The Edit of the Lonely Mountain is a fan edit of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy that follows the story of Bilbo Baggings and Thorin and Company as they go on a quest to reclaim a homeland, and slay a dragon. An homage to the trilogy’s core themes of home and greed, this edit is my effort to streamline the initially bloated saga by removing the shallow plotlines and over-the-top action sequences that offer little to no added value to the overall narrative.
All in all, this edit aims to unearth the two-film epic that might have been, were it not for the last-minute decision to add a third film to The Hobbit saga.
The Edit of the Lonely Mountain is not the first Hobbit-edit out there, but it does do things a little differently by leaving most of the first film, An Unexpected Journey, in tact. Therefore, the majority of this edit’s efforts are to found in the second film, The Desolation of Smaug, which, being a merger of the final two films of the original trilogy, also features the climactic Battle of Five Armies.
This approach was taken in an effort to present the most cohesive narrative possible, allowing the first film to focus on Bilbo’s effort to find his place amongst Thorin and Company, while letting the second film deal with the discovery of the Lonely Mountain and its fiery aftermath.
For the creation of this edit I’ve incorporated the material of two other edits: those being The Ironfoot edition by Dr. Fontane and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit by Dustin Lee – two amazing projects that you should definitely check out if you’re still unfamiliar with them! Originally, this edit started out as a personal effort to merge my favourite parts of both these edits together into one. However, three years, several iterations, and over 120 fine-tuned transitions later, The Edit of the Lonely Mountain has grown to become something quite different compared to the two fan edits it is originally based on.
The first film, An Unexpected Journey, remains largely unchanged, with most edits focusing on skipping unnecessary action sequences and removing the White Council subplot. It has a runtime of 2 hours and 18 minutes and features around 20 transitions between the original film and the edits of Dr. Fontane and Dustin Lee.
An Unexpected Journey, including English subtitles, can be found below:
The Desolation of Smaug now serves as the second and final film of The Hobbit saga, with 1,5 hours from the The Battle of Five Armies serving as its third act. Overall changes can be ascribed to reworked action sequences, as well as the removal of various storylines: the infamous love triangle, the White Council’s dealings in Dol Goldur, and Alfrid’s struggles after the burning of Lake-town. The film has a runtime of 3 hours and 33 minutes and features over 100 transitions between the two original films, and the edits of Dr. Fontane and Dustin Lee.
The Desolation of Smaug, including English subtitles, can be found below: