They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard

"They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard" is a video that was published in 2005 by Dutch musician and photographer Erwin Beekveld (1969–2022). The two-minute video composed of multiple fragments from the film trilogy The Lord of the Rings became an internet meme,[1][2] and has obtained a cult status mostly among fans of this trilogy.[3]

The video first appeared as Flash-animation on the website Albino Blacksheep and was mostly distributed via YouTube afterwards. The different versions of this video have been viewed millions of times.

The video is built out of scenes from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. In the video, actor Orlando Bloom is seen playing the elf Legolas, who repeats the line "They're taking the hobbits to Isengard!" He is occasionally interrupted by Gollum (played by Andy Serkis) with the words "What did you say?" and "Stupid fat hobbit," and also by Marton Csokas who plays Celeborn, who repeatedly inquires the whereabouts of Gandalf. In addition, Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd and Sean Astin are seen playing hobbits Frodo Baggins, Merry Brandybuck, Pippin Took and Samwise Gamgee, as well as Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, John Rhys-Davies as Gimli, and Cate Blanchett as Galadriel.

The dialogue is rhythmically set to a techno version of music originally composed by Howard Shore for the movies' soundtracks, and contains among others the leitmotif of the song Concerning Hobbits.[4] The song caught the attention of participants of a discussion forum sponsored by the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics, in which the dactylic quality of the song's prosody was discussed at length.[5]

In the book Fan Fiction and Copyright: Outsider Works and Intellectual Property Protection, "They’re Taking the Hobbits to Isengard" is mentioned as an example for the amendment on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, an American law concerning the author's copyright on digital media. The amendment from 2010 made it legal, under certain conditions, to use fragments from movies and television shows in personal videos.[6] Musicologist Michael L. Klein (Professor at the Temple University of Philadelphia) mentions "They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard" in his book Music and the Crises of the Modern Subject as an example of a meme and mash-up as the pinnacle of creativity in the postmodern age.

In 2013, after Orlando Bloom finished filming his final scenes on the set of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, director Peter Jackson published a video in which Bloom, dressed up as Legolas sings along with "They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard."[7][8][9]

In an interview for Rude Tube published on Erwin Beekveld's YouTube channel in 2013, Beekveld says people love or hate him for making the video, due to its catchy tune, and that it made him very happy to see Orlando Bloom sing along with his remix eight years later, which he states is the "ultimate recognition."[10]

On 30 March 2022, Beekveld died of lung cancer at the age of 52.[11]

References

  1. ^ Millman, Zosha; Polo, Susana; Volk, Pete; Patches, Matt (2022-10-08). "Who is Galadriel's husband in The Rings of Power?". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  2. ^ Garcia, Tamara (2022-11-03). "Lord Of The Rings: 10 Memes That Perfectly Sum Up Hobbits". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  3. ^ "Sadly the creator of this mash-up has passed away earlier this year His name was Erwin Beekveld and he died on 30th of march 2022 aged 53. Thank you for all the joy you gave us, Erwin. You sleep with IE now Rest In Peace - Awesome". 9GAG. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  4. ^ "The Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack-02-Concerning Hobbits". YouTube. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  5. ^ Roberts, Adam (2006-06-18). "The prosody of Taking the Hobbits". Association of Literary Scholars and Critics. Archived from the original (HTML) on 2006-10-11.
  6. ^ Aaron Schwabach (15 April 2016). Fan Fiction and Copyright: Outsider Works and Intellectual Property Protection, p85, sectie Drawing from a single source: "They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard!". Routledge. ISBN 9781317136453.
  7. ^ "Parodie-Video von Orlando Bloom - "The Hobbits, the Hobbits, the Hobbits"" (in German). Spiegel.de. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  8. ^ Kirsten Acuna (1 July 2013). "Orlando Bloom Sings Along To 'Lord Of The Rings' Parody Video". BusinessInsider.com. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  9. ^ Bell, Amanda (1 July 2013). "Orlando Bloom 'Taking the Hobbits to Isengard' as a Farewell to Legolas". MTV. Archived from the original on November 3, 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-21.
  10. ^ RudeTube: They're Taking The Hobbits To Isengard, retrieved 2023-03-30
  11. ^ We say Last Goodbye to Erwin "Tron" Beekveld, 6 April 2022, retrieved 2023-10-22