LOTR prequel TV series 2.0

[Krishtotter]

In case anyone missed it, there was a Business Insider scoop with an Amazon executive back on March 12th in which he clarified:

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon ... he-rings-2019-3?r=US&IR=T

 

"About four weeks ago, we opened up our social handles "@LOTRonPrime" and began to reveal what we were doing for the series. And through a reveal of a series of maps, we told the audience and the fans that were going to be going into the second age. There's a lot more to come."

 

So, for the avoidance of any doubt, the show is 100% set in the Second Age (i.e. not flashbacks) and the map reveals were intended to give avid Tolkien readers an insight into "what [Amazon] are doing for the series".

 

It has been pointed out by a number of commentators, including Jeremy Edmonds of the 'Tolkien Guide' website (which was rated winner of the 2019 Tolkien Society award for Best Website) and who is followed by LoTR_on_Prime on Twitter, that there is a significant flavour of Aldarion and Erendis in the maps.

 

My point being that the maps are not the product of some rogue marketing team but rather designed with very careful attention to detail as part of a drip-feed of information on the actual content of the TV series that will come at the end.

 

One of Jeremy Edmond's earlier posts noted that 'forests' connected with Aldarion, in both Númenor and Middle-Earth, were depicted on the final map reveal; whereas those not connected with him are typically omitted. We know that the Amazon team are paying close attention to forested regions, given that Minhiriath and Enedwaith are shown as heavily wooded in the final map while they were heavily deforested in the previous one.

 

You can read his analysis here:

 

https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=21804

 

These are some of my own thoughts on this.

 

Consider that in Númenor, the Andustar region is described as having "high firwoods looking out to the sea" in its highlands and "great woods of birch and beech" in its southern lowlands. None of these extensive woodland habitats are shown on Amazon's map and nor is the major city of this region, Andúnië, where the Faithful would ultimately originate from - Amandil, Elendil, Isildur and Anarion.

 

By contrast, the "evergreen and fragrant trees" of the Bay of Eldanna, surrounding the city of Eldalondë, are clearly demarcated as are the "abundance of trees of many kinds" in the Hyarrostar region.

 

I think this is significant given that, in The Description of the Island of Númenor chapter in Unfinished Tales, we learn the following:

 

At the centre of the Bay of Eldanna was the most beautiful of all the havens of Númenor, Eldalondë the Green; and hither in the earlier days the swift white ships of the Eldar of Eressëa came most often.

And about that place, up the seaward slopes and far into the land, grew the evergreen and fragrant trees that they brought out of the West, and so throve there that the Eldar said that almost it was fair as a haven in Eressëa. They were the greatest delight of Numenor, and they were remembered in many songs long after they had perished for ever, for few ever flowered east of the Land of Gift: oiolairë and lairelossë, nessamelda, vardarianna, taniquelassë, and yavannamirë with its globed and scarlet fruits. Flower, leaf, and rind of those trees exuded sweet scents and all that country was full of blended fragrance; therefore it wascalled Nísimaldar, the Fragrant Trees.

Many of them were planted and grew, though far less abundantly, in other region of Númenor; but only here grew the mighty golden tree malinornë reaching after five centuries a height scarce less than it achieved in Eressëa itself. Its bark was silver and smooth, and its boughs somewhat upswept after the manner of the beech; but it never grew save with a single trunk. Its leaves, like those of the beech but greater, were pale green above and beneath were silver glistering in the sun; in the autumn they did not fall, but turned to pale gold.In the spring it bore golden blossom in clusters like a cherry, which bloomed on during the summer; and as soon as the flowers opened the leaves fell, so that through spring and summer a grove of malinornë was carpeted and roofed with gold, but its pillars were of grey silver.

Its fruit was a nut with a silver shale; and some were given as gift by Tar-Aldarion, the sixth King of Númenor, to King Gilgalad of Lindon. They did not take root in that land; but Gil-galad gave some to his kinswoman Galadriel, and under her power they grew and flourished in the guarded land of Lothlórien beside the River Anduin, until the High Elves at last left Middle-earth; but they did not reach the height or girth of the great groves of Númenor.

