FAQ

The Dragons, along with the Balrogs, serve Morgoth (the master of Sauron) only. After the defeat and extinguishment of Morgoth in War of Wrath, the Dragons and Balrogs did not owe allegiance to his lieutenant Sauron, not to mention that Smaug seems primarily motivated by personal greed and does not serve any allegiance other than his own.

However, there is a chance for an alliance between the two if a proper payment or reward is offered. Gandalf fears such an alliance, thus encourages Thorin Oakenshield to take a quest to Erebor along with his Dwarvish company and Bilbo to reclaim the mountain and slay the dragon.

Though in the film, Smaug may have hinted he was allied with Sauron. As he says "The darkness is coming. It will spread to every corner of the land." Implying he knew of Sauron's impending invasion.

Smaug is attracted to the greed that the gold creates. Not necessarily the gold itself, but the temptation and lust that dwarves, elves and men have for the riches.

Continuing the quest to reclaim the dwarven kingdom of Erebor from the dragon Smaug (voice of Benedict Cumberbatch), young hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), the band of dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), the elves Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Lake-town resident Bard (Luke Evans) finally reach the Lonely Mountain and attempt to find the Arkenstone. Unfortunately, Bilbo awakens the sleeping dragon.

The Desolation of Smaug is the second part of a three-part adaptation of the novel The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by author J.R.R. Tolkien [1892-1973]. The first film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) (2012) covers the first six chapters of the novel and a few moments from the seventh chapter. The Desolation of Smaug covers the seventh through the 13th chapters. Finally, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) (2014) covers the remaining 14th through 19th chapters. The screenplay was written by New Zealand screenwriters Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyes, and Peter Jackson (who also directed), along with Mexican screenwriter Guillermo del Toro.

Whereas in An Unexpected Journey there were many reprised appearances by actors in their same roles from Peter Jackson's first Lord of the Rings films, there are far fewer of these appearances in this film. Only Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Legolas return with major roles. Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) also makes a brief, one line appearance through recycled footage from the previous film. Sauron makes a brief appearance in the movie but is played by Benedict Cumberbatch, as opposed to Sala Baker who played him in the original films. Also, Gimli is mentioned and a picture of him is shown but he is not portrayed on screen by an actor.

The title refers to where the dragon Smaug lives and the waste around his home. When Smaug invaded the region around Erebor, he burned the city of Dale, which lay near the entrance to the dwarves' kingdom under Erebor and also burned much of the area surrounding it. There's a moment in the film when the party arrives near the ruins of Dale, and Balin says that the surrounding area used to be covered with lush forests.

Many different Dwarves, Elves, Wizards, Men, Orcs, and Spiders appear in the movie and have speaking roles. Bilbo is the only Hobbit to speak and only one other is seen briefly in the Prancing Pony at the beginning of the film. Smaug is the only dragon to appear and speak. Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt), a skin-changer who takes the form of a bear, also appears. Some forest animals, domestic dogs, and Wargs are also seen.

Tauriel is the young, approximately 600-year-old, captain of the Wood-elf guards who patrol the borders of the Woodland Realm in Mirkwood. She is a Silvan Elf of Mirkwood Forest whose name means "daughter of the forest" (directly translated Forest-daughter) or "maiden of the wood" in the Sindarin tongue. Leading up to the release of the film, Jackson assured Tolkien fans that Tauriel would not enter into a romantic relationship with Legolas. According to Phillipa Boyens, the screenwriter for Peter Jackson, Tauriel was her creation and has nothing to do with Tolkien's work. In the film it is revealed that both she and Legolas have feelings for each other, though it is never overtly stated by either character just how deep those feelings go. Legolas' father Thrandull (Lee Pace) also warns that he would never allow them to be together. However, Tauriel also develops feelings for the young dwarf Kili (Aidan Turner). Tauriel was first thought by many fans to be a gender-switched version of the Keeper of the Keys who looked after the imprisoned Dwarves in Thranduil's dungeons, but he proved to be a different character.

Fili (Dean O'Gorman) and his younger brother Kili are Thorin's nephews (his sister's sons). Since Thorin has no children, this makes Fili his legitimate heir in the line of succession.

Thranduil's sudden scars reflect a little-emphasized facet of J.R.R. Tolkien's lore: elves' "Fëa" (a metaphysical concept analogous translatable as "soul") occasionally influences the "Hröa" (the fleshly, physical body), particularly under moments of extreme stress. This can manifest as extreme physical changes that reflect the mind's state, in this case deep war scars.

