Line #159 YMMV/TheHobbitFilmTrilogy


1	[[index]]
2	* ''YMMV/TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney''
3	* ''YMMV/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug''
4	* ''YMMV/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies''
5	[[/index]]
6
7	!!''Film/TheHobbit'' trilogy as a whole:
8	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
9	** When Thranduil chose not to come to the aid of Erebor after Smaug attacked, was he regretful of what he had to do? Or was he secretly rather smugly pleased that the dwarves had been brought down a peg or three? Or did he know that he simply couldn't defeat Smaug, and was not prepared to throw away the lives of his own for the treasure of others? Did he even intend to fight? Or perhaps he had his other reasons?
10	** According to WordOfGod, it is due to the intense racism between dwarves and elves after dwarves murdered King Thingol in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and Thranduil more than likely saw it as LaserGuidedKarma. Doesn't help that Thror refused to return his wife's necklace.
11	** Some have theorized that Legolas' feelings for Tauriel are merely platonic, and his fierce protectiveness is just his ride or die attitude towards his friends. Thranduil fretting over them is just him being a dad and assuming the worst because Tauriel is a woman spending time with his son. And Legolas’ jealous moments are more of a MySisterIsOffLimits thing.
12	* ArcFatigue: One of the biggest complaints about these movies is that they're a trilogy instead of a duology as Jackson originally intended, as a collaboration with Creator/GuillermoDelToro (or even just a single film like [[WesternAnimation/TheHobbit the cartoon]]), and that ''eight whole hours'' are dedicated to adapting Tolkien's shortest story. The big issues are the claims that several scenes go on for too long, that several subplots could be cut without causing the film itself to suffer from a narrative standpoint, and that Peter Jackson needed a better editor for the films. Unfortunately, this can be traced back to the films' [[TroubledProduction troubled production]], as evidenced in the trivia section. However, many fans have also embraced the trilogy format, enjoying the expansions to the original tale and feeling it allows the rather fast-paced story in the book to breathe a lot more.
13	* AwardSnub:
14	** It's nearly a unanimous agreement that if anyone got snubbed by the Oscars, it was Creator/AndySerkis. Again.
15	** Music/HowardShore's truly amazing scores for all three films weren't nominated, despite them being eligible for Best Score.
16	** All of the songs, particularly "I See Fire" and "The Last Goodbye" which are regarded as the best songs in the trilogy. They weren't even nominated.
17	** Likewise Andrew Lesnie's beautiful cinematography.
18	* AwesomeEgo: Smaug. He has a penchant for [[BadassBoast boasting about how much of a badass he is]], and fans love him for it. The fact that he can back his claims, coupled with Creator/BenedictCumberbatch's performance, probably helps.
19	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
20	** [[Music/CrowdedHouse Neil Finn's]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNJ0vIUj4ww "Song of the Lonely Mountain"]]; it's a fantastic (non-orthodox) ExpositoryThemeTune! It yearns for a kickass cover done in ''Music/RhapsodyOfFire'' 's or ''Music/BlindGuardian'' 's style. See a good example [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45GdDRrFBwI here]], but there are many others around.
21	--->'''Thorin:''' ''Far over the misty mountains cold... To dungeons deep, and caverns old...''
22	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePxNdJZw8oE The Main Theme]] falls firmly into SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic territory.
23	** ''Blunt the knives, bend the forks, smash the bottles and burn the corks...''
24	** ''Bones will be shattered, necks will be wrung! You'll be beaten and battered, from racks you'll be hung! You will die down here and never be found! Down in the deep of Goblin-Town!''
25	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJTVcv4r-vA Over Hill]]", it gets even better when it reaches 2:15.
26	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fngvQS_PmQ I See Fire]]". The second movie's ending theme by Ed Sheeran about going down in flames.
27	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28tF-DVSVD8 A Spell of Concealment]] As the song progresses, it becomes more dark and sinister until it hammers straight into a remixed version of Mordor's Theme when Sauron is finally revealed.
