Smaug the Magnificent

How exciting - the second film in The Hobbit trilogy was released today. I booked tickets months ago! I was curious to the content since The Hobbit is such as short book, but it's based on a long and rich history of Middle-Earth. The film, particularly the scenes with the dragon, is wonderful.

As a teenager, I was a huge Tolkien fan, but I didn't have the attention span to read the massive tomes of the Middle-Earth histories. I read The Silmarillion in my early twenties and was blown away by it, but I didn't venture further into the remaining books. Now, however, my curiosity has been fuelled by the tempting snippets revealed in this film. On my return home, I dug out the Tolkien Bestiary to read more about Beorn, Bard and dragons, and dusted off the various Middle-Earth histories from the shelves. Yes, I own the books (all 12 of them plus The Children of Húrin), but I've never read them. Wrong, I know, but somehow owning them was exciting enough.

The Brixton Ritzy had a wee display for the film, which just had to be blipped.