Thanks F_K (and Meltintalle and ValiantArcher too!) for that clarification... I think the main part I knew prior to that was in the appendices of RotK where it basically said something along the lines of

The. trailer. was. AWESOME!

Like must of you, though, I was a little about the whole Galadriel/Gandalf thing. Well, I guess I'll have faith in PJ and hope it's nothing.

So, so excited for the movie! How am I going to wait a whole year?!

There's also more about the attack on Dol Guldor in Unfinished Tales:

[spoiler=][Gandalf said, about why he "did what he did" in the story The Hobbit,] "My chief reason was that of a captain, a member of a Council of War. When I met Thorin I had long known that Sauron had arisen again, and I expected him to declare himself soon. I knew that he was planning a great war, and I surveyed all the lands in my mind. The urgent question was: which would he do first? Try to re-occupy Mordor; or attack the small but powerful strongholds of his chief enemies, Lorien and Rivendell?

"I felt sure that he meant to attack them; it would have been the better move for him. Lorien was near: that would come first. But Rivendell was not out of reach. He only needed to re-occupy the old realm of Angmar, and before long he might find that only too easy. His power was growing fast, and if he sent any great force of his servants that way, between them and the passes of the northern mountains there lay only the Dwarves of the Iron Hills and the remnants of the Men of Dale that lived on the edge of the desolation of Smaug. Smaug he might use with terrible effect.

The North, then, was a very weak point. There was time yet, but not too much. 'Well,' I said to myself, 'some means must be found of dealing with Smaug. But first of all a direct stroke against Sauron is needed; at least that may force him to make some hasty decisions.'

"That is why, to jump forward, I went off as soon as the expedition against Smaug was well started, and persuaded the Council to attack Dol Guldur first, before he attacked Lorien. We did, and Sauron fled. But he was always ahead of us in his plans. I must confess that I thought he really had retreated again, and that we might have another spell of watchful peace. But it did not last long. Sauron decided to take the next step. He returned at once to Mordor, and in ten years he declared himself.

"Then everything grew dark. And yet that was not his original plan; and it was in the end a terrible mistake. Resistance still had somewhere where it could take counsel free from the Shadow. How could the Ringbearer have escaped, if there had been no Lorien or Rivendell? And those places might have fallen, I think, if Sauron had thrown all his power against them first, and not spent more than half of it in the assault on Gondor.

"Well, there you have it. That was my chief reason. But it is one thing to see what needs doing, and quite another to find the means. I was beginning to be seriously troubled about the situation in the North when I met Thorin Oakenshiled one day: in the middle of March 2941, I think. I heard all his tale, and I thought: 'Well, here is an enemy of Smaug at any rate! And one worthy of help. I must do what I can. I should have thought of Dwarves before..."[/spoiler]

There's much more information than that, of course. I recommend that everyone read Unfinished Tales before seeing the Hobbit film. Particularly the chapter entitled "The Quest of Erebor". It tells much about Gandalf and Bilbo and the Dwarves pre-Hobbit, as well as the first chapter of The Hobbit from Gandalf and Thorin's point of view.

And we also know that Galadriel is involved, so I suspect that the shot of her with Gandalf has to do with this bit here...

[spoiler=][Galadriel speaking] I it was who first summoned the White Council. And if my designs had not gone amiss, it would have been governed by Gandalf the Grey, and then mayhap things would have gone otherwise.[/spoiler]

But isn't that talking about the time when the White Council was first formed long ago, and they were choosing who to lead it? When Galadriel recommended Olorin, but Curanir was chosen instead? Wasn't that a time long before The Hobbit took place?

Also, I had a question. Was Gandalf promoted to captain of the White Council sometime before or during the events of The Hobbit? Because I remember Galadriel wanted him to be leader, but Saruman was made leader instead. Yet the passage from Unfinished Tales, as well as a few Tolkien fans I've been talking to lately, have mentioned Gandalf being the Captain or Head of the White Council when The Hobbit took place. Is there a mention of this in the books? If so, I have probably read it and have just forgotten it; but I'd love to see the part again if it exists.

~Riella

Ithi, I believe that they mention during the Council of Elrond Saruman was the Head of the White Council during The Hobbit. He is the one who convinced them to expel the Necromancer, I believe. I don't have the books handy to check, though.

But isn't that talking about the time when the White Council was first formed long ago, and they were choosing who to lead it?

I probably should have been less vague in my post, because you're right, that probably happened long, long before the Hobbit. When I said "I suspect that the shot of her with Gandalf has to do with this bit here..." I meant more I thought that scene referencing that instance rather than it actually being that instance. Does that make sense?

Was Gandalf promoted to captain of the White Council sometime before or during the events of The Hobbit?

Everything I've read does NOT lead me to believe that Gandalf was the head of the White Council during the Hobbit. Saurman was clearly the head during LotR and Galadriel pretty well states that her plan for Gandalf to be head failed. I've never seen anything that makes me believe Gandalf was the head prior to that, though he did lead the attack against Dol Guldur, like stwin said.
If Gandalf was ever the head at all, it was for a very short period of time when he becomes Gandalf the White. But after the events of LotR, he leaves Middle Earth forever and I think the Council is dissolved.
Having said that, I've never read the Unfinished Tales, so there may be something in there that says otherwise.
Now I have a question for you or whoever else knows this, are the Unfinished Tales considered to be canon with the rest of the published works? Or are they more of a collection of notes and ideas that may or may not jive with the rest of the series?

I preface the following with the warning that I have only been perusing Wikipedia in the light of being several hours from my books.

As far as I can tell, Galadriel's comment about calling together the White Council refers to the one called during The Hobbit (though it was formed before this) and not the WC called in the Second Age, which was led by Gil-galad and did not include any of the Istari (or wizards).

Also, I don't think Gandalf was ever the head of the WC because as far as I can tell the WC never met after the events of The Hobbit and expelling the Necromancer. The closest we get is the Council of Elrond.

And as I have poked about, I have found that my information on Glorfindel posted a while back was misinformed. Apparently the two Glorfindels (in LotR and Sil) are the same elf and he was sent back to Middle-Earth by the Valar after his death.

Everything I've read does NOT lead me to believe that Gandalf was the head of the White Council during the Hobbit.

The part that made me wonder if Gandalf was the Head of the Council during that time, was this passage:

My chief reason was that of a captain, a member of a Council of War.

It made me wonder why he said "captain" in that passage, if Saruman was the Head of the Council... But maybe it was referring to him being captain of something else? An army fighting against Sauron, maybe?

Now I have a question for you or whoever else knows this, are the Unfinished Tales considered to be canon with the rest of the published works? Or are they more of a collection of notes and ideas that may or may not jive with the rest of the series?

I've always considered it canon. I mean, I don't have any ties to the Tolkien Estate that gives me the power to say, "Yes! This certainly is canon!" But I see no reason why it wouldn't be. It was more stories about Middle Earth that Tolkien was writing, but just didn't get a chance to finish before he died. Same story with The Silmarillion, which is considered canon. The only difference is, Unfinished Tales was still in it's rough draft stages, so there were some inconsistencies and under-developed parts, because Tolkien was still in the process of writing it and smoothing everything out. But from what I've seen, the stories are, overall, in tune with the rest of his Middle Earth works. A very fascinating book which gives you further glimpses into the details of the story and Tolkien's world, and one worth reading. Here's the Wikipedia page for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfinished_Tales

Another thing worth mentioning is that, in all the articles about characters and events from Tolkien's works, Wikipedia always lists the facts about them from the Unfinished Tales with just as much authority as it does facts about them from LOTR or The Sil. So, Wikipedia obviously considers it canon, if that means anything.

EDIT: I'm not sure if this has been shared before, but I found an old article on Aintitcool.com that talked about Radagast (who, in case this is not yet known, is the character I'm probably looking forward to seeing the most in this movie. This may or may not be due to the fact that he's played by the actor of one of my favorite Doctors. ). The article said,

Here's the link: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/52078

I can't wait to fall in love with this character. I hope he ends up being as fantastic and funny as he sounds.

