Too many dwarves

[brodobaggins]

So without looking at a picture, can anyone actually name all the dwarves? I think it was fine to have 13 in the books, but it just bogged the movie down so bad. I'm gonna try to name them from the top of my head:

Thorin
Fili
Kili
Fat one
Bald one
Irish one
Old one
Skinny one

Aaaand that's it. The Fellowship was 9 but everyone was given a good amount of time and we got to know them. 13 dwarves are all too similar and I don't care about most of them. I guess my question is, why is it so important to stay faithful to the books, when it doesn't work on screen? Can't we just have say 5-6 dwarves? The ones who are most interesting.

[Denethor]

Agree entirely.

Tolkien may have had thirteen dwarves for Icelandic folklore purposes (and to make unlucky thirteen jokes), but there's no need for that in the film. All you need is Thorin (haughty), Balin (nice), Fili and Kili (young), Bombur (fat), and perhaps a couple of others - Dwalin (first one) and Dori (moaner). Seven dwarves also works for folklore.

[LleuLlewGyffes]

Totally agree. 300 spartans should have been reduced to 6...