Although there are veritable googles of information I could write about from my analysis of this last movie, I will but briefly regard the 3rd in the series in this post. As you have been acclimated to the characters, worldview, motives, setting, and climate of the series, this will be a broad scale analysis of the series, rather than an intensive review of the 3rd movie.
FOCUS
The series follows the evil as often if not more often than the good. These orcs have become more than mindless, evil minions and are intelligent and coordinated commanders. In LOTR, orcs are animals, they speak in their own languages, walk with slouches, and kill and are killed. In The Hobbit, orcs have become somewhat human. The evil is no longer as it was. This series was a let down on so many levels that I will not consider it to be even affiliated with LOTR. The Hobbit is its own series and shouldn’t be connected to Peter Jackson’s great work.
WORLDVIEW
I didn’t want to see Galadriel become the Wicked Witch of the West. Honestly, that scene kinda creeped me out, less because of the visuals and intensity, more because of it’s implications. Galadriel didn’t become a great beam of goodness, the lighting(pale, spirit-world blur), the colors(creamy white-ish/pastel green), and the person into which she transformed(evil witch-lady that fell into a river), were all indicative of the evil she was attempting to overcome. She became evil to destroy evil, therefore implying that evil can only be defeated by greater evil.
Whatever the point they were trying to convey, it seemed a lot more like, “all power is evil, but evil power can be used to banish other evil power…”, which, in my opinion, is.. Well-, stupid.
Where did Elrond get his power?
Really now. Since when has Elrond been a spirit slayer? He’s only half-elven(LOTR- Fellowship of the Ring), and sure, he has one of the three rings given to elves, but seriously, when did he become Elrond the wizard? The others of the White Council(including Galadriel), are wizards, (yes, she is an elf-wizard. Seriously, no other elf, besides Elrond, –and the jury’s still out on him– has those kinds of powers).
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
Thorin Oakenshield-
Though from the start of the series I pegged Thorin’s motives to be entirely selfish and greedy, (in part because I read the book) the 3rd movie attempted to justify his thirst for gold and power as “dragon fever”. In reality, his desire to take back Erebor and find the arkenstone was entirely about the gold. The right to rule, the power imbued by the arkenstone would make him the rightful “King Under the Mountain”: it’s wealth would be his to covet. Never in this saga did I doubt Thorin’s motives to be purely selfish. He’s a dwarf, what can you expect?
Bilbo Baggins-
Mr. Baggins undergoes a tremendous change. This incredible journey challenges him to do things he never thought he could. He passed through fire and and death and emerged as the same, albeit entirely different person that he started as. He still loved his simple pleasures and his peaceful life. Now, there were definitely some side effects to his travels, but for the most part, the hobbit was still a hobbit at the end of it all. He did not become a burgler, thief, or warrior because of what he went through. He did not allow his circumstances to change him, but he changed his circumstances.
Gandalf the Grey-
He played with a power he knew was too great for him. The power of an age-old evil. He entered into its stronghold knowing it was a trap and trusted his strength alone would save him. This was one of those bad days we’ve seen Gandalf have before, he seems to have quite a few near-death experiences in his time. Gandalf showed us that great power cannot keep the darkness at bay, great power can only force it back a distance; but it always returns.
“I’ve found that it is the small things, the everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay: simple acts of kindness and love.”
—Gandalf
RIDICULOUS FACTOR
It was close this time. Again, Legolas was pretty ridiculous, but even he couldn’t trump Thorin, who wins points for stupid at least. Thorin was a close second, but hands down, the stupidest, most ridiculous and useless factor of this entire movie was the Earth Eaters, as the orcs call them. Seriously, these beasts were talked up to be some ferocious determining factor or upper hand for the orc army: they didn’t do anything. Seriously, the only thing they were good for was a slightly comical line from Dain the Dwarf.
All they had to do was devour the dwarves and elves and the battle would’ve been over. All they did was save the orcs a few steps over the hill. Why didn’t they eat the orcs?
SUMMARY
The series can be summed up in a single thought.
The love of money is the root of all evil.
The love of money drove 12 dwarves and a hobbit into the mouth of a dragon, destroyed Lake Town, caused the deaths of Thorin, Fili, Kili, hundreds of dwarves and elves, slew Smaug, set loose the Dark Lord which nearly caused the death of Gandalf, and left everyone with nothing in the end.
Had the eagles not existed, this series would’ve turned out very different. Thorin and company would’ve died at the cliff, and everyone would’ve died at the end.
For every reason, I will likely never watch any of these 3 movies again, and will try my utmost to forget they existed. The worldview was a nightmare and that alone would’ve ruined them for me, had they not been as cheesy, cheaply made, and poorly executed. My suggestion: if you haven’t seen them, do yourself a favor and don’t.
As always, thanks for reading.
—the anonymous novelist
the anonymous novelist 