Short And Sweet

Standing a strapping 6'1”, Richard Armitage makes for an unlikely dwarf at first glance. But size isn't everything, as anyone familiar with the denizens of JRR Tolkien's fantastical realm of Middle-earth will realise. And in An Unexpected Journey, the first part of Peter Jackson's epic Hobbit trilogy, Armitage – perhaps best known for his work in UK television series such as Spooks and Robin Hood – plays a dwarf to be reckoned with. His brooding, brawling prince Thorin Oakenshield is the leader of a band of short-statured warriors on a quest to reclaim their stolen treasure and re-establish their devastated homeland. And as the actor reveals, it's a quest that will truly test Thorin's character.

But then the very making of the Hobbit films wasn't exactly a picnic either. A rich and rewarding creative process, certainly, but also “an endurance test”, as the actor puts it. Armitage admits there were a few factors to take into consideration when weighing up taking on the role of Thorin – “It's a bigger commitment than just making a movie; it's a whole lifestyle change, going to the other side of the world for 18 months or more” – but as a big fan of Tolkien's work and Jackson's Oscar-winning Lord Of The Rings films, it was a given that he'd say yes when offered the chance to take part. “I had my hand in the air before Peter had even finished speaking,” he smiles. “He's got a pretty good track record with this sort of thing.”

While he's not keen to view the Hobbit trilogy as an analogy for real-world events or circumstances, Armitage does admit that there were parallels he drew upon to help give the story's situations and his own portrayal realism and resonance. “The thing that most interested me was this idea of these people being in exile,” he says of Thorin and his comrades. “That really struck a chord with me because there are so many examples of it from the past half-century – the dwarves are essentially refugees just trying to find their way home, and I think that's something of eternal human interest. And this gold lust that will eventually consume Thorin, I think that is something particularly in the past five years that has really become very relevant as well, just because of the way the global economy has changed. I was fascinated by how greed can change a person mentally and emotionally, which is what happens with Thorin as our story progresses.”

In An Unexpected Journey, Armitage's character is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, a burden that comes to be lifted somewhat by his growing friendship with and respect for the hobbit of the title Bilbo Baggins, played by Martin Freeman. “Thorin's mettle is tested from the moment he steps foot out of Bilbo's home at Bag End,” says Armitage. “It's a test of who he is as a prince and who he may be as a king, and I think you as a viewer need to see that character tested. You need to see him face these obstacles and overcome them. But he overcomes them not primarily through his own skill but through his relationship with this hobbit, who becomes a kind of saviour by way of his ingenuity and his compassion.”

Ingenuity and compassion are all well and good, of course, but there comes a time in every quest when a little butt-kicking is called for. And Armitage welcomed the opportunity to occasionally toss aside Thorin's “stillness and stoicism” and wreak some havoc on his enemies. “These dwarves have a heightened sense of who they are,” he says. “They're a proud people, they're a warring race, and I imagine that is due to that sense of disenfranchisement – they've long had to fight for their existence in Middle-earth. So when Thorin does kick into action on the battlefield, it's like a bomb exploding.”