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Old 10-17-2014, 10:18 AM   #1
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Silmaril Bit (too many) Coins

Seems like every time I turn around, the TV's showing Dwarves and a Hobbit running from a dragon in a landscape littered with glittery coins. There are so many coins in DoS that Smaug can hide, undetected, beneath them. As the movie continues, we see multiple halls and rooms of Tolkien's fantasy filled with the same tokens.

The number and disposition of these coins is staggering, and each time I see the piles, I can't help but think about:
  • Why aren't the coins stacked, or ordered in some way? It wasn't Smaug that created this disorder. If Thrór really needed to see a pile that big, couldn't it have been achieved with fewer coins piled atop empty barrels? Besides, as mentioned previously, allowing the King under the Mountain achieve the same title while role-playing Scrooge McDuck, why wouldn't he want them counted and collected so Thrór could know when some went missing?
  • What purpose (besides showing that Thorin's grandfather was truly sick - and probably had a Ring - and that Peter Jackson is involved) would hoarding that many coins serve? Did the Dwarves use them as backing for credit? Other than making for some great indoor shield-sliding, can't see the purpose (especially with even more gold present in a dwarven statue).
  • What could be done with that many coins anyway? As they obviously weren't in circulation, what effect did they have on the local economy? There appears to be so many coins, that, like when a government prints paper money without any backing, the value of each coin is diminished (like so many scenes in a trilogy that needn't have been).
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Old 10-17-2014, 11:39 AM   #2
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Originally Posted by alatar View Post
Seems like every time I turn around, the TV's showing Dwarves and a Hobbit running from a dragon in a landscape littered with glittery coins. There are so many coins in DoS that Smaug can hide, undetected, beneath them. As the movie continues, we see multiple halls and rooms of Tolkien's fantasy filled with the same tokens.

The number and disposition of these coins is staggering, and each time I see the piles, I can't help but think about:
  • Why aren't the coins stacked, or ordered in some way? It wasn't Smaug that created this disorder. If Thrór really needed to see a pile that big, couldn't it have been achieved with fewer coins piled atop empty barrels? Besides, as mentioned previously, allowing the King under the Mountain achieve the same title while role-playing Scrooge McDuck, why wouldn't he want them counted and collected so Thrór could know when some went missing?
  • What purpose (besides showing that Thorin's grandfather was truly sick - and probably had a Ring - and that Peter Jackson is involved) would hoarding that many coins serve? Did the Dwarves use them as backing for credit? Other than making for some great indoor shield-sliding, can't see the purpose (especially with even more gold present in a dwarven statue).
  • What could be done with that many coins anyway? As they obviously weren't in circulation, what effect did they have on the local economy? There appears to be so many coins, that, like when a government prints paper money without any backing, the value of each coin is diminished (like so many scenes in a trilogy that needn't have been).
Those aren't a billion gold coins, they are a billion little skulls painted gold, borrowed from the equally ridiculous skeletal avalanche scene in the Paths of the Dead during the RotK film.
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Old 10-17-2014, 11:43 AM   #3
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It's to prove a point, that money can accomplish anything...


...with CGI at its disposal.



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Those aren't a billion gold coins, they are a billion little skulls painted gold, borrowed from the equally ridiculous skeletal avalanche scene in the Paths of the Dead during the RotK film.
Or that.
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Old 10-17-2014, 06:04 PM   #4
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Tolkien

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It's to prove a point, that money can accomplish anything...


...with CGI at its disposal.





I agree with that. That CGI was ech.
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Old 10-17-2014, 07:46 PM   #5
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It's to prove a point, that money can accomplish anything...


...with CGI at its disposal.
They actually didn't CGI all of the gold coins. It seems they depleted the entire supply of gold spray paint in the country of New Zealand and had to send out for more:

The Hobbit used up all the gold paint in New Zealand

I thought that was a rather interesting tidbit of information when I first heard it.
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Old 10-19-2014, 07:57 AM   #6
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Nothing is good enough for some people! The piles of gold is the only thing where PJ stayed true to Tolkien's original vision - even if, typically, he got a little carried away.
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Old 10-19-2014, 05:09 PM   #7
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Nothing is good enough for some people!
Too true. Not sure what I'd do if there wasn't anything to complain about.

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The piles of gold is the only thing where PJ stayed true to Tolkien's original vision - even if, typically, he got a little carried away.
Even if to the letter of the book (and I can see a floor in that picture }, with all of the other changes PJ made, then if there were too many coins in the text, why didn't he dial it back?
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Last edited by alatar; 10-20-2014 at 04:29 AM. Reason: Duh!
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Old 10-19-2014, 07:31 PM   #8
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Nothing is good enough for some people!
Too true. Not sure what I'd do if there wasn't anything to complain about.
Complain that there's nothing to complain about, obviously.
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Old 10-20-2014, 04:45 AM   #9
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Complain that there's nothing to complain about, obviously.
Complaining for complaining's sake is a basic human right.

NOW GET OFF MY LAWN!
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Old 10-20-2014, 07:43 AM   #10
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Complaining for complaining's sake is a basic human right.

NOW GET OFF MY LAWN!
Is your lawn littered with gold coins?
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Old 10-20-2014, 07:56 AM   #11
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Is your lawn littered with gold coins?
No. Unfortunately, I have not subscribed to PJ's Lawn & Landscape Services.
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Old 10-20-2014, 09:43 AM   #12
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No. Unfortunately, I have not subscribed to PJ's Lawn & Landscape Services.
Or the New Zealand paint supply.
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Old 12-04-2014, 01:14 PM   #13
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Somehow the Appendices as published erroneously omit the entry 2952-2985: The Great Depression. Dwarven gold released from Smaug's horde causes hyperinflation and economic crashes across Middle-earth.
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