On Were-worms

Hunting the elusive creature

You pick up a copy of The Hobbit and start reading the first chapter.

Halfway through you encounter the following statement made by Bilbo Baggins:

“Tell me what you want done, and I will try it, if I have to walk from here to the East of East and fight the wild Were-worms in the Last Desert.”

The Battle of The Five Armies Extended Edition Review!

An Extended Cut that fixes many issues but remains slightly inconsistent

Here it is folks! The long-awaited review of the extended edition of The Battle of the Five Armies is here.

Don’t expect a long discussion for now; just a quick look at each extended scene.

A few mild spoilers follow, in case you haven’t yet seen it.

Tolkien-themed Questionnaire: Answers! (PART I)

It’s taken me some time to get around doing this, but finally the time has come.

Behold the questionnaire created by Myla Malinalda (from Middle-earth News) in which Tolkien fans need to do some serious self-examination about what it the Middle-earth stories really mean to us.

The questionnaire was originally designed for The Lord of the Rings; but can easily be adapted also for The Hobbit.

It’s tough to answer a single question in short; but it’s fun and enlightening, not just to others, but to yourself as well.

Go on, treat yourself! Get busy tackling these questions now 🙂

In the meantime, here are mine … (Part II to follow)

The Desolation of Smaug: Extended Edition Review

The expanded vision of the second installment bolsters Middle-earth’s richness and reinstates Peter Jackson’s masterful filmmaking that spans a 6-film saga.

As a theatrical release, The Desolation of Smaug was a significant improvement from the occasionally slow-moving sequences (which I personally find no objection to) in An Unexpected Journey.

But whilst the first Extended Edition release (with a total of 13 minutes of extra footage) felt more like a financial (as well as traditional) move for fans (though I find the Hobbiton sequences the most appropriate), The Desolation of Smaug’s 25 minutes of new scenes marks a massive improvement in the scope of the two Extended Editions.

I can here formally extend my gratitude to Peter Jackson for re-recognizing the meaning of an Extended Edition – following the success of the format with The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The “Which Five Armies?” Debate: Settling It Once and for All …

**SPOILER WARNING: If you haven’t read the book yet (really?!), you might want to avoid this article to keep your final film experience intact. To all the rest, carry on!**

– Case Closed

I can start this post by saying, it’s a needless post. The case is pretty much closed as the answer to the question, “Which Five Armies is Tolkien referring to in the Battle of Five Armies?“, can’t be more plainly given than it is in the book.

The Curious Case of Radagast the Brown

Radagast the Brown is one of those mysteries left to us by Tolkien; but unlike many other unresolved issues, we do get hints of his character here and there. Perhaps, it’s one of the reasons why I find him so alluring and why I’ve avoided writing a “Character Profile” post on his character, since he technically isn’t in The Hobbit.

Character Profile: Beorn

– The Bear-Man …

What a fantastic character Beorn is … truly amazing. Definitely a one-of a kind creature in Middle-earth.

In Tolkien’s legendarium, skin-changers (or shape-shifters) are hard to come by and Beorn is definitely an individual whom you’d gladly take on your side.