The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Edits

Changes Master List

General Changelog

o My IFDB page contains a lot of this information, and you can leave a review
there if you like!
o https://ifdb.fanedit.org/hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-edits-the/

o This edit has become something of a “Greatest Hits” of Hobbit Edits. I have
taken heavy inspiration from DonKamillo, Dustin Lee, L8wrtr, Spence, Adam
Dens, and M4’s Hobbit Edits in the creation of my own. I have given credit
throughout this changelog where appropriate, but please let me know if any
of you notice a spot where I missed something! Credit where it is due!
o I have most recently updated this edit to include a few things from
TM2YC’s edit, most of which are in Episode 1, and some of which will
be in my Episode 4.5, if that ever comes to light
o DonKamillo (The Anti-Cringe Cut, Miniseries version) is THE reason for not
only the 5 episode format, but the existence of my edit as a whole. Many
times had I contemplated making my own edit, but never knew where to
begin. Finding his edit was the starting point for me; I originally set out to
very slightly adjust his edit to my own liking, and it only grew from there.
His edit is the bones of my own (chapter titles included), and he deserves all
the credit in the world. Excellent work my friend!
o As a whole, I tried to remove things that I felt distracted from the beauty
that the core of these movies contained. This means that I cut scenes that
you may have like, and naturally, I may have left in some scenes that you
think should be removed. But, if you watched these movies and felt that the
overbearing involvement of the studios were the reason that THIS scene
 was in the movie, and dear god you hope I removed it, chances are pretty
high that I did!
o Azog has been removed from 90% of this edit, but he does appear at the
end as the leader of the armies, similar to the role Lieutenant Gothmog has
in LotR
o DonKamillo
o The Dol Guldur Subplot has been completely removed (I may add it back in
an optional Episode 4.5 one day, but for now it has been excised)
o (Almost done as of 5-11-22)
o The love-triangle has, of course, been removed
o This edit is broken into 5 episodes, and clocks in at just under 5 hours,
credits included
o Most everything else is better summarized in an Episode-by-Episode
breakdown, which I have included below:

Detailed Changelog

Episode 1 - An Unexpected Journey

o This episode retains 99% of its structure from the Anti-Cringe Cut (No
Prologue, No Azog, No Radagast) except for a few small things:
o Cut Gandalf scaring Bilbo by looking through the window, and added back the
scene of Bilbo going to the market
 (Both modeled after M4’s cuts)
o Cut the “have a feel of me tubers, nice and firm they are” line from the end of
the scene where Bilbo is in the market in the shire because…yeah.
o Removed the line “You must be Mister Boggins!” so that the sequence goes “Fili,
Kili *bow* at your service.” “NOPE you can’t come in you’ve come to the wrong
house”
  TM2YC
o Cut Blunt the Knives
 TM2YC
o Minor minor, yet significant change of: swapping Thorin’s 2 reactions to Gandalf
saying “to look ahead/looking behind” and then “He had the nous to play for
time. None of the rest of you thought of that!”
 Thorin now smiles after Gandalf talks-up Bilbo
 TM2YC
o Since Thorin and Bilbo no longer have their big moment at the end of the Eagle
rescue, I figured it was important to include some of these moments that
TM2YC implemented in an effort to both diminish Thorin’s over-the-top hatred
of Bilbo, and to make their friendship grow more organically. It’s the little
things that count here!
o Took the first half of the Post-Rivendell-Walking-Montage and placed it here to
better transition the company from the troll caves into Rivendell. The second
half occurs where it does originally
 M4

