The Hobbit Movies: Love them, hate them, but no one can deny that for a
brief moment in 2012, 13 and 14, we were all transported back to Middle
earth, even if for a little while. Hi! I'm Elena and welcome In the Tower
A channel focused on fantasy and sci-fi media. Be sure to click subscribe to be
notified of all the future videos. For this list I'm looking at tiny
Silmarillion references, dotted throughout the Hobbit movies. Note
that this video is about the Hobbit movie trilogy,
not the book. Please do excuse my accent and pronunciation of some characters and
names. Let's begin! Number five - Glamdring
Orcrist and Sting. I will start with the most obvious out of the five
While traveling through the Trollshaws, the company of Thorin Oakenshield is
attacked and captured by trolls. You know the story of how the trolls
were defeated, so no sense in lingering on.
Afterwards, the company discovers a cave where the trolls keep their hoard,
and in that cave, in that tiny cave somewhere in the Trollshaws
are some of the greatest treasures in all of Middle-earth.
That is where Gandalf finds Glamdring the Foe Hammer,
Thorin finds Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver and Bilbo finds Sting,
all three blades of the mighty elven kingdom of Gondolin
whose king was Turgon. I would have liked to know the story of how
three of the mightiest blades of Arda ended forsaken in a troll cave
thousands of miles away from where they were forged, but alas we will never know.
Number four - The Two Blue Wizards: In an interesting scene in an
Unexpected Journey Gandalf and Bilbo have a little discussion about Gandalf's
order. More knowledgeable fans will know that
Gandalf's order the Istari is formed out of five wizards: Gandalf
himself, Saruman the white, Radagast the brown and
Alatar and Pallando, the blue wizards. While we know sufficient information
about the first three, there is virtually nothing known about the blue wizards
apart from the fact that they travel east to Rhun and dwell there,
upholding the fight against Sauron from the eastern lands.
The other thing about this scene is just how Bilbo drops this bomb on Gandalf
just like that with no warning! "is he a great wizard or is he
more like you?"
Number Three - Three Elven Rings: while these can't be strictly considered a
silmarillion reference only, as the rings are the centerpiece theme
of the lord the rings, I found it relevant enough to include. I
am talking of course about an extended scene in Battle of the Five Armies where
an orc of Dol Guldur reveals to Gandalf that Sauron is after the three rings of
the elves, right before trying to cut off his hand,
where we see that Narya resides. Right after Galadriel arrives to save
Gandalf wearing Nenya. and shortly comes Elrond wearing Vilya,
accompanied by Saruman. Thus the three rings of the elves are
together once more in battle, against the nine rings of men. I only
wish we had Cirdan as well in the council scenes in the first Hobbit movie.
Number Two - Thingol and the dwarves of Nogrod:
Probably my favorite detail in this video is presented right at the
beginning of an unexpected journey with cinematic callbacks to it in both
following movies. This detail was clearly meant for more
knowledgeable fans, as there is no spoken reference to it,
but fans are left to draw their own conclusions visually.
I am talking of course about the introduction scene to the elves and
dwarves and how the relationship between
Thranduil and Thror and his descendant Thorin
is meant to echo the relationship king Thingol of Doriath had with the dwarves of
Nogrod. Thingol commissioned the dwarves to craft
for him the most beautiful piece of jewelry in existence: a necklace
that had as his centerpiece a Silmaril. But the dwarves were enthralled by its
beauty and stole the necklace and killed Thingol in the process.
Thranduil too has quarrel with the dwarves of Erebor due to a necklace,
as by movie cannon the dwarves are in possession of the gems of Lasgalen,
a necklace that belonged toThranduil's wife. I sure
am glad his son Legolas was the one to finally mend the relationship between
elves and dwarves. Number One - Spawn of Ungoliant: For the last
reference I would like to thank Rocheman, at least i hope that's how you say it
for the idea. "Spiders Gandalf! Giant ones!
Some kind of spawn of Ungoliant!" Radagast has a little piece of very
interesting dialogue in an unexpected journey.
He mentioned webs, big spiders and Ungoliant.
Of course from the Hobbit book we already know Mirkwood is plagued with a
giant spider infestation. Also in lord of the rings we found out Mordor
has its own huge spider in the form of Shelob,
Devourer of orcs. But the interesting bit
is the mention of the name Ungoliant, as people who have read the Silmarillion will
know, Ungoliant is the mother of spiders, oldest
of their kind, from whom all spiders of Middle-earth
originate. She is the closest Arda has to an Eldritch horror,
as she was a creature so monstrous, even Morgoth Bauglir, the dark lord of Arda
was afraid of her. And here we are 5 Silmarillion
references you may have missed in the hobbit movie trilogy.
Next on the list of videos I'm making is a discussion on whether Arwen and
Legolas have ever been friends. Stay tuned for the next video. Till next
time!