Continue reading “The Tolkien Road – Ep. 27 – The Lord of the Rings – B1C5 – A Conspiracy Unmasked”
For the first post in this series, I argued that despite his apparent misgivings, Christopher Tolkien must act soon to secure a visual future forThe Silmarillion that is in-line with his father’s overall vision. In this post, I examine the question: Is cinema the best visual medium for adapting The Silmarillion?
The main problem with a visual adaptation of The Silmarillion is similar to The Silmarillion‘s problem as a novel. To put it simply, The Silmarillion isn’t really one story, the kind of thing we’re used to getting in a novel, but a connected anthology of stories taking place in the same secondary reality.* While one is capable of summarizing the basic thrust of The Silmarillion in a few paragraphs, the beauty of The Silmarillion isn’t in its surprise ending or action-packed plotting, but in its exquisite detail and elegant themes. The best stories, after all, are not piles of text we simply consume and then discard, mere candy bars for the brain. No, the best stories are the ones we revisit time and again because of the subtle notes and layers revealed upon multiple readings, or perhaps even because the savor of them is so delicious. Therefore, when considering a visual adaptation of The Silmarillion, one must ask: HOW? Continue reading “Thoughts on a Silmarillion Film Pt 2: A Majestic Whole”
When I was a kid, I loved to look at maps. I collected the folded map inserts that came with National Geographic and would post them on the walls of my room so that I could just stare at them and contemplate the wonder that is the Earth. I was particularly fascinated by the vastness of the Asian continent, and especially by the two huge bodies of water that lay at its heart: the Caspian and Aral seas.
A few years ago, I was perusing Google Maps and was astonished to find that the smaller of the two, the Aral Sea, was no longer there. That had to be some kind of error on the part of Google, right? A quick search on Wikipedia told me otherwise. The Aral Sea is basically gone, the victim of a man-made environmental disaster.
And such man-made disasters really do abound these days. Here’s a a list of some others.
Now it’s no news that Tolkien’s works are infused with a sort of proto-environmentalism. To be sure, it sometimes seems like what he said of the Catholic faith and The Lord of the Rings could be said of environmentalism as well: “The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally environmentalist work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.” Heck, the book contains a whole section that could essentially be known as “revenge of the trees”!
On June 18th, the Vatican released Pope Francis’ latest encyclical Laudato Si’, which most are referring to as his “environmental” encyclical. However, as I read the document last week, I was struck by just how much the work goes well beyond the pale of standard environmental issues to connect said issues with the world of economics, social problems, and the human heart. And of course I couldn’t help but sense a number of themes that resonated deeply with Tolkien’s work and thought.*
Continue reading “Laudato Si’: Pope Francis’ Tolkienian Encyclical”
This is my first post in a series on the idea of a Silmarillion film series as well as other visual takes on Tolkien’s Middle-earth.
The Hobbit film trilogy is now behind us, and so it would seem are the days of Middle-earth on film. (*) Yet just as the reader who comes to the end of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit will inevitably consider taking up The Silmarillion, so too will Hollywood consider taking up Tolkien’s tales concerning Middle-earth’s First Age, and many Tolkien fans will pine for them to do so. (**)
A few months back, The Tolkien Library asked “Will we ever see The Silmarillion on the big screen?” and basically answered the question “No way.” Citing Christopher Tolkien’s disgust with Peter Jackson’s adaptations and Jackson’s own admission that the Tolkien Estate seems to have no interest in discussing it, the cause does seem rather hopeless. Yet, at the same time, the potential for incredible financial gain from anything bearing Tolkien’s name (and most certainly anything taking place in Middle-earth) leaves me feeling the need to posit the following:
Continue reading “Thoughts on a Silmarillion Film Pt 1: The Long Defeat”
This is my final post on “Akallabêth”, the chronicle of Númenor and the Second Age. The Silmarillion proper comes to an end with the downfall of Morgoth which ends the First Age of Middle-earth. The Second Age immediately follows, the age of that great civilization of men, Númenor. It is also the age in which Sauron assumes the mantle of “chief bad guy” and in which the stage is set for much of the backstory of The Lord of the Rings.
Continue reading “The Silmarillion – A Beginner’s Guide – Pt 37 (Akallabêth pt 4)”
This is my 3rd post on “Akallabêth”, the chronicle of Númenor and the Second Age. The Silmarillion proper comes to an end with the downfall of Morgoth which ends the First Age of Middle-earth. The Second Age immediately follows, the age of that great civilization of men, Númenor. It is also the age in which Sauron assumes the mantle of “chief bad guy” and in which the stage is set for much of the backstory of The Lord of the Rings.
Continue reading “The Silmarillion – A Beginner’s Guide – Pt 36 (Akallabêth pt 3)”
The Silmarillion proper comes to an end with the downfall of Morgoth which ends the First Age of Middle-earth. The Second Age immediately follows, the age of that great civilization of men, Númenor. It is also the age in which Sauron assumes the mantle of “chief bad guy” and in which the stage is set for much of the backstory of The Lord of the Rings.
“Akallabêth” is sub-titled “The Downfall of Númenor.” In my first post on “Akallabêth” I examined Tolkien’s thoughts on this story in the Waldman letter. In this and the following posts, I’ll examine the Rise, Decline, and Fall of Númenor.
Come back for more on Akallabêth in the next few weeks. Feel free to leave your thoughts and questions on this chapter in the comments below!
Concerning the second part of Chapter 9 of The Silmarillion, “Of the Flight of the Noldor.”
In episode 17, we discuss Chapter 8 of The Silmarillion, “Of the Darkening of Valinor.”
True Myths Archive 