As previously mentioned, at last weekend’s BEA we ran into dear Mariah Huehner, who is one of the few people we know who is just a geeky about THE LORD OF THE RINGS books as The Beat is. As we caught up we speculated on the “Second Hobbit” movie, and what might be contained in it. After a few moments of conversation it was narrowed down to “Imrahil” and “Radagast.”
Imrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth was actually cut from RETURN OF THE KING, denying us the chance to see another hunky Elf-blooded warrior walking side by side with Aragorn and Eomer to defeat evil. However, no such problem lies with HOBBIT TWO–sure Imrahil may have been a little young, but he surely went adventuring with Aragorn in Gondor and was involved with other White Council-ly duties.
Mariah and The Beat set upon the idea of spearheading some kind of Imrahil fan club and making sure he appears in HOBBIT TWO. Now no sooner had we joked about this than we happened to run into an artist pal of ours who mentions he may be going down to New Zealand soon to work on the two Hobbit films. SCORE! We immediately called Mariah over and we started yelling “Imrahil!” and “Radagast!” over and over, with a little bit of “Glorfindel!” thrown in for good measure.
Now we doubt sincerely that our pal will be able to swing the Imrahil/Radagast business by himself. However, we expect that even now word is reaching Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro: Imrahil or bust! Just do the right thing, gents, that’s all we ask.
I’m still an ardent supporter of Radagast the Brown. I can’t really put my finger on why I’ve always liked him.
But what about Tom Bombadil? As a traveling bard type, he could be a vehicle to collect plenty of short little bits, like Radagast and Imrahil and Glorfindel, all Tolkien-sourced to give the movie an authentic cred.
this column has become so “name droppy” i’m not sure i can read anymore…! haha
And posts like this are why I’m going to be avoiding Hobbit 2 like the Black Riders: It will be nothing but nerdservice.
Advice to Jackson/Del Toro: Do as Gandalf suggested to the dwarves in Mirkwood and stay on the path.
And posts like this are why I’m going to be avoiding Hobbit 2 like the Black Riders: It will be nothing but nerdservice.
Advice to Jackson/Del Toro: Do as Gandalf suggested to the dwarves in Mirkwood and stay on the path.
Jack Black IS Ghan-Buri-Ghan!
Aragorn left the service of Gondor in 2480 TA, around 25 years after Imrahil’s birth, so that’s almost a decade in which they could have hung out.
We might as well use all the Istari and not just Radagast, i demand that Alatar and Pallando appear in the movie!
Technically I think Imrahil is only partially elf-blooded. His people were from an area that had a lot of mixed marriages between elves and men, so they were nobler and more “elvish” looking. I hope I won’t destroy my nerd cred if I’m wrong, though. I’m tired and I don’t feel like double-checking.
Personally, I think elaborating on the White Councils activities while Bilbo and the dwarves are off dealing with giant spiders and a dragon could be very cool. There’s enough ancillary material to make it work if it’s shown as a parallel interest. I mean, Gandalf was trying to get Smaug out of the way for obvious reasons, and the Battle of the Five Armies effectively wiped out the mountain goblin/orc population for quite a long time. I’m not sure how they’re going to break it up, though the interviews suggest that they may keep the two separate…which I’m not sure is the way to go. It would make more sense to show it all working together and how that leads up to what ultimately happens in LOTR since it is all connected. Knowing more about all the manipulations of Gandalf would be a nice addition to the trilogy.
But I’ll honestly be thrilled with the battle with the Necromancer. With wizards and high elves…well…it could the magic duel of the century.
My expectations are high but I trust this group. The world has already been established, this will just expand on it. They proved with LOTR that they could adapt and (necessarily) change things for the medium of film without losing the heart of the original. As long as they do the same with this, I think they’ll be okay.
And as long Beorn is in it (and I’d love to see some Radagast…he’s such a cranky guy) and they don’t make the Mirkwood elves little gray guys with berries in their hair, I’ll be pretty happy. The only song I kind of want to hear is when the orcs trap everyone in the trees…but that really is my inner child working overtime.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled, non-Tolkien, uber geeky days.