of people working on the film in post-production, Weta Digital and the sound, once I’ve done with shooting the film, I suddenly me and Jabez this is Jabez Olssen

Jed: Good to see ya

PJ: Its ah just me and Jabez in this room alone, so it’s a bit of a culture shock you know to suddenly

Jed: Big TV

PJ: Big TV, yeah, yeah

Jed: How big is that?

PJ: Um, I think it’s about one hundred and three inches

Jed: Wow

PJ: Yeah, no I know it’s good I, there is a reason why the TV is so big it’s not just  kind of an indulgence, because its, in the old days we used edit  movies on a little screen… and it was strange because you spend months editing a movie on a on a screen this size, and then when you finally projected it the cinema, which you do once you done you always had to go back to change the cut, because the difference in the rhythms and pacing between the small screen and the big screen, was, was strange was unexpected and so having the biggest screen as possible like literally, the biggest screen we could find to cut on is actually giving use the best sense we can, what it’s going to be like in the cinema

Jed: Right, so this is more like the end result

PJ: Yeah its so much better than cutting on a monitor screen size screen, um its good… I’ve got my poster this was on my bedroom wall when I was a kid

*One Million Years B.C* Poster

Jed: Really this actual poster?

PJ: Yeah

Jed: Have, have you got a copy of the movie?

PJ: I did, yeah it’s a okay, but it wasn’t really about the movie the dinosaurs where cool and Raquel Welch was cool for a teenage boy it is a very good poster on the wall

Jed: Indeed

PJ: So yes anyway, so we want to just um, before we get started we got questions, um that we are looking forward to answering and a, few bits and pieces, few surprise guests coming on but um, I thought I’d give everyone a little sense of what we do in the cutting room, because you know, when people are editing the movie it’s a little bit mysterious and um, I thought it would be fun for you know Jabez and I to just walk you through this you  where in the scene (Jed), we shot this about a year ago?

Jed: We did, yeah April last year

PJ: And um.. it’s a scene its very, just like a little piece of the scene were Bard is taking the dwarves across the lake, towards Laketown it’s the first time they have been to lake town are with Bard, he’s collected these barrels from the river, those of you that have read the hobbit kinda know where abouts  in the story we are, for those who haven’t look forward too it in December but um, I just wanted to give you a sense of how we kind of put these scenes together, it’s pretty much what we do every day, for months and months and months it takes months … takes months to do that

Jed: Yeah

PJ: We tend to shoot quite a fair bit of footage Jed, which is great

Jed: Yeah…we do year, I enjoyed it, that part

PJ: So um, as a director where shooting I’ve got to try to figure out  what camera angles your shoo ing, so you , you know generally you shoot a master a wide shoot, and we can have a look at example of a master  and will go wide for this particular scene, and then you,you, once , sometimes i don’t have a plan at all I shoot the master, then I’ll walk around and decide on what coverage, it’s called converge, which is basically the close up shots, the tighter shots that we would do once we done the wide, so this is uh, our wide shoot of the scene, the boats travelling, its  moving, its static where, where we shot because  it was easier to do that way but in the movie it’ll look its travelling across the lake hence all the green screen around it, so these are unfinished shots

Jabez: yep

PJ: But this will give you a sense of the process, so Jabez and I kinda go through

Bilbo: “I should never have left Bag End that was our first mistake .”, “you know we have a saying the shire, we learn it from birth never venture east”,  woman’s voice: “so tell me master hobbit why did you venture”

Bilbo: “I should never have left Bag End that was our first mistake,  “You know we have a saying the shire, we learn it from birth never venture east”  woman’s voice: “so tell me master hobbit why did you venture..”

PJ: So that was a couple of takes, and, and, how long,

Jabez: We got more than that

PJ: And um yeah, the interesting thing about Martin in particular since this is the line of Martins is that I always love the way he does a completely different performance each take

Jed: He does always take you by surprise quite a lot

PJ: Yeah, you get the idea that you know, he’s experimenting with how he can push and shove and work the lines around, just you know it’s always interesting, interesting to watch, so this is another angle, so now, what I’ve done is come in for, what you probably call a midshot I mean this is a particularly good shot, because Jeds is..

Jed: Right there, im right in the corner,  It is one of the better shots Jed isn’t it?

Jed: It is

PJ:  And um we but probably won’t…, let’s have a look at it you may not see it in the movie, so let’s look at it with Jed in the room here, okay this is the same line again from a midshot size, this is take one.

Bilbo: “I should never have left Bag End that was our first mistake”,  “Do you know we have an old saying the shire, we learn it from birth we never venture east”  woman’s voice: “so tell me master hobbit why did you..”

Bilbo: ” I should left never Bag End  “You know we have an saying the shire, we learn it from birth we never venture east”

PJ: And take three, lets have a look at the third one

Bilbo: “I should never have left Bag End  “You know we have an saying the shire, we learn it from birth we never venture east” female voice “so tell me master hobbit..”

PJ: Yeah so you can sorta see it’s great  because Martin gives you all these great choices its interesting too because on the wider shot, Martins performance, which tends to happen with, with, many actors um  performance a little bigger, because the camera is further away and as you bring the camera closer in, it’s a natural instant too play

Jed: Draw the audience in

PJ: Yeah you draw the audience in, so, so it’s interesting

Jed: Also the first time you do it with when your doing the wide-shot you’re not really sure how things are going to go because you..

PJ: It’s almost like a rehearsal isn’t?

Jabez: That’s if you shoot the wide shots first

PJ: Yeah which we usually do try to , I mean normal practice in a movie is to shoot your wide shots first it’s its almost like a rehearsal, you just do as many takes you need to get it working and too give you the pieces of the wide I wanna use , but generally, you know, I,I use wide’s and you use them sparingly you know to set the scene, and the geography for where everybody is, but, but most of the time you want to go to these kinds of shots, this is the a third angle we got now, where we look at the camera very low inside the boat, where low because, we, were really featuring our Aidan who plays Kili

Jed: He’s the hot dwarve

PJ: Well I yeah, he’s one of them

Jed: He’s one of them

PJ: We got two hot dwarves in the shot

Jed: Yeah

PJ: So, so let’s have a look at um this angel here, so again this is a different performance again everything your seeing is a different performance each time.

Bilbo: “I should never have left Bag End that was our first mistake,  “You know we have an old  saying the shire, we learn it from birth never venture east”  woman’s voice: “so tell me master hobbit why did you venture..”

PJ: Take two

Bilbo: ” never have left Bag End that was our first mistake,  “You know we have an old saying the shire, we learn it from birth never venture east”  woman’s voice: “so tell me master hobbit why did you venture..”

PJ: So what’s interesting about that, was that the camera was following him up, and it was deliberate because I wanted to have Martin down below and let him pop out of the top of the shot because I thought that might potentially cutting point, that he exits the top of the frame and I could jump to a slightly wider shot,  then we did, did chase him up to get the tail end of the line so I got the choice of using the tail end as a punch in on this close up too, because, see you sometimes when you are directing, your making those kind of decisions, um as you go

PJ: So there’s another angel here so let’s have a look at some more takes, so this one has got Bilbo and the hot dwarve

Bilbo: “never have left Bag End that was our first mistake, in the Shire we have this old saying we’ve known it since birth…”

Bilbo: “I should never have left Bag End that was my first mistake” in the Shire we have an old saying we’ve know in it since birth, never venture east!”

