Even people who've read the Hobbit (myself included) often tend to forget that Thorin, Fili, and Kili die near the end. It's when you get to reading Fellowship of the Ring where you're reminded that they did in fact die. To the movie's credit, they really ensured that we would never forget that those three died, especially if you've watched the funeral scene in the Extended Edition of the 3rd movie, because the saddest thing about being a fallen warrior is to be forgotten. Point goes to the movies...again.

Linkara's review arc: "It's okay", "It's good", "It's great!" XD I like how they steadily grew on him and he thinks that he thought they were great the whole time.

"Seems to me like they could've just gotten rich in the construction business" They did. They totally did. That's what they were doing all this time is making money as craftsmen and possibly helping extend the kingdom in the Iron Hills. It was more a matter of getting their kingdom and a few priceless heirlooms back than gold for the sake of gold. In particular, the Arkenstone is the treasure of all dwarfdom, possibly even possessed of magic power that allowed it to shine in the dark depending on exactly how you interpret its descriptions. Even so, greed was definitely a factor at play in the Battle of Five Armies, but it was as much greed as "Pay reparations", "No". So there was more to it than just greed.

IRT Sauron's smell: The One Ring doesn't have a specific power set. It basically just amplifies the powers of the bearer. Hobbits are naturally rather sneaky - so Hobbits turn invisible when they wear it. Maiar become as unto gods when they hold the ring. Elves become terrible and powerful. Dwarves... well, who knows - maybe they'd become greedier, stronger.... Sauron is something of an exception. He poured so much of his own power into the ring, without it he is not whole. With it, he is among the most powerful of the Maia. Without it, he is without form, and he requires centuries to rebuild his strength and become powerful enough to start spreading his influence in Middle Earth again. Though, fun fact, he actually had his physical form back when Frodo destroys the ring. He just didn't want to leave his fortress until he was at his full strength - which requires the ring - so he never actually shows up in the book or the movie.

I can’t help but think outwitting a dragon in a philosophical debate would be a great way to subvert the tradition “slay the dragon” quest.

20:36 Funny enough, there was a female wood elf character added in the 2003 video game adaptation too. After the encounter with the trolls, Bilbo was sent to scout out the troll caves, where he found an injured wood elf named Lianna, whom he helped by finding a healing potion for her. She later repaid Bilbo in Murkwood by helping him free the dwarves from the other wood elves. And she appeared one final time fighting in the battle of the five armies. And she is NOT romantically involved with anyone.

Maybe the "Great Gilded Boat" is the Master's TARDIS...

Here's another point that I have to give to the movies. I've been rereading the Hobbit as of late, and just this morning, got to the point where Smaug leaves for Laketown and Bilbo finds the Arkenstone... And I really hate the way its written, because we're left to assume the only reason Bilbo took the stone, was that he was overcome by its beauty and wanted to keep it for himself. Bilbo is supposed to be the voice of reason in the mountain, while the Dwarfs are overcome by their greed. And yet, he flat out takes literally the most valuable thing in the entire treasure horde, for seemingly no reason other reason than greed. The movie worked this way better, because the entire quest and Bilbo's function as a Burglar was specifically FOR that stone, in the hopes that - should he recover it - Thorin could use its power and influence to summon the armies of the seven Dwarf-Lords to attack Smaug and reclaim the mountain. It's better that we have so much back-and-forth between Smaug and Bilbo over the Arkenstone, with Smaug detailing how it will corrupt Thorin and destroy him. Then when Bilbo takes it and tries to escape, he immediately sees that it's already corrupting Thorin, when - despite the fact that a motherfucking DRAGON is chasing them about - Thorin prevents Bilbo from leaving, even threatening him at the point of a sword. This was a clear indication that Thorin was about to send him back into the Treasure Horde and not allow him to leave until the Arkenstone was found... Thus, after Smaug is dead, Bilbo has good reason to NOT give it to Thorin; because all of Smaug's warnings are coming true. Thorin was willing to risk Bilbo's life as well as his own, and the others, just to get that Stone. And even worse, after all the trouble they caused for Laketown, Thorin was overcome with the Greed and Dragon Sickness, that he wouldn't even help them. Thus, Bilbo knew he couldn't give the stone to Thorin, because that would literally make everything worse...

In my novel, dragons absorb the emotional energies that suffuse treasure. Every gold coin was spent to do something - to buy bread, to hire a workman, to purchase a house - and this emotional energy sticks to the coin. So, dragons can lay on them and bask in the vibes. Depending on the character of the dragon, they may want different moods of treasure.

HOLY SHIT! The contest of champions, 3 years before the arc started.... Good job Linkara.

The funniest thing about getting that probably horrible "Santa the Barbarian" comic? The back cover's advertising Cable.

I always thought the whole dragons and treasure thing was that the amount of of treasure a dragon had equated to its strength and dominance to other dragons. As far as the world of magic and fantasy is concerned.

"if Radioactive Dragon isn't a band name then it needs to be" I mean, Radioactive by Imagine Dragon comes pretty close.

I'd argue that THE HOBBIT is lighter in time than LOTR, if only in the beginning (with references to golf and the Trolls), but I agree it is pretty epic. I have a theory as to why Bard kills Smaug and not the Dwarves and Bilbo. Remember that Tolkien was a WWI vet and as a result hated war. I think he wanted to avoid painting violence as heroic, which is also why in the Battle of the Five Armies, Bilbo gets knocked out and misses all the important parts. Additionally, it seems to me that the Middle Earth stories are just that, stories of the world and its inhabitants, with events and happenings involving a whole lot of people, some of whom never meet each other, all helping to shape the world and its history. THE HOBBIT isn't actually the story of Bilbo, but of a series of events that changed the course of history in the North, events that a lot of people took part in.

BTW: Benedict Cumberbatch was the perfect choice for Doctor Strange. And i'm just going to say this, I got chills with him playing Smaug, his performance was actually immersive, felt like I was listening to Smaug himself.

"It seems like Smaug has no real use for treasure." Well okay this and the description regarding his rage over losing that insignificant little cup were Tolkien taking a jab at rich people and their greed, along with Thorin's refusal to share gold with the elves. The metaphor might be a bit over the top in Smaug's case, but look at the news in recent years. I have seen billionaires, or people in multi-billion dollar companies, play the victim at the thought of having to pay for their workers' health insurance and claim that such a thing forces them to cut their workers hours, when in fact they were doing that before and they just want to pay their employees as little as possible. Or there is EA's CEO claiming that lootboxes are a completely moral thing despite seeing the government of Belgium rule them illegal, and the company deciding they would rather break the law than change their ways. A little something lost from Smaug's boast in this comic; Biblo made a remark saying Smaug is sure he made some enemies. Smaug pointed out he is fully aware of who he has killed, the king under the mountain, the lord of Dale, and nobody has dared come for him. He states "I kill where I wish and none dare resist!" The final act of The Hobbit really makes me question the idea of it as just being a simple story for kids. People call the movies tonally confused, but once Smaug shows up in the book, everything is 100% serious until the Battle of Five Armies is over. It's like the book switched demographics. Also, I kinda of felt the Master came off as unintentionally sympathetic in the book. As Linkara points out, his only crime is "not wanting to die," and yet the narration tries to paint him as some massive scumbag even though he did what any normal person would. Sure, he helped the dwarfs reach the mountain and wake up Smaug, but prior to the actual meeting with Smaug, nobody at any point actually brought out how the quest was one big suicide mission or any of the potential consequences. Frankly, that makes book Gandalf come off as kinda of an asshole. He helps the dwarfs and Biblo on a dangerous mission that, by all rights, should have gotten them killed, and they only survived by sheer dumb luck. Also, I saw The Dom's review complain about how nobody noticed two armies of orcs in the movie. I would like to counter that the army in the book came out of nowhere. It's basically, "oh remember those villains you fought earlier in the book? They are back and the climax is going to be about fighting them now." The movies actually set up for the battle, while in the book, it came off as a rather convenient plot device that kept the dwarfs from suffering the full brunt of their actions. And Bolg in the book is an annoying case of Tolkien introducing villains and then killing them on the same page, meaning there wasn't a point in introducing or even naming them in the first place. I feel it was an example that Tolkien was a good visionary, but not the best storyteller.

