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112. How Does Fiction Help Us Love Our Enemies Even If We Must Defeat Them?
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Vivid, Ashley Bustamante
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"In a city where debts are paid in blood, one young man will learn that everyone needs help sometimes if they want to survive." New in the Lorehaven library: A Matter of Blood, Lauren H Salisbury
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When The English Fall
“When The English Fall tells a bittersweet tale of community and commitment that plunges fearlessly into hard questions about the end of the world.”
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Clawing Free
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—Lorehaven on May 13, 2022

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“Ashley Bustamante’s Vivid paints a world built on secrets and carefully controlled color palettes.”
—Lorehaven on May 6, 2022

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112. How Does Fiction Help Us Love Our Enemies Even If We Must Defeat Them?
Fantastical Truth, May 17, 2022

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How Christian Must Christian Fiction Be?
Rebecca LuElla Miller, May 24

Gender In Fiction: The Implication Of Failure
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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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Exploring ‘The Hobbit’ Chapter 15: The Gathering Of The Clouds

Thanks to the book’s final grown-up tone, “The Battle of the Five Armies” may be better than the second “Hobbit” film.
E. Stephen Burnett on Nov 20, 2014
2 comments
The Hobbit

Sometimes a slain evil dragon brings even worse evils.

Friends keep asking me if I think The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies film will be better than last year’s fantastical but silliness-overkill-laden The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

I’m inclined to say yes, based on a few educated guesses — including today’s book chapter.

First, Tolkien himself writes the end of The Hobbit as if he’s already thinking of the future film adaptation that seems so unlike Tolkien. Bilbo still plays a pivotal role, but the story is suddenly all about political maneuverings between Dwarves, Elves and Men. Thorin is a total postmodern-like subversion of the Christian/medieval ideal of a good returning king. The “simple children’s story” that many people wrongly remember The Hobbit being has suddenly turned into a very grown-up story that’s more like The Lord of the Rings.

Thus, here the film version could stay more faithful to the book and avoid the tonal clashes that the second film (and to some extent the first) generated while trying to evoke both the whimsy of The Hobbit book’s early chapters and the epic battles of The Lord of the Rings.

Second, the ending of a three-part story is almost always easier to make than the middle.

Third, Jackson’s first Middle-earth film trilogy’s weaker chapter is arguably right in the middle, The Two Towers, according to some fans. My own wife in particular still leaves the room during the Faramir-turned-to-“Filmamir” moments.1 Re-viewing the film — especially the theatrical version — you can tell it was a struggle to tie all the story threads together. Films one and two didn’t have these difficulties.

If I’m right, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will not struggle as much as it ends the trilogy, thanks in part to the book’s more-intricate, less-whimsical chapters like this one.

Chapter 15: The Gathering of the Clouds

  1. Here are more birds, perhaps with associated mythological meaning (which may have been why Tolkien used them). Why might Balin dislike crows and favor ravens? Have you read other stories in which either kind of bird serves as a kind of omen? (Consider also the sound effects of crows cawing used in movies — what sense does that bring?)
  2. In this case, does Roäc the raven bring good news or bad news to the heroes? How does it already sound like even Smaug’s early death is not as good a news as we would think?
  3. Why do you think Tolkien wanted to add such a surprising twist to the story — making it so that the dragon’s death is not the end, the titular hero did not slay Smaug, and no one immediately lives happily ever after when the quest is ended? What other stories do you remember in which the expected ending is subverted? How may they be better?
  4. “Who are you,” [Thorin] called in a very loud voice, “that come as if in war to the gates of Thorin son of Thrain, King under the Mountain, and what do you desire?” (page 248) Why does Thorin react this way? Does this seem to Bilbo (or to you) right, wrong, or mixed?
  5. Then Bilbo longed to escape from the dark fortress and to go down and join in the mirth and feasting by the fires. Some of the younger dwarves were moved in their hearts also, and they muttered that they wished things had fallen out otherwise and that they might welcome such folk as friends, but Thorin scowled. (page 248) In the story, which person is subverting the expected happy ending? We can call this bad, but is he sympathetic?
  6. Many The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey film reviewers insist that the movie was too dark or complicated, while the book was a simple children’s story. Is this part “simple”?
  7. “I am Bard, and by my hand was the dragon slain and your treasure delivered. Is that not a matter that concerns you?” (page 251) How does Bard’s response to Thorin’s insular threats affect the standoff? What does it show us about Bard’s and Thorin’s characters?
  8. “The price of the goods and the assistance that we received of the Lake-men we will fairly pay — in due time.” (page 251) Do you think Thorin truly means to pay reparations?

On whose “side” here, if any, would you be: Thorin’s, Bilbo’s, or the gathering armies?

  1. Tolkien’s The Two Towers establishes that Faramir, brother of the late Gondorian warrior Boromir, is the nobler of the two brothers. Where Boromir was tempted to take the evil One Ring, Faramir bluffs Frodo Baggins and readers by feigning similar temptation, then proclaims he would never do such a thing. But in the film version, “Filmamir’s” temptations are all but real, driven by a screenwriting-manual-friendly desire to please his overbearing father Denethor (which, to be fair, is a theme drawn directly from Tolkien in The Return of the King). ↩
E. Stephen Burnett
E. Stephen Burnett creates sci-fi and fantasy novels as well as nonfiction, exploring fantastical stories for God’s glory as publisher of Lorehaven.com and cohost of the Fantastical Truth podcast. As the oldest of six, he enjoys connecting with his homeschool roots by speaking at conferences for Christian families and creators. Stephen is coauthor of The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ from New Growth Press (2020, with Ted Turnau and Dr. Jared Moore). Stephen and his wife, Lacy, live in the Austin area, where they help with foster parenting and serve as members of Southern Hills Baptist Church.
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  1. Julie D says:
    November 20, 2014 at 2:57 pm

    I hope you’re right. It’s funny–the additions to Desolation of Smaug were either brilliant (Necromancer) or horrible (GlowyTauriel), but fingers crossed that the conclusion will be more faithful.

    Reply
    • E. Stephen Burnett says:
      November 20, 2014 at 4:33 pm

      It’s funny–the additions to Desolation of Smaug were either brilliant (Necromancer)

      Pulled from Tolkien’s original content or else faithful to his images for Sauron.

      or horrible (GlowyTauriel)

      Pulled from … movie-land, or misguided-fanservice-land.

      Methinks I spy a trend. 🙂

      Reply

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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.