3. Rivendell and the Misty Mountains:
Meanwhile, given that Lindir’s name is related to Old English and Elvish words for ‘song’, Bilbo, Gandalf and the Dwarves’ entry into Rivendell, in the movie, where they are met by Lindir in Elrond’s absence, could have been heralded by the Elves singing the song that they welcome the company to Rivendell with in the book. And the company could have heard this as they make their way through the hidden entrance into Rivendell. This is especially because the song that the Goblins sing in the book, after capturing the company, is sung by the Great Goblin, in the movie, and because the two songs appear to complement each other.
This is so to demonstrate how the Elves of Rivendell and the Goblins differ from each other, which is also reflected in how the Elves of Rivendell live in the open air in a valley, while the Goblins live underground beneath the mountains, which suggests how light-elves live above the ground in Alfheim, or Elf-home, while dark-elves live below the ground, in Old Icelandic literature. It also is reflected in the way that the Elves name the two Elven swords that Gandalf and Thorin find in the troll-hoard Glamdring and Orcrist, which, respectively, translate from Elvish as Foe-hammer and Goblin-cleaver. This is while the Goblins call them Beater and Biter, respectively, which suggests that in their own tongue, which is a corruption of the Elven tongue, they have corrupted the Elven names for them.
Meanwhile, in Rivendell, the differences between Elves and Dwarves could have been demonstrated by the Elves singing about Earendil the Mariner and the Dwarves singing about Durin the Deathless with their songs being based on ones that Bilbo and Gimli sing in Rivendell and Moria, respectively, in The Lord of the Rings, with Bilbo’s song being commented on by an Elf called Lindir in the book. This would have illustrated how the Elves are immortal and once upon a time could have gone back and forward from the West, while the Dwarves could have reincarnated constantly from the stone that they are thought to be made from, which suggests that the differences between the Elves and the Dwarves also reflect the differences between the light-elves and the dark-elves of Old Icelandic literature. Furthermore, the song about Earendil, in the movie, would have introduced the relationship between the Men of the North to the Half-Elven who both descend from Earendil, which Elrond, Earendil’s son, could have referenced at the White Council. This is while the song about Durin, in the movie, would have introduced Durin’s Day, which is referred to while Bilbo, Gandalf and the Dwarves stay in Rivendell. Notably Earendil is the Old English name for Venus, and translates as: ‘shining light’. Meanwhile, the poem that Bilbo recites at Rivendell was an expansion of two lines from an Old English poem that translate as: ‘Hail Earendil, brightest of angels/ above the middle-earth sent unto men’, which was introduced to Tolkien by his tutor Kenneth Sisam.
Furthermore, during this there could have been flashback scenes of Earendil sailing his ship to the West and of Durin awakening in Moria, which could have been enabled by lyrics in the Elven and Dwarven languages that Tolkien invented from Old Finnish and Old Hebrew being in the background music score. And similarly this could have happened in the following movie if the Elves of Mirkwood had of sung about the loss of the Elven lovers Nimrodel and Amroth due to evil awakening in the mountains like Legolas does in The Lord of the Rings when the Fellowship of the Ring comes to Lothlorien. Also, during this, besides scenes of Nimrodel and Amroth, there could have been scenes of the Dwarves awakening evil in the mountains after being commissioned by the Elves to mine for them, with lyrics in the Elven and Dwarven languages being in the background music score using the Elven language that Tolkien invented from Old Welsh.
This, in turn, could have reflected how the Rivendell and Mirkwood Elves differ from each other, which could have been seen in how they treat the Dwarves differently, which suggests that the differences between both groups of Elves also reflect the differences between the light-elves and dark-elves of Old Icelandic literature. This is also suggested by the way Thranduil, Legolas’s father, has his hall inside a mountain, which the Dwarves assisted in the making of, which, in turn, differs from the Goblins’ halls in that it has a cleaner air. And it is suggested by the enchanted river that borders Thranduil’s realm, which is probably intended as a permanent defense against the dark creatures of Mirkwood, while Elrond will only enchant the river that borders Rivendell when he needs to, which is demonstrated in The Lord of the Rings when he rouses the river against the Nazgul/Black Riders as they pursue Frodo over the river’s ford.