Episode 2 - Riddles in the Dark

o This is where things start changing quite a bit from Anti-Cringe, starting
with a few small continuity errors
o Gandalf mentioning the orc/sled chase sequence that had been excised; once
when Elrond arrives, once at dinner, and then once at the start of Episode 3
o Cut Bofur singing and dancing on the dais they used for the One Ring in the
Fellowship (Love the joke, don't mind the song, but too goofy)
o I always loved how Anti-Cringe moved the scene "My lord Elrond, the
dwarves.... They're gone." to come right after Galadriel shows up. I thought
it was genius. However, someone pointed out to me that we see Thorin and
Bilbo dropping eves on that conversation like 30 seconds prior to that
 announcement, so it was a continuity error that was perhaps pretty minor,
but one that bugged me enough to change it!
o As a result, the Rivendell sequence now only has 1 night, instead of 2.
o Day arrival -> Dinner -> Night Moon Runes -> Night Eavesdropping ->
Galadriel -> Bilbo explores Rivendell the following morning ->
Departure
o Used the 2nd half of the walking Montage that originally shows up
here
o As mentioned above, I used the 1st half in Episode 1 to transition
from the troll hoard to Rivendell like M4 did
 My version differs from M4’s slightly here by including the
Gandalf/Galadriel conversation
o Removed a line where Gandalf mentions Saruman when he’s talking to
Galadriel. While most of us know who he is, Saruman doesn’t appear in this
edit, and so it implied that he was referring to a conversation with someone
that happened off-screen. Is that a problem? Eh, maybe not. But I cut it
anyway.
o Used Maple's version of removing the (Rock & Stone) Storm Giants, which
includes Bilbo slipping and falling and needing rescuing, rather than ALMOST
falling
o Toned down Thorin raging at Bilbo for said fall, just a little
 TM2YC
o No Goblin King song (kept the very short version that appears a bit later in
the Theatrical)
o Bilbo does not witness Gollum dropping the Ring out of his pocket; he finds it
like he did in the book. The rest of the Gollum sequence is 100% intact
o I tried using a couple different versions of the Golbin Tunnels
escape/battle, but most of the fighting in these scenes is just too silly and
CGI heavy for me, so I went with L8wrtr's version:
o Gandalf shows up, chase begins, cut to Bilbo and Gollum which then
concludes with Gollum hiding from the party as they run by, Bilbo
escapes and joins them.
  There’s some fighting initially when Gandalf shows up, but
everything after that has been excised
o Removed Gandalf noticing Bilbo put the ring in his pocket
o M4
o Added back his "Awwww" expression towards Bilbo once Bilbo gives his
wholesome speech (I accidentally cut this in an old version)
o Hal9000
o The Eagles rescue occurs with a few Orcs, but no Azog. I then used M4 and
eric1894's version of the carrock scene; Thorin's scars have been digitally
removed, and the scene occurs without the complicated Thorin/Bilbo bonding
scene.
o Episode ends with the company gazing out at the Lonely Mountain
o I have an alternate version that keeps the original ending of this
episode that DonKamillo did. Bilbo says “I think the worst is behind
us” and it cuts to just before Bilbo sees Beorn.
o This version also exists in my Single-Film Version and is the only real
change going from the Miniseries to the Single-Film
 I always liked this transition, but it was a complaint from
viewers, more often than not, and I DO see why people don’t
like it. So I decided to cut it from my main version.
 Replaced the slowed shot I used of Bilbo in this alternate
ending with a cropped and zoomed version of the same shot for
removing the caption. Wraith and I discussed this a while back
and I thought it looked weird, but when I saw TM2YC's edit and
barely noticed, I realized it was the way to go!

