Confirmed Cast So Far

I agree. I would be super pissed and all that, but Evangeline Lilly in the Hobbit.. all of a sudden this Taurig character or whatever the name was sounds like a very good idea

Ringdrotten wrote:I agree. I would be super pissed and all that, but Evangeline Lilly in the Hobbit.. all of a sudden this Taurig character or whatever the name was sounds like a very good idea

For some reason I read that as traurig, despite having been out of German for over a year. It seems fitting, though.

Can't remember when reading the hobbit encountering any fit females in the reading. Maybe the words from those bits fell out of my edition (thankfully).
Her name does imply some connection to the Thranduil doesn't it? Oh dear an elven princess.
No matter how attractive the actress it cannot and will not compensate for what is a terrible idea.
Stop mucking with the source PJ!

"Stop mucking with the source PJ!"

You're wasting your breath (or the energy it takes to type that)

By the way, what happened to the buckie signature? I quite liked that one (Not that there's anything wrong with the new one!)

Just that Doctor line made me laugh when I was watching some classic episodes. I like to change my sig fairly regularly.

"You're wasting your breath"

You never know whose reading Ringdrotten. Best make my opinion crystal clear just in case anyone of influence drops by (especially now we are obviously the premiere site for this sort of thing).

If PJ were to read our discussions, I'm not sure if he would be swayed to the purist side or if he would continue changing things with redoubled conviction.

Surely he would see the error of his way, repent and redeem himself by actually adaptng the book in question? No?

Eldorion wrote:I note they say there is no romantic connection to Legolas, but given that her name means "daughter of Mirkwood" (or they claim it does; I'm not sure but I don't think that's the actual meaning) I wonder if she's supposed to be Legolas' sister.

More technically it would mean 'Forest-daughter' (no mirk)

I was pretty sure that taur was forest but I couldn't remember for sure. Thanks, Elthir!

Tauriel seems more fitting than Itaril in any event... Itaril being the Quenya form for Idril.

In general the issue of the language(s) spoken by the Tawarwaith of Mirkwood is somewhat confusing (Tolkien not making his mind up -- or at least it's hard to tell what his latest decision was here), but the choices were arguably some form(s) of Sindarin or Silvan. Legolas is a Silvan pronunciation of a Sindarin name (Laegolas).

I assume more heaps of fan-invented Neo-Sindarin will be tossed into these films!

One can only assume that is the case, especially if they bring David Salo back.

EDIT: A few minutes of Googling reveals several convention websites that state that he is working on The Hobbit.

Thanks Eldorion!

At least 'they' can't leave actual Elvish -- Tolkien-made Elvish -- at the doorstep this time, as was largely done with The Lord of the Rings.

Off the top of my head I can't recall there being much in the way of sopken elvish in TH, beautiful as the languages are I really don't want them making up even more bits just to have some in.

Had to double check the casting news for Barry HUmphries before posting this to make sure it was the same actor and not just the same name (actor or entertainer mmm, is he known for more acting Down Under than here? Wiki lists very little thats not related to his drag act or his Sir Les act). Whilst I tend to think comedians often make excellent serious actors last time I saw Barry Humphries I thought 'You should really be giving it up,' the wit and quickness didn't seem to be as good any more , perhaps not suprising at 77.

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He certainly has a good face for the animators to work with I'll say that for the casting.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Off the top of my head I can't recall there being much in the way of sopken elvish in TH, beautiful as the languages are I really don't want them making up even more bits just to have some in.

Hmm, yes I don't remember a single example outside of the nomenclature (orcrist 'goblin-cleaver' and so on).

What I found notable is that for The Lord of the Rings, Jackson and crew not only added fan-invented Elvish, but did so while largely tossing aside Tolkien made examples! They paid a person to make up 'possible' Sindarin instead of just finding ways to incorporate actual Sindarin. Moreover...

'(...) But this provides yet another example of how little appreciation Jackson had for the tone and "feel" of Tolkien's work. Yes, Jackson went to considerable length to include Elvish in the movie: but he did so mostly by _discarding_ Tolkien's _own_ Elvish exemplars -- which, please note, are almost entirely in the form of songs, poems, spells, and exclamations made in crisis or _de profundis_ that are used sparingly so as to punctuate the story and to not cheapen the effect of the Elvish -- and instead substituting for them long passages of made-up "Elvish" (however skillfully) constituting (mostly banal) _dialogue_ of the sort entirely _missing_ from Tolkien's own application of Elvish in his story (or anywhere else).'

