The Tolkien Tag 2016

It's that time of year when Hamlette hosts her annual Tolkien blog party.  Here's my answers to her questions in...

The Tolkien Tag 2016

1.  How many books by J.R.R. Tolkien have you read?
Five: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion

2.  Have you seen any movies based on them?
The six Peter Jackson movies.

3.  Are there any scenes/moments that make you cry?
In the books, not so much.  In the movies... the eagles.

4.  Are there any scenes/moments that make you laugh?
Many.  Merry and Pippin in Fellowship, and so many parts of Five Armies.

5.  Have you ever chosen a Middle Earth name for yourself?  If so, what is it?
Well, my nephew called me Aragorn for the better part of a year, does that count?  I did look up what my real name would be once, on one of those webpages, and I quite liked it:  Nieriel.  I could handle that.

6.  Who would you want to party with/marry/fight to the death? (pick three characters)
Well, I've never seen the Dunedain party, but based off watching Aragorn at parties, I suspect they're quiet about it, so they're definitely my choice.

To marry?  Celeborn, because Marton Csokas.  Also, Celeborn is a serious badass, and quiet, and faithful, and he seems perfectly fine with Galadriel going off and doing her own thing, so that's the guy for me.  Also, did I mention... Marton Csokas?

Fight to the death?  Azog, of course.  He's the only one who made me want to jump into the movie and take him on myself.  I just want to shove Thorin out of the way, tell him, dude, you're going to get yourself killed.  Let me do this.  Why, yes, I have a death wish, why do you ask?  But, if I'm marrying Celeborn, I'm most likely an elf, so I like to think it will be a darned good fight.

Bring it on!

7.  When was the last time you visited Middle Earth, via books or movies?
A couple weeks ago, Desolation of Smaug was on television, and we watched the first half until it got too late.  Been dying to watch the second half ever since.

8.  Do you consider Gollum to be a villain?  Why or why not?
No.  I feel too sorry for him to think of him as a villain.  A victim of the ring's power, yes, under which he schemes and manipulates and causes trouble, but not a true villain. 

9.  How would you sum up what Tolkien's stories mean to you in one word?
Fierceness.

10. List up to ten of your favorite lines/quotes from the books or movies.
"It comes in pints?"
"You've had a whole half already!"
"Potatoes! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew."
"They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard."
"Have we not?"
"Men are weak."
"Thorin!  Thorin.  Thorin..."  (this is a bit of an injoke that only my sister gets, but why quote it all the time.)
"It's moving fast, against the wind."  (which is usually followed by somebody in the family shouting "Crebain from Dunland!")
"A little late to be trimming the verge."

Check out Hamlette's Edge of the Precipice page for more links, games, posts, and fun, including a worldwide giveaway.

Battle of the Five Armies (Extended Edition)

Saw this in the theater last night.  Sooooo nice to see it on the big screen again!  All those details I got to see again.  Nothing on DVD will ever touch the awesomeness of favorite movies on the big screen.  Size does matter.

Anyway, the extended edition... or as my sister and I are calling it, the alternate version.  Because it doesn't just add stuff in, in changes around some stuff that went a different way in the theatrical release.  Some of the additions are very worthy.  Some are not.  I liked most of the scenes that just fleshed out what was there but didn't alter the story.  I didn't like the changed stuff so much.  One addition made me and my sister quite mad (but will, in fact, probably delight most viewers, maybe even be the highlight of what was added.  Our audience clapped and cheered most loudly at that part, while my sister and I glowered and crossed our arms and muttered how not okay we were with that.  I suspect we're just backwards to the popular view on this one thing.)  But honestly, the theatrical release was perfect. Tight, focused, no dead weight, so it will continue to be the version I watch at home, though I will have to put the extended on occasionally for a few of the cool scenes that were added (my two favorite additions both involved Bilbo).

