First official dwarf image released from The Hobbit production |

Warner Brothers has released the first official image of the three Dwarf brothers Dori, Nori and Ori from Peter Jackson’s upcoming The Hobbit prequel epic, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy tale.

Three brothers Dori, Nori and Ori, all sons of the same mother, could not be more different from each other. Dori, the oldest, spends much of his time watching out for Ori, the youngest; making sure he’s not caught a chill or got himself killed by Wargs or Goblins. Nobody quite knows what Nori gets up to most of the time, except that it’s guaranteed to be dodgy and quite probably, illegal. Dori, Nori and Ori are intensely loyal to each other – and whilst they are perfectly happy fighting amongst themselves, woe-betide anyone who means harm to one of these brothers.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, centers on local Shire hobbit Bilbo Baggins, uncle of Frodo Baggins, who’s living a quiet, peaceful life until Gandalf the Grey knocks on his door. A band of wandering dwarves shows up one or two at a time. The goal? To hire poor Bilbo for a quest that entails defeating a dragon and recovering a treasure. Along the way there are adventures with trolls and elves, a battle with goblins, the naming of Bilbo’s sword as Sting after a battle with some spiders, escaping from Wargs, and a barrel ride in a river. There is a great battle, The Battle of Five Armies, which includes men, dwarves, elves, goblins with Wargs, and more. Most importantly of all, part of this story leads Bilbo into Riddles in the Dark where he meets Gollum and in the process acquires a peculiar ring that has had and will have a great impact on the future of their world.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hits theaters on December 14, 2012, followed by The Hobbit: There and Back Again, which releases on December 13, 2013. The scripts for both films were penned buy Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and original director Guillermo del Toro.

The Hobbit also stars Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, John Callen, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas and Aidan Turner.