 

In the Hyarrostar grew an abundance of trees of many kinds, and among them the laurinquë in which the people delighted for its flowers, for it had no other use.

This name they gave it because of its longhanging clusters of yellow flowers; and some who had heard from the Eldar of Laurelin, the Golden Tree of Valinor, believed that it came from that great Tree, being brought in seed thither by the Eldar; but it was not so. From the days of Tar-Aldarion there were great plantations in the Hyarrostar to furnish timber for shipbuilding.

 

These two wooded areas are intrinsically connected to the career of Aldarion and (1) his relations with Gil-galad and Galadriel along with (2) his eventual decision to start logging and deforesting the Middle-Earth countries of the Enedwaith and Minhiriath for timber, after his felling of trees triggers consternation among the Númenóreans, including his own wife Erendis.

 

From the corresponding 'dis-emphasis' placed upon Andustar, I think we can be fairly certain that the Faithful will not be present because the series is set much too early, before the coming of the shadow to Númenor and its division into two antagonistic political parties of Elf-friends and King's Men resisting the Ban of the Valar.

 

Jeremy Edmonds, likewise, has dated the map released on March 7th ("Map 5") to "S.A. 750 to circa S.A. 1000, when the Númenóreans are just starting to explore and colonize Middle-earth, Eregion is founded by the Noldor, and Sauron is just beginning to stir again. This time frame pretty much exactly matches the reign of Tar-Aldarion, the sixth King of Númenor."

 

The presence of Ost-In-Edhil on the map sets a de minimis of 750 S.A., when this Noldorin city was founded, and a probable de maximus S.A. 1000, when Sauron moved to Mordor, because there is as yet no indication of even the foundations of the Tower of Barad-Dur.

[Werthead]

Looks like New Zealand is out, Scotland is in! Production will be based at a new studio complex in Leith, just outside Edinburgh, and will then range across the entire country.

I'm assuming this means the plans for "visual continuity" between the new series and the Jackson movies is toast, since there's a bit of a difference between the two landscapes, unless they're planning to shoot really big mountain plates somewhere else and then composite them in later on (like they do on Vikings).

[The Marquis de Leech]

I am really pleased by this. Tolkien on screen needs to move out from under the shadow of Peter Jackson, and, well, after the experience with Jackson (gutting of union laws and massive government subsidies), it's nice that we're not facing another shake-down.

[Ran]

3 minutes ago, The Marquis de Leech said:

it's nice that we're not facing another shake-down.

But as far as the Scots are concerned...

[The Marquis de Leech]

So Tom Shippey and John Howe are in...

Not sure how I feel about Howe. On one hand, he's obviously an amazing artist. On the other, he was involved in the Jackson movies, and it'd be nice to have a fresh aesthetic.

[Krishtotter]

10 hours ago, The Marquis de Leech said:

So Tom Shippey and John Howe are in...

Not sure how I feel about Howe. On one hand, he's obviously an amazing artist. On the other, he was involved in the Jackson movies, and it'd be nice to have a fresh aesthetic.

I'm very happy about Shippey, ambivalent to mildly positive about Howe. 

The former is a first-rate Tolkien scholar, the latter an excellent artist but like yourself I'm hoping for a new aesthetic in Middle-Earth. 

In addition, I'm looking for a distinct tone from LoTR, as well as a different visual aesthetic. The Second Age is described by Tolkien as 'grim, dark' and 'overlaid with tales of horror'.

Whereas in the First Age we had the heavily idealised romantic union of Beren and Lúthien, and in the Third Age that of Aragorn and Arwen, the one detailed 'love story' of the Second Age - that between Aldarion, heir to the throne of Númenor and Erendis daughter of Beregar - is a poignant and unsparingly frank affair between two ultimately incompatible lovers, both of whom simply don't try hard enough to climb down from their ivory towers and compromise so as to make their marriage work. 

And where longer, or immortal life, on the one hand and mortality or shorter-life on the other, cannot keep Beren and Lúthien or Aragorn and Arwen apart, the difference in lifespan between Aldarion and Erendis does help to doom their love-affair. 

