Off-genre adaptations

[Huinesoron]

You jest, but you're right. Not necessarily about Tar-Telperiën the Eternal and Undying, Praised be her Name to Annatar the Light-Bringer, but a political horror centred on Numenor and the Nazgul? Absolutely! Three high-ranking Numenorean nobles voluntarily turned themselves into undead sorcerers allied with the Devil's lieutenant, that could be an amazing film.

Yes, it would involve creating new characters, including (at least) three of the Nine, so there is emphatic toe-stamping - but you could still keep Numenor 'in-character', and this is a story you can't really tell in any other canon. Your story is about the corruption of the Royal Council of Numenor in the days of Tar-Telperien; the protagonist is probably Minastir (her nephew and heir), who grows concerned that her rigid neutrality may have something darker behind it. It starts off as a political mystery, then becomes more horror-like as the spectre of death infiltrates Armenelos (metaphorically).

Minastir is buddies with Ciryatur, Admiral of the Fleet (heck, he practically named his son after him!), and has a wary alliance with the Lord of Andunie (who is anti-war, but pro-Lindon); he's trying to unravel the mystery of his aunt's corruption in time to save Lindon. He gets snippets of information from the mainland - a message from Gil-Galad mentioning that 'three of the Nine have sailed west'. Somewhere in the middle of the film, he probably sends Ciryatur off with a fleet to save Lindon, without the queen's approval, and gets himself in heaps of trouble...

Is Tar-Telperien a Nazgul in this version? Probably not, though it's possible one of her Ringbearing advisors is extending her life. She's probably a bait-and-switch - someone Minastir and the audience both think has been corrupted, until (maybe on her deathbed) she finally points the finger at someone else...

It could work!

hS