How May Frodo Be in ‘The Hunt for Gollum’?

This weekend, Ian McKellen had a little bit of Hobbiton-disturber-of-the-peace power about himself when he revealed at a fantasy conference in London that Frodo Baggins would seem in Andy Serkis’ upcoming Lord of the Rings prequel film, The Hunt for Gollum. Frodo is much from the only familiar face who has been teased as making a possible look within the movie (due out in 2027), however he’s a very attention-grabbing one contemplating the chronology of occasions we already know from Tolkien’s books.

When Is The Hunt for Gollum Set?

Talking to Empire Magazine late final yr, producer Phillipa Boyens stated that The Hunt for Gollum “falls after the birthday celebration of Bilbo and earlier than the Mines of Moria” in the course of the occasions of The Fellowship of the Ring. We’ve already seen elements of that journey in each the theatrical launch and prolonged editions of the movie. Galadriel’s prologue covers Bilbo’s discovering of the ring (earlier than, once more, we see that lined even additional throughout The Hobbit: An Sudden Journey), and we see moments of Gollum’s torture by the hands of Sauron’s forces pointing the Ringwraiths to the Shore. A number of scenes added within the prolonged reduce see members of the Fellowship acknowledge that they’re being tracked by Gollum by the point they’ve arrived in Moria.

Within the chronology of Tolkien’s personal writing, occasions play out equally, however we study that, in distinction to the notion of the film, these occasions happen over a a lot, a lot longer time frame.

Wait, How Many Years Handed Between Bilbo’s Occasion and the Formation of the Fellowship?

One of many issues most poorly conveyed from the books within the movie adaptation of Fellowship is that just about twenty years move between Gandalf leaving Frodo within the Shire after Bilbo departs for Rivendell and the assembly of the council of Elrond that places into movement the search to destroy the One Ring as soon as and for all.

In Tolkien’s writing, Bilbo’s 111th birthday celebration takes place within the yr 3001 of the Third Age, and in that very same yr, Gandalf recruits Aragorn to trace and discover Gollum’s whereabouts, after the 2 first crossed paths nearly half a century earlier. Gollum had left his cave dwellings within the Misty Mountains in 2944 to seek for the halfling who took the ring from him and was captured in 3009 by Aragorn. After being dropped at the realms of Mirkwood for interrogation, Gollum flees the elven realms whereas they’re attacked by the forces of Mordor nearly a decade later in 3018—a yr after Gandalf, as seen in Fellowship of the Ring, rides to Gondor’s capital, Minas Tirith, and uncovers data main him to consider that Bilbo’s magic ring is certainly the One Ring of energy. The Council of Elrond, the place Gandalf particulars his historical past monitoring Gollum within the books, takes place in October of that yr.

Which means Gollum’s seize by the forces of Sauron and the torture that ultimately results in him sharing his information of the ring’s location happen in some unspecified time in the future within the nearly 70 years between leaving his mountain residence and his seize by Aragorn. And that which is conveyed as weeks or months at finest within the movie adaptation of Fellowship of the Ring is definitely seventeen years. The one actual acknowledgement {that a} vital passage of time has occurred is Bilbo’s personal ageing, though that may be partially credited to his vitality not being sustained by the One Ring.

What Was Frodo Doing within the Years Between?

The reply is that we merely don’t know, past the truth that he continued to remain at Bag Finish after Bilbo’s departure from the Shire and that he stored the ring hidden as per Gandalf’s request. We all know that, at Gandalf’s request when he went to Aragorn to debate discovering Gollum, Dúnedain rangers stored watch over the Shire, which in all probability signifies that Frodo wasn’t precisely operating round Center-earth for enjoyable throughout that point, so he presumably stayed dwelling the identical life he had since coming underneath Bilbo’s guardianship.

So, How May Frodo Be in The Hunt for Gollum?

Effectively, the straightforward reply is that Frodo doesn’t must be a vastly concerned character in nevertheless the movie portrays its model of the passage of time from Tolkien’s books and writings. Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy already performed unfastened in speaking, for essentially the most half, the years that move between the occasions of Fellowship, Two Towers, and Return of the King, and we don’t know sufficient but about what sort of timeframe Hunt for Gollum will unfold its personal interpretation over.

However no matter that, Frodo is at the very least current in three largely imprecise factors: the opening, set with Gandalf departing the Shire and recruiting Aragorn after Bilbo’s celebration; the ending, which presumably climaxes with Gandalf’s return to the Shire to verify his perception that the One Ring has been discovered; after which actually anyplace between these two factors, ready out for phrase from Gandalf and dwelling his finest halfling life. Any position Frodo would have in Hunt for Gollum might be extremely slight.

The movie might additionally take the strategy The Hobbit trilogy did with its personal Frodo look. There, Frodo seems within the framing system that opens An Sudden Journey alongside the late Ian Holm, as soon as once more portraying the older Bilbo, as the 2 hobbits focus on Bilbo writing the story of his adventures. Hunt for Gollum might very simply, say, flash again from Frodo writing his personal adventures down in Return of the King‘s epilogue to him questioning what Gandalf did after he left the Shire once more.

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