Question: I'm partly deaf, so I am dependent upon reading closed captioning on TV or movies. My wife and I rented a DVD of this movie. I saw on this DVD where Benedict Cumberbatch was said to be the Necromancer; my wife claims not to have heard the name "Necromancer" said out loud. This was when the Necromancer made a very brief appearance. Was this a mistake in captioning?
Tailkinker
1st Nov 2013
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
20th Feb 2013
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Question: Is it known if there is still an ongoing feud between Peter Jackson and Christopher Lee? I ask because they had a well documented falling-out after the original LOTR trilogy, stemming from Jackson cutting Lee's character Saruman from the theatrical release of ROTK. In this movie, there's an odd part where Galadriel and Gandalf have a telepathic communication, basically ignoring Lee as he is delivering his lines. This happens more than once and I found it to be unintentionally comical.
Answer: While Lee was unhappy about being cut from the theatrical cut, the character's restoration in full to the Extended Edition, generally deemed to be the definitive version of the movie, went some distance towards settling the issue; most allegations of an actual feud between them are considerably exaggerated, mostly by irate Lee fans. While Lee did ask Jackson for assurances that he wouldn't be cut out this time, assurances that Jackson was more than happy to give, given the key nature of his scenes in The Hobbit, any feud between them is long gone. After all, Lee could easily have just refused to appear if there was a real issue there. He didn't.
20th Feb 2013
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Question: This has confused me ever since I heard who Balin was in the movie. While Gimli doesn't necessarily look young in Lord of the Rings, his cousin Balin in the Hobbit looks much much older than he does, and not to mention the Hobbit was 60 years prior to the events in Lord of the Rings. There must be a huge age gap between the two or perhaps Balin's white hair has no significance on his age? And for that matter, what are the life expectancies on dwarves, they are pretty much the only races in Tolkien's creations that I've never really heard. Judging from their contrasting age appearances in the movies he would seem to be about 100 years older than Gimli?
Chosen answer: While the most common usage of the word cousin is to describe the children of siblings, known as "first cousins" who would be of the same generation, "cousin" actually covers quite a wide range of relationships, which can readily cross generations. In this case, Gimli's father Glóin is Balin's first cousin as their fathers, Gróin and Fundin, were brothers. Gimli is therefore Balin's first cousin once removed, making the age difference between them (113 years, to be specific) quite reasonable. Dwarves in the Tolkien stories generally live to around 250 years old, with correspondingly longer generations than humans.
30th Dec 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Question: The Hobbit trilogy takes place 60 years before Lord Of The Rings, and it is shown that Bilbo takes the Ring from Gollum and escapes the Misty Mountains with it. What exactly has Gollum been doing for the past 60 years?
Chosen answer: It took Gollum a few years to summon up the courage to leave his cave to try to find Bilbo, but, unsurprisingly, he found that the trail had gone cold. Wandering in the hope of picking up the scent, he ended up on the edge of Mordor, where he encountered Shelob and became her servant, spying on her behalf, luring food into her lair and so forth. Eventually, captured by Sauron's forces, he gave up the names of Baggins and the Shire under torture, alerting Sauron to the existence and potential significance of Hobbits. He was freed, only to be captured again, this time by Gandalf and Aragorn who wanted to question him about the Ring before placing him in elven custody in Mirkwood. Escaping from there, Gollum hid out in Moria where he first picked up the trail of the Fellowship.
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Answer: The name Necromancer is said specifically at that point in the movie, by Radagast as he narrates what happened to Gandalf. Your information is correct in that the character is indeed being played by Benedict Cumberbatch, in addition to his role as Smaug.
Tailkinker ★