{"id":65640,"date":"2012-11-23T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-11-23T13:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=65640"},"modified":"2012-11-23T05:10:41","modified_gmt":"2012-11-23T10:10:41","slug":"the-hobbit-trilogy-connecting-the-dots-and-filling-the-blanks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2012\/11\/23\/65640-the-hobbit-trilogy-connecting-the-dots-and-filling-the-blanks\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hobbit trilogy: connecting the dots and filling the blanks"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Unexpected Party.<\/figcaption><\/figure> This essay presents an argument for the likely structure and content of the Hobbit film trilogy, with particular concern for where there is evidence of the film-makers re-structuring the source material and interpreting the appendices. <\/p>\n

As such, it integrates and expands upon points made in three previous articles published here on TheOneRing.net: an article defending the prospect of a trilogy<\/a>; an article arguing the likely structure and break-point of film one<\/a>; and an article analysing the official Hobbit figurine descriptions<\/a> leaked online a couple of months ago. <\/p>\n

It attempts to triangulate a sense of the films\u2019 structure and content from two things: the available information that has been released about the films; an appreciation for how stories are constructed. With regard to the latter, two points are worth emphasising: in an adaptation as in any story, characters are key, and they must progress through an arc. Naturally, there will be spoilers<\/font>.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, and related to this, any story must have three parts: a set-up, a conflict, and a resolution. This tripartite structure must appear in each film, and from a broader perspective each film is itself one of these parts of the trilogy as a whole. <\/p>\n

It is also important to remember that a successful adaptation does not focus on recreating blow-by-blow scenes of the source material. When doing an adaptation, the writers must focus on key themes and key characters.<\/p>\n

This is all the more important in the case of a story like The Hobbit, where much is left to the imagination and thus the film makers must fill in the gaps. Whereas a tightly written, dialogue-centric scene like Riddles in the Dark will likely be on screen for about as long in the film as it took to read in the book, some other scenes with less dialogue will need to be hugely expanded, as film is a visual medium. It will take time to show what Tolkien may have described in a sentence (he was notoriously abstract about battle scenes, for instance). <\/p>\n

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Gandalf outside Bag End.<\/figcaption><\/figure> We first must realise that the plot and point of The Hobbit, set in its broader context and including Tolkien\u2019s appendices, is as the preliminaries to the War of the Ring – as recounted in Lord of the Rings (LotR). In other words, Sauron (referred to as the \u2018Necromancer\u2019 in the Hobbit), and his minions the orcs\/goblins, are the real enemy. Smaug the dragon is but a secondary villain, much as Saruman was the primary<\/em> villain in the first two Lord of the Rings films but the secondary villain of the LotR trilogy. <\/p>\n

We must also remember that, according to the appendices, the whole point of Gandalf taking an interest in Thorin’s quest, was his worry that, with Smaug ensconced in the Lonely Mountain, the north was vulnerable to attack, and thus if the Shadow grew again out of Mirkwood, the forces of good would be outflanked from Mordor and the North. <\/p>\n

In light of this, The Hobbit breaks naturally into three distinct parts, each with its own narrative structure, story and character arcs, each of which can constitute a film without sacrificing anything, and without \u2018stretching\u2019 the narrative. <\/p>\n

In places the following has requires leaps of imagination. Where this is evidently the case, I hope it is at least plausible. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Film I: An Unexpected Journey<\/h3>\n

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Ian Holm as old Bilbo in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.<\/figcaption><\/figure> The first film, An Unexpected Journey, will have to not only trace the formation of the Company of Dwarves (including Bilbo and Gandalf), and their whimsically eventful journey across Middle-earth, but also set the scene by unveiling the historical backdrop to not just the Quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon, but the whole War of the Ring.
\nFrom the trailer, it seems clear that the first film will be set up as a ‘flashback’, with the plot device of old Bilbo writing his memoirs for Frodo at the time of the Birthday Party in the Fellowship of the Ring (FotR): ‘I told you about my adventures, but I may not have told you all of it’. <\/p>\n

This device allows the narrative of the proposed Hobbit trilogy to potentially include everything up to the time of the LotR trilogy, and even possibly to include events contemporaneous with the end of Return of the King (RotK), such as the Battle of Dale, as in the book while Bilbo begins writing his book in Hobbiton, he tells Gandalf he wants to retire to Rivendell \u2018to finish my book\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Bilbo dodges Gandalf at the markets in Hobbiton.<\/figcaption><\/figure> The first film will clearly begin with a scene familiar from the FotR, with Bilbo waving off Frodo to meet Gandalf before the Birthday Party. I would wager that Bilbo will turn around, and look at the Hobbit door, and see the faded rune that Gandalf carved in it all those sixty years ago. This scene will fade directly into a flashback, of the scene we\u2019ve seen in the trailers, of Gandalf cold calling Bilbo, which leads him to carve the rune on the door. The scenes after this will then likely show Bilbo at the Hobbiton market, dodging Gandalf, who is seeking him out. He will have thought he has avoided him and he has gone away, and the scene will then cut to the evening. <\/p>\n

This is where the Dwarves begin to arrive. It makes sense for most of the Dwarves to not have been already introduced to the audience before they knock at the door, as this defeats the point of making their introductions at the door. However, a number of the Dwarves are shown in the video blogs falling through the door in a great heap, which suggests that these Dwarves may indeed have made some earlier appearance, perhaps in some scene of Gandalf negotiating with them on the way to Hobbiton. <\/p>\n

Regardless, the Bag End scene is likely to be quite long, with flashbacks explaining: <\/p>\n