The Hobbit: There and Back Again

[green_amberjade]

They've released a couple of set pictures from the new Hobbit movies. Words cannot describe my giddy reaction at seeing Bilbo Baggins, who has to be the most adorable Hobbit in existence. Not that I don't love Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry, but BILBO! My first literary love!

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[lithiumlaughter]

Whatever Jackson did, he did with the utmost respect for Tolkien's work. So much of the universe is hidden in Tolkien's notes and in the appendices of the main books. Jackson brought a lot of that to life because he freaking loves the world and all its stories.

Aragorn. ARAGORN. When the movies first came out, I was all about Legolas. Now, my heart beats only for the scruffy dude named Strider who's got to go and become King one day.

Also, how much do I love Faramir and Eowyn's scene together in the Houses of Healing? SO. MUCH. I love them both in the movies, which is wonderful because they're so awesome in the books. It translates SO WELL. I remember reading 'The Return of the King' for the first time and falling in love with Eowyn for being so awesome and hardcore and the bestest warrior woman ever, and in love with Faramir for being willing to take a chance on her. The lines she speaks, something like "Oh, what, so you're going to say that you tamed a sheildmaiden of Rohan? Bull."
And then he's all "No, seriously, I love you."
Frick. I was, what, twelve? Thirteen maybe? That first time around and I swooned like nothing else.

[green_amberjade]

Amen. There is an immense body of Tolkien's work, some of which hasn't even been published (if Christopher Tolkien's ability to continue to find work and publish it to this day is any indication) and a lot of it is fragmented. For Jackson to go through all of that work and string together everything he could to present LOTR in the best light possible, that speaks deeply of his love for the series.

And you know that I'm now going to try to work my way through the Unfinished Tales in order to try and figure out how the Necromancer is going to fit into the Hobbit films.

I still remember how all of my friends were divided up between Frodo and Legolas. It was only me and one other girl who were swooning over the man who would be King.

EEEEEE!!!! There is just so much that occurs in that scene and with them not saying anything at all! I still remember when I saw ROTK in theatres and was worried that they weren't going to include the romance of Faramir and Eowyn. I was crushed. But then Jackson saved the day with the coronation scene where they're just standing together and again, no words are ever said, but you can tell that they are together. It was one of the things that I really respected about the movie trilogy - it told the story with the words that weren't spoken just as much as the words that were.

[lithiumlaughter]

Oh, Christopher Tolkien. Secretly I wonder if he's not just writing the stuff at this point, but that's probably overly cynical. Tolkien was absolutely meticulous. If the man can develop numerous languages with their own idioms and nuances (see the hobbits), and numerous dialects of one specific language (see the elves), it wouldn't surprise me if he had scads and scads upon scads of notes, records and the like.

Heh. I have a copy of "Unfinished Tales" that I really ought to read one of these days. I adore the Silmarillion; the stories of Eru and the Valar in particular always awe me.

My friends group was pretty much unanimous in swooning over Legolas. It's only later that I now have a ridiculous thing for deep appreciation of the character of Aragorn. The fact that Viggo Mortensen is such a great and involved actor helps. Dude, the guy slept in costume with his sword in a camp he set up himself outside the shooting area. This is to say nothing of the preparation he did for his role as a Russian mobster in "Eastern Promises". The man is AMAZING.

I KNOW. That scene never fails to make me sigh with happiness. I also am rather fond of the scene they have together in the Houses of Healing, where she's looking out over the darkness and feeling hopeless before Faramir comes up behind her and spreads a little optimism. Those two are pitch perfect together, and their relationship follows well on the heels of Eowyn's crush on Aragorn. It's so well dealt with. Tolkien was a master in how he did it in the books, and Jackson (at the risk of repeating myself) translated it beautifully.

[green_amberjade]

Secretly? LOL You're not the only one who wonders. But in all seriousness, I am grateful to Christopher for publishing his father's work posthumously. I absolutely adore Letters From Father Christmas and The Silmarillion is a beautiful edition to LOTR. Seeing as how CT published twelve volumes just filled with his father's notes as well as his own small essays, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. Although with two new works out recently, one does wonder.

Viggo Mortensen is amazing, no question. Just hearing about his dedication to the role helped me to understand the difference between real actors and pretty faces. Although, it must be said that Orlando Bloom did an excellent role with Legolas who is a much less conflicted character than Aragorn. The entire series was extremely well cast, and I have faith that the same will happen again for The Hobbit movies.

[lithiumlaughter]

I think we all owe Christopher for the way he's keeping his father's legacy alive. We're so privileged that he 'took up the mantle' and continues to share Middle Earth with us. I've actually considered investing in those twelve volumes. I owned one on Rohan and the language of the Horselords way back when (the only thing I remember is that in their language, it's Scadufax; Shadowfax is the name's rendering in the common tongue), but have no idea where it is now. Sigh.

It's so bizarre; Mortensen is so soft spoken and so quietly intelligent. Then you see him act and HOLY CRAP. He's not Viggo anymore. He's that character. I wasn't crazy about 'Hidalgo', but everything else I've seen him in I have absolutely loved. The man lives and breathes his characters. I've got to point to his work in 'Eastern Promises' one more time -- he went and spent some time in Siberia, and actually hung out with people he describes as being 'of ill repute'. He spent time in a prison there too, and one of the convicts had this set of worry beads made from melted down BIC lighters. This convict gave these beads to Viggo to use during shooting. Seriously. If that's not hardcore, I don't know what is.

Orlando was a good Legolas. Elves are supposed to be sort of pretty-boys, and while they do allow him to do some mugging for the camera (SHIELD SURFING SERIOUSLY), he was still enjoyable. I'm just impressed at how well everyone on the cast did with the Elvish; if I'm remembering correctly, they had two professional linguists on set who helped translate things to Elvish and work with the actors on speaking it. I always thought that was awesome.

The point here being, I guess, that Jackson appreciates attention to detail, and we can fully expect the same love to come out in this new chapter of Middle Earth.