PJ: Yeah, basically that was different angles to cover Martin’s line, and then we shot other angels on other characters receiving the line so we can cut to reaction shots. as we need too, this was practically a long scene to shoot because as I said it was three or four pages long, and um it took us a couple of days to go through it all, but um we’ll just have a very quick look we’ll  show you how  we ended up cutting that little bit in the movie, just a few seconds long, and then ah we’ll move on with some more of our live event.

Kili: “It’s nothing, just a scratch”

Biblo: Its more than just a scratch it’s a wound, Goblins, Trolls, Wargs, none of that was in the contract, I should never have left Bag End that was my first mistake, we have an little saying in the Shire, we learn it from birth, never venture east!”

Bard: “so tell me master hobbit, why did you venture east?”

PJ: So that was the first look at Luke Evans, as Bard the bowman, now Luke has sent us a message, he wanted to say hi to everybody tuning into this live event, so  shall we have a look at what Luke has to say

Luke Evans:
Hello everyone, this is Luke Evans, I play Bard The Bowman, um i unfortunately won’t be able to be at the live event , um uh gutted that I can’t be there to seems like it’s going to be a very fun uh day and Pete is going to give lots of tidbits about the second movie, but i thought I would like to join in and say hello, and say how exciting I am about, ah the second movie and seeing what Pete’s actually done so far, what he’s done with my character, um with Bard, looking forward in seeing how Bard is shaping up in the second film, uh its uh been quite awhile since I’ve played him now, last august was the last time so, I’m looking forward to coming back in June, and uh I get to put on the costume and the hair , the character and jump back into middle-earth which um I’ve missed quite a lot ah, so have a great day and ah just say hi to Pete, look forward to seeing you soon again my friend, and uh hello to all the fans, TheOneringe’rs, the Hobbitier’s, whatever else you want to call yourself your all fabulous, love your work, bye.

Jed: Bye Luke

PJ: Great

Jed: Yeah so, when are you going to tell him he’s not in the movie anymore?

PJ: He’s absolutely  in the movie the Jed we couldn’t lose Luke he’s fantastic, he is one of the really cool things in the second film

Jed: Yeah he is

PJ: Yeah there might be the odd dwarves’ who expendable, depending on behavior

Jabez: There are a lot of them

PJ: Yeah there are a lot of them yeah

Jed: Well I actually wanted to remind the viewers right now we do have a hash tag on the screen now, its hash tag ask peter live, and be sure to send in your questions to Peter you use the hash tag and we’ll be answering those live later on in the show

PJ: If I was to send a question in, if I can just say if I can send a question in over twitter I’d be saying, it will be a question for Jed, and I’ll be saying why the silly hair style?

PJ: Because at least in the movie we get to cover it with a wig

Jed: This is just, this was all done by Weta this whole lot

PJ: Okay great so were on,  we’ve got some video questions I think, that we are going to be looking at, some of you very kindly sent in some questions over YouTube and we’ve selected a few and we’ve prerecorded our answers because we wanted actually edit in some clips and it was the easiest way for us to do that so you get to see some little glimpses of The Desolation of Smuag, so let’s look at it your questions, thank you.

PJ: So I have your questions here on the iPad, and we’ll have a look at them

Chris In The United States:  Hey Peter Chris here hope all is well, I’ve heard it said that for you and your writers, the most difficult chapter in the lord of the rings trilogy to craft as a story was the Two Towers and that totally made sense being the middle chapter it has no definitive beginning and it doesn’t have a conclusive ending, um I was just curious if last year when you guys went from two films of the Hobbit to three films, if there was at least one or two or three moments, where your kind of kicking yourself going “ah we’ve just resurrected old problems giving ourselves, again that middle chapter”, so I guess my question to you is how has the process now been? on gong from two to three, and finding the emotional arc for this middle chapter Desolation of Smuag. Thanks

PJ: Yeah Well your right, I mean it is complicated to do a middle film um, but the advantages is that we have multiple story lines this time, the first of the Hobbit movies is a fairly liner film, you know Gandalf leads the dwarves, across middle-earth in the beginning of his adventure, the great thing about the second movie, as it was with the two towers actually is that the story starts to split into multiple story lines and we can follow different characters, as the story intensifies, and the stakes go up.

* Thranduil shots talking to captured dwarves*

PJ: When Tolkien wrote The Hobbit in 1937, he created the character Thranduil who is now being played by Lee Pace and some ten or fifteen years later, as he was writing the Lord of the rings, he wanted an elvish character to be part of the fellowship so he created Legolas, so when we visit the Woodland realm in the Hobbit it just seemed like a great opportunity for us to actually have Legolas there, he is Thranduil son and it just seemed natural, it also gives us a ability too, expand the story line for the Wood Elves something we where very interested in doing, we also go into the world of men, as well to Laketown and we .. The Master played by Stephen Fry.

*Stephen Fry dressed up as the The Master*

Stephen Fry: Now he’s here, he’s here the Master

PJ: Alfred his man servant, the Master of Laketown is, is a rather political figure in terms of the story line he does present an obstacle to the dwarves

PJ: So he’s a valuable character to have, and Stephen Fry just seemed like a natural to us.

Stephen Fry: I’m savvy… somebody has to take over the mantle from Orlando Bloom, as the most desirable figure to be in a Tolkien adaptation

PJ: There was a lot of Ironic humor, um an sartorial kind of edge to the Master in the way he, in the book Tolkien wrote, plus we certainly used that tone in the film, but rather than talk about the Master why don’t we actually hear from the man himself Stephen

Stephen Fry:  Hello this is Stephen Fry here, I play the Master of Laketown, in The Hobbit two the desolation of Smaug, I can’t tell you sorry that I’m not in New Zealand at the moment, as we speak England is decimating New Zealand in cricket so that’s irrelevant that not the reason I want to be in New Zealand, though it’s good enough, I want to be in New Zealand because it’s a lovely place to be, but mostly because I just loved working on the Hobbit, um my part is in the Hobbit two and possibly The Hobbit three I don’t know, part of the glories book, magnificent book…

PJ: Surely Stephen won’t mind if we answer another question

Shaung Lui – China: Hello Peter we are from Beijing China we want to ask you some questions, I really like the role Legolas and uh its player Orlando Bloom, what’s the reason you choose him to play this role? um does he have some similarities with this role

PJ:  Bloom doesn’t really have similarities to Legolas, he’s much more relaxed, laid back and is a really funny guy

PJ: were as Legolas tends to be a little um up tight shall we say

*exchange between Thranduil and Legolas*

PJ: So no I mean Orlando brings Legolas alive brilliantly as an actor but the character is very different to Orlando in person, in fact um why don’t we say hi to Orlando

Orlando Bloom: To all my dear friends, and what quite honestly my extended family at this point, down in New Zealand, Peter all the fans down there, I heard it’s a live event I’m really, sorry I can’t be there, nobody understands these worlds or this character quite like Peter so I um, I have a question for Peter, out of your crazy wild creative imitation, what moment are you most looking forward to seeing and appear on the screen? You don’t have to say Legolas, we all know it’s who its goanna be

PJ: Anything your in Orlando, anything thing your in is obviously brilliant, in fact so good we don’t need to debate it here, people can see for themselves in December, but um in terms of other scenes that other people are in I would say the confrontation between Smaug and Bilbo

*Shots of Smaug Lair with Bilbo*

Martin Freeman: Smaug,  just woken up, so knows someone’s there, I have to put the ring on..

