spivo wrote:The best example for me, is Radagast. I don't have him have birds nest in his hat, nor the chariot
If it makes you feel any better, Radagast rides a horse in the book.
But I do have him look like he just came back from a 6 month survival trip in a deep forest (dirty, twigs stuck in his cloth etc...)
His personality is close to Gandalf (patiently waiting for characters to tell their story, nodding, thinking only interrupt to elaborate details), but while Gandalf seems to care for the characters struggle (and other people), Radagast cares only for the nature.
Gandalf would ask about survivors, ask about their wounds, inquire about the state of settlements they passed.
Radagast would ignore wounds (unless they directly comment it), and ask about the state of trees, color of animals, etc...
I've always believed the idea of Radagast being a tree-hugging hermit was a little overstated. In the story Gandalf relates to the Council of Elrond, Radagast was riding a horse. He was looking for Gandalf in "a wild region with the uncouth name of Shire," and calls the borders of the Shire "distant [from civilization] and desolate [no settlements] parts." He seems to be reflecting a Wilderland culture that knows little of Eriador, and Gandalf says he "at one time dwelt at Rhosgobel, near the borders of Mirkwood." (Despite the
One Ring's interpretation of Rhosgobel being a woodmen town, its name meaning "brown/russet walled house/village" makes it more likely to be simply the residence of the wizard only.) He also seemed anxious to get back to Wilderland once his message was delivered; perhaps he was concerned about what the Enemy might be doing back home.
Then he does as Gandalf bids and asks "all the beasts and birds that are your friends" to bring news to Orthanc.
Clearly, Radagast is quite interested in and concerned about what the Enemy is doing, and in coordinating with the Wise to do something about it. Whether he is most interested in protecting his home area or in the greater good is debatable; even Tolkien suggested that Radagast may have failed in his mission, but that might just be because he became insular in his part of Wilderland, considering it "normal" while other lands were "uncouth." He would, therefore, focus his attention on the lands of the woodmen. Indeed, when he left Gandalf he "rode away towards Mirkwood where he had many friends of old." He went back to his local base of operations where all his resources lay, including the Eagles of the Mountains, who are never said to enter Eriador but who certainly do fly far over Wilderland.
That he is friends with beasts and birds, and may even love them more than men and elves, does not mean that he is uninterested in the latter or that he would ignore people in need.
So I think the most authentic Radagast would be one who still fights the Shadow, but has forgotten that other lands than the Vales of Anduin and the borders of Mirkwood are anything other than backward hinterlands. He is a "master of shapes and changes of hue" (he probably effects magical transformations) and "has much lore of herbs and beasts, and birds especially are his friends." He probably considers the birds and beasts as worthy of consideration as men and elves, and thinks of them all as equals. He may even prefer the company of birds over any others. But he still thinks of himself as a good wizard, performing the task for which he was sent to Middle-earth. He has simply forgotten that that mission applies to
all of Middle-earth, not just his little corner of it.
I think the dwarves gets rough treatment in the Hobbit movies.
I think the portrayal of dwarves in the movies is abominable. They are mostly presented as crass, bumbling, uncouth Scottish highlanders, good mostly for comic relief. Tolkien's dwarves are funny in
The Hobbit, because it's meant to be an amusing children's tale, but in his general work dwarves are secretive, industrious, grasping, and fiercely proud. Jackson was mostly just slapping D&D-inspired caricatures onto the screen.
I think Jackson also got elves very wrong. He shows them as humorless, snobbish, and cool; Tolkien depicts them as loving to laugh and delight in the world, willing to mingle with all sorts of people, and bursting into song or music for just about any reason. What Jackson was trying to hit, and missing, was their agelessness and the wisdom that comes of living for thousands upon thousands of years.
I mean, can you imagine Jackson's elves in Rivendell singing
Tra-la-la-lally to the company of Thorin as it enters the valley?
