Kelvarhin: Is this at Dol Guldur or on the slopes of Erebor or Mount Gundabad?
grammaboodawg: You can see Legolas and Tauriel lying on the rocks to avoid or hide from the monstrous-huge bats!
Garfeimao: Legolas and Tauriel duck from the passing of these disturbingly large bats.
Aragorn the Elfstone: “Crebain! From Dun…. Oh, wait, nevermind. They’re bats.”
Calisuri: So Legolas and Tauriel are back together and obviously scouting out the enemy. A good chunk of this movie is going to follow Legolas, after he follows Bolg and sees the huge armies that are forthcoming. This is probably when he’s on his way back to warn the others.
Demosthenes: Ah, bat country. I’ll just leave this here.
Sarumann: Okay, we have bats. But they just fought off a dragon, so how bad can they be?
Garfeimao: This structure appears to be the home of the bats, but where is this? It almost looks like Minas Morgul, but we are no where near that place, it does not look like Dol Guldur either, so what is this place?
greendragon: Where is this? Dol Guldur? Does that mean Legolas and Tauriel followed Bolg all the way back there?
MrCere: I can’t easily convey how lame I think it is that the screenwriters choose to remind us, yet again, with similar lines yet again, that there are parallels here between characters and situations in the LOTR movies yet again. We already know. We already knew. This line takes us right back to Aragorn’s line about an army with one purpose. It isn’t cute, clever or subtle. I just don’t understand. Instead of immersion in the movie I can almost SEE the writers writing. Boo. For the trailer it delivers a nice emotional beat – too bad it carries so much baggage.
Elessar: Mount Gundabad? Hope so as I’d love to see that local come to life. The bats are pretty sweet and I’m looking forward to seeing them after reading the book time.
Aragorn the Elfstone: A location we haven’t see before – Mount Gundabad possibly? What would Legolas and Tauriel be doing there?
Ainu Laire: How badly will fellow movie-goers hate me if I hum the Batman theme song at this part?
Quickbeam: Trying to identify the cultural place in Middle-earth of this crimson overhanging structure – this gate or edifice, or what-have-you. Can’t quite place it but if all these bats are eminating from it we must conclude something from Mount Gundabad (being the Goblins’ stronghold in the further north for such a long time). I could be wrong though, only Azog is referred to once as a “Gundabad Orc.”
Demosthenes: Tauriel and Legolas seem to have scouted an awful long way away from Mirkwood and Erebor — this is the fortress Mt Gundabad. PJverse geography is a bit of a mess though — distance don’t really seem to count.
Kelvarhin: *starts singing again* “We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz…” Really wondering what they used as a reference for these “Bats”…
greendragon: These bats have such large legs hanging down, they look a bit like Flying Monkeys from Oz…
Demosthenes: Some have compared the Gundabad fortress to the angularity of Minas Morgul. Oddly, I get a Cirith Ungol vibe. However, if the Morgul parallel holds, could there also be a Nazgul here? Total speculation of course.
Sarumann: Is that… Minas Morgul?
Garfeimao: Legolas has always had a way with understatement.
greendragon: Have they toned down the blue eyes a bit? I hope so – this is a much better look!
Sarumann: “These bats were bred for one purpose. For war.” Okay, that’s a bit more intimidating. Thanks for the exposition, Legolas!
J.W. Braun: The most compelling image in the trailer. Can’t wait to see this scene.
Kelvarhin: Can’t wait to see this up on the big screen, it just looks incredible. Is the statue above Gandalf and Galadriel holding a Palantir?
grammaboodawg: It’s incredible to see Galadriel cradling a fallen Gandalf and seemingly unconcerned that they’re surrounded with 9 deadly figures surrounding them.
Garfeimao: Could this be the Nine? There are nine figures after all, in different armor and helms, with different types of weapons, and all shimmery and white, very much like specters. What is interesting is that Galadriel is cradling Gandalf as if she either does not perceive the Nine are there, or that she simply does not care.
Justin: PJ’s cameo?
greendragon: It is kind of cool seeing the Nine in this clip; not sure about the ram’s horn helmet though. Bit too ‘jester’… I also love seeing the palantir in the statue’s hand; these are the kind of links to LotR that are fun to see – subtle moments.
MrCere: I am exceptionally excited for White Counsel footage. For me, it might be the #1 reason to see this flick.
Elessar: The Nazgul? I see one that looks like an Easterling.
