Here’s a departure from what I usually cover on this blog. Bear with me?

I have a confession to make:

I am a Lord of the Rings geek, a writer, and an English teacher, yet I have never read The Hobbit.

Terrible, I know. I did see the old animated film back when I was in middle school, and I can imagine the encounter with Smaug and the Battle of the Five Armies very well. But I don’t really recall the actual journey to The Lonely Mountain at all!

So, in preparation for the Peter Jackson film coming out soon, I decided to finally read the book. I’m about half way through now, and I’m enjoying it. But I have a few questions about how it will be adapted for film.

1.) How will Thorin and the dwarves be portrayed? They’re a bunch a whiney, Gandalf-dependent wusses right now. Gimli would be ashamed.

2.) How many of the songs will be cut–all of them, like in LOTR? And how will the riddle contest play out between Bilbo and Gollum? As is, these are important to the story but probably won’t play well on film.

3.) What new adventures and lore will Jackson include to make a trilogy of movies out of a single book?

Have you done more research and thinking than me? Can you answer these questions with links or speculation? I’m looking forward to the movie, that’s fo sure!