28	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cib27llIDnI My Armor is Iron]]" from the second film's climax.
29	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ir8rVl2Z4 The Last Goodbye]]" which is cited as people's favorite song from the trilogy and apparently was a few votes away from an Oscar nomination.
30	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwK3DqcV9rg Ironfoot]]", which is Dain's theme.
31	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usP1VFtZvQM Sons of Durin]]'' Especially the first minute. Doesn't get any heroic than this.
32	---> '''Dain:''' ''TO THE KING! TO THE KIIING!!!''
33	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GahGQJdXypk Girion, Lord of Dale]]" Starting 2:40 is the somber music played at [[spoiler: Thorin, Fili and Kili's funeral]] in the extended edition. Softer notes can be heard in "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Gqq177Ds4 In the Shadow of the Mountain]]".
34	** Say what you will about the love story, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqK74wWAoX0 but their]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyMTn65M8_g love theme]] is nothing short of beautiful.
35	** Apart from being an absolutely breathtaking score, [[ShownTheirWork a lot of thought]] went behind the composition of "Feast of Starlight" in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNZc1cqYo_0 wholly illustrating]] the fragile and doomed nature of Kili and Tauriel's connection. The concept of duality is a recurring motif first portrayed by the duet of flute and oboe representing two voices conversing. Lyrically followed by the chorus in [[GeniusBonus two different languages]] Elvish Sindarin (''italic'') Dwarvish Khuzdul ('''bold'''):
36	--->''Hae ephadron / theri thaur''\
37	'''îmri zaizi'''\
38	''am na dhû / ias fir i ambar\
39	A trehil i ‘alad ‘lân uir tri ‘wilith''\
40	'''Kûr yamsi / tân yamarsi biyê\
41	Ankakizi ni adâlimê / Ak tathyariya'''\
42	Translation:\
43	''I go walking / Beyond the forest''\
44	'''Take me with you'''\
45	''Up into the night / Where the world falls away\
46	And the white light of forever fills the air''\
47	'''Where do you go / When you leave me?\
48	I see you, in my dreams / But you are far away'''
49	* BaseBreakingCharacter:
50	** Azog. Depending on who you ask, he's either admired as a badass villain, or despised for being SparedByTheAdaptation and becoming a generic "tough guy", exchanging the book lore's memorable [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge murder]]-[[YouKilledMyFather vendetta]] backstory with the dwarves for just more generic battle scenes fought over territory ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' or ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' style.
51	** Radagast, both for being added to the story and his CharacterExaggeration.
52	** Tauriel, though not as severe. Rarely does anyone consider her TheScrappy, but viewers are divided on whether she's an interesting addition to the story with a heartwarming relationship with Kili, or if she's just a SatelliteLoveInterest without much personality. Some warmed up to her after ''BOTFA''.
53	* BetterOnDVD: Just like ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' and even ''Film/HarryPotter'', the films make more sense and flow better when viewed in marathon form. Especially with the extended cuts, which have been acclaimed by both fans and critics and are considered a great improvement over the theatrical cuts.
54	* BrokenBase: The trilogy is considered to be the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels of the 2010s. Much like those films, there is a split fanbase:
55	** There's the whole adaptation approach as prequels to the LOTR movies. See PanderingToTheBase below. And that they made three movies, not just two. Some people say the stuff added for the AdaptationExpansion enhances the experience, but others say it feels like bad fan fiction.
56	** The expanded roles of the elves. Some felt it was PanderingToTheBase and didn't like how Legolas and Tauriel [[SpotlightStealingSquad stole scenes from Bilbo]] and especially the love triangle. Others love it ''because'' of their show stealing scenes, and feel Legolas is getting much needed depth he did not have in the main trilogy.
57	** Opinions vary on whether [[InterspeciesRomance Tauriel and Kili]] were StrangledByTheRedString and thrown in just for the sake of adding drama, while others find their chemistry and the similarities they bonded over heartwarming and believable. A third group has people who like them, or at the very least don't mind, but dislikes the implication of a LoveTriangle with Legolas which many think their relationship could have been done without. After the third film's release, more people are leaning [[TakeTheThirdOption towards the third option]] stating that while they don't mind the two together, they greatly dislike the idea of a love triangle. Bonus points that the cast and crew seem to agree with the third party that they just wanted to tell a simple love story with Kili and Tauriel and the triangle was a result of ExecutiveMeddling. Hell, when Tauriel's character was first announced in 2012, Peter Jackson made it a point to assure both the public and Tauriel's actress, Creator/EvangelineLilly, that there absolutely ''[[http://www.accesshollywood.com/articles/evangeline-lilly-on-her-hobbit-character-fans-will-love-her-or-absolutely-despise-tauriel-107716/ wouldn't]]'' be a romance between Tauriel and Legolas. They knew it would be so poorly received that they reassured everyone it wasn't going to happen... and then the studio overruled Jackson and mandated that such a subplot was to be included, to the displeasure of all.
58	** The expansion of Azog's arc. Some argue he's irrelevant and should stay dead as in the books. Others see him as an antagonist that Thorin needed (with Smaug focusing more on Bilbo and Bard) and that their MutualKill adds more drama to the story than Dain killing Azog. Azog's vendetta also gives a better reason to have him preparing his armies at least since the moment he caught wind of the quest for Erebor, rather than them arriving completely by surprise in what looked like a DiabolusExMachina in the book (even if the long wars between the dwarves and the orcs were mentioned in LOTR's appendices).
59	* CantUnHearIt: Creator/MartinFreeman as Bilbo Baggins, Creator/BenedictCumberbatch as Smaug and Creator/StephenFry as the Master of Laketown to name a few. Among the Dwarves, some of the actors' regional accents stand out, like Ken Stott and Creator/GrahamMcTavish's Scottish accents as Balin and Dwalin and James Nesbitt's Northern Irish accent as Bofur.
60	* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/TolkiensLegendarium here]].
61	* ContestedSequel: The consensus is that these movies are not as good as the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy that preceded them (which was admittedly a ToughActToFollow). Now, whether or not they're '''good''' movies in their own right is the real point of contention among fans.
62	* CrackPairing:
63	** Bilbo/Smaug, possibly thanks to their actors being the popular HoYay ship from ''Series/{{Sherlock}}.'' May double as HilariousInHindsight.
64	** Fíli/Sigrid (Bard's elder daughter) has gained a small fanbase on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn, despite Sigrid having all of five lines, none of which were directed at the former.
65	** Thranduil/Tauriel are also gaining a small fanbase, mostly based on their [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments final]] [[TearJerker interaction]].
66	** Another example is Gandalf/Galadriel. Galadriel has been married to Celeborn for ''thousands'' of years (since before the fall of Doriath which happened in the First Age) and Tolkien's Elves canonically pair and marry for life, adultery is absolutely unthinkable to them. Gandalf is a Maia, an angelic being who has existed since the creation of the universe and is merely clothed in the body of an elderly man, yet a subset of fans are still convinced that they're secretly in love with each other purely because of the chemistry they share in The Hobbit trilogy, which seems to be more a result of the real life friendship between actors Creator/IanMcKellen and Creator/CateBlanchett than anything else. (Actually the romantic tension between them is thanks to Guillermo del Toro who, before he quit, intended to make Galadriel and Gandalf fall in love).
67	** Bilbo/Thorin, which would normally be par for the course, except for the large subset that {{Gender Flip}}s Bilbo first.
68	* CrazyIsCool:
69	** Radagast, a moss-encrusted CloudCuckoolander with bird poop in his hair who manages to fend a curse from his doorstep, ventures alone into a haunted castle and bring out a valuable piece of evidence after fighting the Witch-King's spectre, and outruns an orc raiding party on a sled pulled by ''rabbits''.
70	--->'''Radagast:''' These are ''Rhosgobel'' rabbits! [[Literature/WatershipDown I'd like to see them]] ''[[Literature/WatershipDown try!]]''
71	** Dain rides a war pig, speaks in a thick Scottish accent, [[ScrewYouElves tells the elves where to stick it]], and headbutts orcs to death.
72	%%* CreepyAwesome: Quite a few characters. Azog, Smaug, the Necromancer... %%(Zero-Context Example. Doesn't explain why they're CreepyAwesome.)%%
73	* CriticalDissonance: The first film received mixed to positive reviews, even without considering the debate over the High Frame Rate version (it helps that it's often considered to be overlong and was a ToughActToFollow to a [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings really acclaimed trilogy]]). Nonetheless, by the end of only its third weekend in release, it earned over half a ''billion'' dollars globally (and finished its BO run with over a billion, the second [[Creator/JRRTolkien Tolkien]] adaptation to do so). While barely registering as "Fresh" at 65% on Rotten Tomatoes among critics, audiences give it a much higher 83% Fresh.
74	* DancingBear: Peter Jackson heavily promoted filming in the High Frame Rate format (48 fps), but many viewers found that it made the movie look cheaper instead of more realistic and immersive -- the high frame rate makes film look like TV and special effects like a video game. Eventually, Creator/JamesCameron would choose to use HFR only in the action sequences of his ''Franchise/{{Avatar}}'' sequels.
75	* DesignatedHero: Slightly with the dwarves in the Company of Thorin. Whereas the novel presented them rather clearly as [[AntiHero Anti-Heroes]], the film trilogy plays them up to make their quest seem more heroic than their intentions (and some of the actions they commit to reach it) would suggest. Whilst Gandalf started the quest to prevent Sauron using Smaug to terrible effect, the dwarves' motives for agreeing to and pursuing it were more about their own people's feelings of rights and entitlement, consequences for other people be damned.
76	* DracoInLeatherPants:
77	** Smaug, courtesy of Creator/BenedictCumberbatch. Also, the fact that he's a [[{{Pun}} dragon with leather-like skin]].
78	** Some people also go pretty far into justifying Thranduil's jerkassery, courtesy of Creator/LeePace's performance and a few other things (such as riding ''a goddamn giant deer'' to battle).
79	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
80	** Radagast, mostly thanks to his CrazyIsCool badassery, dealing with the giant spiders, the Nazgûl and the orcs with ease. (And among older fans, for being the [[Series/DoctorWho Seventh Doctor]] in addition to the above.)
81	** Bofur as well, in part because of his greater character development, and his SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment\|s}} with Bilbo. It may also have something to do with him being played by the always charming James Nesbitt. He also has some of the best facial hair in the film, which is saying something in a film full of bearded men. And he's the one wearing a cool hat.
82	** Ori, for those that don't consider him TheScrappy. He's just [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Pfoic2Np-ZU#t=4s adorable]].
83	** Bifur is quite popular on Website/{{Tumblr}} (mainly because of his head injury).
84	** Thranduil. [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/65cf7b6c53f4e4404352ba9efe5572aa/tumblr_mxt39qPaww1r2zpefo1_500.png Good]] [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/07f05e758ddcdcdb99fccd730c659144/tumblr_mxs4aslVjG1qi5lr2o1_500.jpg grief]], [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/6904769937d0d2f8c4c4bdcab26825aa/tumblr_mxs76b43ph1skxuggo1_250.gif Thranduil]]. He even has a FanNickname: "Dwarf [[FantasticRacism Racist]] Party Dad".
85	** Gollum when he appears in ''An Unexpected Journey'', being creepy and hilarious.
86	** Bard's children are generally well-liked as well for being adorable, helping expand Bard's character and mostly because they surprisingly avert being TheLoad.
87	** [[BoisterousBruiser Dáin]] [[TheCavalry Ironfoot]] from the third film for saving The Company's (and pretty much everyone else's) asses in the nick of time, his CrazyIsCool tendencies (such as riding a boar to battle and headbutting everyone to death), and his magnificent ScrewYouElves speech. His great [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6clCn2we8ew theme song]] doesn't hurt either.