In the film trilogy Smaug measures nearly 140 meters (about 460 feet) long with a wingspan of perhaps 150 meters or more. This is perhaps five times as large as Tolkien depicted him.

Durin's Day falls on the dwarves' New Year, which occurs on the first day of the last moon of autumn. However, Durin's Day happens only in years when this moon and the sun appear in the sky together. The lunar calendar in Bard's home shows Durin's Day falling on the date of 30 Halimath (September); although the phase of the moon shown on it does not match the one that Bilbo observes on Durin's Day. Using the crescent moons seen at Midsummer's Eve in An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug, we can estimate that the date for Durin's Day is on or near October 27th (the 27th day of Winterfilth) in Shire Reckoning. On our Gregorian calendar that should convert to October 15th.

No.

Peter Jackson had previously signed on only as an executive producer. The main reasoning appeared to be timetable conflicts with other directing commitments Jackson already had made. The fact that Jackson was in a financial conflict with New Line Cinema at the time may have also played a role. There may have also been the matter that The Lord of the Rings movies were hugely popular movies a decade after their releases. This would raise the expectations considerably for The Hobbit, while the novel is in many regards (e.g. story structure) quite similar to the Rings trilogy, which had become much more popular than The Hobbit throughout the 20th century. With Peter Jackson at the helm, expectations possibly rose to unrealistic proportions. This lead to potential mass disappointment with the fan base, arguably comparable to when George Lucas decided to create his prequel trilogy to the original Star Wars trilogy himself, and when Steven Spielberg created a fourth Indiana Jones movie after nearly 20 years. Jackson himself also experienced firsthand just how high expectations could rise when he was listed as director, having met with some harsh criticism for his post-LOTR movies (namely King Kong and The Lovely Bones). His official reason, as stated by himself on the bonus material on the Blu-ray version of An Unexpected Journey, was that filming The Lord of the Rings films in one megaproject was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, once for which he did not have the energy to repeat it, hence his desire to see the project realized by another director.

However, after months of pre-production without any prospect of the films being green-lit, del Toro left the project. When the financial conflict with New Line Cinema was suddenly settled and no replacement had yet been found, Jackson felt he had spent enough time in pre-production to overcome his reluctance, and agreed to step in as director. Moreover, due to the delays in production, his schedule had been cleared. He has directed all three films with shooting started in February 2011. Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who all wrote the screenplays of the previous Middle-earth trilogy, wrote the screenplay for The Hobbit parts 1, 2 and 3. The movie has been split into three parts with added expanded content from the book (i.e., drawing story elements from the Appendices). It is clear that the maker's intentions for this film go beyond a mere introductory prequel. The choice to extend the single, relatively-small, 297-page (paperback) book was allegedly Jackson's, and he claims it is due to the sheer amount of content in the expanded universe so that the story can be told in its entirety as well as fan service, though there have been valid claims that the huge financial investment and potential profits were a factor in the final choice.

Yes, they were shot in 3D at 48 FPS. Each is also available in 3D at 24 FPS and 2D at 24 FPS. At the time of the film's release, viewers could check with their local theatres to find the format they wanted to see.

Yes. Jackson can be seen in the opening shot of the film, walking from the left of the screen to the right. He briefly glances towards the camera while taking a bite out of a carrot. The shot of him is meant to be a recreation of his cameo in The Fellowship of the Ring. Jackson had filmed a second cameo as a spy in Lake-town but including it was strongly vetoed by his co-producer, Philippa Boyens, who thought it diminished Jackson's standing as director and producer. The full story of Jackson's second appearance can be see in the bonus features of the extended edition of the movie on Blu-ray and DVD.

The Extended Edition runs approximately 25 minutes longer and includes a number of extended storylines, with the most prominent being: an extended conversation between Gandalf and Thorin at the beginning of the film, referencing Thorin's father, Thrain; two additional scenes with Beorn, which provide more insight into his character; a flashback to the burial of the Witch King of Angmar; several extended scenes featuring Alfrid and the Master of Lake-town, giving more detail into their personalities; a couple of extra scenes of the dwarves' adventures/misadventures in Lake-town; a completely new storyline featuring Thrain, whom Gandalf finds among the caves of Dol Gudur, whereby Thrain experiences the terror of the Necromancer/Sauron with Gandalf, and we see Thrain's ultimate fate.