PJ: It’s probably the highlight of this particular movie for me it’s such an iconic Tolkien scene

PJ: We’ll just pop back to London to see if Stephen has anything more to add

Stephen Fry: Eye levels, orange spots and all that,  more or less  is my feeling is traditional acting, in real sets astonishing quality, I’m a extremely greedy character uh, uh corrupt character and its perhaps the only moment in wherein the Hobbit Tolkien gets into a bit of politics, satire on you know local government uh, I can’t tell you what kind of end I come too, um because I don’t actually know, that’s the mystery, I’m going back to help complete the film and we all hope that you get as much pleasure out of it as we have derived from making it..

*PJ flicks to next question*

Marinia – Canada: Hello Peter, my name is Marina, I want to ask will there be new characters and who they are, Hobbit’s is a great movie and love it uh thanks for watching me and I hope you will answer my question

PJ: Yeah well I mean the Hobbit has a lot of new characters um, that appear in the second movie the Desolation Of Smaug um, Thranduil who we saw very briefly in the prolog in the Unexpected Journey, Luke Evens as Bard the bowman

*cut to Luke Evans at Stone Street Studios*

Luke Evans: To all those brilliant fans, and I know there’s millions of you, I’m Bard the Bowman I’m part of the family now, am ah very glad to be here.

*cut back to editing room*

PJ: Luke is an absolutely traffic actor, and he has created a character with a sense of enigma about him he has a kind of almost Robin Hoodish kinda mystery slightly shady background

*shots of Bard in action*

PJ: Were having a lot of fun, a lot of fun with that character not really knowing whether he is a good guy or bad guy

*shoots of Tauriel*

PJ: But in terms of a new character if you literally want to say new character, in other words a character that doesn’t appear in Tolkien’s book we have created an Elvish character female character called Tauriel and Tauriel is like this bodyguard of the of Thranduil, she’s part of the elvens Woodland Guard, we call them there not the high elves, they are a more lowly form of elf, she certainly hasn’t got the status of say Legolas who’s the king’s son Evangeline Lilly plays Tauriel and where quite excited about the story line that we have created for Tauriel

*shots of Tauriel speaking elvish*

PJ: As you can see she’s uh, she’s not an elf guard to mess with

PJ: We have one last question so let’s have a look at that

Three kids from Brazil: Hi Mr Jackson I’m .. I’m … and where your biggest LOTR fans from brazil, um we recently moved to Brazil and LOTR has been in our family for many years, my older brother and sister where huge LOTR fans and went to premieres and uh your first movies of the Lord of The Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring and uh Return of the King, ah today we have a question for you our question is, what is your favorite Lord of The Rings or Hobbit weapon? ours you can see here Gloin’s and Gimli’s battle axe and or throwing axe all of his axes and uh yeah well it was an honor to be speaking to you, I hope you can answer our question,  bye, bye

PJ: Sure love to answer your question, just happen to have my favorite Lord of The Rings weapon here, here it is its um Théoden’s sword, from Two Towers and Return of the King, Théoden  um played by Bernard Hill, I just love this design of it, I love the fact it’s got sort of horses, um pretty much the culture of Rohan, it’s based on a almost Viking sword or Anglo-Saxon, early Anglo-Saxon sword, which is how the world of Rohan was really designed in the movies, and its, very, very heavy, I mean this is a real sword, its steel and brass, and it feels good, it actually very heavy you’d be surprised at how heavy it is, obviously when we were doing fight scenes, we usually create a much more light weight version of the sword for the actors to use, you wouldn’t wanna do .. anybody to get hit by this thing, and uh it is like a real sword, weapon made of steel , but look thank you very much for submitting those questions, it was a lot of fun and um, shall we just pop back to London and see how Stephens going

Stephen Fry: .. devoted to the Lord of The Rings trilogy and the first of the hobbits so we have a lot to um you know live up to I hope we done and give you some pleasure and some comedy  as well as the share delight, the human spirit shines out, it is one of the great paradoxes of fantasy. It is true fantasy and humanity shines out … anyway not through.. I’m probably talking far ,far to much, and just wanted to say all my love sorry I can’t be at Peters side doing this very special DVD Extra, much love.

*PJ switches off Video*

PJ: Sorry about that Stephen I love you, but honesty you can’t expect to make those comments about the New Zealand cricket team, and get away unscathed, alright

Jed: Will we actually we have our first twitter question on screen right now, and is, Mr.Jackson during the film process how difficult is it too stay on track on plans?

PJ: I can very difficult, I mean, you know staying on schedule and on obliviously on budget is incredibly important, there’s nothing more stressful than going over budget on a movie but ah, sometimes you don’t have any control over it particularly with weather you know if we are filming outside and especially if you’re in a remote location and it happens to be pouring with rain, there’s not a lot we can do about we didn’t have a lot of that on this film didn’t we,  it once or twice?

Jed: We had that one, two days at the end of location that we had to..

Jabez: That flooded out Nelson

PJ: Yeah we had to leave Nelson, which is actually a location that appears in the Desolation of Smaug, um where the dwarves are going down  a river in barrels and we the police turn up on set telling us there was a flood warning there was a torrential storm about to hit us so we literally had to get everything out of there about two days ahead than we plan to, so those things are stressful but, you know, what I do in the morning is I show up I look at the script you know at I have to film that day, I rehearse with the cast first thing we do on  a day shooting and then you literally plan out how many shots you can do that day, you know it depends on how difficult the shots are and how difficult the scene is it can vary, the number of camera angle shots, you can get in a particular day um, some days its as little as six or seven other days it could twelve or fourteen, and so you kind of know and you sit there and you plan it and actually you plow your way through the day to try to get to the end of it. but yup it is, one of the most stressful things about film making

Jed: We actually have another question, another video question for Peter, so ah shall we have a look to see who it is

Stephen Colbert: Peter Jackson, Stephen Colbert I got a question for you about the elves of Mirkwood or as it used to be called Greenwood The Great, now, here’s Mirkwood up here, I wanna know whether  your making a diffraction between Thranduil and Legolas who are Sindarin and the elves who live in Mirkwood, their subjects who are “Avari” or “Noldor” or a mixture of “Avari” “Noldor” and Sindarin but there are lesser elves than Thranduil and Legolas in the Tolkien methous, are you showing that diffraction, that these elves are members of the ” Avari ” who did not heed the call around the shores of the Lake Cuivienen When Orome. came and called them to Valinor, are you taking that into consideration? Thank You

PJ: Yes, the answer to your question Stephen is yes, but  I have actually have a question for you Stephen Colbert, you where very kind to invite me on your show last year and anyone who appears on the show, Jabez do you mind just handing me your mug, anyone who appears on the Colbert report show gets a free mug which is nice but it is quite small and when I was sitting at the table being interviewed, there was a much bigger mug sitting there and you know I like to have a big cup of tea several times a day and so I just happen to walk out with the largest sized mug, I don’t know how quite it happened but it is the one that was on the table one of your guests drink out off on air, now let’s just have a look at the difference between these two mug’s if we could, I’ll come closer to the camera, there you go, now can you see the difference? Basically the one that you give away for free has got dishwasher proof ink on it, the white ink stays, the one that your guests drink out off, look i mean all just worn away, this used to say the Colbert report but now it doesn’t, we’ve had this through the dish washer maybe once or twice and it just washed away, so my question for you Stephen is that the mug that the guests drink out of, do you ever clean it? do every you worry about spreading germs?

