The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[claude]

Frodo (Elijah Wood), Saruman (Sir Christopher Lee), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) are all returning characters from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, though none of them appeared in the book "The Hobbit". This is the same for Radagast (Sylvester McCoy), who is only mentioned in The Hobbit, but does not appear until The Lord of the Rings. Conversely however, Radagast was omitted from The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

[phyllis]

This is the first Middle-earth movie, directed by Peter Jackson, that does not have any speaking characters that are ordinary humans, known in the work of J.R.R. Tolkien as the "race of Men". Some men appear in the opening flashback, but do not speak. Hobbits are technically descended from the race of Men, and Wizards are strictly not men, even though they appear so.

[chris]

Contrary to popular belief, Cate Blanchett was not placed on a swivel platform in order to create the delicate turn of her entrance. Merely, she just rotated her body, without any help from a prop.

[phyllis]

Saruman, Gandalf, and Radagast are also known as "the white", "the gray", and "the brown", respectively. These nicknames match straightly with their clothes and hair. In addition, Saruman is the only one not having a hat or cloak over his head, a symbol of his status as leader of the wizards.

[leo]

Peter Jackson is the third director, after James Cameron and Christopher Nolan, to make two movies that have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide (as of October 2018, this movie grossed $1,021,103,568 worldwide).

[brent]

The first movie in Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth franchise without Oscar wins (it was nominated in three categories, but failed to win in any).

[phyllis]

Dwalin uses two large battle axes in combat. Graham McTavish suggested to Peter Jackson that the axes each be named after Emily Brontë's dogs, "Grasper" and "Keeper". Jackson went for the idea, and Dwalin's axes were engraved with both names in Dwarvish runes. He also named his knuckledusters "Insult" and "Injury".

[caroline]

Dwarvish was designed by J.R.R. Tolkien to sound like a Semitic language, and the history of the dwarves themselves resembles that of the ancient Hebrews.

[charlie]

Even though Bombur has one line, and Bifur can only speak Khudzul, Stephen Hunter and William Kircher both learned to speak in a Northern Irish accent, to match James Nesbitt's natural accent.

[gerald]

Stephen Hunter (Bombur) caught the egg thrown into his mouth on the first take, but was unable to catch it on subsequent takes. Therefore the take used was the first one.

[lonnie]

Despite appearing in all three movies, Cate Blanchett was on-set for only eight days of the production.

[liam]

Like the previous adaptation, The Hobbit (1977), the Trolls in this movie are played by actors who also play members of the company of Dwarves.

[alyssa]

Richard Armitage has said that his first experience acting on-stage was playing an elf in a theatrical production of The Hobbit.

[lena]

The meeting between the Orcs and Azog happens in Weathertop, the same place where Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin were attacked by the Nazgûls in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).

[carla]

Ori, the Scribe, is the Dwarf that wrote the book that Gandalf reads in the Mines of Moria, in The Fellowship of the Ring. His body is also seen in the scene. Balin is the Dwarf whose grave is featured in the same scene.

[jessica]

Richard Armitage's (Thorin Oakenshield's) wig was the only one of the Dwarf wigs to be made entirely of human hair.

[bernard]

Sir Christopher Lee loved telling stories to the production crew while filming his part, to the point that it was slowing down production on that day.

[eli]

Azog was a last minute digital addition to this movie. He was originally an actor in prosthetics, but Peter Jackson found the effect lacking presence, and had Weta create a digital character, motion-captured by Manu Bennett, and inserted the character over the previously-filmed live Azog footage. The original Azog appears in the movie as Yazneg, the ill-fated Orc Lieutenant.

[kylie]

In the second trailer, Gandalf can be heard saying, "Home is behind you, the world ahead." This is a quote from the original The Lord of the Rings, written by J.R.R. Tolkien for the book. It is part of a poem which Bilbo sings upon his departure from The Shire. However, in the movies, it is a line Pippin sings to Lord Denethor in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

[richard]

There was no doubt that Sir Ian McKellen would reprise his role as Gandalf. Peter Jackson said to him, "You must play Gandalf, whether I direct it or not."