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Hunt for Gollum: What Might Be in Peter Jackson and Andy Serkis' New Film · Mythmakers

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  Hello and welcome to MythMakers. MythMakers is the podcast for fantasy fans and fantasy
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  creatives brought to you by the Oxford Centre for Fantasy. My name is Julia Golding, I'm
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  an author and I also run the events at the Centre. Now I thought I would do a special
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  episode dedicated to the news that Peter Jackson and Andy Circus are teaming up again for
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  a new project which they've called The Hunt For Gollum. Now you might be scratching your
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  head thinking I've never heard of a Tolkien book called The Hunt For Gollum and the point
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  of my short podcast episode here is to just clue you into what this might be about.
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  So first of all let's talk about the actual history of this. There was out there for many years
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  a fan made sort of self-proclaimed little film which was pretty good called The Hunt For Gollum
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  which was done by independence probably with no rights gained. They also did another film called
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  Born of Hope at which is about Aragon. So the idea of doing a film called The Hunt For Gollum
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  has already been out there for a while but I think Warner Brothers has struck down that film
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  because they're now claiming that they have the rights to this which is a shame for those
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  independence but anyway I suppose copyright has to be protected particularly if you've
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  shelled out a lot of money for those rights but this is separate from the series that's ongoing
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  with Amazon which is the rings of power so the rings of power they have the rights to second-age
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  material. The Hunt For Gollum falls within the rights that Peter Jackson, Warner Brothers and
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  co-got for The Lord of the Rings books so where do we find the Hunt For Gollum? The material for
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  this falls in three main places. The first place you might want to look is in the Fellowship of
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  the Ring. Now in the Fellowship of the Ring early on this isn't really done in the film version
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  because they want to get out the front door but when Gandalf comes back having looked into the
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  history of the Ring and he wants to test if the Ring is the one Ring by throwing it in the fire
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  he explains to Frodo like the sort of custody chain really how it went from being on Isldo's
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  finger to falling in the river to being picked up by Smegel we saw that episode in the beginning of
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  the third film in the Peter Jackson adaptation. How he fought his cousin for The Ring and then
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  went into the mountains hide and then came across Bilbo many many centuries later and the Riddles
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  game which you see in the Hobbit you can either read it in the Hobbit or see it in the film
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  the Ring not as a part of that but it Bilbo comes across it because Gollum has dropped it
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  and then he escapes using it so far so familiar and then obviously the rest of the story follows
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  the Ring primarily because that's what takes us through Bilbo giving it to Frodo Frodo taking it
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  to Rivendell and so on. What the hunt for Gollum would be about is what then happens to Gollum
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  between Bilbo leaving him and him joining well he doesn't join the Fellowship but him catching up
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  that's an odd idea isn't it but catching up with the Fellowship in Moria later on in Fellowship
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  of The Ring but Frodo only sort of hears about Gollum's part in those missing years
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  from Gandalf because Gandalf has been hunting him hence hunt for Gollum and so there's quite an
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  extended piece that Gandalf tells Frodo in Bagend which gives the history of how he and his friend
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  the Ranger tracked down Gollum and what's really interesting about that is it foreshadows
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  Aragorn and Frodo doesn't really put this together as being the same person as the Strider
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  he meets in brief for quite some time and probably as a reader reading this first time we also
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  don't notice so actually it's worth just noting how Aragorn is introduced
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  he's actually not called a Ranger when I look more closely at the text always look closely at
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  the text what Gandalf says is that the trail was long cold when he took it up again
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  my search would have been in vain but for the help that I had from a friend Aragorn the greatest
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  traveler and enhancement of this age of the world together we sought for Gollum down the whole
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  length of Woodland without hope and without success but at last when I'd given up the chase
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  and turned to other parts Gollum was found my friend returned out of great perils bringing
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  the miserable creature with him so that's a good introduction for Aragorn and lots of cinematic
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  gold in there greatest perils we don't hear who Aragorn was with so you could imagine all sorts of
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  favorite characters including Arwin being there maybe anyway Blothindel why not
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  so those are the materials to work with coming out of that chapter and the reason why Frodo doesn't
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  put the two together is that Aragorn's name doesn't actually come up until the letter which
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  Barlim and Butterburne has kept behind the you know kept on is one is to do list and not sent to
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  the Shire and before that rodeo only knows of Aragorn as Strider and he then goes on to say that
