10 Best Moments From The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug Extended Edition

3. The Desolation Of Smaug

When In The Film Is It: As the dwarves are making their way from Laketown to Erebor. What Happens: We see the dwarves traverse the Desolation of Smaug, which is one part of Middle Earth where you really wouldn't want to visit. There's limited greenery and, as Bilbo comments, it's eerily quite. While hearing what the land used to be like from Balin, he spots a thrush flying along, before the company finally come across the abandoned city of Dale as in the theatrical version. Why It's Great: Thrushes plays an important part in the events of the book, signalling to the dwarves they can enter Erebor and providing Bard with the information needed to kill Smaug. Their inclusion in the films (a snail tapping one appeared at the end of An Unexpected Journey) is rather symobolic, but like the white stag it serves as a nice reminder of the source. On top of that, we actually get to spend a little time in the location the title alludes to, rather than having it simply name-checked, which should really have been done originally.