In the cartoon of the Hobbit. Bilbo tells the thrush about the weakness and advises it to go and talk to Bard about that (cause bard was introduced earlier in that adaptation as well). So he does have a direct connection to Smaugs defeat in that. Which I liked

He complained that Smaug doesn't need the treasure? Of course he doesn't, he, and the rest of his people, are just greedy

"What sort of game logic does that follow?" Post game additional content, usually DLC.

13:46 Excuse me, The Gaffer quite firmly has the title of Shire's best beer-drinker, thank you. He even brings his own to the competition!

Don't forget that Smaug, as a dragon, is also the embodiment of greed, so much so that his greed for hoarding gold is actually contagious, explaining Thorin's behaviour. Yeah, Bard coming out of nowhere was a weak point in the original book as well. People complain about the Eagles being a Deus Ex Machina, but this guy really takes the cake... Also, the book made it very clear the dwarves killed the Goblin king during the fight, and it is a great set up for the later battle.

My theory (and a pretty common fantasy world building idea) is that it’s basically just to attract mates, similar to what Bowerbirds do. As the last of his kind, Smaug has no real use for the treasure, but still hordes it like he would if there were live females about. In a way it almost makes his defeat a little bittersweet.

30:17 The studio is already in talks to have the role of Bilbo be played by a young Arnold Schwarzenegger

Middle-Earth Dragon lore is very much inspired on the Norse Legends of dragons as creatures of greed. Some dragons in the Siegfried tale and Beowulf used to be men or dwarfs who found an immense treasure and got corrupted by greed to such extent that they became actual dragons over the years.

Can I imagine Smaug counting like that? Yes.

His crime is actually abandoning his post? He left his people rather than guiding them whether to safety or victory. Though I can see a counter argument that you need to save the "brain" of the town and take precautions.

"Thrandewewil... uh, Thrandy" You win, Mr Lovhaug. You win. XD

So relatively soon after the second movie came out, my mom and I saw a show in the local museum's planetarium called "Supervolcanoes". It was narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, much to our amusement. Cue the quotation of Smaug.

Really loved this series on the comic. I think Jackson and co made the Master a villain as to make an antagonist for Bard in order to develop him. It's a little clumsy, but it works. Bard really needed development-in the book he had nothing. Great points I agree with on the films. The book is easy to read, but it's kinda rushed and a lot more complicated than it seems. Furthermore, they build up the whole Bolg and orc army plot through the whole series. It even gives Thorin a satisfactory end-he dies in a mutual kill with the leader of the orcs. And it develops a relationship between Thorin and Bilbo, so when Thorin dies in Bilbo's arms, it's genuinely touching scene of friends saying goodbye. Mind you, I'm really pissed they had Legolas kill Bolg, but that's really the only quibble. "It's already been auctioned by a studio; the script turns Thorin into a woman who is wooed by the very human Bilbo, who is armed with machine guns and one-liners" My favorite joke :) The art is great and the novel is great, but they don't come together in the comic. It's more of a illustrated novel than an actual comic adaptation. Yeah, I always thought Scouring of the Shire was pointless too. Oh god, great intro to that horrible Liefeld Santa comic

Back in high school I swear I read a book or a paper on this. Something along the lines of "The anatomy of mythology" and it it was on how several mythological creatures had sever OCD and other mental issues. It was a good read if anyone can find it. I really miss the gunslinger where ever jaerus ended up I hope he's happy.

