Published originally at WhatCulture
In scarcely less than one week’s time, Tolkien fever will return to once again envelop our world in the way that only Middle-earth and destiny-driven Hobbits can bring about. An Unexpected Journey- the first instalment in The Hobbit trilogy- will mark Academy Award winning director Peter Jackson’s long awaited and much heralded return to the world of wizards and elves that he brought so vividly to our cinema screens one decade ago. The movies will show Jackon’s filmatic interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1937 Carnegie Medal winning fantasy novel The Hobbit, widely regarded as a seminal classic in children’s literature.
The trilogy of movies, set for release in December 2012, 2013 & 2014, will act as a prequel cycle to Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and will star Sir Ian McKellen, reprising his role as the affable and endearing wizard Gandalf, Martin Freeman (widely known as The Office’s Tim Canterbury) as the eponymous heroic hobbit Bilbo Baggins, and North & South’s Richard Armitage as the Dwarven leader Thorin Oakenshield. Several other actors from the original Lord of the Rings trilogy will return, including Andy Serkis (Gollum), Hugo Weaving (Elrond Half-Elven), Cate Blanchett (High Elf Galadriel), Christopher Lee (Saruman the White), Ian Holm (the older Bilbo Baggins), Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins), and Orlando Bloom (Legolas, son of Thranduil).
Of course unless you’ve been hiding away in your very own Hobbit Hole for the past year you know all this already! What you also probably know is that Jackson has decided to stretch what was previously conceived as a two-parter into a trilogy of movies so that he can tell more of the story using the appendices from The Lord of Rings (The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales are off-limits as Jackson only has the rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings).
What I’d like to do in this article is examine the key areas where I expect the trilogy will differ from The Hobbit book. I’d also like to discuss the characters and their context in the movies in detail, with a view to re-acquainting and re-familiarising you with Middle-earth.
SPOILER WARNING: this article will talk about events from The Hobbit book and the Lord of the Rings appendices that are likely to be presented in the films. If for some insane reason you have never read The Hobbit (please go to the nearest mirror and have a word with yourself!) then you should be aware that this article is rife with plot speculation and potential spoilers.
You are producing some excellent fantasy articles on here!
A great concise and contextual summary of all relevant Middle-Earth history for the movies.
Enjoyed this, I read it twice- once here and once at WhatCultre! Someone asked how how the timelines are in the books, can you clarify?
Hi there,
The book and supplementary materials provide the timelines as follows…
All dates are Third Age:
2063 Gandalf suspects the growing evil at Dol Goldur is Sauron, and heads there to investigate. Sauron, still very weak, withdraws before Gandalf can discover the truth.
2460 Necromancer returns to Dol Goldur with a greater force.
2463 White Council is formed.
2850 Gandalf returns to Dol Goldur and only narrowly escapes. He confirms that the Necromancer is in fact Sauron. Gandalf meeets Thrain and obtains the map of The Lonely Mountain.
2851 White Council is summoned. Saruman plays down the threat of Sauron and insists the One Ring is lost and therefore Sauron cannot fully return on strength (he is secretly searching for The One himself, having found out the location of Isildur’s demise at the Gladden Fields, close to Dol Goldur).
2941 Gandalf arranges the trip of the Dwarves and Bilbo/ White Council meets and Saruman relents- Sauron is driven from Dol Goldur at “The Battle of Dol Goldur”- hence why Gandalf is absent from some events during The Hobbit. Sauron had foreseen and prepared in advance for the assault, and he travelled in secret to Mordor to rebuild Barad-dûr to be his new key location. Dol Guldur was shortly reoccupied by a ring-wraith sent by Sauron from Mordor.
2953 White Council meets for last time. Saruman emphasies the One Ring is lost for good and has been swept out to the sea from the Anduin. During this meeting Gandalf already suspected Saruman of desiring to possess the One Ring- there was a lot of tension
3001 Bilbo’s 111th birthday party- start of the events of Fellowship
3018 Gandalf returns to The Shire to confirm that Bilbo’s ring is in fact the One
3019 After Sauron’s fall Galadriel heads to Dol Goldur to destroy it once and for all and throws down it’s walls…
I expect the movies will show some flash-backs to account for the above timelines, and may condense things somewhat (like they did in FOTR- when Gandalf returns to see Frodo after his trip to Minas Tirith you might be forgiven for assuming only a few weeks/ months have passed, when technically it’s been 17 years!)
Great stuff sir!