The Hobbit Sequel Bridge Film Discussion- Storyscape

The Potential for a Successful Bridge Film Story

Gilraen'   Aragorn at his mother's memorial
Image © New Line Cinema

Several story threads are available to weave into the main plot for the Bridge Film. The power struggles and subterfuge of the Necromancer storyline provides a good plot framework with a ‘rise of the shadow’ atmosphere. This strategic storyline needs to be augmented with more personal and emotional story threads for viewers to identify with.

The drama and romance of Aragorn’s early development is the best candidate to provide this. Aragorn’s departure into the wild to prove himself worthy of Arwen’s love is a promising ‘inciting moment’ for the story. Aragorn could later unite with Gandalf to bring his storyline together with the Necromancer plot (this combination is more straightforward if Tolkien’s timeline is altered).

As the film is the sequel to The Hobbit the audience will expect to see Bilbo. It’s unlikely Bilbo will be the focus of the Bridge Film (his life is too uneventful during the time period), but he could easily provide a link to other story threads, such as by visiting Rivendell to introduce a young Aragorn. Other story options- such as Balin setting out to Moria, and Gollum’s wanderings- can contribute to the general themes, but they lack the protagonist and strong story arc needed to become the core of the Bridge Film.

So we have a rough plot outline for the Bridge Film. But do we have coherent themes for the story, and can these themes provide new perspectives on Middle Earth distinct from the existing films?

New Themes or Reworking Old Ones?

Much of the likely content of the Bridge Film, such as Gandalf struggling against Sauron and Aragorn’s forbidden love for Arwen, seems to be delivering ‘more of the same’ for the fans. Yet Lord of the Rings is such a long and rich tale that many aspects were overlooked in the original film trilogy and could be used in the Bridge Film. Ideally we need new themes to unite the story threads together and create a coherent and distinctive tale.

The theme of vigilance runs through the Aragorn and Necromancer story threads. The Rangers work tirelessly in the wilderness with little praise, ever vigilant against the enemy. The tales of the history of the Dunedain were overlooked in the Lord of the Rings films and could be told as the young Aragorn grows up. Bilbo could learn of the Ranger’s work in protecting the Shire. Similarly Gandalf is ever vigilant against the return of Sauron, and this leads to him investigating Dol Guldur. The failure of the White Council to see through Saruman’s deceit is a failure of vigilance.

Themes of secrecy and subterfuge also feature heavily in the story threads. The work of the enemy is secretive with the Necromancer’s mysterious identity and Saruman’s treachery and deception. In the existing Lord of the Rings films the enemy act through direct military action, and we did not explore the cunning and deceitful side to Tolkien’s antagonists. There are plot lines in Lord of the Rings showing Saruman’s silver tongued manipulation and Sauron’s trickery (such as his emissaries sent to deceive the dwarves) that could be used. Turning to the lighter side of Middle Earth, the protagonists also use secrecy, with Aragorn raised in secret in Rivendell and his identity hidden to him, and Gandalf spying on Dol Guldur.

Aragorn’s mother Gilraen could provide a strong maternal character in the story, which would be a new aspect (mothers are very rare in Tolkien’s work). Continuing the parental theme, Bilbo could become an ‘uncle’ character to the young Aragorn, inspiring him with his adventurous stories. It is this same sympathetic trait of Bilbo’s that later leads to his adoption of Frodo.

The Bridge Film’s Ending and Resolution

To overcome being labelled an ‘in-between story’, the Bridge Film needs a good climax and ending, bringing the story’s themes to a resolution.

The White Council’s attack on Dol Guldur is the obvious climax to the film. It brings to a resolution Gandalf’s efforts to take action against the Necromancer, and could also serve as evidence of Aragorn proving his heroic worth. As the allies fail to defeat Sauron (who anticipates the attack and escapes) it is a hollow victory, confirming Gandalf’s fears that Sauron knew their purposes and that the White Council should have acted earlier.

The film will likely close on a dark note with scenes such as Sauron’s strength in Mordor growing, Gollum being drawn to Mordor, and Saruman isolating himself at Isengard. As a romantic counterpoint to these dark events, the scene of Aragorn and Arwen pledging their fates together at Lorien could appear late in the film. Also Bilbo’s adoption of Frodo is another sign of hope in dark times.

Screenwriting Challenges with the Bridge Film

The themes discussed above provide relatively new aspects on Lord of the Rings compared to the existing films. However they do involve taking significant creative liberties with Tolkien’s works, and it is probable that Tolkien purists will thoroughly dislike the Bridge Film. The plot will be created by weaving back-story into a central narrative in ways Tolkien did not intend. A new volume to Tolkien’s mythology will be added that he only roughly sketched out and chose not to develop into a full tale.

For the non-purist crowd who enjoyed the Lord of the Rings films, the Bridge Film will deliver a similar style film showing familiar characters in a new light, with some spectacular scenes. Indeed many of the story aspects (Aragorn’s hidden identity, his forbidden love for Arwen, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron) are classic adventure film fare. The lack of new locations to explore is a bit of an issue (Dol Guldur is the only one) and there are probably going to be fewer lovable hobbit scenes than the producers would like. Scenes with the popular Gandalf and Aragorn/Arwen should make up for this.

Overall the screenwriters have given themselves a real challenge with the Bridge Film. Whereas in the Lord of the Rings films (and likely The Hobbit) the vast majority of the plot, character relationships and dialogue was Tolkien’s (either directly or rearranged), the Bridge Film will frequently require creating entire scenes and story threads out of a few sentences from the Appendices. The worst case scenario would be that the new scenes fail to be convincing (worryingly some of the non-Tolkien dialogue in the Lord of the Rings films stuck out in this way). More likely the Bridge Film will successfully create a ‘Tolkien-esque’ story, with similar motifs and character relationships to Lord of the Rings, giving fans what they’re used to, but will have little that is particularly new.

The ideal situation would be that the story threads are skilfully woven together with unused Lord of the Rings scenes to create a whole new authentic Middle Earth tale. There are several aspects of Lord of the Rings that were overlooked in the existing films and could be used. The history of the Dunedain seems to be a promising vein. (Thankfully poor old Tom Bombadil is likely miss out again on his big screen debut!). It’s very difficult to see the film bettering any of the direct Tolkien adaptation films, but it could well provide further enjoyment to the Lord of the Rings film audience.

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