Our friends at The Hobbit Movies and LOTRProject have run the numbers on the dialogue from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. It only requires a quick glance for some interesting trends to emerge. Continue reading “Who was the most talkative in The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug? The answer may just surprise you…”
Category: Hobbit Book
In what is possibly of the biggest boilovers imaginable, Middle-earth March Madness for 2014 has come down to a father-son battle for the title honours!
That’s right: it’s a Thranduil vs Legolas final.
After a very slow semi-final start, Thranduil clawed his way back through the field to eventually topple Aragorn out of the contest, while Legolas and Thorin waged a neck-and-neck battle for quite some time before the former pulled away in the vote.
It’s not all sparkles, party-time and un-ending barrels of Dorwinion wine in the underground halls of Thranduil’s stronghold.
In fact, if one delves a little into Unfinished Tales a number emerge why one should consider Thranduil quite a formidable ruler, especially in relation to some of his elven peers. Here are four of mine (you may have more).
Continue reading “Four reasons Thranduil is smarter than your average elf”
Here’s the second of our four semi-final contestants in our 2014 March Madness contest — Legolas, member of the Fellowship of the Ring.
In this piece, Tolkien scholar Michael Martinez discusses the paradox of Legolas — “both old and young, both wise and yet inexplicably ignorant of the wide world around him”.
Don’t forget to click the link at the bottom to continue to the full essay.
Speaking of Legolas…
by Michael Martinez
I decided to set myself a challenge and write something about Legolas which hasn’t been said before. There seems to be a lot of curiosity about this Elf. People want to know all sorts of things about him, such as what color was his hair, who was his mother, when was he born, was he at the Battle of Five Armies?
We’re into the semi-final match-ups in our 2014 Middle-earth March Madness contest. As part of it, I thought it apt to examine each of our four finalists in turn, starting with our questing Dwarf, Thorin Oakenshield.
In this piece, published a while back over on the site of our friends Heirs of Durin, DarkJackal asserts that Thorin unjustly gets a bad rap from readers of The Hobbit for events following the death of Smaug, and that there’s more to his motivations than meet the eye.
Don’t forget to click the link at the bottom to continue to the full essay.
In Defense of Thorin Oakenshield
A Journey from Hero to Villain, and Back Again
by DarkJackal
Thorin is often criticized for the choices he makes after the death of Smaug, and the average reader is rarely sympathetic with his refusal to share the treasure with the people of Lake-town. But when I read the story, I find it hard not to side with him. This essay is an attempt to justify my reaction. [Note: This is based on my reactions to the original Hobbit story only, without factoring in the material from the Appendices, Unfinished Tales, or the film.]
The Final Four are set! And in a stunning turn of events, Middle-earth has gone ‘Hot!’ In an unexpected twist of fate, the final four combatants are arguably the most swoon-worthy group of Middle-earth combatants ever.
First up, we have Thranduil facing off against Aragorn. Some staff are already dubbing this match-up as ‘Team Sparkle’ (Thranduil) vs. ‘Team Stubble’ (Aragorn).
And with Legolas dispatching Gandalf in the Elite Eight, we now have a Hobbit (film) showdown of epic proportions – Legolas vs. Thorin Oakenshield.
Will this be the first year we have an all Elven final? Can Aragorn finally put Team Sparkle out of the competition? Will the Richard Armitage Army dispatch Legolas? All is up in the air as the final four voting has begun!
Voting will last until 10pm ET on April 5th in this round. So let the Middle-earth March Madness continue! Happy Voting!
Continue reading “Vote in the Middle-earth March Madness Final Four! Some like it ‘Hot!’”