I am quite amused (and oddly pleased) by this, because it makes it weirdly symmetrical for me with the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  In that, Fellowship was my favorite of the three films, the one I saw the most in the theater, and I almost only watch the theatrical version of Fellowship on DVD.  For the most part, I don't like or need what was added to that one.  But the extended Two Towers and The Return of the King are fine and add some great stuff.  They're better movies for the extended footage.

With the Hobbit trilogy, Battle was my favorite, the one I saw the most in the theater and I will, once again, be sticking with the theatrical for my watching pleasure, for the same reasons.  However, the extended versions of An Unexpected Journey and Desolation of Smaug remain better than the theatrical, and my go-tos for those movies.

I am also amused that the extended Fellowship DVD cut out one of our favorite moments from the theatrical version.  And so did Battle!  Favorite moment -- gone.  Symmetry again!  I dig it.  You would think I'd be mad or disappointed, but I'm not.  I really really loved seeing the extended on the big screen, simply hanging with those beloved characters again, and I will like having (most of) that long version in my head when I watch the short version.  (Almost no one but me and my sister would probably even notice those two respective missing moments from Fellowship and Battle, so don't think something major has been cut.  But for us, it's often the little things we love best of all.)

I've been under the weather, so I'm not sure any of this is making any sense.

Regardless, it was a fabulous evening with a movie I love dearly, shared with an audience that loved it just as much, who cheered and clapped freely throughout.  It was great, and I've been floating around in a deliriously happy Hobbit haze ever since.

Middle-Earth wall deco

So, to finish out the Middle-Earth Movie Meme, here's a couple pictures of one wall of my living room, where all things Middle-Earth related currently hang.  Click on the pics to make them larger.

Posters from my two favorite Middle-Earth movies on the right, which I already posted close ups of over here...

My " no admittance except on party business" sign above my bedroom door...

And over my DVD/CD shelves, my Thorin and Gandalf quotes on either side of my ME location pictures.

I have eight ME location pictures, which were supposed to go in that slot between the quotes... but as you can see, it's not actually a big enough space to put two rows of four pictures!  Woops.  I kind of seriously miscalculated that.  I was forced to pick three out of the eight.  Which sucked, because I love all eight pictures, but nothing for it.  So, I ended up choosing my three favorites visually: Erebor, Rivendell, and Mordor.  They also coincidentally match the quotes, with Rivendell being the bridge between the movies, as it figures prominently in both trilogies.

Edited to add a pic of all the other available location pics.  They're all so cool!  The other ones I have besides Mordor, Rivendell, and Erebor are the Shire, Isengard, Minas Tirith, Mirkwood, and Rohan.

MEMM - Day 28 - Favorite Middle Earth-related item(s) you own

All of it!  Or I wouldn’t have bought it to begin with.  LOL.  I’ve very fond of movie stuff.  My house is filled with movie merchandise, from posters to action figures, to t-shirts and sweatshirts, to jewelry, to magnets and tote bags and luggage tags, to wristbands and license plate holders for my car with choice quotes, to simple pads of paper and pens... if it’s in my house, it’s a good bet it’s got something to do with one of my favorite movies.

Let’s see, though.  Favorite?  Probably my Aragorn necklace (Evenstar) that I never take off.  I would feel naked without it around my neck.

And I love my Fellowship poster of the Argonath that has been on my wall since 2001.  I just had my poster for Battle framed, so both sets of movies are now represented on my wall.

And I love my two framed quotes (one Gandalf, one Thorin).  I'll post a picture of those later, as I need one more thing framed to complete that area.  But it's really cool.

I’m also extremely fond of my hair beads.  I am a braid-a-holic.  I’m always braiding parts of my hair.  Not all of it.  I look better with my hair down, but I cannot stand hair in my eyes.  So, braids are perfect.  I can braid just enough to get it out of my eyes or add accents.  I used to wear a lot of Herger braids (from The 13th Warrior).  Or now, I do a lot of dwarvish braids.  Sometimes elvish braids, but my hair is thick and wavy, so dwarf style braids work much better in it.  And where it’s easy to fishtail someone else’s hair, it’s not so easy to do your own, at least not neatly.  And finishing off a braid with a bead just makes them so much better than just having a mere rubberband at the end. 

