Hobbit Day RITD Analyst Panel on Riddles in the Dark!
Corey Olsen, Dave Kale, and Trish Lambert are joined by some of the analysts and experts playing the prediction game in a first-time “group episode” that was part of the Hobbit Day festivities on the Middle-earth Network. Discussion centered on the new movie trailer as well as a poster of Bilbo that was released minutes before the start of the episode. And there is additional material: Dave and Trish kept going after the broadcast as each analyst dropped off one by one, till only they were left. Lots of interesting and thought provoking stuff, like trying to figure out if it’s a spider leg or a tree root that is coming through Radagast’s roof. Plus commentary on the hedgehog.
Instead of a riddle for this episode, we posed a conundrum:
Conundrum: Will spiders attack Rhosgobel in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey?
Download: .mp3 (right click and choose “Save As…” to download)
I really enjoyed the line from the trailer where Gandalf expresses his reason for why he chose Biblo. The reason for this is two fold. First, that it felt like the line could have been really cliched and said something about how Biblo is destined to save save us all, but it does not say wheather Bilbo is a hero or not ,but for unknown reasons he gives gandalf confidence even in trying times. This ties in with my second point that it reminds me of a line used twice in The Hobbit about how Gandalf was afraid despite being a wizard. This reflected in Lord of the Rings that despite the White Council’s wisdom they pin all their hopes and fears on deeds done by the small. Reading The Hobbit for the first time it is hard to understand why Gandalf is afraid. Yet, in the context of Tolkien’s other works it makes sense and thus, we see how in the big picture Gandalf’s hopes for the future of Middle-Earth rely on the simple fact that somehow “Biblo was meant to find the ring.” Thus, while Biblo may not be a grand hero of old, his unseen courage and his own “fate” gives gandalf confidence that somehow despite all odds the coming of Biblo will “rule the fate of many.”
You have heard of ‘throwing stars’ well get ready for Radagasts ‘Throwing Hedgehogs’!
*Pazow*, take that Nazgul!
Can I also get a ‘nailed it’ for saying on facebook the fat dude at the end of the trailer was the great goblin! He certainly is big and fat!
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2012/09/26/62296-goblin-king-thorin-figure-set-revealed/
You definitely nailed it. I, along with a numer of others I think, resisted the idea that that was the Great Gobling. Then I saw the photo of the toy last week and sighed…yes, Great Goblin.
Oh boy…the mental image that creates…hedgehogs with spiked armor, spherical throwing stars…
Here you are Prof. Olsen, it’s Radagast at the Battle of Dol Guldur.
http://digital-art-gallery.com/oid/23/380x477_5694_Hedgehog_and_Soldier_2d_warrior_dwarf_fantasy_picture_image_digital_art.jpg
Haha!!! Maybe Radagast was performing pre-battle massage on the hedgehogs in the movie trailer! Thanks for sharing this…
Concerning the missing runes on the blade, if you read Weta’s description of their Sting replica, it says this: Found in a Trolls’ hoard by Bilbo Baggins, Sting was an ancient Elven blade from the lost realm of Gondolin. Bilbo carried it through many adventures, naming it and having it inscribed with Elvish script.
It also goes on to say this about the Elvish script: The gently curvaceous blade features etched elven runes ‘Maegnas (Sting) is my name. I am the spider’s bane’ along the central ridge.
There’s a lot more, but that’s the relevant bit. You guys joked about Bilbo going to have his sword engraved on the way home and how silly it would be, but judging by the description, it seems like that’s exactly what could happen.
I was actually really happy that Peter Jackson remembered this detail. Sting had the same inscription in the LOTR movies, and I considered it worthy of nitpicking. “What was the likelihood that Bilbo would just happen to give the sword a name that it had been inscribed with in ancient Elvish!” Well good, that’s one problem solved.
I keep thinking about the split, I suppose it is possible that Dol Guldur could be the end of the first film? I mean, if the part leaves rhosgobel/the carrock and enters mirkwood, gandalf leaves them then, does that give us time to fit Dol Guldur in the first film? But I agree, it has to be here, or in the second film, there is no other room for it.
I think Seans points about the amount of material vs the ‘contained’ story arc of the third film are excellent, its not purely volume, but how the films work individually. I think just a battle in the third film will be tricky to pull off, and lets not forget, there is precedent for the third film being longer than the others if need be, they don’t have to be neat 2 to 2 1/2 hour films, the final one may be bigger.
Excellent episode and great to have the panel discussion; more of these in the next couple of years sounds appetite-whetting. Not related specifically to the points discussed in this episode, but further to William’s point, are there any plans to discuss Glamdring and Orcrist? Specifically, will any of the history of the blades be given? Will Turgon even get a mention? As a big fan of the Silmarillion I would be delighted to even get a reference to Gondolin. This at least seems a lot more likely than any reference to Luthien and Huan beating up on Sauron when the White Council realise he is the necromancer. Although I would welcome Luthien’s buddy Galadriel bringing this up when trash-talking the necromancer…