Thursday, April 24, 2014

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug


The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

               

                Most people who LOVE the books, the Lord of the Rings, also love the movies.  Although there are many who do not feel that way about “The Hobbit: Unexpected Journey” and “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug.”  People do not feel this way as much with the first Hobbit, but it does apply to the second.  Fans were worried about Smaug, how the dragon would look, and that his voice would match up to what J. R. R. Tolkien would have imagined. To many people’s (and my) excitement, Smaug was…well, AWESOME! Although the movie is not completely filled with correct facts, it was still well produced. 

                One thing I really enjoyed is how Peter Jackson “created” Beorn.  Peter used the imagery that Tolkien wrote and created a perfect picture for our minds.  Beorn really shows in the movie that he is dangerous and people, elves, dwarves, orcs, hobbits, and other creatures that roam Middle Earth should not mess with him. A few things that are not in the book is Azog the Defiler. Peter Jackson created him and a few other creatures that are not in the book.  There is controversy over whether or not he should have created Thranduil.  She is a very cool character, but was never EVER mentioned in the Hobbit or in the LOTR series. Another thing is that, in the book, Bilbo did not need to wear the ring to hear the Spiders (Sindarin-Ungol, Gnomish-cingwin, and Qenya- ung-we), while in the movie he could not understand the spiders until he put the ring on.  An ironic thing with the spiders in the movie is when Bilbo takes off the ring and says, “Here.” (Meaning, Here I am.) and he then stabs the spider.  The spider then talks, without Bilbo having the ring on, and Bilbo is able to understand what the spider is saying.

                I could probably talk about all the bad things that happened within the 2nd Hobbit like the meeting between Bilbo and Smaug and the gold statue of the dwarf that bursts in front of Smaug’s face.  Instead of talking about all the things that was/is wrong with the movie I will talk about its good sides. A lot of the information was correct within the story, but my favorite part had to be The Company when they were traveling through Mirkwood.  This was also a favorite part in the book and I wish they did a little more with it than adding all of this extra stuff that was never included in the book. In the movie Peter Jackson seemed to include the part where Bombur fell into the enchanted river and became unconscious. See the picture below.

  

(Look in the right hand corner and look who is unconscious on a stretcher. If y’all don’t believe me go watch the movie).

In the book when Bombur fell into the river I thought that was a very exciting part in the story and now to believe that Peter might of added that section into the movie made me very happy. Although it also makes me very sad to think that they took that part out.

                Overall both Hobbits were excellent (I preferred the first one) and filled with excitement and I cannot wait till the third is released! If anyone who knows how to contact Peter Jackson tell him that he should turn the Silmarillion into a movie. I hope everyone who reads this is entertained and happy and please feel free to notify me if I put any wrong information. --Smaug  

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The Creation Story


The Creation Story

 

                The Silmarillion….basically the history of J.R.R. Tolkien’s world.  The Silmarillion talks about Middle earth before it was created.  The book starts off with a supreme being known as Ilúvatar who eventually created an elf like race known as the Ainur who created beautiful music.   The Ainur were the “offspring of Ilúvatar’s thought” and they would, constantly, create flawless music.  There was one among the Ainur who believed that he deserved more power than he was given.  Melkor was his name, and he already possessed some of the best gifts of knowledge and power.  He wanted more and he wished to create his own beings and share these gifts with them.  Melkor spread hostility or discord among the Ainur, but Ilúvatar rose up against the angry Ainur and settled down the strife.  Sound familiar yet?  No….ok let’s keep going.  Ilúvatar, to be blunt, showed Melkor who was boss and it made Melkor feel very angry and ashamed.   Later on in the story Ilúvatar creates the world and the most fair and the greatest of the Ainur descended to the world.   After some time and more very detailed events some of the great and fair Ainur (who are also referenced to as The Valor) took form, some male and some female.  They could not decide for themselves for the difference in their “temper” was in them from the beginning.  When Melkor had seen this change and that the Valor were beautiful and glorious he was filled with envy.  Melkor took form, but since he was filled with hatred and anger when he took form he was terrible and dark.  The Valor and Melkor fought, but the Valor won.  That is a summary of the first chapter of The Silmarillion.  Do you see anything familiar with this story?  Good, but if you don’t I will explain the similarity to you.

                “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  Genesis 1:1 The first chapter and verse in the The Holy Bible.   One of the many similarities between the Bible and The Silmarillion is that the books start with a creator who creates a race and a world.  Even though the creations where made at different points they were still created.  Ilúvatar’s Ainur were beautiful creatures and God’s angels were beautiful and humans were also beautiful and good.  “Then God said, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created him.”  Genesis 1:27  “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Genesis 1:31  God said that we were good and that we were made beautifully and individually. 

                Now, you might be wondering how Melkor fits into all this.  Melkor was evil and he wanted more power than was given to him.  Satan also wanted more power than God and he wanted to be like God.  So God cast Satan out of Heaven.  “He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven.’” Luke 10:18  Satan will one day battle God’s angels and be defeated, but until that day comes he will continue to try and tempt us each day of our lives.  Without Jesus we are nothing and if we do not accept him as our savior we will be lost forever.--Smaug

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Ilúvatar

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