Tolkien’s world of Middle-earth has certainly been making waves lately. Whether it be the twentieth anniversary of the Peter Jackson trilogy, the ten-figure price tag on Amazon’s Rings of Power series, or the upcoming War of the Rohirrim film, there has been far more Tolkien-based film projects in the works in the last few years than perhaps at any other point in history. But for fans of film adaptations at least, the last week has proven to be an exciting glimpse at the future of Middle-earth films.
Just a few days ago, Warner Bros made the announcement that a whole new lineup of films set in Middle-earth are coming down the pike while remaining mysteriously vague about the actual nature of the projects themselves. Some have leapt on the idea that this means that Warner Bros is remaking The Lord of the Rings, but the official statements would tend to suggest otherwise. The studio leaders made the statement that “for all the scope and detail lovingly packed into the two trilogies, the vast, complex and dazzling universe dreamed up by J.R.R. Tolkien remains largely unexplored.” If anything, this would seem to suggest that the focus of new films will not be on remaking The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, but rather on the other great and compelling stories of the world of Middle-earth.
Now the rights would tend to run into a few issues here. So far as anyone knows, no new rights have been sold from the Tolkien Estate, so most of the major events of the First and Second Ages of Middle-earth (contained in The Silmarillion, to which the rights have not been sold) are presumably off-limits. That having been said, the rights to The Lord of the Rings books contain a wealth of material from the appendices of the books, which contain, in addition to notes on the peoples of Middle-earth and their languages, extensive timelines of the Ages and a number of fleshed-out narratives about the other major events of the Third Age, happening before, during, and after the events of the War of the Ring all across the continent.
Given the vast wealth of available material, then, what sorts of stories are audiences likely to get from this new run of films? The internet is full of theories, from the plausible to the satirical, but even the latter have some entertainment value, at the very least. A Legolas/Gimli post-war “buddy cop” comedy? An Aragorn/Arwen rom-com, featuring Elrond as the grumpy dad? A Julia Child-style Middle-earth cooking show (Everything’s Better with Butterbur)? A gritty organized crime drama about the illegal Old Toby-smuggling drug cartel? Saruman must have transported it somehow…
Joking aside, however, if Warner Bros wants to flesh out the stories and fill in the cinematic gaps from the previous explorations of Middle-earth, there are plenty of untouched stories that could make excellent films — or even entire series. Here are ten of the best unexplored stories from Tolkien’s Third Age:
1 The Aragorn Origin Story
One of the earliest (false) rumors about what became the Rings of Power series was that it would be a “Young Aragorn” origin story/series. While that turned out not to be the case, one of the reasons that it caught on in the first place was that Tolkien fleshed out a great deal of Aragorn’s story in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings: how he met Arwen, his service in the wars of both Gondor and Rohan, his unexplained and unknown mission into Mordor itself, and his earlier adventures with Gandalf, including his eventual capture of Gollum by following a trail that had been cold for years. There is a fascinating story to be told just about his life before the events of The Lord of the Rings, and filmmakers would do well to explore the further story of such a beloved character.
2 The Fall of Khazad-dum
Of course, one of the most important stories in the background of The Lord of the Rings is that the darkness of Moria was once the bustling center of the greatest dwarf kingdom in all of Middle-earth. While some of this material has already been explored in the storylines of The Rings of Power, having a movie take on the dwarf kingdom as its central focus would be a dream come true for many fans. The exploration of the history of Khazad-dum is an excellent canvas both for historical Easter Eggs from Tolkien’s legendarium and for a creative centerpiece for storytelling. It has excellent drama built in already: the tragic fall of a kingdom thousands of years old by the consuming desire to mine into deeper and darker places, where the dwarves awake a great fiery demon of the ancient world.
