12. Where Does It End?
One of the important issues that Peter Jackson faced when he said he was splitting the film into three was the issue of breaking the narrative - the same issue, on lesser scale that has faced Harry Potter and Twilight directors before him. How do you solve a problem of breaking something already designed as three parts into three more parts, to effectively reshape the narrative into nine different phases? Well, for Jackson, the answer was manufacturing more drama to make the dwarves' escape from the Goblin underground city more of a big deal. He created an "out of the frying pan, into the fire" situation where the escaped party, plus Bilbo who triumphs in the riddle game with Gollum and emerges with the One Ring, run out of Goblin danger and straight into Orc danger in the shape of Azog and his pack of mounted Orcs. Once the party, who are driven up trees by their attackers, have forced the Wargs back using incendiary pine cones lit by Gandalf's staff, they celebrate their victory, only for the one tree holding them all to topple and hang precariously over a cliff edge. It is at this stage that Thorin decides to try and take on Azog, while the other dwarves hang on for dear life, and Gandalf calls for help from the Great Eagles, who turn up and rescue them, including the injured Thorin. They are then flown to safety by the Eagles who disappear, rather than simply flying the entire party closer to Erebor, which is still miles away on the horizon. Helpful.