88	** Meta example, [[http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mf70pd39gP1r0q0yh.gif fabulous hobbit set decorator]]
89	** The orc torturer from the third film, [[Main/PracticalEffects for being an actor in make-up]], being able to kick Gandalf's ass and being played by [[Series/GameOfThrones The Mountain]].
90	** [[Main/TheLostLenore Thranduil's wife]] never even appears on screen but the amount of fanart and gifsets she has received is amazing. Bonus points for her being SmallRoleBigImpact.
91	* EvilIsCool:
92	** Despite the controversy of being SparedByTheAdaptation, many people ''definitely'' enjoyed Azog's badass portrayal in these movies. It certainly helps that he's played by [[Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand Manu Bennett]].
93	** Smaug. He's huge, [[CreepyAwesome terrifying]], and voiced by Creator/BenedictCumberbatch.
94	** Bolg, Azog's son and second-in-command. He's just as much of a badass as his father. In ''The Desolation of Smaug'' he fights Legolas to a draw, and in ''The Battle of Five Armies'' he [[spoiler:kills Kili, knocks Tauriel out of the fight, and ''nearly'' kills Legolas more than once.]]
95	* FandomEnragingMisconception: Whenever someone mispronounces Smaug's name, usually gets this reaction. The correct way is "sm-''ow''-g," not "smawg".
96	* {{Fanon}}: Many people wonder if Film-Thranduil is at least partially blind [[spoiler: thanks to the massive burn scars [[GlamourFailure that suddenly appeared on his face]] while he was ranting to Thorin, particularly the milky white of his eye]]. There are many subtle hints to support it due to Creator/LeePace's acting choices--he doesn't look anyone in the eye, rarely blinks if at all, and [[TruthInTelevision other partly-sighted people]] have noted that he constantly forces his eyes wide open, like he's straining to look at everything. Coupled with Film-Legolas' tendencies to [[CaptainObvious state the obvious in LOTR]], it would make sense if he's used to doing that because [[TheCaretaker his father no longer has full range of vision.]]
97	* FranchiseOriginalSin: The theatrical releases were heavily criticized for their inconsistent pacing, but many fans are quick to point out the original trilogy's theatrical releases had the same pacing problems that also weren't fixed until the extended editions.
98	* FriendlyFandoms:
99	** With the ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' fans. Due to Creator/MartinFreeman and Creator/BenedictCumberbatch being lead actors in both.
100	** Ditto for ''Series/{{Being Human\|UK}}'', which Kili's actor Creator/AidanTurner starred in.
101	* HarsherInHindsight:
102	** Creator/IanHolm was coaxed out of retirement by Creator/PeterJackson for his cameos as the elderly Bilbo in the Hobbit films. Holm had retired from acting in 2007 due to Parkinson's disease, and sadly, at the time the Hobbit films were made, he had already deteriorated physically and mentally to the point where he had difficulty walking and remembering his lines. To accommodate his failing health, Holm's scenes were filmed at a studio in England, thus sparing him the stress of having to travel to New Zealand.
103	** Azog's entire role could be this after Creator/ManuBennett was [[http://variety.com/2015/film/news/manu-bennett-arrested-hobbit-assault-1201593354/ arrested for assault]] after an incident at a con.
104	** The entire trilogy could be this when you remember how difficult it was to make ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' a trilogy and then read about Warner Bros. ExecutiveMeddling for this trilogy.
105	** Reading about how thanks to Warner Bros. meddling the production went off the rails becomes even harder to stomach thanks to ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'' which had an even worse production under the same company.
106	** Fans, including Creator/LindsayEllis, accusing Creator/PeterJackson and his team of not caring about the film or the source material is harsh when you realize (and John Callen, the actor for Oin, confirmed the following in an interview with Lindsay) that it was the other way around: Jackson ''did'' care, but Warner Bros. told him to his face to cut out entire character arcs and sideline everyone to focus on Gandalf, Bilbo, Thorin and more action sequences because they didn’t, despite Jackson’s protests.
