The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Trailer

Facts You May Not Have Known About "The Lord of the Rings"

1. Gandalf's original Maiar name was Olorin, but has also gone by Tharkun and Mithrandir.
2. There are three more wizards in LotR besides Gandalf and Saruman that weren't mentioned in the movies. They are: Radagast, Alatar, and Pallando.
3. Every single character in LotR wears a wig, except for Peter Jackson's son Billy, who was a hobbit extra in Fellowship of the Ring.
4. There were 144 guests at Bilbo's birthday party in the book, but there were only 100 at the party in the movie.
5. The portraits of Bilbo's parents in Bag End over the mantelpiece are modeled after Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh.
6. In Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring cameo, he's actually "smoking" a carrot because the pipe made him sick.
7. The goblin forges of Orthanc are real... they were built in a foundry and the goblins working it are actually foundry employees in costume.
8. The ringwraith's screams are based on Fran Walsh's scream with a throat infection.
9. The ring that is shown after Frodo drops it in the mountains is actually 6 inches across.
10. Bill the Pony is actually played by a pantomime horse in some scenes.
11. Glamdring (Gandalf's sword) is also supposed to glow in the presence of orcs like Sting, but because of budget cuts, never happened.
12. Orcs were originally elves that Morgoth (Sauron's master) corrupted.
13. The shot of the fellowship mourning Gandalf's death in Lothlorien was shot before Sir Ian McKellen had even arrived in New Zealand to work.
14. The Numenorean ruins at the breaking of the fellowship scene were actually re-purposed from Weathertop.
15. Aragorn wears Boromir's bracers throughout the second and third films as a tribute to him.
16. The warg attack in The Two Towers was originally supposed to be a night attack on Edoras, but since they couldn't light it properly they had to change it.
17. The young Rohirrim that Aragorn talks to at Helm's Deep in The Two Towers is Philippa Boyen's son.
18. When Gandalf returns to help at Helm's Deep, the Riders were supposed to be led by Erkenbrand, not Eomer.
19. The Fangorn Forest attacking Orthanc was Tolkien's response to his disappointment that the forest in MacBeth was fake.
20. The Black Gate is shown as two gates in the movie due to a typo in the script given to the art department.
21. 6 million feet of film was shot for the film... that's about 1,100 miles of film.
22. Howard Shore had to write 7 minutes of music a day to keep up the pace.
23. Christopher Lee is the only cast member to have actually met J.R.R. Tolkien.
24. Galadriel's gift to Frodo- the light of Earendil- is actually Elrond's father.
25. Elijah Wood had Alka-Seltzer tablets in his mouth so that it would foam when Shelob stabbed him.
26. Elrond's brother was the first king of Numenor, so that makes him very distant relatives of Aragorn's.
27. Arwen is Galadriel's granddaughter.

Least Liked Literary Characters

Hehehehe...alliteration. =)

Well, since I did a list of my favorite literary characters, I thought I'd do one of the characters that annoyed/pissed me off. As a side note, this list doesn't count the books from authors I really hate (Austen/Bronte/Meyers, etc). Also: Just because a certain book or author is on this list, doesn't mean I don't like said book or author...just the characters in them. These are in no particular order.

• Grima Wormtonge: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien

Grima is one of those guys who I wouldn't say made me mad or annoyed, I just never liked him at all. He betrays his fellow humans to an Istari and to Sauron, perverting King Theoden's mind to bring his nation to ruin. Plus he has the nerves to flirt with Eowyn in front of Eomer. What an idiot...

• Zaphod Beeblebrox: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

Zaphod definitely annoys me, in the book as well as the movie. Yes, he has some funny lines here and there, but he's a complete moron, self-seeking jerk. He has the attention span of a goldfish (which is about 15 seconds), sometimes even less so.

• Nynaeve al'Meara: The Wheel of Time series, Robert Jordan

Nynaeve bugs the hell out of me. She's definitely my least favorite character. Now, in general, I don't dislike feminists, but Nynaeve is one of those extreme ones that really piss me off. Her actions, her temper, and ego really get to me. Both Elayne and Egwene are like this to a certain extent, but nowhere near Nynaeve. Plus, they have other redeeming qualities...Nynaeve (at least so far) has none.

• Dolores Umbridge: The Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling

As much as I hate Nynaeve, Professor Umbridge is one of the few fictional characters I've gotten really mad at, to the point where I have to stop reading and cool off. I really wanted her dead. Besides the fact that she reminds me of my high school Economics teacher, she's evil to the core and she's sneaky about it (at first anyway).

• Captain Ahab: Moby Dick, Herman Melville

Not much to say about Captain Ahab. Hated the book, hated his character. The above picture is from the movie version, where Ahab is played by Gregory Peck (who doesn't suck).

