The Battle of Five Armies

[Beran]

Just read the following;
"Jackson’s singular talent for massive-scale mayhem hasn’t deserted him, and the hour-long smackdown that crowns the film gives him ample opportunities to indulge it. With what feels like a lot more than five armies on the go – we counted elves, dwarves, men, orcs, trolls, goblins, eagles, evil bats and bizarre ‘Dune’-like earthworms..."

Now admittedly I haven't read the Hobbit all the way through, but I don't recall anything being mentioned about a creature in ME looking anything like an Arakeen life form. Am I wrong?

[zedturtle]

Well, Dunedain and Fremen share some similarities...

I've got nothing.

[Rich H]

... and bizarre ‘Dune’-like earthworms..."

Called Jim, apparently.

[Dunheved]

Not that long ago (2006 or close to that) I had a computer game where the initial scenario had Rivendell attacked by a Wyrm. Very much like Frank Herbert's creations I thought - as I casually unleashed a couple of Eagles to pull it to pieces.
Again is this a simple feedback thing where a lot of extra non-canon material is added in because the wider community has a wider variety of expectations than this community?

There will be quite a lot of 'differences' from canon that, if I (or any of us) had been in the director's chair, would not have had a chance of being put in. I will look at this final offering from PJ and try to pick out the best bits of his interpretation for my enjoyment. For me, these superb films reinforce the fact: LOTR and the Hobbit are most enjoyed as books - and the books are head & shoulders above these very good attempts to portray the Professor's creation in a film format.

At the risk of making this too long I'd like to add that I watched the film Dune before reading the book(s). I loved the film: and then found the books to be so much more. My children were fortunate to be able to see PJ's films first and then read the books: I expect they will have a similar experience.

Finally, The One Ring system itself is another set of variations and extensions. But TOR is the only thing I have found that expands without distorting JRR's world. Every other Tolkien related product has left me with a sense of shortfall and disappointment (So thanks C7 and the team and the contributors to this forum for their great ideas that have continued to emerge.)

[Glorelendil]

Now admittedly I haven't read the Hobbit all the way through, but I don't recall anything being mentioned about a creature in ME looking anything like an Arakeen life form. Am I wrong?

The rest of you really missed a chance to have some fun with this. I.e.,

“The Worms! the Worms!” Bilbo cried, dancing and waving his arms. If the elves could not see him they could hear him. Soon they too took up the cry, and it echoed across the valley. Many wondering eyes looked up, though as yet nothing could be seen except from the southern shoulders of the Mountain.
“The Worms!” cried Bilbo once more, but at that moment a stone hurtling from above smote heavily on his helm, and he fell with a crash and knew no more.”

EDIT: OMG an admin changed my username! I knew I should have gone with the Entish name.

[Falenthal]

Do I know you from somewhere, Glorelendil? Your face sounds familiar...

[Heilemann]

An actual quote:

"Tell me what you want done, and I will try it, if I have to walk from here to the East of East and fight the wild Were-worms in the Last Desert."
— Bilbo Baggins, in The Hobbit

And in case you were wondering.

[zedturtle]

EDIT: OMG an admin changed my username! I knew I should have gone with the Entish name.

At first I was like "that sounds like EC but it's some bloke named G-something" and then I was like "w00t!".

And I agree epic vocabulary fail on the video game developer for thinking Wyrm meant Shai-Hulud and not dragon.

[Throrsgold]

Regarding this thread's title...The Battle of Five Armies.

For nearly forty years, I have referred to the battle with that name. I note that the name of the soon-to-be-released movie is titled, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (emphasis mine). I have looked in my copy of The Hobbit book...I can't find a mention of this name (i.e., the added the).

Can anyone shed any light for me on the proper title?

[Woodclaw]

Regarding this thread's title...The Battle of Five Armies.

For nearly forty years, I have referred to the battle with that name. I note that the name of the soon-to-be-released movie is titled, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (emphasis mine). I have looked in my copy of The Hobbit book...I can't find a mention of this name (i.e., the added the).

Can anyone shed any light for me on the proper title?

According to what I was able to find the proper title in the appendix to the LotR is "Battle of Five Armies", the "the" is something added for the movie.
Just for the records, in Italy the title was translated as "La battagla dei cinque eserciti" for decades now, which is a pretty accurate translation, but for the movie they decided to retitle it "La battaglia delle cinque armate". Now "esercito" and "armata" are pretty close in terms of meaning, both refers to large formations of military units, but "esercito" is specific to ground forces, whereas "armata" might refer to naval units as well.
As a translator mysefl, I often wonder why some people feel the need to retranslate something that already works.