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  when he and Aragorn caught up with Gollum they feared that Gollum had been captured taken to
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  Mordor tortured and even the name of Baggins might be known to the Dark Lord and we get a glimpse
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  of that in the film if you remember sort of seen where Gollum is on a rat and screeching the name
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  of Baggins and that gives Frodo the impetus to say right I've got to leave them because if they're
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  coming to the Shire and looking for Baggins that will bring them to my doorstep which of course
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  is what happens so there is a long period where Gandalf and Aragorn are hunting him in fact
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  Gandalf says he goes away and it's Aragorn who actually catches up with Gollum and causing back
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  there's that part so you just need to turn to the chapter called the Shadow of the Past and you
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  can read that material there's what happens after that after they've talked to Gollum is he is
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  put in the care of the wood elves that's Thrandwheel Legolas' father that kingdom and he's looked
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  after there and we get another little glimpse of what might have happened to Gollum when Legolas
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  reveals that Gollum escaped the elves hair captivity and this is something that comes up during
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  the council of Elrond so there's another mention of Gollum at that point thinking about this as
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  a literary technique it's talking, keeping on just gently nudging us of Gollum's existence so that
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  when he does turn up we've had the way prepared for us with talk of Gollum so two places to have
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  a quick look at would be the Shadow of the Past and the council of Elrond to see the material which
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  the hunt for Gollum might be covering but there's also a third place which you may not have noticed
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  because it's in the appendices this is where they're really working their rights as Peter Jackson
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  and Andy Circus because it comes in appendix B where there is a timeline of the third age
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  and the key events and the hunt for Gollum features in that so for example we hear that
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  in at Dolbo's farewell feast Gandalf begins to suspect that the ring is the one and he sets off
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  seeking for news of Gollum and calls on the help of Aragorn so that's three thousand and one
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  and then it's not till three thousand and nine it's a cut and not on film this isn't it i imagine
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  they'll truncate all of this it says Gandalf and Aragorn renew their hunt for Gollum at intervals
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  during the next eight years they're persistent we're going to give them that searching in the fails
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  of Anduin Merquard and Ruffanian to the confines of Mordor at some time during these years Gollum
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  himself ventured into Mordor and was captured by Sauron that sort of is that central bit where
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  the key fact that baggains from the shark got the ring is revealed Gollum is actually in captivity
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  in Mordor for some years because it says in 30 17 so that's 16 years after Bilbo's farewell feast
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  Gollum is released from Mordor and is taken by Aragorn in the dead marshes and brought to Thrandwell
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  in Merquard so that's the bit that links up to the captivity on the wood elves and you'll remember
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  when Gollum is traveling with Frodo and Sam he talks about not liking Elven food
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  and also we learn another detail that the reason why he escaped the wood elves I think this is
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  during the council of Elrond that they took pity on him and would allow him to climb a tree
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  to sort of sniff the air and a you know Gange of Orts came by and killed his guards and he escaped
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  and that was possibly set up as a way of helping him escape so the this is a little more detail
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  it's briefer but yeah there is more detail in Appendix B so he escapes in 30 17 and it's 30 18
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  that we start the events of well you know the main bit of Lord of the Rings it's in June of
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  that year that Thrandwell is attacked and Gollum escapes so by August it says all trace of Gollum
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  is lost it is thought that about this time being hunted both by the elves and Sam on servants
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  he took refuge in Moria that connects that's the sort of last bit that connects to him starting
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  to follow the fellowship when they get to Moria so there's the bits and pieces the patchwork of
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  information that the team are going to turn into a film so let's think what they might do so we
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  we have the dream team back in charge of the script which is fun because it will tonally I think fit
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  with the Lord of the Rings films that we know so we've got Peter Jackson himself Philippa Boyens
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  and Fran Walsh working the script so I think they'll have to do a couple of things here they will
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  have to truncate that time to make it feel a bit more urgent you're not going to have a film where it's
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  well let's have another go at finding Gollum are you going to actually give it some shaping we'll
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  meet the younger Aragon and I think they will take the opportunity to weave in the relationship with
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  Arwin so I think we'll probably have a casting of a younger Aragon and a new Arwin
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  um obviously Arwin would look the same as Liv Tyler it doesn't the film but we've all aged
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  haven't we since then so they probably have to recast all of that I wonder if they'll get Ian McKellen
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  back as Gandalf that's an interesting question I mean Ian is in his eighties now but he's still at the
