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

[manuel]

There are no curves or circles in Dwarvish architecture, and most objects of Dwarvish origin are polygonal. This also is evident in the Dwarvish script which appears on the map of the Lonely Mountain.

[javier]

Sir Christopher Lee (Saruman) once commented that he would have loved to voice the dragon Smaug in a film adaptation of "The Hobbit". Instead, he voiced the dragon-like Jabberwocky in Alice in Wonderland (2010).

[frederick]

The riddle competition at the end, between Bilbo and Gollum, is inspired by the Norse legend of the riddle competition between the wise giantess Vafþrúðnir, and Odin, the Mayor god in Germanic Mythology (who is also an inspiration for Gandalf). Bilbo wins the competition by asking what lies in his pocket, a question, to which, only he could know the answer. This is exactly the same way Odin wins over Vafþrúðnir: by asking "what did Odin whisper in his dying son Baldr's ear?" A question, to which, only he would know the answer.

[kristen]

When Gandalf, Bilbo, and the Dwarves arrive at Rivendell, the Wizard mentions it's also known as "Imladris". This name is a word in Elvish (a fictional language created by J.R.R. Tolkien) and both names mean "deep valley of the cleft". Rivendell was established and ruled by Elrond in the Second Age of Middle-earth, about four or five thousand years previous to The Lord of the Rings events.

[toni]

When Bilbo, Gandalf, and the Dwarves arrive to the edge of the cliff, just before the fight against Azog and his Orcs, a familiar landscape can be seen in the distance. This landscape is the same seen by Merry, Pippin, and Treebeard in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), when these three see Saruman's Uruk-hai armies moving to Helm's Deep.

[kylie]

The opening scenes, in which Sir Ian Holm plays the older Bilbo, do not appear in the book, which is told in present-time and not as a flashback. These scenes take place on the same day as Bilbo's birthday seen in the beginning of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Shortly after the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Holm recorded similar scenes, this time as Frodo, for inclusion in a new boxed set version of the BBC Radio version of The Lord of the Rings.

[liam]

Ken Stott's character, Balin, is the same character whose tomb is visited by the Fellowship in Moria in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).

[morris]

This movie went through several stages of pre-production hell, including separate legal disputes between New Line Cinema, Peter Jackson, and Tolkien family members, which complicated production. When MGM finally moved the project forward in 2008, more complications ensued when MGM entered bankruptcy and froze production, causing director Guillermo del Toro to step down after three years of pre-production. Later, it was almost cast out of New Zealand when several unions and guilds blacklisted the project, and shooting was delayed again while Peter Jackson recovered from surgery for a perforated ulcer.

[eli]

Was released the same year as the novel's 75th anniversary.

[miriam]

According to Peter Jackson, the Goblin Town sequence was initially imagined as a lot more gory, especially concerning the disembowelment of the Goblin King, but the PG-13 rating nulled those plans.

[darrell]

When Elrond examines, and gives the sword Orcrist to Thorin, on the middle finger of his left hand can be seen a ring. This ring is Vilya, one of the three rings given to the Elves at the beginning of the Second Age of the Middle-earth, and seen in the prologue of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Vilya is a word in Quenya, a fictional language created by J.R.R. Tolkien, and means "air". The ring was originally given by Celebrimbor, son of Curufin (himself fifth son of Fëanor) to Gil-Galad, last King of the Noldor, but passed to Elrond after Gil-Galad was killed at the Battle of Dagorlad.