We were not expecting to love this movie so much! there is now a void in our hearts. this movie moved us. Want to watch Reactions EARLY and access the UNCUT reaction? Join us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/spartanandpudgey
Now u have reached a low point ..that most of us have been thru...no more Peter Jackson n Tolkien partnerships...talk about cinema highs n lows...after your done with the 6 movies n the high fades n u know then we will never go to middle earth again
The CGI was slaughtered I the press and cinema.. It was disjointed, poorly done, and you could see were things were imposed over others. LOTR was miles better as it had creature effects and CGI on top. The Hobbit was all CGI, and it really showed.
Just to be clear when Saruman said "Leave Sauron to me." He meant it. He was still 100% good here. Its not until he gets his Palantir that he start to be corrupted. Sir Christopher Lee was super happy to get to play the good side of Saruman. He originally wanted to be Gandalf. (Yes he is a Sir knighted by the Queen herself.)
100% good is an overstatement. As far as I remember he was searching for the One Ring before these events. Slightly corrupted already I'd say. But not working for Sauron at all.
He wanted the Ring for himself by this point. When Gandalf first confirmed that Sauron had taken residence in Dol Guldur, Saruman was against attacking because he wanted Sauron's power to rise in order for the Ring to reveal itself. It wasn't until Saruman realized that Sauron had more knowledge about where the Ring might be that he agreed to drive Sauron away. Even after he fell under Sauron's influence, he was still playing a double game against him.
He is not a traitor yet. But he is already being corrupted to some degree. At this point that process is so new that even he is likely unaware of it himself. He is actively beem looking for the Ring by this point. He is jealous and distrustful of Gandalf and has spies watching him and he is watching The Shire because he is aware of Gandalf's close ties to the area.
Just an inkling of information, the jewels thranduil wanted were actually his wife's. As she is dead and the body wasn't recovered it is the only remaining thing of hers he know of (except his son ofc who he treasures). Which is why he goes to such lengths to get them. He was also at the battle of the last alliance and witnessed the horrors and watched his father get murdered so he is a very misunderstood character and one of my overall favourites in the whole book and movie.
Plus people forget that this isn’t like 40 years he’s without his wife, immortality means it can be thousands and, if I recall correctly, I don’t think elves remarry it’s one partner and that’s it. So the way he acts and him not wanting his people to die makes sense. To an elf we humans and dwarves are like a butterfly, we are gone in the blink of an eye while his people live forever
@Fimbrianae It's incredibly rare for an elf of either sex to remarry. Finwë (as you pointed out - Féanor's father) remarried after his wife Míriel dies shortly after giving birth to Féanor. Finwë marries Indis as his second wife. I believe it is the only elven remarriage Tolkien ever mentioned.
Gandalf knew that Bilbo had A ring, he didn't know that it's THE ring. There are many magical rings and things like that in Middle Earth. Just a heads up!🔥
@@TheOriginalRaxin It is known where all the Great Rings are, including the dwarfs rings. However, there are more rings than just the Great Rings. The Great Rings have jewels in them too, but other rings just look normal. He would have thought it was just another minor magic ring, not one of the Great Rings of Power.
@@billyg898 there are only *some* of the dwarven rings left (four or so, I believe), and those were in possession of Sauron. He sent an envoy to the Lonely Mountain some time before the events of the LOTR to inquire about Bilbo Baggins and Shire, after he managed to capture Gollum. He also offered those rings in exchange for peace with him, while he wanted to deal with the Elves and Men. Dain II Ironfoot, the same guy from this movie, still remembered these events well, and declared the war to Sauron's envoy. The group of dwarves present on the Elrond's Council were there, in fact, to warn Gandalf and the White Council about this. Gimli was sent with the Fellowship to remind other races how they will honor all the old allegiances against the common enemy. During that time, Balin went on an expedition to reclaim Khazad-dum, and Dain rallied all the willing dwarf folk of other clans to fight with them during the war. If I recall correctly, Nazgul only found out which way to go after they met Grima Wormtongue on their quest. That's where Sauron started to suspect Saruman's intentions to keep the Ring for himself.
I really like Thranduil in these movies. His people have died a lot fighting against evil in Middle Earth which makes his reluctance a little more understandable. In the LOTR movies when Sam, Frodo and Gollum are crossing the marshes, the dead elves in the water are his people. There was a great battle there and many elves died, roughly two thirds of their force.
@@wolffontech - If I'm not mistaken, elves can actually return to life according to Tolkien. It takes a little away from their sacrifices, but it's an interesting way to extend their immortality and differentiate them from the other races.
As others have stated, Thranduil was after the gems that belonged to his wife. There was an extension of the scene where Legolas stands to to his father and saves Tariel. This was the beginning of Thranduil's turn as a character. Before the scene cuts, Gandalf is standing to the side and says, "those gems were not all your wife left you my friend, she left you a son. Tell me which would she have you value more." Such a brilliant scene and it helps those understand the character of Thranduil more. It was cut from the theatrical version of the movie. Why it wasn't included in the extended edition is beyond me. It's like less than 10 seconds but adds so much. You can find it on TH-cam too watch.
@@jaker9901 If i remember correctly the scene where Aragorn Gimli and Legolas fight Gandalf the white, because they think its Saruman, is quite book accurate.
Martin Freeman is truly something else as Bilbo. I mean, his emotional reactions to Thorin's death and during the funeral, that alone makes me cry because he's just this good at portraying Bilbo feeling this sadness. It's not overly dramatic, he's trying to hold on, he's trying to be strong but it cracks and pours and it feels so real even tho it's acting. It gets me every time. That man gets my heartstrings and just pulls. And the end the "he was my friend" like sir, no one allowed you to hurt us (me) like that. And for this performance alone, it's a damn shame the funeral scene isn't in the theatrical version.
I wonder if it was him himself on all those scenes, cause I did hear that part of the hobbit trilogy was done with A.I./cloning from Saruman's human model. Not sure which parts. So not sure if it was just CGI/clone or not on all of those scenes. It doesn't matter though, he will always be remembered amazing actor indeed ! Legendary even!
@@kobarsos82 It wasn't him. With all due respect to Sir Christopher Lee, at the time of shooting The Hobbit he couldn't even travel to set to film the scenes, he did it all alone on a green screen etc, because of health issues and age. Of course someone else did the stunts, and that's totally normal.
The elderly one among the dwarves was Balin. It was his tomb they found in Moria in Fellowship of the Ring. Just wanted to throw that tidbit in there. After the successful reclamation of the Lonely Mountain, Balin led a company of dwarves to Moria to retake it from the orcs. He was partly successful, but then the balrog emerged again and the orcs came in increasing numbers, overwhelming Balin and his people.
@@atrioxairsoft5413 And also the guardian of the lake killed Oin, the deaf dwarf from Thorin's crew. He could not hear the guardian and he grabbed and killed him. The guardian also appears in The Fellowship of the Ring when the crew first gets to Moria.
Fun fact: Smaug is one of, if not the only, smallest dragon in Middle Earth. He looks like he can fit in the mere palm of the biggest one (from the First Age), Ancalagon. Gotta say, I love your reactions to this, especially during the battle. Your enthusiasm, the excitement when the elves joined the fight, it was contagious.
@@mp7scarh There was a wingless dragon called scatha that was killed by king Fram of the eotheod, thats all I got for the named ones, there probably is more. There was a bunch of unnamed winged and wingless dragons, and I do know there was at least enough winged dragons for all the Balrogs to have a mount into one of the battles/wars. Hope this helps
Galadriel was born in Valinor, in the Age of the Trees, before the beginning of the world and the start of the First Age. She's one of the oldest elves remaining in Middle-Earth by the Third Age, during which the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings take place. She's a memory of the beauty and glory and grace of the very beginning of the world, something that has truly been lost. Something that now, only exists in what's left of those days, in the form of the sun, moon, and stars. After Sauron is defeated, she and Thranduil return to Dol Guldur, and tear it down, destroying it for good.
Not before the beginning of the world… she is not a Valar/maiar! She is born in 1362 of the age of trees it means that she have 8371 years ago during the war of the rings!! She is the fairest and mightiest of all the elves in the Third age (period of the moovies) but she is not the oldest… Elf like Cirdan is older than her
Trivia: The ending song, "The Last Goodbye" was sang and written by Billy Boyd (Pippin). In the lyrics is the sentence: "I bid you all a very fond farewell", which was the last sentence of Bilbo's birthday speech in Fellowship That song always hits me hard because this is the last movie of Peter Jackson and this cast for Tolkien universe. And Pippin singing just reminds me of his "Home is Behind" song when Faramir was riding to his death.
Dain II Ironfoot and the grandson of Bard died fighting side by side 78 years later during the War of the Ring. It happened when Esterlings attacked Dale, we saw them a little bit before the attack outside of the Black Gate at Two Towers.
It's been a pleasure to watch S & P's reactions to both the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. They are such a likeable young couple and P's smile illuminates the screen.
PLEASE, kids, tell me you stayed and listened to Billy Boyd singing! When I saw this in the theater, and the credits started rolling and the song began, I sat there and wept as I listened to the lyrics. I realized that this was the finish, there were no more movies after this. And the words were "bidding me a very fond farewell". For all its faults, for all its lore-twisting, for all the studio interference - I still enjoy this part of the legendarium. Thank you for letting me watch along with you!
I can understand why they skipped it but in the book Bard is descended from the Lords of Dale who could understand the language of the thrushes, it was the small thrush bashing a snail near the hidden door in the 2nd movie who learns of Smaug's weak spot via Bilbo, he flies to Bard during Smaug's attack on the town and instructs him where to shoot.
I would say thats a bit of an extraneous plot point to home in on when time is money, like "ohh a lil birdie told me" but at the same time to hear the reactors literally ask "well how did he know?" and they kinda just brush it off in the movie as an old fairytale lol... which it kinda literally is thou 😄
26:00 Thranduil wants the Gems of Lasgalen, white jewels the dwarves forged for his wife to wear, but she died in Gundabad before having the opportunity to have them. They have since denied him the jewels every time he asked to pay for them.
People who didn't read the book have this genuine surprise. Well, Thorin's death hits just as hard for those who read the book. And best part of bringing Legolas and she-elf (who are not in the book) is the interactions with Thranduil, showing the depth of character.
I only read the hobbit when I was a kid so I might be completely wrong but iirc the deaths of the dwarves were really really really really short in the books. the ones beside thorin get mentioned once and that's it :D
Thranduil is in the Hobbit book, as King of Mirkwood, but Legolas is not even mentioned. Tolkien hadn't invented him yet. Then in LOTR, Tolkien introduced Legolas as coming from Mirkwood, and being the son of Thranduil, so that readers of the Hobbit would feel good about that reference. Gimli is also introduced in LOTR as Gloin's son, again recognizable for Hobbit readers. Gimli wasn't even invented, not at all mentioned, in the Hobbit book.
There was absolutely no good reason for Peter Jackson to put in Legolas in this because his first appearance in Tolkien is in "Fellowship Of The Ring". Likewise the creation of Tauriel to appease modern movie-goers who do not have an affinity with the source material.
@@mikelarsen5836 There is no way Legolas wouldn't have been at the battle of five armies with his father or around when the the dwarves got caught by the elves in Mirkwood. When Tolkien wrote the Hobbit, Legolas didn't exist then but if he had written it after LotR then Legolas would've been in it. Not only do I have no problems with his inclusion here, but I had been expecting it when the movies were being made.
"In that last hour Beorn himself had appeared-no one knew how or from where. He came alone, and in bear’s shape; and he seemed to have grown almost to giant-size in his wrath. The roar of his voice was like drums and guns; and he tossed wolves and goblins from his path like straws and feathers. He fell upon their rear, and broke like a clap of thunder through the ring. The dwarves were making a stand still about their lords upon a low rounded hill. Then Beorn stooped and lifted Thorin, who had fallen pierced with spears, and bore him out of the fray. Swiftly he returned and his wrath was redoubled, so that nothing could withstand him, and no weapon seemed to bite upon him. He scattered the bodyguard, and pulled down Bolg himself and crushed him. Then dismay fell on the Goblins and they fled in all directions." The book paints a great scene of Beorn in the final battle
This series is great, IMO. I was waiting for your Galadriel reaction and it didn't disappoint. She's ancient from the undying lands. Fought during the time of the first Dark Lord, Morgoth, before Sauron. When she was young, she was uncommonly strong and stout until she grew tall and fair later. I wish the Rings Of Power series was better, because she's such an epic character. Her giving Gimli some of her hair (in LotR) was a huge deal because certain magics are tied to such things. And she trusted him enough where in an age past she refused one of her own kind because she sensed an ill end to their use.
I feel like she has more animosity towards Sauron than she has against Morgoth though. She was never really involved with Morgoth, while Sauron killed her brother, tried to control her ring and tainted middle earth threatening her people and tried to wipe them out/control them. Although Morgoth killed a lot of elves as well though, many of them related to Galadriel.
It's still an interpretation made by P. Jackson about the Dol Goldur affair, when the White Council purified the place, it's stated the Necromancer (aka Sauron) leaved before (Sauron is the strongest being in the Middle-earth but he's not stupid to think he could have beat (in his diminished form) alone Galadriel + Saruman + Gandalf + Elrond etc...)... The fact in the Jackson movie's, Galadriel soloted alone Sauron, it's something we could debate because in his letters Tolkien always stated Sauron was the strongest being in the Middle-earth during the war of the rings (well, let's forget about Tom Bombadil), the only one who was clause was Saruman in his form as The White, and then Gandalf as his form as the White recincarnate... but overall Sauron the strongest maiar would still be above them... Galadriel is still logically below Sauron (as powerful she were, she is "just" an elf)
@@alexandreleveque8394 I agree with this for the most part. One counter argument would have been that Galadriel might possibly have easier access to her powers. Galadriel is probably significantly more powerful than Elrond, and quite a bit less powerful than Saruman and Gandalf. But Gandalf's and Saruman's powers are a lot more restricted and they can rarely access a significant portion of their "true forms", while Galadriels powers are more innate in middle earth as long as the one ring is not in the hands of someone that can control the other rings. Then it's also arguable that she is the only one that actually could/would take on Sauron head on since Gandalf was weakened and injured, Elrond is weaker than Galadriel and Saruman was probably already set on finding the ring for himself at this point and didn't even want to oppose Sauron since he knew it would be better to avoid or feign loyalty to him and conduct his own search in secret.
@@g-5615 Yes, but, as the movies are just a "reinterpretation" of the books, a "fan" interpretion from the scenarists basically, I would have found it more accurate and logical that Galadriel and Saruman and even Elrond use their power together against Sauron and yet banish him, I think the power scaling would have fit more logical, than Galadriel looking very strong, then weak when the 9 pop, then overpowered to the point to solo banish Sauron. Looks like not very accurate, like this scene in the LOTR Return of the Kings when the Witch King broke Gandalf's staff, doesn't seems logical
@@alexandreleveque8394 Yeah that's true, it's kind of a weird choice they made. If it had taken place in Lothlorien it would have made more sense, but there's really no reason for Galadriel to go "storm queen" mode out of nowhere. The Witch King one might actually be worse, but it seemed less silly for the movie. Maybe it would be cheesy (as if the scene we got wasn't) but it might even make more sense if Elrond,Galadriel and Gandalf used the three elven rings in conjuction to force Sauron to retreat, which would be kind of ironic with using the rings of power against the lord of the ring(s).
the reason why many like more on LoTR than the Hobbit is because in LoTR there is balance of using practical effects and CGI, in Hobbit they overly used CGI, to the point that the special effects makes the battle scenes looks like a video game cutscenes.
