The Hobbit: There and Back Again

After the success of translating its literary ancestor, The Lord of the Rings, to film, director Peter Jackson has now established a trilogy of films around J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. The final film in this trilogy, subtitled "There And Back Again" debuts July 18th of the year 2014. While there was initial controversy over making the films into a trilogy, there were enough notes from Tolkien in the back of Return of the King that Jackson felt confident in turning an intended duology into a full-on trilogy.

The film will focus on events after the defeat of the red dragon Smaug around Lake-town and end where An Unexpected Journey begins, with Bilbo writing his adventuring memoirs. Notably, the title of this memoir is where the film gets its name (and is regarded as an alternate title for the source material).

To highlight a few of the major plot elements from the film, Smaug is defeated by the black arrow of the leader of Lake-town, Bard. While Bilbo assists in the dwarven reclamation of Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, he stumbles across the Arkenstone. The Arkenstone, mentioned in the first film of the trilogy, is a legendary artifact from the days of Thorin Oakenshield's father. The Wood-elves and Lake-men who assisted in the defeat of the red dragon, now assail the dwarven hold, seeking compensation for their role in Smaug's destruction. Bilbo tries to offer the Arkenstone as a peace offering, but this does not work. Thorin will have none of it and he banishes Bilbo from the country right as a war between 5 races (lake-men, dwarves, elves, Bilbo, and later on a battalion of goblins and their sentient wolf-like wargs) is on the horizon. Gandalf will arrive with the giant eagles as well as Beorn, averting the heavy casualties. However, Thorin becomes fatally injured and grants Bilbo a portion of the dwarven hold in compensation for being a loyal and trustworthy companion to the dwarves.