thorin oakenshield

LOTR tag-question meme

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Seen and borrowed from Mary and the Words! As you can tell I’ve been on a Middle Earth/LOTR fandom kick recently SO…

(This will have a slight movie bent, sorry!)

Middle Earth:Hobbit or Lord of the Rings?

Oh, Lord of the Rings. When I first saw the first movie, it blew my young mind completely. Then I got ahold of the books and they blew my mind too. I didn’t read The Hobbit until later alas.

Fellowship: Favorite Hobbit movie

I’ve always been a little torn on the Hobbit movies because as much as I do like them, Martin Freeman as a person gets on my last nerve and they’re a wee bit overstuffed with completely unnecessary things. (cough love triangle cough) But if I had to pick a fave it would be The Battle of the Five Armies. Yeah, it’s a bit all-over-the-place but I can’t help but love its earnestness.

Ring: Favorite Lotr movie / book

Oh, Fellowship of the Ring, hands down. It was the thing that introduced me to the world of Middle Earth, after all. And as a movie it is just stunningly gorgeous.

Bilbo: Favorite character

Hmmm, TECHNICALLY it’s Boromir but I can see there’s a “favourite fellowship member” question further down so for this one I’m gonna say: Eowyn. My god I loved her so much when I was a kid. Now I’m an adult I can see she’s quite a complex and flawed character which makes her even better.

Dor Guldur: Least favorite character

I actually find it hard to pick a least favourite character because they all have their place in the story BUT… oh it’s totally Wormtongue. That slimy little asshole.

Gundabad: Favorite “evil” character

Oh Saruman, easily. He’s evil but he’s such a great character, y’know? A true magnificent bastard. Plus, a snappy dresser.

Also, he’s played by Christopher Lee. I miss Christopher Lee.

The Shire: Favorite place

Hobbiton! I dream of one day getting to go to the Hobbiton set in New Zealand. It’s green and full of nature, the houses are cosy, there are impressive firework displays every so often and lots of hobbits live there. (…in the movie/book, not in New Zealand.) It’s perfect.

Rivendell: Favorite species (hobbit, dwarves, elves..)

I love them all but I guess I should stand up for, ur, my own species and say men.

…and women.

Misty Mountains: Do you have a favorite quote from the movies/books?

Yes! And it’s this:

“The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.”

Very timely, isn’t it. :(

Mirkwood: Would you rather be an elf, hobbit, mankind, dwarf, wizard?

Ah well, I think given the choice most people would be hobbits, wouldn’t they? I already have hair on my toes so I’m halfway there. (Gross, sorry.)

Gondolin: Favorite Durin’s son

I like all of the Incredibly Hot Dwarves. Ultimately, though, gotta be Thorin. Poor Thorin. (Also, man, did Richard Armitage put in one hell of a performance as him.)

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But, sad or merry, I must leave it now. Farewell.“

Ah, that could be another contender for favourite quote actually.

The Nine: Favorite fellowship member

Near-empty religious studies classroom circa 2001:

Person #1: “Who’s hotter, Aragorn or Legolas?”

Person #2: “Boromir!”

Person #1: “Boromir’s an asshole!”

Me (internally): “What movie were you watching?!”

So, him.

(Stupid arrows!)

Sindarin: Favorite weapon

Legolas’s Bow of the Galadhrim. Look at it go!

Minas Tirith: Do you own any Lotr/Hobbit merchandise? 

YES! Except… I kinda lost a lot of it over the years. For example, I got an awesome Gollum figure back when I bought the Two Towers DVD Special Edition, and now I still have the box it came in but NO GOLLUM. Where is he?!

Gig-Galad: Would you have changed something from the movie? 

I would! There really ought to have been a more diverse cast, for one. (The Hobbit trilogy did at least attempt more racial diversity among the extras, but that was about it.) And take out the silly Kili-Tauriel-Legolas love triangle, I cannot name a single person I’ve ever met who liked it. Heck, even some of the people involved in it didn’t like it.

Minas Morgul: Gandalf or Saruman?

Gandalf. Sure he’s an old grouch but isn’t that what really makes a wizard? He’s wonderfully snarky at times too:

“I am Saruman the Wise, Saruman Ring-maker, Saruman of Many Colours!”

