![\"desolation](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/desolation-of-smaug-poster1-202x300.jpg\")
As the live feed of the ‘Desolation of Smaug’ Fan Event ended, those of us who were lucky enough to be in a theater were treated to five extended scenes from the upcoming movie that totalled approximately 20 minutes of never-before-seen footage. And what we saw was truly spellbinding!<\/p>\n
The theater-exclusive material began with a full music video for the new closing credits song, ‘I See Fire’. It was quite a good song, but it doesn’t quite capture the magic of, say, ‘May It Be’ or ‘Into the West’, but few songs can. It’s a folk\/pop ballad about Thorin’s determination to win back Erebor at any cost.<\/p>\n
It even uses the “sexy line” Richard Armitage talked about: [highlight the empty space to read a potential spoiler] “If this ends in fire, then we shall burn together.”<\/font> It’s a very good song, and a welcome addition to the pantheon of music from Middle-earth, but I can’t say it blew me away. But that’s just one fan’s opinion. Judge for yourself when the soundtrack is released.<\/p>\n After the song, Peter Jackson appeared again to introduce the reel of new footage. While we weren’t allowed to record what we saw, there is nothing stopping us from talking about what we saw. So, here is a detailed description of the five scenes.<\/p>\n Be warned, what follows over the next three pages is rife with spoilers<\/strong><\/font>. Most of what we saw were scenes that don’t exist in the book, and some fan speculation about how certain things will be adapted can definitively be put to rest. So if you are avoiding movie spoilers, stop right here!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is your final warning. What you are about to read WILL SPOIL YOU!<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Still there? Okay. Let’s begin.<\/p>\n This is where we see that lovely shot from the trailers of Bilbo smiling as colorful butterflies swirl around him. He identifies a lake and a river, and then he sees it: The Lonely Mountain. They are much closer than they thought, and Bilbo excitedly tells the party that he can see the way to it.<\/p>\n But there is no response from below. He calls down a few more times, but the Company does not reply. It is then that the spider theme from the AUJ soundtrack starts up as Bilbo sees something moving through the forest toward him, rustling through the trees. He begins to climb back down the tree, but loses his footing, and quickly finds himself caught in a spider web. He comes face-to-face with a giant spider, and it begins to quickly and furiously wrap him up with webbing.<\/p>\n Smash cut to: Bilbo is now completely wrapped in spider web, and is being dragged along the forest floor. As the spider dragging him turns to inspect its catch, Sting suddenly slices through the web and stabs it in the eye.<\/p>\n [Demosthenes: I thought it was the thorax, as Bilbo stabbed it from below. Sting slices straight through the webbing like a hot knife through butter.]<\/p>\n Bilbo is quick to cut himself free and escape. He then sees that the rest of his Dwarven companions have been captured. One can only be identified by his nose sticking out of the web. If I had to venture a guess, this could be Bofur, but it\u2019s quite hard to tell by just a nose.<\/p>\n Bilbo ducks behind a tree as more spiders begin to climb all around him. He slowly and carefully puts on the Ring, and finds himself in the shadowy netherworld of Sauron. But more than just the world changing around him, Bilbo can now hear the spiders talking! This was a big reveal, as most fans could only speculate as to whether or not the spiders would actually speak in this. We can now confirm that they most definitely will!<\/p>\n With his courage bolstered either by the fact that he\u2019s invisible or by the tempting power of the Ring, Bilbo quickly sets to attacking a spider. He hacks at it, cutting off mandibles and antennae. The confused spider finally cries out \u201cWhere are you?!\u201d Bilbo replies by removing the Ring, revealing himself to be right in front of the spider and declaring \u201cRight here!\u201d He then gives the death blow to it.<\/p>\n As Bilbo stands over the dead spider, he looks at his Elven blade and says \u201cSting. That\u2019s a good name for you.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [Demosthenes: Tauriel’s line to the orc is “You like death? Let me give it to you.” I was left in two minds about Thranduil’s “such is the nature of evil” monologue. It seemed directed at Legolas as much as at the orc, possibly as a justification for his realm’s obviously isolationist policy.]<\/p>\n After Tauriel leaves, Thranduil plays the \u201cgood cop\u201d and tells the orc that he will release him if he answers his questions. Much like the orc in The Two Towers after Aragorn falls off a cliff, he begins to laugh gloatingly. He speaks of fire and death. Legolas seems clearly confused by this, as does Thranduil.<\/p>\n That is, until the orc says one line in particular: \u201cMy master serves The One.