107	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Creator/LukeEvans as Bard impressed both critics and audiences, especially in [[Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies in the third film.]]
108	* HilariousInHindsight:
109	** The trilogy originally being planned as just a duology mirrors the making of the earlier ''Rings'' trilogy.
110	** During Tolkien's lifetime he started a rewrite of the book consistent with the tone of ''The Lord of the Rings'', much like the intent behind the Hobbit movies. However, a friend advised him to stop since [[InNameOnly it wasn't]] ''The Hobbit'' anymore, much like some Hobbit movie reactions.
111	** Tauriel in general, considering how infamous the LOTR movie trilogy once was for its fanfiction involving Legolas, and just how much Tauriel resembles such characters, at least on a superficial level. (Though if not for studio interference, ''that'' could have been averted.)
112	** The following ''Lord of the Rings'' quote is eerily prophetic about how some view the AdaptationExpansion of the relatively short ''Hobbit''.
113	--->'''Bilbo:''' Why, I feel all thin, sort of ''stretched'', if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread. That can't be right.
114	** Back when Creator/SylvesterMcCoy was playing the Seventh [[Series/DoctorWho Doctor]], the episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E1Battlefield Battlefield]] had him find out he would [[JuliusBeethovenDaVinci become Merlin]]. Cue this film trilogy, where [=McCoy=] would play a wizard. There's also this golden exchange from a modern episode of ''Doctor Who'':
115	--->'''River Song:''' I hate good wizards in stories. They all turn out to be [the Doctor].
116	** Right after the last film's release, Richard Armitage took the role of Francis Dolarhyde in ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'', an insane serial killer who believes he's possessed by a dragon.
117	* HoYay:
118	** Thorin and Bilbo. Shows up most obviously when Thorin saves Bilbo from falling during the Stone Giant storm [[{{Tsundere}} while waxing continuously about how]] [[TheLoad he's useless]], and Bilbo protecting Thorin from Azog, alone, despite having next to no idea how to use a sword, culminating in an epic ManHug, and one of the only [[WhenSheSmiles smiles]] from [[TheStoic Thorin]].
119	** Not at all discouraged by Armitage jokingly calling the dwarves' recital of Misty Mountains their way of "seducing" Bilbo to come questing with them, and Freeman humorously giving his reason for joining the Company as [[http://fangirlyra.tumblr.com/post/39202622758/why-i-cant-stop-shipping-bagginshield Bilbo maybe falling in love with Thorin]].
120	** The actors seem well aware of it. In the blu-ray extras there's a point in script reading where Creator/PeterJackson reads: "Thorin leads Bilbo to the canopy", and Richard Armitage cracks: "is this post-coital or pre?"
121	%%* IncestYayShipping: Three guesses which pairing.[[note]]Fíli, Kíli, and Thorin, in various combinations.[[/note]]
122	* ImprovedByTheReCut: Like the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy, the ''Hobbit'' films also have extended cuts that are generally consisted improvements, with characters added and plot points explained. The extended edition of ''The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies'' even has an R rating for adding in more violence and action.
123	* IronWoobie:
124	** Just look at Thorin when Balin tells the younger dwarves about the death of Thrór.
125	** Meta example with the cast and crew, who had to deal with ExecutiveMeddling and a TroubledProduction, and despite all of that, they got the films done eventually.
126	* JerkassWoobie: Gollum literally lives for that Ring. Seeing it being stolen from him is heartbreaking.
127	* JustHereForGodzilla: General critical consensus for ''The Desolation of Smaug'' is that the film greatly improves on ''An Unexpected Journey'' and that it's quite a good film on its own merits. However, many fans admitted to seeing the movie just for Smaug himself. Still others for Creator/BenedictCumberbatch as Smaug, despite the fact that he's visually unrecognizable, being a dragon and all.
