The company sets out across the Shire. Bilbo struggles with the rugged life of the road. Gandalf reveals that he has sent word to Elrond of Rivendell for help deciphering the map, which can only be read on Midsummer's Eve.
They encounter a group of trolls (Bert, Tom, and William) who capture the dwarves. Bilbo attempts to stall them by claiming the dwarves are infected with parasites. Gandalf returns and mimics the trolls' voices, causing them to argue until the sunlight turns them to stone. The group finds the trolls' cave, discovering gold and weapons. Thorin takes the sword Orcrist (the Goblin-cleaver), and Gandalf takes Glamdring (the Foe-hammer), both ancient Elven blades.
| Critic Aggregate | Score | |------------------|-------| | Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer) | 64% (approval rating) | | Rotten Tomatoes (Audience) | 82% | | Metacritic | 58/100 | | CinemaScore | A- |
Common Praise: Freeman’s Bilbo, Serkis’s Gollum, cinematography, Shore’s score, faithfulness to book’s tone in Riddles scene. Common Criticism: Overlong runtime, excessive action sequences, unnecessary additions (Radagast subplot, Azog), bloated compared to slim source material.
Before diving into the index itself, it’s important to understand why this film benefits from such structured breakdowns. Unlike the relatively linear The Hobbit book (1937), Jackson’s film trilogy incorporates extensive material from the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, including:
Thus, an "An Unexpected Journey" index helps viewers separate original source material from Jackson’s expansions, track character arcs, and follow the complex geography from the Shire to the Misty Mountains.