MEMM - Day 27 - Favorite end song

Is there any doubt?  "The Last Goodbye."

MEMM - Day 26 - Favorite one-on-one fight

Boy, these movies are filled with great one-on-one fights.  From Saruman/Gandalf, to Sam/Shelob, to Frodo/Gollum, and all the fights in-between, there are many very satisfying confrontations.  Before The Battle of the Five Armies came out, my answer would have been Aragorn/Lurtz from the end of Fellowship.  But Battle did come out out, and now, of course, my favorite one-on-one fight is Thorin/Azog.

This is also a nice long showdown, for once.  And when they finally get out on the ice, alone, it just gets even more satisfying, right down to the conclusion. This one-on-one fight makes me very happy to watch.

MEMM - Day 25 - Characters you wish you liked more

Eowyn. Which is a bit of a cheat, as it is really Miranda Otto I wish I liked more, not Eowyn.  But there are only a precious few moments in the movies where I see flashes of the Eowyn I loved from the books in Miranda Otto's portrayal.  The rest of the time, movie Eowyn is whiny and bug-eyed, and every time she’s on screen, she makes me roll my eyes and want to fast-forward.  This is one of the few examples in the Middle-Earth movies of my own long-held expectations not being met or exceeded.

So, I wish I liked Miranda Otto more in the role because she makes me not like this version of Eowyn, and Eowyn's my second favorite character in Return of the King novel, so I find that disappointing.

MEMM - Day 24 - Favorite moment/line in The Battle of the Five Armies

Well, now.  All of it.  I’m not being facetious, either.  When trying to answer this question, I realized this movie joins a very select set of movies where I love every part of the movie so much, it is simply impossible to pick a single favorite moment.  From the opening logo to the end credits, I love it all.  I have very clear favorite moments in the other five Middle-Earth movies, moments I wait for, moments I don’t want to miss.  But in this one?  The whole movie is a series of constant favorite moments.  If I start trying to name favorite moments, I promptly override myself with each subsequent moment.  It is simply impossible to pick one in a movie this perfect and wonderful.

The other movies that are in this rare category are, very interestingly, also movies with large casts!  I don’t think that’s coincidence, but I’m not sure what the significance is, either.  They are also all action movies where favorite characters die, and they are all very funny, though none is a comedy.  The other two are:

The Dirty Dozen
The 13th Warrior

And now, added to that list:
The Battle of the Five Armies

Those three movies are so fabulous, from start to finish, that I have no single favorite part that I wait for.  There is not one thing I would change in any of them.  I love everyone in the cast, from the leads, to the characters with only a couple of lines, I love every line of dialogue, every action sequence, every note of the scores, even every death.  I am simply not able to pick a favorite moment from any of these.  Each is one magnificent, perfect ride.  My sister shares this, and these are also the only three movies she cannot choose a favorite moment from either.  Part of why these particular three are impossible to pick a favorite moment from is the bond she and I share over them.  These are “our” movies.  The ones we quote constantly to each other.  A single line of dialogue from any of these has more meaning and history and shared love than any other movie.  We share the same sense of humor, so we laugh at all the same moments (many of which no one else would find funny).  And we can still talk for hours and hours about any of these movies with each other, at the drop of a hat, even though you think we'd have talked about everything there could possibly be to say by this point (particularly on the two older movies).

These three movies are, of course, at the top of my personal movie favorites.

MEMM - Day 23 - The Hobbit character you understand the least

That would be Gandalf. 

