Bag End - Thorin Oakenshield Lost His Way

Bag End is the home of Bilbo Baggins where Thorin Oakenshield and Company meets Bilbo Baggins to start their journey to Erebor to take back their homeland from Smaug the Dragon.

 

 

[as the dwarves wash and stack the dishes, the door bell rings]
Gandalf: He's here.
[Gandalf opens the door and we see Thorin (Actor Richard Armitage)]
Thorin: Gandalf. I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way, twice.
[Thorin walks in]

Thorin: I wouldn't have found it at  all, had it not been for that mark on the door.



Quote and Screen caps from "The Hobbit There and Back Again"

Bag End was the largest and most luxurious Hobbit home and sits on top of the hill overlooking the Shire with an oak tree growing over its' roof.  I did not understand why Thorin lost his way twice and had to look for the mark on the door.  Gandalf did not communicate with Thorin very well from the beginning. He should have told Thorin to look for the Oak which was visible in all directions. This scene shows the beginning of the contemptuous relationship between the two characters. Gandalf is not being honest of his full intentions and he keeps Thorin at bay and not fully informed. Later in the journey, Gandalf's leaves the party at Mirkwood on their own when they needed his guidance the most. He went back on his word and they were left to face the dragon without him.  Gandalf is to blame for the future events and calamities with the dragon. He is not my favorite character in the book due to his instigation of the journey's purpose, and then leaving the quest, which lead to a chain of events that eventually ended in the deaths of Thorin and his nephews. Gandalf has been missing for a large part of the book and yet when he returns, he has chosen not to return to the dwarves, who he encouraged and aided up to this point, but sides with Bard and the Elven king for the treasure. I could write a paper about the greed from dwarves, man and elves and the theme of betrayal but I'll leave that for another topic.  Thorin Oakenshield did lose his way more then once but redeemed himself in the end by showing enormous courage in The Battle of Five Armies: Thorin gives everything he has to change the tide of the battle. I am looking forward to the third trilogy.



The No Admittance sign except on party business still hangs on the gate in front of Bag End for the Hobbiton tour.  It appears at the beginning of the film when the Older Bilbo is giving a party but it carries a deeper theme for the story of the exclusive party consisting of 13 Dwarf's, Gandalf and Bilbo going on an quest to Eredor:  "Built deep within the mountain itself, the beauty of this fortress city was a legend. Its wealth lay in the earth, in precious gems humed from rock, and in great seams of gold running like rivers through stone."  No one else joins their dangerous party to enter the lonely mountain where the dragon allows  "No Admittance".

Middle-earth Hobbiton Movie Tour in Matamata, New Zealand

 

 

Middle-earth is located on the picturesque Alexander farm, where we visited the Hobbiton Movie Set from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films in a  2 hour guided tour. The tour started with a drive through the picturesque 1,250 acre Alexander sheep farm in the Waikato region with spectacular views across to the Kaimai Ranges. It is a twelve acre site where the 44 hobbit holes were created and transformed into The Shire from Middle-Earth. Peter Jackson spotted Alexander Farm during an aerial search of the North Island, and he thought its rolling meadows and fantastic views made it a perfect spot to build the set of The Shire. The Shire includes the Hobbit holes, Green Dragon Inn, Mill and other structures created for the LOTR and Hobbit films. While Bilbo Baggins is on an adventure far away from his homeland of The Shire, we were there strolling through hobbit holes and had a drink at The Green Dragon.

Bilbo Baggins "Good Morning" Bench

These are photos I took on the The Hobbiton film tour of Bilbo's bench at Bag End where he was approached by Gandalf the Grey looking for someone to go on an adventure.

"Bilbo Baggins: Good morning.

Gandalf the Grey: What do you mean? Do you mean to wish me a good morning, or do you mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not? Or perhaps you mean to say that you feel good this particular morning? Or are you simply stating that it is a morning to be good on?

Bilbo Baggins: All of them at once, I suppose. [long pause] Can I help you?

Gandalf the Grey: That remains to be seen. I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure.

Bilbo Baggins: An adventure?... Well, I don't imagine anyone west of Bree would have much interest in adventures. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things. Make you late for dinner!"

Hobbiton Shire - Bilbo Baggins Jumping Fences

 

 The last photo is a screen cap of Bilbo Baggins yelling “I’m going on an adventure” running and jumping over a fence during a scene from The Hobbit. The Hobbiton film set has many fences throughout The Shire. I noticed the fence Bilbo jumps has the middle rail located higher up from the ground then the rails on the fences I photographed.  I remember a different scarecrow from the Lord of the Rings. 

Hobbiton Shire, Green Hill Country and Beyond

The pictures above are landscape photos I took while on The Hobbit Film set in Matamata, New Zealand.  The second photo from the top is the famous Party Tree from Lord of The Rings, the third photo is Bag End with the Oak Tree growing on top of the roof. The shire is surrounded by rolling hills in the distance. The location is picturesque at every angel.

The Old Mill on The Water at "The Hobbiton Shire"

Bilbo Baggins ran by the Mill and a mile beyond to get to the Green Dragon to meet Thorin and Company.  The Old Mill was the water-mill of Hobbiton, owned and run by the Sandyman Family.  The Old Mill was a corn mill powered by a large water wheel. It lay directly adjacent to the bridge across the ByWater Pool and next to the Old Grange as well. The Hobbiton Movie Set is located at Alexander's Sheep Farm, Matamata, New Zealand. These are some of the pictures I took during the film tour.  ByWater Pool was very picturesque under the gathering rain clouds and reflected the surrounding trees like a mirror. 

Bilbo Baggins Missing Birdhouse

When we toured The Hobbiton movie location, I noticed several birdhouses made with various materials that made them unique. These are pictures I took of the birdhouses located throughout The Shire.  I wanted to show some different images that most people would not find On Line and show the thoroughness of detail that went into constructing and building The Shire.  Probably, only die-hard fans of the LOTR and TH will find this interesting but the scenery was gorgeous and I was in awe of the entire countryside.

 

 I liked this blue birdhouse located in a flower bed.  Bag End is located at the top of the hill.


  This birdhouse is located in the garden with a straw roof.

 

After we toured The Hobbiton movie location,  I reviewed the film scenes of The Shire and noticed that at Bag End, Bilbo Baggins had a very rustic birdhouse in front of the window.  I took a lot of pictures of Bag End and the birdhouse is no longer there.  Instead, on the left side of Bag End is a smaller round birdhouse that was not in the movie.

The Hobbit screen cap with Rustic Birdhouse behind Bilbo (my edit).

 

Front view of Bag End at the Hobbiton Movie Location on Alexander Farm outside of Matamata.  A birdhouse is located on the left side which has a different design.  This is a movie trivial point but why did they remove the birdhouse?