Fanart: A LOTR Space AU

[Yeade]

Yeah, I was referring to Aragorn's exploits in Umbar as Thorongil, Legate of Amon Lanc. Which is one of my favorite stories from the appendices, too, Galadriel55! Tolkien intended to write more of Aragorn's time in Rohan and Gondor, IIRC, but either never got around to it or misplaced whatever he managed to finish. Ah, well! I suppose that's what fanfic's for!

At any rate, thanks for explaining Ar-Pharazôn's monument. I'll look it up in the appendices and try to incorporate it whenever I finally start on Umbar, since it's apparently one of the very few descriptions given of the Corsair port. Though, recently, I had a sudden brainwave and realized I don't yet have any underwater cities in this AU. That's kind of a sci-fi tradition, along with all the planets and moons that rather improbably have only a single habitat, lol. Having a submersible base and vessels is a pretty good way for the Corsairs to both elude the Gondorian navy and launch surprise raids on the southern fiefs, IMO.

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

How do you handle "normal" horses? How about just some sort of intelligent carriers (vehicles)?

With the general technological upgrade, the Rohirrim can't very well ride horses into battle, true. As an alternative, I'm thinking speeder bikes, which you can see in action in Genndy Tartakovsky's awesome animated microseries Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003). Swoops are basically the sci-fi equivalent of cavalry, I figure, with similar speed and mobility compared to infantry, artillery, and more heavily armored vehicles. They're often employed as scouts, too, and would naturally be in the vanguard of an army or screening the flanks of a force on the march.

However, I also feel the Rohirrim are too associated with horses to do away with the animals entirely, so horses still exist in their familiar forms, native to Rohan. I'm now developing the notion that, as you propose, the Rohirrim's speeder bikes are intelligent and that this AI is partly derived from some sort of digital imprinting process done on their prized horses, which copies or even transfers intact the animal's consciousness with all the instincts and training. The Rohirrim can then retain their canon status as horse masters, with their children and soldiers learning how to ride horses so as to better understand how the AI in their most critical technologies would react to stimuli. Being programs, though intricately complex, the AI can be uploaded from the swoops to starfighters, as well.

Perhaps the adaptation loss I regret most here is that, when Théoden arrives to relieve the siege of Minas Tirith, there's no euphonious "Ride of the Rohirrim." 'Cause, you know, the Rohirrim are flying about in spaceships and all.

Originally Posted by Nerwen

What about having the Valar provide the Elves with a sort of movable habitat, maybe a hollowed out asteroid, in which to make the journey? It would be more or less an equivalent to the island on which they're towed across the ocean in The Silmarillion - and then it could remain in orbit around Planet Aman (or whatever you have in mind) as Tol Eressëa, the Lonely Asteroid.

LOL! What a great idea! I hadn't really thought past the Valar sending spaceships with hyperdrives. I do already have hollowed out asteroids in Rivendell (and Moria), though, so maybe just an impressively large starbase? Not so cramped and utilitarian as a spacestation but housing a giant terrarium and many other airy structures. The massive construction isn't the fastest thing in space, lol, and there's a delay in disembarking the Vanyar and Noldor when they reach Aman, then resupplying, so it takes a while before Ulmo can return to Beleriand for the Teleri. I like it! Headcanon accepted!

I'm redrawing the Two Trees, being most dissatisfied with my first attempt, so that picture's going to be unavailable except at deviantART for now. Mount Doom is already conceptualized--I decided relatively early on how Frodo's quest would end--but I've yet to put marker to paper. In the meanwhile, I'm so very happy to be able to discuss my crazy project with folks here! It's been informative and inspiring.