Critics review 'Desolation of Smaug' | POSSIBLE SPOILERS

bungobaggins wrote:Because Rich Evans plays "Fake Plinkett." He's not the same Plinkett from the reviews.

Radaghast wrote:Bring on the
, PT!

Eldorion wrote:

bungobaggins wrote:Because Rich Evans plays "Fake Plinkett." He's not the same Plinkett from the reviews.

Rich Evans is actually the original Plinkett. He was playing the character before Mike started reviewing Star Trek, and later Star Wars and various other movies.

As likewise established in the books, Bilbo begins work on his account (writing The Hobbit – the very book that you have read and loved!) a full sixty years after returning from his adventure with the Company. While sixty years may not be as large a portion of a hobbit’s life as it is a human’s, it is still a frightfully long span, and details would undoubtedly have been lost in the belated telling. Similarly, there would have been events that occurred in and around the Company of dwarves’ travels that the hobbit may not have been privy to.

This alone, from a storytelling and structural standpoint, is all the license the filmmakers needed to expand upon the text of the novel. You can either see Tauriel as an invented character, or simply as someone Bilbo had very little personal interaction with. After all, in The Desolation of Smaug, she is just one of the many Mirkwood elves to Bilbo’s eyes, and the two have next to no interaction. There is no evidence that he even knows her name.

As such, it stands to reason that Tauriel and nearly all she does could have been a key role in the Company’s adventure that Bilbo never wrote about because he wasn’t aware of her influence. Similarly, he would’ve been unaware of her friendship with Kili and how that bond and responsibility she feels for his fate is ultimately what drives her into leaving the borders of her land to help others.

Kili’s courage during the barrel escape and the splitting up of the dwarves at Laketown could be viewed as details forgotten by Bilbo, or deemed distractions from his narrative, for they would have been ultimately overshadowed by Kili’s sacrifice in the Battle of Five Armies. Similarly, the fact that some of the dwarves were split up on the journey is secondary to the fact they were all reunited again for the battle. Thorin’s attempts to kill Smuag while still within the mountain could have been blurred over time in Bilbo’s mind, for they were harried and ultimately failures in the face of Bard’s success.

It is fun to imagine that what we’re seeing on screen is the fleshed-out “reality” of the Company’s adventures rather than the (possibly limited) account Bilbo gives us over half a century after the events. How seriously Tolkien intended readers to interpret his words as Bilbo’s is unclear, however, the possibilities of opening the story up to influences outside of Bilbo’s knowledge is exciting.

Eldorion wrote:www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/12/16/84878-are-we-watching-bilbos-memories/

bungobaggins wrote:I saw that earlier. I thought I would try a little ELE.

Forest Shepherd wrote:The idea that what I am reading in The Hobbit is the written work of Bilbo is so utterly unnecessary, and awkward given the modern voice of the narrator, to my enjoyment of the story that I will never put any credence to the idea. I don't care what Tolkien apparently wanted; I read it as having a modern narrator.

And by the way, the title of that article is misleading. What the author is claiming is that we are watching what really happened, not the messed-up version that our silly, childish books contain.

Eldorion wrote:Oh man, this brings back memories.  DOS must have people desperate.  I haven't heard this particular "explanation" of PJ's deviations in years.

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/12/16/84878-are-we-watching-bilbos-memories/

As likewise established in the books, Bilbo begins work on his account (writing The Hobbit – the very book that you have read and loved!) a full sixty years after returning from his adventure with the Company. While sixty years may not be as large a portion of a hobbit’s life as it is a human’s, it is still a frightfully long span, and details would undoubtedly have been lost in the belated telling. Similarly, there would have been events that occurred in and around the Company of dwarves’ travels that the hobbit may not have been privy to.

so thats it? poor old addled Bilbo forgot Tauriel and Akog being not dead, well that explains EVERYTHING   

This alone, from a storytelling and structural standpoint, is all the license the filmmakers needed to expand upon the text of the novel. You can either see Tauriel as an invented character, or simply as someone Bilbo had very little personal interaction with.  After all, in The Desolation of Smaug, she is just one of the many Mirkwood elves to Bilbo’s eyes, and the two have next to no interaction. There is no evidence that he even knows her name.

maybe he just dreamed about her one night, he must have got bored in that palace

As such, it stands to reason that Tauriel and nearly all she does could have been a key role in the Company’s adventure that Bilbo never wrote about because he wasn’t aware of her influence. Similarly, he would’ve been unaware of her friendship with Kili and how that bond and responsibility she feels for his fate is ultimately what drives her into leaving the borders of her land to help others.

part from the fact that Kili went to the mountain with everyone and didnt get stuck with an arrow

Kili’s courage during the barrel escape and the splitting up of the dwarves at Laketown could be viewed as details forgotten by Bilbo, or deemed distractions from his narrative, for they would have been ultimately overshadowed by Kili’s sacrifice in the Battle of Five Armies. Similarly, the fact that some of the dwarves were split up on the journey is secondary to the fact they were all reunited again for the battle. Thorin’s attempts to kill Smuag while still within the mountain could have been blurred over time in Bilbo’s mind, for they were harried and ultimately failures in the face of Bard’s success.

they were locked up in the barrels doubt if Bilbo would have forgotten a small detail like that

It is fun to imagine that what we’re seeing on screen is the fleshed-out “reality” of the Company’s adventures rather than the (possibly limited) account Bilbo gives us over half a century after the events. How seriously Tolkien intended readers to interpret his words as Bilbo’s is unclear, however, the possibilities of opening the story up to influences outside of Bilbo’s knowledge is exciting.

FUN?? are you joking?