That’s not why lol, at least for me and a lots of ppl. It’s bc they tried to make lotr as close to the books as possible and they didn’t do that with the hobbit movies (and they also wouldn’t give Peter Jackson nearly enough time). I liked the hobbits visuals for the most part but it would have been a lot cooler to have those and also follow the book a bit more closely
@@yomamma.ismydaddy216 I should have said one of the reasons yes the story also is stretched too much to be 3 installment, LotR is much closer to the source material than hobbit yes, but visual, I just think Hobbit use too much CGI , I am not the only one who said the visuals are using too much CGI
The Hobbit movies are an embarrassment compared to the LotR series. Not because of CGI, that's one small point. These movies are from one book and made into three to grab cash. They compromised the story to the point it's no longer the Hobbit. And they are just badly made movies.
@@VoltesWithElias yes Hobbiy is not as good but Rings of Power is the worst , it makes the hobbit not as bad when you compare it to Rings of Power, that show is a joke with 1 billion dollars cost
@@rio20d yeah I feel you. I liked the graphics of the dwarvern halls and landscapes and stuff but the fight scenes looked way too fake for the most part. That’s probably why they (s&p) said it seemed like they had a lot of plot armor, it’s not that they had plot armor it’s that the way they filmed the fight scenes made it look like the hero’s were constantly just getting lucky but they could have just not made it look that way
I remember you guys previously saying the one ring could only make hobbits invisible. When you saw Galadriels power - that is why she had that monologue about what would happen if she took the one ring in Fellowship. “In place of a dark lord you would have a queen!”
The “old dwarf” is Balin, the same one found in the tomb in Moria in Fellowship of the Ring where Gimli cried. And the book that Gandalf finds in that same scene was written by Ori, the young dwarf. And in that book Ori writes that the Watcher in the Water (the kraken monster thing) took Oin, the dwarf with the hearing aid. The scene hits entirely different when you rewatch it having that in mind.
A man is very pleased that a couple successfully procured the extended version of this third part. It is always a pleasure to no one, to watch a boy and a girl react to such matters.
Another Tolkien movie, another novelette. Although...I'm not sure I should even put the "ette" on the end of this one. 😏 Continued adventures in Dol Guldur, as promised: Once again, nothing you saw there was actually in The Hobbit and they changed it quite a bit to tell that part of the story alongside the Erebor adventure. Gandalf *did* leave the Company for the purpose of meeting with the rest of the White Council to discuss and investigate the Necromancer. There is no indication of a fight, but Sauron *is* unmasked and, having been found out, abandoned his disguise to set up shop openly in Mordor again. However, how *exactly* the White Council investigated isn't described, so Jackson needed to make something up. Galadriel is described by Tolkien as very much *not* being a warrior, but giving her that complete bad♡ss moment allowed Jackson to bring up something he left out of LOTR. After Sauron's final defeat, Galadriel went to the abandoned fortress of Dol Guldur, threw it down, and cleansed it of its evil, so that green things and innocent creatures could grow there again and Mirkwood could return to being the Greenwood. She may not have been a warrior, but she was still a complete bad♡ss sorceress. I'm glad you enjoyed getting the chance to see that. Legolas in The Hobbit vs LOTR: • LOTR movies -> Legolas was at Rivendell as a representative of King Thranduil, summoned to discuss Sauron. Remember how well he was dressed at the Council? He even had two attendants. • LOTR books -> Gandalf "looked everywhere for the creature, Gollum." In fact, he even enlisted the aid of the best tracker he knew. It was actually Aragorn who caught Gollum and brought him to the Elves of Mirkwood for safe keeping. After Gandalf finished questioning Gollum, the Elves kept him, just in case. Legolas came to Rivendell to inform Elrond that Gollum had escaped, hoping Elrond would know how to reach Aragorn or Gandalf. He arrived "just in time" to meet both of them, partially prompting Elrond's impromptu Council. • The Hobbit -> I left this for last because it is the longest. As I said in my last, Legolas wasn't invented yet when Tolkien wrote the book. He wrote The Hobbit, then started LOTR as a sequel and a lot of unpublished short stories he had written decades before kept intruding. Those eventually became The Silmarillion, the Appendices, and other revised/unfinished stories that were all published posthumously, known collectively as "The Legendarium." ...Anyway, back from that tangent; since Legolas had no story in The Hobbit and even King Thranduil didn't have much characterization in the book, Jackson used yet another story he hadn't used for LOTR: the heartbreaking story of Elrond's wife and sons. Arwen's mother, Elrond's wife, was Galadriel's daughter. Celebrian bore Elrond twin sons, Elladan and Elrohir, as well as Arwen. After their sons were grown but while Arwen was still young, on one of her visits to her mother in Lothlorien, Celebrian was attacked and kidnapped by orcs. Elrond, Elladan, and Elrohir went after her. By the time they found her, the orcs had absolutely broken her. Elrond and his sons utterly obliterated those orcs. They took her back to Rivendell and Elrond healed her body, but she was just too traumatized by the torture. She left to sail for the Undying Lands in hope that she could find healing with the Valar, but in any case, no longer able to bear existence in Middle Earth. BTW, if she was successfully healed there, she was going to meet her grandfather, Galadriel's dad, who is the super sweet High King of the Elves there, and Elrond and Galadriel will both be sailing to reunite with her at the end of LOTR. Elladan and Elrohir, however, also never recovered from seeing the aftermath of what the orcs did to their mother. They became what you see in Legolas that Pudgey liked so much: a bit darker and grittier or more grim than most Elves and they joined Aragorn's Rangers to continue hunting orcs. They stay to continue suing vengeance on the orcs, rather than sailing west with Elrond. So he isn't really Legolas, but still a beautiful character worthy of being included. Elrond was no stranger to loss, so he put his trust in the Valar and channeled his grief into becoming even kinder than ever. Especially toward others who were suffering loss. Thranduil's trauma that made him the way you see him in the movies was connected to him much later, while Tolkien was integrating his short stories with LOTR. Thranduil, his former king, and all his woodland Elves fought against Sauron the first time. He saw his king killed and his people decimated in a horrific battle and, even after their deaths...they became the corpses that lie in the Dead Marshes Gollum led Frodo and Sam through. They didn't even get an honorable resting place. So Thranduil withdrew with his people and isolated themselves back in the forests again, away from the world and its wars, until they started to buy wine and other luxuries from the tiny peaceful people of Laketown. And then a group of idiot Dwarves comes through, wakes a dragon, and ignores the need of the Elves' trade partners. Tauriel: was completely made up for the movies to give the audience a connection to Thranduil's grief, and so you can get to know Fili enough to care about his death, but it's still nice to get an idea of a merrier sylvan Elf as opposed to "nobler" Elves whose ancestors had been taught wisdom by the Valar in the Undying Lands before returning to Middle Earth. The giant worms were conspicuously absent from LOTR. This is because the orcs, and possibly even Sauron, were supposed to be unaware of their existence. The only mention of them anywhere is when Gandalf the White is describing his fight with the balrog. They fell and fought deep under the mountains far down into tunnels not dug by either Dwarves or orcs, but rather where nameless things gnaw at the world. And again, alas! Once more, Jackson forgot the swords Glamdring (Gandalf's) and Orcrist (Thorin's) didn't glow with Sting! 😭 Although, honestly, I didn't remember that until Thorin's funeral, when they were burying him with it. I suppose that was probably to hold continuity with the LOTR movies, where they didn't make Glamdring glow there. Maybe they just thought it would be weird to have a glowing sword with no explanation. After all, there's no place in LOTR to explain that Gandalf's sword was also made by Elves of Gondolin. You didn't really convince me to like the Hobbit movies more, but I am still glad you enjoyed them for your own sakes.
Ah, also, just to prove how bad♡ss Galadriel is, In both The Hobbit *and* LOTR, Galadriel is using her Ring of Power, because Sauron lost the One Ring, so it's safe to use. But after Sauron was defeated by the destruction of the One Ring, all of the Rings of Power also lose their power. So the whole throwing down and cleansing of Dol Guldur? That's ALL Galadriel. And regarding Celebrian, if I didn't make it clear, although Tolkien didn't specify (since it was on a different continent, where none of our characters could have knowledge about it) there is actually a very good chance that she was healed by the Valar. There are actually two Valar who specialize in healing wounded minds and souls. Irmo, Lord Of Dreams has a whole garden dedicated to that sort of thing and Nienna, the Lady of Sorrow/Pity. Nienna spends most of her time working with the souls of Elves in the hall of Mandos, Lord of the Dead, healing them of the trauma of whatever killed a supposedly immortal Elf so that they can be reincarnated, but a few of the living also find her more effective than Irmo.
I really enjoyed this movie. Also, Lee Pace (Thranduil) is one of the most underrated actors. He plays the emperor in The Foundation right now and is memorizing
Also, the Hobbit was the first movie to film at 48 frames per second… it was a weird phenomenon watching in theaters because it looked almost too real as if it was shot as home video. I think that played a bit in people’s first impressions 10+ years ago. But now it holds up.
The LotR trilogy is as close to perfect as a film trilogy gets, and they're really more like a staple of pop culture now. They're just genuinely fantastic movies and I think that's why they have such a legacy. The Hobbit movies I liked simply because they gave us another chance to revisit the world. I think what endears people to the LotR movies more is the use of more practical effects, miniatures, the use of so many extras and using CGI in careful, considered tandem with these things, whereas the Hobbit feels like it uses CGI as a sort of catch-all for the lot. I know there were many practical elements in the Hobbit films too, but the difference between the two trilogies is apparent enough. For the time they were made, as you say, the LotR movies still look absolutely fantastic, and that's because so much of it was shot for real, and their cultural impact is undeniable - I've heard James Cameron credits seeing Gollum as being the indicator that film tech was finally ready to produce a little film he'd had in mind for years called Avatar. I couldn't recommend enough getting a copy of the film on DVD or something, and watching the behind the scenes/making of the film. It's another way to indulge that itch to see more of Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth now that you've watched the films. There's some great stories and anecdotes, and it becomes absolutely evident that there is genuine passion from everyone contributing. Plenty from the actors' point of view, of course, but there's insights from Howard Shore who did the music and score, which is nothing short of timeless. John Howe who was the concept artist and illustrator - the general vibe of the world, the architecture, the landscapes, can be chalked up to him in the same way Ralph McQuarrie defined the look and feel of Star Wars. Weta Workshop, who made the armor and weapons.. oh, and of course-- it goes without saying every fan of the films should know about a certain actor's broken toe... For real though, they are seriously worth a watch -- it's been nice re-living that first-time viewing with these videos and I'll subscribe in appreciation :)
What endears people to the Lord of the Rings movies more is the quality of film making and respect to the original story. The Hobbit movies are a joke. Especially the last two.
This has probably been mentioned but in case it hasn't, the "old" dwarf, as in the white-bearded and white-haired one, is Balin, cousin of Gimli's father and the dead body inside the sarcophagus in the Fellowship of the Rings. After the Battle of the Five Armies, Balin led an expedition to reclaim Moria, the Dwarven mine appeared in the Fellowship of the Rings as well as in the flashback scenes in An Unexpected Journey. But they were slaughtered by the orcs there. This is why Gimli is shocked and left in sorrow when they find out what happened in Moria. On a side note, Moria was founded by Durin, the reason why the dwarves call themselves Durin's sons, and Azog is always obsessed with ending Durin's royal blood line. Moria was first lost because miners dug too deep for Mithril that they awoke Balrog "Durin's Bane", you already seen it in the Fellowship of the Rings.
I'm glad you appreciate Legolas in the Hobbit films, as his inclusion was a completely original add-in and not present in Tolkien's original work. A lot of the fans heavily criticized it as just being fanservice to put him in for no reason, but its hard to deny that he isn't well written, and very entertaining to watch. And since elves are immortal there is no reason he couldn't be present in a re-telling of the original story.
I think it's very interesting, that you place The Hobbit's CGI above LotR's, whereas most people I know put it the other ways round. Personally, I think LotR's CGI, expecially for the Orcs, is a lot more fitting, but that's just my two cents.
I think it has a lot to do with them watching GoT first...I don't know much about it (except for clips and snippets/shorts), but I assume there's a lot of cgi used? Especially for battle scenes?
Regarding Sam and the Red book, eventually, after several decades of being mayor of the Shire, Sam actually sails West to join Frodo, Bilbo, and Gandalf in Valinor! Don’t forget, Samwise was a ring bearer too, if only for a moment. He spent the rest of his days in Heaven-on-earth with his best mate, amongst the Elves and the Valar(Greater angels, Michael and Lucifer calibre) and Maiar (Gandalf, Radagast, Saruman being examples of lesser angels in diminished form). The book stayed in the Shire tho, filled with Sam’s gardening knowledge if I recall correctly. Head-canon is there’s an adventure or 2 in there as well. Thanks for the content, ya’ll rock!
I always make the point Balin is the dwarf king buried in Moria Lord of the rings and Ori is the dwarf with the book that Gandalf takes..'they are coming'
As much as I’m not a huge fan of these movies (I don’t hate them as much as most Tolkien fans but still) I love that Christopher Lee got to play the white wizard as a good guy before he died. It literally makes me so happy seeing him in this movie.
That's the tragedy of the elves in this world, many of them live in the past, as they are diminishing. Thranduil is probably the biggest example of this, he begins the trilogy coming across as a giant douche bag, which he is, but it's because he is actually still mourning the loss of his wife.
The Lady Galadriel is not to be trifled with ❤ the entire scene and sequence at Dol-Guldur is probably my favourite of the Hobbit Trilogy, I love it when she says "I've come for Mithrandir.." and "If you try to stop me, I will destroy you.." always gives me chills..❤
Galadriel is shown much stronger in this Movie than she was. She could influence the Minds of People and was the Heart of the Elves in the 3d Age but had not such powers as shown here... Strongest Elf at this time was Glorfindel (the White ?) who saved Frodo from the Nazgul. He was the best Warrior and a Beacon of Light.
@@EzekielepharcelisGaladriel is super strong in the third age, during the war of the ring she uses her magic to destroy Dol Guldur down to its foundation leaving only the hill (Amon Lanc) the fortress stood on top of. She also uses her ring of power to keep Lothlorien safe creating a mist covering the forest as well as keeping it unaging.
@@backisgabbeYT Celeborn killed the Enemies in Dol Guldur with an Army of Elves though and about Galadriel it is only said that she destroyed every building there. It is not known if it was a Spell, a (Mass) Ritual or if the Elves just acted on her behalf. Nowhere is written that she could kill an Orc with a small Movement of her Hand. The whole depiction is non canon. Galadriel had other Powers which were more Location based but not Face to Face combat. Furthermore she wouldn't stand a Chance against an Maiar, not even the weakest one. And Sauron was the strongest one in Middle Earth. To say it clear : She had other Qualities.
