The White Council attacks Dol Guldur by Angus McBride
In a previous post titled “Elrond in the Battle of the Five Armies?” I posed the question of whether we would see Elrond in the Battle of the Five Armies, or even possibly in a flashback showing him leading the elves in support of the Dúnedain in the north against the Witch-king of Angmar. This was based on a new image leaked from the 2013 Hobbit calendar that shows Elrond dressed in battle gear.
While perusing a message board online, I came across a comment one user made a while back that said they had read in a magazine that Elrond would accompany Gandalf when the wizard goes to Dol Guldur in search of the evil influence there that we know as the Necromancer. Unfortunately they didn’t mention what magazine it was that they had read this in. This led me to do some more searching on the Internet to see if I could come up with any more information regarding this, and to see if this could be why the new calendar has an image of Elrond wearing armor. If you don’t want to know anything that could be considered spoilers, you had best stop reading here.
My search first led me to none other than director Peter Jackson’s official Facebook page. In May of 2011, Jackson answered some questions that fans had posed to him in regards to The Hobbit. One such question was whether we would see the White Council attacking Dol Guldur. Jackson’s reply to this wasn’t a definitive ‘yes’ but it is promising.
“I’m not going to say just what and when, but I will confirm that both the White Council and Dol Guldur will feature in the movies. And not just in one scene either. Just how to visualise it has been a challenge, but fortunately Alan Lee and John Howe went crazy with ideas, and it should look pretty cool.”
Now I need to point out that after making the above comment Jackson followed it up with an exclusive look at what he says is “the White Council planning the attack on Dol Guldur!” The photo in question is none other than himself, Hugo Weaving, Ian McKellen, and Cate Blanchett hamming it up with a bunch of children’s toys!
Does this mean we won’t get to see the White Council attacking Dol Guldur? Certainly not, it just means Peter Jackson isn’t ready to tell us definitively yet, and probably wants to keep it a surprise for the movie(s). We have seen footage of Gandalf walking around Dol Guldur in the trailers, but this is probably when he goes there on a scouting mission for the White Council to determine just what the evil influence is.
The White Council was comprised mainly of the wizards Saruman and Gandalf (and possibly Radagast), and the leaders of the elves Elrond and Galadriel, as well as other wise elves such as Círdan and Glorfindel. As part of the back story to events taking place in The Hobbit, the White Council attacks the Necromancer, whom they now know to be the dark lord Sauron returned, at Dol Guldur, driving him out and back to Mordor.
As to what that message board user had read pertaining to Elrond and Gandalf at Dol Guldur, I did eventually find that the August 2011 edition of Empire Magazine, which sadly I was not able to get, is where they probably read it.
“The week following Empire’s visit, the director will shoot Gandalf and Elrond scouting the murky dungeons of forest fastness Dol Guldur.” – ‘The Hobbit’ article featured in Empire Magazine August 2011 issue.
Knowing this, it is a good bet that the image of Elrond in the 2013 Hobbit calendar is in fact showing him when he and Gandalf are scouting Dol Guldur. Of course, there is still the possibility he could be at the Battle of the Five Armies. In Peter Jackson’s version of The Hobbit, anything is possible.
