Lord of the Rings TV series gets multi-season order at Amazon

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

I have no recolection of this at all, very disconcerting!

This puts my entire self-image as a Tolkien-nerd into question...

Now you're making me doubt myself...

... I'm not crazy! It's in Unfinished Tales.

Originally Posted by Galadriel & Celeborn

In black anger he 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.

Which section, though it's just a couple of paragraphs, actually does give us a fair bit more detail about the War of the Elves and Sauron:

Originally Posted by The previous paragraph

When Sauron learned of the repentance and revolt of Celebrimbor his disguise fell and his wrath was revealed; and gathering a great force he moved over Calenardhon (Rohan) to the invasion of Eriador in the year 1695. When news of this reached Gil-galad he sent out a force under Elrond Half-elven; but Elrond had far to go, and Sauron turned north and made at once for Eregion. The scouts and vanguard of Sauron's host were already approaching when Celeborn made a sortie and drove them back; but though he was able to join his force to that of Elrond they could not return to Eregion, for Sauron's host was far greater than theirs, great enough both to hold them off and closely to invest Eregion. At last the attackers broke into Eregion with ruin and devastation, and captured the chief object of Sauron's assault, the House of the Mírdain, where were their smithies and their treasures. Celebrimbor, desperate, himself withstood Sauron on the steps of the great door of the Mírdain; but he was grappled and taken captive, and the House was ransacked. There Sauron took the Nine Rings and other lesser works of the Mírdain; but the Seven and the Three he could not find. Then Celebrimbor was put to torment, and Sauron learned from him where the Seven were bestowed. This Celebrimbor revealed, because neither the Seven nor the Nine did he value as he valued the Three; the Seven and the Nine were made with Sauron's aid, whereas the Three were made by Celebrimbor alone, with a different power and purpose. [It is not actually said here that Sauron at this time took possession of the Seven Rings, though the implication seems clear that he did so. In Appendix A (III) to The Lord of the Rings it is said that there was a belief among the Dwarves of Durin's Folk that the Ring of Durin III, King of Khazad-dûm, was given to him by the Elven-smiths themselves, and nothing is said in the present text about the way in which the Seven Rings came into possession of the Dwarves.] Concerning the Three Rings Sauron could learn nothing from Celebrimbor; and he had him put to death. But he guessed the truth, that the Three had been committed to Elvish guardians: and that must mean to Galadriel and Gil-galad.

It's interesting that Sauron guessed Galadriel had at least one of the Three waaaay back in 1700 S.A., but by the time the Fellowship hit Lorien five thousand years later, Galadriel could still say 'He suspects, but he does not know - not yet.' She did an amazing job of keeping that secret!

hS

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Now you're making me doubt myself...

... I'm not crazy! It's in Unfinished Tales.

I know you are not. As soon as i read your post I checked if it was true.
The only proper conclusion is that I need to read Unfinished Tales again.

[Huinesoron]

"One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne. In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."

(Explorable map)

There's a lot to speculate on with this update (which may or may not be the last update). Does the labelling of all three Mountains of Moria mean the Dwarven city will play a major role? How significant is the extention of the road through Mirkwood all the way to the Iron Hills? Why have they used Sindarin for both Dimrill Dale and Lake Evendim?

The crucial thing, though, is that the cities of Elendil's sons are named Minas Anor and Minas Ithil, placing this map firmly before the fall of the latter to the Nazgul. Of course, their very appearance means that the map must post-date the fall of Numenor, neatly ruling out the war with Eregion as a possibility.

More tentatively, the North Road runs to Fornost, with no roads leading to Annuminas; I suspect this means that we're looking at a time after the throne of Arthedain moved east. And... well... there's only really one story between the division of Arnor and the fall of Minas Ithil, so I'm reasonably confident that the map is pointing (for whatever reason) at the Fall of Arnor.

Which is something I've wanted for quite some time, but would also make a lot of sense to lead in to an Aragorn series. It establishes why he's not a king (Arvedui) and why he could become one (Earnur). It also sets up the Nazgul as a hereditary enemy, which - especially if the series heads into Rhun - means they can be used as local threats for Aragorn.

hS

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Fanfic with a budget and a distributor is still fanfic.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

Fanfic with a budget and a distributor is still fanfic.

Yes; an adaptation will always be an adaptation. And if you don't want to view an adaptation, then whatever Amazon comes out with probably won't be for you.

But I'm still excited. ^_^

hS

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Yes; an adaptation will always be an adaptation. And if you don't want to view an adaptation, then whatever Amazon comes out with probably won't be for you.

But I'm still excited. ^_^

You and probably many others. Not I, though,

This is an old stance of mine, going all the way back to the PJ movie announcement. I think for me the sticking point is this: how dependent is my enjoyment of Tolkien's world on the manner in which he presents it? The answer, is highly.

The man was such a unique writer in his use of language, in his characterizations, and the overarching world view in the books that deeply resonates with me, that any other "take" on his work always falls short. Quite simply, I don't appreciate or need the efforts of adaptions.
Others disagree, obviously. To quote a movie from a book that I do enjoy:

"For those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like".

[Huinesoron]

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.



Welcome to the Second Age

Okay, now can I get excited? ^_^

The use of the 'star' map of Numenor confirms that Amazon have the rights to more than just the old LotR+Hobbit deal, because that map and description only appears in Unfinished Tales. That doesn't necessarily mean they're going full Fall of Numenor (or even, since Ost-in-Edhil appears on this version of the map, full Fall of Eregion), but it means they apparently can do some of that sort of thing.

So anyway: aaaaaaaaaaaa.

As Inziladun rightly says, whatever they come up with won't match up to Tolkien's own writings, and there's every chance they'll come up drastically short (though the fact that they correctly added the forests of Eriador to the Second Age map, and filled in the East Bight, says they're paying at least some attention), but still, "for those who like that sort of thing..."

aaaaaaaaaaa

hS