~Riella

Now I have a question for you or whoever else knows this, are the Unfinished Tales considered to be canon with the rest of the published works?

Like Ithilwen, I'm pretty sure UF are considered canon. The Lost Tales, on the other hand, are not as authoritative.

But maybe it was referring to him being captain of something else? An army fighting against Sauron, maybe?

I would lean toward that interpretation, yes.

PJ posted a new Hobbit production blog video

What a great video. It's so amazing seeing the Shire again, and Elijah Wood as Frodo once more.

Plus, Andy Serkis's kids playing Hobbits! I love that. That's fantastic.

~Riella

I'm enjoying following the production so much, I almost never want the movies to come out. It looks amazing so far, and I'm so thankful we have our PJ at the helm, and our NZ in the backdrop. Pure awesomeness on every level.

I finished The Unfinished Tales. While I did stumble on some of it, I enjoyed it.

I don't really see why the stories wouldn't be canon. One of the sections details the story of the children of Hurin (also in the Silmarillion and in its own book).

I especially enjoyed the Quest of Erebor, which is the reason I read the book in the first place. Like someone else said earlier, it gives interesting details from Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield's points of view. It is so interesting to read The Hobbit and imagine all of the behind-the-scenes going on between characters!

For some of the unfinished tales, the editor does give several versions of the same story (and he will often label them A, B, and C for reference). He will give educated guesses as to which draft came ahead of others, and that sort of thing.
As a matter of fact, I finished The Return of the Shadow recently and it was set up similarly.

Maybe I am having a memory lapse, but I don't recall Gandalf ever being the head of the council. Sometimes, being no Middle-earth expert like other people, I get lost in the details. I only remember Saruman being chosen, although Galadriel would have rather had it be Gandalf. I had thought it was during The Hobbit, but it may not have been. I'm pretty sure that this is all mentioned in a Middle-earth timeline. Anyway, it's interesting to read other people's thoughts on this.

I have seen the trailer several times and I still love almost everything about it. Gandalf and Galadriel's tiny little scene is about the only thing that bothers me. But there's really nothing huge that we've seen yet, so there's no reason to get too worried!

Okay, the trailer. I know I shouldn't get too excited yet, but.

FRODO! <3 I knew he was to return, but, yay! I only fear EW will look older, and that would be weird.

Gandalf and Galadriel...lol. So I wasn't the only one who thoguht it looked a bit romantic.

Rock on Bilbo, so cute.

Oh, and Gollum at the end is "Preccciiooousss..." And bringing back the old music...

*faints*

I really liked the scene in the trailer where the dwarves started singing, I had wondered for a while how they could add that part from the book without it being really corny. But Peter Jackson totally nailed it.
And Thorin Looks Incredible!

I liked the singing, too. I hope they put more in, especially where they're throwing around the plates.
Thorin looks too young, I think. He really needs some grey hair.
I think they did a good job of making all the dwarves individuals. What's with the weird hat-thing on Bofer, though?

I like how Bilbo fits right in and looks exactly right in the Hobbiton scenes. I think he should probably look a little softer and fatter, though.

As far as Elijah Wood's age, I think at least in the little we see here, he does a great job of acting younger. And hopefully we won't see much of him anyway, since he doesn't exactly belong in the main story.

My main concern is that I really hope they don't make it too epic. I want a genuine Hobbit feel without too much of a dark and serious Lord-of-the-Rings-prequel feel. I know they're putting that stuff in, but I hope they'll somehow be able to separate the tone in the different scenes. (So I'm a little annoyed with the shards of Narsil, Galadriel being shown like 3 times, and the LOTR-like scenes showing them walking over epic countryside.)

I think my favorite part is the little Bilbo-Gandalf scene at the end: "Can you promise that I will come back?" He sounds very afraid, like the kind of Bilbo who would scream in terror in the middle of Thorin's speech.

Now I have to go read the book again!