Tuesday 13 November 2012

Thirty Days to Thorin (1) - The Crush

As I type this, the last minute of 12 November 2012 is officially over. In exactly 30 days, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first film from a new trilogy by director Peter Jackson will officially be released in Belgium.

I'm good at countdowns, apparently, so here's another one. For the next 30 days, I will be writing about The Hobbit, the film(s), the book and especially about Thorin Oakenshield and Richard Armitage (of course!) every day. Join me in counting down to the moment that we have all been waiting for for so very long.

Before I start, let me just warn you that this countdown may contain spoilers about the original story by J.R.R. Tolkien and about the film(s). It's quite impossible to talk about both without giving away any details from the storyline. So, if you haven't read the story and don't want to know what happens before you see the film, please don't read any further.

Even though the title of J.R.R. Tolkien's story is The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, it could just as well have been called Thorin Oakenshield, the King Under the Mountain. It's Thorin Oakenshield who goes on a quest to reclaim Erebor, the kingdom in the Lonely Mountain and vanquish the dragon Smaug. He's the character that goes on a journey of redemption, to liberate his homeland and claim his heritage. He's the character in the story that goes on the most profound, life altering journey. To me, he's the real hero of the story (although I admit that my judgement may be slightly blurred by the fact that RA is portraying him.)

It's over 2 years ago now that I first learned that Richard Armitage was going to be playing the role of Thorin Oakenshield in Peter Jackson's film(s). I was so very happy for him, but at the same time couldn't really wrap my head around the idea that this tall man (He's 6 foot 2 inches - and a half! - or 189.23cm) would be playing a 5'2" dwarf - that's about 157.5cm. How would this man, who was used to towering over people and having others look up at him, cope with being short? Wasn't PJ just complicating things too much? So many things to worry about! I'll write more in the coming days about how I slowly started to believe that this was actually a good decision.

The first thing that set my mind at ease was this picture of Richard as Thorin. I hate to admit it, but I've had a huge crush on this dwarf ever since! *blushes*

Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, the King Under the Mountain
 
 
Question: Can you name all 13 dwarves that take Bilbo Baggins on this adventure? No cheating allowed!
 
Start practicing now and I'll see you tomorrow... :-)
 
Sweet dReAms!!

5 comments:

  1. Ori, Dori, Nori, Bifur, Bombur, Bofur, Kili, Fili, Balin, Dwalin, Oin, Gloin--and Thorin!

    I used to forget Oin and Gloin all the time. Ha!

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    Replies
    1. Bravo Gratiana, I can't recall all their names, lol.

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  2. Oh me too!!! Regarding the huge crush that is!! *blushes profusely* I amazed myself when I found I could recite all their names. Sometimes I forget where I laid down my reading glasses! I guess they're not as important. :)

    Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined finding a dwarf from "Middle Earth" to be HOT!! And is he ever! ;) I was chatting to one of the staff in a book store recently and apparently some of the girls there couldn't believe they would use the words "hot" and "dwarf" in the same sentence, but she said they are finding themselves doing just that! :) Good to hear we're not the only ones!

    Looking forward to seeing what you do in the next 30 days!

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