Knowing the sad end Balin comes to in Moria, seeing how sweet and understanding he was and how he was good pals with Bilbo in these films makes his off-screen death between trilogies even sadder.
35:37 Yeah elves and dwarves hate one another (but they both hate orcs more); elves use to hunt dwarves as beasts until they realised, they weren't beasts (to the elves ears thier speech just sounded like grunts). Then there was this whole thing about a Necklace. It is a LONG arse story from the First Age; in a continent that is now lost beneath the waves to the west. All these stories are told in a book called the Silmarillion.
There is also the ancient rivalry of who were the first children. Dwarves technically were created first but were forced back asleep until the elves came. Dwarves are not the children of Eru like the elves so they began to hate each other.
It’s been a while since I read the Silmarillion I don’t remember clearly. An elf king/lord asked the dwarves to craft a necklace to hold a silmaril but the dwarves wanted to keep the necklace after? And i think one of the Valar created dwarves and Eru put them to sleep in the mountains. Also didn’t the dwarves destroy so many trees that the Valar who made trees, who was also the wife of the Valar who made dwarves, asked Eru if she can have her own beings ti protect the forest which became Ents. So much information in Tolkien world I’m no expert
@@mp7scarhyeah they crafted the necklace for some elven lord and when he came to collect they killed him and fled to the mountains, then told the dwarves at home that the elves were the ones who attacked, and I think there was a whole battle between them after that. (I don't entirely remember the story its been awhile)
@@vqgue3032 The Nauglamir was crafted for King Thingol, who is one of the first Elven Kings of Middle Earth. He was married to a Maia, like Gandalf, but one not bound to mortal form. Their daughter Luthien is part of the first human/elf pairing in history, with the human Beren. Thingol challenged Beren to steal a simaril from Morgoth's (former big bad and Sauron's lord) crown for her hand. That's a whole story in itself, but Beren and Luthein succeed and the silmaril is placed inside the Nauglamir. The dwarves ended up killing Thingol, but Beren and his son Dior (the first being to have human, elf and maia blood) attack the dwarves and retrieve it. Later, after Beren and Luthien die a mortal death (another story), Dior is given the Nauglamir, and it is actually Elves that attack him this time, not Dwarves. Dior is killed in the Second Kinslaying of the Elves, by the sons of the Elf who crafter the simarils. His daughter Elwing ends up escaping with the simaril, and goes on to birth Elrond, and his twin brother Elros.
Guys, I have to tell you that I've enjoyed this journey with you very much! I consider myself a Tolkien fan, not a super-fan who knows every detail, but definitely a fan. I own and have read the books, The Hobbit even several times, and once or twice a year, I do this film marathon where I watch all the films, and this "watching with you" experience, I absolutely count as one for this year, and I'll continue to follow you two. Breaking Bad series is next on my rewatch list! Btw, because of the way the end of the film is shot and those final scenes, for some reason, I always watch the marathon like you did, first the 3 LotR films and then the 3 Hobbits. I've never even attempted to watch them in the order the books were written, so someone feel free to let me know about the experience (without those throwbacks) and whether I should finally change it or not 🙂
Every year my family and I watch all 6 movies in a row at Christmas time. We started with LOTR first then the Hobbit but then flipped it the 2nd year and it’s much better. It just flows perfectly together. I’d recommend trying it once to see if you feel the same way.
i grew up watching lotr and then was able to see the hobbit movies in theatres, so i never experienced them in the order they were written in (at least not the movies). when i introduced the movies to my best friend, i thought they would have an easier time following along if we watched the hobbit movies first. it helps establish so many things that follow in the lotr movies (outside of the few lines that reference the events of the hobbit lol). it also made the stakes so much higher for them! they had no idea who would live and who would die because they had no frame of reference for the future (well, all except for bilbo, who we see as an old man in the beginning). it also made later deaths hit so much harder - when my friend saw balin's tomb in Moria, they WEEPED. and at gandalf's fall, they were literally in shock. they got to spend more time with him in the hobbit and grow to love his character that much more, so they could not BELIEVE that he "died" so early on. i also found myself really enjoying seeing the story told in that way! overall, i would recommend it! especially for first time watchers that have no knowledge about the works! it really helped answer a lot of questions that the lotr trilogy kind of glosses over.
Thanks for the replies, guys! 💪🏻 @@xModernGoldx I'm in the same situation. I was fortunate to watch each of The Hobbit films in the theaters as they came out, so that's probably why it stuck as a habit, and as I've read the books, I don't find it difficult to pick up on references. All in all, I agree that watching them in order is the right way for those who are seeing everything for the first time, and I can only imagine how painful it must be to see Balin's tomb in Moria, for example, after spending hours with him and the company previously. I'll definitely watch them all in chronological order later this year or next time to see if some things hurt even more.
The Unexpected Journey covers the first half to three-fifths of the novel The Hobbit, with the remaining two movies presenting the final 40% of the novel, so Peter Jackson had to pad the story quite a bit to fill them out, hence all of the expanded action sequences (and the introduction of Tauriel as a romantic interest for Kili). This is the reason that most fans of the novel see the first movie as "better" than the other two, as it was more on story and less on violent spectacle.
The lore is always there, just not seen first hand. In the book Gandalf leaves the company several times and speaks of a necromancer that is in the castle. In the end when he returns he tells bilbo he and his order toppled the necromancer. So it's explained to have happened but he movies took this and shown us what it was like first hand. Even bilbo in the book thought that he couldn't imagine seeing the battle take place between such powerful beings, well the films shown us. And it was incredible.
@@_justinblizzle In this case, staying accurate to the book is actually really important, because it is well known that Tolkien HATED people making changes to his work. He would have been absolutely crushed to see this many changes made to the bedtime story he wrote for his kids. They are making a huge amount of money off Tolkien's work, they should have tried to be more respectful of his wishes. But in The Hobbit trilogy's defence, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the Rings of Power show. What a trainwreck lmao.
I can understand you so well. You get sucked into this world. I felt the same way when I read the books for the first time in the late 1970s. My brother brought The Hobbit home and I asked what it was. He said: "A children's book. Feel free to read it." And so it began. After I read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, I felt this emptiness that you also feel now. Luckily, the son of the late author J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, just published from his father's estate The Silmarilion. And so my journey could continue a little.
I’ve read the Silmarillion it’s the best. I’m now reading Beren and Luthien, The Chlidren of Hurin, the Fall of Gondolin, and the Fall of Numenor all in their own separate books. I’m pretty sure all those stories together equals the Silmarillion but they’re more in depth in their own books
@@mp7scarhI have an issue that summarizes all the stories since the founding of the world (Middle-earth) under the title The Silmarilion. Do you have individual issues?
Watching you two get emotional for this movie was really great. I was excited for you to see a glimpse of how powerful Galadriel is. She doesn't get to do as much in the LotR movies, so it was nice to see her flex a bit of her strength. I also really enjoyed Smaug as a villain, I think they did an excellent job with him. He was a highlight for me in this trilogy.
I'm so glad you guys were able to find an extended version. I re-watched the regular version of this movie with a friend who hadn't seen it before and was so disappointed with how many good scenes were cut especially the battle scenes.
Gandalf wears the ring of Fire, which he uses to defeat the Balrog in Moria. Galadriel wears the second ring that helps her slow the decay of things in her realm (Lothlorien). Elrond has the third one. The sword Elrond uses when helping Galadriel rescue Gandalf is the sword you see Arwen use in Fellowship of the Ring, when she summons the river and the foaming horses to drown the Nazgul and save Frodo.
20:30 This is one of the many reasons why Tolkien fans loath Amazon's Ring of Power. Galadriel has no need for swords. She is one of the most powerful magic wielders to have ever walked Middle Earth. In RoP, Amazon has her behaving more like her eldest Uncle, than how she was written.
In the books, hobbits are actually really deadly with throwing rocks and slingshots etc- their aim is also really incredible. It’s a big trait of them that’s why you always see the hobbits throwing rocks and stuff through all six movies
"It is Dain, Lord of the Iron Hills" And that is the title of my favourite Blind Guardian song : "When Time Stand Still at the Iron Hills" .. from the album "Nightfall in Middle-Earth" an epic metal-opera about "The Silmarillion" and the first age of Middle Earth. A MUST to listen for any Tolkien fan.
Little detail for ya: Balin was the same dwarf who bravely held out, and died in the cavern that the Fellowship got caught in. Interesting point from Pudgey about how in-sync the coordination is. It's even more remarkable in-world. Think of the speed of sound. Look at a crowd at a big concert. The people at the front hear the music in real time, but the people at the back hear it a little later. Imagine hearing an order from the chief: the further away in the ranks, the bigger the army is, the more out of sync they'd be. You could do that in-sync with everyone wearing earpieces, so they all get the order at the exact same time. I ask this of the Aussie reaction channels, but have you thought of reacting to Heartbreak High? It ran for a few years in the late 90's. It's set around a High School in a diverse part of Sydney, dealing with lots of social issues of the day. I suggest it from the perspective of people who (I assume) went through the Aussie education system, to look at how realistic it is. There is a modern Heartbreak High that sees a few of the old students back as parents etc, so it's a "further on in the same timeline" thing.
@@Catherine.Dorian. Yeah there was three of them, but Balin was the only one I remember being named in the movie, and it's been a LONG time since I read the book.
@@Catherine.Dorian. Balin, Ori and Oin all died in the Moria expedition. Balin was killed by an orc sniper. Oin fell to the Watcher in the Water. Ori died in Balin's tomb, still holding the Book of Mazarbul which Gandalf found and read from in LoTR.
I'm so glad you loved it! So many in the fandom are really unnecessarily cruel to these movies, and as a lifelong Tolkien nerd, I absolutely love them for themselves, and as a gorgeous trip back into the onscreen world of Middle-Earth. I loved the incorporation of lore and story from beyond The Hobbit -- including the White Council's fight against the Necromancer (right out of the timeline in the LOTR Appendices), and loved the expansions on Thranduil, Legolas (from the Tale of Years), and the addition of Tauriel (who I absolutely loved). The Hobbit is a terrific children's book, but we never really get to know the dwarves at all, beyond Thorin and Balin (Fili and Kili we just know by name, and all we know about Bombur is that he's fat. Gloin has a moment or two but that's it). But these movies allowed us to get to know each dwarf, and to see Thorin as an exiled King (which he is in the Hobbit, but it's not really treated that way exactly). I will always love these movies so it was great to see an enthusiastic and positive reaction.
The old dwarf, the healer & the scribe - Balin, Oin and Ori, were some the dwarf skeletons the fellowship found, when they entered the mines of Moria. Remember the tomb said "Here lies Balin, Lord of Moria" 😢
The person I feel the most for here is Dis, Fili and Kili’s mother and Thorin’s younger sister. She was waiting back in the Blue Mountains for word. Only to eventually learn her entire remaining family is wiped out in one shot
@SpartanandPudgey Here is a small fact you wasnt aware of while watching the Fellowship of the ring, 1st movie. That young almost beardless dwarf was the skeleton holding the big book in Moria while the old white haired and bearded dwarf Dain was the dwarf who became the shortlived king of Moria and was burried in the tomb they find. So there was sort of a cameo by 2 of the dwarfs in the main trilogy thou as dead bodies.
Gandalf wearing the Ring of Fire explains why the Balrogs' fire doesn't hurt him, and also why Saruman's fireball doesn't affect him. Also he says on the bridge, fighting the Balrog, "'I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.".
Well, neither of those have anything to do with his ring. The Secret Fire is a reference to Eru, and the Flame Imperishable, the very essence of life, which Morgoth and Sauron cannot touch. They can only create mockeries of life, like the Orcs. Arnor is simply elvish for the Sun.
Gandalf is the wizard of Light and Fire, so yes he already has those powers, but that is why Cirdan gave him Narya (the Ring of Fire) since it was a perfect match with his true nature. Ricmati is correct that the ring gives him additional resistances (I guess in RPG terms it would give him more stamina and more physical and spell resistance + flame resistance). It definitely helps him in the fight against the Balrog, but yes I agree with hoshi in that the things Gandalf lists do not reference the ring, but his own powers and origin from being a servant of the Valar, and Varda specifically, who created the stars and light. Gandalf is basically doing a wrestling or boxing match taunting of the enemy, listing his powers of Light and Fire and saying the Balrog has merely the corrupted dark versions of those, so he should back off.
@@dominantprime No one actually knows why Cirdan gave him the ring. It is not mentioned anywhere. It is just hinted that Cirdan perhaps suspected who he really was since Gandalf has never revealed to anyone who he really is or his true purpose in Middle-Earth.
I don’t remember if you guys mentioned it or if someone else said it but the Dwalin actor is the Lord Commander of The Kings guard in House of The Dragon
I think coming into Tolkiens world AFTER Martin’s is what makes you doubt things will go the predicted way - like the one arrow actually slaying Smaug. Martin subverted expectations by placing a lot more realism into a fantastical setting.
A little fun trivia about Gollum: He did follow Bilbo from the Misty Mountains as far as Mirkwood (where Legolas and his kin live). The Mirkwood elves took him prisoner and held him there for several decades, treating him with dignity and respect and trying to do the best they could for him. Closer to the events of the Fellowship, the Mirkwood Guard took Gollum out to the forest where he could climb and have a little freedom under their watch, but he climbed a tree and refused to come down. They camped around the tree waiting for him to climb back down to them, but as they waited, a band of Orcs came through, slaughtered them all before help child arrive, and stole Gollum away to the Black Gate, where he was tortured until he gave up the location of the Ring. Recognizing the danger of this, Thranduil sent Legolas to meet with Lord Elrond in Rivendell, which is when Legolas encountered Frodo and became part of the Fellowship. Tauriel was a made-for-movie character, but within the canon of the Hobbit movies, she’s the captain of the Mirkwood Guard, meaning that within the movie canon, she helped care for Gollum and, unfortunately, was slaughtered along with her men shortly before the events of the Fellowship.
Yeah Galadriel is one of the oldest beings in the middle earth. Big thing for Tolkiens mythos is the diminishing of power through time. She is from the days of the first light and trees of Valinor. To keep it brief she gazed upon the primordial light and carries the strength of the pure light essence within herself. She literally studied and grown under one of the God's. She is probably the strongest being we saw in all of the films in her prime, maybe even strong as Sauron
She learned from all the Valar and it’s stated in the books she learned all there was to be taught and she became peerless even back then in the zenith years of Arda.
Yes. Her type of elf clan so to speak was the ones able to challenge Valar themselves. Her uncle Fingolfin have Morgoth 7 permanent wounds which caused a forever limp that which also caused his generals to mock him for eternity and upon the eagles who came to retrieve Fingolfin’s body, practically blinded Morgoth with their talons and turned his crown into a permanent collar around his wretched neck. Her half uncle Fëanor slayed many balrogs before gothmog the king of balrogs killed him. And only after the dual was lost to an unfair fight as one of the other balrogs remaining essentially tied him up in a fire whip.
Sauron is stated to be the strongest being in the Middle-earth during the war of the ring of the Third age (it's said in the Lord of the rings, it's said by Tolkien in his letters), and he's in his diminished form, let's imagine in his apex he was the strongest maiar (for above a simple elve), and you forget Tom Bombadil and the Istari as their full form
@@alexandreleveque8394 I specified in the movies as we never saw tom. Valinor galadriel measures up to gandalf and saruman much like feanor and other ancient elves did, specifically in feats. First age elves are ubercharged in terms of powerscale
One of the reasons I personally find the first movie the most likable: the fighting in the last two is just too unbelievable even for a fantasy movie. Epic? Sure. But the impact is lessened by the 'the stuntmen really had a workday' and 'must have been quite a cable setup to fling them around' thoughts that pull you out of the story immersion (so at least I ended up feeling the most immersed in the first one).
And I have to add that for me at least they didn't quite manage to pull off the mix of kid and adult target audiences - I think they should have chosen one or the other (or at least leaned more toward one or the other), because it was quite... almost annoying (well, maybe disappointing) to see softened-up orcs and goblins after the original trilogy. I guess they did more cartooney fights because of the kids, so there's that, too. And yes, before anyone comes at me about the book - I know it's a children's book. I've actually read it. But I think they should have stuck with that target audience or adopted the original LotR style for this story, too. Overall, I think they just should have done their character work better - in the original trilogy the nine companions all had personality and now most of the companions were just 'one of the dwarves'. I could maybe list out the names but I certainly couldn't allocate them to the rightful owners, which is a shame.
Interesting to read this because i think the exact opposite. I struggle to watch the LOTR movies these days because the early 2000's makeup and costumes and CGI is sooo dated. It immediately takes my brain into a space where im looking at the dated effects. Special or practical, they are just too obviously fake. Especially the orcs from LOTR. I think smaug and 5 armies are my favorite 2 movies from either series. Just a difference in how our brains view a scene.
@@robjamysan718 its impossible to be factually incorrect about an opinion. Idrc how good the costumes were "for the time", i recently watched it on this channel, the costumes were trash. 22 years later it feels unwatchable. Hobbit is just better
The old dwarf, Balin, is the same one Gimli mentions. “My cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome” talking about Moria. So Balin led an expedition of his own to reclaim Khazad-dum (Moria) and died there eventually. Legolas was alive during the events of Smaug and Erebor, but was not at all apart of anything that happened. Tauriel was also an added character, not apart of lore/canon. Gandalf, as his mission to begin with, and what the Hobbits dubbed him “disturber of the peace”, was just that. He deliberately set in motion a chain of events, to lead to a powerful Erebor and reestablished Dale, more amended relations between Woodland Realm and Dwarves, because not only did Sauron attack Gondor, but at the same time he sent armies to attack Dale, Erebor, and Thranduil simultaneously as his attack on Gondor. Very good stuff, you guys should read more about it all either in the many history books, or the more accessible Quora app, where you can add Tolkiens works and read tons and tons of stuff about that world. The best part, it’s timeless, and the story is always there for us.
@10:45 That "brave little boy," Bard's son Brand, is King of Dale at the time of the War of the Ring, and dies fighting beside Dain, King Under the Mountain, at the gates of Erebor when Sauron's forces overrun Rhovanion (that region of Middle Earth wherein lie Mirkwood, the Long Lake, and the Lonely Mountain). This is around the same time that the Battle of the Pelennor Fields was fought before the gates of Minas Tirith. That whole part of the story was left out of the movies, and in fact the book itself! Tolkien only relates the tale as a sort of afterthought, in the appendices to the Lord of the Rings: Gandalf is all like "Oh yeah, while we were fighting Sauron's forces here in Gondor, literally everybody else was fighting them literally everywhere else too. Sorry I forgot to mention it before." Now I think on it, LotR was a very Gondor-centric telling of the tale of the War of the Ring. Kind of like how there's no Brits or Frenchmen or Aussies or Canadians in Saving Private Ryan. 😜
I find "fans" these days hate any sequeal or prequael no matter how good they are. Im glad you like these movies. I loved them. Sure LOTR is teh better movies, but this was still a 5 star movie trilogy. - Its the same with movies like Star Wars. They compare everything to their childhood memories of the older movies. Never compare, just enjoy how good they are for what they are!
In the book, Kili, Fili and Thorin are the only dwarves of the company who die. This is significant, because it means, as you noted, the bloodline of Thorin was gone, leaving Dain to take Erebor, and he lacks the interest in other races that Thorin and Balin would have. While they fight orcs invading the north, they don't join the men fighting in the south.
Thanks guys. I haven't watched these movies since they first came out in the cinema (unlike LOTR which I've rewatched hundreds of times) and as someone who grew up with the book, I remember being really disappointed. However, rewatching them along with you and seeing you geek out over the fight scenes and character development moments has kind of given me a new appreciation for them. They're not a good adaptation of the book but they are a pretty great adventure trilogy and cool movies in their own right. I'm a grumpy old sod so it's nice to actually get a more positive outlook on something for once. Cheers!
54:23 When gandalf enters bilbo's house the first time in the fellowship of the rings he saw that exact same map in the same spot, not a word, but like Obi wan in "a new hope" where he foreshadowed the clone war in just 2 words, that map after watching the hoobit, hits differently
Me too. I think many had the unrealistic expectation that it would be similar to the Lord of the Rings trilogy & be able to match it cinematically which is an impossible task. If you judge it on it’s own, it’s very good. The Lord of the Rings is an amazing work of art & it’s a shame the wonder story & movie The Hobbit has ti wallow in its shadow. Besides, any time in Middle-Earth is enjoyable & time well spent. I really enjoyed the Hobbit trilogy & loved #2 & 3 the most while many consider #1 the best somehow🤷♂️
I enjoy them for what they are and try not to compare them too much to Lord of the Rings. I think there is a lot of fun to be had if you think of the movie more the way the Hobbit book was meant - a more lighthearted and enjoyable fantasy tale that Tolkien undoubtedly put effort into since he always put effort in, but it was ultimately for fun for his children.
@@KenjiMapes Hobbit an unexpected journey is the best cause it's the part most similar to the hobbit book. especially that part in the beginning where it's just bilbo and the dwarves talking and eating. the hobbit is a children's book of a simple journey not some epic world war and end times lord of the rings. I think the problem is really that they did make it too similar to the lord of the rings trilogy and went 3 part epic battle summerblockbuster. howard shore's original score is in hobbit #1 also, the rest of the music just feels a bit borrowed from LotR and altered. They play concerning hobbits for the shire music in the hobbit #1 so of course it's gonna be liked a lot. =)
Fun Facts: Elrond is also known as Elrond Half-elven. His parents, himself and his twin brother Elros were half elves. They and their parents performed a great mission to seek out the Valar (gods) for assistance in the First war against evil. Normally people would be killed for approaching. As they risked their lives to save Elves and Men, they were given a choice of which ancestry they would embody. His mom chose elf. His dad wanted to choose human, but for the sake of his wife he chose elf. Elrond chose elf (immortality) and became a full elf. Elros chose human (mortality) and became a full human. His powerful gifted blood did give him a lifespan of five hundred years. His twenty two sons became the first Numenor Kings. Eventually the bloodline leads to the birth of (Your Boy) Aragorn, the King of Gondor.
OMG! I was so much waiting for your reaction to the Galadriel and you guys made it worth the wait! Galadriel is one of most favorite characters of the series and your reactions were just amazing. I wish the rings of power tried to capture what Peter Jackson did with Galadriel. I think I love the Hobbit series for the same reasons; it gives extension to the lore of the lotr and provides backstories of each character and builds up the foundations of the myths and the legends. Plus, Peter Jackson has done a marvelous job of making this saga epic. That "BAGINSEZ" voiceover was hilarious. The 'LEGO-LASS"!!!!! I think THIS IS MY MOST FAV REACTION OF YOURS!!! You guys should react to the rings of power!
I really enjoyed your guys' reaction to LoTR and The Hobbit, subscribing for sure. I'll leave a little suggestion for a tv series I think you'd enjoy. It's called "The Expanse" and it's a sci-fi, action, mystery, drama and it's honestly the best sci-fi series ever. Everything in terms of how ships and the technology they use is explained so you won't encounter stuff like in star wars that you just have to accept as they are. Hope you guys read this comment and consider giving it a try!
This movie was Sir Christopher Lee's last movie before he passed away in 2015. "Leave Sauron to me." was his line ever. Since he was in his 90's during the shoot, he couldn't travel to New Zealand for the shoot so for his shots in An Unexpected Journey and this movie, were filmed in Pinewood Studios. Beisdes the closeups, he didn't do any fighting as he couldn't do it at that time, so his fighting were done by a stunt double that had his face replaced with a digital mask of Lee, similiarly how they did with Count Dooku in Star Wars Episodes II and III (even if he was in his 80's at the time and could fight more, his movement in his legs were limited and therefor a lot of the lightsaber fighting except for midshots and close-ups were done by stunt double Kyle Rowling).
The main reason the fandom is split with the Hobbit is because of the vast amounts of stuff they invented to fill the films out. Legolas isn't in the book, neither are the white council. And several characters are purely invented (Tauriel). Just the veering from canon generally. The action sequences are arguably ott and even jumping the shark in places, especially in the Battle of 5 Armies. Taken in isolation they are still entertaining movies
I can live with the extra stuff as it adds more depth to some of the characters in the book and/or act as devices to tie this story to the Lord of the Rings. Obviously, I would've preferred more accurate portrayal as well. At least this is still light years away from a travesty that is the Rings of Power.
There are other reasons people do not like The Hobbit films, I personally do not have a problem with adding stuff in an adaptation, however I do not think that what was added to The Hobbit films improved the story.
Actually the white council is in the book though only mentioned at the very end in a conversation between Elrond and Gandalf, how he, during the dwarfs' Mirkwood adventure, and with the help of the white council drove out the Necromancer out of Dol Guldur. So with the help of the appendecis you could include it though it differs a bit.
Never took the critique of the hobbit movies seriously, Jackson did a marvelous job making a simple story of the hobbit much closer to the level of lotr than the book itself by adding lot of the lore Tolkien wrote later. Glad you enjoyed the movies, they arent lotr level, but they are still great and we should be grateful for all 6 of them, seeing what kind of lotr "content" we are supposed to enjoy in 2023.
The five armies are: •Men from Laketown •Elves from the Mirkwood •Dwarves from the Iron Hills (and those few from Erebor… they don’t count as an “army”) •Orcs from Dol Guldur •Orcs from the Mount Dundabad They are not five tribes, but five armies.
To be honest Thranduil is one of the best looking elves in both Lotr and Hobbit. He is just spot on there and actually closest to how elves should look like.
I didn’t like him until the movies (probably bc Lee Pace is so handsome lol). Book Thrandruil was so unreasonably mean to the dwarves I couldn’t stand him. He’s also very classist/racist it makes him an annoying obstacle
Alfrid Lickspittle is a despicable character and Ryan Gage who plays him is fantastic in the role 😁 And god I love when Dwalin scolds Thorin "You sit here in these vast halls with a crown upon your head and yet you are lesser now than you have ever been." ....
Dain actually became a really good King, During the war of the Ring the Humans retreated to Erebor with the Dwarves to defend it. When the Orcs laid siege to Erebor he died fighting over the body of King Brand of Dale (Bard's Grandson).
We were not expecting to love this movie so much! there is now a void in our hearts. this movie moved us.
Want to watch Reactions EARLY and access the UNCUT reaction? Join us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/spartanandpudgey
For fans of the book, one of the complaints of the movies is that Legolas wasn't even in The Hobbit, the book.
Now u have reached a low point ..that most of us have been thru...no more Peter Jackson n Tolkien partnerships...talk about cinema highs n lows...after your done with the 6 movies n the high fades n u know then we will never go to middle earth again
The CGI was slaughtered I the press and cinema..
It was disjointed, poorly done, and you could see were things were imposed over others.
LOTR was miles better as it had creature effects and CGI on top.
The Hobbit was all CGI, and it really showed.
The arrow went to his heart as no scale was protecting it
Guys, do HBOs Rings of Power, its different era but still LOTR world and it's good. Some people dont like it but you will
Just to be clear when Saruman said "Leave Sauron to me." He meant it. He was still 100% good here. Its not until he gets his Palantir that he start to be corrupted. Sir Christopher Lee was super happy to get to play the good side of Saruman. He originally wanted to be Gandalf. (Yes he is a Sir knighted by the Queen herself.)
100% good is an overstatement. As far as I remember he was searching for the One Ring before these events. Slightly corrupted already I'd say. But not working for Sauron at all.
@@MrZeuz666 Thats fair
He wanted the Ring for himself by this point. When Gandalf first confirmed that Sauron had taken residence in Dol Guldur, Saruman was against attacking because he wanted Sauron's power to rise in order for the Ring to reveal itself. It wasn't until Saruman realized that Sauron had more knowledge about where the Ring might be that he agreed to drive Sauron away.
Even after he fell under Sauron's influence, he was still playing a double game against him.
He is not a traitor yet. But he is already being corrupted to some degree. At this point that process is so new that even he is likely unaware of it himself. He is actively beem looking for the Ring by this point. He is jealous and distrustful of Gandalf and has spies watching him and he is watching The Shire because he is aware of Gandalf's close ties to the area.
He never really fell fully under his influence. He wanted the ring for himself and thought he was playing Sauron.
Just an inkling of information, the jewels thranduil wanted were actually his wife's. As she is dead and the body wasn't recovered it is the only remaining thing of hers he know of (except his son ofc who he treasures). Which is why he goes to such lengths to get them. He was also at the battle of the last alliance and witnessed the horrors and watched his father get murdered so he is a very misunderstood character and one of my overall favourites in the whole book and movie.
Plus people forget that this isn’t like 40 years he’s without his wife, immortality means it can be thousands and, if I recall correctly, I don’t think elves remarry it’s one partner and that’s it. So the way he acts and him not wanting his people to die makes sense. To an elf we humans and dwarves are like a butterfly, we are gone in the blink of an eye while his people live forever
Not sure if elves remarry or not in general, but I do remember the father of Feanor remarries after his wife dies.@@Catherine.Dorian.
@@Fimbrianae Ooh that’s…. Awkward.. how does that work when they’re all in Valinor?
@@Fimbrianae It's notable because it's basically the only time it happens in all of elvish history.
@Fimbrianae It's incredibly rare for an elf of either sex to remarry. Finwë (as you pointed out - Féanor's father) remarried after his wife Míriel dies shortly after giving birth to Féanor. Finwë marries Indis as his second wife. I believe it is the only elven remarriage Tolkien ever mentioned.
Gandalf knew that Bilbo had A ring, he didn't know that it's THE ring. There are many magical rings and things like that in Middle Earth. Just a heads up!🔥
Yeah they explicitly show him researching in fellowship. He wasn’t even 100% until he and Frodo heated it up to show the writing.
And all things considered he likely just thought it was a dwarven ring since they were ALL lost... and where he must have found it.
