Peter Jackson Writes Legolas Into The Hobbit

[RadioKnight]

Didnt I read somewhere that Jackson was going to use Frodo reading Bilbo's book he wrote about his travels in the Hobbit as a "framing device" for the story? Isnt it possible that Legolas could be around in this "device"? A better possibility than altering a timeless story?

But yeah, hes probably going to show up in the Mirkwood parts.

 

[SpAc3man]

Sounds like a good idea to me. I always thought the lack of character depth for the Mirkwood elves to be a bit of a flaw in The Hobbit. By adding a character we all know from LotR it will make that section more interesting. Also by showing Legolas in an earlier time when he hated dwarves will improve his character arc over the entire Hobbit-Lord of the Rings story.

 

[Mike Fang]

Ugh! As someone who enjoys Tolkien's LoTR trilogy and The Hobbit, I'm pissed that Hollywood is once again taking entirely too much creative license with a pre-existing story. Seriously, I understand the need to make a few small changes here and there to adapt a written work to a film. But adding characters who were never there in the first place?! And you know odds are good these characters won't be just background ones or small cameo shots. If you'd asked me yesterday, would have said Peter-freaking-Jackson would have had more sense than to pull something like this. His adaptation of the LoTR trilogy was a masterpiece and very respectful of the source material, from what I could tell. This, this is just...if it doesn't land a crippling blow to Jackson's reputation, I'll consider it a miracle.

 

[Rack]

*coughcoughshoehorningfanservicecoughcough*

In all seriousness, the liberties Jackson has taken haven't been that bad, although that whole Arwen thing still rings to be kind of annoying. Legolas' appearance isn't even that impossible from the adventure. It's not like Jackson is fool enough to put Legolas into the party, or to give him a lead. We're talking cameo/few screen shots here, with a few lines of dialogue. Here's hoping for an damn good movie anyway.

Really? I'd have thought he was more than fool enough to put him into the party considering what a hash he made of LotR.

 

[Anjel]

Break Tolkein lore
Get fit guy in film
?????
Profit

 

[Eatbrainz]

Sing it with me now! They're taking the dwarves to Mirkwood-wood-wood-wood...

 

[Coranico]

Break Tolkein lore
Get fit guy in film
?????
Profit

Though he isn't specifically mentioned by name Legolas is in The Hobbit, he's one of the Elven King's sons. It'd only be breaking the lore if he was in the movie any more than he needed to be i.e. One or two lines standing behind the king, looking like a bawss.

 

[ezeroast]

i think they should just play it as the book was written. I dont remember any refrence to Frodo in there either but he will be in the movie also. I just dont understand.
I guess its been about 12 years since I've read it though, I might be wrong.

Edit: Ok i didnt realise that lego was in Mirkwood. As long as they dont overdo it I dont care. Cameo's all round

 

[Laxman9292]

This confirms my fears that the whole Hobbit movie will be a sad sad sham. Damn you Peter Jackson, DAMN YOU STRAIT TO HELL!

On the other side of the coin, it might not be too bad, but I have a serious problem when movie makers take big liberties with the source materials like this. What they did with LoTR was acceptable but I really can't get behind this kind of change.

Why? Because while Legolas was alive and living in Mirkwood at the time, not to mention the son of the king and therefore a prominent figure in Mirkwood, it makes no sense for him to have a cameo because he wasn't specifically mentioned in the book? And all the extras in the movie who weren't specifically mentioned in the book shouldn't be there either! Tolkien didn't specifically write an elven male #3 into the book, I'll be damned if I allow him to be seen in the movie! NERD RAGE!

Honestly, I'm about as hardcore a LotR nerd as you can get (started reading the Hobbit in 3rd grade, unabridged LotR, Silmarillion, random books about weapons and armor of Middle Earth etc.) But getting into a nerd rage over something like this, especially where it makes sense to have him make an appearance, even if Tolkien didn't write something specifically about it ("just then the group caught a glimpse of the king's fancy boy of a son").

 

[Laxman9292]

Personally the elf can go sod it. I'm an Aragorn man.

Definitely would be more badass if he just kept the Strider name though. Strider > Aragorn. It's just science. [/Ron Burgundy voice]

 

[Laxman9292]

Wonder if he will have pimples and braces...guess he was a rather young elf in lotr? so 60 years ago he should be teenagerish? ;P

Haha, doubt it, seeing as he's approximately 2900 years old by this point. Puberty must go by in the blink of an eye, relatively, for elves. Lucky bastards.

