The Thorin Dilemma

THIS IS YOUR FIRST, FINAL, and ONLY WARNING!  THIS POST CONTAINS HOBBIT-RELATED SPOILERS.  IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK OR DON'T LIKE SPOILERS, DO NOT READ BELOW THE DOTTED LINE.

If you like spoilers or have read the book (or seen the cartoon) or know how the story ends by some other means, you may continue past the line.

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The Thorin Dilemma

Okay, so...apparently, someone started a petition to get Peter Jackson and company not to kill Thorin at the end of the 3rd Hobbit movie, to be released in December.  And apparently at least one of the Hobbit movie cast members has signed this petition (not Richard Armitage himself as far as I know).

It seems that certain die-hard Thorin Oakenshield fanatics who know how the story is supposed to end would rather have Peter Jackson commit the most foul of book-to-movie inaccuracies than allow Thorin to die.  

This wouldn't just be, "Oh, let's have a dwarf and an elf fall in love," or "Let's kill off Saruman at the beginning of the Return of the King so we don't have to deal with the Scouring of the Shire," or "Let's move the Palantir and Shelob's Lair to Return of the King instead of leaving it in Two Towers (where both episodes occur in the books)".  This is "We're not going to kill off a major character who is supposed to die just to make the fans happy."  

My initial response to the very idea of this was, "This would be the greatest atrocity in the history of Lord of the Rings/Hobbit movies!"

But, as I thought more and more about it, I found, to my surprise, that I'm actually quite torn over the issue.

Death of Thorin - everyone grab some tissues

As a massive accuracy freak and avid Tolkien fanatic, I want Thorin to die, if for no other reason than the fact that I want to see how Mr. Jackson and Company handle the final "farewell" conversation between Bilbo and Thorin.  

This conversation has always been one of those parts of the story that sticks with me, so I am anxious to see how it's executed in the film.

As sad as the scene is (and as much as I like the Richard Armitage's Thorin), I'm actually really looking forward to seeing Thorin's death scene in December, and I will be disappointed if it isn't there (although my Richard Armitage fangirl side will be secretly celebrating).  

Mr. Armitage and Mr. Freeman are very talented actors (as we've already seen in the past two movies).  

On top of that, Martin Freeman gave an absolutely gorgeous performance during the "suicide" and graveyard scenes at the end of the second season of BBC's Sherlock.  The "please don't be dead" scene is just beautifully executed.  Every Sherlock fan I've spoken with always goes on abut how much they love that scene, how moving it was, how sad they felt as Dr. Watson (aka Martin Freeman) delivered the line.  And I have to admit, I was moved by that scene (and by Mr. Freeman's performance in the scene) as well.

Oh, and then we have the already existing, "I have never been so wrong in all my life" line in Unexpected Journey, which was also executed beautifully between both actors.

So, we've got too very talented guys engaged in what I sincerely hope will be the most tear-jerking moment in the entire Hobbit trilogy.  I am thoroughly expecting to lose it in the theatre EVERY SINGLE TIME I see the movie.  

"LynZ, you're just being overdramatic," you might be thinking.  "You know what's coming, so you'll be fine."

That's what I thought too, until I watched Return of the King again back in February and was sobbing my eyes out before Frodo had even announced to his buddies that he was going with Bilbo and Gandalf and the rest on the boat at the Grey Havens.  Ever since then, I have thoroughly expecting to cry when Thorin dies...assuming Mr. Jackson doesn't cave to the demands of the aforementioned petition.   

But, as a Thorin Oakenshield fangirl, I don't want Thorin to die.  

It would be like killing off Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back.  You don't kill off Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back.  Fans would riot!

It would be like killing off Gale in Catching Fire.  Fangirls around the world would protest!

It would be like killing off Legolas in Fellowship of the Ring.  Let's not even begin to think about how the fangirls would react if that happened!

Admit it, some of you want this to happen!

