Ah yes I remember now, Legolas explains this during the Council of Elrond. There is an implication that Legolas did encounter Gollum personally however, because he says 'we' would let him climb the trees and roam the woods. I admit that 'we' could be referring to his people, the Wood Elves as a whole, but because Legolas' account is quite detailed it seems more likely that he was part of the guard there with Gollum at the time:

'In the days of fair weather we led Gollum through the woods; and there was a high tree standing alone far from the others which he liked to climb. Often we let him mount up to the highest branches, until he felt the free wind; but we set a guard at the tree's foot. One day he refused to come down, and the guards had no mind to climb after him: he had learned the trick of clinging to boughs with his feet as well as with his hands; so they sat by the tree far into the night.'

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Wise Old Elf

Personally i think a couple of things will happen.

1) Kili and Fili will die, I think the reason there is that Tauriel-Kili relationship is so we feel worse when they diem very game of thronesesqe. Also we know Dain is in the movie so Thorin's line has to die so he can take charge.

2) Beorn will be back and I even have a theory as to how. I think as in the books after Smaug is killed and the dwarves retake Erebor, the elves will arrvie as they do in the book. everyone will sit down around a table and argue over who has rights to what like in game of thrones and the other stuff that occurs in the book will happen then a messenger/guard will say there is someone here to talk to Thorin and the elf king or maybe even Gandalf as he might not know they separated. This someone will be Beorn who tells them that the ocrs are moving on Erebor. I think this because it explains why you put Beorn in DoS, the lines about him protecting the countryside get more meaning as it will show how he knows the orcs are coming and lastly it allows him to be reintroduced without it being a weird Deus ex Machina half way through the BoFA

3) As for who kills who I don't know as Azog should be dead. But I'd guess Azog kills Kili and Fili, Thorin kills Azog as it seems like the most lore and Thorin friendly thing to do, it a bit rubbish if your lead good guy gets beaten by the bad guy every time they fight (not exactly heroic) but I think Azog might injure Thorin. Bolg then kills the injured Thorin but Beorn tears Bolg a new one as again it is lore friendly and lets Beorn avenge his people (again this give Beorns lines about his people a reason to be in the film)

As for Legolas and Tauriel being in the film I actually think there both quite good addition, as far as I'm concerned Legolas would have been there and it would be uncanonical for him not to be in the movie (I believe that as Tolkien was planning to do a re-write of the Hobbit he would have written Legolas into it). As for Tauriel this movie needed some women in it somewhere and she is a well written, well acted interdependent character that fits into the story well and is still lore friendly in the sense that Mirkwood would have a captain of the guard and have no rules against women ruler (Galadriel) and even make reference to he being Silvan elf.

Perhaps... geographical errors detected.. No not likely. How could that work anyhow Gandalf is imprisoned else ware, Beorn lives to far north and on the wrong side of the woods to notice the army.

As for Tauriel... No she's as useless as the master of laketown's sidekick. They waist to much time that could and should have been spent in Mirkwood or with Beorn or filling out the rest of the company.

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"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

If PJ and co go for a fairly faithful depiction-

Azog, Bolg and their bodyguard will fight against Thorin and company in mithril armour towards the end of the battle, Thorin being wounded, Fili + Kili will then be killed defending his body at which point they are both killed. Dain will then assist Thorin in decapitating Azog/Bolg. Beorn will arrive retrieve Thorin, crush Azog/Bolg and then rout the Dol Guldor remnant.

This way Dain his almost canon moment as does Beorn. Although i would say Beorn killing Azog is more of a certainty due the whole shackle/death of family subplot.

Thorin better not die on the battlefield. mortally wounded, absolutely. But I demand that they do the exact book scenes where they find Bilbo (probably will have some strange visions of the necromancer while passed out with the ring on) and bring him to Thorins death bed so that we can have the tearful forgiveness and goodbyes. It is my favorite lines of the book and what I thin the entire book is about, that Bilbo is better than all the others as he is not after gold, to him a good home and good food is worth more (Balin hinted at that, a good home in the blue mts). I fully expect the water works for this, if not then PJ missed the best drama moments.

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http://www.sithious.webs.com

I fully agree with Sithious, if the ending lines of Thorin are not included, I'll be disappointed.

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Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them?

I think they will but I'm not sure it will be those exact words, same basic message though .

After digesting the DOS a couple times I am now worried that the last film will have too much to do and that they will last minute split it up Harry Potter style into a "TABA part 1 and 2". We have Gandalf to rescue and a necromancer to spank, Smaug to kill, Elves to gather and march, Bard to regather his people and march, Dain to show up with the iron Hills guys, the love triangle needs to be resolved, the huge war, and all the dialog in between. considering how little they did in DOS yet still filled a lot of time, it is going to be very tough to do this with any quality. I don't want to feel rushed, I want PJ to take his time and do it right, not get it done half hearted.

Battle of the Five Armies may only get 5 minutes of screen time.