One, Aldarion, besotted with his sea-voyages and foreign expansion and alliances; the other, Erendis, besotted with her homeland, trees and an isolationist life, both of whom grow increasingly distant with time, until their friction results in their daughter Ancalime growing up unbalanced and traumatised by their feud.

And it all ends with Erendis effectively drowning herself in the sea out of despair - neglected by her daughter, whom she mollycoddled too much, and separated from Aldarion - whilst Aldarion (who is of the longer-lived Line of Elros) outlasts his former spouse by a hundred years, only near the end of which he finally realises - in old age and with bitter regret -that the happiest days of his life were the ones he had spent at home with Erendis before he departed abroad, if only he had known it then. But he can't go back.

That pretty much sums up the tone of the Second Age, before we even get to Sauron's fall from original idealistic grace, his execution of Celebrimbor the ring-forger by having his body hung from a pole and shot through with arrows to be used as a battle-standard after torturing him for information, or the corruption of Númenor as it becomes a tyrannical imperial power that persecutes, enslaves and sacrifices people (partly under the influence of Sauron) resulting in its sinking under the sea after a vain attempt to militarily wrest immortal life from the Valar.

[Rhom]

So Tolkien was the original Lord Grimdark?!!?  

[Corvinus85]

1 hour ago, Rhom said:

So Tolkien was the original Lord Grimdark?!!?  

Well, did you read the Silmarillion? 

[Slurktan]

9 hours ago, Krishtotter said:

In addition, I'm looking for a distinct tone from LoTR, as well as a different visual aesthetic. The Second Age is described by Tolkien as 'grim, dark' and 'overlaid with tales of horror'.

Whereas in the First Age we had the heavily idealised romantic union of Beren and Lúthien, and in the Third Age that of Aragorn and Arwen, the one detailed 'love story' of the Second Age - that between Aldarion, heir to the throne of Númenor and Erendis daughter of Beregar - is a poignant and unsparingly frank affair between two ultimately incompatible lovers, both of whom simply don't try hard enough to climb down from their ivory towers and compromise so as to make their marriage work. 

See maybe it's just me but these two paragraphs don't jive together.  'Overlaid with tales of horror' then an example is a not particularly messy divorce?  I guess I find divorce sad at times(and good at others) but not a horror.  I would also almost guarantee that will never be filmed as it is too mundane.  Why watch a bare bones divorce story in a fantasy setting when I could just watch a far more detailed and intricate divorce story in a normal setting?

As to other news, I wish they didn't hire John Howe.  Specifically because he doesn't accurately depict things in terms of armor, weapons and what not.  Oh well basic medieval stuff as always.  Boo,

[Krishtotter]

4 hours ago, Slurktan said:

See maybe it's just me but these two paragraphs don't jive together.  'Overlaid with tales of horror' then an example is a not particularly messy divorce?  I guess I find divorce sad at times(and good at others) but not a horror.  I would also almost guarantee that will never be filmed as it is too mundane.  Why watch a bare bones divorce story in a fantasy setting when I could just watch a far more detailed and intricate divorce story in a normal setting?

As to other news, I wish they didn't hire John Howe.  Specifically because he doesn't accurately depict things in terms of armor, weapons and what not.  Oh well basic medieval stuff as always.  Boo,

Oh no, I should have made myself clearer.

The 'dark tales of horror' element was in reference to the bits at the bottom of my post, the human sacrifices in Numenor, their enslavement of the men of Middle-Earth, Celebrimbor's dead body being hung on a pole and used as a battle-standard etc. 

 

Quote

 

"Then Celebrimbor was put to torment ... Concerning the Three Rings Sauron could learn nothing from Celebrimbor; and he had him put to death... In black anger Sauron turned back to battle; and bearing as a banner Celebrimbor's body hung upon a pole, shot through with Orc-arrows, he turned upon the forces of Elrond."

Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 4, The History of Galadriel and Celeborn: Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn

 

 

My reference to Aldarion and Erendis was simply to illustrate that even the 'romantic' stories are, well, not particularly romanticized from this age of Middle-Earth as many are accustomed to thinking of a Tolkien romance, as Tolkien purposefully wrote it but rather unsparingly messy, honest and realistic in the depiction of a relationship gone very awry that has disastrous ramifications for everyone involved.

