Meet Bilbo Baggins

I'm sure there are a lot of you out there that are pretty big Tolkien/Lord of the Rings fans. Well, in just the last week or so we've finally heard some proper news about the upcoming "The Hobbit" film.

Yes, it will be directed by Peter Jackson. Yes it will be filmed in New Zealand.

And finally we have some casting confirmations including the key role of Bilbo Baggins!

Bilbo Baggins: Martin Freeman
Thorin Oakenshield: Richard Armitage
Fili: Rob Kazinsky
Kili: Aidan Turner
Dwalin: Graham McTavish
Oin: John Callen
Gloin: Peter Hambleton
Bombur: Stephen Hunter
Dori: Mark Hadlow

It is also rumored that the voice of Smaug will be none other than Bill Nighy.

I hadn't heard of most of these guys before (with the exception of Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy) so if you care you can check out their bios at: theonering.net

We may still have Goblins today.

Over my holidays I've been rereading J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece, "The Hobbit." Just last night I reached the point where Bilbo and the dwarves encounter the goblins (in "The Lord of the Rings" they are called 'orcs') in the mountains. Tolkien describes his goblins as being "cruel, wicked, and bad-hearted" which sort of goes without saying. But goblins are also clever and crafty which makes a particularly bad combination.

As Tolkien describes the goblins (and the particular predicament in which Bilbo and his friends find themselves) he throws this in:

"It is not unlikely that they [the goblins] invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them, and also not working with their own hands more than they could help; but in those days they had not advanced (as it is called) so far" (Tolkien 60).

This theme is further carried out in Tolkien's other works (especially in "The Silmarillion"). In Middle-Earth goblins/orcs were not 'created'... even though it was inaccurately portrayed that way in the movies. In Tolkien's world goblins were people who had been corrupted by Tolkien's satan figure, Morgoth. These corrupted people were then bred with one another and created their own cultures and nations that had the values of their master.

By this definition I think that we may still have goblins today, in our world... and I think that's exactly what Tolkien was getting at.

Any thoughts?
Who are the goblins of today's world?
Are they all communists or Arabs like the media would like us to think?