@@TheOriginalRaxin It is known where all the Great Rings are, including the dwarfs rings. However, there are more rings than just the Great Rings. The Great Rings have jewels in them too, but other rings just look normal. He would have thought it was just another minor magic ring, not one of the Great Rings of Power.
@@billyg898 there are only *some* of the dwarven rings left (four or so, I believe), and those were in possession of Sauron. He sent an envoy to the Lonely Mountain some time before the events of the LOTR to inquire about Bilbo Baggins and Shire, after he managed to capture Gollum. He also offered those rings in exchange for peace with him, while he wanted to deal with the Elves and Men. Dain II Ironfoot, the same guy from this movie, still remembered these events well, and declared the war to Sauron's envoy.
The group of dwarves present on the Elrond's Council were there, in fact, to warn Gandalf and the White Council about this. Gimli was sent with the Fellowship to remind other races how they will honor all the old allegiances against the common enemy. During that time, Balin went on an expedition to reclaim Khazad-dum, and Dain rallied all the willing dwarf folk of other clans to fight with them during the war.
If I recall correctly, Nazgul only found out which way to go after they met Grima Wormtongue on their quest. That's where Sauron started to suspect Saruman's intentions to keep the Ring for himself.
Yes, at first Gandalf didn't even know that Bilbo's ring was one of the Rings of Power. He only came to suspect that years later.
I really like Thranduil in these movies. His people have died a lot fighting against evil in Middle Earth which makes his reluctance a little more understandable. In the LOTR movies when Sam, Frodo and Gollum are crossing the marshes, the dead elves in the water are his people. There was a great battle there and many elves died, roughly two thirds of their force.
Not to mention, when you are nearly immortal, how much greater is death to them when they lose so much more in the balance?
Thranduil also lost Oropher, his father and former King, in the battle of the Last Alliance of Men and Elves.
Lee Pace did an amazing job with the character. Watching the behind the scenes features you can tell he had a lot of fun with it.
@@wolffontech - If I'm not mistaken, elves can actually return to life according to Tolkien. It takes a little away from their sacrifices, but it's an interesting way to extend their immortality and differentiate them from the other races.
I think I heard somewhere Thranduil also lost his wife and Legolas' mother to a dragon and he was seriously injured trying to save her.
As others have stated, Thranduil was after the gems that belonged to his wife. There was an extension of the scene where Legolas stands to to his father and saves Tariel. This was the beginning of Thranduil's turn as a character. Before the scene cuts, Gandalf is standing to the side and says, "those gems were not all your wife left you my friend, she left you a son. Tell me which would she have you value more." Such a brilliant scene and it helps those understand the character of Thranduil more. It was cut from the theatrical version of the movie. Why it wasn't included in the extended edition is beyond me. It's like less than 10 seconds but adds so much. You can find it on TH-cam too watch.
@@jaker9901 If i remember correctly the scene where Aragorn Gimli and Legolas fight Gandalf the white, because they think its Saruman, is quite book accurate.
Martin Freeman is truly something else as Bilbo. I mean, his emotional reactions to Thorin's death and during the funeral, that alone makes me cry because he's just this good at portraying Bilbo feeling this sadness. It's not overly dramatic, he's trying to hold on, he's trying to be strong but it cracks and pours and it feels so real even tho it's acting.
It gets me every time. That man gets my heartstrings and just pulls. And the end the "he was my friend" like sir, no one allowed you to hurt us (me) like that. And for this performance alone, it's a damn shame the funeral scene isn't in the theatrical version.
Whenever I see Saruman fighting - I always love the fact that Christopher Lee is 93 during these scenes!! Amazing man
I wonder if it was him himself on all those scenes, cause I did hear that part of the hobbit trilogy was done with A.I./cloning from Saruman's human model. Not sure which parts. So not sure if it was just CGI/clone or not on all of those scenes.
It doesn't matter though, he will always be remembered amazing actor indeed ! Legendary even!
@@kobarsos82yeah it wasn’t actually him doing those movements
@@kobarsos82 It wasn't him. With all due respect to Sir Christopher Lee, at the time of shooting The Hobbit he couldn't even travel to set to film the scenes, he did it all alone on a green screen etc, because of health issues and age. Of course someone else did the stunts, and that's totally normal.
The elderly one among the dwarves was Balin. It was his tomb they found in Moria in Fellowship of the Ring. Just wanted to throw that tidbit in there. After the successful reclamation of the Lonely Mountain, Balin led a company of dwarves to Moria to retake it from the orcs. He was partly successful, but then the balrog emerged again and the orcs came in increasing numbers, overwhelming Balin and his people.
was loiking for thuis exact comment and was gonna do it myself if i didint find it hahaha
in addition to this, the book that gandalf grabs in the tomb is from the skeleton of Ori who went with Balin after the hobbit
@@atrioxairsoft5413 And also the guardian of the lake killed Oin, the deaf dwarf from Thorin's crew. He could not hear the guardian and he grabbed and killed him. The guardian also appears in The Fellowship of the Ring when the crew first gets to Moria.
Fun fact: Smaug is one of, if not the only, smallest dragon in Middle Earth. He looks like he can fit in the mere palm of the biggest one (from the First Age), Ancalagon.
Gotta say, I love your reactions to this, especially during the battle. Your enthusiasm, the excitement when the elves joined the fight, it was contagious.
At the time of the hobbit I'm pretty sure he was the biggest, but you are correct in the first age he would've been small compared to the rest
Not the smallest. Likely the cold drakes such as Scatha.
How many dragons are there I remover ancalagon the black and wasn’t the father of all dragons Glaurung the Golden who was let of the Turin story
@@mp7scarh There was a wingless dragon called scatha that was killed by king Fram of the eotheod, thats all I got for the named ones, there probably is more. There was a bunch of unnamed winged and wingless dragons, and I do know there was at least enough winged dragons for all the Balrogs to have a mount into one of the battles/wars. Hope this helps
@mp7scarh there were also many dragons similar to Smaug called "Cold Drakes" which are dragons who couldn't breath fire....
Galadriel was born in Valinor, in the Age of the Trees, before the beginning of the world and the start of the First Age. She's one of the oldest elves remaining in Middle-Earth by the Third Age, during which the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings take place. She's a memory of the beauty and glory and grace of the very beginning of the world, something that has truly been lost. Something that now, only exists in what's left of those days, in the form of the sun, moon, and stars. After Sauron is defeated, she and Thranduil return to Dol Guldur, and tear it down, destroying it for good.
Not before the beginning of the world… she is not a Valar/maiar! She is born in 1362 of the age of trees it means that she have 8371 years ago during the war of the rings!! She is the fairest and mightiest of all the elves in the Third age (period of the moovies) but she is not the oldest… Elf like Cirdan is older than her
She is definitely the most powerful individual in the third age. By far. Kinda glad that this was shown in this film.
@@kobarsos82 Galadriel was trained in magic by a goddess. She's on a level of her own.
I am well aware m8 I have read most of Tolkien works.@@darkphoenixreborn1154
Gandalf is stronger. He is a maiar. She is still an elf at the end of the day
Trivia: The ending song, "The Last Goodbye" was sang and written by Billy Boyd (Pippin). In the lyrics is the sentence: "I bid you all a very fond farewell", which was the last sentence of Bilbo's birthday speech in Fellowship
That song always hits me hard because this is the last movie of Peter Jackson and this cast for Tolkien universe. And Pippin singing just reminds me of his "Home is Behind" song when Faramir was riding to his death.
Came here to say the same about that song!
I agree. That song is always super emotional for me.
Dain II Ironfoot and the grandson of Bard died fighting side by side 78 years later during the War of the Ring. It happened when Esterlings attacked Dale, we saw them a little bit before the attack outside of the Black Gate at Two Towers.
It's been a pleasure to watch S & P's reactions to both the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. They are such a likeable young couple and P's smile illuminates the screen.
PLEASE, kids, tell me you stayed and listened to Billy Boyd singing!
When I saw this in the theater, and the credits started rolling and the song began, I sat there and wept as I listened to the lyrics. I realized that this was the finish, there were no more movies after this. And the words were "bidding me a very fond farewell".
For all its faults, for all its lore-twisting, for all the studio interference - I still enjoy this part of the legendarium. Thank you for letting me watch along with you!
Dwarves: HA! A beautiful shieldwall!
Elves: (jump over)
Dwarves: Don't they have...bows and arrows?
That and Legolas hanging under the bat is kind of... but there's more that I am forgetting probably.
So dumb
Elves just can't let dwarves have a higher kill-count.
Funny @@Reedstilt
I can understand why they skipped it but in the book Bard is descended from the Lords of Dale who could understand the language of the thrushes, it was the small thrush bashing a snail near the hidden door in the 2nd movie who learns of Smaug's weak spot via Bilbo, he flies to Bard during Smaug's attack on the town and instructs him where to shoot.
They should’ve kept that in, it would’ve helped to make much more sense
I would say thats a bit of an extraneous plot point to home in on when time is money, like "ohh a lil birdie told me" but at the same time to hear the reactors literally ask "well how did he know?" and they kinda just brush it off in the movie as an old fairytale lol... which it kinda literally is thou 😄
26:00 Thranduil wants the Gems of Lasgalen, white jewels the dwarves forged for his wife to wear, but she died in Gundabad before having the opportunity to have them. They have since denied him the jewels every time he asked to pay for them.
People who didn't read the book have this genuine surprise. Well, Thorin's death hits just as hard for those who read the book. And best part of bringing Legolas and she-elf (who are not in the book) is the interactions with Thranduil, showing the depth of character.
I only read the hobbit when I was a kid so I might be completely wrong but iirc the deaths of the dwarves were really really really really short in the books. the ones beside thorin get mentioned once and that's it :D
Thranduil is in the Hobbit book, as King of Mirkwood, but Legolas is not even mentioned. Tolkien hadn't invented him yet. Then in LOTR, Tolkien introduced Legolas as coming from Mirkwood, and being the son of Thranduil, so that readers of the Hobbit would feel good about that reference. Gimli is also introduced in LOTR as Gloin's son, again recognizable for Hobbit readers. Gimli wasn't even invented, not at all mentioned, in the Hobbit book.
There was absolutely no good reason for Peter Jackson to put in Legolas in this because his first appearance in Tolkien is in "Fellowship Of The Ring". Likewise the creation of Tauriel to appease modern movie-goers who do not have an affinity with the source material.
@@mikelarsen5836 There is no way Legolas wouldn't have been at the battle of five armies with his father or around when the the dwarves got caught by the elves in Mirkwood. When Tolkien wrote the Hobbit, Legolas didn't exist then but if he had written it after LotR then Legolas would've been in it. Not only do I have no problems with his inclusion here, but I had been expecting it when the movies were being made.
It's very hard to argue against people who silently declare "anything that deviates from the source material becomes bad for that reason"@@Radwar99
"In that last hour Beorn himself had appeared-no one knew how or from where. He came alone, and in bear’s shape; and he seemed to have grown almost to giant-size in his wrath.
The roar of his voice was like drums and guns; and he tossed wolves and goblins from his path like straws and feathers. He fell upon their rear, and broke like a clap of thunder through the ring. The dwarves were making a stand still about their lords upon a low rounded hill. Then Beorn stooped and lifted Thorin, who had fallen pierced with spears, and bore him out of the fray.
Swiftly he returned and his wrath was redoubled, so that nothing could withstand him, and no weapon seemed to bite upon him. He scattered the bodyguard, and pulled down Bolg himself and crushed him. Then dismay fell on the Goblins and they fled in all directions." The book paints a great scene of Beorn in the final battle
I was so disappointed that he "bearly" had a role in the battle.
As a Tolkein fan of 40 years, books and movies, it's been such a pleasure to watch your fresh and honest reactions ❤
This series is great, IMO. I was waiting for your Galadriel reaction and it didn't disappoint. She's ancient from the undying lands. Fought during the time of the first Dark Lord, Morgoth, before Sauron. When she was young, she was uncommonly strong and stout until she grew tall and fair later. I wish the Rings Of Power series was better, because she's such an epic character. Her giving Gimli some of her hair (in LotR) was a huge deal because certain magics are tied to such things. And she trusted him enough where in an age past she refused one of her own kind because she sensed an ill end to their use.
I feel like she has more animosity towards Sauron than she has against Morgoth though. She was never really involved with Morgoth, while Sauron killed her brother, tried to control her ring and tainted middle earth threatening her people and tried to wipe them out/control them. Although Morgoth killed a lot of elves as well though, many of them related to Galadriel.
It's still an interpretation made by P. Jackson about the Dol Goldur affair, when the White Council purified the place, it's stated the Necromancer (aka Sauron) leaved before (Sauron is the strongest being in the Middle-earth but he's not stupid to think he could have beat (in his diminished form) alone Galadriel + Saruman + Gandalf + Elrond etc...)... The fact in the Jackson movie's, Galadriel soloted alone Sauron, it's something we could debate because in his letters Tolkien always stated Sauron was the strongest being in the Middle-earth during the war of the rings (well, let's forget about Tom Bombadil), the only one who was clause was Saruman in his form as The White, and then Gandalf as his form as the White recincarnate... but overall Sauron the strongest maiar would still be above them... Galadriel is still logically below Sauron (as powerful she were, she is "just" an elf)
@@alexandreleveque8394 I agree with this for the most part. One counter argument would have been that Galadriel might possibly have easier access to her powers. Galadriel is probably significantly more powerful than Elrond, and quite a bit less powerful than Saruman and Gandalf. But Gandalf's and Saruman's powers are a lot more restricted and they can rarely access a significant portion of their "true forms", while Galadriels powers are more innate in middle earth as long as the one ring is not in the hands of someone that can control the other rings.
Then it's also arguable that she is the only one that actually could/would take on Sauron head on since Gandalf was weakened and injured, Elrond is weaker than Galadriel and Saruman was probably already set on finding the ring for himself at this point and didn't even want to oppose Sauron since he knew it would be better to avoid or feign loyalty to him and conduct his own search in secret.
@@g-5615 Yes, but, as the movies are just a "reinterpretation" of the books, a "fan" interpretion from the scenarists basically, I would have found it more accurate and logical that Galadriel and Saruman and even Elrond use their power together against Sauron and yet banish him, I think the power scaling would have fit more logical, than Galadriel looking very strong, then weak when the 9 pop, then overpowered to the point to solo banish Sauron. Looks like not very accurate, like this scene in the LOTR Return of the Kings when the Witch King broke Gandalf's staff, doesn't seems logical
@@alexandreleveque8394 Yeah that's true, it's kind of a weird choice they made. If it had taken place in Lothlorien it would have made more sense, but there's really no reason for Galadriel to go "storm queen" mode out of nowhere.
The Witch King one might actually be worse, but it seemed less silly for the movie.
Maybe it would be cheesy (as if the scene we got wasn't) but it might even make more sense if Elrond,Galadriel and Gandalf used the three elven rings in conjuction to force Sauron to retreat, which would be kind of ironic with using the rings of power against the lord of the ring(s).
the reason why many like more on LoTR than the Hobbit is because in LoTR there is balance of using practical effects and CGI, in Hobbit they overly used CGI, to the point that the special effects makes the battle scenes looks like a video game cutscenes.
