How did Gandalf meet Thorin Oakenshield
The novel and the movie are different but the demands of Thorin Oakenshield and Gandalf were similar in both that led to the agreement for the quest of Erebor.
In the novel, Gandalf already knew of Sauron’s return at Dol Guldur and Gandalf met Thrain second the father of Thorin Oakenshield at Dol Guldur.
In the novel, Thrain second gave the secret map of the backdoor of Erebor and the key to Gandalf and passed away already then Gandalf met Thorin Oakenshield.
Gandalf feared the alliance of Smaug and Sauron in the novel along with the fact that Sauron got his hands on the rings of power that Thrain second used to have.
Thorin Oakenshield wanted to reclaim Erebor as life at Ered Luin, the Blue Mountains didn’t suit the dwarves so much.
In the novel, Gandalf visited Thorin himself while in the movie Gandalf and Thorin meet at Bree. Also, in the novel Azog was already dead so there weren’t any descriptions of bounty hunters that wanted to claim the bounty held by Azog like the movie.
The seven dwarf rings of power
There were seven dwarf clans, the Longbeards more known as the Durin’s Folk, blacklocks, broadmbeams, stonefoots, ironfists, firebeards and the Stiff beards.
Possibly each clan held a ring of power but not much is known of the dwarf clans and the Druin’s Folk(Longbeards) were the main dwarf clans that appear in the Third Age.
The whereabouts of the seven dwarf rings of power are also not certain, however in the movie and the novel, there are descriptions that four of rings of power of dwarves were destroyed or went missing by the dragons possibly by the War of the dwarves and dragons at the Grey Mountains, two were in Sauron’s possession.
The last dwarf ring of power and the strongest known was in possession of Thrain second the father of Thorin Oakenshield but Sauron snatched it from Dol Guldur.
Beorn and the Skinchangers
A skin-changer was a type of human that could transform themselves into an animal. Beorn was a skin-changer that could transform in to a gigantic bear.
The movie The Hobbit Desolation of Smaug described that Beorn was the last remaining of his kind. However, in the novel, Beorn wasn’t the last of his own kind and the descendants of Beorn called Beornings would thrive and they even participated in the War of the Ring.
The movie also describes that Beorn was once a slave that used for amusement by the orcs, however in the novel, Beorn was never captured by the orcs.
Also, Beorn could transform by his own will in the novel while the movie describes that skinchangers like Beorn couldn’t control their transformation. Beorn was a friend of Radagast, however Beorn wasn’t an assured ally of Gandalf.
When the dwarves, Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins arrived at Carrock, the home of Beorn, Gandalf was thus especially alerted of the presence of Beorn as he wasn’t a confirmed ally.
Although Beorn disliked orcs, after hearing stories of slaying the Great Goblin, Beorn allowed the dwarves stay and even leased them his ponies for their quest of Erebor.
In the novel, Beorn was the one who slayed Bolg that lead the orcs of Gundabad and retrieved wounded Thorin Oakenshield from the Battle of Five Armies.
Mirkwoods
Mirkwoods was originally called Greenwoods the Great or the Wood of the Greenleaves but as Sauron started to dwell secretly in Dol Guldur that was located in the south, darkness tookover the south of the Greenwood and it was started to be called Mirkwoods.
The Mirkwoods originally Greenwood existed since the First Age, however as most of the history of the Legendarium and the events that are described in The Silmarillion occurred at the far west of Mirkwoods, it wasn’t much affected by the War between Morgoth and the elves.
Among the first elves that have awoken and took their journey to Valinor west, the Nandor elves gave up the journey before climbing the Misty Mountains. These Nandor elves and some of the Avari elves became the Silvan elves that would dwell in Lorien and Mirkwoods(Greenwoods).
Later during the Second Age after the defeat of Morgoth, a Sindar elf named Oropher relocated to Mirkwoods and became the elf king of Mirwkoods.
After Oropher was killed in action during the War of the Last Alliance of elves and men, Oropher’s son Thranduil took the throne.
Thranduil would later send Legolas to Rivendell to warn the escape of Gollum, however while Legolas trying to send this message, he eventually became a member of the Fellowship of the Ring.
Spiders of Mirkwood
The giant spiders including Shelob were all descendants of the great monster Ungoliant, the Great Spider that was born from the endless void. Ungoliant was responsible for killing the Two Trees of Valinor Telperion and Laurelin by drinking its tree sap as it allied with Morgoth (Melkor).
After Ungoliant was defeated by Melkor (Morgoth)and his balrogs, Ungoliant would promiscuously breed with spiders producing endless offsprings while it suddenly perished.
Shelob residing in Cirith Ungol at Mordor was the known last kind of Ungoliant’s offspring and the children of Shelob eventually migrated far north to Dol Guldur and Mirkwoods probably as they were tempted by the darkness caused by Sauron.
As dark creatures such as the spiders started to take over south of Mirkwoods, Thranduil’s elves couldn’t hold them all of and retreated to the north.
Tauriel and Legolas
Tauriel was the captain of the forest elves of Mirkwoods and the female elf that had some love stories coming with the dwarf Kili. However, the character Tauriel herself and such love story between a dwarf and elf were all a movie adaption thus these weren’t featured in Tolkien’s stories.
Legolas was a Sindar elf and the son of Oropher, the king of Mirkwoods and the Realm of the Woodland elves. Legolas didn’t appear in The Hobbit novels at all and only appeared later in the novels of the Lord of the Rings.
Also in the novels, Legolas wasn’t such a main character unlike the movie series, however as the Lord of the Rings cinematic series became a great hit, Legolas also became one of the most popular characters of the Lord of the Rings series.
Gloin who was one of the members of Thorin’s dwarves was the father of Gimli. In the movie, there is a scene for fans where Legolas felt absurd of the picture of Gimli where Gloin becomes mad crying “That is wee lad Gimli!”.