 

[keideki]

This confirms my fears that the whole Hobbit movie will be a sad sad sham. Damn you Peter Jackson, DAMN YOU STRAIT TO HELL!

On the other side of the coin, it might not be too bad, but I have a serious problem when movie makers take big liberties with the source materials like this. What they did with LoTR was acceptable but I really can't get behind this kind of change.

Why? Because while Legolas was alive and living in Mirkwood at the time, not to mention the son of the king and therefore a prominent figure in Mirkwood, it makes no sense for him to have a cameo because he wasn't specifically mentioned in the book? And all the extras in the movie who weren't specifically mentioned in the book shouldn't be there either! Tolkien didn't specifically write an elven male #3 into the book, I'll be damned if I allow him to be seen in the movie! NERD RAGE!

Honestly, I'm about as hardcore a LotR nerd as you can get (started reading the Hobbit in 3rd grade, unabridged LotR, Silmarillion, random books about weapons and armor of Middle Earth etc.) But getting into a nerd rage over something like this, especially where it makes sense to have him make an appearance, even if Tolkien didn't write something specifically about it ("just then the group caught a glimpse of the king's fancy boy of a son").

If you read the other replies to my post you might understand my point of view better. Or if you read the subtext of SARCASM in my post you might also understand better...

 

[RivFader86]

Wonder if he will have pimples and braces...guess he was a rather young elf in lotr? so 60 years ago he should be teenagerish? ;P

Haha, doubt it, seeing as he's approximately 2900 years old by this point. Puberty must go by in the blink of an eye, relatively, for elves. Lucky bastards.

Hmmmmm i doubt that...in retrospect it would be a very short time...but at the time beeing they just lived in a regular livespann so i guess a year would just feel like it does to a human and if puberty lasts longer for elves (since they mature much later) it could even be worse ;P

 

[Kimarous]

I see no problem with this. Heck, I'm even counting on an in-joke about Legolas's alcoholic resistance, as seen in "Return of the King"; when you're several hundred years old AND you regularly drink wine from Dale, a piddly mug of Rohan swill ain't gonna faze ya. >

 

[Anjel]

Break Tolkein lore
Get fit guy in film
?????
Profit

Though he isn't specifically mentioned by name Legolas is in The Hobbit, he's one of the Elven King's sons. It'd only be breaking the lore if he was in the movie any more than he needed to be i.e. One or two lines standing behind the king, looking like a bawss.

It's been a few years since I read the Hobbit, but you are correct, I realise now that you've said it. As long as he doesn't start sliding down the trunk of an oliphaunt and counting up the dead bodies, I guess we are safe.

 

[veum]

An 'iconic character'? Bloom, without a doubt one of the worst overactors out there right now, came to a character in the books who comes across as a mild mannered, articulate ponce, who largely fights from a distance, and with the aid of gratuitous special effects turned him into a brooding, unsubtle lout who pulls off all kinds of ridiculous ninja moves in battle. It was without a doubt the single worst part of the trilogy for me, in an adaptation that I overall enjoyed.

Knowing Jackson, he'll find a way to shoehorn some more Shaolin monk style combat with Bloom into the films, probably during the Battle of the Five Armies, and it will stick out like a rhinoceros in drag.

I couldn't have said it better my self!

 

[To_Sirius]

@ the above:

And how would you guys visually represent THOUSANDS OF YEARS experience in a supporting character in a film?

 

[Laxman9292]

If you read the other replies to my post you might understand my point of view better. Or if you read the subtext of SARCASM in my post you might also understand better...

Sorry, it was clear in the first half but the second half confused me cause it sounded sincere. Some people might actually consider this taking a big liberty with the source material so it's not hard to imagine you're serious.

 

[keideki]

If you read the other replies to my post you might understand my point of view better. Or if you read the subtext of SARCASM in my post you might also understand better...

Sorry, it was clear in the first half but the second half confused me cause it sounded sincere. Some people might actually consider this taking a big liberty with the source material so it's not hard to imagine you're serious.

I take my Tolkien seriously, I just am wary about how far they are going to take this. A cameo is all well and dandy, I would like that, but if they re-write it enough to give him a larger roll then I will be very disappointed in them.