While The Hobbit films haven’t captured general audience’s imagination as much as the Lord of the Rings did, I have found myself enjoying my return trip to Middle Earth a lot more than I did over a decade ago. As someone who went into the first two films without reading Tolkien’s novel I felt that the characters, returning and new, had a lot more character than the cast of The Lord of the Rings. from Thorin’s mental illness, Tauriel’s racial discrimination within the Elven realm and Bilbo’s transformation from frightened Hobbit to courageous hero I’ve found The Hobbit films have better developed films than The Lord of the Rings. With the recent trailer for the final instalment in the trilogy The Hobbit; The Battle of the Five Armies proclaiming it was the defining chapter of the middle Earth saga, I wondered if this could be the best Middle earth film that Peter Jackson has made. Here are a few reasons about why it could be:
Smaug attacks Laketown
While killing off Smaug at the end of the second film in favour of the dwarves battling him in Erebor would have made for a more satisfying climax, opening the third film with his attack on Laketown is bound to be one of the greatest action scenes that Peter Jackson has ever staged. While this was my least favourite chapter in the book, as it introduced the character of Bard out of nowhere, the development of the character in the previous film will make this sequence more emotionally engaging, especially when you include his family, Tauriel and four of the dwarves are also in Laketown. We also have barely seen Smaug flying and while it’s difficult to predict how much dialogue he will have in the film, he’s already become one of the most memorable villains of all time.
Dol Goldur
I don’t have any knowledge about what will happen to Gandalf in Dol Goldur except that we will hopefully get to see Saruman, Galadriel, Elrond and Radagast in action. This scene also has the most potential to influence The Lord of the Rings films as we will get to see Galadriel’s care for Gandalf, Radagast’s possible demise (because he isn’t mentioned in any of The Lord of the Rings films) and we will get to see members of the White council in action,
The Battle of the Five Armies
We come to it at last, while Smaug may detract a little from people’s anticipation for this battle, Jackson has proved himself over the years as the master of battle scenes and in interviews he has frequently described the battle as being emotional, something which has really enticed me. The main reason why this battle could be the most memorable is that death count for our main characters could be shockingly high, especially in relation to the Battle of Pelennor Fields which only had King Theodin as its main causality. While we know that several characters in the book die, the fate of a lot of characters who don’t appear in future films could also be in the balance. Tauriel, a character conjured up by Jackson and co could perish in the battle, which would give Legolas needed depth going into The Lord of the Rings trilogy. More shocking and controversial would be the death of his father Thranduil, who survives in the book but, while I’m not completely sure isn’t confirmed as being alive in the LOTR films. Beorn, who is expected to get more screen time in the extended edition of The Desolation of Smaug, and possibly one of Bard’s children, could fall. We already know that the actor who played Bard’s son Bain trained for fighting and it would be a gutsy move by Jackson to kill off such a young character, but a very commendable one.
While these are only a few of the scenes that are expected to make The Battle of the Five Armies a memorable film, I’m interested in the sub plots between these many characters the most. Tauriel and Kili’s romance could turn out as one of the most heart breaking moments in the saga, as well as Thorin’s descent into madness and Bilbo’s return to his peaceful life in The Shire are expected to be very memorable.
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