Radagast in The Hobbit Film (SPOILERS)

[Glorthelion]

Radagast was sort of a fan fiction character in the movie. What I mean is that Peter Jackson is making up stuff about Radagast like his bunny sled and lodgings. I was entertained by the bunny chase scene though. The bird **** on his hair made him look like an imbecile though. I'm not saying the inclusion of Radagast is a bad thing though.

[Gothbogg the Ripper]

Originally Posted by Glorthelion

Radagast was sort of a fan fiction character in the movie. What I mean is that Peter Jackson is making up stuff about Radagast like his bunny sled and lodgings. I was entertained by the bunny chase scene though. The bird **** on his hair made him look like an imbecile though. I'm not saying the inclusion of Radagast is a bad thing though.

Radagast is an imbecile. And a criminally apathetic one at that.

[cellurdur]

I hated Radagast in the film (though I supported his appearance). He was just not what a member of the Istari should have been. There is one thing loving animals, but it is another having no dignity. If anything in the books he comes across as slightly snobbish with the way he looks down at the Shire. Having bird drops on his head was not only disgusting but beneath a Maia. I will not even mention the use of mushrooms as a psychedelic drug. Was very disappointed with him in the film.

[Hookbill the Goomba]

I liked Radagast's portrayal - though I'm not too keen on the bird-dropping hair. The scene with the hedgehog was something I found very interesting and showed something fundamental about him.
He's an Istari, an Ainur, a powerful wizard with the skill to subdue the spiders and remove the dark curse. However, he chose to channel his powers into the tiny, helpless hedgehog. You may call this petty and a waste of his powers, but no doubt this is how Saruman saw Gandalf. Why waste time on halflings and Dwarves? Why bother with pipeweed and simple things when there is great power and doom going on?
Radagast would probably get on well with the Ents, I imagine.

I didn't like the bunny sled when it was leading the Orcs on a merry chase. In the forest it seemed okay as it was mostly hidden and could be overlooked easily. It just struck me as something popped in to entertain the younger audiences and possibly for some future merchandise.

[Alcidas]

Originally Posted by Hookbill the Goomba

I didn't like the bunny sled when it was leading the Orcs on a merry chase. In the forest it seemed okay as it was mostly hidden and could be overlooked easily. It just struck me as something popped in to entertain the younger audiences and possibly for some future merchandise.

Games Workshop would probably make a bunny sled miniature and sell it for £50 per kit or something

[McCaber]

Just how Gandalf cares for the little people of Middle-Earth, Radagast (a step down in him in power) cares for its creatures.

In the War of the Ring, I could easily see him using his powers to act as a force multiplier for the elves in Mirkwood. What use is an army of orcs if you can split them up, isolate them, and hunt them down in small bands?

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Originally Posted by McCaber

In the War of the Ring, I could easily see him using his powers to act as a force multiplier for the elves in Mirkwood. What use is an army of orcs if you can split them up, isolate them, and hunt them down in small bands?

Excellent point; remember that according to the Silmarillion, during the battle of The Last Alliance, even the animals took sides, some upon one side, some upon the other. Except for the elves.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by cellurdur

I hated Radagast in the film (though I supported his appearance). He was just not what a member of the Istari should have been. There is one thing loving animals, but it is another having no dignity. If anything in the books he comes across as slightly snobbish with the way he looks down at the Shire. Having bird drops on his head was not only disgusting but beneath a Maia. I will not even mention the use of mushrooms as a psychedelic drug. Was very disappointed with him in the film.

Do wizards need such a pathetic thing as dignity? I say 'pathetic' because surely a wizard, in Tolkien's creation or indeed in any other writer's, is an inherently powerful being, much more so than a mere Man. 'Dignity' is something we humans need to set ourselves above or apart from the common herd and wizards by their nature have no need of that.

McCoy's portrayal of Radagast is not unlike a lot of figures in folklore - eccentric, unfathomable, even a bit disgusting.

As for him being 'silly', it puzzles me that when Jackson chose to excise the 'silly' things from the essentially very serious Lord of the Rings text, such as Tom Bombadil, he was praised. Yet when he chooses to echo the incredibe silliness of the text of The Hobbit, he is lambasted.

I wasn't keen on a hedgehog being named 'Sebastian' as the name was a bit jarring (I associate it with Brideshead Revisited and posh people's children), though I have my suspicions that might be McCoy's idea or an in-joke somewhere along the line.

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

I wasn't keen on a hedgehog being named 'Sebastian' as the name was a bit jarring (I associate it with Brideshead Revisited and posh people's children), though I have my suspicions that might be McCoy's idea or an in-joke somewhere along the line.

Indeed it is! Or so he said when I heard him talk at a Doctor Who convention a few months back.

But Sebastian isn't so bad. I mean, we've got the trolls; Burt, Tom, William; Bill the pony (and Myrtle, Daisy etc), so it doesn't seem so jarring to me in that context.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Hookbill the Goomba

Indeed it is! Or so he said when I heard him talk at a Doctor Who convention a few months back.

But Sebastian isn't so bad. I mean, we've got the trolls; Burt, Tom, William; Bill the pony (and Myrtle, Daisy etc), so it doesn't seem so jarring to me in that context.

My geek-dar is in tune then and I was correct

I suppose I just really do not like the name 'Sebastian' because I associate it with snooty beggars. Because Tom, Bert and William have no jarring effect on me at all! Though....Tolkien does use names like Sam, which is also a fairly ordinary name. I can't think of any other characters with names similar to or the same as real life toff's names.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

My geek-dar is in tune then and I was correct

I suppose I just really do not like the name 'Sebastian' because I associate it with snooty beggars. Because Tom, Bert and William have no jarring effect on me at all! Though....Tolkien does use names like Sam, which is also a fairly ordinary name. I can't think of any other characters with names similar to or the same as real life toff's names.

St. Sebastian is the patron saint of hedgehogs. St. Sebastian, if you recall, was martyred by being shot through with arrows; ie., he was a human pincushion; ergo, pincushions and hedgehogs are alike.

As far as Snooty Hobbit names, there are several, such as Sancho, Fredegar, Mirabella, Ferdinand, Rosamunda (Spanish), Otho, Hugo (Norman), Everard (Burgundian), Gerontius (Latin), Gordaboc, Gormadoc, Meriadoc (Welsh), Ordovacar (Gothic), Sigismond, Adalrida (Germanic).

Still, Sebastian sounds off, particularly since Radagast is a Maia with no upper middle class Hobbit friends and no Spanish in his background. Just weird and yet another jarring moment in TH:AUJ.