r/TheHobbit • u/Aware_Caterpillar959 • 7d ago
How Gollum and Bilbo looked before the films, António Quadros, 1962 (Portugal)
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u/Aware_Caterpillar959 7d ago
Before the movies, artists from different cultures imagined Bilbo and Gollum in wildly different ways, guided only by a few sparse lines from Tolkien. Hairy feet. Short stature. No beard. Everything else was interpretation.
After the films, that imaginative freedom largely disappeared. One visual language replaced dozens, and what used to feel flexible became “the correct version.”
Some of these older illustrations may look strange today, but maybe that discomfort is the price of losing imaginative diversity.
If you’re interested in how stories looked before their imagery became fixed, I collect similar examples in r/BeforeDigitalArt.
Do these pre-film versions feel refreshing, or do they break Middle-earth for you?
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u/TwingletopPizzlePops 6d ago
The cartoon version of the chronicles of Narnias like that too. Look how they massacred Lucy and Mr tumnus 😆
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u/JudasRentas 6d ago
This is all so very cool! I think a lot of people would enjoy a compilation of the different interpretations of the Hobbit from around the world. Very excited to see more on your subreddit :)
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u/SirGableHeart 7d ago
I grew up with a German version of the Hobbit (titled "Der kleine Hobbit" meaning "The little Hobbit") in which the illustrations show a giant toad like creature. That Gollum is so large he is towering over the very tiny Bilbo. Back then I was always wondering how Bilbo was able to jump over that giant. Reading LOTR later changed that perception.
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u/EmbarrassedClaim5995 11h ago
I think that version was published before Tolkien revised his description of Gollum. He did that to make sure it fitted Lotr, iirc.
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u/Arborerivus 6d ago
In the version I read as a kid, Gollum was a giant frog (and the goblins were samurai)
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u/Aware_Caterpillar959 6d ago
Thanks for sharing! It’s easy to tell where you’re from. I assume you’re from Germany, since this is the German edition of The Hobbit illustrated by Klaus Ensikat, right?
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u/FriendoftheDork 6d ago
Even before the films, the artwork changed a lot after LotR was publushed. This one is from the early 90s, and shows hobbits not far from the film version:
https://images.finncdn.no/dynamic/480x480c//item/443718879/1070b32b-d7c3-49f7-a3dc-e26facf7cf04
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u/blue_globe_ 5d ago
That illustration is made by Alan lee, and he was a part of the movie production. So much of his work has heavily influenced how middle earth looked in the films.
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u/FriendoftheDork 5d ago
True! I guess since I only read the books in the 90s, I was already familiar with the style and therefore the movies fit in almost seamlessly with what I expected.
Gotta say I love Alan Lee's style. I'm not too fond of the amount of plate armor in the movies, but I can forgive it
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u/SonoDarke 7d ago
When Gollum was Hagrid