Aragorn the Elfstone: This a markedly different representation of the Nine than we’ve seen before. Even when Radagast beheld the Witch King in An Unexpected Journey, it a more ghost-like appearance (with a look similar to what Frodo sees on Weathertop).
Ainu Laire: Are those the Ringwraiths?! Alright, complete lack of canon aside, that looks pretty cool. And I am definitely thinking that’s a PJ cameo part on the far right. Also, where on earth is everyone else during this scene? Let’s just sacrifice Gandalf and Galadriel for the sake of drama, guys! It was probably Saruman’s idea.
Quickbeam: So amazingly cool to see some other details of Nazgul-lore represented. I know, I know… Apocryphal from Tolkien’s original lore it certainly is; that the Nine were ever entombed (they were not), or that they were ever at Dol Guldur in T.A. 2941 when all this went down (they were not); it still fascinates me more than I could’ve imagined. This Dol Guldur extrapolation gives us more Nazgul, the Witch-king, Sauron and Saruman! It’s just the tonic these films needed — this whole B-story with Gandalf/ Sauron/ White Council. Sets up everything for flowing into Gandalf’s whispered conversation to Frodo about the Shadow of the Past……
Demosthenes: Many questions here: why has Galadriel gone in alone? Why is she ignoring the Nine completely? Why do the Nine seem more solid and less ghostly than in The Fellowship of the Ring? I wonder whether Galadriel is playing bait. Or maybe the Nine have literally emerged from the walls and it’s an ambush. We do know, because we see a flash of Saruman in the close-up next scene, that both he and Elrond are close-by. So each must play a role. Yet I think it may be that Galadriel plays the key part in defeating, or driving off, the Nazgul.
Calisuri: Wow. As non-canon as this is, still loving seeing the Nine. Granted, its very Weathertop-esque in scene composition, but should be interesting. I wonder what kind of ‘effects’ Elrond and Saruman will be using to fight them off.
Sarumann: Okay, so Gandalf is surrounded on all sides by Nazgul, and Galadriel is healing him. This in combination with the shots we’ve already seen of her walking barefoot through Dol Guldur and kissing Gandalf’s forehead leads me to believe that we’ll have a pretty awesome scene with the Nazgul approaching an unconscious Gandalf, and Galadriel steps in with some sort of stasis or time-stopping spell in order to heal him. Because she’s Galadriel, and she don’t take no guff from no Nazgul.
J.W. Braun: The Ring Gandalf is wearing appears to be Narya and not Thrain’s Ring. Gandalf’s has a red stone (for fire) and Thrain’s has a blue stone.
Kelvarhin: Gandalf has really taken a beating. Galadriel can teach Tauriel a thing or two about the right way to heal someone.
grammaboodawg: This reminds me of when Arwen saves Frodo after crossing the Ford as he succumbs to the poison of the Morgul blade. The compassion of Galadriel for Gandalf is so moving. We’ve never seen her so vulnerable.
Garfeimao: Galadriel kisses Gandalf’s brow while Saruman sneaks by in the background.
greendragon: Saruman is in this shot – though he doesn’t appear in the frame above. Nice to see him in action.
Elessar: Gandalf post the beating he took from Sauron. So we have Galadriel helping get Gandalf back on his feet and more explanation on why she is so upset when he is lost in FOTR.
Aragorn the Elfstone: Does Gandalf’s state go beyond mere injury? We’ve seen a distinct lack of Radagast in the trailers. Could he sacrifice himself for Gandalf (and thereby explain the passing of his staff to the Grey Wizard)?
Ainu Laire: Dear everyone, it’s platonic. Galadriel’s married. Don’t make me throw Laws and Customs of the Eldar out here, it won’t be pretty!
Quickbeam: I’m so glad this is shown. I want to see Galadriel in a whole new situation besides glowing in grandeur in her Elven realms; we want to see how she responds to threat and peril. Her demonstration of the power of the Noldor better be as kick-ass as anything we’ve ever seen!
Demosthenes: Maia he may be, but Gandalf is surely not going to be a great deal of use in this particular battle. The others will have to defend him, and defeat the Nazgul. Which brings to mind Galadriel’s line in an earlier film: call for me and I will come (paraphrased). Also, shipping goggles go on here just to annoy Celeborn. o/` If you see a wizard and an elf you must ship it. o/`
Calisuri: My wife said ‘Wait, Gandalf dies again?’ Out of the mouth of non-fans!