I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven of all colours, and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered.

“I liked white better,” I said.

#GANDALF OUT

And there ya go!

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heirsfthemountainhall:

ymrtumbler:

gwengrimm:

clematis70:

guylty:

withywindlesdaughter:

avelera:

avelera:

But have you considered: Thorin might be nearsighted?

Case in point:

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Exhibit 2

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“It cannot be.”aka Doesn’t actually recognize Azog until he starts talking…

This needs no explanation:

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*BOOM*

Exhibit 3:

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Not subtitled, but Thorin shouts for Kili when actually Fili is the one who was almost crushed >.< 

Exhibit 4

Not pictured because I couldn’t find a gif, but Thorin prompting Balin to lead them out of Rivendell because he “can see knows these paths”

Exhibit 5 

Cut off Azog’s arm, was probably aiming for something slightly more fatal, couldn’t tell he was alive when dragged back inside Moria…

Exhibit 6

WHERE’S BILBO?

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(”I have no idea because I can’t see for shit.”)

Conclusion:

Since wearing glass in front of your eyes is slightly more of a liability for a fighter than people’s faces being slightly blurry, I’m just gonna throw this out there as a possible explanation for fandom to run with ;)

Ok but I think this is my favorite post of mine that’s done well because

1) it give a humorous explanation for Thorin’s random moments of fail that’s cracky and funny

2) it actually kinda makes sense and it gives Thorin a minor (or not so minor for his life and world) disability that he works around and actually kinda explains said moments of fail realistically and honestly guys the more I think about it and replay the movies in my head the fewer contradictions I can find for this headcanon???

There is a fanfic in here somewhere 

Convincing arguments!

Thorin has suddenly become more human and more pleasant (short-sighted person speaking here)

@ymrtumbler

I love this. Thanks for the tap, @gwengrimm!

You are not wrong OP, Thorin IS nearsighted.  In the book, it was even canon:

“How far away do you think it is?”  asked Thorin, for by now they knew Bilbo had the sharpest eyes among them.  
“Not far at all.  I shouldn’t think above twelve yards.”
“Twelve yards!  I should have thought it was thirty at least, but my eyes don’t see as well as they used a hundred years ago-” 
(From the chapter, ‘Flies and Spiders’

of The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien

)

Thorin isn’t just slightly nearsighted either, he thought a large object at across-the-street distance was three-quarters of the length of a football field away.  
By modern standards he would be legally, coke-bottle-glasses-or-we-don’t-let-you-drive, blind.

In the movie Thorin’s nearsightedness is never actually stated, but I love the clever ways in which they worked it into the acting (as avelera highlighted very well), and also into the costume and set design (implying that Dwarves tend to be nearsighted in general): 
Dwarven ornamentation is always three-dimensional, be it stamped leather, cut runes, thickly-embroidered brocade, or cast-metal beads.  There are no purely painted or smooth-inlaid designs anywhere that would require sight, let alone 20/20 vision.  

Dwarven cities too, are violently three-dimensional and ornamented with a lot of straight-lined geometry and gigantic statues.  Perhaps most telling of all, the terrifyingly high stone bridges found in both Erebor AND Moria are treated as perfectly ordinary sidewalks… which would make sense for a race that couldn’t even SEE the ground below.

As for Thorin’s precision-jump in the forges…

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Brass ones.  Solid fucking brass ones.

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thorinds:

“Then the thought was, we still need to come up with a way to kill Azog and yet leave Thorin with a fatal injury, because it was important that he live long enough to have his final moment of reconciliation with Bilbo. I had the thought, ‘What if Thorin is using his weapon to block Azog, but Azog’s strength and weight was so great that Thorin realized his impalement was imminent?’ At that point he’d have to make a choice, which is great because it made it a character moment again. Thorin chose to withdraw his weapon and let Azog stab him, knowing that then his sword would be free to deliver the killing blow to the Orc. It would surprise Azog, who was busy delighting in his victory and never saw it coming, but it also mean that Thorin was sacrificing himself.” – Glenn Boswell (X)

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