Jabez: When Peter steals something he likes it to be of certain quality

PJ: I didn’t steal it Jabez I mean I just happen to find it in my hand when I walked out of the building onto the street, I didn’t know how that happened. But it is apart from that it does actually taste quite nice the tea

Jabez: Right

Jed: Even if it has to be second hand

PJ: Yeah, yup

Jed: We actually, we do have a second twitter question up. Do you always edit barefoot?, Peter?

PJ: It’s actually a very good question and the answer is yes I do I, people I, I see, things written about me where they talk about me not wearing shoes on set, which I actually never do if you look of any footage of me,, I have to wear shoes because of health and safety don’t want a light to be dropped on my toe or something like that, but in the comfort, relative comfort of the cutting room, I can put my feet up on the table and sit back and its fantastic

Jed: Yeah,  I wish I could do that

Jed: We actually have another special ah another guest, who would like to say hello, so why don’t we roll it and see who, who we’ve got

Lee Pace:  Hi Lee Pace here, for those who don’t know I play Thranduil, King of the Woodland elves and in the Hobbit the Desolation of Smuag, I heard that Peter is giving a sneak peek of the new film and I’d figured that I’d logon and check it out, now you’ve seen a brief glimpse of my character in the prolog of the Hobbit An Unexpected Journey and the ancient animosity between the elves of the Woodland realm and the dwarves of Erebor, and I think it’s going to be really intriguing to revisit that but this time it will be in my halls on my terms, and I don’t think they are going to like it

PJ: Hmm elves are tricky aren’t they?

Jed: They are, they are very tricky and dwarves don’t trust them at all

PJ: And I don’t blame you

Jed: No, But we do have another question and this actually one from me

Jed:  Jed what torture would you like to put Peter Jackson through that was inflected upon the actors? Hmm, rotacery, Barrel or maybe a combination of all of  these things

PJ: Interesting

Jed: I’m not actually sure that I want to do any of those things because I would quite like to work with you in the future, but um probably the one that I would like to put Peter through is maybe putting him on the rotacery over the top of the fire

PJ: That did look incredibly uncomfortable

Jed: It was very uncomfortable

PJ: That did look, and um there was one funny story that actually, that I remember, we had all these dwarves on if you remember the first Hobbit movie, we had these dwarves are on a spit being cooked by the trolls, they, we literally strapped everybody into this harness, when we rotated you guys around

Jed: Yeah

PJ: We had to, like everything in a movie you where up there for hours being rotated around and around and then it seemed to go okay, Mark Hadlow looked very, very pale, even through prospect  rubber   make up when Jabez and I where editing the scene a few months afterwards that we, where watching every take we did, and we just heard very faintly on the sound track, which I never heard on the day, on the sound track we heard Mark Hadlow  say in a very, very, sick weak voice, he plays Dori saying “can we stop doing this I think I’m going to be sick”

PJ: What’s funny we didn’t hear it on the day he kept rotating him around

Jabez: .. Mark said can we just stop for a couple of minutes please, and then, Peter says pretty loudly “ok and roll them” and away they go

Jed: we were stacked on top of each other we had ah ,um  ah harness on the back of  it had these kind of metal plates which were hooked onto it, we had to go up in a certain order so those who went up first where up there for a much longer time than Mark Hadlow

PJ: Well rather you then me I was in quite a comfortable chair at the time

Jed: Yeah no, it was fun, fun, actually we have another special guest, another surprised guest video, um so I think we should probably look at that see who it is

Billy Boyd: Hello I’m Billy Boyd I played Peregrin Took or Pippin in the Lord Of the Rings trilogy, so I hear tonight that  Peter is doing a questions and answers, so I would like an answer to a question, and that question is, in the Fellowship we went as far as the Misty Mountains in middle-earth but here in The Hobbit we go further east, will we be seeing any new wild lands? In the next Hobbit film? that’s my question

PJ: That’s a very good question Billy, very good, very good, um, I think the most area’s of the lands we are going to is Mirkwood, we saw that  very briefly in the Unexpected Journey, in the Desolation of Smuag the company of dwarves get right into the darkness the heart of darkness of Mirkwood, now actually Billy if you remember in The Fellowship of The Ring and you should remember it was only ten years ago um, you guys went through the Misty Mountains, through the Mines of Moria you came out and then the Fellowship headed south straight away, down the valley to Lothlorien and then you took the Anduin River down to Amon Hen, so you actually manage to very cleverly to bypass the borders of Mirkwood, entirely, which was probably a good thing, I can show you a bit of art work, um, I just pulled out a couple of pieces to give everyone a glimpse of what Mirkwood is going to look like in the movie, now if we can zoom in on that, are you able to get closer to it?, so what we’ve designed and um actually Gus Hunter did this art, is the tiny dwarves in this great big looming creepy forest, I wanted to try to give it a sense of foreboding and um grandeur and it used to be Greenwood the Great but it has become sick and diseased, with this Dol Guldur , the fortress  Dol Guldur is spreading evil through the forest, and this is another view there’s dwarves there, there’s a broken bridge and they have to figure out a way to cross um this stream of Mirkwood, so yeah, I think that’s it’s going to be an interesting environment, one of the scarcer parts of this story.

Jed: Yeah the set itself was amazing to work with. it was pretty scary actually; it was very, very spooky set to work on and had that kinda dark feel about it, even from a physical perspective

PJ: Yeah, yeah,

Jed: That’s great, We have a have another question from a special cast guest I think we should cut to that and have a look to see who it is..

Evangeline Lilly: When I was working my ADR Philipa was naughty enough to show me, um the unfinished, mockup of Thranduil Realm, and it looked insanely cool but of course it didn’t have any of the amazing Peter Jackson love put into it and so I’m wondering if Peter you can verbally give us a glimpse into um what your vision your take on Thranduil realm will be?

PJ: Yes, let me show you Evangeline, I know it must be frustrating because your, your, I mean Evangeline was in the Woodland realm and yet we were pretty much surrounded by green screens… ah but I can give everyone a little look, so um Tolkien describes the Woodland Realm as being in like a subterranean world which is unusual for elves because usually dwarves live underground, but um, none the less that’s what have done, and this is a piece of art work John Howe did for us, if we can have a look at that, it’s the, it’s the entrance to the Woodland Realm, it’s a bridge a narrow bridge that goes over a raging river then you enter this elvish kingdom through this door, we wanted to make it seem like it’s very defensive and impregnable, this is the only way to get into this kingdom, and then once your inside, we tried to figure out a way to make a cavernous you know underground world look elvish in the way you expect a certain beauty and grandeur and so there’s light filtering in through the cracks in the ceiling, there’s, there’s roots of trees, they fashioned  into bridges and this, is sort of the feeling….