• Camaban: Stonehenge, Bernard Cornwell

Camaban is one of those characters that I did not like at all. It wasn't because he was a badly developed character, or was given bad lines...he was just a good villain. Being a disliked character isn't always a bad thing; it is usually because their creators are really good authors. I feel the same way about Umbridge. I hate her as a character, but I love the books and the author. Bernard Cornwell is one of my favorite authors, and he did a great job making a character that would really get under your skin, like a good villain should.

• Kaspar, Duke of Olasko: Conclave of Shadows trilogy, Raymond E. Feist

Kaspar on the other hand is not a great character, at least in my opinion. I love the first two books in this trilogy ("Talon of the Silver Hawk" & "King of Foxes"), but this one took one of my least liked characters from the previous books and gave him his own, random, book at the end of the trilogy. Feist took the focus off of Talwin (who was the MC for books 1 & 2, and who I really liked) and shifted it to Kaspar for book 3. It didn't seem very well thought out to me.

• Darken Rahl: The Sword of Truth series, Terry Goodkind

Terry Goodkind is one of the very few authors I have come across that can write 800-900+ page books and still keep my interest all the way through. Darken Rahl is a very good villain, and Goodkind gives him the traits a good villain should have. A good author (especially in fantasy lit.) should make you hate and/or fear their villain(s). I definitely hated Darken Rahl. Well done, Mr. Goodkind!

• Anyone from The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Plain and simple: I hated this book. I had to read it for my 11th grade English class. I liked "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Crucible" more than this book. Not my cup o' tea at all.

When it comes down to it, most of these characters are not necessarily bad, they are in reality, well written antagonists/villains/etc. If I happen to dislike the villain of a story, I feel like the author did their job correctly (at least in this aspect, not always for the book as a whole). 

Favorite Literary Characters

So, my plan was to make a top 10 list of my favorite characters from books that I have read. Either chalking it up to laziness or indecisiveness, I'll just post them all in no particular order.

• Legolas Greenleaf, Gimli son of Gloin, and Peregrin Took: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien

These are my favorite characters from The Lord of the Rings. While I do admit that my opinion of these three men is slightly influenced by the movies, I already liked them before the movies even came out. I like Legolas and Gimli for their sheer awesomeness and cool fight scenes together. I like Pippin for his comedic relief, of course.

• Achilles: The Iliad, Homer

Achilles is one of the first and best bad-asses around in literature and mythology. Although I didn't particularly care for his cockiness, he technically had the right and could back it up. He was also pretty whiney about Briseis, but I think Homer was trying to convey great emotion and just missed the mark a bit. I still like his character though. Odysseus was a close second after Achilles.

• Uhtred of Bebbanburg: The Saxon series, Bernard Cornwell

I really like this book series, mainly because of the time period, but Cornwell puts a ton of great content in there too. I like Uhtred because he is a very realistic character. He's not just the invincible hero, he's not infallible, he makes mistakes and has to deal with the consequences.

• Thomas of Hookton- Grail Quest trilogy, Bernard Cornwell

I like Thomas for pretty much the same reasons as I do Uhtred. I just like seeing historical characters (whether real or made up) being portrayed in realistic ways...well, as realistically as possible- we only know so much about history.

• Marvin: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

Marvin is a freaking hilarious character. I mean come on, he's a depressed robot! I also love the fact that his character in the movie was voiced by Alan Rickman.

• Zeddicus "Zed" Zu'l Zorander: The Sword of Truth series, Terry Goodkind

I like Zed as a character because he is so interesting and well-rounded. You don't see a whole lot of older characters like this much anymore, it seems. Zed is powerful and wise, but is also funny and is a child at heart, and isn't too old to get some lovin'. I honestly like Zed more than I do the main characters of this series, Kahlan and Richard.

• Perrin Aybara and Matrim Cauthon: The Wheel of Time series, Robert Jordan

Robert Jordan (RIP) was very very good at crafting wonderful characters. All of them are interesting, but overall, I like Perrin and Mat the most. I feel like I connect the most with Perrin, and the wolf parts of the stories are cool. Mat is one of the very few male characters who has the cahones to stand up to the very strong female characters in this series, especially Nynaeve. I also like the plot developments that are added to his character in later books quite a bit (which I won't spoil for you).

• Calvin and Hobbes: Revenge of the Baby-Sat (etc.), Bill Watterson

These two are pretty much my favorite duo ever. I love the Calvin and Hobbes comics so much. I like Calvin's high vocabulary for only being in 1st grade, and the pranks Hobbes pulls on Calvin. Even though they originally appeared in the Sunday newspaper and not in a graphic novel, Calvin and Hobbes is my favorite comic series of all time.