128	* LoveToHate: Smaug. He's ''very'' enjoyable when he's onscreen, commanding attention in every scene with both his charismatic yet violent personality and his {{Kaiju}} shows of badassery, and his overinflated ego and tendencies toward hypocrisy and needless cruelty make watching him get proven not-so-unkillable after all all the more satisfying for the audience. And that's not even going into his CGI design and his reverberating baritone!
129	* MemeticMutation:
130	** Bilbo can't just go running off into the blue. He is a Baggins... ''of Bag End!''
131	** Majestic Thorin is majestic. Wannabe majestic Kili is less majestic.
132	** Pretty much everything about Thranduil's ten second appearance in the first film. [[http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/randy%20thrandy Randy Thrandy]] is the culmination of this.
133	** Bofur's nice hat. Yes, [[http://www.neatoshop.com/product/Bofur-Hat it did get defictionalised.]]
134	** "I thought [X]... I have never been so wrong in all my life."
135	** "He never forgave. And he never forgot."
136	** I'm going on an adventure!
137	** "If this is to end in fire, then we shall all burn together." Even cited verbatim in Ed Sheeran's "I See Fire".
138	** Jokes about Benedict and motion capture.
139	** "I am fire. I am... [[Series/{{Sherlock}} a high-functioning sociopath]]."
140	** "Thorin no"
141	** "I lost my way. Twice."
142	** "[[LargeHam BOOOOOLG!]]" is starting to get up there.
143	* MisBlamed: A lot of people, especially on Website/YouTube, think all the changes or problems with the movie were all Jackson's fault. While the decision to shoot it on 48 frames per second and the over-reliance on CGI ''were'' Jackson, as noted in the TroubledProduction section, most of the problems were the studio's.
144	* MoralEventHorizon:
145	** Smaug's destruction of Dale decades earlier; he destroyed it not because it had offended or attacked him, or because it had anything he wanted. No, instead he completely destroyed a city of thousands simply because it ''happened'' to be between him and where he was going.
146	** For Azog, if it's not him decapitating Thror over a hundred years before the story's main time frame, nor him ordering his army to attack the civilians who fled Laketown, then it's certainly [[spoiler:him murdering Fili in front of a helpless Thorin's eyes]].
147	* OlderThanTheyThink: Tauriel is not the first entirely made up female CanonForeigner woven into an adaption of ''Literature/TheHobbit'':
148	** Gene Deitch already did that with [[http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Mika_Milovana Princess Mika Milovana]] in his (rather loose) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBnVL1Y2src 1966 adaption]].
149	** ''VideoGame/TheHobbit2003'' video game also included Lianna, a female elf from Mirkwood with a somewhat similar role.
150	* PanderingToTheBase: One way to interpret the AdaptationExpansion approach. Unlike the book (obviously, being written first) these movies are designed as prequels to ''The Lord of the Rings'', [[{{Fanservice}} putting Frodo, Galadriel and other]] [[ReunionShow LOTR elements into the story]], and [[{{Padding}} stretching and padding]] the book's story for three movies (the book is much shorter than ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' alone). Kíli's expanded role in the second film also counts. Legolas too; the marketing for the second film can be summed up as "[[WolverinePublicity Legolas is back!]]"
151	* PortmanteauCoupleName: The HoYay pairing of Thorin and Bilbo has been immediately dubbed by fangirls "Thilbo" and "Bagginshield" or altogether, "Thilbo Bagginshield".
152
153	* QuestionableCasting:
154	** While there are many who strongly defend the casting of Creator/RichardArmitage as Thorin, for others his AdaptationalAttractiveness through AgeLift and similarity in looks to Creator/ViggoMortensen as Aragorn are hard to reconcile with the older, more grizzled character who was the TropeCodifier Dwarf in the books. Fancasting suggested Creator/BrianCox as the favorite for the role. It applies to several other actors too, who didn't exactly 'fit the mold' of Dwarves, but Creator/PeterJackson decided to open up the playing field as to what a Dwarf could be.
155	** The casting is further justified by Philippa Boyens, who stated that the amount of stunts and work required for the role would have been impossible for an actor in his 70s and 80s, and that it would be difficult to care about Thorin's quest [[Main/ForegoneConclusion if he's on the verge of death anyway.]]
