The ridiculously successful The Lord of the Rings trilogy featured but one dwarf character – John Rhys Davies's indomitable, tossable Gimli – in its ensemble, but the prequel The Hobbit will feature many a dwarf across both films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again.  A brand spanking new image from An Unexpected Journey showcases just four of these appetitive, bearded dwarfs.

Remember in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings when Ian Holm's Bilbo Baggins gifts young Frodo, played by Elijah Wood, with a sword that glows blue when orcs are around?  Well, in the upcoming prequel The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, we'll see just how a younger, more adventurous Bilbo acquired that sword, known as Sting.  A new still from the first of the two-part J.R.R. Tolkein adaptation shows Martin Freeman as Bilbo, covered in cobwebs and clutching Sting in what looks like its probably a perilous situation.

Almost exactly a decade ago, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring first brought J.R.R. Tolkein's Middle Earth epic to a theater near you, and in order to commemorate you starting to feel properly old, Warner Bros has released a new official still from next year's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  Actually, the image has more to do with imminent arrival of the film's first trailer in mere hours, but let's seize the opportunity to feel time's gnarled fangs digging into our collective ankle.  The still features Martin Freeman as the titular Hobbit, Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End, the older version of whom was played by Ian Holm when director Peter Jackson last took an extensive tour of Tolkein's fantasy land. 

For his next venture into JRR Tolkein's Middle-Earth, the two-part The Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit, director Peter Jackson divided the massive production into three distinct sections, with extended breaks in between.  Tight now, the New Zealand-based production is in the midst of a section devoted to location shooting of exteriors, and a new batch of photos from the set provides an extensive look at Hobbiton, which is location in Matamata, Waikato, New Zealand.  The familiar setting is enough to get a fan's motor running, but you can also get a look at Elijah Wood reprising his role as Frodo Baggins in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again.

Over the last week and a half, we've seen a steady stream of official images from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, each one revealing a pair or trio of the dwarfs who accompany the titular halfling Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) on his quest from the Shire to the Lonely Mountain.  With the party of twelve dwarfs all revealed as of last week, we knew that our first look at the leader, Thorin Oakenshield, was definitely on the way.  Now, the Peter Jackson-directed production has indeed issued an image of Richard Armitage in character, wielding Orcrist, the sword known variously as "the goblin-cleaver" and "biter."  Armitage certainly looks the part of a battle-ready dwarf, but unfortunately he won't be taking home a coveted trophy in the fiercely competitive beard competition.

When Peter Jackson and Co. dropped the first video blog from the set of the two-part JRR Tolkein adaptation The Hobbit, neither film officially had a title and production was just getting underway in Wellington, New Zealand.  A second video update has finally dropped as though t'was hot, and it chronicles the wrap of principal photography's first block.  The Hobbit production encompasses a staggering 254 days (just a few days short of principal photography on Lord of the Rings), so it is scheduled in three distinct stretches with breaks in between.  In the video, you'll see Martin Freeman and Hugo Weaving in costume, location scouting, and Andy Serkis once again providing motion capture for the Gollum, as well as directing the second unit. 

Yesterday brought our first look at non-blurry dwarves in Peter Jackson's return to Middle Earth, the two-part prequel adaptation The Hobbit, with a crisp, official image of dwarf triumvirate Nori, Ori, and Dori.  While those three looked decidedly more stylish and fantastical than the more traditionally-bearded Gimli, played by John Rhys-Davies in the trilogy.  Today, the production has followed that up with a peek at two more of the thirteen stalwart dwarves who accompany Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) on his unexpected journey.  Oin and Gloin look more old-school and beardy than yesterday's dwarves, which makes sense, since Gloin is Gimli's progenitor.

Last Thursday brought the first official images of Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen in character as Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey, respectively, in the two-part prequel The Hobbit, which Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is once again directing from the novel by JRR Tolkein.  This week, we saw Gandalf making like a model for a magazine cover, and now, there are two more, all new images from Bilbo's home in Bag End.

We haven't really seen Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey onscreen since his tussle with a Balrog in 2002's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, when he subsequently graduated and became the less endearingly ramshackle Gandalf the White.  Last week, we saw the first official image of McKellen once again in costume as Gandalf the Grey in the currently-filming two-part prequel The Hobbit, along with a look at Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins.  Now, Gandalf has brought his pipe, some Halfling's Leaf, and another angle on Bilbo in Bag End for display on a magazine cover.

By the time the two-part prequel The Hobbit finishes principal production, 1 out of every 6 living humans will have a substantial role in one installment or the other.  Last week, Luke Evans joined the cast as Bard the Bowman, and Benedict Cumberbatch was confirmed as the voice of Smaug and the Necromancer.  Now, Peter Jackson is kicking off this week by announcing the addition of Lost star Evangeline Lilly and Australian Dame Edna actor Barry Humphries.  Lilly is set to play Tauriel, a Woodland Elf created for the film, while Humphries will play the Goblin King via motion capture.