I don’t get Gandalf in the Hobbit movies.  Gandalf seems such a meddler in this trilogy.  I mean what is he thinking?  There’s a dragon sleeping in Erebor that needs to be taken care of ere it joins the growing forces of darkness.  Let’s send thirteen dwarves and select a poor hobbit who’s happily minding his own business and send them in to face it.  Sure Thorin is rightful King under the Mountain, so maybe we can kill two birds with one stone and reclaim the arkenstone and reunite the dwarf kingdoms at the same time we dispose of the dragon -- but dude... what if they fail and all you do is feed him and his company to a psychotic dragon who would then be awake and ready to terrorize more than just Lake-town?  And Gandalf also knows full well what happened to Thror, and he knows Thorin’s going to be in trouble with dragon sickness, but he just sort of keeps ignoring that, even when people like Elrond keep reminding him of it.

Really, Gandalf is like his own self-fulfilling prophecy.  "I suspect we're going to have trouble with the dragon, let's go do something about it, oh, look, we not only have trouble with the dragon, but now we've got orc armies and Sauron to deal with."  He propels events into action, forces the orcs to attack Thorin's company, forces Sauron to appear.  He fails to meet the dwarves so they end up facing the dragon alone and Lake-town gets toasted.  He’s quite meddlesome and bossy in this trilogy, and it seems everyone survives the last movie's events despite him, not because of him. 

I do not have these issues with Gandalf in LotR.  He is neither bossy nor meddlesome there.  He’s very protective of everyone and Middle-Earth itself (though he still fails to show up when needed... bad habit of his).  But in Hobbit??   Gandalf is very fishy in the Hobbit.

Where in LotR, he answers everyone's questions honestly even when they won't like the answer:  "I would not take the road to Moria unless I had no other choice."  And he lets others make decisions: "Let the ringbearer decide" -- which includes a healthy measure of Frodo trust right there. In Hobbit, on the other hand, he is secretive, he flat-out ignores Thorin's questions if he knows Thorin won't like the answer, and Bilbo isn't given nearly the trust that Frodo is.  It's quite a different Gandalf!  I like to think he simply learned his lessons from his time with Thorin's Company , and when it's time to guide Frodo and the Fellowship, he has a much better understanding of how to deal with Hobbits and quests in general.  Because that makes sense to me.

He also has the creepiest last line to Bilbo.  Granted, Bilbo has outright lied to him for the first time, but still.

“You’re a very fine person, Mr. Baggins.  And I’m very fond of you.  But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all.”  

And the way his smile vanishes the minute Bilbo turns his back.  Gahhhh!  My sister and I looked at each other after that moment, and both of us shivered.  Thank goodness we get back to Hobbiton and end with old Bilbo and a much less intimidating Gandalf, or I would have been permanently wigged out by our dear wizard.  That parting of Bilbo and Gandalf in the woods at the Shire border at the end of The Battle of the Five Armies remains the part of all six movies that creeps me out the most.  Never get on a wizard's bad side!

MEMM - Day 22 - Costume you most want to wear

Well, this is an easy one.  While I admire most of the costumes, I wouldn't actually enjoy wearing most of them.  (Though I wouldn't mind stealing pieces of various costumes!)  Boromir's outfit may be my favorite, but it's too heavy and confining.  And I wouldn't wear a dress unless forced to.  The outfit has to be practical, not too hot or cold, comfortable, and allow me full movement for running and walking about.  Which really leaves me with Aragorn's Strider outfit.

It's got layers, which is the key to comfortable clothes!  Take that jacket off when it gets hot, roll up the sleeves, add a cloak when it gets cold.  It is perfect, and I can't think of any other outfit in all the movies I would be as comfortable wearing daily as this one.

MEMM - Day 21 - Favorite couple

Kili and Tauriel.

