Additional characters aside, as they were all known before going in so they can’t be a surprise anyhow, here is a list of things that have surprised audiences in ‘The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’ this past week since the film’s release.
1) Legolas got a bloody nose, which seemed to surprise him almost as much as it surprised the audience. He’s never been wobbly in a battle before, not sure if that is going to make him more cautious or not as he chases after Bolg, the one who inflicted the injury.
2) Smaug seems surprisingly well informed. He knew that Thorin had earned the nickname of Oakenshield while out in Middle-earth after the fall of Erebor. Smaug also seems fully aware that a Dark Power is rising and that there is an impending war coming. Now if we can just figure out who is feeding him this intel.
3) A Wind Lance, really? Not a standard Long Bow? How disappointing, although it is wicked cool looking and realistically makes more sense, it is not the image most fans were expecting from Bard the Bowman.
4) So Kili gets injured and is left behind in Lake-town, along with 3 other Dwarves. Wow! the Breaking of the Company. The fact he was injured by a Morgul bladed arrow was also a surprise.
5) The Orcs were chasing the Dwarves down the river and fighting the Elves in full sunlight? What’s up with that?
6) The other surprising bit with Smaug is that he could sense the Ring’s presence and by force of will convince Bilbo to take the Ring off. Yipes! It’s a power similar to that of the Nazgul.
7) Back to Bree we go, and this time the guy sitting in the corner is actually dangerous, and that dude munching on a carrot is back.
8) The Spiders did speak, but only Bilbo can hear them when he wears the Ring. Well, except for when he took the Ring off and stabbed that one spider, who then says “it stings” before dying, giving Sting it’s name. So the Spider’s speaking was a surprise, and the way it was handled was a surprise, but there is at least one inconsistency to this plot device. Does anyone care about that? Probably not, cause the spiders were creepy as all heck.
9) Gandalf entering Dol Guldur alone, first facing Azog and having to resort to trickery to get away, and then the big face off with the Necromancer, who reveals himself fully to Gandalf. The endless emptiness that is Sauron is epic.
10) While not surprised that the molten hot gold did not seem to injure Smaug, the most surprising bit in that whole sequence was just how transfixed Smaug was when the Golden Dwarf statue was revealed. He looked like an animal caught in a Cobra’s stare, which is probably the reverse of what Smaug normally encounters.
If you’ve ever pondered what a Tom Bombadil sequence might look like on film, this amateur short that adapts Tolkien’s chapter In the House of Tom Bombadil The Fellowship of the Ring offers one interesting perspective. It does take its own textual liberties though.
After the four hobbits; Merry, Pippin, Frodo and Sam leave the Shire for Bree, they encounter some trouble with a Willow Tree, only to be rescued by the mysterious yet whimsical character, Tom Bombadil. As the hobbits linger in Bombadil’s hollow, danger lurks outside the Old Forest, and Frodo begins to question secrets the One Ring may hold. When morning dawns again the hobbits must face an important question; “Who is Tom Bombadil?”
Thranduil, King of the Wood-elves. This is more of a nerdy observation list, than a full-on exploration of textual fidelity (or lack thereof) but if you want to go hunting Tolkien easter eggs in The Desolation of smaug, this article from The Smithsonian provides a few via the insights of Tolkien scholars Michael Drout and John Rateliffe. Enjoy!
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
The original, discarded, design for Bolg, son of Azog. Undoubtedly the tale of the casting (and re-casting) of Azog and Bolg has been one of the most complicated of The Hobbit. Here, TORn staffer Arandir documents how the parts and actors got shuffled around with poor old Conan Stevens eventually losing out in the game of musical chairs. Continue reading “Azog, Bolg … and Yazneg: The trio’s tangled design history”
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
Rhett Allain from Wired examines the physics of the dwarves in barrels as they escape down the Forest River. If you like numbers, this will be right up your alley.
Surely you have read The Hobbit (the book). It’s a classic novel and the basis of the upcoming movie The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The book is old enough that I don’t think I need to give any spoiler warnings. I want to consider the part where the dwarves escape from the elves by floating down a river in barrels. Continue reading “Should Dwarves stand up in floating barrels?”
Sean Robinson has two passions that have recently found their way together in a most amazing fashion. Sean discovered his passion for pottery in 2007 – a hobby that sprang from his love of several different arts. He is also a huge fan of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien – a love, I think, we can all appreciate. Working from his pottery studio in Jamestown, NC, Sean spends his free time crafting many fine objects.
Most recently, his works have taken on the form of some very recognizable objects
from the lands of Middle-earth. It began in the most unexpected way for Sean – with
his father, Bill Robinson, indulging him in his appreciation for Tolkien’s stories. This
took the form of some intricately constructed wooden signs as seen in Peter Jackson’s films – one for The Prancing Pony in Bree, and the other for The Green Dragon in the Shire.
Additional characters aside, as they were all known before going in so they can’t be a surprise anyhow, here is a list of things that have surprised audiences in ‘The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’ this past week since the film’s release.
If you’ve ever pondered what a Tom Bombadil sequence might look like on film, this amateur short that adapts Tolkien’s chapter In the House of Tom Bombadil The Fellowship of the Ring offers one interesting perspective. It does take its own textual liberties though.
Rhett Allain from Wired examines the physics of the dwarves in barrels as they escape down the Forest River. If you like numbers, this will be right up your alley.