Just to clear this up (I have a LOTR user name so I'm the ultimate source of wisdom here!), he began writing before the war, continued during and ended after. He sent his new material to his son Christopher, although to suggest that he wrote the books for, as in only for, Christopher, is wrong.

attwell

United States220 Posts

December 24 2011 09:43 GMT

#404

I cannot wait to see this, the hobbit is one of my absolute favorite books and I have read it many, many times. I will read it to my kids and grandkids someday.

Having read it so many times, I cannot wait to compare the storyboard I have created in my head with what they come up with for the movie, just like with LOTR.

After watching the trailers, and looking at some of the criticism, I have to say I am genuinely excited to see a new story with NEW CHARACTERS.

Bilbo and gandalf are returning, but consider a few things. Bilbo is in a younger form, but also it is before he found the ring, which allowed him to age very long for a hobbit. He is younger both in personality and experience, not just appearance.

Gandalf is a demi-god, he is immortal...can't really make the hobbit without him and he's going to look the same as he did in LOTR, so dunno what to tell you.

The dwarves look absolutely awesome, how many dwarves did you get to see in LOTR? I think 3-4 max in a scene in rivendell, and several in a single scene in which the dwarves are given their rings. In the hobbit their will be dwarves abound, smashing and killing and smoking and eating things, like dwarves do. In the final battle I expect hundreds of dwarves.

Characters I personally can't wait to see:

BEORN...do I need to explain this?
EARLIER GOLLUM (before he loses the ring, and when he feels invincible, and is riddling with bilbo...omg can't wait)
THORIN this guy is legendary, all the guys in LOTR are pansies compared to this guy, except maybe aragorn or boromir.

Orome

Switzerland11984 Posts

December 24 2011 09:49 GMT

#405

And no, when he wrote the Hobbit, he had no plans yet of writing a sequel, if LOTR can be called a sequel. In fact, the two most important links between the Hobbit and the LOTR - the ring and the necromancer - didn't at all have the backstory yet in the original Hobbit that they do in LOTR. He had no idea who the necromancer was back when he wrote the Hobbit, and only used him as a literary means to get Gandalf out of the way so the dwarves plus Bilbo would have to face dangers alone. The scene with Bilbo and Gollum in the Hobbit even had to be edited later, when he was publishing LOTR, because in the original Gollum really wanted to give Bilbo the ring and was sorry that he couldn't find it. This obviously didn't make sense anymore after the LOTR was written, so Tolkien changed it.

Just random background information. I loved Tolkien as a kid. :p

HKGxPython

United States78 Posts

December 24 2011 10:10 GMT

#406

I'm so excited for these movies, so excited. I AM excite.

Spitfire

South Africa442 Posts

December 24 2011 12:30 GMT

#407

The version I heard is that Tolkien had been dreaming up the world of Middle Earth since as far back as World War 1, when he was fighting as a soldier. He felt England needed its own equivelant of Norse and Greek mythology.

But he never intended to put them in narrative form until he came up with the 'Hobbits' He felt the Hobbits were the perfect viewpoint for the audience, so provided him with a way to put his ideas in narrative form.

Thorakh

Netherlands1788 Posts

December 24 2011 16:02 GMT

#408

OH
MY
GOD

I jizzed my pants during the new production blog.

I nearly cried. For real. I'm so excited.

Poyo

Canada790 Posts

December 24 2011 16:10 GMT

#409

Drooooooool can't wait!!

dangthatsright

1158 Posts

December 24 2011 17:15 GMT

#410

On December 23 2011 23:34 Karakaxe wrote:
LF trustworthy person to unfreeze me next december

will be in a fridge in japan

http://xkcd.com/989/

Man, I need to read the book again, now I wish I didn't just skim over the songs

(although to be fair, I don't exactly read at the most reasonable of times).

BerserKr

Chile101 Posts

December 24 2011 17:28 GMT

#411

Favourite Tolkien book, title of the thread is somewhat distracting, since The Hobbit doesn't belong into the Lord of the Rings, it's the prequel to it.
But anyways, good job spreading this

Deleted User 97295

1137 Posts

December 24 2011 22:13 GMT

#412

--- Nuked ---

Maginor

Norway505 Posts

December 24 2011 22:19 GMT

#413

On December 25 2011 02:28 BerserKr wrote:
Favourite Tolkien book, title of the thread is somewhat distracting, since The Hobbit doesn't belong into the Lord of the Rings, it's the prequel to it.
But anyways, good job spreading this

The hobbit (film) is a prequel to the Lord of the Rings (film trilogy). However, the Lord of the rings (book) is a sequel to the Hobbit (book). There is a difference because of release/publication order.

Also, whoever wrote earlier that Tolkien served in WWII is wrong. He served in WWI, but did indeed write parts of Lotr during WWII.

Steveling

Greece10806 Posts

December 24 2011 22:53 GMT

#414

Ok, I want to dust up my Tolkien knowledge anyway, so you guys can ask whatever you want regarding middle earth or Tolkien himslef and I will try to answer it.

Poyo

Canada790 Posts

December 25 2011 00:13 GMT

#415

The dwarf chant just gave me the sickest nerd chills ever, its pretty awesome.

attwell

United States220 Posts

December 25 2011 00:23 GMT

#416

On December 25 2011 09:13 Poyo wrote:
The dwarf chant just gave me the sickest nerd chills ever, its pretty awesome.

it reminded me of the rumbling that ents do when they talk, so awesome

FlyingToilet

United States840 Posts

December 25 2011 00:32 GMT

#417

Like my father, i have always been a fan of great literature and storytelling in all forms of media. I remember watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy so much i rented the book from the library, would love to see this movie when it comes out!

BerserKr

Chile101 Posts

December 25 2011 06:38 GMT

#418

On December 25 2011 07:13 Laertes wrote:

Show nested quote +

That's almost a sin my friend

Yeah my bad i meant to say that "The Hobbit" was written before LOTR, and they aren't supposed to be categorized in the same line of books, though.. LOTR is basically a continuation of much of the story told on The Hobbit, even though you could say the final edition of The Hobbit is actually modified because of LOTR since Tolkien wanted to make it fit in a more apropiate way, it's a bit messy but anyways you get my point. Tolkien wouldn't be proud ;___;