Images Are Up, What Do You Think?

[Bofur]

What do you think of Thorin & co.? I'm a little unsure of some, but my namesake looks great. So does Bombur, Dori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, and Balin. I'm not so sure about the others. Thorin looks more akin to Aragorn than a dwarf, Kili & Fili look like Elves...

Bifur looks great, minus the obnoxious axe bit embedded in his head.

 

[Ghorim]

Well met, Bofur! Another dwarf, I’m delighted.

For those who haven’t seen the strategically leaked Thorin & Company photos from the upcoming Hobbit movie, they’re up here:

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2011/07/18/46307-thorin-and-company-full-body-rendering/

I have to mostly agree with your assessment, Bofur. I was drawn to the dwarves who looked most “traditional” of the lot, with long full beards and squat builds.

Part of me understands that the filmmakers need to differentiate between the 13 members of the company, and so some weird visual flourishes were inevitable on some of the characters. That being said, Kili is something of a sick joke, sort of like a parody of how Hollywood would try to make a dwarf “attractive” — just get rid of that pesky beard, slim him up, rent a wind machine for his long, black locks… so a diminutive Legolas, perhaps?

The problem is that they don’t look so much like different tribes of dwarves as different races altogether. You’ve got some sturdy Tolkien dwarves, a few gnomes, an Elvish interloper and a Klingon leading the whole brigade. I mean, come now, if you’re going to make Thorin younger and more sprightly for the film, I can pinch my nose and accept that. But the fellow absolutely has to have the grandest beard of the lot, and here he is with a scraggly goatee.

Now come on, the rest of you! I imagine even the old-timers still have some vitriol left over from the 2001-2003 era. Let’s get a good old-fashioned TTF brouhaha going on this subject.

 

[Peeping-Tom]

With Obelix (Bombur), Asterix (Fili) and Santa Claus (Balin) by their side, for sure they can't lose... :*D

But, thank Eru for P.J. not making thirteen Gimli's. :*rolleyes:
There are seven different "races" of Dwarves, all with different looks, why of course, their shall be some differences of appearance in this band as well.

 

[Prince of Cats]

Is that a ladle in Bombur's hand or am I just getting hungry? :*D

 

[Ghorim]

Yeah, Prince, that was my first impression, too. I'm assuming several goblins (and possibly some trolls) will taste the wrath of the soup ladle after underestimating ol' Bombur.

 

[Bofur]

Thanks for the responses! Well met to you as well, Ghorim!

Bombur is using a ladle, so I'm guessing he's going to be our main source of comic relief (as in the book, unlike Gimli who was forced to be comic relief unlike his book counterpart in the Trilogy). I'm also guessing that a la Samwise, he'll be carrying food utensils around as weapons. I suppose it may not be far from the truth of what Bombur may have carried, anyway!

I just hope the Dwarves are scaled correctly and look right on the screen. Just from the press photos, they don't look stocky like has been said, and some just look like different races altogether. If the heights are similar, it may not be as bad.

Ghorim, good point about Thorin's beard - I hadn't thought about that! I think they're really just trying to make him like Aragorn. It's a shame. He looks more like a man from Dunland than a lordly dwarf.

 

[Prince of Cats]

\I mean, come now, if you’re going to make Thorin younger and more sprightly for the film, I can pinch my nose and accept that. But the fellow absolutely has to have the grandest beard of the lot, and here he is with a scraggly goatee.\

Ghorim, good point about Thorin's beard - I hadn't thought about that! I think they're really just trying to make him like Aragorn. It's a shame. He looks more like a man from Dunland than a lordly dwarf.

Yes! What happened to dwarves having beards so long they tuck them into their belts and elves tease them for the wagging :*up

If you look closely at the Bofur in the picture he almost has the tuck-in-the-belt thing going on with his mustache-locks

 

[baragund]

Kili would make a perfect Eol.

What's up with Nori's hair???

If you gave Fili a bow and quiver, he'd make a decent Beleg.

Thorin looks like a Ranger.

I want to party with Bofur.

Dori and Balin should swap names.

Other than that, I like them! Be careful about being totally true to the book because they will look like the seven dwarfs from the Disney movie!

 

[Ghorim]

Yeah, if you've read the character descriptions that went with the individual images, it sounds like there's going to be a lot of comic relief to go around with the dwarves.

Bombur is obviously your go-to option in that role, because — hey, fat jokes. And that whole sequence where he has the gall to fall into the Mirkwood river and then torture everyone about his vivid dreams of food once he wakes up is priceless. Looking forward to seeing that in the film.

But you also have the outrageous-looking Bifur, the party-starter Bofur, the cocksure, smirking Fili, and the bickering brothers Dori, Nori and Ori.

I imagine that the older, more serious-minded dwarves (Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, Gloin and Oin) are going to get pretty exasperated by all of the antics going on around them, and that could be a very fun dynamic to play with throughout the two films.

Prince: Yeah, even the best beards in this lot don't really fit the "tuck-in-your-belt" standard, do they? Although Balin's is pretty luxuriant...

Baragund: Nori is way out there, agreed.

 

[Barliman Butterbur]

What do you think of Thorin & co.?

I saw a 13-minute video on the Hobbit Movie website in which there's a good showing of the dwarves. I was immediately positively impressed with the costumes and negatively impressed with the face makeup. It looked like they were wearing rubber masks. I assume that in the actual movie, they will (hopefully!) look much more real and convincing!

Barley