156	* RomanticPlotTumor: The love triangle between Kili, Tauriel, and Legolas is very much despised (including by Peter Jackson and Evangeline Lilly. Orlando Bloom seems to pretend it doesn't exist.) Like many things, its existence is the result of ExecutiveMeddling, and Lilly in particular hasn't been shy about voicing her displeasure over it. In the commentaries, neither Lilly, Bloom, nor Aidan Turner even ''mention'' it.
157	* TheScrappy: On the one hand, Alfrid is a HateSink by design, so his unlikable qualities were intentional to an extent. ''However'', he was also clearly supposed to be the trilogy’s PluckyComicRelief and got so much focus in the latter two films, with countless moments dedicated to his [[HumorDissonance “funny”]] antics, that many viewers felt he became a SpotlightStealingSquad and wasn’t near funny enough to be worth the screen time. Basically the filmmakers clearly thought he was hilarious and wanted to give him as much screen time as they could, while most viewers didn’t find him that funny and were annoyed to see him get as much focus as he did.
158	* {{Squick}}: Radagast has two long streaks in his hair, made up of bird droppings.
159	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The reaction of many [[BrokenBase Tolkien fans]] to the many deviations from the book.
160	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
161	** With the exceptions of Thorin, Kili, Balin, Dwalin, Fili, and Bofur, the rest of the Dwarves in the company are given little to no focus throughout the series and are more or less extras. Doubly disappointing in that unlike in the books, they all have unique personalities while sharing the goal of reclaiming their long-lost home.
162	** The Master of Laketown. Not only does he suffer an unnecessary DeathByAdaptation, his role was taken by widely-hated CanonForeigner Alfrid Lickspittle. Many fans felt that veteran comedy actor Stephen Fry could have pulled off the storyline without becoming TheScrappy, especially because the Master of Laketown in the original book was a minor character who died offscreen, which would have fit better with the role Alfrid has in the final product.
163	** Bolg. In the book, Bolg was the commander of the goblin army in the Battle of Five Armies, is the last antagonist that Thorin and Company had to deal with in the wake of Smaug's death, and was ultimately responsible for the deaths of Thorin, Fili, and Kili. Bolg could easily have been the tertiary antagonist of the film trilogy and taken the exact same role that his father Azog ended up playing. Very little changes would have needed to be made to the script, except making his vendetta against the line of Durin a matter of revenge for his father's death at the Battle of Moria. Instead, Azog is SparedByTheAdaptation and gets used as said tertiary antagonist, and while Bolg ''does'' still lead an orc army from Mount Gundabad, he ultimately becomes [[DemotedToDragon reduced]] to a henchman for Legolas to fight.
164	** Bard and Thranduil's wives, especially given the filmmakers' desire to add more female characters. They had the perfect opportunity to develop two blank slates who exist within canon and have real reasons to be involved in the story, and instead simply added them to Middle Earth's long list of [[MissingMom dead/absent mothers]].
165	* UglyCute: Radagast applies; he's filthy and crazy, but cute at the same time.
166	* VindicatedByHistory: While the films are still rather divisive, general fan opinion of them has improved quite a bit over time. [[BetterOnDVD Especially after the extended editions were released]], and it became clearer that the final products were the result of Warner Bros. being too involved.
167	* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The [[Literature/TheHobbit original book]] was a kid-friendly story. Even the films, early on, seem to be aimed at a younger audience. However, it isn't long before we start seeing all manner of FamilyUnfriendlyViolence ([[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath not to mention deaths]]), some VERY extreme NightmareFuel, including lots of BodyHorror, some innuendos, and even a few swear words. The extended edition of the third film even got the ''R-rating'', which none of the previous Middle-Earth movies had.
168	* WoobieSpecies: The majority of the Dwarvish race who are displaced, nomadic and downtrodden, yet choose to remain strong and proud.

Context YMMV / TheHobbitFilmTrilogy