That’s not why lol, at least for me and a lots of ppl. It’s bc they tried to make lotr as close to the books as possible and they didn’t do that with the hobbit movies (and they also wouldn’t give Peter Jackson nearly enough time). I liked the hobbits visuals for the most part but it would have been a lot cooler to have those and also follow the book a bit more closely
@@yomamma.ismydaddy216 I should have said one of the reasons yes the story also is stretched too much to be 3 installment, LotR is much closer to the source material than hobbit yes, but visual, I just think Hobbit use too much CGI , I am not the only one who said the visuals are using too much CGI
The Hobbit movies are an embarrassment compared to the LotR series. Not because of CGI, that's one small point. These movies are from one book and made into three to grab cash. They compromised the story to the point it's no longer the Hobbit. And they are just badly made movies.
@@VoltesWithElias yes Hobbiy is not as good but Rings of Power is the worst , it makes the hobbit not as bad when you compare it to Rings of Power, that show is a joke with 1 billion dollars cost
@@rio20d yeah I feel you. I liked the graphics of the dwarvern halls and landscapes and stuff but the fight scenes looked way too fake for the most part. That’s probably why they (s&p) said it seemed like they had a lot of plot armor, it’s not that they had plot armor it’s that the way they filmed the fight scenes made it look like the hero’s were constantly just getting lucky but they could have just not made it look that way
I remember you guys previously saying the one ring could only make hobbits invisible. When you saw Galadriels power - that is why she had that monologue about what would happen if she took the one ring in Fellowship. “In place of a dark lord you would have a queen!”
The “old dwarf” is Balin, the same one found in the tomb in Moria in Fellowship of the Ring where Gimli cried. And the book that Gandalf finds in that same scene was written by Ori, the young dwarf. And in that book Ori writes that the Watcher in the Water (the kraken monster thing) took Oin, the dwarf with the hearing aid. The scene hits entirely different when you rewatch it having that in mind.
A man is very pleased that a couple successfully procured the extended version of this third part. It is always a pleasure to no one, to watch a boy and a girl react to such matters.
Another Tolkien movie, another novelette. Although...I'm not sure I should even put the "ette" on the end of this one. 😏
Continued adventures in Dol Guldur, as promised: Once again, nothing you saw there was actually in The Hobbit and they changed it quite a bit to tell that part of the story alongside the Erebor adventure.
Gandalf *did* leave the Company for the purpose of meeting with the rest of the White Council to discuss and investigate the Necromancer. There is no indication of a fight, but Sauron *is* unmasked and, having been found out, abandoned his disguise to set up shop openly in Mordor again. However, how *exactly* the White Council investigated isn't described, so Jackson needed to make something up.
Galadriel is described by Tolkien as very much *not* being a warrior, but giving her that complete bad♡ss moment allowed Jackson to bring up something he left out of LOTR. After Sauron's final defeat, Galadriel went to the abandoned fortress of Dol Guldur, threw it down, and cleansed it of its evil, so that green things and innocent creatures could grow there again and Mirkwood could return to being the Greenwood. She may not have been a warrior, but she was still a complete bad♡ss sorceress. I'm glad you enjoyed getting the chance to see that.
Legolas in The Hobbit vs LOTR:
• LOTR movies -> Legolas was at Rivendell as a representative of King Thranduil, summoned to discuss Sauron. Remember how well he was dressed at the Council? He even had two attendants.
• LOTR books -> Gandalf "looked everywhere for the creature, Gollum." In fact, he even enlisted the aid of the best tracker he knew. It was actually Aragorn who caught Gollum and brought him to the Elves of Mirkwood for safe keeping. After Gandalf finished questioning Gollum, the Elves kept him, just in case. Legolas came to Rivendell to inform Elrond that Gollum had escaped, hoping Elrond would know how to reach Aragorn or Gandalf. He arrived "just in time" to meet both of them, partially prompting Elrond's impromptu Council.
• The Hobbit -> I left this for last because it is the longest. As I said in my last, Legolas wasn't invented yet when Tolkien wrote the book. He wrote The Hobbit, then started LOTR as a sequel and a lot of unpublished short stories he had written decades before kept intruding. Those eventually became The Silmarillion, the Appendices, and other revised/unfinished stories that were all published posthumously, known collectively as "The Legendarium."
...Anyway, back from that tangent; since Legolas had no story in The Hobbit and even King Thranduil didn't have much characterization in the book, Jackson used yet another story he hadn't used for LOTR: the heartbreaking story of Elrond's wife and sons.
Arwen's mother, Elrond's wife, was Galadriel's daughter. Celebrian bore Elrond twin sons, Elladan and Elrohir, as well as Arwen. After their sons were grown but while Arwen was still young, on one of her visits to her mother in Lothlorien, Celebrian was attacked and kidnapped by orcs. Elrond, Elladan, and Elrohir went after her. By the time they found her, the orcs had absolutely broken her. Elrond and his sons utterly obliterated those orcs.
They took her back to Rivendell and Elrond healed her body, but she was just too traumatized by the torture. She left to sail for the Undying Lands in hope that she could find healing with the Valar, but in any case, no longer able to bear existence in Middle Earth. BTW, if she was successfully healed there, she was going to meet her grandfather, Galadriel's dad, who is the super sweet High King of the Elves there, and Elrond and Galadriel will both be sailing to reunite with her at the end of LOTR.
Elladan and Elrohir, however, also never recovered from seeing the aftermath of what the orcs did to their mother. They became what you see in Legolas that Pudgey liked so much: a bit darker and grittier or more grim than most Elves and they joined Aragorn's Rangers to continue hunting orcs. They stay to continue suing vengeance on the orcs, rather than sailing west with Elrond. So he isn't really Legolas, but still a beautiful character worthy of being included.
Elrond was no stranger to loss, so he put his trust in the Valar and channeled his grief into becoming even kinder than ever. Especially toward others who were suffering loss.
Thranduil's trauma that made him the way you see him in the movies was connected to him much later, while Tolkien was integrating his short stories with LOTR. Thranduil, his former king, and all his woodland Elves fought against Sauron the first time. He saw his king killed and his people decimated in a horrific battle and, even after their deaths...they became the corpses that lie in the Dead Marshes Gollum led Frodo and Sam through. They didn't even get an honorable resting place. So Thranduil withdrew with his people and isolated themselves back in the forests again, away from the world and its wars, until they started to buy wine and other luxuries from the tiny peaceful people of Laketown. And then a group of idiot Dwarves comes through, wakes a dragon, and ignores the need of the Elves' trade partners.
Tauriel: was completely made up for the movies to give the audience a connection to Thranduil's grief, and so you can get to know Fili enough to care about his death, but it's still nice to get an idea of a merrier sylvan Elf as opposed to "nobler" Elves whose ancestors had been taught wisdom by the Valar in the Undying Lands before returning to Middle Earth.
The giant worms were conspicuously absent from LOTR. This is because the orcs, and possibly even Sauron, were supposed to be unaware of their existence. The only mention of them anywhere is when Gandalf the White is describing his fight with the balrog. They fell and fought deep under the mountains far down into tunnels not dug by either Dwarves or orcs, but rather where nameless things gnaw at the world.
And again, alas! Once more, Jackson forgot the swords Glamdring (Gandalf's) and Orcrist (Thorin's) didn't glow with Sting! 😭 Although, honestly, I didn't remember that until Thorin's funeral, when they were burying him with it. I suppose that was probably to hold continuity with the LOTR movies, where they didn't make Glamdring glow there. Maybe they just thought it would be weird to have a glowing sword with no explanation. After all, there's no place in LOTR to explain that Gandalf's sword was also made by Elves of Gondolin.
You didn't really convince me to like the Hobbit movies more, but I am still glad you enjoyed them for your own sakes.
Ah, also, just to prove how bad♡ss Galadriel is, In both The Hobbit *and* LOTR, Galadriel is using her Ring of Power, because Sauron lost the One Ring, so it's safe to use. But after Sauron was defeated by the destruction of the One Ring, all of the Rings of Power also lose their power. So the whole throwing down and cleansing of Dol Guldur? That's ALL Galadriel.
And regarding Celebrian, if I didn't make it clear, although Tolkien didn't specify (since it was on a different continent, where none of our characters could have knowledge about it) there is actually a very good chance that she was healed by the Valar. There are actually two Valar who specialize in healing wounded minds and souls. Irmo, Lord Of Dreams has a whole garden dedicated to that sort of thing and Nienna, the Lady of Sorrow/Pity. Nienna spends most of her time working with the souls of Elves in the hall of Mandos, Lord of the Dead, healing them of the trauma of whatever killed a supposedly immortal Elf so that they can be reincarnated, but a few of the living also find her more effective than Irmo.
I really enjoyed this movie.
Also, Lee Pace (Thranduil) is one of the most underrated actors. He plays the emperor in The Foundation right now and is memorizing
Lee Pace is pretty damn good in Halt and Catch Fire too...
Also, the Hobbit was the first movie to film at 48 frames per second… it was a weird phenomenon watching in theaters because it looked almost too real as if it was shot as home video. I think that played a bit in people’s first impressions 10+ years ago. But now it holds up.
The LotR trilogy is as close to perfect as a film trilogy gets, and they're really more like a staple of pop culture now. They're just genuinely fantastic movies and I think that's why they have such a legacy. The Hobbit movies I liked simply because they gave us another chance to revisit the world. I think what endears people to the LotR movies more is the use of more practical effects, miniatures, the use of so many extras and using CGI in careful, considered tandem with these things, whereas the Hobbit feels like it uses CGI as a sort of catch-all for the lot. I know there were many practical elements in the Hobbit films too, but the difference between the two trilogies is apparent enough.
For the time they were made, as you say, the LotR movies still look absolutely fantastic, and that's because so much of it was shot for real, and their cultural impact is undeniable - I've heard James Cameron credits seeing Gollum as being the indicator that film tech was finally ready to produce a little film he'd had in mind for years called Avatar.
I couldn't recommend enough getting a copy of the film on DVD or something, and watching the behind the scenes/making of the film. It's another way to indulge that itch to see more of Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth now that you've watched the films. There's some great stories and anecdotes, and it becomes absolutely evident that there is genuine passion from everyone contributing. Plenty from the actors' point of view, of course, but there's insights from Howard Shore who did the music and score, which is nothing short of timeless. John Howe who was the concept artist and illustrator - the general vibe of the world, the architecture, the landscapes, can be chalked up to him in the same way Ralph McQuarrie defined the look and feel of Star Wars. Weta Workshop, who made the armor and weapons.. oh, and of course-- it goes without saying every fan of the films should know about a certain actor's broken toe...
For real though, they are seriously worth a watch -- it's been nice re-living that first-time viewing with these videos and I'll subscribe in appreciation :)
This. The extra behind the scenes DVDs are really amazing, absolutely worth a watch.
What endears people to the Lord of the Rings movies more is the quality of film making and respect to the original story. The Hobbit movies are a joke. Especially the last two.
Pudgey is always smiley and adorable. Spartan is always friendly and kind. I love your reactions a lot
This has probably been mentioned but in case it hasn't, the "old" dwarf, as in the white-bearded and white-haired one, is Balin, cousin of Gimli's father and the dead body inside the sarcophagus in the Fellowship of the Rings. After the Battle of the Five Armies, Balin led an expedition to reclaim Moria, the Dwarven mine appeared in the Fellowship of the Rings as well as in the flashback scenes in An Unexpected Journey. But they were slaughtered by the orcs there. This is why Gimli is shocked and left in sorrow when they find out what happened in Moria.
On a side note, Moria was founded by Durin, the reason why the dwarves call themselves Durin's sons, and Azog is always obsessed with ending Durin's royal blood line. Moria was first lost because miners dug too deep for Mithril that they awoke Balrog "Durin's Bane", you already seen it in the Fellowship of the Rings.
I'm glad you appreciate Legolas in the Hobbit films, as his inclusion was a completely original add-in and not present in Tolkien's original work. A lot of the fans heavily criticized it as just being fanservice to put him in for no reason, but its hard to deny that he isn't well written, and very entertaining to watch. And since elves are immortal there is no reason he couldn't be present in a re-telling of the original story.
I think it's very interesting, that you place The Hobbit's CGI above LotR's, whereas most people I know put it the other ways round. Personally, I think LotR's CGI, expecially for the Orcs, is a lot more fitting, but that's just my two cents.
LOTR's CGI is much more subtle. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish if it's CGI or not. In Hobbit it's very clear we have CGI everywhere.
Guys They are not director or movie makers sure Lotr more better
@@salmarwow yeah there's that kind of weird glow/soft texture that gives away the cgi
I think it has a lot to do with them watching GoT first...I don't know much about it (except for clips and snippets/shorts), but I assume there's a lot of cgi used? Especially for battle scenes?
what are u talking about. Lord of the rings orcs are mostly costumes, there's barely even any cgi, hobbit cgi is superior
Regarding Sam and the Red book, eventually, after several decades of being mayor of the Shire, Sam actually sails West to join Frodo, Bilbo, and Gandalf in Valinor! Don’t forget, Samwise was a ring bearer too, if only for a moment. He spent the rest of his days in Heaven-on-earth with his best mate, amongst the Elves and the Valar(Greater angels, Michael and Lucifer calibre) and Maiar (Gandalf, Radagast, Saruman being examples of lesser angels in diminished form). The book stayed in the Shire tho, filled with Sam’s gardening knowledge if I recall correctly. Head-canon is there’s an adventure or 2 in there as well. Thanks for the content, ya’ll rock!
I always make the point Balin is the dwarf king buried in Moria Lord of the rings and Ori is the dwarf with the book that Gandalf takes..'they are coming'
As much as I’m not a huge fan of these movies (I don’t hate them as much as most Tolkien fans but still) I love that Christopher Lee got to play the white wizard as a good guy before he died. It literally makes me so happy seeing him in this movie.
That's the tragedy of the elves in this world, many of them live in the past, as they are diminishing. Thranduil is probably the biggest example of this, he begins the trilogy coming across as a giant douche bag, which he is, but it's because he is actually still mourning the loss of his wife.
Not like his book coumterpart at all.
The Lady Galadriel is not to be trifled with ❤ the entire scene and sequence at Dol-Guldur is probably my favourite of the Hobbit Trilogy, I love it when she says "I've come for Mithrandir.." and "If you try to stop me, I will destroy you.." always gives me chills..❤
When Galadriel tells you to go back to the void from whence you came, you go back to the void from whence you came.
Galadriel is shown much stronger in this Movie than she was. She could influence the Minds of People and was the Heart of the Elves in the 3d Age but had not such powers as shown here... Strongest Elf at this time was Glorfindel (the White ?) who saved Frodo from the Nazgul. He was the best Warrior and a Beacon of Light.
@@FrenchieQc But what if I didn't come from any void?
@@EzekielepharcelisGaladriel is super strong in the third age, during the war of the ring she uses her magic to destroy Dol Guldur down to its foundation leaving only the hill (Amon Lanc) the fortress stood on top of. She also uses her ring of power to keep Lothlorien safe creating a mist covering the forest as well as keeping it unaging.
