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Smaug
Smaug () is a dragon and the main antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', his treasure and the mountain he lives in being the goal of the quest. Powerful and fearsome, he invaded the Dwarf kingdom of Erebor 171 years prior to the events described in the novel. A group of thirteen dwarves mounted a quest to take the kingdom back, aided by the wizard Gandalf and the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. In ''The Hobbit'', Thorin describes Smaug as "a most specially greedy, strong and wicked worm". Critics have identified close parallels with what they presume are sources of Tolkien's inspiration, including the dragon in ''Beowulf'', who is provoked by the stealing of a precious cup, and the speaking dragon Fafnir, who proposes a betrayal to Sigurd. A further source may be Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 poem ''The Song of Hiawatha'', where Megissogwon, the spirit of wealth, is protected by an armoured shirt, but whose one weak spot is revealed by a talking bird. Comme ...
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The Hobbit (film Series)
''The Hobbit'' is a trilogy of fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson. The films are subtitled ''The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey , An Unexpected Journey'' (2012), ''The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug , The Desolation of Smaug'' (2013), and ''The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies , The Battle of the Five Armies'' (2014). The films are based on J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', but much of the trilogy was inspired by the appendices to his 1954–55 ''The Lord of the Rings'', which expand on the story told in ''The Hobbit''. Additional material and new characters were created specially for the films. The series is a prequel to Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (film series), ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy. The screenplays were written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro, who had been chosen to direct before his departure from the project. The films take place in the fictional world of Middle-earth, sixty years before ...
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The Hobbit
''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the '' New York Herald Tribune'' for best juvenile fiction. It is recognized as a classic in children's literature and is one of the best-selling books of all time, with over 100 million copies sold. ''The Hobbit'' is set in Middle-earth and follows home-loving Bilbo Baggins, the titular hobbit who joins the wizard Gandalf and the thirteen dwarves of Thorin's Company on a quest to reclaim the dwarves' home and treasure from the dragon Smaug. Bilbo's journey takes him from his peaceful rural surroundings into more sinister territory. The story is told in the form of a picaresque or episodic quest; several chapters introduce a new type of monster or threat as Bilbo progresses through the landscape. Bilbo gains a new level of maturity, c ...
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Dragons In Middle-earth
J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium features dragons based on those of European legend, but going beyond them in having personalities of their own, such as the wily Smaug, who has features of both Fafnir and the ''Beowulf'' dragon. Dragons appear in the early stories of ''The Book of Lost Tales'', including the mechanical war-dragons of '' The Fall of Gondolin''. Tolkien went on to create Smaug, a powerful and terrifying adversary, in ''The Hobbit''. Dragons are only mentioned in passing in ''The Lord of the Rings''. Tolkien's conception of the dragon has been adopted both in games loosely based on his Middle-earth writings, and by other fantasy authors. Several taxa have been named after Tolkien's dragons, including both extinct and living species. Several taxa, including girdled lizards, shield bugs, and ants, carry the name ''Smaug''. Development Dragons are already present in ''The Book of Lost Tales''. Tolkien had been fascinated with dragons since childho ...
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Bilbo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins (Westron: ''Bilba Labingi'') is the title character and protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', a supporting character in ''The Lord of the Rings'', and the fictional narrator (along with Frodo Baggins) of many of Tolkien's Middle-earth writings. The Hobbit is selected by the wizard Gandalf to help Thorin Oakenshield, Thorin and his party of Dwarf (Middle-earth), Dwarves reclaim their ancestral home and treasure, which has been seized by the dragon Smaug. Bilbo sets out in ''The Hobbit'' timid and comfort-loving and, through his adventures, grows to become a useful and resourceful member of Quests in Middle-earth, the quest. Bilbo's way of life in the Shire, defined by features like the availability of tobacco and postal service, recalls that of the English middle class during the Victorian era, Victorian to Edwardian eras. This is not compatible with the much older world of Dwarves and Elf (Middle-earth), Elves. Tolkien appears to have based ...
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Thorin Oakenshield
Thorin Oakenshield (Thorin II) is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit''. Thorin is the leader of the Company of Dwarves who aim to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from Smaug the dragon. He is the son of Thráin II, grandson of Thrór, and becomes King of Durin's Folk during their exile from Erebor. Thorin's background is further elaborated in Appendix A of Tolkien's 1955 novel ''The Return of the King'', and in '' Unfinished Tales''. Commentators have noted that Thorin is Old Norse both in name and character, being surly, illiberal, independent, proud, aristocratic, and like all Dwarves greedy for gold. Tolkien was a Roman Catholic; from a Christian perspective, Thorin exemplifies the deadly sin of avarice, but is able to free himself from it at the time of his death. This deathbed conversion has been compared to the moral transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens's ''A Christmas Carol''. Thorin appears in Peter Jackson's ''The Ho ...
