For several weeks we are having small weekly doses of Middle Earth with ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’, but since we are running out soon, it is the perfect time to start reviewing the peter jackson trilogies.
Before Jackson arrived, it seemed that adapting the work of Tolkien It was impossible, but despite the criticism of the most purists, the New Zealand director left us a real wonder with his version of ‘The Lord of the Rings’, and a phenomenon at the production level that will be difficult to repeat. The case of ‘The Hobbit’ is more complicated and has a lot to polish, but they are still very entertaining adventure films that lay certain foundations of lore and history for the next trilogy.
Now decide where to start watching ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ It is still not that easy, although it seems obvious, so here we are going to leave you some suggestions and why you should opt for one or the other.
Starting at the beginning of time
I personally like to see things in chronological orderand I think that these trilogies are not even painted. ‘The Hobbit’ Does a Good Job of Connecting All the Moviesdespite all the straw and stuffing that goes into it, and it gives you that feeling that everything is cohesive.
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
- The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
So we would start the marathon with Bilbo preparing for his 111th birthday and reminiscing about his past adventures. We see from scratch how it is done with the Ring, and while the dwarves of Erebor try to recover their home in the background we have Gandalf investigating the return of an ancient enemy.
And with the end of the ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy, we arrive almost perfectly at the beginning of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ thanks to Bilbo’s birthday. We have already been getting to know Gandalf, Legolas a little, and we also have more context on Sauron and how he has been hatching his plans for decades. And when we get to Moria, the truth is that it also hurts more to see how some of our dwarves have ended.
The good thing about this order is above all that we have context for the whole story and characters, and that we end up with a round ending where all the ends are perfectly tied.
It’s the opening that counts
The other obvious order is the order of releaseAnd that doesn’t leave much room for the imagination either. Here we would have the whole story of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ with Frodo carrying the Ring up Mount Doom, Aragorn’s journey to agree to become king, and Sauron’s final fall.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
- The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
With this order, it gives me a bit of the feeling that I had at the time when I saw them in the cinema, and that is that ‘The Hobbit’ makes me much more nostalgic because of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ references and having in itself a somewhat lighter independent adventure than a prologue to the “main story”.
As if we were nostalgically remembering the past of the original trilogy just as Bilbo does with his past adventures. Although yes, the end of ‘The battle of the five armies’ it does not finish giving that sensation that everything is well closed and that we have a round ending.
The order “machete”
Years ago the “machete order” was popularized for Star Wars, which in part consisted of inserting the films of both trilogies as flashbacks to discover Anakin’s story just when Luke does… and it is a method that in part we can also apply to ‘The Lord of the Rings’.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
- The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Starting with ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ we have a great introduction to Middle-earth and also to the history of Sauron and more importantly: the One Ring. Starting here we have all the context about who Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf and the rest of the Community are… And although we are left with a cliffhanger very fat is the perfect time to fully enter the trilogy of ‘The Hobbit’.
Here we would see the whole story of Bilbo, how he found the Ring, we have a perfect introduction to Gollum, and we find out who the Necromancer actually is. With all this information in your pocket, it’s the right time to get back on track and continue with ‘The Two Towers’ and ‘The Return of the King’ to close the story in style.
And where does the series fit?
‘The rings of power‘ is inspired by the Second Age of Middle-earthso it’s set a few thousand years before ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’.
There are still several seasons ahead to see how far it takes us, but if we go chronologically, the best thing would be to see it before ‘The Hobbit’, since in principle it will be about the forging of the One Ring and has already introduced us to a Galadriel and a Elrond much younger than how we know them in the Peter Jackson trilogies.