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  moment um acting Shakespeare playing full stuff that would be fun but he is an integral part of this
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  whether or not he's up for lots of scenes hunting in the wild I don't know but it would be
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  fascinating challenge to cast somebody else if if Ian doesn't want that opportunity
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  oh that's going to be interesting isn't it let's watch out for casting news um and of course
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  we've got Andy circus coming back as Gollum I think Gollum's own trajectory is quite a difficult one
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  because he's already the the little sort of shrewd up creature who's been living in the roots
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  of the mountain and his journey here is one of being a hunted creature so I can't see much of a
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  much development in his character which will make it quite an interesting challenge because
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  we kind of know his his tricks is tricksy I wonder how they're going to make us
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  root for him of course he gets captured we're going to get she- she-lob because one of the ways he
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  escapes from Mordor is to make friends with the spider friends that's not the right word is it
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  um persuade the spider that he's not worth eating and it would be better off bringing her
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  food which is his way out of Mordor so that's going to be an interesting challenge I mean we've got
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  the wonderful Andy circus doing the voice again and it doesn't matter how much he's aged because
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  it's all the wonderful world the CGI so off off we go again but that will be consistent so my guess
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  is that the main focus will be on arrogant and his friendship with Gandalf perhaps he will make
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  this the first time or one of the first times when Gandalf properly meets arrogant and sees
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  the key player and the important person who's going to become and so you can get a bit of a
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  bromance going in the nicest possible way perhaps they will also use this as an opportunity to
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  bring Arwen out of Rivendell because there's nothing to stop her coming along for the ride
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  talking doesn't mention she's there but I would imagine that there's some wiggle room there
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  and also I think it would be an opportunity to explore the Rivendell setup to figure to figures who
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  are missing are from the films is El Rodan and Elra here who are the brothers of Arwen Elron's
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  sons I'd be fun to see them plus the company of the Rangers because the Rangers are
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  active in the North protecting the land so you can have a flip side story where you see the
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  Rangers looking down upon Hobbiton I'm sitting in Hobbiton on my backdrop if you're watching this
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  and so that would be an interesting thing to do so you flip the story to see the work they're doing
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  protecting the Northern Kingdom and that would give us a chance give Peter Jackson the chance
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  to establish the Northern landscapes in a way that's not yet been done so he's got some fresh
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  territory that he can do they might get a chance to do barrowdowns for example those kind of things
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  I can hear the fans saying let's talk bombardier I don't know if he would fit but it wouldn't be
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  completely out of all possibilities and you could certainly revisit Bri and weather top and
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  places like that and the troll shores so I think it's an interesting film concept and the big pull
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  of it of course is the younger Aragorn Chancellor had some young actor to make his mark Aragorn
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  of course isn't that young at this time because he's already a mature man who's served in both
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  Rohan and Gondor at this point but still his I think Polyvego Mortison is a little you know it's
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  20 more than 20 years on he probably isn't coming back as Aragorn but somebody in that ilk
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  would be playing that and a new Arwen so that would be interesting it'll be good to hear from you
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  and what you would like to see in as sort of material for this I haven't even mentioned the draws
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  for example you could go to the Lonely Mountain during this time and see that kingdom the one that
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  Bilbo helped establish you could go to visit the people of the Lonely Mountain and Lake Town being
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  rebuilt and Dale and all of those so there's another whole area and Lothlorian loads of things you
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  could do but what I'd be looking out for as a sort of a storyteller is I'll be looking out for
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  what line they are taking and who is their focus because Tolkien himself says that in the case
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  of Hobbits for example Hobbits are only interesting when they're in un-Hobbit-like situations
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  that's a comment that CS Lewis made him and influenced the way he wrote Lord of the Rings
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  I think in order to make this relatable you have to choose whoever your he person is let's say
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  Aragorn and put Aragorn in some situations where he's uncomfortable move him out of his comfort zone
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  because he is the he's the one who's got to have the character arc I think perhaps you could do this
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  as the story where he actually steps up and sees that his future to become King of Gondor
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  he sees his responsibility through the experiences of this film it would be make it
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  worthwhile doing as a prequel anyway that was what I thought when I heard that news and I look
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  forward hearing your comments about what you would like to see in the hunt for Golan thank you very
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  much for listening