6 Things You Need to Know About The Hobbit Before Seeing Desolation of Smaug

Welcome to another installment of 'I don't know enough about this fandom to fake my way through this sequel.' This time we're here to help you prepare for the second Hobbit movie, Desolation of Smaug. Here are six things you should know about the movie, even if you don't plan to see it. You never know when you're going to run into a fan.

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01
The Hobbit movie trilogy is based on the book of the same name by JRR Tolkien.

For better or worse, these three movies are based on ONE book. Director Peter Jackson seems terribly fond of making trilogies, so he's stretched The Hobbit into An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug, and There and Back Again. The premise is fairly simple: our hero, Bilbo Baggins, reluctantly joins a group of dwarves on a journey to reclaim their home, the Lonely Mountain, and steal treasure from the mountain's resident squatting dragon, Smaug. If you've seen The Lord of the Rings, you should get along just fine; these movies take place in the same universe.
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02
The dwarves are a pretty big deal

There's the hot one, the old one (sorry, that's more than one of them), the one with the magnificent hair (more than one of them again), and the grumpy leader (the serious looking fellow in the middle). Their names are hard to remember,

and their brotherhood is real.
03
The actors playing the dwarves got fancy matching rings to commemorate the experience

Skip to 57 seconds to hear them talk about their rings. We're not kidding when we say this thing is lifestyle.
04
The Lord of the Rings universe has spawned a bunch of memes

Here we see Party King Thranduil, king of the elves who's always ready to celebrate. Sometimes, the actors from the films even get involved in their internet infamy:

Via missnerd
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05
Because this thing was too much of a bromance, the filmmakers added a lady: Tauriel

Played by Evangeline Lily (of Lost fame), Tauriel doesn't exist in the books. Peter Jackson decided to create this new character because there are basically no ladies in The Hobbit, much less any who are important to the story. The inclusion of a non-canon character might make some hardcore fans mad, but you've at least got to admit she's a badass with a bow:
06
If nothing else, remember that the big bad in this movie is the dragon, Smaug

He's voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, who played Khan in the latest Star Trek, and plays Sherlock alongside Martin Freeman, the guy who plays Bilbo. If nothing else about this film entices you, you should see it because there's a GIANT FREAKING DRAGON.

Can't get enough Hobbits?