\u201d<\/p>\n [Demosthenes: I noted some snippets of the dialogue. “Your world will burn… in the flame of war. My master serves the One. Death is upon you.”. My master obviously refers to Azog, who has driven the pursuit of Thorin Oakenshield. The One could, I guess, be a particularly obscure way to refer to Sauron.<\/p>\n After all, the servants of the Enemy usually refer to him obliquely. Grishnakh uses “The Great Eye”. “Lugburz” is another, although that is, strictly speaking, the name for Barad-dur itself, and “High Up”. Sauron’s servants (apart from the Mouth of Sauron, seemingly) are not permitted to use his actual name.<\/p>\n Very close readers of Tolkien will also have realised that the name “Eru” (the ultimate creator of Middle-earth within the Legendarium) means in Quenya “The One”, or “He that is Alone”. Would Sauron take a perverse pleasure in ordering his servants to emulate this honorific address? And would an elf interpret such as a sort of sacrilege? Food for thought.]<\/p>\n Legolas is still confused by the orc\u2019s last words, and asks his father what he meant. But, rather than give his son a straight answer, Thranduil says that his last words mean a great evil is coming. He then orders Legolas to seal the borders of the Woodland Realm so that nobody can get in or out.<\/p>\n [Demosthenes: I think the line was “Close the borders and double(?) the watch. No-one enters this kingdom and no-one leaves it.” This obviously sets things up for the pursuit of the escaping dwarves as they float down The Forest River toward Esgaroth.]<\/p>\n It\u2019s then that Bilbo appears with the keys to the cells, saying \u201cYou will if you stay here.\u201d<\/p>\n The Dwarves let out cries of joy that are probably a little bit too loud for a jailbreak. Bilbo quickly frees them, and leads them out.<\/p>\n He takes them down to a cellar past two passed-out drunk Elf guards (having seen Legolas\u2019 constitution in the ROTK Extended Edition, one has to wonder how much these guys had to drink…and is there any left), to which Bofur begins to complain that they should be going up rather than down. Bilbo insists they\u2019re going in the right direction, and takes them to a pile of empty barrels.<\/p>\n [Demosthenes: Bilbo says “I know what I’m doing.” There is also a line “Close the doors and buy us more time.” but I can’t recall precisely where it sits in this sequence — after they arrive at the barrel room i think.]<\/p>\n He instructs them all to get in the barrels, and is met with a great amount of protest. Thorin then orders them all to \u201cDo as he says,\u201d and the Dwarves quickly get into the barrels without any question (this moment prompted a decent applause break from the audience).<\/p>\n Bilbo then pulls a lever, and the floor opens up to a drop-off into a river. The barrels all spill into the river, and as Bilbo releases the lever, he suddenly realizes the flaw in his plan: The floor door has closed, and he\u2019s still stuck there! [Demosthenes: Tauriel says very severely “Where is the keeper of the keys?”. In English, though, not Sindarin.]<\/p>\n After his fall, he meets up with the Dwarves who, somehow, are still right at the base of the fall, and haven\u2019t been carried down by the current. Still, it was nice of them to wait for him.<\/p>\n Dwalin: \u201cHow do we know he won\u2019t betray us?\u201d In fact, none of them even seem to remember his name until Bilbo points it out.<\/p>\n [Demosthenes: Bofur says to Bard as the ruins loom before the boat, “Watch out! What are you trying to do, drown us?” and Dwalin adds something like “Throw him over the side”. They, for some reason still to be explained, do not trust Bard. Balin plays peacemaker, saying, “We don’t have to like him, we just have to pay him.”]<\/p>\n As they travel through the ruins, they are pooling together the coins they have in order to pay Bard for his escort, but they are coming up short (pun absolutely not intended, and shame on you if you giggled). Thorin confronts Gloin, telling him that he knows he is holding out. As Gloin begins to go on a rant about how much he has already sacrificed on this quest, the Dwarves stop listening and all begin to stare behind him.<\/p>\n [Demosthenes: Gloin says that the Quest has brought them “nought but misery and grief”. He’s obviously one of those less happy about the misadventures through the forest, being locked up by the Wood-elves and enduring a dunking in the river.]<\/p>\n Gloin turns to look, and we see the Lonely Mountain through the fog. They are all awestruck by the sight. Without thinking, Gloin pulls out a pouch of coins and quickly hands it to Thorin.<\/p>\n They clear the fog and ruins, and come upon a trading post. Bard urgently demands payment from the Dwarves, but Thorin protests, saying that they agreed to pay him after he had brought them ashore. Bard insists, because he needs it to pay off the traders, and then just as urgently instructs the Company to get back into their barrels.