The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

## Relevent Pages

***The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey*** is a high fantasy adventure film released in 2012.

It stars Ian McKellan as Gandalf, Martin Freeman as a young Bilbo Baggins, Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, James Nesbitt as Bofur, Ken Stott as Balin, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Ian Holm as older Bilbo baggins, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, and Andy Serkis as Gollum.

The movie is followed by two back to back sequels: *The Desolation of Smaug* and *The Battle of the Five Armies*.

## Plot summary

*The adventure follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.''*

Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever... Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum's "precious" ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities... A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.

## Plot synopsis

### Prologue

#### The dragon sickness

On September 22, TA 3001, Bilbo Baggins is turning 111
today. He goes over to his mother's hope chest and takes out a red book and
begins writing it. Bilbo tells the tale of his late Friend, Thorin Oakenshield
in his earlier days. The flashbacks reveal Dale, the neighboring . Thorin lived in the
Mountain with his father and grandfather. All of the Dwarves mined and had a
prosperous kingdom, and even had allied with the King of Greenwood, Thranduil.
Despite all these efforts, Thrór's love of gold became too fierce with Thorin
watching from a distance.

#### Destruction of Erebor

One day, Thorin and Balin hear something from afar and
Thorin knows the Dragon Smaug was coming. HE destroyed Dale and forced the
Dwarves out of Erebor. Thorin begged for Thranduil's help but the Elf turned
away. Thorin was forced to lead his followers out into the wastelands of
Dunland and he never forgave nor forgot what happened that day for the rest of
his life. In another corner of the world, there was Bilbo Baggins, who was a
carefree hobbit. He approaches Gandalf with his wooden sword, causing the dwarf
and hobbit to meet for the first time.

Frodo attempts to read the book; however Bilbo
quickly closes the book and snatches back his picture of him as a young man and
stuffs it back into the book. He later questions what the letters on his desk
are, as Frodo responds they are responses to the invitations. Rejoiced that
everyone will be coming, he is however, darkened when he learns that the
Sackville-Bagginses would rather he ask them in person. Bilbo claims that will
happen "over [his] dead body"; and he begins hiding all of the golden
treasures on account of what happened when Lobelia Sackville-Baggins tried to
stuff her pockets with Bilbo's silver spoons.
Bilbo begins to tell Frodo to keep an eye out for Lobelia, but stops
before he finishes his sentence and dismisses it. Bilbo, not wanting to be disturbed,
created a sign reading, "No admittance, except on party business."

When Frodo attempts to talk to him of others finding him odd and unsociable,
Bilbo dismisses it completely and tells Frodo to hang the sign on the wall.
Frodo asks his uncle if Gandalf will be coming, to which Bilbo responds, that
Gandalf wouldn't miss it for the world. As Frodo tells Bilbo that he is off,
the hobbit asks where Frodo is off to, to which the lad responds that he is
going to meet Gandalf at East Farthing Wood. Frodo with a book in hand goes
surprise him there. Bilbo remembers that Gandalf doesn't approve of being late,
and states that when he (Bilbo) himself was young, Bilbo was never late and was
on time towards everything and nothing unexpected ever happen

Sixty years earlier, Bilbo is back to fifty years old,
smoking on a morning in April. There he is approached by Gandalf, who says he's
looking for someone to share an adventure with. However, Bilbo directly tells
him no before going to retreat back in Bag End. At the end of the conversation,
Gandalf points out that he shouldn't be addressed as some man who is selling
buttons at the door. Slowly Bilbo realizes that the old man was in fact
Gandalf, a family friend of both the Bagginses and the Took clan. Bilbo then
remembers the fireworks at his grandfather's midsummer's eve parties, and
states that he had no idea that Gandalf was still in business. In retaliation,
Gandalf asks, "And where else should I be?" But then he states that
he'll find everything amusing and "goes to inform the others. Bilbo stops
him, saying he doesn't want any adventures before going into his hobbit hole
and locking the door.

Later in the film, Bilbo goes to the market where he is a
bit paranoid that Gandalf might be stalking him. He is approached by one of the
local farmers, Mr. Worrywort. Bilbo asks if he has seen a "wizard around
his parts". Mr. Worrywort remembers Gandalf's description. While he does
that, Bilbo sees a sack that he mistakes to be Gandalf's hat and tries to
retreat, only to find that it is only hobbits carrying a basket as well as a
sack.

### Smaug's eye

The thrush flies over the desolate area near where the secret entrance is allegedly at. It takes a snail and begins knocking on the mountain. In the treasure room, a gigantic figure is seen underneath a pile of gold. The creature is Smaug, who opens his eye, aware that Thorin and company are coming.

## Release

### Home media

*The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey* was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on 19 March 2013, with an extended edition, with 13 minutes of additional footage and three bonus discs containing approximately nine hours of special features, released on 5 November 2013. In the United Kingdom, the film was released on 8 April 2013.

## Reception

### Critical acclaim

The film was mostly commented by critics as "positive" with "several hints of negative responses". Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage have been praised for their role as Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield, respectively.

## Soundtrack

> *Main article: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey/Soundtrack*
>
>

A soundtrack was released to correspond with the film. It was released on December 11, 2012, a mere three days before the film was released in theaters.

## cast

See The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey/Credits for more info

## Trivia

### Chronology

* The flashbacks take place before *The Fellowship of the Ring* and The Lord of the Rings series altogether
	+ The flashback of Bilbo finding the One Ring in the first *Lord of the Rings* coincides with the "Riddles in the Dark" scene
* The present day events take place before *The Fellowship of the Ring'*s present day timeline and after the creation and Finding of the One Ring and after Gollum murders his cousin for the ring.
* The flashbacks in the Battle of Moria takes place after the finding of the One Ring by Gollum and its creation and directly after Smaug took over Erebor and before the entire Quest of Erebor
	+ The Battle of Moria flashbacks coincide with Thorin telling this flashback to Gandalf in *The Desolation of Smaug*.

1. ↑ http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/hobbit-unexpected-journey-film-1