You’ve almost certainly visited Emil Johannson’s LOTRProject website at some point or another, whether to pore over his Middle-earth genealogy page, view the historical timeline of Middle-earth or try out his recent “Which Hobbit character are you?” quiz.
We asked Emil if he’d like to write a few words collecting his own thoughts on Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Here is his review of the film.
If you’re still to see the film and are avoiding spoilers, please be aware that there are spoilers throughout.
The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug review: It is no longer Tolkien’s Middle-earth
The screen went black. The Desolation of Smaug had ended and I was left in the darkness of the cinema with a mix of emotions and thoughts in my head. It had been an entertaining and breathtaking two and half hours. They had essentially consisted of one single long action scene set in some truly spectacular locations. Martin Freeman had once again proved his worth as Bilbo Baggins, his subtle humor and incredible timing perfect for the role. Continue reading “LOTRProject’s Emil Johansson: it is no longer Tolkien’s Middle-earth”
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.
Finrod Felagund and the people of Bëor; art by Ted Nasmith. In this new TORn Library feature, Dr Timothy Furnish explores a lesser-known, but important, philosophical treatise from The History of Middle-earth and speculates whether J.R.R. Tolkien may have doing more than “merely” evoking Christian myth.
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.
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.
Middle-earth Envisioned by Brian J Robb and Paul Simpson.
The Short Version: Not Good, Good, Great, or Awesome? It’s great. This book is not only beautiful and bursting with Tolkien art, but it also gives a chronological, detailed overview of the state of Tolkien interpretive art to date. Lovely and informative, with only a few things that I wish could have been improved.
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.
[Editor’s Note: Fear not, dear readers, TORn staffer Quickbeam presents our first official review of DOS *spoiler-free* until loudly noted in the later section (with plenty of buffer space) where inquisitive minds may read further with spoiler-iffic abandon.]
The Great Schism: Splendid Smaug Splits Fandom?
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Hobbit Version 2.0: Jackson Does it Differently
I know it’s been a long year to wait. Ringer fans are going into ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ with high hopes for another thrilling chapter in the ongoing saga adapted by our fellow fan, Peter Jackson. Indeed it is thrilling. And indeed it bears all the hallmarks of a P.J. film, replete with energetic action set pieces and gorgeously realized creatures and places that only cinema can properly provide to our senses.
Be forewarned Book Fans, because of the extent DOS deviates from J.R.R. Tolkien’s original, you can bet your bottom dollar there will be a very vocal fan reaction, if not an outright scream of frustration from one or two up in the balcony. The filmmakers have certainly delivered the goods; it is a very enjoyable movie that pretty much blows the audience away with well-crafted storytelling. It is by turns breathlessly paced and frightening and funny and gorgeous (Smaug especially has much of his “muchness”). But by the end credits, it no longer resembles the book you read as a kid, not by a long shot.
Which is something I must mention up front because of the laborious efforts towards fidelity in ‘An Unexpected Journey.’ In fact, much of the LOTR Trilogy was a concentrated effort to (mostly) honor the source material. True, there were odd bits that didn’t ring true to Tolkien; like Faramir dragging the hobbits to Osgiliath and Frodo sending Sam home (piffle) but what happens in DOS is just completely off the rails, especially in the third act.
You’ve almost certainly visited Emil Johannson’s LOTRProject website at some point or another, whether to pore over his Middle-earth genealogy page, view the historical timeline of Middle-earth or try out his recent “Which Hobbit character are you?” quiz.
