Arrow-wielding elves and fiery Smaug amp up action in 'The Hobbit'

money.msn.com ^ | December 12, 2013 6:03 PM ET.

[BenLurkin]

In the male-dominated realm of Middle Earth, only a few female characters are given a chance to shine - notably Liv Tyler's elf maiden Arwen and Cate Blanchett's elf queen Galadriel in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

When adapting Tolkein's prequel "The Hobbit" into three films, Jackson worked with producers to create a new character not featured in the original book. Unlike Tyler and Blanchett's characters, the elf warrior Tauriel, played by Evangeline Lilly, is not high-born - she is a working class 'Silvan' elf, who guards the Elven kingdom.

[Cicero]

Well, I enjoyed the Lord of the Ring movies, in a way. But they kept straying further and further away from the books, and in the end I was very disappointed. It wasn’t just a question of leaving out complications, but it was a failure to understand some of Tolkien’s most basic ideas.

Nobility and honor, for instance.

[matt1234]

For the record, in The Fellowship of the Ring (1st movie), Liv Tyler's elf maiden Arwen carried Frodo to Rivendell. However, in the book it is a MALE elf who does it.

So, the exageration of female importance has run throughout the franchise.

[Hot Tabasco]

It wasn’t the epic struggle of good and evil so much as the wonders of the world revealed to someone whose world had been quite small before. The was the charm of the book for me.

Yea, that was the same for me......

Just curious, is Tom Bombadil in the Hobbit movie?

[Hot Tabasco]

(See: ‘Under the Dome’).

Is that coming back as a series? It should have ended for good with the final episode.........

[BenLurkin]

I knew that. The elf’s name was Garfunkel.

Oh wait...that’s in “Bored of the Rings”

[BenLurkin]

Nobility and honor are an anathema to the pinkos and perverts who run the so-called “entertainment” industry.

[minnesota_bound]

Is that creature a Smaug ?

[minnesota_bound]

26 more in about 18 days. I suggest short stories.....

I had read these years ago. Many nice stories.
100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories by Isaac Asimov
http://www.amazon.com/Great-Science-Fiction-Short-Stories/dp/0380507730

50 Short Science Fiction Tales by Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein and many more
http://www.amazon.com/50-Short-Science-Fiction-Tales/dp/0684842963/ref=pd_sim_b_2

Typed 26 short stories in google and found this.
Or try mystery stories. Cost is 99 cents for 26 of em.
http://www.amazon.com/In-Pulps-26-Short-Stories-ebook/dp/B00C1M1G3U

[ClearCase_guy]

Just curious, is Tom Bombadil in the Hobbit movie?

Bombadil only appears in the Fellowship of the Ring (book) and in some Tolkien poetry.

In The Hobbit, there is a (somewhat) equivalent character named Beorn who is a shape-changer (bear). He is in the book, and I'm pretty sure he's in the movie -- but I haven't seen the second Hobbit movie, so I cannot say for sure.

[demshateGod]

That is most certainly true. The spirit of the books is not in any of the movies.

[demshateGod]

It goes beyond the LOTR in violence, gore, and pop culture references.

[demshateGod]

Absolutely. Great books, full of conservative values, and a lesson in knowing one’s history.

[NewCenturions]

Saw it last night. Absolutely horrid! Like 14 yr old boys re-wrote the Hobbit.

[demshateGod]

I was digging the first Hobbit movie when the first half hour was pretty close to the book, then it became 2.5 hours of grotesque ways to kill a goblin. That stupid Azog character was bad enough, now the feminist elf means I probably won’t watch #2 at all.

[demshateGod]

And Tolkien’s message regarding the character Eowyn was that women don’t have to fill the exact same role as men in order to be noble and honorable. In fact, her feminist ideas were planted in her mind by Wormtounge. Wormtounge also convinced Theoden that Saruman was his ally and those who wanted war with him were warmongers. Wormtounge is a classic 5th column liberal: Promoting the feminist agenda and pacifying and demonizing manliness in order to bring down the culture.

[Mamzelle]

Bilbo cursed Gollum? I don’t remember that.

[exDemMom]

Bilbo cursed Gollum? I don’t remember that.

I misspoke. Frodo cursed Gollum. It happened while they were traversing the wilderness in order to enter Mordor (IIRC). Gollum was trying to get the ring, and Frodo told him that if he ever touched the ring again, he would die.

If it weren't for that curse, Gollum would not have fallen into Mount Doom at the end when he stole the ring. And Sauron would have recovered the ring.

I'll have to look for exactly where that happened, and hope the page numbers in my books match those in other editions.

[Mamzelle]

That’s OK.. I remember.

[MissNomer]

From the way it was written (Frodo standing in a blaze of light), I had the idea that it was the Ring itself that uttered the curse. Didn't it say "If you ever touch me again...."?