Consider the "non-love" affair between Aldarion's daughter Ancalime and Hallacar, with whom she has a political marriage to cement her succession to the throne against a rival, Soronto (who would have been heir under the old succession laws which passed to men alone but Aldarion changed it in favour of his daughter):

Quote

Her life with Hallacar was unhappy, and she begrudged him her son Anárion, and there was strife between them thereafter. She sought to subject him, claiming to be the owner of his land, and forbidding him to dwell upon it, for she would not, as she said, have her husband a farmsteward.

Not exactly Aragorn and Arwen is it, or Eowyn and Faramir?

Erendis raised her daughter Ancalime to believe that Númenórean men view women as being "for their body's need" alone. Erendis told Ancalime that men believe: 

Quote

"All things were made for their service: hills are for quarries, river to furnish water or to turn wheels, trees for boards, women for their body's need, or if fair to adorn their table and hearth...If we love Numenor also, let us enjoy it before they ruin it. We also are daughters of the great, and we have wills and courage of our own. Therefore do not bend, Ancalime. Once bend a little, and they [men] will bend you further until you are bowed down."

 

[Krishtotter]

7 hours ago, Rhom said:

So Tolkien was the original Lord Grimdark?!!?  

Well, Tolkien's own admission about the "older legends" (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien p. 333):

 

  Quote

"Nearly all are grim and tragic: a long account of the disasters that destroyed the beauty of the Ancient World, from the darkening of Valinor to the Downfall of Númenor and the flight of Elendil. And there are no hobbits. Nor does Gandalf appear."

In his Letter 131, which Tolkien wrote in 1951 to Milton Waldman of the publishing house, Collins, he writes that the Second age is a "dark age" in which:

  Quote

"A new religion, and worship of the Dark, with its temple under Sauron arises. The Faithful are persecuted and sacrificed. The Númenóreans carry their evil also to Middle-earth and there become cruel and wicked lords of necromancy, slaying and tormenting men; and the old legends are overlaid with dark tales of horror"

 

His words, not mine. i.e. from Tal-Elmar in HoME:

Quote

And the High Men of the Sea (Numenoreans). These indeed we may dread as Death...But hither they have not come since my father's days, and then only to raid and catch men and depart...In greater numbers they come then: two ships or more together, stuffed with men and not goods, and ever one of the accursed ships hath black wings. For that is the Ship of the Dark, and in it they bear away evil booty, captives packed like beasts, the fairest women and children, or young men unblemished, and that is their end.

 

Tal-Elmar, by the way, is about the Faithful or "good" Elf-friend Númenórean settlers in Middle-Earth, not the Morgoth worshipping King's Men, and they aren't exactly saints to say the least, as you can see from the above.

Fear is the recurrent theme. The protagonist, Tal-Elmar, and his people are in fear of their immediate neighbours with whom they have fought wars and both subdued and been subdued by in turn, in fear of the black-sailed slave vessels of Númenor with their galleys full of the fairest women and young men hounded together in the galleys like animals, and harbour a primeval fear of the dark – “being taught so from babyhood” to beware of getting caught outside at night. Tal-Elmar, in spite of his intrepid disposition and courage, is terrified of running into “dark spirits that hated men” and “wood-demons” - servants of Sauron, I presume.

The Númenóreans, for their part and because of their grace of having extraordinarily long life, have an overwhelming fear of death, aging, loss of youthful vitality and decay, which is what drives them to act as they do and ultimately fall under the Shadow.

If I see merry little hobbits walking around alongside Gandalf, completely out of place in the Second Age, I won't be pleased. 

[Krishtotter]

I'm hoping to see some exploration of fraught intra-Elvish relations in the TV series. 

