There's a scene in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill: Volume 2" where Michael Madsen's Budd character asks Daryl Hannah's Elle: "Now you ain't gonna hafta face your enemy on the battlefield no more, which 'R' are you filled with: relief or regret?"

Elle tries to dodge by saying both, but eventually admits to feeling more regret.

On a different battlefield, one populated with five armies, the cast of "The Hobbit" are preparing to face the same choice, which may account for the tinge of sadness I feel when talking to both Martin Freeman and Sir Ian McKellen.