I would read the stories of Bilbo's mothers adventures

The only explanation I can give for Dragons wanting treasure is basically them being living weapons for Morgoth-maybe they're meant as sort of homing missiles to destroy places with treasures.

Well, there isn't a Radioactive Dragon band, but there is a Radioactive song, from the Imagine Dragons band, that count?? XD

To be fair, I always imagined dragons were basically greed personified. This was why the vast treasure called to him, why he took it, and why he JUST KNOWS how much is in it, and also why he never spends it. It's just pure greed on a level as deep as breathing. ..Or maybe male dragons amass treasure to woo female dragons and he was having major blue dragonballs and wanted every coin for his next attempt?

I find it somewhat interesting that, in the original book (and this comic), Smaug's weak spot is a bare patch on his chest not covered by his treasure armor, yet in both the animated and live-action films, it's from a scale missing from it.

Again, this series of reviews is one of my favorites from you, Linkara. Having read the comic myself several years ago, you can only imagine how joyful I was to see you go through it. =)

For the record many fans these days don't really care about Bilbo's or Thoren's depicted gender; they are probably the most popular ship in this franchise.

actually Gandalf is the one who killed the goblin king in the book

Since bad comics get slapped onto the futon, should good comics gently ascend to nestle against luxurious ceiling pillows?

It's possible that a dragon's propensity for hoarding gold is a reflection of how snakes and lizards often burrow underground and that's also where gold is located. A bit of a stretch, but reptiles other than dragons have been shown guarding treasure in mythology. There's a really wonderful series of illustrations by igunamouth showing dragons hoarding all sorts of things other than treasure. One of them even hoards comic books!

Meanwhile: dwarves talking about birds!

Oooh, scale mail. That is underused in fantasy and historic media.

It is rather amusing to see the whole debate from the outside: my flatmate is a HUGE lotr nerd - he owns a well-loved copy of the Simarilion for crying out loud. He talks about LOTR all the time (and I see all the fan art and canon debates on his tumblr when I scroll through my dashboard, so nearly every point brought up in this review feels like old news). I don't understand why I retain all this useless knowledge and debate when I don't really care for the books or movies...............great review! Laughed a lot

Dont shout at me, Linkara. I got the joke at the start.

(7:30) "Try punching it!" (Punches it) "Ugh, my wrist!"

i'm happy to see you arguing "the hobbot/lotr is not a children's story" cuz when i was in high school i wasn't able to finish any of them and my honors english teacher told me i was reading "a college level book" and seemed surprised i was trying. it wasn't till way into being an adult/being a lot older that i was able to enjoy reading them and understand what was going on and keep up with it ( i'm 30 this year and i think this is the first time i've noticed or appreciated certain parts ) , so whenever i hear people call it a "children's book" i get a little offended. if THAT is a supposed to be a "kids book" that would either make me very stupid for not being able to get it as a teenager, or other people just very wrong. kids books in my day were "see spot run" and whatnot. i feel like anyone who claims that hasn't actually read the book and all those eons of text at the end about the history of gondor and all of that where it practically turns into the bible with who begat who.

Your tree was "over there" and over there has to take care of its own problems now that you are back on the couch.

One thing that I never really got about these movies was just the vitriol they inspired; if you liked them you weren't just wrong, you were very wrong. Even Screen Junkies and Cinema Sins, who are normally good at keeping things satirical and impersonal, were abnormally harsh, not just to the movies themselves, but to Peter Jackson, and even to those who did like them. I haven't seen a new series inspire such anger since the Star Wars prequels.

I would love to see Christopher Tolkien's response to you addressing the flaws of the book of the Hobbit in all three parts, because as much as I like the Hobbit even I admit it's not without its flaws. I wonder if he would too.

The depiction of Bilbo reminds me of Patrick Troughton, the Second Doctor.

I'd love to see footage of Linkara playing Team Fortress 2. He seems to be quite the fan of it.