Episode 3 - A Warm Welcome

o Episode now begins Post-Bree-Prologue

o Bilbo pops his head up over the rock to gaze down at the Wargs
(caption removed)
  He then sees Beorn
 Desolation of Smaug title removed
o This is now the “Main” version of this episode’s beginning. The “Alternate”
Version begins right after this, with Bilbo running down to warn the company
about what he just saw (at the end of Episode 2, in the Alternate’s case)
o Cut one of the dwarves (Thorin?) saying “and be run down by a pack of orcs?”
o There are Orcs in the distant mountain shots, and I don’t feel that
that’s so much a plot hole (or at least, a big enough one for me to care
about) as it is just part of the world of Middle-Earth; Wargs and Orcs
hang out. However, I cut the line originally because the attack was
from “just” Wargs (I just adjust it a bit here)
o Used M4's transitions for the party arriving at Beorn's house and Gandalf's
departure outside Mirkwood
o Beorn's intro from the extended edition is here because I loved it in the
book and they kept it pretty close to verbatim
o Removed any mention of Azog
o Sauron's eye at Mirkwood moved a bit so it’s not tied to the Ring
o Entering Mirkwood up to the Spider attack is untouched.
o Some spider-battle antics cut
o Bilbo doesn’t lose the Ring, nor kill the baby spider
o Kept "That's my wee lad: Gimli" because I love it and you can’t stop me…
o Reversed shot of Bilbo peeking around the corner inside Thranduil's house
o M4
o The Legolas/Tauriel/Kili love story has been completely excised
o Thranduil DOES do his weird melty-face bit because he lays down some
foreshadowing about Thorin being "just like [your grandfather]"
o No changes here, just information
o Legolas and Tauriel’s only real roles are capturing the dwarves in Mirkwood,
shooting some Orcs during the barrel sequence and then, and warning
Gandalf about Bolg's army later in Episode 5
o The Barrel Chase scene remains, with Bolg, but has been trimmed heavily in
my own modified version of Maple Films's version
 o The Company arriving in Lake Town is a modified version of DonKamillo's,
with a sprinkling of M4
o There’s no Anti-Bard conspiracy
 Sorry Stephen Colbert

o Episode 4 - Fire and Water

o The dwarves don’t stay behind with Bard and his family; Maple Films handled
this beautifully, and I replicated it (including his digitally edited shot(s) of
all the dwarves walking to the mountain)
o I previously mimicked L8wrtr's version of the dwarves not giving up when
they couldn't find the keyhole, then I tried Maple's, ended up with M4's.
o Remove Sauron's eye when Bilbo takes off the ring (Smaug encounter). Now,
the only time Sauron's eye shows up in my edit is right before Gandalf
leaves Mirkwood. This was done at Wraith's recommendation to disassociate
the Ring from feeling so "LotR-Prequel"y, and place that foreshadowing on
Gandalf's shoulders, so it can be fleshed out in Episode 4.5
o Created new sequence during the Smaug encounter (modeled off of Maple
Films) to make a better transition
o The dwarves do not enter the mountain until after Smaug has been defeated
o No Golden Smaug – I used L8wrtr’s version of Smaug’s exit and applied M4's
(Formerly Maple's) color correction to Smaug
o The lead-up to Smaug decimating Lake Town is of my own design, and I'm
very proud of it!
o Cropped the shot of Bard pulling back on his stupid makeshift bow to make it
look more like he’s pulling back on a regular bow, rather than one that breaks
the laws of physics.
o I always knew this shot was a continuity error if you realized what you
were looking at, but I never knew how to deal with it.
 Thanks JPePe for the suggestion!
o Used M4’s digital removal of Bain from the clocktower
o Bard then uses a regular arrow in a modified version of L8wrtr’s Smaug fight
which makes perfect sense to me because:
o (Already stated above) I always felt that having the Black Arrow be the only
thing that could pierce the dragon's hide was fine, but then having that also
be the "only" thing that could kill him once the armor was already broken
was.... Overkill?
o Used a combination of M4/Maple Films's version of the post-Smaug lake
town carnage/recovery efforts
o Tweaked this further to remove Alfrid entirely (we assume he died with the
Master) and mention of the Black Arrow, whilst keeping the scene of Bard
giving his rallying speech to the people of Laketown (.......We find shelter etc)
o You don’t see Bilbo hand over the Arkenstone, nor do you see Gandalf return
and consult with Thranduil and Bard about the incoming orc assault. Episode
4 ends with Bilbo leaving the company on the wall at night, and Episode 5
begins in the morning with the elves and men knocking at the gate.

o I did this for three reasons:

