Cuts and Additions:

Omissions:

- Frodo makes a cameo, but his dialogue with Bilbo has been deleted.

- Blunt The Knives has been deleted.

- The Warg Chase to Rivendell has been deleted.

- The Battle Scene in the Goblin Tunnels has been deleted.

- The Eagle Rescue, sadly, has been deleted. No matter how I edited it, this scene falls at the 2 hour mark, and so it always felt like the film ended, and then restarted again afterwards. It has been replaced with an entirely new sequence that drives the film forward.

- The Fili/Tauriel romance has been deleted.

- The Tauriel/Legolas plotline has been deleted. They make cameo appearances in both films.

- Alfrid is still in the film, but only as an opposite actor to The Master and Bard. His story arc has been deleted.

- The clash between Smaug and the company is deleted.

- Some scenes are shortened to keep up the pace.



Changes:

- All the dialogue in Black Speech has been resubtitled, and as such, rewritten. This allows for a deeper connection to Tolkien lore and a modification to the Dol Guldur storyline, to better fit the two-film structure.

- I have always felt that the opening 90 minutes of An Unexpected Journey are too slow. Every time the story picks up, we are presented with a scene that starts a new plotline and presents a new backstory, which slows the story down. And so, not only is the warg chase deleted, but the Azanulbizar flashback is moved to later in the film. This way the story speeds up considerably.

- Gandalf's inquiries into The Necromancer have been restructured and the timeline has been altered, so that he is captured at the end of the first film, at the same moment that the dwarves escape from the Dungeons of the Elven King. This way, the mystery of the Necromancer is a story arc entirely dealt with in the first film.

- Gandalf visits the High Fells before meeting up with the dwarves in the mountains, which makes more sense geographically.

- Azog is first introduced by the Goblin King, who mentions him and sends him a message. Thorin's reaction is included, but the audience is left in the dark. This way, this sideplot has a different structure. While in the original films, all plotlines follow the same backstory-development-climax structure, now the Azog storyline is introduced as a mystery for the audience, which is later answered.

- A new sequence was created to bridge An unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug. After the Company has exited the Goblin Tunnels, we cut to Azog receiving the Goblin King's message and hearing of the Company's escape. He decides to give chase. Cut to the campfire of the Company, where Thorin is looking out over the wilderness in a pensive mood, recollecting the words the Goblin King spoke about Azog. Balin explains his worries by telling the Company about the Battle for Azanulbizar. As he finishes, the Company hears orcish screams and the howling of a wolf, and we see Gandalf sighing, clearly tired of bad news. Cut to the warg riders crossing the Misty Mountains. While I am still sad I had to cut the eagles, I hope this sequence keeps the momentum by building on plotlines and deepening the characters.

- Even though the Carrock scene is deleted, a soundbite of Thorin saying 'I'm sorry I doubted you,' has been placed in the Barrel Escape, right behind him saying 'Well done, Master Baggins,'. This, together with Thorin's trust that Bilbo will save them, creates a more subtle end to the character arc of Bilbo earning his place within the Company. Furthermore, Bilbo's polite dismissive hand gesture for the recognition he has wanted throughout the film seems very much in character to me.

- The Laketown sequence is now one, uninterrupted sequence at the beginning of the second film.

- The Dol Guldur scenes occur before Bilbo enters Erebor. This adds an exciting sequence in the beginning of the film that sets up the connection with The Lord of the Rings. Through the rewritten Black Speech subtitles, the fact that this is the beginning of The War of the Ring becomes more emphasized, not only in this scene, but in later scenes as well.

- Suaron's voice has been altered. Benedict Cumberbatch's performace has been kept, but the Sauron's sound effects from The Lord of the Rings have been remixed into the track to create more consistency.

- Smaug takes center stage. From the moment Bilbo enters Erebor, a 30 minute sequence begins that focuses solely on the dragon and the destruction he brings, building up the tension until the attack on Laketown.

- The build-up to the Battle of the Five Armies is largely the same, although it cuts less back and forth between storylines, and stays within one place longer before cutting back to another location.

- The Battle of the Five Armies has largely been re-edited, to have a more serious tone in line with the War of the Ring as shown in The Lord of the Rings.

- The first part of the Battle is completely re-edited, using various shots from throughout the battle, and creating a new sequence with a different soundtrack. The elves do not jump over the dwarves, but instead fire volleys of arrows over them. Azog proves himself a strong commander by countering the now allied forces every step of the way.

- When Azog attacks the city of Dale, we follow Bard as he looks for his children. He finds them (no troll included) and brings them to safety.

- The battle continues, and the forces of good clearly are losing. A scene from the Appendices, in which Bilbo plants the acorn, is restored to the film. The rigging over Bard's head has been digitally removed.

- The Battle of Ravenhill has largely been re-edited. It is shorter and denser, and more focused on the tragedy of the line of Durin. When Kili and Thorin run into the ruin, the bats arrive, which allows Legolas to travel to the ruin too. He leaves behind Tauriel. We see him grabbing a bat, which carries him away. No upside down action. We cut back to Kili, Thorin, Bilbo and Dwalin fighting. Bilbo is knocked out. Kili hears Thorin call out his name below in the ruin, and tries to get to him, but is killed by Bolg. Thorin is standing alone on the ice with a broken sword, but Legolas' arrows come to his aid. The tower on which Legolas stands is destroyed by a troll, and Legolas kills Bolg in its ruin. His gravity-defying run is cut out. On the ice, Thorin faces Azog.