12:34 I Remembered that scene from the book when i was playing D&D with some friends. We stumble over a undead Yuan-ti (One of the cool ones, not one of the ugly pure shits). He wanted to murder us all but i fell to the knees and start to praise him and how my ancestors told talles about the great Yuan-ti and how our ancestors were loyal servents to them...bla bla bla repaying the debt of neglected servantry...blabla...serving them to honour our ancestors. He showed us the way to the treasure so we could "polish" the coins ect XD

0:19 No, you shut up! I was giggling at that joke.

My main problem is (and this is as true in the film as it is in the books) is that the dwarfs really have no plan to deal with Smaug. They arrive at the Mountain and go, "Wow, that dragon that killed my family is a bit much for a dozen dwarves to deal with!" It would seem better (to my mind) if they'd HAD a plan that failed rather than having no idea what to do. Love the inclusion of Leonard Nimoy's "Bilbo" song!

I get that it's common in mythology, but does it seem strange that due to lineage, some people in the lord of the rings are just genetically superior to others?

The reason why the elves were called 'good people' is because of traditional superstitions. The fae and other malicious magical beings were dubbed 'the fair folk' or 'the good people' so as to not incur their wrath. So no, the dwarfs are not saying the elves are good. In fact, they're saying they're easily offended dicks.

I think these are some of my favorite episodes-it's my favorite book, and I'm the only person alive who thinks the movies were awesome.

Is this the first mention of the Contest of Champions? Kudos, Lewis. I appreciate your foreshadowing.

Another comment from my progress of once again rewatching the storyline and my brain explodes YET AGAIN when I hear "Contest of Champions" from Jaeris and realize it was set up this far back. Linkara, thank you. Thank you for creating this storyline. Thank you for continuing it and maintaining such excellent internal consistency with it. It is always a pleasure to go back and watch and it is ALWAYS an inspiration and motivator.

These reuploads came out right when my class started to watch The Hobbit

I am sure there has likely already been something said about the whole dragons hoarding treasure thing, but one explanation which I personally prefer is when the dragons lie on the treasure, it sticks into the soft spot on their bellies, creating a sort of armor for the dragon, while yes gold jewels and silver does not serve as a very good armor in the long run, when you have as much as a dragon does, does it matter if a few arrows or a ballista bolt bends and cracks your armor. Of course that does not matter in the case of the Tolkien universe where they have armor on their bellies anyway, Smaug is an exception with his one soft spot.

The scouring of the Shire shows that nothing escapes war.

Fact: Linkara was actually back on his regular set because he didn't have an army to defend that spot in the Battle of the Five Armies

I'd say he smelled like brimstone considering that heavy set of armor Sauron always wore.

...... Jerris just mentioned the Contest of Champions. Well played, Lewis. Well played.

I can't help but be distracted by Smaugs wings, it looks like they are supposed to be his set of arms like a bat but he already has a pair of wingless arms, not that I don't mind Dragons having this type of design but by how detailed the comic makes them I can't help but think that the artist didn't know what type of wings he should have.

So nothing about Bilbo and Gandalf celebrating Yule with Beorn and wintering at his place? :O I was so annoyed it wasn't in the movie.

That Smaug looks fucking badass

The Scouring of the Shire is actually one of my favorite parts of the books. It proves to the hobbits that they are not a soft race that would expire if ever confronted with opposition. Juxtaposition that with the beginning of the tale, and it actually highlights the character growth of the main cast. I'm not sure what the movies did with it though, since I despised the first film.

And here we are, the last episode I watched all those years ago. Not because I was mad, just I got busy. My tastes changed and I moved on to watch other things. This is it save I think I saw the next ASBAR review, but that's it. I am now caught up with the series as far as I watched. " If I go one more episode, it will be the furthest from the beginning I've ever been." Now as for the gold hording, I know others mentioned it, but I still hold the old movie Flight Of Dragons as my gold standard for dragons. (Pun sort of intended) They ignite basic bedding and need something soft to sleep on, so gold being a soft metal is perfect. And the jewels are used to help with digestion like a bird gizzard if I remember correctly. Seriously go watch it, it's got James Earl Jones as Omadon and Harry Morgan as a wizard. Hell, just watch Omadon's speech on his plans for mankind and how he is a great evil character.

You'd have to dig for it in some side lore that was compiled by Tolkein's son Christopher of his father's EXTENSIVE notes, but there IS actually a lore reason for Dragon's love of gold. See when the world was created, one of the creator beings, one step below Illuvatar (Yahweh/God), went evil and wanted to rule middle earth as his own kingdom, the other creator beings took umbrage at that and fought a colossal battle during the process of making the world while Morgoth (the evil one) kept on wrecking things. When it turned out he wasn't going to be able to beat everyone else, as an act of final spite and to make sure they couldn't properly kill him, he managed to somehow infect all of reality. Every atom, molecule, element, etc, have a tiny trace of Morgoth's essence and corruption in it. That's why the world gets suckier and suckier as time goes on. Reality has evil-induced cancer. Back to gold, turns out that gold naturally holds more of Morgoth's corruption than other elements, and thus why people become assholes around it. It's also why Dragons like it. Dragons are creations of Morgoth in one of his later wars when he stopped going out and doing things on his own. They were some of his mightiest creations and held a great deal of his power within them. Thus when Morgoth was defeated and banished from reality, the surviving dragons spread all over the world, but they still retain a great deal of Morgoth's corruption within them and gold apparently is soothing to them making them want to gather it up and sleep on it, basking in Morgoth's presence.

Hey Linkara. I just happened to read the book before watching this review a 2nd time (i was barely paying attention to it the first time since i wanted to read the book before the movie, which at the time this comment was posted, i still have not watched the movies yet) Anywho, great review and I loved seeing the difference with the book and these comics. however You DID make a lil fowl up when describing something in the book. around 25:51 into the video, you explained that the comic did leave out the part where the goblin king was killed, i did notice the omission from watching the part 1 review. Anyway, It wasnt the dwarves that killed the Goblin King....but rather Gandalf when he extinguished the torches. I know it's a minor flaw and im sure EVERYBODY has posted comments exclaiming the mistake. But I dont have time these days to read through around 150 comments. In any case. lil minor mistake but great review none the less :)

Sound of one hand clapping is half the sound of two hands clapping.

My biggest problem with the story is the dwarfs are completely useless throughout the story. Seriously I’m fine with there being 13 of them with only a few of them being any importance or standouts but throughout the story they either get captured or don’t do anything to further the plot. It’s either Gandalf or Bilbo saving them, getting them to their destination or actually doing the hard work. I mean have as much dwarfs as you want but just have them do something at least!

To be fair, the thrush that told Bard of the weakness in Smaug's armor overheard Bilbo telling the Drawves about it. So technically Bilbo alley oop'ed the kill to Bard via the thrush. I personally think it's a clever way to let a descendant of the people of Dale to get the kill while also giving Bilbo as active a part in the act as he could reasonably have had considering that he couldn't make it back to Lake Town in time himself (and also considering where he had to end up after Smaug's attack for the rest of the story to happen).

'...Maybe a few guys in the Contest of Champions..." Much like the mention of the Kaelilestis in the end of 2001: A Space Odessy, it's amusing how you do nods to plots in plannings and yet we still totally miss them until they're released. X3

I hope we get another fantasy adventure comic review one of these days. Anyone know if Dragonriders of Pern have comics? I have a few of the books, I'd like to know if anyone tried adapting them. Oh! Last Unicorn got adapted! Someone on patreon, use try to get him to review that one!

