1. The Epic Tone
This last one is probably the most controversial. Even as I write, Im arguing with myself. But here it goes. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit as a children-oriented adventure story based on a random line he came up with while frustratedly grading papers. He developed The Lord of the Rings later, initially envisioning it as Bilbos further adventures but eventually giving it a darker, more epic tone. But. Before The Hobbit, Tolkien had been working on his various bits of Middle Earth lore. These eventually came together in the epic tale of the Silmarils, in whose aftermath Numenor arose, Sauron created the Ring, and the battle which we see at the beginning of the Fellowship of the Rings movie takes place. So while The Hobbit is an incredible book, it is a bit disconnected and different in tone from much of Tolkiens other Middle Earth tales. And Tolkien realized this. After writing The Lord of the Rings, he rewrote the riddle game to reflect the power of the Ring and Gollums corruption. He even tried to revise the rest of The Hobbit to align it better with The Lord of the Rings but realized this was untenable. And in the appendices at the end of The Return of the King, Tolkien did connect the events in The Hobbit to Gandalfs broader struggle with Sauron. So while I still do not agree with Jacksons changes to The Hobbit, I can kind of understand them. Besides the desire to make a three-movie epic, there is a reason to think that the tale told in The Hobbit was more epic than we were led to believe in the book. Bilbo finding the Ring set in motion the fall of Sauron. The dwarves return to Erebor prevented Sauron from devastating the north in the War of the Rings. And the campaign against the Necromancer revealed both Saurons return and the first hints of Sarumans betrayal. So it was kind of alright to change The Hobbit into an epic. I guess. So what do you think? Are these valid defenses of Jackson's take on The Hobbit, or will Tolkien fans spend the next few years in dread as each movie comes out, more epic and drawn-out than the last?