The quote below explains the reason why they were deceived into forging the rings of power, as an originally utopian endeavour to restore the forgotten lands of Middle-Earth, after the War of Wrath, and to prevent its further decay:

 

"But the elves are not wholly good or in the right. Not so much because they had flirted with Sauron, as because with or without his assistance they were 'embalmers.' They wanted to have their cake and eat it: to live in the mortal historical Middle-earth because they had become (and perhaps because they had the advantages of) a superior caste, and so tried to stop its change and history, stop its growth, keep it as a pleasurance, even largely a desert, where they could be 'artists' - and they were overburdened with sadness and nostalgic regret." (Letter 154, JRR Tolkien)

 

There is a fair dose of intra-Elvish politics in the Second Age, which I sincerely hope the Amazon series will find the time to explore. In the Unfinished Tales' rendering of the story, Celebrimbor is deceived by Sauron into instigating an uprising against Galadriel to seize power in the Noldor Kingdom of Eregion, possibly starting a civil war, which ultimately leads to the complete devastation of his homeland in the First War of the Ring, which involves Sauron using his arrow-ridden corpse hung from a pole as a battle standard for his armies, as I noted earlier.

 

Many of the Silvan Elves of Lorinand likewise resent the Noldor and Sindarin incursion into, and overtaking of, their lands, because they had for long ages lived as 'free people' in a sort of primeval, libertarian anarchy without princes or overlords, akin to an egalitarian commune:

 

 

Quote

 

"But in the meantime the power of Galadriel and Celeborn had grown, and Galadriel...had come into contact with the Nandorin realm of Lórinand on the other side of the Misty Mountains.

This was peopled by those Elves who forsook the Great Journey of the Eldar from Cuiviénen and settled in the woods of the Vale of Anduin [The Silmarillion p.94]; and it extended into the forests on both sides of the Great River including the region where afterwards was Dol Guldur. These Elves had no princes or rulers, and led their lives free of care while all Morgoth's power was concentrated in the North-west of Middle-earth" (Unfinished Tales)

 

 

 

When the Eldar effectively 'colonised' the region as they moved out of Eregion, they not only imposed authoritarian-monarchism on a formerly self-governing, republican people, but brought armaments and the knowledge of the great wars of Beleriand with them, which the Silvan Elves had isolated themselves from in their peaceful idyll.

 

Galadriel relocated to Lorinand and made it a stronghold in the war against Sauron that broke out with invasion of Eriador in the 1690s S.A. That did not go down well with the Silvan Elves, who nonetheless were compelled to dispatch an army to fight in the conflict led by Amroth at Galadriel's behest. I guess you could view this as conscription!

 

Then, of course, we have the Mírdain Revolt of the Elven-Smiths against Galadriel and Celeborn's rulership in Eregion, which prompts this migration of some of the the Noldor-Sindar to Lorinand.

 

Nimrodel will be shown, I reckon, since she is a strong female character and key figure in this Silvan resistance to Eldarin cultural 'ethnocide', and while this may involve bringing elements of her story with the nobler, higher-class Elf Amroth back a few centuries earlier, I think they may do it.

 

Some relevant quotations from UT:

 

Quote

She [Nimrodel] was of the Silvan elves, and regretted the incoming of the Elves from the West*,* who (as she said) brought wars and destroyed the peace of old. She would speak only the Silvan tongue...

 

Quote

The Silvan elves were hardy and valiant, but ill-equipped with armor and weapons in contrast with the elves of the West; and not disposed to place themselves under the supreme command of Gil-Galad.

 

Quote

They were a remnant of the people of Doriath who harbored still a grudge against the Noldor...settled at the mouth of the Morthond. There was already a primitive people of fisherfolk there, but these in fear of the Eldar fled into the mountains.

 

Quote

[Oropher's Sindar] were soon merged with the the Silvan elves, adapting their language and taking names of Silvan form and style. This they did deliberately; for they...came from Doriath after its ruin and had no desire to leave MIddle-earth, nor to be merged with the other Sindar of Beleriand, dominated by the Noldorin exiles for whom the folk of Doriath had no great love. They wished indeed to become Silvan folk and to return, as they said, to the simple life natural to the Elves before the invitation of the Valar had disturbed it.

[mactwist2]

I'm really looking forward to this and think it's going to be good.  I have faith.  I don't think it's going to be as good as the LOTR trilogy but I hope it's in the same ballpark unlike that horrible Hobbit shit.  I hope they make it their own too.  Make it darker.  Change the way the Orcs and such look.  Make the kills more violent.  Show that it was a grim era.

