The Problems With "The Hobbit"

Image: goodreads.com

I've been a Tolkien fan for most of my life because my dad is a big Tolkien fan. When I was very small, he would read to me from The Lord of the Rings. But my dad never liked The Hobbit as much and that opinion rubbed off on me.

I loved The Lord of the Rings movies and even though I didn't like The Hobbit as much, I went to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at midnight. I adored the movie - you can read my review at GeekMom - and I've seen it five times in the theater so far. But I was fuzzy on the details of what happened next. The last time I had read The Hobbit was for the GeekMom Book Club last year.

Well, I just finished my re-read and I know why my dad and I didn't like The Hobbit as much as The Lord of the Rings books. I'll pause here because there will be book / movie spoilers from this point on.
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Everything in The Hobbit seems rushed and not very well fleshed out. I know that it was written to be a kid's book, but the style is so unlike The Lord of the Rings that it turns me off. I am a more is better kind of person which is why I always read all the appendixes when I read The Lord of the Rings.

The climax of the book is the Battle of the Five Armies - a battle that Bilbo spends most of it knocked out. We don't see how Thorin gets mortally injured and his death is really, really anti-climactic. I also didn't remember that Fili and Kili die too. Though their deaths in the book are summed up as pretty much, "oh yeah, Fili and Kili die because they were related to Thorin."

Also BookThorin is kind of a jackass and a jerk. I remember now that I never liked Thorin because his motivation is the gold and the Arkenstone. MovieThorin is so much more fleshed out - his motivation is reclaiming his homeland. I really dislike BookThorin and I love MovieThorin, so I'm really intrigued how the 2nd and 3rd movies are going to play out because BookThorin gets jerkier as the book goes on. Honestly, Bard kills the dragon which something the dwarves don't even try to do but BookThorin is so stubborn about parting with a little gold that is pretty much starts a war. The only reason a full war doesn't break out is because the goblins and wargs attack and then BookThorin (and I'm assuming MovieThorin as well) dies.

After reading The Hobbit again, I have even more respect for Peter Jackson. The book doesn't really flesh out the characters of the dwarves, except jerky Thorin, but Peter Jackson gave them all different personalities that helped bring the characters to life. And not just the dwarves - the Great Goblin in the book only had a few lines of dialogue before he got killed. I liked the movie version of that better as well.

I was looking forward to seeing the next two movies, but I'm really curious now how Peter Jackson is going to handle the story that is set out. Also there is very little mention to what Gandalf does when he leaves the company, just that he and the other wizards defeated the Necromancer. I'm assuming the movie will show what Gandalf does to defeat him - though it isn't a final defeat since the Necromancer is Sauron and thus will be back.

The only other character that is fleshed out at all in the book is Bilbo, since he is the main character. MovieBilbo is much more heroic already than BookBilbo since MovieBilbo decided on his own to go on the adventure and BookBilbo had to be pushed out of his door. I don't really dislike BookBilbo, but the constant "I wish I was home" got a little grating. I adore MovieBilbo (honestly both of them - Martin Freeman and Ian Holm) because he is a little awkward, but tries his best to help the company along.

The character I like best from both the book and the movie is Balin. He has always been my favorite dwarf and the movie solidified that for me. Yes, Fili is awfully nice to look at (and it makes me a little sad that he and Kili are doomed to die for no good reason), but Balin is wise and loyal but still has a sense of humor. I love Balin.

Anyway, that's just to rambling thoughts on The Hobbit. I'm starting to re-read The Lord of the Rings next, which I've probably read over 20 times.. And after that, I'm going to finally tackle The Silmarillion which I have not read before.

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Christmas!

We had a pretty laid back Christmas this year. We have family in GA that we usually go see on the holidays, but it was a really long day when we went down for Thanksgiving. Because I had to work an extra long shift the day after Christmas, we decided to not to go anywhere for Christmas.

I had to work a short shift on Christmas Eve and then there was a little time to relax before going to church. We took some time to take pictures under the tree and then left about an hour early for church.

We went to the 5 pm children friendly service. It was already getting packed when we got there, but we managed to snag our usual spot. By the time the service started, it was standing room only.

The service was cute - it was the children's choirs telling the Christmas story along with lots of Christmas carols to for us to sing. Emily didn't know most of them, but she sang with gusto when it came time to sing "Away in the Manger".

Once we got home, Emily got to open her one Christmas Eve present which was her Christmas pj's. Then we watched the Christmas episode of "Phineas and Ferb" before going to bed.

Santa came and brought all of Emily's presents. Then Todd and I watched the original "Miracle on 34th Street" on TV. I knew Emily was going to be up early, so I went to bed once the movie was done.

Emily did get up around her usual time at 6:30 am. We roused Todd for a little bit so she could open her presents.

She got lots of things she had asked Santa for, but the one she was most excited about was the Jake and the Neverland Pirates Pirate Ship. Though now that it is over a week after

Christmas, she plays with her Doc McStuffins puzzle that was a last minute addition from Santa more than anything.

Todd got some sleep after presents and Emily played with her toys. At 10, we watched the Disney Christmas Parade which is more a 2 hour long Disney commercial than a parade. But Emily and I enjoyed it, especially since this is the year we are going to Walt Disney World. While the parade was going on, Todd started lunch which was a ham dinner with all the fixings.

We talked to Todd's parents and his grandma and we talked to my dad and his wife. Then after Emily got up from her nap, we Skyped with Todd's parents, sister-in-law and Emily's cousins. It was a lot of the kids showing each other what they got for Christmas, but they enjoyed being able to see and talk to each other.

It was a pretty laid back holiday and I enjoyed it. It would be nice to go back to Michigan or even down to GA for the holidays but that gets really hectic.

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