First Article Published by TheOneRing.net!

[ainu_laire]

Firstly, a belated happy birthday to Cami, and happy birthday to Larner! Hope you both have excellent b-days.

I just published my first article on TORn about potential film characters. Unfortunately they got my old copy, before I edited it after Suzll's suggestions (ugh), but oh well. There are illustrations there, too! You can read it here.

Comments

[cairistiona7]

Good article... love the cartoon and Bilbo's very firm and quick, "No." Having that sort of thing in the film would be like watching a bad fanfic. *shudder*

I'm with you on the additional characters... done right, they'll add the same sort of texture and depth that the Rohan family did LOTR. They added one more emotional connection and didn't detract, for the simple fact that they were so well done that they *could* have been in the book. So yes, bring on the extra characters!

And I'm with you about Bard... I really do hope we see an expansion of his role, although I'm wondering when in the world they'll cast him. I still have a half-formed, usually-easily-dismissed-but-not-always dread that Legolas will be the one to shoot Smaug....

[inzilbeth_liz]

A well written and well argued piece, Laire. Congratulations!
I'm personally not convinced about the need to create extended families for any of these characters. This is Bilbo's story, not Thranduil's nor Bard's. Much as I would like to know more about them, let's face it, the only additional material of any real interest would be lying lost and forgotten somewhere in Christopher Tolkien's attic! If the film makers now find the original story insufficient to tick all the boxes then I feel the error was in deciding to make two films rather than one. Adding characters is begining to look suspiciously like padding to me. I do, however, very much hope I'm proved wrong!

[suzll]

Yay, it's up! The illustrations are awesome. As I said before, I'm so happy you wrote this, you raise fab points. As for my own opinions, I could be original and say my own thoughts, but because I'm lazy I'll just quote from the email I got from my best friend, which essentially mirrors my own views:

"I don't know what to think about all these new characters. On the one hand, bringing in random beautiful elves screams CHEESY to no end. On the other hand, we all would like to see White Council stuff. As for that upstaging Bilbo, well, it reminds me of how yes, Bilbo's trip to the Lonely Mountain is what the Hobbit is about, but... in the grand scheme of things, that journey is only a little piece of the puzzle that Gandalf had the luck to happen to arrange - but yet a pretty crucial piece!

"Surely you don't disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself? You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine

[estelcontar1]

Congratulations. I liked it. It's well written and very coherent. I do agree with Inzilbeth. That is the reason why I must admit that since I learned the second movie was not going to be based about material from the LOTR appendices,I lost a lot of interest in the entire project.

Like Inzilbeth too. I do very much wish to be proved wrong.

[nierielraina]

I saw it on Facebook, Laire. Wonderful article. I think you did an excellent job! You managed to voice a lot of people's concerns over the addition of 'extra' characters in The Hobbit and to conclude that additional characters can add to the films as they did in LOTR...IF done correctly! :) Way to go, Laire! Nicely done!