This Easter weekend we went to visit HobbitCon again. Still big fans here, so we felt we needed to do the last movie justice too. Like the previous two years it took place in Bonn, Germany at the Maritim Hotel. This time we went on the day of opening, and much to my surprise it seemed much busier than the years before. The people that had bought tickets online, wanting to spend several days in Bonn, were waiting in line to pick up their ticket, festival bracelet, a cool special HobbitCon bag and some other special things. We only wanted the one day ticket, so we were ready soon enough. No waiting in line at all.
The people that attendant were dressed up splendidly again. Just sitting there in the hall you could enjoy yourself for hours, just watching. There were plenty of workshops to keep you occupied, and lots of shops with the coolest merchandise. The actors that were there showed clearly how much they enjoyed the comeraderie again to be back with their friends with whom they had worked for years. Almost all the dwarves were present, we saw some new faces, like John Bell, the 17 year actor who plays Bain. Sylvester McCoy (also known as the 7th Doctor Who) was present again, without the birds nest that Radegast the Brown usually has on his head.
This year we had an extra special guest, Luke Evans, who plays the role of Bard the Bowman. We were shocked at seeing the price they asked for Luke’s autograph compared to those of the others (€ 85 for Luke compared to the standard price of € 20! ) but I guess popularity pays. And I must say, we enjoyed Evans’ performance very much. He answered all questions from the fans with long anecdotes, and was even tempted to sing a song for us. Which by the way, he was very good at! He was charming, tireless and entertained the entire theater in a very professional way that was very personal too at the same time.
I will leave all of you with some pictures of the actors that we made. It feels kind of sad to close this chapter again, but we sure made the utmost of our Hobbit experience!
From left to right:
John Bell – Bain/
Jeffrey Thomas – Thror/
Adam Brown – Ori/
Mark Hadlow – Dori/
Jed Brophy – Nori
From left to right:
John Bell – Bain/
Jeffrey Thomas – Thror/
Adam Brown – Ori/
Mark Hadlow – Dori/
Jed Brophy – Nori/
Peter Hambleton – Gloin/
John Callen – Oin/
Stephen Hunter – Bombur/
William Kircher – Bifur/
In the front: Ken Stott – Balin
Above: Next to William Kircher you will see (in the kilt): Graham McTavish – Dwalin/
In the front: Sylvester McCoy – Radegast the Brown
To the left: Luke Evans – Bard the Bowman
That is so cool! I didn’t even know there was such a thing. I’m 7 shades of green now haha. Did you see Richard Armitage too? I wanted to see a play with him, but i missed it because i was ill. If you have more pictures of the day, i’d love to see them.
No, Richard Armitage wasn’t there, neither was Aidan Turner. Both have resisted showing up all three times, lol. Dean o’Gorman was there the first two years, but had other engagements this year, sadly. My daughter even got his autograph the first year. Loads of photo’s, I’ll put some on FB tonight.
It’s still awesome though, and still 7 shades of green haha. Wow, you do a lot of fun things!