 Gandalf telling Thranduil and Bard that Azog has an army that
has "been bred for war" is a line I got sick of hearing, it also
diminishes the entire existence of the Uruk-hai in LotR
 Gandalf's return is now also seen as a surprise, as the viewer
sees his return at the same time the dwarves do, which doesn't
automatically make it a good thing, but I believe it is in this
case.. Gandalf has been disappearing and reappearing for like 4
hours (7 originally) straight at this point so it's very in-
character
 Cutting Bilbo's Arkenstone delivery adds a layer of mystery to
his departure. Sure, we can all guess why he left, but we don't
KNOW why he left, until it is revealed. I am aware that his
delivery is a scene that's in the book, but I feel cutting it from
my version helped with the pacing and added a little dose of
mystery to the film(s).
o Episode 5 - There and Back Again

o The large majority of the Battle occurs the way it does in Adam Dens's
edit (silliness removed, worms removed, the usual stuff)
 Adam Dens is the only edit I've ever seen that removes the
absolutely atrocious elves-leaping-over-the-dwarven-phalanx bit.
That scene gives Game of Thrones a run for its money for the
Worst Military Strategy I've ever seen (Looking at you Battle of
Winterfell) Thank god for Adam. It's gone.
o Azog kills Fili and Bolg kills Kili (Adam Dens)
o Azog is never mentioned by name, (re-used and reversed a shot of Thorin
to cover up Bilbo saying "Azog" in one shot)
o A lot of editors trim out Bard leading the humans in battle inside Dale,
but Adam chose to leave it and intertwine it with the second phase of the
Battle. I kept this because giving Bard an actual story (rescuing his kids,
leading the humans) was an excellent choice by the filmmakers to fix
Tolkein's Deux Ex Machina of having some random dude named Bard show
up and One Shot "the chiefest and greatest calamity of our age" and
then be completely inconsequential.
o Thorin still experiences dragon sickness but it is toned down just a tad.
In the book it's not some magical illness, things are just going to his head
(primarily greed) but I felt that trying to cut out all of the film's version
left things feeling magically resolved, so I left it. Plus I absolutely love
all of Richard Armitage's acting during this bit. He portrays the sort of
Gollum/Smeagol-esque dual personality disorder VERY well. Not everyone
is, but I am especially partial to when Thorin spits out a Smaug line word-
for-word to Bilbo and he just stares back in disbelief.
o There are some scenes containing “CGI monstrosities” like the catapault-
trolls, and I have added back in the war-goat ride up to Ravenhill
 I know not everyone loves the goat sequence, but it gave Balin
some much-needed time in the spotlight, which allows me to
overlook the CGI
o Azog kills Fili
o Bolg kills Kili
o Azog vs Thorin: M4 had a solid version of handling this that removed the
entire bit of Azog breaking out of the ice, but it involved cutting out so
much of the fight that when we come back to it after seeing the
Eagles/Beorn wrecking shop, all of a sudden Thorin is on his back about to
die. To circumvent this I rearranged the sequence of events here so that
the Eagles/Beorn show up before Thorin and Azog even start their fight,
and then the fight plays out until Azog knocks Thorin off his feet with
his rock flail, and capitalizes on it. Both of our versions have some slight
continuity errors, but those errors pale when compared to Azog's
physics-defying jump out of the ice.
o I further modified this sequence so that the Eagles now arrive AFTER
Thorin defeats Azog. I didn’t love this idea at first, but JPePe had some
sound reasoning, and after some thought, I think it actually makes even
more sense than he initially realized!
 To my knowledge, nobody has ever done it this way before, JPePe
you’re a wizard
o Thorin now fights and defeats Azog thinking that this is the ONLY way
they're going to win the Battle; by cutting the head off the snake. This
adds weight to their duel, whereas in the originals (and my edit originally)
their duel was overshadowed pretty heavily by the fact that a handful of
literal Bird Deities just showed up with gigantic Bear-man to start
absolutely wrecking shop. If Thorin had lost this duel, chances are the
good guys would have won the battle anyway, and probably would have
killed Azog. Delaying the Eagles means that the characters and the
audience are both operating under the assumption that Thorin's life isn't
the only thing at stake here; He has to win this, or the good guys are
hosed!
 By extension, the impact that the Eagles and Beorn have on the
battle is now reduced (Azog is dead, it has been implied that this
will cause the army to fall apart) and makes them more of a Clean-
up Crew, rather than Tolkein's signature Deus Ex Machina (A
complaint I hear, and agree with, quite often!)
 o This was surprisingly a super easy change (I basically just cut and
pasted), but I think it actually has a pretty substantial impact on how the
final act plays out. Thanks again JPepe for all of your suggestions, and
for finding all my other goofs, too!
o Used Maple's/M4's digital removal of Radagast riding an Eagle
o Funeral has Gandalf's deleted scene speech reinserted (M4)
o Removed Gandalf acknowledging that Bilbo possesses a Ring (M4)
o I kept the full BoFA credits because although there are a few characters
(like Radagast) who don't show up in this edit, I don't intend to diminish
the time and effort they put into making the original films by excising
them from the credits!
o Added shoutouts to everyone who was a part of this project!