[Werthead]

Quote

 

In addition, I'm looking for a distinct tone from LoTR, as well as a different visual aesthetic. The Second Age is described by Tolkien as 'grim, dark' and 'overlaid with tales of horror'.

 

I think this fits Howe's aesthetic quite well. Lee has become the dominant Tolkien artist (solely because Christopher Tolkien seems to prefer him, apparently) but his artwork can be quite soft. Howe is darker, with sharper edges and more definition. I think that's a better fit for the Second Age.

[Krishtotter]

On 4/22/2019 at 11:06 AM, Werthead said:

I think this fits Howe's aesthetic quite well. Lee has become the dominant Tolkien artist (solely because Christopher Tolkien seems to prefer him, apparently) but his artwork can be quite soft. Howe is darker, with sharper edges and more definition. I think that's a better fit for the Second Age.

Yes, you make a fair point. Perhaps you are right that Howe's 'sharper edges, definition' and grimmer stylistic approach would better reflect the thematic focus of the Second Age.

My only real qualm has nothing to do with his incontestably good artistic portfolio but rather the fact that he was already one of the main concept artists consulted on the trilogy (alongside Lee was it? I can't quite remember). As an example, consider his painting of the Forostar - a great north-pointing cape in Númenor with towering sea-cliffs, high moors of fir and larch trees and windswept highlands. While Númenor as a whole would likely be a tropical paradise given its southerly position (at least in the 'central belt' of Mittalmar where the capital Armenelos and the volcanic mountain of the Meneltarma lie), this northern region extending into the sea around Númenor would be a perfect fit for parts of Scotland, particularly the Quiraing (click on text to see) on the Isle of Skye (click on text to see) (where they are reputed to be filming in). 

However, when John Howe first depicted this in 2003, he modelled it on the North Cape in New Zealand (not far from Wellington), as below: 

https://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gallery/data/media/35/Cape-Forostar-portfolio.jpg

I hope they don't try and make it look too much like Jackson's LoTR. This is set thousands of years before the trilogy (about, what, 6,000?) and not only is there a huge island-continent to the far southwest of Middle-Earth, between far Harad and Aman (Númenor/Westernesse) but the coasts and landmasses look different because a lot changes in the aftermath of the drowning of Númenor at the end of the Second Age. 

In Tolkien's legendarium, the succession of 'ages' is a very profound transformation - and not just an Elvish tool of chronology. In the First Age, the Elven kingdoms are not yet waning, the dominion of Men has not even begun and most the action takes place in the vast subcontinent of Beleriand - a region that will be entirely sunk beneath the waves of the Belegaer by the end of the First Age.

If it looks just like the late Third Age, then I'll know something has gone very wrong in terms of design.

At the beginning, Middle-Earth is partly a charred and neglected continent in the process of 'reconstruction' following the War of Wrath and partly an as-of-yet unspoilt one, with its forests (the 'Barren Lands' by the time of the Third Age) stretching across Enedwaith and Minhiriath in a great chain that the Númenóreans will ultimately log en masse once they enter their full-on imperial phase. 

I am hopeful, therefore, that the change of location to Scotland will mean a fresh aesthetic for Middle-Earth. 

And I do like Howe's other artwork, including his paintings of Númenor i.e. 

https://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gallery/details.php?image_id=1022"

[Ser Drewy]

Lee and Howe both worked on the Jackson films, alongside a team of WETA concept artists and designers. I'd like them to move away from the Jackson aesthetic. Whether the show will be good or not, I'm uncertain, but there's no reason to keep drinking from the same well, as it were, especially with a creation so rich. 

[Werthead]

Quote

 

I hope they don't try and make it look too much like Jackson's LoTR. This is set thousands of years before the trilogy (about, what, 6,000?) and not only is there a huge island-continent to the far southwest of Middle-Earth, between far Harad and Aman (Númenor/Westernesse) but the coasts and landmasses look different because a lot changes in the aftermath of the drowning of Númenor at the end of the Second Age. 

 

Depends on when the show takes place.

Sauron forges the One Ring 4,859 years before the Fellowship forms and sets out.

The Downfall takes place 3,140 years before the same.

