That alone isn't much of a statement, at least until you find out that firstly, I hate The Hobbit trilogy up to that point but secondly, going to see the movie was my idea.
Why do I even hate the Hobbit trilogy up until that point? Because I'm a purist. I'm the loser that has not only read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings - and more than once - but also The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and even The Children of Hurin even though it was basically a retelling of a story in the Unfinished Tales.
When it comes to my research and frankly, my obsession with this series, I'm thorough and well-versed in not just the mythology of Middle-earth, but also the weight of meaning behind certain relationships and decisions within the mythos. There is a whole history of everything for everything, from why Galadriel's gift of hair to Gimli was far more monumental than any gift ever (a story that dates back to before the creation of the sun of all things and actually, Galadriel's hair was the catalyst of what became the biggest battle ever in the history of Middle-earth) to the why Arwen and Aragorn's romance was both parts sweet and saddening.
The Hobbit thumbs it nose at pretty much everything in the mythos of Middle-earth. And it drives me craaaaaaazy.
And the thing is, the Lord of the Rings was perfect to me. It struck a solid balance between honouring the history and mythos that came before it but also making it an entertaining movie. While I can't say I didn't wince at various decisions that went against canon (like sending the elves to Helm's Deep. Uh... nooooo) I understood it as
The Hobbit's choices to go against canon however were awful. And just completely and utterly avoidable to the point of being able to write a thesis on how Peter Jackson ruined it!
For starters, the dwarves, a subject I broached awhile back but will reiterate in short here. I understand the concept of trying to create different dwarf cultures due to their diversification across the land after being chased out of first Moria and then Erebor, but generally, they still all have beards. And yet some of them had beards like Aragorn had a beard, that is to say they didn't have a beard but a five o'clock shadow. You know, for a race that prided themselves on their facial hair, the fact some of them looked like they shaved it off every morning (or trimmed it like a hipster) drove me nuts.
But oh right, they needed someone other than Legolas to be a heart throb in the movie. Ick.
Secondly, keeping four dwarves behind in Lake-town while the other dwarves went to the Lonely Mountain because Kili took a black arrow to the foot that brought upon the Black Breath sickness similar to what Frodo and Eowyn and Faramir suffered in Lord of the Rings? Well, the latter two suffered it in the books anyway.
Here's the thing, pretty sure that's a special ability limited to the likes of a Nazgul. If common orcs had access to such poisons on their blade, no one would survive a mere slash of the cheek by any of the big bads in Middle-earth let alone a battle of ten against one.
Oh and the Kili/Tauriel OTP? ARGH!
Why? Because it flies in the face of the very long history of the animosity between Dwarves and Elves goes all the way back to the First Age when the two races first encountered each other in Middle-earth and basically looked down on the other for how they chose to live their lives.
Despite this, at first some of the interactions was cordial (if a little rude and cold) to begin with between Doriath and the first dwarves in Nogrod; at least they were up until the king of Doriath was murdered by the dwarves, perpetrating a war between both that destroyed both Nogrod and Doriath when it was all said and done by the end, pissing off everyone that was either elf or dwarf in Middle-earth. And given how long lived the elves are, that is to say they live forever, they haven't ever forgotten the treachery.
As for the dwarves? They never did like those hoity-toity tree-lovers anyway. You can say the dwarves gave back as much as they received from them elves.
But what about the friendship between Gimli and Legolas in The Lord of the Rings? Though it wasn't directly broached upon in either book or movie, the truth is that that friendship was actually seismic shifting when it came to the relationship between the elves and dwarves because not since Eol before the fall of Doriath that any of the two races could call each other friends. The friendship was so highly unusual in Middle-earth that it actually was a massive symbol of a new understanding.
In short, a dwarf and an elf falling in love in The Hobbit during a time of very high hostility between the races? Never could happen. Never did happen. And it trivializes all that came before and what came after.
And while we're at it, why couldn't they have simply left Tauriel to be a strong female character ala Galadriel rather than create bloody stupid love triangles for her everywhere she turned. Were they that insecure of her creation that they needed canon characters falling in love with her in order to justify her existence?
But that's for my next rant.
TBC
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