OK as I may have mentioned, I haven't touched The Hobbit in eleven years.
So the last time I read that book, I hadn't read the Silmarillion. (SHAMEFUL I KNOW)
I have to admit that I did the book a gross injustice; I had filed it in my head as "cute, but not really to be taken serious, totally whimsical 1930s kiddie book, not at all like the LotR". Which is not wholly untrue, but not wholly true either. I mean, there's a lot already in place, just in allusions and paraphrases.
And then there are the bits I just didn't pick up on, back then. (I would have, had the Annotated Hobbit already been in existence and my property back then, because they really explain all the shit. But it wasn't, so I didn't.)
YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MADE ME REALISE.
PJ totally has the chance to do some Silmarillion stuff even though the rights to that book aren't his, BECAUSE OF ALLUSIONS IN THE HOBBIT.
Like, when Thranduil's merry bunch first fool and later arrest the Dwarves, there's a bit of elaboration on the difference between these wood-Elves and THE ELVES WHO HAD GONE TO FAËRIE AND SOME OF THE DEEP ELVES MADE GREAT STUFF AND SOME OF THEM RETURNED TO MIDDLE-EARTH.
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...
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CAN WE HAVE THAT IN THE NEXT FILM PLEASE. SOME SPECIFIC DEEP ELVES IF AT ALL POSSIBLE.
(Fun fact aside: The first German Hobbit translator, Walter Scherf, translated "Deep Elves" as die Unterirdischen, "Underground Elves". BWAHAHAH. Noldor = Drow? XD)
Also, allusions to why the Elves can't stand the Dwarves, because "They had fought wars against each other and the Dwarves stole a great treasure from them but to be fair the Dwarves said they had only taken their due because the Elf king had refused them their proper payment". SACK OF DORIATH OMG OMG OMG! CAN WE HAVE THAT TOO. SILMARILLION FLASHBACKS FTW. INCLUDING VENGEFUL FËANORIANS PERHAPS?
...
SQUEE.
Probably not. If the Nauglamir appeared, its Silmaril would forever be confused with the Arkenstone, so PJ will probably avoid that. Still, a girl can dream. I mean, that would certainly explain the "short book = movie trilogy" development...
Crap, now I got my hopes up. :P
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ETA: further fun with the German translation: Drachen wissen zwar mit all ihrem Besitz nicht viel anzufangen, aber in der Regel kennen sie ihn auf Mark und Pfennig....
Tee hee.
(FWIW, I would've translated that as Heller und Pfennig -- even now, Mark feels too modern. These days, of course, we're using Euros and Cents, but I dearly hope nobody is going to change this in current editions! Also, now I can't help wondering whether there were/are editions going Schilling und Groschen or Franken und Rappen...? XD)