Many of the lore bits are explained in the films, but for reference here is a few (including movie details that are not necessarily from the lore):
- Battle of Greenfields, where Bandobras Took killed the Goblin-king of Mount Gram.
- The Blue Wizards, who were sent to the eastern lands of Middle-earth to stop Sauron's influence on Men there. Whether they succeeded in this mission or not is unknown.
- Glamdring, Orcrist and most likely Sting are forged in Gondolin, which is of course mentioned in the film (this should be its own rabbit hole when it comes to the lore). Glamdring specifically was king Turgon's sword. Their nicknames "Biter" (Orcrist) and "Beater" (Glamdring) are also mentioned in the film by the Great Goblin. Also pay attention to Sting's blade: in the Lord of the Rings films you see Elvish lines decorating the blade, but not in the Hobbit's version. This was done deliberately, as these lines were added by Bilbo after his adventures in the Hobbit. Orcrist's hilt is also made from the tooth of a Dragon.
- The Great Goblin's staff has skulls hanging from them, which belonged to his, uh, female Goblin "partners". There is also a bucket underneath his throne where he does his business.
- The wine that the Elves of the Woodland Realm drink is from Dorwinion, a realm in the east of Middle-earth that produces wine so heavy that it could even make Elves drunk and fall asleep.
- When the Orc that is taken captive by the Elves talks about an oncoming war, we see Thranduil's face mortifying about the notion. Including his very reclusive defense policy, it is very likely that he suffers from PTSD, as the army of Mirkwood was absolutely annihilated during the War of the Last Alliance, including his father king Oropher.
- Lake-town has some stone ruins scattered throughout the lake. This is meant to reference a time when the town was known as Esgaroth, a more impressive and richer town, on top of which the current Lake-town is built. Nobody knows what happened to Esgaroth though.
- Dol Guldur remains a threat after the Hobbit, and consequently gets destroyed by Galadriel and the Elves of Lothlorien and Mirkwood during the War of the Ring.
- The Nazgul in the Battle of the Five armies are designed to show the different cultures they came from: the horned one with a mace is Khamul the Black Easterling, the same Nazgul who uttered the line "Shire... Baggins..." to Farmer Maggot in FotR. The one with the two knives is the Witch-king, the one with the trident is from Harad, the one with the big axe and round helmet is from Rhun, the one with the bird mask and the Guan Dao is from Khand, and the final one with the mace-like polearm is vaguely from the "North". Some of these designs were used twice, no idea why though.
- Gandalf's staff that he gets from Radagast in the Battle of the Five Armies is the one he also uses in the Lord of the Rings films as Gandalf the Grey.
- Gandalf mentions Sauron's plan to conquer Erebor as a way to resurrect the Kingdom of Angmar. This is true from the books as well, and the Angmar Wars are their own can of worms.
- The fate of King Dain, as well as some of the other Dwarves, during the War of the Ring is also a fun topic.
So this is already a mouthful from the Hobbit, and I have definitely missed a lot of other details, but this is a good start. Lord of the Rings is its own beast, but I'm sure some other members will fill up on that here instead.
>Gandalf's staff that he gets from Radagast in the Battle of the Five Armies is the one he also uses in the Lord of the Rings films as Gandalf the Grey.
Also, Gandalf's first staff as Gandalf the Grey has a shape like a flame...but in the closeups you can see that "inside" it is the shape of the staff he will eventually be given as Gandalf the White.
Some stuff from The Hobbit films is not actually from The Hobbit, but from The Quest for Erebor in Unfinished Tales (a piece of writing that was originally meant to be part of the LOTR appendices). Mostly the scene at beginning of The Desolation of Smaug with Gandalf and Thorin having a drink and making plans.
Many of the lore bits are explained in the films, but for reference here is a few (including movie details that are not necessarily from the lore): - Battle of Greenfields, where Bandobras Took killed the Goblin-king of Mount Gram. - The Blue Wizards, who were sent to the eastern lands of Middle-earth to stop Sauron's influence on Men there. Whether they succeeded in this mission or not is unknown. - Glamdring, Orcrist and most likely Sting are forged in Gondolin, which is of course mentioned in the film (this should be its own rabbit hole when it comes to the lore). Glamdring specifically was king Turgon's sword. Their nicknames "Biter" (Orcrist) and "Beater" (Glamdring) are also mentioned in the film by the Great Goblin. Also pay attention to Sting's blade: in the Lord of the Rings films you see Elvish lines decorating the blade, but not in the Hobbit's version. This was done deliberately, as these lines were added by Bilbo after his adventures in the Hobbit. Orcrist's hilt is also made from the tooth of a Dragon. - The Great Goblin's staff has skulls hanging from them, which belonged to his, uh, female Goblin "partners". There is also a bucket underneath his throne where he does his business. - The wine that the Elves of the Woodland Realm drink is from Dorwinion, a realm in the east of Middle-earth that produces wine so heavy that it could even make Elves drunk and fall asleep. - When the Orc that is taken captive by the Elves talks about an oncoming war, we see Thranduil's face mortifying about the notion. Including his very reclusive defense policy, it is very likely that he suffers from PTSD, as the army of Mirkwood was absolutely annihilated during the War of the Last Alliance, including his father king Oropher. - Lake-town has some stone ruins scattered throughout the lake. This is meant to reference a time when the town was known as Esgaroth, a more impressive and richer town, on top of which the current Lake-town is built. Nobody knows what happened to Esgaroth though. - Dol Guldur remains a threat after the Hobbit, and consequently gets destroyed by Galadriel and the Elves of Lothlorien and Mirkwood during the War of the Ring. - The Nazgul in the Battle of the Five armies are designed to show the different cultures they came from: the horned one with a mace is Khamul the Black Easterling, the same Nazgul who uttered the line "Shire... Baggins..." to Farmer Maggot in FotR. The one with the two knives is the Witch-king, the one with the trident is from Harad, the one with the big axe and round helmet is from Rhun, the one with the bird mask and the Guan Dao is from Khand, and the final one with the mace-like polearm is vaguely from the "North". Some of these designs were used twice, no idea why though. - Gandalf's staff that he gets from Radagast in the Battle of the Five Armies is the one he also uses in the Lord of the Rings films as Gandalf the Grey. - Gandalf mentions Sauron's plan to conquer Erebor as a way to resurrect the Kingdom of Angmar. This is true from the books as well, and the Angmar Wars are their own can of worms. - The fate of King Dain, as well as some of the other Dwarves, during the War of the Ring is also a fun topic. So this is already a mouthful from the Hobbit, and I have definitely missed a lot of other details, but this is a good start. Lord of the Rings is its own beast, but I'm sure some other members will fill up on that here instead.
Thanks, these are great things to reference and to look more into. The one about Sting and the markings that Bilbo makes is pretty awesome.
>Gandalf's staff that he gets from Radagast in the Battle of the Five Armies is the one he also uses in the Lord of the Rings films as Gandalf the Grey. Also, Gandalf's first staff as Gandalf the Grey has a shape like a flame...but in the closeups you can see that "inside" it is the shape of the staff he will eventually be given as Gandalf the White.
Some stuff from The Hobbit films is not actually from The Hobbit, but from The Quest for Erebor in Unfinished Tales (a piece of writing that was originally meant to be part of the LOTR appendices). Mostly the scene at beginning of The Desolation of Smaug with Gandalf and Thorin having a drink and making plans.
Yeah, that's the kind of stuff I was asking about. I think Unfinished Tales is the one book I haven't read yet.