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DisDwarfWoman
Rivendell
Dec 27 2014, 7:29pm
Post #1 of 29
(1591 views)
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Balin and Dwalin Appreciation Thread
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Just saw BOFA for the third time yesterday, and I am appreciating Balin and Dwalin even more after this viewing.
Two favorites:
1. Balin in the storeroom crying when he realizes Thorin has the dragon sickness.
2. Dwalin not even flinching when Thorin takes a swing at him with his sword, but looking like someone punched him in the stomach when Thorin tells him to leave before he kills him.
Anyone else agree? Have other favorites?
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haarp
Rivendell
Dec 27 2014, 8:06pm
Post #2 of 29
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You pretty much pointed out the only scenes they have in the final film. They're great but PJ felt the need to spoon feed us a silly love story instead.
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Ham_Sammy
Tol Eressea
Dec 27 2014, 8:55pm
Post #3 of 29
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Yes spot on. Those were two really really great scenes. This movie was full of great characterization and those two were just great. I love Ken Stott's Balin. Just love him and seeing him crying knowing how his heart was breaking for Thorin was really moving. Also Dwalin what a warrior he was. Standing there toe to toe basically and confronting Thorin. Strong character moments for the dwarves to be sure and very well written and acted. I loved both of those scenes.
Thank you for your questions, now go sod off and do something useful - Martin Freeman Twitter chat 3/1/13
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Riven Delve
Tol Eressea
Dec 27 2014, 9:34pm
Post #4 of 29
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Don't forget Dwalin and Thorin
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and the Goblin mercenaries: "There's only 100. We'll take care of them." 
“Tollers,” Lewis said to Tolkien, “there is too little of what we really like in stories. I am afraid we shall have to try and write some ourselves.”
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Ham_Sammy
Tol Eressea
Dec 27 2014, 9:53pm
Post #5 of 29
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"not more than 100..we'll take care of this...LOVE IT!
Thank you for your questions, now go sod off and do something useful - Martin Freeman Twitter chat 3/1/13
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DisDwarfWoman
Rivendell
Dec 27 2014, 10:25pm
Post #6 of 29
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That was a very Dwalin thing to say!
"Don't worry guys, I will head-butt them all to death!" 
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Ham_Sammy
Tol Eressea
Dec 27 2014, 10:33pm
Post #8 of 29
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I was very glad to see Graham McTavish get the lines he did in this one (Ken Stott also). Loved Dwalin in this film. I also thought it was kind of funny at the end when Bilbo returns home to an empty Hobbit hole that the jar containing the cakes that Dwalin had his arm in when Balin arrived at Bag End in AUJ was on the mantle of the fireplace just under the pics of Bilbo's parents. I smiled when I saw that thinking of him.
Thank you for your questions, now go sod off and do something useful - Martin Freeman Twitter chat 3/1/13
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DisDwarfWoman
Rivendell
Dec 27 2014, 10:38pm
Post #9 of 29
(1136 views)
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That was the first thing I thought of when I saw Dain using his head more than his hammer "Now we know where Dwalin gets it from!"
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DisDwarfWoman
Rivendell
Dec 27 2014, 10:39pm
Post #10 of 29
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I didn't notice that, I'll have to look next time I go. I wonder what happened to the cookies, since Dwalin couldn't get any of them out?!
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Ham_Sammy
Tol Eressea
Dec 27 2014, 10:49pm
Post #11 of 29
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She just took the cookies though. couldn't fit anymore in her apron I'm sure 
Thank you for your questions, now go sod off and do something useful - Martin Freeman Twitter chat 3/1/13
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swordwhale
Tol Eressea
Dec 28 2014, 5:22am
Post #13 of 29
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great stuff!
"Judge me by my size, would you?" Max the Hobbit Husky.
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Old Toby
Grey Havens
Dec 28 2014, 6:42am
Post #14 of 29
(1064 views)
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"Age is always advancing and I'm fairly sure it's up to no good." Harry Dresden (Jim Butcher)
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BlackCountry
Rivendell
Dec 28 2014, 1:23pm
Post #15 of 29
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Also acknowledging Dwalin's reaction...
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...to Fili falling to his death resulting in Dwalin not wanting to look.
I do not want what it is not mine.... I only want what comes from within....
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mae govannen
Tol Eressea
Dec 28 2014, 1:51pm
Post #16 of 29
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Such a terrible moment indeed... *sigh*
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Dwalin who would look anyone straight in the eye, this time can't take it.
'Is everything sad going to come untrue?'
(Sam, 'The Field of Cormallen', in 'The Return of the King'.)
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DisDwarfWoman
Rivendell
Dec 28 2014, 5:33pm
Post #17 of 29
(1007 views)
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Poor Dwalin  Very well done though.