 

I am very fond of defiant romances.  These two defy their own races’ prejudices, their own individual expectations, and they also defy the movie goers who complain “but it didn’t happen in the book,” etc.  Good for Kili and Tauriel!  I personally love these two.  He’s handsome, she’s beautiful, they’re both so very young and impetuous and wide-eyed about life... why wouldn’t they fall for each other?  I love how they just open up to each other immediately, start telling and listening to each other's stories, how simple it is for them to start sharing things, even when one is technically a prisoner.  They don't care and they waste no time. Their limited time together is delightful.  They make me grin, which I can’t say for any other couple in Middle-Earth (well, except for Celeborn and Galadriel, but that’s naught to do with the two of them and is only because Marton’s on screen.  I’m always grinning if he’s around.)

I also admit, I am very fond of tragic romances.  Hey, what can I say?  My first bondings with fictional characters in life were in opera and, while there are plenty of comedies and operas with happy endings, the majority I grew up did not end well for one or both lovers.  Didn't stop me from loving the characteres, in fact, I just loved them all the more because their time together was limited.  Also, my first Shakespeare experience was Romeo & Juliet, and that was a Profound Experience on my youthful, unsuspecting life, let me tell you.  One of those moments in life so strong that the emotional impact has never faded.  (Hm, randomly, I just realized I have exactly three novels with where the romance ends well.  Out of nine.  Um... yeah.)

So, yeah, I love Kili and Tauriel. I love that they don’t end happily, but they make the most of their time together.  Their whole doomed romance just resonates for me.

The Beginning of the End

So, there's this little phenomenon, that only happens (at least to me) when I see a movie six or more times in the theater, on the movies I really really love enough to see that many times.  The more viewings, the stronger the feeling gets.  It doesn't happen to movies I only see once or twice, even if I then watch them a jillion times on DVD.  It only happens in theatrical viewings, where you cannot pause, you cannot stop, you cannot leave, you cannot slow time down, all you can do is immerse and experience.

That phenomenon is... the Beginning of the End.

The beginning of the end is that moment in the movie where the real world intrudes on your viewing and you suddenly have that awful thought, "aw man, the movie's wrapping up and isn't going to last forever."  It's a mix of sadness, because it means the glorious viewing is going to come to an end soon, and also excitement, because usually there's good stuff you can't wait to see in the ending either.  Every movie I've ever seen many many times in the theater has that really intense realization moment, from the first movie I saw over twenty times in the theater (Star Wars) to current day viewings.  It only happens after about the sixth viewing, because before that, I am just watching the movie, taking it in, still learning it.  After about six viewings, the movie viewing experience changes into something different, and then the beginning of the end becomes a Thing.

So, since we've been talking Lord of the Rings and Hobbit, I thought I'd share two of my beginning of the ends.  Why only two?  Because I've only seen two of the films more than six times in the theater:  Fellowship (17 times) and Battle of the Five Armies (9 times).  I didn't see the other four films combined enough times to even equal Battle's viewings.  And watching them repeatedly on DVD just never develops that same acute feeling of the impending ending as the theatrical viewings do.  At home, you can always back it up and watch it again.  You can start over.  You can pause without missing something.  It's on a small screen with distractions like children and cats and dogs and the doorbell.  It's just not the same thing as being in a movie theater at all.

In Fellowship, it's this moment:

The famous log that Saruman's orcs are about to step on as they chase after the Fellowship.  And one orc steps precisely in the worn-down spot and always cracks me up.  Hitting that moment in the movie would always be the  "aw" moment, the "we're wrapping up," the "there's only one more awesome fight left," the "this movie won't last forever and we're heading for the ending" moment.

In The Battle of the Five Armies, it's this moment:

That's the first time in the movie I start realizing the ending's approaching.  It's the beginning of the end.

My sister, who has been my primary multiple-viewing partner over the years, experiences the same "beginning of the end" intense emotional feeling (in fact, she's the one who coined that phrase), but her beginning of the end moments are quite different from mine 99% of the time.  Same feeling, but evoked by a different section of the movie.  The only two I know we share are Star Wars and Fellowship.  The beginning of the end in Battle for her is much earlier, right after Fili's killed.  That still feels like the middle of the movie to me.  I'm way too caught up there to notice the end is nigh. 