@@backisgabbeYT Celeborn killed the Enemies in Dol Guldur with an Army of Elves though and about Galadriel it is only said that she destroyed every building there. It is not known if it was a Spell, a (Mass) Ritual or if the Elves just acted on her behalf. Nowhere is written that she could kill an Orc with a small Movement of her Hand. The whole depiction is non canon. Galadriel had other Powers which were more Location based but not Face to Face combat. Furthermore she wouldn't stand a Chance against an Maiar, not even the weakest one. And Sauron was the strongest one in Middle Earth. To say it clear : She had other Qualities.
Love Spartan being so excited when the elves jumped into battle against the orcs
Knowing the sad end Balin comes to in Moria, seeing how sweet and understanding he was and how he was good pals with Bilbo in these films makes his off-screen death between trilogies even sadder.
You two are so damn likable. I love how often Pudgey side-eyes Spartan.
35:37 Yeah elves and dwarves hate one another (but they both hate orcs more); elves use to hunt dwarves as beasts until they realised, they weren't beasts (to the elves ears thier speech just sounded like grunts). Then there was this whole thing about a Necklace. It is a LONG arse story from the First Age; in a continent that is now lost beneath the waves to the west. All these stories are told in a book called the Silmarillion.
Nauglamir held one of the Silmarils. And it’s a long multifaceted story full of intermixing stories weaving through one another one time or another
There is also the ancient rivalry of who were the first children. Dwarves technically were created first but were forced back asleep until the elves came. Dwarves are not the children of Eru like the elves so they began to hate each other.
It’s been a while since I read the Silmarillion I don’t remember clearly. An elf king/lord asked the dwarves to craft a necklace to hold a silmaril but the dwarves wanted to keep the necklace after? And i think one of the Valar created dwarves and Eru put them to sleep in the mountains. Also didn’t the dwarves destroy so many trees that the Valar who made trees, who was also the wife of the Valar who made dwarves, asked Eru if she can have her own beings ti protect the forest which became Ents. So much information in Tolkien world I’m no expert
@@mp7scarhyeah they crafted the necklace for some elven lord and when he came to collect they killed him and fled to the mountains, then told the dwarves at home that the elves were the ones who attacked, and I think there was a whole battle between them after that. (I don't entirely remember the story its been awhile)
@@vqgue3032 The Nauglamir was crafted for King Thingol, who is one of the first Elven Kings of Middle Earth. He was married to a Maia, like Gandalf, but one not bound to mortal form. Their daughter Luthien is part of the first human/elf pairing in history, with the human Beren. Thingol challenged Beren to steal a simaril from Morgoth's (former big bad and Sauron's lord) crown for her hand. That's a whole story in itself, but Beren and Luthein succeed and the silmaril is placed inside the Nauglamir. The dwarves ended up killing Thingol, but Beren and his son Dior (the first being to have human, elf and maia blood) attack the dwarves and retrieve it. Later, after Beren and Luthien die a mortal death (another story), Dior is given the Nauglamir, and it is actually Elves that attack him this time, not Dwarves. Dior is killed in the Second Kinslaying of the Elves, by the sons of the Elf who crafter the simarils. His daughter Elwing ends up escaping with the simaril, and goes on to birth Elrond, and his twin brother Elros.
51:02 I think that is what Azog promissed to extinguish Thorin's entire bloodline.
Guys, I have to tell you that I've enjoyed this journey with you very much! I consider myself a Tolkien fan, not a super-fan who knows every detail, but definitely a fan. I own and have read the books, The Hobbit even several times, and once or twice a year, I do this film marathon where I watch all the films, and this "watching with you" experience, I absolutely count as one for this year, and I'll continue to follow you two. Breaking Bad series is next on my rewatch list!
Btw, because of the way the end of the film is shot and those final scenes, for some reason, I always watch the marathon like you did, first the 3 LotR films and then the 3 Hobbits. I've never even attempted to watch them in the order the books were written, so someone feel free to let me know about the experience (without those throwbacks) and whether I should finally change it or not 🙂
Every year my family and I watch all 6 movies in a row at Christmas time. We started with LOTR first then the Hobbit but then flipped it the 2nd year and it’s much better. It just flows perfectly together. I’d recommend trying it once to see if you feel the same way.
@@kevinjoseph3120 I also would watch The Hobbit and then LOTR.
i grew up watching lotr and then was able to see the hobbit movies in theatres, so i never experienced them in the order they were written in (at least not the movies). when i introduced the movies to my best friend, i thought they would have an easier time following along if we watched the hobbit movies first. it helps establish so many things that follow in the lotr movies (outside of the few lines that reference the events of the hobbit lol). it also made the stakes so much higher for them! they had no idea who would live and who would die because they had no frame of reference for the future (well, all except for bilbo, who we see as an old man in the beginning). it also made later deaths hit so much harder - when my friend saw balin's tomb in Moria, they WEEPED. and at gandalf's fall, they were literally in shock. they got to spend more time with him in the hobbit and grow to love his character that much more, so they could not BELIEVE that he "died" so early on. i also found myself really enjoying seeing the story told in that way! overall, i would recommend it! especially for first time watchers that have no knowledge about the works! it really helped answer a lot of questions that the lotr trilogy kind of glosses over.
Thanks for the replies, guys! 💪🏻
@@xModernGoldx I'm in the same situation. I was fortunate to watch each of The Hobbit films in the theaters as they came out, so that's probably why it stuck as a habit, and as I've read the books, I don't find it difficult to pick up on references. All in all, I agree that watching them in order is the right way for those who are seeing everything for the first time, and I can only imagine how painful it must be to see Balin's tomb in Moria, for example, after spending hours with him and the company previously. I'll definitely watch them all in chronological order later this year or next time to see if some things hurt even more.
The Unexpected Journey covers the first half to three-fifths of the novel The Hobbit, with the remaining two movies presenting the final 40% of the novel, so Peter Jackson had to pad the story quite a bit to fill them out, hence all of the expanded action sequences (and the introduction of Tauriel as a romantic interest for Kili). This is the reason that most fans of the novel see the first movie as "better" than the other two, as it was more on story and less on violent spectacle.
Book fans can be *such* a hinderance to a fandom at times
The lore is always there, just not seen first hand. In the book Gandalf leaves the company several times and speaks of a necromancer that is in the castle. In the end when he returns he tells bilbo he and his order toppled the necromancer. So it's explained to have happened but he movies took this and shown us what it was like first hand.
Even bilbo in the book thought that he couldn't imagine seeing the battle take place between such powerful beings, well the films shown us. And it was incredible.
@@_justinblizzle In this case, staying accurate to the book is actually really important, because it is well known that Tolkien HATED people making changes to his work. He would have been absolutely crushed to see this many changes made to the bedtime story he wrote for his kids. They are making a huge amount of money off Tolkien's work, they should have tried to be more respectful of his wishes.
But in The Hobbit trilogy's defence, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the Rings of Power show. What a trainwreck lmao.
I can understand you so well. You get sucked into this world. I felt the same way when I read the books for the first time in the late 1970s. My brother brought The Hobbit home and I asked what it was. He said: "A children's book. Feel free to read it." And so it began.
After I read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, I felt this emptiness that you also feel now. Luckily, the son of the late author J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, just published from his father's estate The Silmarilion. And so my journey could continue a little.
I’ve read the Silmarillion it’s the best. I’m now reading Beren and Luthien, The Chlidren of Hurin, the Fall of Gondolin, and the Fall of Numenor all in their own separate books. I’m pretty sure all those stories together equals the Silmarillion but they’re more in depth in their own books
@@mp7scarhI have an issue that summarizes all the stories since the founding of the world (Middle-earth) under the title The Silmarilion. Do you have individual issues?
Watching you two get emotional for this movie was really great. I was excited for you to see a glimpse of how powerful Galadriel is. She doesn't get to do as much in the LotR movies, so it was nice to see her flex a bit of her strength. I also really enjoyed Smaug as a villain, I think they did an excellent job with him. He was a highlight for me in this trilogy.
I'm so glad you guys were able to find an extended version. I re-watched the regular version of this movie with a friend who hadn't seen it before and was so disappointed with how many good scenes were cut especially the battle scenes.
Gandalf wears the ring of Fire, which he uses to defeat the Balrog in Moria. Galadriel wears the second ring that helps her slow the decay of things in her realm (Lothlorien). Elrond has the third one.
The sword Elrond uses when helping Galadriel rescue Gandalf is the sword you see Arwen use in Fellowship of the Ring, when she summons the river and the foaming horses to drown the Nazgul and save Frodo.
As far as I know Thranduil gave the gems to the dwarves to make it into a necklace for his wife or something like that.
20:30 This is one of the many reasons why Tolkien fans loath Amazon's Ring of Power. Galadriel has no need for swords. She is one of the most powerful magic wielders to have ever walked Middle Earth. In RoP, Amazon has her behaving more like her eldest Uncle, than how she was written.
In the books, hobbits are actually really deadly with throwing rocks and slingshots etc- their aim is also really incredible. It’s a big trait of them that’s why you always see the hobbits throwing rocks and stuff through all six movies
"It is Dain, Lord of the Iron Hills"
And that is the title of my favourite Blind Guardian song : "When Time Stand Still at the Iron Hills" .. from the album "Nightfall in Middle-Earth" an epic metal-opera about "The Silmarillion" and the first age of Middle Earth. A MUST to listen for any Tolkien fan.
Little detail for ya: Balin was the same dwarf who bravely held out, and died in the cavern that the Fellowship got caught in. Interesting point from Pudgey about how in-sync the coordination is. It's even more remarkable in-world. Think of the speed of sound. Look at a crowd at a big concert. The people at the front hear the music in real time, but the people at the back hear it a little later. Imagine hearing an order from the chief: the further away in the ranks, the bigger the army is, the more out of sync they'd be. You could do that in-sync with everyone wearing earpieces, so they all get the order at the exact same time.
I ask this of the Aussie reaction channels, but have you thought of reacting to Heartbreak High? It ran for a few years in the late 90's. It's set around a High School in a diverse part of Sydney, dealing with lots of social issues of the day. I suggest it from the perspective of people who (I assume) went through the Aussie education system, to look at how realistic it is. There is a modern Heartbreak High that sees a few of the old students back as parents etc, so it's a "further on in the same timeline" thing.
Didn’t the youngest dwarf die there too, Ori or whatever the name was? I thought three of them died there
@@Catherine.Dorian. Yeah there was three of them, but Balin was the only one I remember being named in the movie, and it's been a LONG time since I read the book.
@@Catherine.Dorian. Balin, Ori and Oin all died in the Moria expedition. Balin was killed by an orc sniper. Oin fell to the Watcher in the Water. Ori died in Balin's tomb, still holding the Book of Mazarbul which Gandalf found and read from in LoTR.
I'm so glad you loved it! So many in the fandom are really unnecessarily cruel to these movies, and as a lifelong Tolkien nerd, I absolutely love them for themselves, and as a gorgeous trip back into the onscreen world of Middle-Earth. I loved the incorporation of lore and story from beyond The Hobbit -- including the White Council's fight against the Necromancer (right out of the timeline in the LOTR Appendices), and loved the expansions on Thranduil, Legolas (from the Tale of Years), and the addition of Tauriel (who I absolutely loved).
The Hobbit is a terrific children's book, but we never really get to know the dwarves at all, beyond Thorin and Balin (Fili and Kili we just know by name, and all we know about Bombur is that he's fat. Gloin has a moment or two but that's it). But these movies allowed us to get to know each dwarf, and to see Thorin as an exiled King (which he is in the Hobbit, but it's not really treated that way exactly). I will always love these movies so it was great to see an enthusiastic and positive reaction.
King Thranduil was not corrupted by treasures ,that jewel is the only memory left by her wife, an of courseLegolas too
21:05 that was Sir Christopher Lee`s last recorded Line ... forever. 2 Weeks later he sadly passed away ....
The old dwarf, the healer & the scribe - Balin, Oin and Ori, were some the dwarf skeletons the fellowship found, when they entered the mines of Moria. Remember the tomb said "Here lies Balin, Lord of Moria" 😢
Been watching you on and off for some time now, and I’ve really grown fond of your reactions. Thank you making days brighter
The person I feel the most for here is Dis, Fili and Kili’s mother and Thorin’s younger sister. She was waiting back in the Blue Mountains for word. Only to eventually learn her entire remaining family is wiped out in one shot
@SpartanandPudgey
Here is a small fact you wasnt aware of while watching the Fellowship of the ring, 1st movie. That young almost beardless dwarf was the skeleton holding the big book in Moria while the old white haired and bearded dwarf Dain was the dwarf who became the shortlived king of Moria and was burried in the tomb they find. So there was sort of a cameo by 2 of the dwarfs in the main trilogy thou as dead bodies.
51:29 Balin is the one who lies dead in the tomb in Moria in LotR btw.
Gandalf wearing the Ring of Fire explains why the Balrogs' fire doesn't hurt him, and also why Saruman's fireball doesn't affect him. Also he says on the bridge, fighting the Balrog, "'I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.".
Well, neither of those have anything to do with his ring. The Secret Fire is a reference to Eru, and the Flame Imperishable, the very essence of life, which Morgoth and Sauron cannot touch. They can only create mockeries of life, like the Orcs. Arnor is simply elvish for the Sun.
@@hoshinoutaiteFlame of Udun also means Flame of Darkness
Secret Fire is Eru Ilúvatar, the God for whom Gandalf is an angel.
Gandalf is the wizard of Light and Fire, so yes he already has those powers, but that is why Cirdan gave him Narya (the Ring of Fire) since it was a perfect match with his true nature. Ricmati is correct that the ring gives him additional resistances (I guess in RPG terms it would give him more stamina and more physical and spell resistance + flame resistance). It definitely helps him in the fight against the Balrog, but yes I agree with hoshi in that the things Gandalf lists do not reference the ring, but his own powers and origin from being a servant of the Valar, and Varda specifically, who created the stars and light. Gandalf is basically doing a wrestling or boxing match taunting of the enemy, listing his powers of Light and Fire and saying the Balrog has merely the corrupted dark versions of those, so he should back off.
@@dominantprime No one actually knows why Cirdan gave him the ring. It is not mentioned anywhere. It is just hinted that Cirdan perhaps suspected who he really was since Gandalf has never revealed to anyone who he really is or his true purpose in Middle-Earth.
I don’t remember if you guys mentioned it or if someone else said it but the Dwalin actor is the Lord Commander of The Kings guard in House of The Dragon
Wonderful. I got emotional watching the reactions.
I think coming into Tolkiens world AFTER Martin’s is what makes you doubt things will go the predicted way - like the one arrow actually slaying Smaug. Martin subverted expectations by placing a lot more realism into a fantastical setting.
