Act Three
Bilbo will have a face-to-fang encounter with Smaug — thought it’s unknown how similar it will be to the book (Bilbo will try to evade the dragon at one point, and move through the treasure chamber at great speed at some point as well).
Somewhere toward the end of the film Gandy, Radagast and probably Galadriel (and potentially other characters as well) will attack Dol Guldur in an attempt to drive out the Necromancer. At some point, a “Gandy doll” was used during shooting, meaning that Gandalf might be incapacitated by some way and have to carried out by Galadriel (not sure where this info comes from?).
In my opinion, Gandy and possibly Raddy will try to take on the Necromancer alone, but will be saved by the arrival of the White Council and its allies (Silvester McCoy has said there’s a scene in Film Two where the wizards are fighting “some other evil” in Dol Guldur, though Saruman is already supposedly “up to no good” according to Philipa Boyens, and it seems Christopher Lee didn’t take part in filming for Dol Guldur). Again, the Nazgul, Orcs or other monsters could play a part as the minions of Sauron.
In vlog 1, PJ also briefly shows off what appears to be the Necromancer’s inner chamber stating that “he” — presumably Sauron — could “go out fighting” and “impaling people”; this implies that there will be some soldiers at Dol Guldur, possibly some wood-elves (which would fit scenes of Leggy and Tauriel fighting orcs in an old stone location in the vlogs).
Probably playing out concurrently with the Battle of Dol Guldur will be a confrontation between Smaug and Thorin’s company on the slopes (and walls?) of Erebor, where the dwarves fight against the dragon using all manner of dwarvish “artillery”/explosives. This is described as being the “biggest” scene of PJ’s career (seems like a slight understatement).
As of now, it seems likely that DoS will end with a stalemate with Bilbo and the Dwarves trapped in the Lonely Mountain as Smaug takes off for Laketown; and Gandy/the White Council driving the Necromancer out of Dol Guldur (but not defeating him, thought we don’t yet know — despite rumor and speculation — whether the Necromancer will play a part in TABA).
So, to sum up…
New/Expanded Characters:
Beorn…Mikael Persbrandt
Thranduil…Lee Pace
Legolas..Orlando Bloom
Tauriel…Evangeline Lilly
Galion…Craig Hall
Bard…Luke Evans
Bain…John Bell
Master of Lake-town…Stephen Fry
Alfrid…Ryan Gage
Braga…Mark Mitchinson
Bolg…Conan Stevens
Thrain…Sir Antony Sher
Smaug & Sauron/The Necromaner…Benedict Cumberbatch
Major Set-pieces:
Mirkwood Spiders
Barrels out of Bond/Entrance to Lake-town (Dwarf/Elf/Orc three-way affair, possible Bard involvement)
Gandy’s foray into Dol Guldur
Battle of Dol Guldur
Dwarf Confrontation with Smaug on slopes of Erebor
(probably some serious Azog/Bolg action in here somewhere as well)
Locations:
Beorn’s House
Mirkwood Forest
Woodland Realm
River Running
Lake-town
Bree (flashback?)
Moria (flashback)
Ruins of Dale
Dol Guldur
The Lonely Mountain/Erebor
Captain Salt has been a Tolkien fan since childhood when he played Gloin in a stage production of The Hobbit though as there were only about eight dwarves, he was given other dwarves’ dialogue as well, resulting in a rather strange Gloin who at times talked to himself in a Gollum-ish manner. He’s also volunteered through the years at other film sites and has written for (minor) entertainment publications.
The views presented in this article are his own and don’t necessarily represent TheOneRing.net or other staff.