MEMM - Day 20 - Favorite moment/line in The Desolation of Smaug

1.  Smaug busting out of Erebor, covered in liquid gold, and that spiraling flight into the air to shake it off.  Glorious!  I wait the whole movie for that moment.

2.  Every time Thorin taunts Smaug, and every time Smaug gets even more pissed off and either sprays the ceiling with fire or thrashes around in fury.  Both make me laugh with delight.  "You have grown slow -- and fat -- in your dotage... slug!"

3. Bilbo and the butterflies.  Because it is just so beautiful.

Favorite lines:

Thorin's "What did we miss?" Also very fond of "Is there no end to this accursed forest?"

MEMM - Day 19 - A location you never want to visit

Dol Goldur.  This place is flipping creepy and unnerving, and you couldn't pay me to go there.  (Okay, I might go there with Elrond at my side, but still not willingly.)  All those staircases going every which way but not making much logical sense.  All the construction.  All the spells and illusions.  The necromancer, the nazgul, and orcs all in close and twisty confines.  No, thank you!  Dol Guldur makes Mordor look positively inviting to me. 

 

MEMM - Day 18 - The Hobbit character you relate to the most

Fili.  Ahhhh, Fili.  There’s almost nothing about him I don’t relate to, other than I’m not heir to the throne.  LOL!  (I do find it rather amusing that Aragorn is heir, as is Fili... coincidence?)

But, as the older sibling... yeah.  Fili’s always the one looking out for Kili in these movies, not vice versa.  In Five Armies, when they’re scouting Ravenhill and he takes the more dangerous route and sends Kili the other way, that would be me.  When he stays behind in Laketown to look after Kili.  Yep.  Trying to help Kili to the boat when they're evacuating from Bard's house.  Leading the way up to Erebor afterwards, making sure Kili’s not carrying anything.  Even when Bilbo tells them to stop, and Fili takes off to get deeper into Erebor’s halls and see the treasure, I would totally do that.  I relate to the sheer quantity of weapons he carries about him (Why, look!  Fili’s another very well-armed character).  I really relate to his last words:  “Go!  Run!”  Yeah, that’s what I would be yelling at Thorin too.  Don’t worry about me, just get away from here now. 

Fili’s quiet, alert and watchful, a good fighter, always looking out for Kili.  I love the way he yanks out of Thorin’s grip when Thorin tries to force him to toss Bilbo over the rampart, and how when Thorin starts to do it himself, he's actively telling Thorin “No!”  And the way Fili pushes Bilbo over to Bofur to get him safely away.  Kili tends to get Fili in trouble with Thorin, and having a younger sister, I relate to that!  I love when he tosses Kili a shield while they’re arming themselves.  It's a “here, try this one,” which I also do with my sister.  And I'd totally be saying, "I'm going over the wall, who's with me?" when the fighting starts.

I’ve got a wee bit of Kili in me.  Jumping out of the barrels to run up and open the river gates is the first thing I would do in that situation.  But Kili’s generally far more reckless and outspoken than I am.  As much as I’m thinking, “I will not hide behind a wall of stone while others fight our battles for us!” I’d be quiet like Fili and let the younger, louder sibling spout off what we’re all thinking.  But I will be right beside Thorin when the fighting starts.  Kili also falls in love too easily.  I’m much more guarded and skeptical.

MEMM - Day 17 - Scenes/things you cry at

Oh dear.  Many things. 

The only guaranteed tears:

The eagles.  The very first time I saw Fellowship in the theater, I burst into tears when Gwahir glided into view out of the night shadows, and Gandalf jumped onto his back.  And I mean burst into tears.  Not a slight welling up, or a tear slipping down my cheek, but blooming burst into tears.  I did so on each subsequent theatrical viewing (of which there were a great many). These are good tears, happy tears, tears of power, because I react so strongly to the eagles, I simply have no way to express the reaction other than tearing up.  But I often cry at beautiful things.  I probably cry more at beautiful things than sad things.

Return of the King... here come the eagles again...

An Unexpected Journey... I completely forgot the eagles were even in this movie when I first saw it, and that first viewing I started crying as soon as the moth appeared and didn’t really stop until everyone got dropped off on the rock. 

The Battle of Five Armies... I didn’t remember eagles here either, and I was gone when Azog looked over Thorin’s shoulder and saw them incoming.  Oh man, GONE.  Completely lost in sobs.  There was no moth warning in this one, so it really caught me by surprise.

Why?  I have no bloody idea, really.  But I bawl at the eagles every time they appear.  I will cry sometimes just listening to the scores and reaching that part in the music.

Besides the eagles, let’s see...

Fellowship... not really any other tears shed in here, other than at Gwahir's rescue.  I do not cry for Boromir because his is such a good death.  I do not cry for good deaths.  They are not sad to me.  I have occasionally gotten teary when Sam tells Frodo in the boat “Don’t you leave him, Samwise Gamgee... and I don't mean to...”

The Two Towers... Not every time, but I tend to get teary when the elves arrive at Helm’s Deep, and when the ents go to war.  My sister had to point out that the music when the ents go to war is the eagles' theme... Ahem.

The Return of the King – Lighting the beacons, when Gandalf takes Pippin with him and Merry watches them ride away, Eowyn’s “ride with me” to Merry, “I can’t carry it, but I can carry you,” eagles, the reforging of Narsil into Anduril.  Theoden's speech occasionally gets me.  The very end at the Grey Havens when the other hobbits realize Frodo is leaving. 

An Unexpected Journey – only the eagles

The Desolation of Smaug – a safe movie!  No tears!

The Battle of the Five Armies - eagles, Bilbo’s reaction to Thorin’s death (not Thorin’s death itself, as that is, like Boromir, a good death and is not sad in itself), but Bilbo... oh, Bilbo’s reaction is devastating. Bilbo not being able to say Thorin is his friend to Balin and saying goodbye to the dwarves. Thorin and company busting out of Erebor and Dain yelling “To the king! To the king!”  Thorin’s reaction to Fili’s death, that silent mouthing of his name.  And in the beginning, Bain appearing with the arrow and The Look he gives his father after he says "this might."

MEMM - Day 16 - Favorite song sung by a character(s) in the films

Let's see, if we define favorite as "most sung" song throughout the years, then my favorite is Aragorn’s coronation song.  I still sing this song to myself a lot, have always done so, since I first saw Return of the King.  It's a very appealing melody to me, probably why I still sing (or hum) it all the time.



But my favorite of all the songs characters sing that I love most to listen to is the Misty Mountain song from An Unexpected Journey.  I do hum this one quite a bit, but I'm almost always hearing the full orchestral version in my head from the "Over Hill" cue, not the version with lyrics.  (I am not a lyrics person, so no surprise there.  That is also the cue that goes with my second favorite moment from An Unexpected Journey, so... again, no surprise that that's the version in my head.)  But for sheer listening pleasure, I'll take Thorin and the dwarves any and every day.

MEMM - Day 15 - Favorite moment/line in An Unexpected Journey

1.  Bilbo putting himself between Azog and Thorin.  Sheer love!  This whole scene really, from Azog and his warg completely trouncing Thorin, to Kili, Fili, and Dwalin coming to the rescue.  But the best part, and my favorite part of the entire movie, is Bilbo standing between hunter and prey. 
 

2.  Crossing over into the Wild after leaving Rivendell.  Again with the gorgeous scenery and awesome music.  And I want to go hike these places so badly!

 

3.  Bilbo wandering around Rivendell.  No dialogue, just Bilbo taking it all in.  His expression says it all.

As for a favorite line in this one.  A toss up between Bilbo's "I have some skill at conkers, if you must know, but I fail to see why that's relevant" and Gollum/Bilbo's "If Baggins loses, we eats it whole" "Fair enough" exchange.