<\/p>\n [Demosthenes: Bard says with vehemence, “If you value your life, do as I say. There are guards ahead.”<\/p>\n At the trading post, the Company watches Bard through the holes in their barrels. They can\u2019t hear him, but they see him exchange money with a trader and then point to the barrels. Thorin and the rest are convinced that he has just sold them out. As they ready themselves to fight their way out of this new situation\u2026<\/p>\n The camera pulls away to our first real establishing shot of Lake-town. It is a sprawling man-made atoll. It is heavily guarded, and not the most welcoming of places. Try to imagine Bree as a large island, and you\u2019ll have a good idea of what we see.<\/p>\n [Demosthenes: the water gate is a barricaded passage that all must pass in order to get into Lake-town’s interior. The scene closes with a Lake-towner shouting out, “Goods inspection!”.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [Demosthenes: Bilbo seems a little sceptical of this jewel. He asks, questioningly, “You want me to find a jewel?” and Balin replies something along the lines of “Not just any jewel.”]<\/p>\n As they approach the entrance to the main hall, Balin tells Bilbo that it\u2019s okay if he doesn\u2019t want to go through with it. Bilbo musters up his courage and says that he “must” after coming this far. Balin smiles warmly as Howard Shore\u2019s Shire Theme begins to play. He tells Bilbo that he is always amazed by the courage of Hobbits, and wishes him luck… but not before unnerving Bilbo by warning him to be very silent if he happens to come across a live dragon. Before Bilbo can ask any follow-up questions, Balin disappears back down the hallway. Bilbo is on his own.<\/p>\n Bilbo nervously enters the main hall, and head-slappingly calls out \u201cHello?\u201d When he doesn\u2019t get a response (and what on Earth would he have done if he did?), he assumes Smaug is gone, and proceeds to enter the gold-filled hall of Erebor.<\/p>\n [Demosthenes: Freeman mutters nervously “Not at home. (the title of one of the chapters from The Hobbit) Good. Good.” I liked the fact that it felt unnpolished, like something a normal person would say rather than a line of dialogue.]<\/p>\n Bilbo stumbles across the enormous piles of gold and jewels. He does his best to be quiet, but every step creates an echoing series of jangles. He tries to find what Balin described, looking at several different large gemstones. He carelessly throws one away, resulting in a large crash that would have made Pippin proud. Again we see him \u201cMartin Freeman-ing\u201d a bit as he tries to make his way through the gold.<\/p>\n Eventually, he finds a golden cup and picks it up. This loosens a big pile of gold coins. As they slide away, they reveal Smaug\u2019s eye underneath. It is closed, and Smaug is asleep. In a truly tense scene, Bilbo does his best to remain quiet as he inches slowly away from the dragon. He turns around and sees part of Smaug\u2019s tail poking out of the gold a good distance away. The dragon is massive, and Bilbo only now realizes just what he has gotten himself into.<\/p>\n As much as Bilbo tries to be quiet, he is still surrounded by loose gold and jewels, and soon the noises cause Smaug to stir. We see his eye open. Bilbo hides himself from the dragon, but the damage is done. Smaug is awake. Slowly, he begins to lift himself up. And as the gold and jewels begin to spill away…<\/p>\n Cut to black. Cue audience screaming.<\/p>\n This was an incredible collection of footage, and I can say that I am more excited about this film than I was before…if that’s even possible! December 13th can’t come fast enough!<\/p>\n [Demosthenes: quick answers to the obvious questions. No Beorn. Nothing from Dol Guldur except the bits we saw in the new production blog — pickups part 1. Expect this black-out on those two areas to continue up until the film. If we’re lucky, pickups part 2 might give us something from Lake-town itself? That’s just a guess though. A finall oddity: the official press release I was handed today by Roadshow NZ’s folk still doesn’t list either Stephen Fry or Conan Stevens. I didn’t get a chance to ask about it, but it’s really confusing because there’s no way the film can reach Erebor without the Company encountering with the Master of Lake-town first, surely?]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the live feed of the ‘Desolation of Smaug’ Fan Event ended, those of us who were lucky…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":81311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[162,4,334,1773,148,1911],"tags":[1439,2004,889,1312,27,852,1559,1309,1406],"class_list":["post-81726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events-screenings","category-hobbit-movie","category-hobbit-rumors","category-soundtrack","category-hobbit","category-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug","tag-balin","tag-bard","tag-bilbo","tag-dwalin","tag-legolas","tag-sauron","tag-tauriel","tag-thorin","tag-thranduil"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/scroll-crop.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1tLoH-lga","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81726"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81743,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81726\/revisions\/81743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Updated](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/New_Banner-1024x188.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBilbo and the Spiders of Mirkwood<\/h3>\n