*cut*

Dominic Monaghan: The Hobbit questions and answers thing, and uh I want to be a little bit cheeky and ask a couple of  questions myself, the first one what’s the best Peter Jackson rumor you’ve heard? That isn’t  true? and the second one I’m compression to J.R.R. Tolkien’s work and your work, what’s the thing your the happiest about in the transferring of, from the literature to the film, mine would be the casting did you ever think of another Gimli another Gandalf another Frodo, another Merry obviously, this is the view from my house wild

PJ: Hey Dom thank you, um  your question the rumor, the rumor question, craziest rumor, the one that made me laugh the most was just after the Lord of The Rings and there was a rumor going around Wellington, that was pretty strong because several people came up to me and said is this really true, really true like they believed it, is that um in order to avoid paying tax, um I was going to move my entire family onto a ship and live outside of the New Zealand economic zone, outside the twelve miles away from the coast to sort of my life on a ship, to avoid paying tax, apart being feeling sea sick, badly seasick, I’m very happy to live on land and very happy to pay tax, that was kind of a funny rumor

PJ: I guess somebody starts these things and then they just, in the case of um these movies rumors tend to become fact and you tend to see things reported in the newspaper, aren’t remotely true its um  interesting, the world we live in

Jed: Indeed, we do have another twitter question now, and the question is will the Necromancer play a larger role in the plot of the Desolation of Smuag than it did in the first film?

PJ: uh, the answer is yes, that’s all I’m saying

Jed: Very conscience, well we heard we had an extra special treat for our viewers, do you know what that is?

PJ: I hope I know what it is, look um I didn’t want to wrap out of this live event without giving a little look at the movie, can’t show you the trailer yet, the trailer is still being made, as we speak um, visual effects being done, you can look for the trailer this summer, um films I’m sure no doub most of you will seet your going to see this summer, you’ll  our trailer, but uh at the moment, with the film being edited we are literally, cutting it together we are limited on what we can actually show, we do have a sequence which Jabez and I have ,have worked on that, we thought would be fun to show, it needs a little setting up, it’s part of the, kind of appendixes Tolkien wrote part of the expansion of the Hobbit were doing its not in the actual Hobbit book itself, but it is building on the story line actually of the Necromancer and ah Dol Guldur, which was um, that we just talked about, if you remember Galadriel in The Unexpected Journey, um, and she was commenting on the Morgal blade that Radagast had recovered from Dol Guldur and she talks about it belonging to the King of Angmar who was buried in the High Fells, a mountains’ range in Rhudaur, so in the Desolation of Smaug, Gandalf goes to the High Fells, to investigate how this blade may have got out into this world, the High Fells are the tombs where the nine kings of men were buried, so shall we just have a look at a little  clip from the movie.

*DOS movie clip*

PJ: Well there we go, so you can go and find out what happens next, a little mystery that Gandalf is following in the Desolation of Smaug, so Jed thank you very much for thank you for being, helping me get through this

Jed: Your welcome

PJ: Jabez, thank you

Jed: I wanted to thank the fans and of course, and for  Peter for taking sometime out of your busy schedule editing the film to be with us

PJ: Great now um this is really, in a way to get a first got the chance to say hi to everyone in 2013, I’m sure that a lot of people who’ve who are watching this have been following our blogs, and just to let you know the blogs will continue this year, in fact this is almost like the first blog quite a long one

Jed: We should turn it into a trilogy

PJ: But the um the blogs will continue and ah we look forward to catching up with you during the year as we move towards our release in December, so thank you so much for taking the time, to come here and sit where ever you are in the world, whatever time  it is and put up with us babbling along, and thank you for buying our DVD as well

Jed: Now it’s time for breakfast

PJ: Great

*lots of clips from behind the scenes of DOS*

With more than 1.63 million votes, Bilbo was the clear winner, much to the chagrin of legions of Kristen Stewart and Twilight fans who gave our little hobbit a run for the money. In addition to tweeting, fans created thousands of images that they uploaded to Instagram to share their love for our favorite hero. We’ll have a gallery of some of our favorites online soon.

It’s been a true adventure riding the wild voting rollercoaster, and it’s brought many Ringers together and strengthened our community. From #votebilbo, we’re now united under #BilboTheHero. Click to read about how TORn’s MrCere went from thinking this campaign was “harmless but pretty useless,” to wholeheartedly jumping on board the #votebilbo train as, “A funny thing happened during the process: It became really fun on Twitter to #VoteBilbo!”

[MrCere's "#VoteBilbo becomes a thing]

Then, a couple of days ago, our staffer Justin, with the least Tolkien TORn handle of them all, started to hit the MTV movie awards category for “best hero,” by promoting the Twitter hashtag #votebilbo. He used our Twitter feed (@TheOneRingNet) to push the tag that tallies a vote for Bilbo as the best hero of 2012 every time somebody uses it on Twitter. Truthfully, I thought it was harmless but pretty useless (sorry Justin!) and a bit silly (sorry everybody!). Why take up the cause for fictional characters to fight it out in a meaningless contest that really only helps MTV? We have our own Middle-earth Madness for that kind of fun already. Plus, Snow White was leading the way and either kids liked that movie a whole lot more than the boxoffice showed or the votes were coming because “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart played the title role. She is big with the MTV market and any attempt to catch her would be futile. But, the community pushed Bilbo past Batman. About then, I gave Justin and his movement a second thought and support.

Joining in the Twitter voice, we redoubled our efforts and next thing you know, Iron Man was in the rear view mirror as well and Bilbo was in second place. A funny thing happened during the process: It became really fun on Twitter to #VoteBilbo! It is now something of a social media game to find clever ways to #VoteBilbo and we at TORn were able to re-tweet some of the better ideas, helping it all go viral. The group experience of the “old days” was back but in a much more interactive way. Fun with the community! Then, the hashtag started to trend in the UK and today in US as well. It has grown well beyond @TheOneRingNet and not long ago now the official Hobbit twitter account @TheHobbitMovie joined the cause. They promote the effort with dignity and restraint, something fans are not compelled to do.

So there are a lot of funny #vote Bilbo tweets out there now, a few shared in this story. It became a thing. Staffer personal twitter accounts like @SlaveBoyFilms, @MrLDC, @Quickbeam2000, @maegwen, @CruisingCathy and probably lots of others I haven’t seen (add them in the story staffers!), have joined the cause. And fellow fans have been funny and brilliant. At one point, #votebilbo took the lead but Stewart has stormed back. Its hard to imagine a Tolkien fanbase, less rooted in Twitter, having the numbers and frankly the passion to carry this to a win when voting ends April 14. I don’t know if we care enough, but it still is fun! As this is being written, less than 100 votes separate the two figures with over 40 thousand tweets cast. But, hey, this is kind of fun! Being clever and supporting a fictional character is pretty good entertainment. And, we have renamed the other character Snow WhiteTreeOfGondor since she carries a LOTR shield in her MTV photo.

Rumor has it that retweets don’t count unless the new tweet is a quote that includes a new one. And, only one tag per Tweet is counted. We don’t really know the rules exactly, but consider this a call to arms. Tweeters have been asking for help from the Sherlock crowd, Potter fans, Game of Thrones viewers (George R.R. Martin praises Tolkien at every opportunity) and anybody else they can think of really. In the meantime, be entertained and remember: #VoteBilbo! If you haven’t joined Twitter, you can follow TORn and its staff members for starters, where we usually tease our best content and even break news. We will Tweet live from the convention circuit including the Comic-Con in San Diego.

The show will open Sept. 19 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, following preview performances slated to start Aug. 24.  You can read the full article here.    For updates and ticket information, please visit the shows official website.

This month we’re asking questions of our one and only greendragon.