A little fun trivia about Gollum:
He did follow Bilbo from the Misty Mountains as far as Mirkwood (where Legolas and his kin live). The Mirkwood elves took him prisoner and held him there for several decades, treating him with dignity and respect and trying to do the best they could for him. Closer to the events of the Fellowship, the Mirkwood Guard took Gollum out to the forest where he could climb and have a little freedom under their watch, but he climbed a tree and refused to come down. They camped around the tree waiting for him to climb back down to them, but as they waited, a band of Orcs came through, slaughtered them all before help child arrive, and stole Gollum away to the Black Gate, where he was tortured until he gave up the location of the Ring.
Recognizing the danger of this, Thranduil sent Legolas to meet with Lord Elrond in Rivendell, which is when Legolas encountered Frodo and became part of the Fellowship.
Tauriel was a made-for-movie character, but within the canon of the Hobbit movies, she’s the captain of the Mirkwood Guard, meaning that within the movie canon, she helped care for Gollum and, unfortunately, was slaughtered along with her men shortly before the events of the Fellowship.
Glad you enjoyed these! I really enjoyed following your journey through all 6 movies.
Yeah Galadriel is one of the oldest beings in the middle earth.
Big thing for Tolkiens mythos is the diminishing of power through time. She is from the days of the first light and trees of Valinor. To keep it brief she gazed upon the primordial light and carries the strength of the pure light essence within herself. She literally studied and grown under one of the God's. She is probably the strongest being we saw in all of the films in her prime, maybe even strong as Sauron
She learned from all the Valar and it’s stated in the books she learned all there was to be taught and she became peerless even back then in the zenith years of Arda.
Yes. Her type of elf clan so to speak was the ones able to challenge Valar themselves. Her uncle Fingolfin have Morgoth 7 permanent wounds which caused a forever limp that which also caused his generals to mock him for eternity and upon the eagles who came to retrieve Fingolfin’s body, practically blinded Morgoth with their talons and turned his crown into a permanent collar around his wretched neck. Her half uncle Fëanor slayed many balrogs before gothmog the king of balrogs killed him. And only after the dual was lost to an unfair fight as one of the other balrogs remaining essentially tied him up in a fire whip.
Sauron is stated to be the strongest being in the Middle-earth during the war of the ring of the Third age (it's said in the Lord of the rings, it's said by Tolkien in his letters), and he's in his diminished form, let's imagine in his apex he was the strongest maiar (for above a simple elve), and you forget Tom Bombadil and the Istari as their full form
@@alexandreleveque8394 I specified in the movies as we never saw tom. Valinor galadriel measures up to gandalf and saruman much like feanor and other ancient elves did, specifically in feats. First age elves are ubercharged in terms of powerscale
One of the reasons I personally find the first movie the most likable: the fighting in the last two is just too unbelievable even for a fantasy movie. Epic? Sure. But the impact is lessened by the 'the stuntmen really had a workday' and 'must have been quite a cable setup to fling them around' thoughts that pull you out of the story immersion (so at least I ended up feeling the most immersed in the first one).
And I have to add that for me at least they didn't quite manage to pull off the mix of kid and adult target audiences - I think they should have chosen one or the other (or at least leaned more toward one or the other), because it was quite... almost annoying (well, maybe disappointing) to see softened-up orcs and goblins after the original trilogy. I guess they did more cartooney fights because of the kids, so there's that, too. And yes, before anyone comes at me about the book - I know it's a children's book. I've actually read it. But I think they should have stuck with that target audience or adopted the original LotR style for this story, too. Overall, I think they just should have done their character work better - in the original trilogy the nine companions all had personality and now most of the companions were just 'one of the dwarves'. I could maybe list out the names but I certainly couldn't allocate them to the rightful owners, which is a shame.
@@keltavuokko Bet you haven't seen the extended cut. It's definitely not for kids
Interesting to read this because i think the exact opposite. I struggle to watch the LOTR movies these days because the early 2000's makeup and costumes and CGI is sooo dated. It immediately takes my brain into a space where im looking at the dated effects. Special or practical, they are just too obviously fake. Especially the orcs from LOTR. I think smaug and 5 armies are my favorite 2 movies from either series. Just a difference in how our brains view a scene.
@@robjamysan718 its impossible to be factually incorrect about an opinion. Idrc how good the costumes were "for the time", i recently watched it on this channel, the costumes were trash. 22 years later it feels unwatchable. Hobbit is just better
If you remember in the Fellowship of the Ring, Galadriel said "In place of a dark lord you would have a queen", she wasn't kidding.
I love this trilogy .. it's not LOTR level but it's great and very much worth the watch
Practical is always better
@@TheShadow8771No shit. That’s not why this trilogy sucked though.
@kurtrivero368 that's your opinion I love the Hobbit movies
These hobbit moves suck big time... Objectively.
@@VoltesWithElias again that's your opinion
The old dwarf, Balin, is the same one Gimli mentions. “My cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome” talking about Moria. So Balin led an expedition of his own to reclaim Khazad-dum (Moria) and died there eventually.
Legolas was alive during the events of Smaug and Erebor, but was not at all apart of anything that happened. Tauriel was also an added character, not apart of lore/canon. Gandalf, as his mission to begin with, and what the Hobbits dubbed him “disturber of the peace”, was just that. He deliberately set in motion a chain of events, to lead to a powerful Erebor and reestablished Dale, more amended relations between Woodland Realm and Dwarves, because not only did Sauron attack Gondor, but at the same time he sent armies to attack Dale, Erebor, and Thranduil simultaneously as his attack on Gondor.
Very good stuff, you guys should read more about it all either in the many history books, or the more accessible Quora app, where you can add Tolkiens works and read tons and tons of stuff about that world.
The best part, it’s timeless, and the story is always there for us.
Both Legolas and Thranduil are awesome
@10:45 That "brave little boy," Bard's son Brand, is King of Dale at the time of the War of the Ring, and dies fighting beside Dain, King Under the Mountain, at the gates of Erebor when Sauron's forces overrun Rhovanion (that region of Middle Earth wherein lie Mirkwood, the Long Lake, and the Lonely Mountain). This is around the same time that the Battle of the Pelennor Fields was fought before the gates of Minas Tirith. That whole part of the story was left out of the movies, and in fact the book itself! Tolkien only relates the tale as a sort of afterthought, in the appendices to the Lord of the Rings: Gandalf is all like "Oh yeah, while we were fighting Sauron's forces here in Gondor, literally everybody else was fighting them literally everywhere else too. Sorry I forgot to mention it before." Now I think on it, LotR was a very Gondor-centric telling of the tale of the War of the Ring. Kind of like how there's no Brits or Frenchmen or Aussies or Canadians in Saving Private Ryan. 😜
I find "fans" these days hate any sequeal or prequael no matter how good they are.
Im glad you like these movies. I loved them. Sure LOTR is teh better movies, but this was still a 5 star movie trilogy. - Its the same with movies like Star Wars. They compare everything to their childhood memories of the older movies. Never compare, just enjoy how good they are for what they are!
In the book, Kili, Fili and Thorin are the only dwarves of the company who die. This is significant, because it means, as you noted, the bloodline of Thorin was gone, leaving Dain to take Erebor, and he lacks the interest in other races that Thorin and Balin would have. While they fight orcs invading the north, they don't join the men fighting in the south.
Thanks guys. I haven't watched these movies since they first came out in the cinema (unlike LOTR which I've rewatched hundreds of times) and as someone who grew up with the book, I remember being really disappointed. However, rewatching them along with you and seeing you geek out over the fight scenes and character development moments has kind of given me a new appreciation for them. They're not a good adaptation of the book but they are a pretty great adventure trilogy and cool movies in their own right. I'm a grumpy old sod so it's nice to actually get a more positive outlook on something for once. Cheers!
54:23 When gandalf enters bilbo's house the first time in the fellowship of the rings he saw that exact same map in the same spot, not a word, but like Obi wan in "a new hope" where he foreshadowed the clone war in just 2 words, that map after watching the hoobit, hits differently
I love how much yall loved the Tolkien world, i grew up with these stories and the original movies. It took me back to my childhood.❤
"He had to go forth and do his mission"... But he came 5th and lost his beer money.
Great casting, Billy Connelly as Dain.
I'm glad you guys enjoyed the hobbit movies despite the general opinion, I personally love this trilogy.
Me too. I think many had the unrealistic expectation that it would be similar to the Lord of the Rings trilogy & be able to match it cinematically which is an impossible task. If you judge it on it’s own, it’s very good. The Lord of the Rings is an amazing work of art & it’s a shame the wonder story & movie The Hobbit has ti wallow in its shadow. Besides, any time in Middle-Earth is enjoyable & time well spent. I really enjoyed the Hobbit trilogy & loved #2 & 3 the most while many consider #1 the best somehow🤷♂️
I enjoy them for what they are and try not to compare them too much to Lord of the Rings. I think there is a lot of fun to be had if you think of the movie more the way the Hobbit book was meant - a more lighthearted and enjoyable fantasy tale that Tolkien undoubtedly put effort into since he always put effort in, but it was ultimately for fun for his children.
@@KenjiMapes Hobbit an unexpected journey is the best cause it's the part most similar to the hobbit book. especially that part in the beginning where it's just bilbo and the dwarves talking and eating. the hobbit is a children's book of a simple journey not some epic world war and end times lord of the rings. I think the problem is really that they did make it too similar to the lord of the rings trilogy and went 3 part epic battle summerblockbuster. howard shore's original score is in hobbit #1 also, the rest of the music just feels a bit borrowed from LotR and altered. They play concerning hobbits for the shire music in the hobbit #1 so of course it's gonna be liked a lot. =)
Fun Facts: Elrond is also known as Elrond Half-elven. His parents, himself and his twin brother Elros were half elves. They and their parents performed a great mission to seek out the Valar (gods) for assistance in the First war against evil. Normally people would be killed for approaching. As they risked their lives to save Elves and Men, they were given a choice of which ancestry they would embody. His mom chose elf. His dad wanted to choose human, but for the sake of his wife he chose elf. Elrond chose elf (immortality) and became a full elf. Elros chose human (mortality) and became a full human. His powerful gifted blood did give him a lifespan of five hundred years. His twenty two sons became the first Numenor Kings. Eventually the bloodline leads to the birth of (Your Boy) Aragorn, the King of Gondor.
18:31 All 3 elven ring bearers in 1 scene together.
Sam became Mayor of Hobbiton for pretty much the rest of his life.
OMG! I was so much waiting for your reaction to the Galadriel and you guys made it worth the wait! Galadriel is one of most favorite characters of the series and your reactions were just amazing. I wish the rings of power tried to capture what Peter Jackson did with Galadriel. I think I love the Hobbit series for the same reasons; it gives extension to the lore of the lotr and provides backstories of each character and builds up the foundations of the myths and the legends. Plus, Peter Jackson has done a marvelous job of making this saga epic. That "BAGINSEZ" voiceover was hilarious. The 'LEGO-LASS"!!!!! I think THIS IS MY MOST FAV REACTION OF YOURS!!! You guys should react to the rings of power!
Ancalagon the Black Dragon was larger than mountains. Smaug is one of the smaller dragons in middle-earth haha.
I really enjoyed your guys' reaction to LoTR and The Hobbit, subscribing for sure. I'll leave a little suggestion for a tv series I think you'd enjoy. It's called "The Expanse" and it's a sci-fi, action, mystery, drama and it's honestly the best sci-fi series ever. Everything in terms of how ships and the technology they use is explained so you won't encounter stuff like in star wars that you just have to accept as they are.
Hope you guys read this comment and consider giving it a try!
bombur with that massive horn is simultaneously one of the coolest and funniest things i've seen in a movie
will never understand while after the 41:25 scene, directors cut the 15 second interaction between gandalf and thranduil.....
This movie was Sir Christopher Lee's last movie before he passed away in 2015. "Leave Sauron to me." was his line ever.
Since he was in his 90's during the shoot, he couldn't travel to New Zealand for the shoot so for his shots in An Unexpected Journey and this movie, were filmed in Pinewood Studios. Beisdes the closeups, he didn't do any fighting as he couldn't do it at that time, so his fighting were done by a stunt double that had his face replaced with a digital mask of Lee, similiarly how they did with Count Dooku in Star Wars Episodes II and III (even if he was in his 80's at the time and could fight more, his movement in his legs were limited and therefor a lot of the lightsaber fighting except for midshots and close-ups were done by stunt double Kyle Rowling).
The main reason the fandom is split with the Hobbit is because of the vast amounts of stuff they invented to fill the films out. Legolas isn't in the book, neither are the white council. And several characters are purely invented (Tauriel). Just the veering from canon generally. The action sequences are arguably ott and even jumping the shark in places, especially in the Battle of 5 Armies. Taken in isolation they are still entertaining movies
I can live with the extra stuff as it adds more depth to some of the characters in the book and/or act as devices to tie this story to the Lord of the Rings. Obviously, I would've preferred more accurate portrayal as well. At least this is still light years away from a travesty that is the Rings of Power.
There are other reasons people do not like The Hobbit films, I personally do not have a problem with adding stuff in an adaptation, however I do not think that what was added to The Hobbit films improved the story.
Actually the white council is in the book though only mentioned at the very end in a conversation between Elrond and Gandalf, how he, during the dwarfs' Mirkwood adventure, and with the help of the white council drove out the Necromancer out of Dol Guldur. So with the help of the appendecis you could include it though it differs a bit.
@@michaelmursanow7798mentioned yes not present I meant
Never took the critique of the hobbit movies seriously, Jackson did a marvelous job making a simple story of the hobbit much closer to the level of lotr than the book itself by adding lot of the lore Tolkien wrote later. Glad you enjoyed the movies, they arent lotr level, but they are still great and we should be grateful for all 6 of them, seeing what kind of lotr "content" we are supposed to enjoy in 2023.
The five armies are:
•Men from Laketown
•Elves from the Mirkwood
•Dwarves from the Iron Hills (and those few from Erebor… they don’t count as an “army”)
•Orcs from Dol Guldur
•Orcs from the Mount Dundabad
They are not five tribes, but five armies.
And in the book, a wolf army instead of a 2nd orc army.
How about the goblin mercenaries?
I HAD TO PAUSE AT 41:31 and giggle at what Spartan said to Pudgey... It was so sweettt.. I was blushing for Pudgey. 😂❤
I dont get why people didnt like Thranduil, I fucking love this guy lmao such a fucking badass
Same, he has no time for annoying people lol
To be honest Thranduil is one of the best looking elves in both Lotr and Hobbit. He is just spot on there and actually closest to how elves should look like.
Lots of people like him though.
I didn’t like him until the movies (probably bc Lee Pace is so handsome lol). Book Thrandruil was so unreasonably mean to the dwarves I couldn’t stand him. He’s also very classist/racist it makes him an annoying obstacle
@@Taewills Oh yes, asking them what they are doing in his kingdom, so unreasonable!
Alfrid Lickspittle is a despicable character and Ryan Gage who plays him is fantastic in the role 😁
And god I love when Dwalin scolds Thorin "You sit here in these vast halls with a crown upon your head and yet you are lesser now than you have ever been." ....
A wizard is never late ⏰ (first)
Dain actually became a really good King, During the war of the Ring the Humans retreated to Erebor with the Dwarves to defend it. When the Orcs laid siege to Erebor he died fighting over the body of King Brand of Dale (Bard's Grandson).