The winner: Richard, by a nose

I love Richard Armitage’s nose. If I do get to meet him at Comic-Con International, I am half-way tempted to tell him I am so glad he left well enough alone and didn’t tamper with that magnificent proboscis. I know he hated being teased about his hooter in his younger days, but Richard grew into it so beautifully. I look at men with lesser noses–cute, boyish or simply bog-standard in nature–and I sneer a little bit inwardly (evidence of my inner Guy, surely).

Richard’s regal aquiline nose works beautifully with his face. To tamper with it would practically be sacrilege.

Orson Welles chose to use prosthetic noses in certain film roles because he thought his own nose, which was on the cute side, simply didn’t work for some of the heroic or villainous characters he chose to play. Simply put, his natural nose lacked gravitas.

A young Orson Welles with his natural nose.

Welles wearing a prosthetic nose in “Mr. Arkadin.” There’s a built-up bridge, slight extension and drop of the tip of his nose.

A more bulbous nose prosthetic was worn by Welles in this role in “Touch of Evil” (Commeaucimena)

I think Mr. Welles, who loved performing in meaty dramatic roles, would have been thrilled to have a nose more like Mr. Armitage’s, don’t you?

Looking at the first glimpse of the dwarves in The Hobbit and their scale doubles presenting themselves to Sir Peter (as seen in an early video blog), it certainly appeared as if, along with his forehead, RA’s natural nose had been modified.

The early Thorin nose appeared more hook-like than RA’s natural nose.

However, subsequent glimpses of RA in Thorin makeup seemed to indicate he had more or less gone back to his natural nose.

Based on a screencap from the TH trailer. Is this RA’s “real” nose or slightly modified?

Make a comparison to this screencap of Guy from the Children in Need sketch:

In the most recent videoblogs, is it Richard’s natural nose in all its aquiline glory that we are seeing?

The handsome Thorin on set with Gandalf, based on a screencap from most recent video blog.

We know it’s customary for tweaking to be done to a particular character’s appearance for a role in a film such as this. My hope was that Richard’s face would not be too heavily hidden beneath his Thorin makeup because (A) it’s a very mobile, expressive face that beautifully telegraphs the inner workings of the character without speaking a word, and (B) he’s Richard Armitage.  I’m not afraid to admit I like his looks, and I enjoy seeing that face in all its distinctive masculine beauty.

And I also love Thorin’s magnificent mane of hair, his bushy brows, elfin ears, his stockier dwarf physique et al.  Richard rocks the Thorin look.

And he rocks that wonderful nose.  The nose of a man meant to play a king, whether one Under the Mountain or Over England.