Thanks so much Kirsten for agreeing to take part this month

Kelvarhin: Have you done anything through TORn or your LOTR fandom that you wouldn’t have got to do otherwise?

greendragon: Oh absolutely LOADS of things!!  Where to begin…?  Of course there are the really exciting things which my work for TORn has brought me: meeting celebs, doing interviews, going to fun events, writing articles, etc.  I’m very lucky to have had all those experience; but I have to say the greatest thing which TORn has brought me is friendship.  I have SO many wonderful friends whom I would never have met without TORn.  I’ve travelled to wonderful places, either with those friends, or to visit those friends. I couldn’t say for sure that I wouldn’t have been to various places without TORn; but I certainly wouldn’t have been there in the company of such excellent and admirable fellow fans.  And THAT is a great blessing.

Kelvarhin: Did you ever imagine when you came to TORn that you’d become so involved? Traveling to NZ (more than once!), interviewing cast members, singing onstage with Emerald Rose and Beecake? What’s it been like for you… this Tolkien/TORn journey?

greendragon: Actually I’ve only been to NZ once – but one day my path will lead me back there!  Did I ever imagine I would become so involved…?  Well, I tend to throw myself 100% into anything and everything I do, so I’m not really surprised to be so wrapped up in TORn – but I am of course thrilled to be part of such an amazing group, and being senior staff is an honour.  It’s been an incredible journey – mostly because of my fellow travellers, as mentioned above. TORnados/TORnsibs are amazing people – may our roads together go ever on and on!

Kelvarhin: How were you introduced to Tolkien, and did Tolkien have any influence on how/where you first met up with the inimitable L. Ron Halfelven?

greendragon: My Dad read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to my brothers when I was little. I was far too young really, but insisted on listening in anyway! Then I was mad about the Rankin Bass Hobbit film – or rather, an LP my brother had from the film; but the Bakshi Lord of the Rings scared me!

Tolkien – or more accurately, TORn – was of course what led me to meet L.Ron Halfelven, fellow TORnado! It was in the June after Fellowship of the Ring had come out, and I discovered it was still playing in a cinema near me. I posted on the message boards to see if anyone else was local and would care to join me for a viewing; L.Ron responded, and we’ve been great friends ever since.

Kelvarhin: Have you got a favourite chapter (or paragraph etc.) from The Lord of the Rings, and why is it your favourite? If you haven’t got a favourite, why not?!

greendragon: Hmm – that’s a tricky one.  It’s very hard to pick a favourite part – there are so many wonderful lines, rich characters, moving moments…  In terms of a whole chapter, I think ‘Fog on the Barrow-Downs’ is probably my favourite.  I’ve always enjoyed a good ghost story, and as a child, this chapter gave me delicious chills!  Wonderfully creepy.  Plus, I’m a big Tom Bombadil fan (and I adore Goldberry); so I like Tom coming to the rescue in that chapter.

Kelvarhin: What backstage gossip can you share from TORn events?

greendragon: You know, backstage is actually not all that exciting or glamorous!  Generally it’s just about work; being backstage means running around and trying to get things done!  Although, here’s a fun story from DragonCon one year: fellow staffer deej and I were meeting Sean Astin and Brad Dourif backstage before they went out for a panel. I was going to be fielding questions from the floor – so I told the gents that I would weed out anyone who wanted to ask the dreaded, ‘Can I have a hug??’ question.  Immediately, both Brad and Sean gave me a big hug.  ‘There you go,’ says Brad. ‘You’re our proxy hugger; we’ve hugged you, so now if anyone wants a hug you can pass it on to them!’

Kelvarhin: How did you come to be in the field of study you’re in, and what have been your educational experiences?

greendragon: Ah well – that’s both a direct route and a roundabout path – like all the best journeys!!  Basically I always wanted to work in theatre/performance.  When I was very young I was obsessed with ballet and started classes; this developed into my interests in dance, theatre and music . Meanwhile my love for literature grew; I just couldn’t get enough of reading and analysing text!  So I had to take a degree in English Lit, of course!  My undergrad and my first postgrad degrees were in English Lit and then English and Theatre; then I took further postgrad degrees in Voice (various different aspects of music/singing/performing!)  So it was a kind of varied background but which, in the end, all combined in what I currently do – which is directing/staging opera and theatre, performing as a singer myself, and coaching singers in areas such as successful auditioning and creating a character.

Kelvarhin: What inspires you, when it comes to singing?

greendragon: Generally the piece itself, whatever it may be, is inspiration enough. I’m a huge fan of text, as I wrote above; very little is as exciting to me as getting to grips with words, and trying to understand what the writer wanted to say. Add to that the composer’s interpretation of those words into music, and you have a pretty heady mix! It thrills me to try to communicate, in performance, something about life, about art, about being human; some emotion or an experience, whatever that may be. As a performer, you look for the message given by the writer and composer, and then reinterpret that to pass it along to an audience.

Kelvarhin: How did you find yourself working “across the Pond” in Boston, and would you be willing to recount for us your hair-pulling green card experience which culminated in your being proclaimed an “Alien of Extraordinary Ability”?

greendragon: I came to the US as a student (for my final postgrad degree) – Britain is home! I was planning on staying one year, but I was offered a job which tempted me, so I stayed – and I’m still here!

The greencard saga is too long winded (and tedious, believe me!) to go into here; suffice to say it ain’t easy, especially when one is ‘self-sponsoring’ (which requires proving that you are in the top percentage in your field). It’s also an expensive process! But it was all worth it; especially for the fun of receiving a letter from the United States government, officially declaring me an Alien of Extraordinary Ability! I was so excited when I got that letter – and amused, of course.. .Still not sure what my special alien skill is.

I always warn everyone that the questions we get can be a little on the crazy side, and the next two are probably the craziest I’ve ever seen! (I’m also a little confused, never heard of “Thrills chewing gum”)

Kelvarhin: The gown you wore to the One Party is the same colour as Thrills chewing gum… coincidence?

greendragon: Absolutely not! My appearance at the party was sponsored by Thrills gum, hence the careful choice of dress.

Kelvarhin: Have you ever tried Thrills chewing gum? If so, are you in the tastes like soap camp?

greendragon: I’ve actually never heard of Thrills gum; so my reply above might possibly be false.  Further, I have no idea what soap camp tastes like…

If anyone can help greendragon and I out on this one, reply below

Kelvarhin: Aunt Dora Baggins would like to know “When will you be making another visit to Colorado?”

greendragon: As soon as I can find the money and/or an excuse!  What a wonderful state Colorado is; L.Ron and I had a fantastic time there, enjoying the incredibly scenery AND catching up with great friends from TORn. If money and time were no object, I’d be back in a heartbeat!  This is the only drawback to all the dear friends TORn has brought me – they’re too scattered around the world!  We’ve often chatted about the fantasy of all living in a TORn commune; I think we could make it work…

Kelvarhin: Which would you rather have in your house for a week; a bunch of rowdy Dwarves, a pack of Hobbits who eat several times a day, or a group of Elves who won’t stop singing the entire time?

greendragon: Oh blimey I couldn’t stand the singing. I get enough of that at work!! And I cannot bear people being vulgar – I just hate anything like belching or farting. So the elves and the dwarves are out.  But I do LOVE to cook, especially when I have people for whom to do it – so it would have to be the hobbits, no contest.