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elentari3018
Rohan
Dec 28 2014, 9:21pm
Post #18 of 29
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Also, dont' forget Bilbo was with Balin at that moment. I wanted more of those moments! I'm glad they also include Bilbo's farewell to Balin and the dwarves. :)
"By Elbereth and Luthien the fair, you shall have neither the Ring nor me!" ~Frodo
"And then Gandalf arose and bid all men rise, and they rose, and he said: 'Here is a last hail ere the feast endeth. Last but not least. For I name now those who shall not be forgotten and without whose valour nought else that was done would have availed; and I name before you all Frodo of the Shire and Samwise his servant. And the bards and the minstrels should give them new names: Bronwe athan Harthad and Harthad Uluithiad , Endurance beyond Hope and Hope Unquenchable.." ~Gandalf, The End of the Third Age , from The History of Middle Earth series
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DisDwarfWoman
Rivendell
Dec 28 2014, 9:46pm
Post #19 of 29
(969 views)
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The two of them are great together, just like Balin and Thorin.
Hard to say whether I like Balin/Bilbo's scene in BOFA or Balin/Thorin when the secret door opens in DOS better! Both so great.
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ecthelionsbeard
Lorien
Dec 28 2014, 9:50pm
Post #20 of 29
(967 views)
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When Dwalin turned away when Fili was murdered hit me harder than any other moment in the movie. And there were some heavy moments in this movie.
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Salmacis81
Tol Eressea
Dec 28 2014, 10:56pm
Post #22 of 29
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Enjoyed both of these guys throughout the trilogy...
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Both Stott and MacTavish delivered with their performances, and perhaps just as importantly, they looked like I think Dwarves should look.
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Avandel
Half-elven
Dec 29 2014, 12:38am
Post #23 of 29
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now I wonder (or it haunts me) was the dwarflessness just for the kids?
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Wasn't sure whether to start a different thread or not. I've seen BOFA enough to start luxuriating in the nuances this superb cast has always brought to the table, and the few scenes with Balin and Graham McTavish are complete standouts.
The scene with Thorin and Dwalin is gutwrenching, especially with the restraint with which it was handled. It's a triumph of performance IMO (flooded as those triumphant moments might be by this greyhound pace PJ employed, a lot of the time .)
Am so frustrated with this film re the dwarves, or lack of them. I wouldn't view this romance as being spoon-fed, it's more like someone threw a switch on a train track and sent the whole train careening into a different story. 
(That said, in at least the first half of the film, I think Aidan Turner and EL do a fine job with what they needed to do. And I appreciated the rather inscrutable Legolas here, calmly telling Tauriel to take her leave - e.g. it would have been easy to get really corny here, but think it was handled well).
ANYWAY. I don't understand PJ's decisions with such an amazing company of dwarves that he so carefully picked, but during a view of BOFA I had a family with young children with them - maybe around 8-10 year olds. One of them was actually mouthing lines from the film, from time to time (which I assume he learned from trailers.)
So it's the first time it popped into my head (and PJ has alluded to 8-9 year old girls) that maybe the neglect of the dwarves WAS for the kids? That kids could relate to a dragon, even relate to Thorin (e.g. a king), and Bilbo, but the subtleties, say, of the dwarves under siege interacting would be beyond them, while children can relate to a boy-meets-girl scenario?
But it makes NO SENSE. As far as I know, LOTR films were never altered, really, to that degree as stories specifically to accommodate children.
Or I am being too charitable, in that PJ made the decisions on what to focus on, and the end result is a sinful under-use of the dwarves . PJ is not the first director to under-use fine actors that are right there. And lack of character dwarf moments has been a complaint with these films before, tho I think BOFA is the worst in that regard.
Except for Thorin, obviously. (LOL Thorin gives his company a smile when they stand for him, but it's like don't blink or you'll miss it. Another scene to just charge through - *sigh*).
But for me sidelining of the Company is almost embarrassing, and it's DEFINITELY more difficult for me seeing few great performances from the dwarves we do have.
(Weirdly, this family group got up and left, about the time the dwarves are leaving Erebor I don't know if the parents thought this wasn't the movie they thought they would get, or they knew the ending, or what.)
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Ham_Sammy
Tol Eressea
Dec 29 2014, 2:38am
Post #24 of 29
(933 views)
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I felt Balin,Dwalin and Gloin as well as Bifur looked like dwarves. Oin and Dori and Nori somewhat as well. Kili and Fili, not so much as far as the look goes for me and the same for Ori, Bombur and Bofur. Thorin was great as played by Armitage. The dwarf look was just okay to me. I enjoyed it nonetheless but the classic dwarf looks to me were Balin, Dwalin and Gloin.
All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you, Gandalf the Grey
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ecthelionsbeard
Lorien
Dec 29 2014, 6:06am
Post #25 of 29
(914 views)
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The only ones who didn't look like dwarves to me...
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were Kili and Thorin… more so Kili. He just looked like a half scale human with sausage fingers 
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