![\"spider](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/spider-bilbo-300x124.jpg\")
We begin with Bilbo climbing a tree, clearly exhausting himself and struggling to keep going. Finally, he emerges from the tree canopy of Mirkwood to behold a vast landscape. The relief on his face is palpable.<\/p>\n![\"Bilbo](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Hobbit2_4-300x285.jpg\")
[Demosthenes: I was surprised by this too, and I immediately thought how this was a clever (if non-canonical) way to resolve the issue of talking spiders in The Hobbit, since Shelob never has dialogue in the Lord of the Rings. Some of the spider dialogue seems to be straight from Tolkien, talking about a “feast” and describing one of the dwarves (Bombur?) as “fat and juicy”.]<\/p>\nAn Elvish Interrogation<\/h3>\n
![\"bg_HGEYA\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/bg_HGEYA-300x186.jpeg\")
In this scene, we see Thranduil, Legolas and Tauriel interrogating a captured orc. Legolas and Thranduil lead the questioning, asking him why they were tracking Thorin Oakenshield, and what importance he has. The orc is quite defiant and refuses to speak. This prompts Tauriel to go into a rage and lunge at the orc to kill him. Thranduil quickly stops her and orders her to leave.<\/p>\n![\"Tauriel\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Lilly1-300x124.jpg\")
At that point, Thranduil\u2019s expression changes to one that almost says \u201cOh s***!\u201d And let\u2019s face it, when a Telerin elf gets that kind of a look on his face, things are bad. Rather than continue questioning the orc, Thranduil quickly unsheathes a sword and decapitates him. Legolas is clearly upset by this, telling his father that he promised to free him. Thranduil replies by saying \u201cI did. I freed him from this world.\u201d<\/p>\nBarrels Out of Bond<\/h3>\n
![\"Barrels](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/F2-Woodelves-cellars-300x200.jpeg\")
This scene begins in the Elf prison. Thorin and company are held in several different cells. Bofur says that the sun is about to rise on Durin\u2019s Day, and they\u2019ll miss their opportunity to find the Secret Door.<\/p>\n
\nTauriel has discovered the escape, and is quickly leading a group of the Elven Guard toward the cellar. <\/p>\n![\"bilbo](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/bilbo-barrels-300x126.jpg\")
This is where we see Martin Freeman engage in his singular type of physical comedy, affectionately known as \u201cMartin Freeman-ing\u201d — you\u2019ll know it when you see it. He tries in vain to open the door again, and clumsily stumbles around the cellar while avoiding detection (why he didn\u2019t put the Ring on is beyond me). Finally, he accidentally triggers a counter-weight on the door, and it opens up beneath his feet, resulting in a hilarious fall that only somebody like Freeman could pull off. The best way to describe it is that he goes completely still as the door opens under him, and he remains absolutely frozen as gravity takes over, and he slides down into the river.<\/p>\nBard the Dwarf Smuggler<\/h3>\n
![\"DoSBard02\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/DoSBard02-300x181.jpg\")
The Company is being escorted on a boat through the ruins of Dale by Bard the Bowman. The ruins are shrouded in fog, and it is difficult to see where they are or where they are going. The Dwarves are clearly suspicious of Bard, and this is where we have that bit of dialogue between Thorin and Dwalin that we saw in the latest trailer:<\/p>\n
\nThorin: \u201cWe don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Peter](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Jackson1-300x199.jpg\")
The barrels suddenly get loaded up with fish. The Company are soon buried in barrelfuls of fish, and many are loudly protesting in disgust. Bard tells them all to be quiet, as they are about to go through the gate.<\/p>\nBilbo Enters Erebor<\/h3>\n
![\"thdos-trailer02-095\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/thdos-trailer02-095-300x124.jpg\")
Bilbo and Balin are in a hallway just past the Secret Door. Balin is instructing Bilbo to find and take the Arkenstone, and is giving him a description of it. He describes it as a \u201clarge, white jewel\u201d and Bilbo will know it when he sees it.<\/p>\n![\"DoSBilbo01\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/DoSBilbo01-176x300.jpg\")
[Demosthenes: as he picks through this vast hill of gold that spreads across the entire hall he says,, somewhat sarcastically, “Arkenstone. A large, white jewel. Very helpful.”]<\/p>\n