Kelvarhin: What was your favourite cartoon when you were growing up?

greendragon: Battle of the Planets.  My Dad made me a little cap with a plastic beak so I could pretend to be Keyop (who, by the way, I had assumed was actually ‘Cheops’ – I though his name had something to do with the Great Pyramid!!) I never wanted to be Princess – male characters are generally more interesting! But I was obsessed with that show.  When I was about seven I had a best mate with whom I used to act out scenes from Battle of the Planets – either that or scenes from Star Wars (when I always wanted to be Luke, but was usually made to be Leia!!)

The fortunate greendragon with Richard Armitage

Kelvarhin: Finally, a question that has nothing to do with gowns or chewing gum: what was it like meeting Richard Armitage?

greendragon: I’ve now had the great pleasure of meeting Mr Armitage twice. He is, as you would expect, a charming gent; warm, friendly, erudite and generous with his time, and I’m very lucky to have spent time chatting with him.

One thing I’d like to say on the topic of meeting celebs – sometimes I think fans tend to forget that they’re just people. Talented, generous people (most of them – certainly all the ones I’ve met through TORn!) it is true; but still just people. The only time I’ve ever been overwhelmed when meeting a celebrity was when I was sixteen and I met Kenneth Branagh for the first time – I was a bit of a babbling idiot then! Soon after that, I started working at the Royal Shakespeare Company in London, and I quickly realised that these actors were really no different from anyone else. So, when people ask me, ‘How do you talk to Richard Armitage without being overcome?’ the simple answer is, as delightful as he is, Mr Armitage is, in the end, another human being. He works in the arts and so do I (though clearly he is rather more talented and successful!!) So I enjoy chatting with him as I would with anyone else who explores this fascinating business of creating characters.

Though it has to be said – he looks better in leather trousers than most people… *grin*
I’m sure many of us would agree with this

As always thanks to all our message board regulars, Ataahua, DanielLB, SirDennisC, ryouko, AuntDoraBaggins, grammaboodawg and dernwyn, for this months’ questions.

If you would like to ask any questions yourself, just head over to our Message Boards, the sign up process is pretty painless. A lead post for questions is made at the beginning of each month on the Main board. Or you can just check Main for this months interviewee and email me your questions at kelvarhin@theonering.net.

Till next time from TORn’s resident Tiger.

Kelvarhin.

Meanwhile, staffer Rasputin the Evil Balrog shares with us some commentary on the footage:

After logging in and holding breath through a countdown, we are treated to the trailer from An Unexpected Journey to whet our appetites. Now we are welcomed to Weta by Jed Brophy (Nori), who introduces Peter Jackson. Peter greets us and remarks on our opportunity to time travel, as it is already Monday morning in New Zealand. He says, “Spoiler alert!” and tells us that tomorrow’s weather will be fine, and that New Zealand is currently beating England in an important cricket match, showing us the front page of the Wellington paper.

Peter then told us that we were visiting the post-production studios, and the pair walked us into the Motion Capture stage where two actors were creating a fight scene between Azog and another (smaller) orc under the supervision of a crew member named Christian (I’m speculating that this is Christian Kickenweitz, a Weta motion editor, but I could be wrong. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Christian Rivers). Peter commented that the orcs are more friendly in the studio, and Jed directed them to give us “a little more anger.”

Moving down the hall, the pair stop by a large format poster from the 1955 film The Dam Busters, and Peter explains that it is one of his all-time favorite films. Taking the piss a bit, Jed comments that someone should remake it, a reference to Peter’s widely reported ongoing efforts to do this remake. Peter gave him “a look” – and a wink at us!  On down the hall we are treated to a discussion of more vintage film posters, Peter explaining that they used to be larger than today’s movie one-sheets and were hand painted. He has a whole collection of James Bond film posters down the length of the hall and says that Live and Let Die was the first Bond film he ever saw.

We enter the Pre-Viz department where Peter tells us they are doing some spider work as well as working on Smaug. Smaug! Hooray! Are we about to see him? But when we are shown the first computer screen, it’s one of the dragons from Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon. [The 'Monstrous Nightmare' - as shown in the image with this post!]  A shot of a second monitor show the animator working on… a T-Rex with wings. Peter gently explains to the animator that those wings are far too small to lift the mass of that T-Rex.

One “real” thing we get to see in the Pre-Viz room, though, is some designs for a library in Rivendell that unfortunately, according to Peter, didn’t make it into the film.

Peter and Jed now move down the hall again to the editing room where they join Peter’s editor, Jabez Olssen. Peter mentions that it’s almost a bit of culture shock to transition from working with 200-300 people on set every day to “just two guys in a room.”Jed remarks on the 103-inch television, and Peter talks about how it’s essential for the editing process in order to get a better sense of the scale of the film as they work.

Another vintage film poster discussed – One Million Years BC. Peter says he had this one as a teenager, and when Jed asks about it, he says, “dinosaurs were cool, Raquel Welch was cool.”

Now we get a little more “meat” as Peter and Jed discuss the links between filming and editing. They show us a wide shot of the Dwarves on a boat on a green screen set with Luke Evans (Bard), explaining that this is immediately after Bard picked up the barrels in which Bilbo smuggles the Dwarves out of Mirkwood. Peter explains that this is the “master” shot – a wide shot of the full scene done first to give them the big picture to work from. They show a number of takes of Martin Freeman (Bilbo) delivering a line and talk about how Martin never delivers a line the same way twice, so they have lots of options to choose from. The line he’s delivering is, “I never should have left Bag End. That was my first mistake. You know, we have a saying in the Shire. You learn it from birth. You never venture east.”

Jed and Peter discuss the mid-shots and closeups that are done after the wideshots, using examples of the boat scene to illustrate. Jed refers to Aiden (Turner) as “the hot dwarf” and Peter also refers to “the hot dwarf” more than once. Bilbo’s line is delivered after he notes that Kili (Aiden Turner) is wounded, and Kili tells him “it’s just a scratch.” Bard responds to Bilbo’s proclamation by asking, “And why did you? Venture east?” and we see our first shot of Luke Evans as Bard of Laketown at the tiller of the boat.

This leads into a recorded message from Luke Evans greeting the viewers, including “the One-Ringers” (a shout-out to TORn!) and “hobbiteers.” Jed says to Peter, “Are you gonna tell him he’s not in the movie any more?!”

The first viewer question comes from “Chris in the United States,” who asks about the challenges of making the middle film of a trilogy, comparing The Desolation of Smaug to The Two Towers. Peter says it’s actually cool to be working on the second film because we get a chance to split into multiple timelines and follow more characters, giving, for example, the opportunity to reintroduce Legolas. This discussion happens while we are treated to a montage of footage of Orlando Bloom as Legolas doing a lot of fighting and shooting on Mirkwood green screen sets. Besides Legolas, Peter mentions Thranduil, and we see a shot of Lee Pace confronting Richard Armitage (Thorin). And finally he mentions the Master of Laketown and shows a number of quick scenes of Stephen Fry.

This segues into a recorded greeting from Stephen Fry (the Master of Laketown), who is then cut off by Peter to play another viewer question from fans in Beijing. They ask about Peter’s casting choices, using Orlando Bloom as an example. Is he similar to the character he plays? Peter says that in real life Orlando is much more relaxed and laid back, and funny, than Legolas.

And we segue into a recorded greeting from Orlando Bloom who also has a question for Peter: What moment is he most looking forward to seeing on the screen in The Desolation of Smaug? Peter says that he can’t wait to see the first confrontation between Bilbo and Smaug, calling it an iconic scene. We get to see a couple of shots of Martin Freeman in the midst of Smaug’s horde of gold.

