MovieChat Forums > The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) Discussion > i know i'm being dense but please indulg...

i know i'm being dense but please indulge me (and some spoilers!)

posted 10 years ago by cbarton21
2 replies | jump to latest

I got straightaway that the first bit in the inn was a prologue, albeit initially scratching my head when Gandalf sits down and introduces himself to Thorin.

Then we flash forward 12 months and Bilbo is acting as the 'burglar', spotting Beorn (but no Benni!). Then after that we have all the fun and games with the Elves, giant spiders etc. But, is all this meant to be a 'mini adventure' set within the timeframe of the first film?

I ask this because the one armed Orc leader is still very much alive and kicking.Yet Bilbo is using the ring throughout the whole of the film, and it is clearly already taking hold, yet from memory he only found it towards the end of the first one. (the bit with Gollum being the highlight of that movie, IMO)

Thank you.

[–] Otaku-sempai 10 years ago

The book was always a bit episodic and the films still reflect that quite a bit. Jackson does try to tie events more closely to each other. But after the prologue we pick up where we left off after the Eagles dropped the company off at the Carrock. I know that Peter Jackson made the Mountain look like it was fairly close, but it was still on the other side of Mirkwood Forest, over 250 miles from where they were.

"There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world." - Gandalf

[–] mtevens 9 years ago

The scene in Bree at the beginning is a flashback and takes place before the main action in the first movie.

When it jumps to 12 months later, it is picking up where An Unexpected Journey leaves off.
It is not "meant to be a 'mini adventure' set within the timeframe of the first film".