o Episode 5 Alternate
o Opening Credits
o Gandalf arrives in Dale
o Gandalf meets with Bard and Thranduil (Alfrid does not exist)
o Gandalf warns about an Orc army (Bolg is not shown)
o Gandalf does NOT say "tHeY hAvE bEeN bReD fOr wAr"
o Gandalf doesn't mention Azog
o Gandalf says "The enemy" instead of "His Master" (in regards to Azog)
(Credit to DonKamillo)
o Thranduil then asks where the orcs are
o Bolg and his orcs march out of Gundabad
 This is sort of a continuity error, because Legolas shows up later
to warn about this very thing, whereas it's implied here that THIS
is the big bad orc army that's coming, despite some big ugly white
orc being the leader when they show up. Personally though, this
continuity error is preferable to showing Azog and his army
marching out in broad daylight, which, along with the "bReD fOr
wAr" line are both war crimes in my opinion.
 o Cut back to Gandalf, Thranduil, and Bard at night where Gandalf
continues to plead his case
o Our boy Bilbo shows up
o Bilbo delivers the Arkenstone, and says that he believes the dwarves will
give them what they're owed in exchange for the Arkenstone
o Bard and Thranduil exchange looks, as the music then fades into:
o Morning, the armies are outside Erebor ready for the ensuing
shenanigans (This is the original beginning of Episode 5)
o I actually enjoy how this flows, surprisingly, despite it not being what I
wanted to do. That said, this will exist as the Alternate version of
Episode 5, as the way it currently exists (Surprise Gandalf + Arkenstone)
is my actual vision for this project, and how I personally prefer to watch
it.

o Episode 4.5 - The White Council

o This episode includes the entirety of the White Council/Dor Guldur/High
Fells/Necromancer subplot!
 This story is intended to be self-contained, and doesn’t have any
scenes that contain any of Thorin and the company
 I think it works pretty well, but it is by no means perfect and
there is some serious fast-travel going on.
 The Alternative to this would be to include all these scenes within
the confines of the other episodes, but uh…. Nah.
o We start off with Radagast finding his poisoned Hedgehog
o Then we go to the White Council meeting in Rivendell, which includes
Radagast giving Gandalf the Morgul Blade as a flashback sequence
 TM2YC
o Then we go to the High Fells with Gandalf, where he’s reunited with
Radagast
o Then, to Dor Guldur where Gandalf sends Radagast away
o Some big ugly white orc shows up
o The Necromancer shows up
 o Gandalf gets captured
o Gandalf gets rescued by the White Council
o They all fight the Nazgul
o Gandalf tells Radagast to summon all his animal pals because Thorin & co.
need all the help they can get (ain’t that the truth)
o Gandalf rides off into the sunset
o Roll credits

If you read this far, thank you SO much for your interest. Any and all feedback is
appreciated, so feel free to message me and let you know what you thought, and/or
if you have any suggestions! I am quite happy with it the way it is now, but JPePe is
a perfect example of the fact that there truly is always room for improvement.

If you feel like going a step further, leaving a review on my IFDB page really goes a
long way! In either case, thank you again, and I wish you all a very fond farewell!

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