I’m still here … re-reading Tolkien

It’s been over 3 months since my last post on this blog …

I feel as ashamed as an orc that has nothing evil to do, or an elf that has no singing to be done.

Second Age confirmed! LOTR Amazon Series

Ladies and Gentleman, we have the island of Númenor!

LOTRonPrime tweeted earlier today an update to their interactive Middle-earth map … and a confirmation that the series will, in some way, reference the Second Age.

A “very” sketchy analysis of the Lord of the Rings Amazon series interactive map

So Amazon just released an interactive map in what appears to be the beginning of a long and tantalising marketing campaign leading to the release of the secretively-termed “Lord of the Rings series”.

The interactivity of this map lies in the user’s ability to zoom in or out of the familiar layout of Middle-earth and scroll across the landscape features. Suffice to say, the map is quite bare – lacking any sort of geographical names or other details.

So what clues can we gather from this rather uncommunicative map. I decided to undertake a quick exercise to analyse the map, and avoid the hundreds of other fan theories most likely spawning out there on the internet.

What follows is my own, unbiased (most probably totally erroneous, but fun-making) analysis of what this map could mean …

The Gates of Morning and the Door of Night, Eä and the Void

[Highly complex illustration follows below]

The Silmarillion contains two obscure references to places or “structures” that seem to be the opposite of each other. Both are fascinating concepts but difficult to grasp given how little information we have access to.

TTRT: The Silmarillion – Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age

In which these tales and this series come to an end

The fourth and final of the short works that make up The Silmarillion, deals primarily with the events taking place in the Third Age, most of which are recounted in The Lord of the Rings.

It’s fascinating to know that Tolkien wanted to include this work along with the others, thereby producing a book that stretched all the way from the beginning of Arda (in the Ainulindalë) right through the end of the Third Age.

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TTRT: The Silmarillion – Akallabêth

The Downfall of Númenor

As already stated at the beginning of the TTRT series, although the Akallabêth is a separate account from the History of the Silmarils, it is nonetheless part of The Silmarillion as a book: presenting us with the continuation of events at the end of the First Age, with a perspective on the island of Númenor.

It is a fact that from all the works related to Middle-earth, the Second Age is perhaps the least accessible due to the lack of any substantial information.

Our primary sources as to what happens during this 3000-year period consist of a timeline in Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings, a brief account and story in Unfinished Tales, and the ‘Akallabêth’.

My view is that the ‘Akallabêth’ is our most comprehensive account we have available of the Second Age, and is the key to filling up the gap between the events at the end of the ‘Quenta Silmarillion’ and the earliest histories of the Third Age as recounted in The Lord of the Rings.

Celebrian: The Silver Crown-Gift

– You asked for it, you got it …

At the mere mention of the word “Celebrian”, the majority of Tolkien readers would stir in their seats; they would frown; and their minds switch to SEARCHING MODE.

All this in a vain attempt to try and piece together a background for this character and place the name within the stories of Middle-earth.

And I wouldn’t blame them …

Celebrian is an extremely obscure figure, whose references in any of Tolkien’s works (by which I mean not just The Lord of the Rings), amounts to only a handful of words.

So who is Celebrian?

“Celeb” meaning “silver” and “(-rian)” signifying “crown-gift” was an elf of Lórien; and more importantly, she was the daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn.

Furthermore, she was the wife of Elrond and the mother of Elladan, Elrohir and Arwen.

Other than that, we have no date of birth, nor any indication of her presence before the beginning of the Third Age.

In Unfinished Tales, in the chapter concerning ‘The History of Galadriel and Celeborn’, we get a few references to Celebrian.

The Dark Land … (not Mordor, the other one)

– Something else lies “dark” within Arda …

In the early part of the 20th century, Tolkien wrote a short treatise entitled ‘Ambarkanta’ (found in ‘The Shaping of Middle-earth’), relating the shape and layout of the world (Arda) –  sketching a map (amongst several) with all the continents within – namely: Aman, Middle-earth, Harad and the Great Sea.

The Men of the Sea: Part I

The first of an article in two parts I had written a while back …

The Númenórean fleet and the voyages throughout Arda

1.0 Introduction

The Númenóreans were, without any doubt, not only the greatest mortal beings, but also the finest mariners in the Second Age. Their skills in the building of ships and their voyages across the vast seas of the world were unsurpassed by any other race. This article will give a glimpse into the workings of their fleet and how it was organized. Also, it will look into the innumerable navigations that the men of Númenor undertook throughout the wide oceans. I shall be looking mainly at a span of 1523 years: from the first Númenórean ships to arrive in Middle-Earth, until the death of Tar-Minastir, when they began “failing” as a race.

Approaching Tolkien: ‘Unfinished Tales’

– Connecting the dots …

I’ve always looked at the ‘Unfinished Tales’ as one stocky appendix book, containing all the intricate information (in prose form) that could not possibly fit at the back of ‘The Silmarillion’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’.

It goes without saying but here it goes (… with the saying). This book should only be read AFTER you’ve gone through all three major books.