The Hobbit reused too many LOTR lines and themes

[Floydical]

The amount of LOTR lines and themes reused in the Hobbit trilogy was pretty excessive. Excessive enough to where it wasn't just noticeable, but actually somewhat off-putting in my opinion. Some of the most simple ones are lines stated in the movies that are similar or identical. Many scenes reused themes that were once exclusive to certain scenes or events. I'll try to show as many as I can recall.

While hunting Merry and Pippin's kidnappers, Gimli dabs a rock stained with blood with his finger, licks the blood off his finger and expresses, "Orc blood!". In the Hobbit, Orcs are pursuing the Dwarf company. An Orc dabs a rock with blood on it, licks the blood from his finger and expresses, "Dwarf blood!".

On at least 2 occasions during the Hobbit, Gandalf states to a member of his company, "We have questions that need answering". Identical to his use of that phrase in the LOTR, except the line was much more relevant in the later rather than the prior.

Fast forward to 1:50. Gandalf the White's appearance.



Strikingly similar to how Bard was introduced in the Hobbit.



Notice how in both cases light is behind the unknown character, making him hard to identify. In both cases the unknown character was atop a hill and disarms his potentially lethal attackers.

Next is the 'A Knife in the Dark theme'. This theme was first used to vilify the Ringwraiths, like in the Weathertop scene in LOTR. Truly frightening scene.



It was wasted on Thorin's march towards fighting Azog.



Legolas' shield sliding.



Comically comparable to Bombor's barrel bouncing. Skip to 2:45.



Legolas killing an Oliphaunt.



Quite similar to his commencement to his battle with Bolg. Skip to 0:30.



I know that I must be missing a great deal of examples, but what are your feelings regarding the overly reused lines and themes in the movies? Was Peter Jackson purposely being reminiscent? Did he feel it was welcomed to have that many similar scenes? I surely didn't. Or was he lacking originality for these movies?

Thanks for reading as always.

 

[donnic]

i see your point but you are nick picking, that is the directors theme if you will so you will it of coarse. look at john wyne he plays the same guy over and over again in all of his movies. you just have to enjoy the movie for what it is.

 

[Callypigia]

It really couldn't be avoided. The books are written by the same person and the screen play was written by the same people, so a lot of the dialogue and themes are going to be similar between the two.

 

[RasenUchihaChaos]

I think your the only one who cares about this I love the movie and don't care


However there was some jerk who didn't not like the different orcs guy didn't know there are several types of orcs and this is a different region

 

[AmaniPaz]

Same director you can't blame anyone.

 

[Caliburn]

In Dutch we have some really nice words to describe what you are doing now, but despite them not being really offensive on itself, they contain some explicit words that could be interpreted the wrong way, so I'm just going to call it that you are severely nitpicking and not even a little.

I always found that the people who complained about The Hobbit trilogy that it was too bombastic and too much, we're going a bit too far, but I still could understand where they came from as in the end they made three movies based on a book that has like 200 pages. You on the other hand are pulling this way too much out perspective and are now just trying to find reasons to nitpick on.

These are movies based on books written by the same person directed by the same person using several actors that play the same characters in the same world, only a few decades apart...and then you are nitpicking on things being similar?

Have you never said twice the same thing in your life? That Gandalf says the same line whenever he needs answers on questions he has, is really nothing unusual. In fact it's very well possible that they did that on purpose to show that Gandalf hasn't changed much if anything at all during the years between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, subtly indicating that he is, despite looking human, still very well a completely different being altogether, which is something that gets easily forgotten. That what the lifetime is for an average human, is for him nothing more than a passing by. Same thing with Legolas. 60 years is barely anything for him, so that he kills two persons in a similar way, what of it?

I never saw the making of The Hobbit, but I did saw it for LOTR and it's almost ridiculous how far they went with some stuff. I have regularly seen people complaining about certain things, acting like that Peter Jackson intentionally threw stuff away or changed them on a whim, while in reality they had lengthy reasonings and explanations as why they did certain things. They often used the same music for specific situations/characters etc. but edited it slightly, something that is hardly noticeable, but has as point to indicate changes some characters went through. You make it sound like that they where lazy and just picked some music from LOTR, while it's very well possible they did that intentionally to for example underline that Azog is kinda the equivalent of the Ringwraiths in The Hobbit.

Those scenes of Legolas in LOTR were done intentionally. Him killing the troll in Moria, sliding down a stone stairs on a shield and killing the oliphaunt is a set of three scenes they intentionally reserved for Legolas and just because Bombur does something whack in the 2nd movie, it immediately is copying?

Same thing with the introduction of Bard. In LOTR they intentionally mixed the voices of Gandalf and Saruman together to confuse people. Gandalf was supposed to be dead, Saruman was known as the White Wizard and then they suddenly meet the White Wizard with a weird voice, but you can't see his face. Then suddenly it appears it is Gandalf and you are like "hooray". In The Hobbit it was "and who's that?". In the end you are pretty much nitpicking here on the camera angle they used. It was directed by the same person and each director has got his own ways of doing things.

There are some scenes in The Hobbit that I also have my doubts with. It has been a long time since a read the books, so I'm not too sure about everything, but I always thought the only time Athalas/Kingsfoil made an appearance was after the Battle of Pellenor in the House of Healing. I always liked that particular scene in the book as it was used as some kind of an indication for the common man that the King of Gondor had returned, but in both The Hobbit, LOTR for that matter, they kinda used the theme too much and in the wrong context making it lose its meaning. Still what you are doing is just too much. You say it's off-putting, but as I see you want be like that and for that intentionally or not are trying to find resemblances.

There are many things you could complain about in The Hobbit, but the degree you are doing this, I find plainly ridiculous.

 

[Floydical]

The problem I have with most of these is that they are highly reminiscent of LOTR scenes and therefore take away from the films' originality. Of course I'm nitpicking, but its a matter of a very good franchise that seems cheapened by such strong similarities.

The "A Knife in the Dark" theme was only used on that one scene with Azog, if I recall, while it was a common theme for the Ringwraiths. The difference there is that it was better done in the LOTR, as it was a reoccurring theme that you associated with the villains. In the Hobbit, on the other hand, it was only used once and therefore created a non-reoccurring theme that was out of place and felt more like a cheap knock off than anything else.

The comparison themes involving Legolas and Gandalf/Bard were more observations, yet fell into the same category of reuse. It simply adds evidence to a small lack of originality.

The similar statements made bother me as much as the reused Knife in the Dark theme. For in these cases, most were out of place lines that only served the purpose of being reminiscent of the LOTR trilogy. In the original, when Gandalf states he has questions that need answering, he was referring to seeking out old legers in Minas Tirith that describe the ring in addition to seeking counsel from Sarumon. This was actual material from the book. In the Hobbit, on the other hand, this statement referred to nothing viable to the story, and was not in the book. The point here is that they were re-used as filler material, not canon, and therefore are only put in to serve the purpose of being reminiscent.

In my eyes, the only served the purpose of creating a image of being unoriginal and filling in space where it was needed. The fact that it was one book made into 3 movies is exactly the reason why, they had to add things making it less potent.