In the meantime, in Rivendell, as Elrond translates Thror’s map, there could have been a brief scene of the secret entrance into the Lonely Mountain being illuminated by the sun as Elrond speaks to highlight how Durin’s name translates from Old Icelandic as ‘Door-Guardian’. Meanwhile, at the White Council meeting, when Galadriel refers to the Men of the North entombing the Witch-king of Angmar, there could have been a brief scene of these Men defeating the Witch-king in anticipation of it and the events leading up to it being expanded on in the movies to come. This is while, when Elrond refers to there being peace in the lands for four hundred years, there could have been a brief scene of him with his spouse Celebrian (also Arwen’s mother and Galadriel’s daughter) making their way over the Redhorn Gate with an entourage of Elves towards the Dimrill Dale and being waylaid by a company of Orcs. This is so to introduce Elrond’s reluctance to commit himself with the Council to Gandalf’s plans and in anticipation of him and Galadriel, in the following movies, talking about Celebrian’s premature departure into the West being caused by evil awakening in the mountains as the Council ready themselves for the preeminent battle with Dol Guldur, in which Galadriel tries to reassure Elrond about this plan.
Meanwhile, there is said to be a discussion at the Council about the Rings of Power in the movie’s extended edition, in which there could have been close-up scenes of the Three Elven Rings on Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel’s hands, Thror handing the Ring of Durin to Thrain and of the One Ring falling to the bottom of the Anduin. This is so to complement with Bilbo, in the movie’s extended edition, looking at the Ring on Sauron’s hand on the mural showing Isildur cutting the Ring off the Dark Lord’s hand, which is near where the shards of Narsil are bestowed. In addition, perhaps there also could have been brief scenes of four of the bearers of the Dwarves’ Rings throwing them away towards the Dragons to consume, two of the other Dwarf Ring-bearers having their Rings taken off them by the Nazgul and Sauron, as Anatar, entreating with Celebrimbor in anticipation of the movies to come expanding on these things so that The Hobbit movies can dovetail with The Lord of the Rings movies. Notably these things would have referred to things discussed in the Council of Elrond in The Lord of the Rings that do not make it into the movies.
Furthermore, because Galadriel says to Gandalf that the Dwarves’ quest has set in motion things that they are yet to understand there could have been Old Icelandic-like lyrics in the music score as Bilbo and the Dwarves ascend the Misty Mountains. And these could have reflected something like the creation of Midgard from Ymir the giant by Odin and his brothers, as I referred to above, which is described in the Old Icelandic poem Voluspa, which, in turn, also describes how the dwarves were created by the gods whose names are listed in the poem, from which Tolkien derives the names of most of his Dwarves in his legendarium, as I said above.
For example, the lyrics could have described the sun rising above the Mountains after the stars and moon had set, while the powers sat in their thrones and decided the fate of the world as the children of Durin and the other fathers of the Dwarves ascended above the earth. This is with the Dwarves being said to come from the North, South, West and East, the latter which would have referred to the points of the compass being derived from the names of the dwarves that hold up the sky above Midgard in Old Icelandic literature, who are listed amongst the dwarves in Voluspa. During this East could have been stated first to indicate how sometimes that is so in Old Icelandic literature, which Tolkien alludes to in The Hobbit by having East at the top of Thror’s map. Then the Dwarves all could have been named in their family groups along with their occupations: Thorin, Fili and Kili, descendents of kings, being most directly descendent from Durin; Balin and Dwalin, Oin and Gloin, Dori, Nori and Ori, descendents of warriors, merchants and miners, respectively, according to the degree of their respective descents from Durin; and Bifur, Bofur and Bombur descendents of trades-people, being not descendent from Durin at all. This is to anticipate these things being expanded on in the movies to come.
