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What elements from non-Hobbit Tolkien canon have been included in the Hobbit movie?


I don't expect a great answer till all parts are released, but at least, as per the current knowledge, what elements (plot, characters, events, ideas, dialog, items etc..) are known to be in Peter Jackson's "Hobbit" movie(s), which are taken from Tolkien legendarium (e.g. LOTR, Silmarillion, letters etc...) but NOT in the original "Hobbit" novel?



Answer



Just saw it! Many Tales are woven together that are only barely mentioned in The Hobbit. I'll just quickly write that a lot of the expanded material comes from the writings that were still about Middle Earth and mostly the Appendices of LOTR. Some of the material may also have come from earlier drafts of both The Hobbit and LOTR within its appendices.


Radagast the Brown gets a much more extensive treatment than I would have ever expected and liberties were definitely taken with the timeline Tolkien indicates in his writing vs. what is depicted in the movie. There were also additional bits that needed to occur in order to cohesively string together the other tales.



Of course some scenes from the book are shortened or deleted (as one expects from movies), but at the same time, other scenes are lengthened significantly. For example, the book mentions the hobbits only seeing stone giants playing a game in the distance. The stone giants have a much more prominent part to play in the movie - though they still have no lines.


In the book, there is only a tiny piece written about Gandalf's acquiring of the key and map and the book only mentions the necromancer twice as well as only mentions a council between the elves and wizards - these events are greatly expanded in the movie/movies. An extensive background piece on Erebor and its fall is placed near the beginning of the movie as is a bit between Bilbo and Frodo (on the same day of the one hundred eleventieth birthday party) that creates a sense of the entire movie being a big flashback. I believe that many of the smaller additional pieces comes from combining a short bit in the LOTR Appendices titled, "Journey to Dol Guldur" Though, again I am only working from memory here.


When the movie is depicting scenes from the book The Hobbit it stays fairly true to the book throughout even down to word-for-word dialogue (with the exception of a "hunt" and related additions I will allow you to watch to find out more about.) There are changes here and there such as where exactly Bilbo gets stuck and loses his buttons and some of the dialogue, but the story is definitely there. Thorin also comes to the party at Bilbo's late instead of arriving with the last group of dwarves as he does in the book. The story is just alternating with other stories too so you are taken back and forth between word for word accuracy and completely separate non-hobbit bits. For fans of the book it might be a bit jarring (it was for me).


I was disturbed somewhat by a mismatch with Tolkien's timeline of events and the one used to piece together the movie and still can't really decide how I feel about the additions -even a year later. What bothers me most is the idea of Azog hunting and chasing the dwarves throughout the entire story. Bilbo almost seems to lose his innocence and naivete just a little too soon for me as a result of this particular story arch. At the same time it enriches the audience understanding of Thorin and the plight of the dwarves. Of course it also adds opportunities for action sequences during the company's travels. Some of the light-heartedness of the story and its humor is missing.


The movie version delves into the rich complexities that make Middle Earth so engaging a place, and, perhaps the changes do make the story more cohesive with the LotR. The changes certainly make it more cohesive with the movie version of LotR. I would simply argue that you should definitely not go expecting to see The Hobbit, but rather go expecting to see an explanation of the finding of the ring. Including beautiful cinamotography and a chorus of engaging, relatable characters. Film making is just such a different beast than writing a story in books after all.


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