[Krishtotter]

4 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Depends on when the show takes place.

Sauron forges the One Ring 4,859 years before the Fellowship forms and sets out.

The Downfall takes place 3,140 years before the same.

Thanks, I had Aldarion and Erendis era in my mind which would be nearly 6,000 years, I think!

[Krishtotter]

On 4/21/2019 at 6:18 AM, Slurktan said:

I would also almost guarantee that will never be filmed as it is too mundane.

 

On that point, I think that Aldarion and Erendis actually raises a number of compelling ethical dilemmas:

 

Quote

 

"...When Aldarion left the chamber, Meneldur looked at the letter that his son had given him, wondering; for he saw that it came from King Gil-galad in Lindon. It was sealed and bore his device of white stars upon a blue rondure. Upon the outer fold was written:

 

Given at Mithlond to the hand of the Lord Aldarion King's Heir of Númenórë, to be delivered to the High King at Armenelos in person.

 

Then Meneldur broke the seal and read:

 

Ereinion Gil-galad son of Fingon to Tar-Meneldur of the line of Eärendil, greeting: the Valar keep you and may no shadow fall upon the Isle of Kings. Long I have owed you thanks, for you have so many times sent to me your son Anardil Aldarion: the greatest Elf-friend that now is among Men, as I deem. At this time I ask your pardon, if I have detained him overlong in my service; for I had great need of the knowledge of Men and their tongues which he alone possesses. He has dared many perils to bring me counsel. Of my need he will speak to you; yet he does not guess how great it is, being young and full of hope. Therefore I write this for the eyes of the King of Númenórë only.

A new shadow arises in the East. It is no tyranny of evil Men, as your son believes; but a servant of Morgoth is stirring, and evil things wake again. Each year it gains in strength, for most Men are ripe to its purpose. Not far off is the day, I judge, when it will become too great for the Eldar unaided to withstand. Therefore, whenever I behold a tall ship of the Kings of Men, my heart is eased. And now I make bold to seek your help. If you have any strength of Men to spare, lend it to me, I beg....

Behold! The darkness that is to come is filled with hatred for us, but it hates you no less. The Great Sea will not be too wide for its wings, if it is suffered to come to full growth.

Manwë keep you under the One, and send fair wind to your sails.

 

Meneldur let the parchment fall into his lap. Great clouds borne upon a wind out of the East brought darkness early, and the tall candles at his side seemed to dwindle in the gloom that filled his chamber. "May Eru call me before such a time comes!" he cried aloud.

"When the Valar gave to us the Land of Gift they did not make us their vice-regents; we were given the Kingdom of Númenor, not of the world. They are the Lords. Here we were to put away hatred and war; for war was ended, and Morgoth thrust forth from Arda. So I deemed, and so was taught.

"Yet if the world grows again dark, the Lords must know; and they have sent me no sign. Unless this be the sign. What then? Our fathers were rewarded for the aid they gave in the defeat of the Great Shadow. Shall their sons stand aloof, if evil finds a new head?

"I am in too great doubt to rule. To prepare or to let be? To prepare for war, which is yet only guessed: train craftsmen and tillers in the midst of peace for bloodspilling and battle: put iron in the hands of greedy captains who will love only conquest, and count the slain as their glory? Will they say to Eru: At least your enemies were amongst them? Or to fold hands, while friends die unjustly: let men live in blind peace, until the ravisher is at the gate? What then will they do: match naked hands against iron and die in vain, or flee leaving the cries of women behind them? Will they say to Eru: At least I spilled no blood?

"When either way may lead to evil, of what worth is choice? Let the Valar rule under Eru! I will resign the Sceptre to Aldarion. Yet that also is a choice, for I know well which road he will take. Unless Erendis..."

(Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 2, Aldarion and Erendis)

 

 

[Werthead]

So, apparently the bulk of filming for the new show will be based in Auckland, New Zealand.

Not sure how that tracks with previous reports of filming in Scotland, as it seems impractical for the show to film on two opposite sides of the planet simultaneously, and that's a colossal expense to up and move production between the two locations. Either that or Scotland was never going to be the location, but the reports seemed pretty firm about it.