I LOVE your defense of the multiple movies. I didn't like the movies. But I don't think it is a simple story that would be best served by one movie! Also, Bard? Invented by Tolkien right about where he appears in the book. I believe there was a several month gap between the Dwarves getting to the mountain and Tolkien taking up the book again once the dragon was attacking Lake-town. Thus, he was readjusting to the story, and bang! New character! Tolkien was a fascinating writer: he had a day job, as a professor. He would start stories, put them aside, and sometimes never finish them. The Hobbit was the first story he really finished, though he had completed chunks of story from the Silmarillion before, which he put some hints of in the Hobbit. I think a rewrite with more Bard earlier would have helped, but then, I think he just wrote down this story he had told to his kids, not knowing how crazy it would get.

also this was the first time seeing ur show was these 3 eps and i loved them

I saw in the film, Flight of Dragons, that dragons prefer soft metals to sleep on because anything else is too soft for them. Also, I have the same edition to the book as you.

19:51 I guess my problem with dedicating so much focus of the narrative to the battle of the five armies is that it's no longer treating it like it's a consequence, it's treating it like it's an event (which to our heroes it was but to the narrative it's just the consequences of their adventure catching up with them).

Nice use of the Sackville-Baggins.

I think for Smaug's greed it'd the nature of greed to hoard that which you don't need it doesn't matter if it's money you will not use or broken junk. If anyone steals that which you assigned value to, you will go into a rage over your lost property. Even if you're not using it. I know there's jokes to be made about comparong Smaug to the rich and powerful who have more money than they need but never use and who get mad when even a little of it is gone.

12:25: There's a gold bull market right now; Smaug should have considered playing the stock market -- he'd make a killing.

4:09 Looks almost like Mishio in Uzumaki after he got by the car.

Nemoy sang about the Hobbit? Fucking adore this guy.

Your joke was amazing and I feel stupid for not understanding the logic until you explained. Also, sorry for blowing up your feed (not really, your algorithm thanks me) but I'm binging your content (have been for what seems like weeks now)

monsters and mythological beings have weird rules.

Wait didn't Gandalf kill the goblin king? On a different note; I like book, the comic featured in these reviews, the animated film, and the movies. However I think the movies should have been two parts, not three.

19:00 maybe it wasn’t in the comic version, but in the book and animated film Bilbo was the one who pointed out the weak spot during the banter with Smaug. The bird overheard this and went to Laketown to warn the archers. That’s why the bird knew about Smaug’s weak point: it learned about it from Bilbo. So while Bilbo didn’t DIRECTLY kill Smaug it wouldn’t have been possible without him. While I agree the Peter Jackson Trilogy improved things by setting up Bard earlier, I feel it was a mistake to not include that bit with the bird as it justified Bilbo’s entire quest. (Concerning this story at least. I know Lord of the Rings retroactively made it so stealing The One Ring from Gollum retroactively makes it so it was worth Bilbo going on the adventure)

You should have called Thranduil Dadolas as that is what he is... Dad of Legolas. ;)

So its essentially about someone who is already rich beyond belief throwing a tantrum because of the idea of giving it to people in need despite it wouldn't decrease his wealth even slightliy. Twice. Are we sure this book wasn't written in 2010s?

Oh wow, you foreshadowed the contest of champions. Aren't you sneaky.

Loved your great Takei impression at the end ;) and sad I would have like to see your shill for Indieagogo

I actually don't hate the movies. I don't love them, but they were alright adaptions and did things that the comic and animated versions hadn't. And Sylvester McCoy is awesome. The comic's artwork reminds me of the Rankin-Bass movie actually, which I appreciate; that's the version I grew up with and eventually what lead me to the book, which got me interested in literature at all.

Apparently, Linkara is a fan of Goat Mom.

You know, I never noticed the blemish before it was mentioned in the ruminations. Weird, isn't it?

I will still defend the movies as excellent films, but I do think that people who want a faithful adaptation should read this comic and watch the cartoon. It lacks the dramatic weight and visual splendor and narrative coherence of the films, but they're faithful The Leonard Nimoy joke was perfect 18:47 You know, often enough I disagree with the opinions on this show, but I can't agree enough with this rant about the books.

So the concept fo contest of champion started here

But what about second breakfast?