Tolkien related video's.

{{ There's a fair bit of mess when it comes to introducing elements in this time period from Tolkien and making it fit with their version. It not only moves when Arwen and Aragorn got betrothed from the 2nd Age to the 3rd, and right before the Council at that, but if they bring in Elrond's objections to it and his laying down of the bar that she can marry no less than the King of Gondor and Arnor, which is what happens regards their relationship during this period in Tolkien, it contradicts what they've already done in the films. There, there is no such bar set and Elrond simply says no to it and even then does not voice his objections to it until right after the Council and it immediately results in Aragorn going along with it and trying to give Arwen back the gem she gave him at their betrothal scene, right before he embarks with the Fellowship.
Because they decided to tell that relationship in 'real time' within the films time frame, rather than flashbacks or such, and just shifted a lot of stuff forward in time by huge amounts that they then altered to fit and suit their reluctant Aragorn, making Elrond an obstacle to them, its much harder now to tell Tolkien's version of events within the time frame of the Gollum films setting.
But can they feasibly include Aragorn as a main character in this time period and not bring in his relationship with Awen? I don't think they can or will just ignore it, but if they want it to fit their version it's going to be a lot different from the one Tolkien wrote.
Then there is an issue with sticking more time in for the 17 year gap, in the film version they seem to have moved Bilbo's party forward from Autumn into summer going on the looks of the Shire, for that nice green bright summer feel, and thus giving Gandalf plausible time to ride to Minas Tirith and back before the end of Autumn, as film Frodo seems to leave about the same time as book Frodo and the seasons follow the books pretty much in the films from here on. That there is only a small time gap is also reinforced by the fact the Ring is still sealed in the same envelope it was when Gandalf left, and has just been left where Frodo put it, and hasn't had time to even gather dust. So there are issues there too in tying what Tolkien wrote happened during that 17 year gap, and what PJ's version has already told viewers happened. }}

{{ And these are the people we are trusting will write a good Tolkien film? Really? }}

{{ In the film he looks much older, white hair, walking stick, but the implied excuse there is not the passage of time, barely any has passed in the films, it's that he has aged now he no longer has the Ring. They reinforce this by coopting a line from the book 'age has finally caught up with me' implying it all happened at once.
So they could work round that and just say yeah he was there years before Frodo left- but that contradicts other things in their films. That's the problem with doing this to Tolkien, his work is a tapestry, pull on a thread and you effect so many other bits, now the changes they made in LotR's don't agree with or fit the version of events Tolkien wrote they now want to use.}}

{{ I dont have RotK to hand so can't check the Tale of Years to see if it includes a birth date for Gollum or not. But I always pictured his fishing trip with Deagol (were it humans) to be somewhere between 14 years old and 17 at most. So in Hobbit terms not yet their Coming of Age.

If so then Gollum would be effectively 'young' again when the Ring left him and may explain what Gandalf meant when he said Gollum started to regain some of his old strength, which eventually led him to leave the mountains and back into the world, granted driven by desire for the Ring, but not just that from Gandalf's words.
So he would in a weird way be younger than Frodo in hobbit years when they meet. Gollums life experience is very limited, he was young when he got driven out his home and hid himself away and he has been there most of the rest of his life alone. This youthfulness and lack of life experiences I think comes across in how Tolkien writes him. }}

{{ Quite right I forgot to add the years between when he lost the Ring and Bilbo leaving - still puts him well within Hobbit lifespans though. }}

Funny that Tolkien described LotR as "bitter" - Halfy

{{ Think it depends what you mean by 'bitter'. Tolkien was careful in word choice and 'bitter' is a word he often uses in relation to death- the bitterness of mortality. And he also said that when you got right down to it LotR's, like all human tales is ultimately about death. Of the passing of things, the loss of things. So it makes sense he'd use that word to sum it up, it's bitter like death is bitter, it has the same feel of loss and of passing of things from the world, forever. }}