This is an excerpt from a 17-year-old cancer patient’s Make-A-Wish experience on the set of “The Hobbit.” The link to the entire post is at bottom. The whole thing is well worth reading–what a dream come true for this young Tolkien fan!–but I think this passage was of particular interest. And I found myself laughing and crying and feeling so ulifted. God bless RA and all the cast and crew who helped give Samm such an amazing time. And thank you, Servetus, for sharing this on your blog so I could discover this wonderful story and share it with you all XXOO
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photo from tumblr courtesy of DJ at Heirs of Durin
. . . Then I turned back around to Peter and he saw my necklace move (Which is a keychain of The Key to Erebor, but I broke the keychain part off and made it a necklace because the necklaces are expensive and the keychains have more detail) and Mr. Jackson said “Oh, that’s Richard’s key!” then this little bugger totally tilted his head and gave a little smirk and said “I bet Richard would like to see that.” THIS SUCKER KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING. I LOVE YOU. So then, before I could let myself totally fangirl an make a mockery of myself, I said “I would love to show Richard my key!” and Peter turned to Sebastian and Phil and nodded like a little miracle worker and said “I think Richard would like to see that key.” And off we went!
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We walked out of that stage and across the lot to another stage. Phil and Sebastian went with us and said that Richard was just finishing up filming a scene. So when we entered that stage and there was another giant set. It was significantly darker in here than it was in the other stage, but I didn’t care one bit. We arrived and there were more lawn chairs and another TV on wheels thing set up but this one wasn’t on. Apparently it wasn’t working, and they tried so hard to get it working, and I told them it was really okay if they didn’t get it working! And they were like “noo it’s not okay!” But, you guys, it was, because we were so close to Richard Armitage filming that I could hear EVERYTHING.
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And I was so close to a camera that I was watching the screen on the camera. I was AMAZING. I watched Richard Armitage ACT. I am proud to say that, it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Inspiring, just any nice word you wanna throw out there, it was that. Then we heard “cut” and I saw him walk off set. And we all know how Richard is a method actor. He stays in character all day. He walked off the set with /the/ meanest look on his face and glared RIGHT at me. I GOT A THORIN STAREEEEEEEEEEEE. Then Sebastian walked over and whispered in his ear and literally it was like night and day. His face went from “imma kill” to “Flowers and tea, yay let’s go play” And I got up and walked over to him. He said (in the mst adorable accent on the planet) Hello there, I’m Richard.” Now guys………I love Richard Armitage ok. Proud member of the Armitage Army like come on look at my blog, so you can imagine what my insides were like when I was standing in front of him.
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He was sooo tall compared to me (well I mean everyone is, I’m 5’2) but I was like (in a really dorky tone because I was literally over the moon) “Hello Mr. Armitage!” and I was shaking a little becaUSE RICHARD ARMITAGE. And then he held up two swords that he was holding and was showing them to me saying how they were covered in orc blood and we were touching it together and he was like “Yeah it’s pretty sticky, I have it all over me” and then we had a conversation about something that I can’t say but damn I’m pretty sure it made me seem educated in the world of Tolkien. Then he turned away to look at something and I was like “Can I ask you something?” and he was like “Sure!”
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So I asked him if he really played flute or if it was just a rumor, and he was like “Yeah I do, why?” And I said “Well, I play too!” And he was like Oh, really!! What level are you?” Then in my brain I was like Oh awkward because in America (at least where I come from we don’t have levels) so I told him that I have been playing for 6 years, and then he rubbed his majestic beard and was like “You know, you should really check out this Skavinsky piece, it’s one of my most favorite things to play, you’ll love playing it.”
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So I told him I would, and then I told him I had to tell him something. I explained how The Lord of the Rings was a huge part of my life growing up in a rough childhood, and waiting for The Hobbit really helped me get through cancer, because it gave me something to look forward to, and I thanked him for bringing Thorin to life so beautifully. I started to get a little choked up because cancer was tough on me and he was like “Oh my, come here.” And pulled me in to a giant bear hug. I thanked him again even though my voice was muffled in his fur shoulder thing. It was such a great moment, and then guess what happened. Typical Samm moment. My earcuff I was wearing was dangly, and had these elvish looking leaves on them, and one of the leaves got stuck in Richard’s wig. IT WAS SO EMBARRASSING. Actually, at the moment it wasn’t because we were both laughing about it trying to get undone. And my aunt told me later that Richard was smiling like an idiot and looked like a little 5 year old trying to get untangled and he said “Oh! I think we may be stuck!”
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But now that I look back at it I kinda die with embarrassment lol but I guess how many girls can say their earring got stuck in Richard’s wig? Not many 😉 But after we were unstuck I was like “I’m so sorry!” and he was like “no no, it’s fine, but i really like your earring!” I told him thank you, it’s my elvish cuff, i wore it just for today, and he was like “Aaah! I’m wearing one too, see!” And he pulled his wig hair back with his giant dwarf prosthetic fingers and revealed his dwarven ear cuff on his right ear. Then idfk why i said this i was like “Wow! We’re twinning!” =__= don’t ask my mind wasn’t on earth. Then he was like “Would you like a picture?” So we took a normal picture together, and then he handed me a sword and my cousin one and he was like “Alright, take a swing at me.” And I was like “????????? I don’t wanna hurt you! I’m really clumsy” and he was like “You won’t, just do it like this” and then he pointed the end of my sword at his chest and he acted like he was getting stabbed, and we took the picture like that and I just can’t believe how creative that was and sdfghjkl RICHARD ❤ So then after that I gave him another hug and said goodbye and then we were off to lunch! . . .
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The entire account, including encounters with Orlando Bloom, Aidan Turner, Lee Pace (my side crush on him has simply increased after reading how sweet he was to this girl), Peter Jackson and more is at link below. You Will want to read it all . . .
the armitage effect 