Doctor, brave and good
He turned away from Violence,
When he understood,
the Falling of the Silence.

Remember when he said that he hadn’t realized that the Silence meant his silence? With his death, the question can never be answered. His death is the Falling of the Silence.
So there is a difference. ‘The Falling of the Silence’ is the Doctor’s death, but the ‘Silence’ that MUST fall, when the question is asked, is the religious order.
They named themselves after the death of the doctor, and so made things confusing.
Personally, I believe that in his name, there is a dark secret. I’m highly inclined to believe that he is the great ‘the Other’ from Gallifreyan lore. At the same time, i think it’s more than that, but the Moff seems to prefer bringing all things up in a round about way – what if they are finally trying to get to the point where they can elaborate on his backstory like they had intended to before the Original run of the show was cut?
I know that there are alot of people who wouldn’t like knowing, akin to the Origins of Wolverine, it’s the not knowing that makes it wonderful for them.
Personally, though, if anyone can do it, the Moff can.
Also, the Fall of the 11th means that when Matt Smith leaves, we know the question will be asked.
It’s inevitable.

Sauron provides a necessary thematic link to the LOTR trilogy which actually I think Tolkien also intended, by having Gandalf be absent dealing with him off in Mirkwood “off camera”. Since the book was intended as a children’s tale (Tolkien’s answer to Narnia, or was it the other way around? Those Inklings were a competitive bunch) it makes sense that Sauron didn’t get any time. The movie is not and should not be held to the same objective of being a kids tale.

If it really is true that nobody can understand bad guys unless they are motivated by overpowering evil… then why bother telling any story that doesn’t have it?

I don’t think that this is being argued by Jackson. The story of the Hobbit is the story itself of the Journey and Bilbo’s adventure. It ends with gold and a dragon. The Battle at the end is just a denouement. I think of it as similar to how Nick Fury showed up at the end of Iron Man. Its something you need to do in the context of a film series that you don’t in the context of a book or a TV show.

BTW – Sauron was indeed MUCH weaker during the events of Hobbit than later. He fled to Mordor after he was ousted from Mirkwood and began consolidaing his power. Sauron was actuallyat his most vulnerable during that era. The Eagles turned the tide of battle against the Wargs but that doesn’t require Sauron to be defeated – he probaly just says “okay, I’m outta here” and leaves events to unfold as they will.

This is also why Sauron wouldn’t be cognizant of the Ring either – he didn’t have the Eye at Barad Dur at that time. Though if I am not mistaken, Bilbo did not really use the Ring during the final battle. He was basically camped out on a hill until he gets hit in the head with a rock. The last time I think he used the ring was way earlier, when he stole the cup from Smaug. The Goblin and Warg armies didn’t arrive until much later, after Smaug had already been killed and the Three armies of the Free people had arrived to bicker abou the division of gold. Presumably, Sauron arrives at that point, but since the Two armies were led by Bolg, so it remains to be seen how Sauron fgures into the story. I assume either he replaces Bolg (and gets the smackdown from Beorn in his stead) or he doe sthe Wormtounge thing on the side egging Bolg on, and then runs for it when Beorn opens the can of whupass.

So, it all works out

If you have some sort of script disablement going on, the redirect doesn’t work, and you can get to Wikipedia.

Or if you’re fast on the ESCape key…