In addition, Voluspa also describes scenes in Ragnarok, or the twilight of the gods, which events in The Hobbit allude to, which, in turn, the music score using the Old Icelandic-like lyrics could have alluded to as they happened, in the movie. This could have started as Radagast’s house in Rhosgobel with the tree growing through it is scuttled over by Spiders of Mirkwood to suggest the shuddering of Yggdrasil, the tree of the world, in Voluspa, when Surt the fire-giant and his kin are awoken at Ragnarok, which could have happened again, in the movie to come, when Bilbo and the Dwarves encounter the Spiders themselves. Meanwhile, it also could have happened, in the first movie, when Radagast discovers the Necromancer/Sauron and the Witch King in Dol Guldur, to suggest the awakening of Surt and his kin. And it could have happened when Radagast tells Gandalf how Tom Bombadil told him that he had seen images of the kings of old coming out of their barrows in the Barrow-downs, when the Trolls turn to stone and when their troll-hole is discovered by Bilbo, Gandalf and the Dwarves, to suggest the rocky cliffs cracking open, the troll-women being abroad (if ignoring the gender difference) and the men treading the road to hell as the sky splits apart at Ragnarok, in Voluspa.
Meanwhile, as Bilbo and the Dwarves encounter the Stone-Giants it could have happened at a greater volume suggesting how, in Voluspa, at Ragnarok the land of the giants groans, while the gods and the elves are in counsel and the dwarfs howl before their rocky-doors in the walls of the mountains. This would suggest that the Stone-giants, the White Council, the Elves and the Dwarves, in the movie, analogize the giants, gods, elves and dwarves of Old Icelandic literature. Then when Gandalf, Bilbo and the Dwarves encounter the Orcs and Wargs on the other side of the Misty Mountains it could have happened at its greatest volume in the movie to suggest how, in Voluspa, Garm the hell-hound breaks his bonds and Fenrir the wolf slays Odin before he is slain by Odin’s son Vidar at Ragnarok, when Azog appears, in the movie, on his Warg and another Warg attacks Thorin before being slain by Bilbo.
Furthermore, in the movie, it could have trailed off as the company is taken by the Eagles to the Carrock to suggest how the eagle in Voluspa flies over the mountains of the new world that rises after the fall of Midgard at Ragnarok. Then it could have been part of the movie’s final scene when Smaug’s eye and snout are seen to highlight how it could have been part of Bilbo’s ‘conversation’ with Smaug, when Smaug flies from the Lonely Mountain over his Desolation to attack Esgaroth and when the Dragon is slain by Bard and falls on Esgaroth in the movies to come. This is so to suggest Thor, described as Odin’s son in Voluspa, advancing to slay the Midgard serpent, which has it girdled body wrapped around Midgard and was parented by the mischief-making god Loki and the giantess Angrbodr. And this is also to suggest the dragon Nidhogg flying up from the hills and Midgard sinking in a conflagration of steam at Ragnarok as a result of Thor slaying the Midgard serpent, in Voluspa, as the sun turns black and the bright stars vanish from the sky as a high flame plays against it.
In addition, it could have been coupled with scores in the latter movies where these things happen that have both Old Icelandic-like and Old English-like lyrics in it describing something like Sigurd’s slaying of Fafnir the dragon in its lair in The Saga of the Volsungs and Beowulf’s encounter with the dragon terrorizing the land of the Geats that Beowulf rules over in the last part of Beowulf. Also, it would have complemented with Aragorn in the third Lord of the Rings movie making a speech at the Black Gate to the armies of the West as Frodo and Sam make their way up Mount Doom on the final stage of their quest to destroy the Ring. This speech refers to how there might be a time when the courage of Men fails, when they forsake their friends and break all bonds of fellowship in an hour of wolves and shattered shields when the age of Men comes crashing down, which references a verse in Voluspa that describes these things happening, amongst other things, as Ragnarok approaches.
