Delivery Fangirl [4]: 9-hour Hobbit Marathon and Blind Thranduil

Delivery Fangirl is an original blog feature on The Devil Orders Takeout, featuring questions from my favourite books and movies, preferred headcanons, and the importance of diversity.

Well, the long-standing Middle-earth trilogies are finally both over. That only means one thing ... hello marathon!

I decided to rewatch Hobbit first, because let's save the best for last. Also, chronology. I sort of hate Peter Jackson right now. However! I stayed awake thanks to a headcanon by aiffe on Tumblr: Thranduil is blind. (Or at least partially so.) She admits that it's based in movie-verse only, but I ventured forth into this marathon with this idea in mind.

(Although really, it would have been more productive to spot the Thorin/Bilbo moments.)

Thranduil tilts his head constantly, like he's listening ... even when no one's actually talking. Picking up on ambient noise to place his surroundings?

And when he's in a conversation, he looks out into space instead of at the people he's actually talking to. Or decapitating.

Elven weapons seem to mainly be bow-and-arrow, throwing knives, a spear or two—all long range weapons. While some do have longswords, even superboy Legolas isn't too good with a sword against Bolg. Thranduil is killer with a sword, a skill one might wrangle with a few millennia and no/partial eyesight.

Thranduil even manages to hear Invisible!Bilbo twice, when Gandalf specifically chose him for a hobbit's lighter step. Although elves may have better hearing, no other elf really notices Bilbo.

And there is no way anyone can see from that burnt eye we glimpse in Desolation. Thranduil may at least not have perfect vision, or even hiding his other eye with a glamour as well.

That about wraps it up! There are a few moments when the headcanon doesn't hold up, I grant you, but can be handwaved partial vision rather than complete lack thereof. At the very least, this headcanon got me thinking about how much unlimited awesome blind characters can achieve — a story idea for another time!

Do you agree with this headcanon? Who has tried to marathon Hobbit and/or LOTR?

Twitter-sized headcanons:

• Here's @AlyssaC_HK's takeaway from her Hobbit marathon. (Click to Tweet)
• Is the Blind Thranduil headcanon grounded in movieverse? @AlyssaC_HK marathoned Hobbit to find out. (Click to Tweet)

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Disclaimer: This movie of course belongs to Tolkien estates, Peter Jackson, etc., etc., and not me. I place my URL on the images only to claim credit for curating these images.