Synopsis:

A one-film fanedit of The Hobbit trilogy that prioritizes matching tone with the Lord of the Rings films. It attempts to answer the question "What if director Peter Jackson had decided to shoot The Hobbit in a single movie?" This is a work of imagination of that alternative film that we never saw. The edit embraces director Jackson's style, and attempts to give the movie a tone closer to the epic of the Lord of the Rings (hence the title). It has the side effect of bringing the film closer to the book's storyline as well. I've been very selective on what is included and what is left out. There are two versions of the edit, "Theatrical" and Extended, of course this mimics what Jackson did with the LotR trilogy and goes in line with the motivation behind the edit (I write "Theatrical" in quotation marks because obviously this has never been in any theater). The recommended version is the extended one. The edit is in 4K quality with 5.1 audio, sourced from the blu-rays of the trilogy that came out in 2021.

Intentions:

I took the Lord of the Rings movies as a reference to follow, noticing on which moments of the runtime they slow down, and when they speed up. I completed the extended edit first. From it, the "theatrical" cut was made as if a studio had demanded a release that keeps the running time under 3 hours. Scenes that are unnecessary for the plot but which contain character development are the ones that ended up being removed.

Change List:

Almost all scenes were trimmed down to reduce the total runtime, like removing one line of dialogue here, one establishing shot there, I'm not listing those. In general terms, this is what was removed: - The entire prologue (repurposed as flashbacks throughout) - Scenes with Old Bilbo and Frodo - Balin's account of the Battle of Moria and the orcs watching over Thorin's company - Radagast meeting Thorin's company, his account about Sauron and the whole chasing around with the wargs - Bofur singing at Rivendell and other dwarf silliness there - Azog at Weathertop - The White Council meeting at Rivendell - The conversation between Galadriel and Gandalf - Bilbo planning to leave the company at the cave, and his conversation with Bofur. - The dwarves conversation with the Goblin King before Gandalf shows up - Much of the action regarding their escape from Goblin town - Azog's scenes during the first orc attack on the dwarves after Goblin town (including his fight with Thorin) - The Eagles' flight to the Carrock and the ending lines from the first movie - Beorn transforming back to his human form - Flashback about the Witch King's burial and the High Fells - Galadriel's warning to Gandalf before entering Mirkwood - "A goblin mutant" - Almost the entire barrels sequence in the river, there's no attack from Bolg and his legions - Thranduil interrogating the orc - Legolas and Tauriel's conversation about the role of the elves in Middle Earth - All of Gandalf's scenes at Dol Guldur - The city guards chasing after Bard upon the arrival of the dwarves - The governor of Laketown at his palace - The dwarves sneaking into the armory - Orcs in Laketown and anything related to that - Tauriel healing Kili - Bard ending up in jail - The giant golden statue that melts over Smaug. Instead, Bilbo pulls the lever and gold is poured directly over the dragon. This was the hardest change to achieve. - Tauriel's scenes during Smaug's attack on Laketown. - Kili's declaration of love to Tauriel - Tauriel and Legolas planning to go to Gundabad. - The White Council's fight against Sauron. - Balin's talk to Bilbo about Thorin's sickness. - Bofur and Bilbo's conversation before he leaves. - Bard charging against the ogres - Thorin's refusal to fight in the battle, and everything related to it. The dwarves charge as soon as they get the chance. - Alfrid disguising as a woman, his silly scenes during the battle and his death. - The chariot scene of the dwarves over ice. - The biggest cut: all the battle scenes after Bilbo collapses until he wakes up, including the showdown between Azog and Thorin, as well as Kili's death. - Beorn's arrival at the battle. Repurposed scenes: - The prologue from 'The Desolation of Smaug' serves as prologue for the Extended edit. - This prologue is followed by the scene of Bilbo at the market, which takes place after Gandalf's visit in the original cut. - Gandalf and Thorin's conversation before the encounter with the trolls has been moved to the following morning. - Azog's conversation with Sauron now serves as bridge between the first and second movie. - The orc army marching from Dol Guldur happens after Bilbo watches the ring at Beorn's house. - The Nazgûl at Dol Guldur show up briefly as if they were a memory during Gandalf's conversation with Beorn. Flashback additions: - Shots of Erebor when the dwarves sing "Misty Mountains". - Thranduil being denied from his jewels at Erebor, during his conversation with Thorin. - Thranduil abandoning the dwarves after Smaug's attack, also during that conversation. - Shots of Erebor in its glory days as Thorin and Balin enter the door. - The finding of the Arkenstone, as Bilbo's true mission is revealed to him. - The throne scene, presented as a memory while Thorin laments over the throne. - Scenes from Dale before Smaug, presented as a contrast to its current status when the people of Laketown arrive there. Additions to the credits of 'The Battle of the Five Armies': - Image of Gollum crediting Andy Serkis (made in Photoshop by me). - Images crediting the songs "I see Fire" and "Misty Mountains" (I repurposed the background images of Galadriel and Saruman, characters which are absent from this edit). The list of scenes that were deleted from the Extended Edition for the "Theatrical" one: - Thorin and Gandalf's meeting in Bree - Bilbo at the market in Hobbiton - Radagast's scene with the spiders - Bilbo strolling around Rivendell - Bilbo and Thorin overhearing Gandalf and Elrond - The goblin king's song - Comedic introduction to Beorn - Beorn and Gandalf talk about Sauron - Gandalf mentions the stream in the forest - Crossing the stream in the forest - Thorin shoots the white deer - Bilbo kills the baby spider for the ring - Tauriel saves Kili from a spider - Tauriel's conversations with Thranduil and Kili - Alfrid stops Bard in the boat - Some shots of lake town - The prophecy of Durin's folk - "If this is to end in fire..." - Alfrid and Bard on the shores of the long lake - Thorin's misunderstanding with the acorn - Bilbo escaping with the rope - Most of the fight between dwarves and elves - Battle scenes of Thorin's company - Thorin's charge on the battle goat - Tauriel faces Thranduil in Dale - Thorin's funeral

Other Sources:

Soundtracks of all three movies

Special Thanks:

HolbytlaProductions for reviewing an earlier version of this edit, and M4_ and Stromboli Bones for sharing their edits with me.