The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies - 10 Reasons It's A Great Adaptation

2. The Path To The Lord Of The Rings Begins

As the final film in the trilogy, Peter Jackson not only adapted the story presented in the pages of The Hobbit, but borrowed heavily from the appendices of The Lord Of The Rings, conscious to link to the events of the other trilogy. Through the events of the assault on Dol Guldur and the Battle of the Five Armies, Peter Jackson carefully wove in small events and lines of dialogue that set up many of the plot lines of the later chronological trilogy One of the joys of the assault on Dol Guldur was the chance to see Saruman The White in full bad-assary action. Along with Elrond, he took on the mighty of the ghostly Nazgul, while Galadriel faced the Necromancer herself. As the threat of Mordor was established, Saruman took ownership of tracking down the enemy. On its own, this moment would have shown that the white wizard was willing to see the fight through to the end. But considering his betrayal in The Fellowship Of The Ring, Saruman's words became something much more; the first steps towards darkness. Jackson was also able to cleverly reference a young Aragorn, referred to only by Thranduil as Strider. In The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy the ranger from the north was 85 years old - the Dúnedain being blessed with long life - but here the future King of Gondor was a young man who does not yet know his destiny. As Thranduil sends Legolas on the quest to find Strider, so does Legolas' role in the events of the War of the Ring become more apparent. Jackson did not need venture before the confines of The Hobbit book. However, these two events perfectly linked the two trilogies and still allowed The Hobbit to end its story on its own merits.