Thranduil, Legolas, Tauriel, and an orc in an awesome new scene from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug!

Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers! Here is a recording of a scene, introduced by Martin Freeman, that aired on the MTV European Music Awards. I have not actually posted the video (you can watch it here), but I have posted a full transcript, courtesy of TheOneRing.net, beyond the break. 

Tons of new posters, stills, and more!

Instead of publishing five or more posts about these images and forcing you to give my blog four or five extra pageviews, I will collect all the most recent posters, stills, artwork, and other pictures in one place, where you can view them at your leisure. Included are five photoshoots, seven stills, seven posters, and the new artwork for the soundtrack of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. 

Here are five posters for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, adapted from the banner that was released a few weeks ago

These are international posters, and the text is in Spanish, but it is the images we are interested in. The posters feature, Bilbo, Gandalf, Bard the Bowman, Fili, Kili, Thorin Oakenshield, Tauriel, Thranduil, and Legolas. Check them out beyond the break!

Finally! The second poster for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Along with this awesome new poster, which features the big three, i.e. Thranduil, Legolas, and Tauriel, I have also posted a few recent stills of Bard the Bowman in Laketown and Oin in a Barrel. Along with all that, we have learned the running time for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: 156min. And last but not least, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Soundtrack will be released on old-fashioned vinyl on December 3. 

UPDATE: So maybe this isn't an official poster. It's still cool. Turns out its cover art for a Ravensburger  jigsaw puzzle. Sorry for my mistake!

UPDATE ON UPDATE: So maybe I was wrong again! This just may be an official poster. At least, its showing up on an awful lot of the new merchandise at The Hobbit Shop. 

"If you awaken that beast..."

Here is the third TV Spot for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. While it does not contain any new scenes, it does feature some all-new dialogue from Thranduil, Gandalf, and Bilbo. It is definitely better than the previous TV Spots, and I would even go as far as to say it is more thrilling the trailer, especially the music, which is also new. 

Already, the second piece of artwork in the run-up to the launch of the new trailer has been released!

This time, Stuff.co.nz has had the honor of posting it on their website. As you can undoubtedly see, it features Thranduil, played by Lee Pace. I will try to keep you posted on all the updates, but it will be quite hard for me to not fall behind! 

The complete article on The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug from Empire Magazine!

Full of spoilers, behind the scenes, and interviews with Peter Jackson. Here are scans of the article on The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug from the August issue of Empire Magazine,  which I found on Heirs of Durin. I hope you enjoy!

The limited edition cover of Empire is here!

Featuring three elves: Tauriel, Legolas, and Thranduil. If this is anything to go by, I can guarantee a larger presence of elves in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug!

A brief overview and discussion of the sneak peek to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

MAJOR SPOILERS! Find out more about Smaug! Do you want to discover more about the mysterious character of Tauriel? What about Bard the Bowman? We have not seen the last of Radagast, nor has Azog finished his role. 

If you have gone to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, then you heard the name 'Dol Guldur' mentioned several times. You have probably also heard is elsewhere, either in a Tolkien book you read or on a Tolkien website, such as The Blog of the Hobbit. Chances are, you do not know that much about it. The movie gives a brief explanation of its ownership and history, but it is very brief. And, unless you have delved in the more obscure and difficult of Tolkien's books, you have heard just as vague and brief description. So, that is why I am about to tell you all there is to know about this dark fortress and why there is such a big fuss about it in Middle Earth.
Sauron, it happened to be, was not the first inhabitant of this foul castle. Many ages ago, over 4000 years before Bilbo found the ring, Amon Lanc, the Bald Hill, the hill upon which Dol Guldur was built, was populated by elves. Then, Mirkwood was known as the Greenwood the Great, and Amon Lanc was the capital of the Silvan elves of Oropher, who was the father of Thranduil. During the Second Age, however, the elves gradually migrated north to the Emyn Duir, the Black Mountains, later known as the Mountains of Mirkwood. It is sometimes said that they felt the power of Sauron was growing again, and decided to flee. It is also said that they distrusted the strength of the Dwarves of Moria and the meddling of  Galadriel and Celeborn in Lórien. Whatever the reason, Amon Lanc was deserted when Sauron came.

This post will contain a summary of what I think will happen in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. I may be correct in my assumptions, but then again, I may be a mile off the mark. I will go through the book and the photos that have been released and try to draw parallels, creating a rough sketch of what the movie will be like. There is a potential possibility for SPOILERS, so I warn you, if you want to be completely surprised by the next movie, do not proceed beyond the break. 
I will summarize each chapter and compare it with pictures and then combine the lot with my personal thoughts. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey goes through Chapter VI of The Hobbit, so it is safe to assume that The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will begin in Chapter VII.

Sorry that there hasn't been any posts in three or four days. To tell the truth, there hasn't been any interesting Hobbit news either. I did come across some interesting photos of the more important elves in The Hobbit, such as (in the order of left to right) Legolas, played by Orlando Bloom, King Thranduil, played by Lee Pace, and Elrond, who is played by Hugo Weaving. These pictures have pretty bad resolution, so they will appear rather blurry, but I hope you enjoy them nonetheless!