The Master of Lake Town, iconically played by Stephen Fry, is possibly one of the most despicable figures portrayed across Peter Jackson’s film adaptations, of either theLord of the Rings, orThe Hobbit. Alongside his leeching servant Alfrid, the Master of Lake Town represents all the worst traits found in the race of men, which is only made more obvious by his stark contrast to Bard, the hero who shoots the dragon.
During the making ofThe Hobbitfilms, the team put in a lot of effort into making the Master of Lake Town a slovenly, overweight, sleazy, cowardly, and above all, greedy character. From his two strands of hair that hang limply over his forehead, to his lavish fabrics stained and sewn into clothes that are obviously too tight for him, the Master is a character for audiences to despise from the offset. He sits in his decadent home eating delicacies (albeit lambs bollocks) whilst his people starve and suffer, and are denied even the rights to fish in order to feed themselves and their families. He invents laws on a whim to suit whatever his current agenda is, and he relies on Alfrid to do his dirty work for him, whether because he can’t be bothered to actually govern the town, or because he is too spineless to enforce the rules he makes in person is hard to tell.
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When Thorin and his band of dwarves arrive in the water-side village,having just escaped from Mirkwoodin barrels down the river, the Master instantly panders to them, and rushes to give them everything they need, not because he wants to help a group of weary travelers, but because he sees it as an opportunity to line his own pocket, and share inthe wealth that once poured forthfrom the mountains, in the days before Smaug came along and destroyed Dale and its inhabitants. However, this loathsome and contemptible characteristic is definitely an addition on the film crew’s behalf, and is a misrepresentation of his disposition inTolkien’s original writing.
In fact, in the book, the Master of Laketown is shown as being caught between a rock and a hard place as he tries both to satisfy his new guests, and to keep peace with Thranduil the elf king, whom the town has long had trade and alliance with. “The Master wished for no enmity with him, nor did he think much of the old songs, giving his mind to trade and toils, to cargoes and gold, to which habit he owed his position.”
The reader is quickly informed though, that “Others were of a different opinion however, and quickly the matter was settled without him.” Subsequently, the character in the book is shown to be a similarly passive character, having no realpower or authority, but with much less of the slimy cantankerousness demonstrated in the movie adaptations. And when all comes to ruin in the first half of theBattle of the Five Armies, and Smaug comes to destroy the town, the Master and Alfrid are the first to try and flee.
This is a similar case in the books, for when the survivors gather on the shore around the lake, ‘their first complaints and anger were towards the Master, who had left the town so soon, while some were still willing to defend it.’ However, in the film versions, the Master is shown trying to leave the town with hordes and hordes of gold in his boat, and is clearly more concerned about his wealth than about the survival of his people, including Alfrid, who he pushes off the vessel right before the dragon comes tumbling out of the sky and lands on top of them. This is also an unfair representation in light of the original text, because although the master is shown to be fearful, and try to run whilst others (like Bard) are far braver, he has none of the same maliciousness and cruelty that seems to have been added to him for dramatic purposes in the movies.
In the aftermath of Smaug’s desolation, the Master points out that it was Thorin and the otherswho undertook the questto reclaim the mountain, and would have done so with or without the help of the people of the lake, and so it is the dwarves who should be held accountable, and asked for recompense.
Many of the people who survived the initial fire and destruction succumb to death in the days that follow, whether due tothe onset cold of winter, or to starvation, varies, but even the master goes without food in this time, which shows that he is willing to suffer along with the others. And when Bardgoes to the shadowof the mountain to try to stake a claim on the treasure, the Master stays behind with the wounded and helps to rebuild the town in a new location, rather than going with the others and trying to get a look in on the gold, as the greedy film portrayal might suggest. He does, at the end of the book, try to run off with a hoard of gold, but this (as in Thorin’s case) is attributed more to the dragon sickness that lies upon the treasure, than to his own moral depravation.
Unfortunately, the Master of Lake Town wasn’t made to be heroic, he was elected because he is a sensible diplomat, and he was therefore never going to be a favorite of the audience, but how covetous and hideous he is in the movies is thought to be a little harsh, even by Peter Jackson’s standards.