My one and only defense for having Thorin live in the movie would be to have him return to Hobbiton several years down the road and meet baby Frodo.  From what we've seen so far, it's pretty clear that they've been trying to make an LOTR-prequel more than they're trying to make a movie of The Hobbit.  That is completely fine with me, actually, because The Hobbit is [technically] a prequel to LOTR.  Therefore, I think having a scene where Thorin meets Frodo as a child would be a great tie-in to the other three LOTR movies.  The great Thorin Oakenshield and the future Ring Bearer in the same room.  The boy who will one day save all of Middle Earth crawls up into the lap of the legendary King Under the Mountain, and Thorin smiles at him and makes some comments like, "This kid is destined for greatness."  

However, this tie-in could be accomplished with any of the remaining ten Dwarves.  In fact, I believe that in the book Balin comes to visit Bilbo several years later.  In Fellowship, when they find Balin's tomb in Moria, I think Frodo mentions him visiting when he was younger.  Now that I think about it, I believe Balin even shows up at the very end of The Hobbit (book).

Of course having a baby Frodo in the movie wouldn't be strictly accurate either because Frodo wasn't adopted until he was 21-ish.  But, Peter Jackson and company already messed up Frodo's age in the movie.  As much as I love Elijah Wood's Frodo, he isn't even remotely close to Frodo's age of fifty.  Tolkien clearly states that Frodo, Sam, and Pippin leave Bag End on Frodo's 50th birthday.  Elijah Wood turned 19 while they were filming the Hobbiton scenes for the movies.  19 and 50.  As one of my close friends would say, "Same, same...but different."  (You know who you are.)  

So, in the end, I guess I'm more in favor of having little kid Frodo in the movie than not having Thorin and Bilbo's farewell conversation after the Battle of Five Armies.  Having a little version of Frodo in the Hobbit movies would not only be a great tie-in to the LOTR movies, but also wouldn't be as great an atrocity as not letting Thorin die and giving him and Bilbo that beautiful conversation after the Battle of Five Armies.

Here's another thing to ponder.  

Why is there so little fan art depicting the death of Thorin Oakenshield?  

At any time, I can find more Thilbo fan art (which I find really disturbing) than fan art of Thorin's death in a "Thorin's Death" image search on Google or Pinterest.  I have found fan art based on Hobbit fan fiction in abundance, but no more than five images of Thorin's death.

Why is this?

No idea.

But, I have a theory.

I think some die-hard Thorin Oakenshield fans are afraid to image how this scene would play out or what it would look like.  We've read the book, and we know how deeply moved we were when Thorin passed away, and we're afraid to revisit those feelings.  Somehow, reading about it doesn't seem as bad as actually seeing it.  And in the movie theatre, it will be up close and personal.  

Someone on the Internet stated that if Jackson and company make this scene similar to Boromir's death, and Bilbo kisses Thorin's forehead seconds after his passing, that particular Hobbit/LOTR fan will completely lose it.  

I think those of us who dare to image what it will be like (in the upcoming movie) find that we're moved just by our perceptions of how the scene might play out.  The thought of seeing it might be emotionally distressing for some of us.  In which case, the idea that this scene will become up close and personal might be a little scary to some.  

I think this is, at least in part, why there is so little fan art depicting Thorin's death.

This theory may also be at the heart of the anti-Thorin's-death petition.

Maybe the aforementioned petition was created by the people who can't bear the thought of having to watch Thorin die after growing to love him so much during nearly six hours of previous screen time?  

I don't know for sure, but it's a possibility.

So, I guess this is my own little one-man "petition" to Mr. Jackson and Company:

LET THORIN DIE!

It's part of the original story, and I am sincerely looking forward to seeing how it plays out on screen in December (and I'm sure I'm not alone)!

Please, please, please don't rob us of this beautiful moment between Thorin and Bilbo!

Signed, 

LynZ Media Thoughts

http://lynzmediathoughts.blogspot.com

Rest in Peace, Thorin Oakenshield