Carl Hostetter

In Jackson's partial defense, maybe he thinks the situation comparable to hiring someone to produce German, or even Latin examples, for his film, and thus thinks he has provided 'Elvish' if he's got an expert on the job. Many people seem to think Tolkien's languages are so complete, even complete enough with regard to idiom it seems, that one simply needs to be an 'expert' to produce something that can be called Elvish rather than Neo-elvish.

In any event there is still the issue of having inarguable Elvish to hand and not using it. Jackson could have saved money by sticking closer to the author here in any case!

Of course I don't imagine that Jackson or crew would necessarily care, nor great numbers of fans either: it's Elvish or close enough some might say -- and seemingly mean it considering the amount of Neo-elvish tattoo requests on the web these days -- and anyway (some might add), if the characters really spoke Sindarin, then how can it be 'wrong' to have one say: 'sit down Legolas' in Grey-elven... or whatever?


Ah well; anyway, I'm guessing the same cooks will deliver the same soup.

"Jackson and crew not only added fan-invented Elvish, but did so while largely tossing aside Tolkien made examples!"

Why am I not in the least bit suprised at this. After all they did the same with Tolkiens dialogue and charcaterizations in LotR why treat elvish any different.

I should add that some might claim that since certain songs were left out (or used as 'background' possibly), so went chunks of actual Elvish... but to that I would say that even some very good films include songs, and not merely for background.



I just went to a site that looks at all the Elvish in the films, and it notes that Gandalf's (actual Elvish from the books): 'Annon Edhellen edro hi ammen' was in The Fellowship of the Ring in theaters, but the next part: 'Fennas Nogothrim lasto beth lammen' was only in the extended version.

I guess those precious seconds of screen time were needed elsewhere, for the theatrical version

That would mean seconds less of fightng a troll, seconds less of a collapsing staircase, seconds less of Frodo dangling from a tentacle, or the secondss Gandalf seems to hang from the Bridge while noone rescues him. But hey why worry about dialogue or developing character when there's a spectacle to be had you've just made up off the top of your head that morning in the 10th script rewrite of the day.
Its only Tolkien can't expect the adaptars to actually respect the source. That would be silly.

"some very good films include songs, and not merely for background."- Elthir

The Wickerman springs immediately to mind, but not the rubbish remake obviouly. More songs than the average musical and its a horror film.



Adult themes.

A perfect example of how to incorporate music into a setting in a way that makes it just part ofthe films representation of the culture. And the film Christopher Lee is most proud of.

And for the sheer hell of it I'm bunging some more of the songs on the youtube thread now Ive started listening to them again for this one. My fav film of all time.

Mr Tyrant, I suddenly had this idea for a movie about an Ozhobbit who has a grandad who died and left his violin behind, then grew up and married a beautiful woman and had two kids, one a baby boy, the other a young girl riding a bike, caught a train and didn't know how to fly a kite, and then he bought a black akubra hat and went driving, possibly after his wife and kids left him because he had had an affair with drug addict called Sue, who then died. What do you think? I can already imagine the songs!


.... Mmm... and I must look for The Wicker Man in Family Video Land.

Yes I think I can picture it Odo, in fact I can even hear the music and picture are forming! So thats what a black akubra hat gets used for- handy and suprising!

I apologize if this may seem a bit "a few posts ago", but I just read in my local newspaper the news about this Tauriel character. The actress is very pretty and everything, but I was hoping that there wouldn't be a made up character. My crabbit meter is rising. And I'm sure it will burst if she and Legolas have a romance

They won't, Tin I agree with you and the rest, though, I don't like this new character either (even if I'm not unhappy with the choice of actress ). This only means less time for the original material, the only material we're not getting news about it seems

Ringdrotten wrote:They won't, Tin I agree with you and the rest, though, I don't like this new character either (even if I'm not unhappy with the choice of actress ). This only means less time for the original material, the only material we're not getting news about it seems

Well to be fair, most of us know about the source material. What do you want the man to do? Come out and say "Yeah, we're basically going to The Hobbit exactly as it is- characters, plot- everything!" And then we wouldn't get news about Evangeline Lilly, who I respect as a talented actress! So everything is good! Hooray!

Just a confirmation they're working on original material as well would be nice As to Lilly, read my previous comments and you'll find we are in agreement

Tinuviel wrote:And I'm sure it will burst if she and Legolas have a romance

Well, like Ringdrotten said, that is unlikely given that PJ has specifically mentioned that Tauriel and Legolas don't have a romantic connection. However, if Tauriel is an evolution of the Itaril concept, than it is possible she will have a romance with some other Elf, as Itaril was rumored to