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Erebor
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Lonely Mountain is a mountain northeast of Mirkwood. It is the location of the Dwarves' Kingdom under the Mountain and the town of Dale lies in a vale on its southern slopes. In ''The Lord of the Rings'', the mountain is called by the Sindarin name Erebor., book 5, ch. 9 "The Last Debate" The Lonely Mountain is the destination of the protagonists, including the titular Hobbit Bilbo Baggins in ''The Hobbit'', and is the scene of the novel's climax. The mountain has been described as the goal of Bilbo's psychological quest in ''The Hobbit''; scholars have noted that it and ''The Lord of the Rings'' are both structured as quests to a distant mountain, but that the quests have very different motivations. Further, the mountain is a symbol of adventure in ''The Hobbit'', and of Bilbo's maturation as an individual, while to the Dwarves, it stands for the gain of beauty in return for loss of life. Fictional mountain Erebor stands hundreds o ...
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Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which are adapted from the novels of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien. Other notable films include the critically lauded drama '' Heavenly Creatures'' (1994), the horror comedy '' The Frighteners'' (1996), the epic monster remake film '' King Kong'' (2005), the World War I documentary film '' They Shall Not Grow Old'' (2018) and the documentary '' The Beatles: Get Back'' (2021). He is the fifth-highest-grossing film director of all-time, with his films having made over $6.5 billion worldwide. Jackson began his career with the " splatstick" horror comedy '' Bad Taste'' (1987) and the black comedy '' Meet the Feebles'' (1989) before filming the zombie comedy '' Braindead'' (1992). He shared a nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Screenpl ...
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Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Benedict Cumberbatch, various accolades, including a BAFTA TV Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and four Golden Globes. In 2014, ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine named him one of the Time 100, 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2015, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to performing arts and charity. Cumberbatch studied drama at the Victoria University of Manchester and obtained a Master of Arts in classical acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He began acting in William Shakespeare, Shakespearean theatre productions before making his West End theatre, West End debut in Richard Eyre's revival of ''Hedda Gabler'' in 2005. Since then, he has starred in Royal National Theatre productions of ' ...
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Esgaroth
Esgaroth, or Lake-town, is a fictional community of Men upon the Long Lake that appears in the 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'' by J. R. R. Tolkien. Constructed entirely of wood and standing upon wooden pillars sunk into the lake-bed, the town is south of the Lonely Mountain and east of Mirkwood. The town's prosperity is apparently built upon trade between the Men who inhabit it, and the Elves and the Dwarves of northern Middle-earth. The chief mode of transport of the people of Esgaroth is stated to be their boats. At the time in which ''The Hobbit'' is set, Esgaroth appears to be a city-state, and a republic with no king (the only real republic shown in Middle-earth). The Master of Lake-town was said in-universe to be elected from among the "old and wise"; scholars have noted that all the same, he was trapped by his greed. Tolkien modelled the town closely on the real Neolithic pile dwellings that were discovered near the Alps in the 19th century. Fictional role Geography Es ...
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Unfinished Tales
''Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth'' is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980. Many of the tales within are retold in ''The Silmarillion'', albeit in modified forms; the work also contains a summary of the events of ''The Lord of the Rings'' told from a less personal perspective. The collection received a cautious welcome from scholars and critics. They noted Christopher Tolkien's warning that a good knowledge of the background was needed to gain much from the stories. Others noted that the stories were among the best of Tolkien's writing; Warren Dunn expressed a wish for the whole of the history in such a format. The book, with its commentary, was commercially successful, indicating a market for more of Tolkien's work and leading to the 12-volume ''The History of Middle-earth''. On "The Quest of Erebor" in Part Three, Christine Bar ...
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Gandalf
Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is a Wizards (Middle-earth), wizard, one of the Istari order, and the leader of the Company of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" from the Old Norse Dvergatal, "Catalogue of Dwarves" (''Dvergatal'') in the ''Völuspá''. As a wizard and the bearer of one of the Three Rings, Gandalf has great power, but works mostly by encouraging and persuading. He sets out as Gandalf the Grey, possessing great knowledge and travelling continually. Gandalf is focused on the mission to counter the Dark Lord Sauron by destroying the One Ring. He is associated with fire; his ring of power is Narya, the Ring of Fire. As such, he delights in fireworks to entertain the hobbits of the Shire, while in great need he uses fire as a weapon. As one of the Maiar, he is an immortal spirit from Valinor, but his physical body can be killed. In ''The Hobbit'', Gandalf assists the 13 dwarves and the h ...
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