The Hobbit without Elrond. An option?

[Frelga]

The more I think about it, the more I think Bree is actually R & R. It's not perfect, but there's some comic relief with Pippin and the pints. Doesn't last long, but the only action preceding it is the chase to the ferry, which wasn't as long or imposing as Amon Hen or the Flight to the Ford (in the film).

So yeah, they need something between the Trolls and the Goblins.

Well, they could have a nice picnic by the troll's treasure cave, discussing these cool swords they found.

[Alatar]

Notice, though, that there was a deliberate effort to remove the "friendliness" of the rest points. Bree was dark and foreboding, Lórien was creepy. I'm currently re-reading and Lórien has such a different vibe in the movies.

So, taking Fellowship the book, with every pleasant rest in italics

Bag End
Black Riders
Farmer Maggots
Black Riders
Crickhollow
Old Forest
Tom Bombadil
Barrow Downs
Bree
Black riders in Bree
Weathertop
Rivendell
Caradhras
Moria
Lórien
Breaking of the Fellowship

Now look at the movie:

Bag End
Black Riders
Bree
Weathertop
Rivendell
Caradhras
Moria
Lórien
Breaking of the Fellowship

If we were to apply the same pattern to The Hobbit, its hard to see the narrative stopping for a nice friendly trip to the Valley almost immediately.

Bag End
Trolls
Rivendell
Great Goblin
Gollum
Wargs
Beorn
Mirkwood
Elvenkings Halls
Laketown
Erebor

[axordil]

Bree is a rest stop gone bad.

Practically speaking, I think that Rivendell without Hugo as Elrond would feel wrong to a lot of people who saw the movies as their introduction to the character. Unless they pull some scriptwriting cheese and have him off visiting Galadriel or something...

Let's look at it a different way. In terms of the absence of a supporting character and their scene, ie, a character not in the Company of Thorin or Smaug, which of the following would cause the most problems by absence, whether in terms of plot holes needing to be plastered over or tonal issues?

Trolls
Elrond
The Great Goblin
Gollum
Wargs/Eagles
Beorn
Spiders
Elves
Bard/Laketown folks

Of the above list, only Elrond has a purely helpful role. All the others are either direct antagonists at the moment or at least obstacles/tensioning devices. We don't see him again in the story, either...at least THIS story.

Which brings us back, yet again, to the rhino in the rathskeller, the White Council plot...where one presumes Elrond would be more active. It's not so much "The Hobbit" without Elrond as "the Hobbit movie parts one and two"
without Elrond.

[Dave_LF]

If Rivendell is included (and I feel pretty confident it will be), I'm sure the will include some plot alterations to make it relevant. Probably this is where Gandalf first gets wind that the council will be meeting and why.