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

[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

[Zigûr]

Odd that the Iron Hills aren't named on any of the maps despite the Dwarf-road being identified as ending at them. If they didn't have an Elvish name for it (not that I think "Khand" is an Elvish name, and we know that "Umbar" definitely isn't, coincidences aside) shouldn't Khazad-dûm be called Hadhodrond?

I notice Harad and Khand have each grown a couple of extra mountain ranges and rivers, presumably so Rhûn doesn't feel like the odd one out.