Peter cuts back to Stephen Fry’s recorded greeting which is still going…

Then we take a viewer question from “Marina in Canada” who asks about the new characters that we will meet in the second film. Peter mentions Thranduil again and also Bard, and we are treated to several shots of Bard in Laketown and some action scenes that are quite reminiscent of Pirates of the Caribbean. Peter says we’re going to particularly have fun with Bard as his character is enigmatic, and we’re not quite sure if he’s good or bad. It reminded me of Peter’s treatment of Faramir in Two Towers, giving him more dimension and depth than we see in the books.

Peter then talks about Tauriel, a truly new character who doesn’t exist in the books at all, played by Evangeline Lilly. He says she’s part of the “Woodland Guard” in Mirkwood, and we will be able to see that she’s from a somewhat lower status than Legolas. We get lots of shots of Legolas and Tauriel fighting orcs on Mirkwood sets, and Tauriel captures and threatens to execute an Orc.

The next question is from several young fans in Brazil who want to know what Peter’s favorite weapon is from the LOTR films. Peter says he loves Theoden’s sword, and he pulls it out to show everyone the horse design, explaining that it’s real steel and much heavier than you might imagine. He says the design is evocative of Viking or Anglo-Saxon designs.

And we go back to Stephen Fry who is still talking on his recorded greeting, saying that he has “a lot to live up to,” but that the films show “the sheer delight of the human spirit.”

Peter and Jed take another question, this one from Twitter, asking how difficult is it to stay on track during the film process? Peter says it’s very difficult to stay on schedule and especially to stay within budget. He says that the weather can be one of the biggest challenges and describes how, when they were filming in Nelson, the scene when the Dwarves and Bilbo escape Mirkwood in the barrels, they got flooded out. Police had to come and evacuate them because of a storm and they lost two days of filming. Peter described how he rehearses with the cast at the beginning of each day then plans out which shots they are going to work on, ranging from 6 or 7 per day to as many as 12 to 14, depending on how complex the shots are.

Another video question and this one is from Stephen Colbert! Colbert asks a very detailed question about the elves of Mirkwood (formerly Greenwood the Great). Will Peter be making any differentiation between Thranduil and Legolas, who are Sindarin, and the other Mirkwood elves who are Avari or Noldor – those who did not heed the call of the Valar and travel west to Valinor. Peter responds briefly, yes, but then says he has a question for Stephen. He gives a long explanation of how, when he was a guest on Colbert’s show a year ago, he was given a souvenir coffee mug, but that when he left, he also took the much larger mug which he was given on air with water while he was a guest. Apparently, the printing of the Colbert report logo on the larger mug washed right off in the dishwasher. Since it was pristine when Peter had it on the show, he’s forced to wonder, does Stephen ever wash that mug between guests?!?

Another Twitter question, does Peter always edit barefoot? A resounding yes, and he props his bare feet on the table in the editing suite to demonstrate. He says that, unfortunately, he has to wear shoes most of the time when he’s working on set due to safety regulations.

We get a recorded greeting from Lee Pace (Thranduil) who says he’s looking forward to the second film where he gets to have the Dwarves in his realm, on his terms.

A Twitter question for Jed, how would he choose to torture Peter? Jed says he’d opt for rotisserie over a fire. He and Peter discuss the scene in An Unexpected Journey where the trolls tie half of the dwarves to a spit over their fire. Jed comments that Mark Hadlow (Dori, and the voice of Bert the Troll) was particularly uncomfortable, and they say that even under his dwarf makeup you could see how pale he was. Peter says that much later, while they were editing, he realized you can just hear Mark saying, “Can we stop? I think I’m going to be sick…” but that they never heard him on set and Peter just told them to start turning them again!

We get a recorded greeting from actor Billy Boyd who asks Peter about what new wild lands we’re going to see in The Hobbit, pointing out that he and his companions in Lord of the Rings only made it to the Misty Mountains before turning south. Peter shows us some of the artwork designs for the forest of Mirkwood, which used to be the Greenwood but has become dark and fearsome.

We get a recorded greeting from Evangeline Lilly who says that when she was doing her ADR session, she saw a mockup of Thranduil’s realm, but it was unfinished, and she wants to know what will Peter’s vision look like? Peter describes the underground realm of the elves and shows us artwork by John Howe depicting the entryway to the realm reached by a bridge across a perilous river. (I was on the chatroom with TORn staffer Demosthenes while I was watching, and he showed me that this art is extremely similar to Alan Lee’s depiction of “Menegroth of the Thousand Caves.”). Peter says that he tried to make this cavernous realm still look elvish, but that it’s less “gentle and friendly” than Rivendell.

A recorded video from actor Dominic Monaghan asks Peter what is the best untrue rumor he’s heard about himself (and gives us a view of the backyard of Dom’s home, which he says is “wiiiiiild!”). Peter says that the wildest rumor he heard was that he was moving his family onto a boat to live twelve miles off the coast of New Zealand to avoid paying taxes. He said that besides the fact that he gets seasick, he’s “happy to pay taxes.”

A Twitter user asks if the Necromancer will play a greater role in The Desolation of Smaug? Peter and Jed deadpan respond, “Yes.” And that’s all they’re saying…

Peter then says, to our great disappointment, that they do not have a trailer for us yet, that it will be coming this summer, but they do have a scene to show us. He intros it by saying that it’s a scene based on information from the appendices of Lord of the Rings, building on the Necromancer/Dol Guldur story line and Gandalf’s consultation with Galadriel regarding the Morgul blade that Radagast found. Gandalf goes to what Peter refers to as “the High Fells” to investigate. The scene opens with Gandalf lighting the end of his staff at the top of a narrow staircase that goes around the inside wall of a square tower. He climbs down towards a door that’s surrounded by the mangled wreckage of an iron gate. Through the gate, he enters a narrow crypt with a sarcophagus at the end. The lid is broken and shoved aside, and as Gandalf slowly approaches, a bird suddenly flies out and into his face (in what will undoubtedly be a cheap thrill moment in 3D). Radagast appears in the doorway behind him and takes off his hat to give the bird access to its nest in his hair.

“Oh. You,” says Gandalf.

“Yes, it’s me. Why am I here? This is not a nice place to meet,” replies Radagast.

Gandalf tells him it was built by a nameless servant of evil – one of nine.

Radagast asks, “Who would break into such a foul place?”

“No one. These tombs were opened from the inside…”

The event was wrapped up with a fast-paced montage of sneak peek shots including:

• Bilbo levering barrels out of their large stack
• Dwarves wrapped up in spider silk (looking just like Frodo wrapped up by Shelob)
• An axe, presumably wielded by Beorn, chopping wood
• Legolas sliding down a green Slip ‘n’ Slide
• Thorin, fronting the company of Dwarves, in falling snow, facing the Master of Laketown, Bard, and others, and saying, “We are the Dwarves of Erebor. We have come to reclaim our homeland.”
• Lots of fighting with various orcs, elves, and dwarves!

Remember, if you missed the Peter Jackson hosted first look at “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,”  or just want to watch it over again, a modified version will be archived on the Trilogy’s official website  www.thehobbit.com/sneak. To access the footage, use your UltraViolet code on your copy “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack or 2-Disc Special Edition DVD.

Also, be sure to stay tuned to TheOneRing.net for a detailed analysis. Coming soon!