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http://www.sithious.webs.com

They will not split it into a fourth part, Sithious. I won't allow them to! That would be the height of insanity

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See my WIP thread here. viewtopic.php?f=50&t=25624

No I can't think they would be brazen enough to try for a four parter. But they might cut the third one to hell trying to fit in all the important stuff in between all the useless plot threads and dumb toilet jokes.

That's why I think the cut Beorn's part in the story down as much as they did for DOS and why I think he will get axe from the last move almost completely. There's just to much bloat to add him in.

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"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

Elf general I totally agree with just about everything you have to say from wants to guesses.

All I hope is that Thorin Fili and Kili die like champs. They're gonna die. Boromir died Haldir and Theoden died. Oh yeah and I hope Tauriels death is a good one too. Like defending legolas or something but it will probably have to do with kill.


I'm kinda wondering if that scene will be like a domino effect of dead characters.

Either way I hope this movie has good closure.

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

Since this topic is active and relevant. I went back and watched the Trailers to be sure, but there are still the scenes of Thrain and Gandalf fighting.
Will that happen in Dol Guldor when Gandalf makes his escape?
http://heirsofdurin.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/untitled-147-copy.jpg

Also the scene of Azog climbing over a wall in day light
http://heirsofdurin.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/untitled-126-copy.jpg
- looks a lot like the wall the elves fight on in DOS film but azog we know was not there. So was this a scene that PJ took out, when he last minute decided he had to put Bolg back into his film (said with much frustration that PJ is not following a script here and messing up his original vision regardless of wrong or right)? or is this a scene yet to come of when elves and men are pressed into desolated Dale and Azog and his orcs begin to sack it? or some other area yet to be shown.

or are these going to be in extended scenes (though it would be tough to have the azog one).

Speculations?

And whatever this is.
http://heirsofdurin.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/untitled-173-copy.jpg


My guess is that Gandalf talking to Thorin was supposed to have a flash back when he asks about Thrain last seen by him. I think also that the last clip I posted is also Thrain (un cloaked) and maybe from the initial scene of Gandalf going to Dol Guldor to break the spell. But they may all be from that same segment. The azog scene I think is totally gone, I think Azog was made bigger (stronger) in this film, and when it was decided late to take him back to Dol Guldor, this finished scene had to be re-done with Bolg off in the woods near by instead while his orcs climb this wall. It could be saved if Bolg is somehow caught by legolas and Azog comes to get him out, but we don't have time for that in the next film, so I think it is gone.
Either way, potential for at least one extended scene.

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http://www.sithious.webs.com

Yeah disappointed they haven't given Beorn much screen time, instead they handed it over to the sappy relationship of hot elf Tauriel and purposely made hot dwarf (barf) Kili.

We'll see Beorn in the final battle for sure. Wouldn't be surprised he doesn't take down any big name villain, instead he'll likely be ripping siege trolls and orcs to shreds with the highest kill count that would make both Gimli and Legolas very jealous of. And he'll do a bunch of hero saves.

Dain will show up being the leader of the dwarf army, but I don't expect him to axe a big baddie.

I don't like the idea of Legolas killing a big name but may very well be possible.

The thing is PJ and co. like their traditional Hollywood storyline of the big hero facing off with the big villain. They wanted to do that in Lotr with Aragorn vs Sauron. They couldn't allow Gollum to accidentally fall into the lava by himself without Frodo's help. Nor would they just let Smaug fly away without having a confrontation with the dwarves. Are their changes improvements? Maybe, it was kind of dull when reading The Hobbit and Lotr that things didn't turn out to be like a traditional Hollywood script in a fantasy world no less, but Tolkien did that purposefully for a reason, like he wanted to avoid archetypes or something. An unseen main villain? That's not traditional. To him it wasn't about the showdown between the big hero and the big villain, seldom it is in real life; you'll not see Patton and Churchill face to face with Hitler, Obama vs Osama. Tolkien took two secondary characters Beorn and Bard and wiped out a minor villain in Bolg and a major villain in Smaug (in such a ludicrous way I agree with the direction of a ballista bolt). Tolkien did things unconventionally (Too much for PJ, Fran, Phillipa) but still made his main points come across for the journey of the main characters. So understandable Tolkien die hards have their problems with the films, but if the changes weren't made it would be a gamble likely leaving the casual audience going "wtf?!".

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My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

This is exactly what I was hoping for, it would be perfect. The way Azog has been built up it would be only fitting for him to meet his end by one of the only enemies he fears. Alas though, I do not think they will do this, which is a shame because in the book Bolg led the orcs and met this fate, would have been an easy swap for me with Azog. Oh well.

Finished watching the movie about 20 minutes ago. It was awesome 60% of the movie was action packed. Thorins dragon sickness is very well acted. Beorn will appear shortly but what he does is cool. The end of the fight exists of the combat from Thorin vs Azog and legolas vs Bolg. Legolas has it's good moves. To make thing short and not ruin the entire movie for everyone, it was good and lovely movie a must watch for everyone!!!

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My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA