The Shrine

Is this really necessary? Maybe... or maybe its overkill. It was the shortest book! Now, are we going to have to include evrything like Tom Bombadil and every dwarven/hobbit song?

EDIT: I think i am getting the hobbit and the first LotR book mixed up, i dont think Tom is in The Hobbit anymore... might be time for a re-read.

Good, I was really hoping that they were going to bring in a lot of the extra side-stories which were glossed over in the actual Hobbit text - such as the war with Dol Guldur, the discovery of Sauron's re-awakening, and such. There was a lot of additional Hobbit material within the Lord of the Rings as well - particularly in the Shadow of the Past, the Council of Elrond and the Appendices.

The actual story of the Hobbit is probably short enough to easily fit into one feature length film (and without messing with themes like what was done in Lord of the Rings; Jackson REALLY neutered some great scenes and great themes from the book - but overall it turned out to be fairly great all the same) - they almost did before in animated form, and got a fairly large portion of it into about an hour and 15 minutes. So I can`t see Peter Jackson not taking this route.

Now, what I really hope is for an adaptation of the Silmarillion. Although this would have to be done in 4 films, even though the text is short, it is based on 7 books found in the 12 book set - The History of Middle Earth; which unfortunately, is only available now in large 400-600 sets - and it is not the type of set you want on an E-reader without a properly designed format, since it has TONS of referring margin notes, so lots of page flipping. If the Silmarillion was done, it would have to be at least:

1. The beginning until the Battle of Sudden Flame - which is where Morgoth unleashes Glaurung - the father of Dragons - and the Balrogs, and smashes through the Elvish siege around Thangorodrim, and defeats the Elves; Angrod, Angnor, and the High King Fingolfin are killed.
2. Beren and Luthien, is a very obvious second film following the Battle of Sudden Flame.
3. Turin Turambar, or The Children of Hurin - as the novelization is called - would be the third film.
4. The War of Wrath, which would follow everything on the Elf side from the Battle of Unnumbered tears, to the final battle where Morgoth is defeated.

Although, the text of the Silmarillion is short in comparison to the Lord of the Rings, the story is actually much bigger than the Lord of the Rings in terms of events - if it was novelized in full, it could have very easily been expanded to be 2-3 times the size of Lord of the Rings. It`s a much darker and bloodier story than Lord of the rings, probably largely because the earliest version was written in Tolkien`s youth, and to give a bit of an idea of Tolkien`s earlier life - as a young man he fought in the battle of the Somme during the first world war - he got stuck too far ahead for some time (it was more than a day), and he made his way back, through the muck and the dead bodies drowned within it. It was a brutal battle unlike anything ever seen before - in the first few hours, 20,000 people were killed. It was in the trenches of World War 1, that Tolkien penned the first words of the Silmarillion.

The Silmarillion though, is also on a much more grand scale; while Lord of the Rings has Minas Tirith, the Silmarillion has several cities like that - including Nargothrond, Gondolin, Menegroth. So the budget projection might be a little high - but despite the worries of skeptics, I think it would really make for a great set of movies.

I'm not familiar with the Silmarillion but I don't think The Children of Hurin could ever be made into a movie that would appeal to anyone. That book is dark. Like, come home from WWI and sit down to write a novel to district yourself from what you just went through kind of dark. I loved the book but sitting through the movie would make me want to open my veins. This book nearly makes The Road look like a happy romp through the Shire.

Flip wrote:Is this really necessary? Maybe... or maybe its overkill. It was the shortest book! Now, are we going to have to include evrything like Tom Bombadil and every dwarven/hobbit song?

EDIT: I think i am getting the hobbit and the first LotR book mixed up, i dont think Tom is in The Hobbit anymore... might be time for a re-read.

There's a lot more than just The Hobbit in these films. The appendices from Lord of the Rings are also being used to further fill in the 60-year gap between the Hobbit and LotR and for further character development.

It does seem like they're stretching, yes. But doesn't Jackson get a little benefit of the doubt after the LotR trilogy?

Shrinweck wrote:I'm not familiar with the Silmarillion but I don't think The Children of Hurin could ever be made into a movie that would appeal to anyone. That book is dark. Like, come home from WWI and sit down to write a novel to district yourself from what you just went through kind of dark. I loved the book but sitting through the movie would make me want to open my veins. This book nearly makes The Road look like a happy romp through the Shire.

The Silmarillion as a whole is much much darker than Tolkien's other works; and in regards to Hurin; there is a portion of the Silmarillion I can never get through without tearing up;

Correctly titled: The Battle of Unnumbered Tears.

The Elves had built this absolutely wonderful new world; and for a good while it stood strong; and the way Tolkien described it makes it such a happy thing to read about - the grand scale of it all and the great cultural achievements - and the History of Middle Earth takes this farther. Then comes the battle of sudden flame, and all the lands are brought to chaos and darkness - greatness is still in some places, but the world was now darker than before; this is the time when Beren and Luthien takes place.

Later come the gathering of the elves and men in incredibly powerful numbers (56,000 under Fingon King of the House of Fingolfin; and 60,000 under Maedhros King of the house of Feanor), and everything is so certain for a march against the forces of Morgoth. You can always feel the determination and confidence in the characters... "The new bright morning is at hand!" became the theme of the hour, and the battle began. Betrayal occurs here, and a host of men who they thought attacks the Elves - it was similar to Falkirk in Braveheart; except more potent.

Then that last scene of the battle; after the victory of Morgoth and the destruction of the Hosts of Fingon and the house of Feanor, where the great warrior, Hurin, alone stands fighting a hopeless battle, and cries out "Day shall come again!"
I can't get through that part. It's like the part in the book Lord of the rings when Theoden is dies thinking that all has come to ruin (they really toned down that whole sequence in the movie; and totally ruined the raising of the banner of Ellesar which is one of the most powerful moments in literary history.).

It is not just the death of certain figures, but of whole cultures, and the knowledge of the ruin that was now inevitable.

PETER JACKSON WANTS MOAR MONEY!