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In the recent movie, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” they portray a scene alluded to several times in both the film and book of “The Lord of the Rings,” the scene in which Bilbo has the chance to kill Gollum…
…But doesn’t.
The fact that Bilbo felt pity for Gollum, a wretched creature that would quite willingly consume him, shows how masterfully Tolkien portrayed Gollum. It says in “The Hobbit,” that Bilbo feels a sudden understanding, and pity, pity and horror. He imagines days and years in the dark, eating raw fish, having no company but one’s self, and he begins in a way to understand Gollum, and he does not kill Gollum.
The fact that he showed mercy is extremely important in “The Lord of the Rings,” if Bilbo had killed Gollum, would the quest to destroy the Ring have succeeded? No. Frodo would have taken the Ring for his own, and in the end, he would have been destroyed, taken by the Ringwraiths, and Sauron would have regained the Ring. Because Bilbo showed mercy to Gollum, because he didn’t stab him when he had a chance, Gollum was there in Mount Doom, wrested the Ring from Frodo, and because of the misstep of Gollum, the Ring is destroyed.
Many wondered if Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit Trilogy would be more or less devoid of comedy such as the Lord of the Rings films, a “higher” style.
There was plenty of comedy, but it was in the wrong places, done with the wrong characters, (With the minor exception of a few scenes with Bilbo) and done the wrong way, such as in the scene where the troll accidentally grabs Bilbo and uses him as a handkerchief. While it might be possible Tolkien might have grudgingly approved of this, or even not so grudgingly, when mixed in with all the other comedy, such as the rudeness of the dwarves in Bilbo’s hobbit hole and the Goblin King that looks like the Gungan leader in Star Wars, it becomes too much comedy.
In a few places, this comedy was done right, such as in a few scenes in Hobbiton, where Bilbo is horrified at the dwarves raiding his pantry, and using a doily as a dish rag. Also, in the scene with Gollum, there is the right amount of comedy mixed in with the seriousness and danger or Bilbo’s situation.
After seeing the new, first part of the Hobbit trilogy, many of those who have read the book may be wondering at many things in the film that weren’t in the book, and vice versa.
For instance, among many other things, the band of dwarves did not encounter an orc raiding party on their way to Rivendell, nor, did Thorin openly oppose going there.
Also, many, before the film was released, worried that none of the comedy from the book would be translated into the film, this did not happen, on the contrary, there was too much humor… There was too much humor, in the wrong places and done the wrong way, such as the Goblin King, who in the film looks nothing so much like a Gungan from Star Wars.
However, amidst the many places where the film did quite badly, in some places it excelled, such as in the redesigning of the wargs, this, I think, Tolkien would have approved of. In the films of the Lord of the Rings, the wargs were made to look almost like hyenas, in the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, they have been redesigned to look more like wolves, and also, like the wolves in Norse mythology, which heavily influenced Tolkien.
Another instance where the film excelled is in the scene in which, Gollum and Bilbo engage in a game of riddles, this scene, could not in any way have been more faithful to the book. And here, in this scene, they show something that in both the film and the book, of the Lord of the Rings, is alluded to: Bilbo’s chance to kill Gollum, and more importantly, that he finds himself feeling pity for this wretched, half insane, bulbous eyed creature.
While the film failed in many ways, in some of the most important parts, it followed the book…
…And portrayed wonderfully the adventures and decisions, the challenges and dangers, that the Hobbit from Hobbiton faces.
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