3 Fram and Scatha the Worm
One of the lesser-known, but compelling, tales of the Third Age has to do with probably the most unknown dragon story in the history of Middle-earth. There are four named dragons in Middle-earth history: Smaug (of The Hobbit fame), Glaurung the Golden (a monstrous thorn in the side of the First Age), Ancalagon the Black (the greatest of all dragons), and Scatha the Worm. Scatha was a dragon of the mid-Third Age that stole a hoard of dwarf treasure and was killed by one of the ancestors of the later Rohirrim, Fram son of Frumgar. Fram was himself later killed in a dispute with the dwarves over the treasure. Especially with the War of the Rohirrim film’s focus on the people of Rohan, the further stories of that kingdom would be an interesting angle to explore. There is war, dragon-slaying, triumph, and tragedy in Fram’s story, and it would be a good option for films to explore what is otherwise an overlooked story in the history of the Third Age.
4 Travels of Gimli and Legolas
As ironic as the suggestion of a Gimli/Legolas buddy cop comedy was, it would be interesting for a movie to take on the further adventures of the unlikely duo of elf and dwarf. This, too, is something Tolkien went into interesting detail on in the appendices to his book. Apparently, the two of them worked together to rebuild Minas Tirith after the war, with Gimli remaking the gates and refitting them with mithril. The two also visited Fangorn and the Glittering Caves behind Helm’s Deep together and ruled in their respective kingdoms for many years before ultimately taking the ship to Valinor together, after a long and full friendship. It would be delightful to spend more time with the most unlikely of friends, and the right sort of movie could show the mirth, friendship, and bittersweet passing of two of the most entertaining members of the Fellowship.
5 The White Council and the Necromancer
While this storyline was explored to some degree in The Hobbit films, the initial return of Sauron is something that deserves a fuller treatment. Before he retreated to Mordor to regather his strength, Sauron in the form of the Necromancer did plenty of damage: recapturing a number of the Rings of Power, moving troops against Gondor, and searching for the heirs of Isildur in order to destroy them. He was ultimately forced to withdraw by the might of the White Council, which would be a convenient trip down memory lane for Middle-earth filmmakers: Gandalf, Galadriel, Saruman, and Elrond all working together against the great villain of the Third Age.
6 The Rise (and Fall) of Angmar
Another lesser-known story that could become an excellent movie is the tale of the Rise of Angmar. It involves further exploration of an interesting character from the books (the Witch King) and fills out a backstory many people would be interested in. The Witch King waged war against the Dunedain in the kingdom of Cardolan and even laid siege to Rivendell itself. He was eventually defeated by the king of Gondor, but caused more than enough chaos and sapped the strength of the Kingdom of Arnor before ultimately retreating to Mordor.
7 The Tragedy of Balin’s Expedition
This is a story that actually has all the hallmarks of a horror film if a script wanted to take it in that direction. It is at the very least an extremely tragic story, narrated in the Book of Mazarbul in the mines of Moria in The Lord of the Rings. After the ultimate success of the mission to retake the Kingdom of Erebor from Smaug, Balin eventually took an expedition back to retake the fallen Kingdom of Khazad-dum. While they initially enjoyed a great deal of success, the book narrates that the party was slowly picked off by creatures in the dark and the Watcher in the Water, and ends with the utterly chilling line “they are coming.”
8 The Reign of Aragorn
While the adventures of young Aragorn are definitely suitable for the big screen treatment, there is plenty of material to cover at the other end of his storyline as well. He did reign as king for 122 years, after all, and he wasn’t exactly just practicing his manly smolder the entire time. He re-established Orthanc after the fall of Saruman; he restored Gondor’s old Northern Kingdom of Arnor; he mopped up the remnants of Sauron’s forces after the fall of Mordor, and he recognized the sovereignty of the Shire while establishing a new stable royal line for the Kingdom of Gondor for generations to come. Besides, there would also be an opportunity for plenty of further shenanigans with Gimli and Legolas on all of their adventures, as well.
9 The Scouring of the Shire
One of the more notable omissions from Jackson’s encyclopedically-long Return of the King was something that a new film could finally give its due: the Scouring of the Shire. In the books, after the triumphant return of the hobbits and their company after the fall of Sauron, they come back to The Shire only to find that it has been overtaken by thugs and ruffians who are tormenting the formerly peaceful and content hobbits under the direction of a leader they call “Sharkey.” This Sharkey turns out to be none other than Saruman himself. While in a diminished form after being ousted by Gandalf, he is still powerful and influential enough to terrorize the hobbits, and the four hobbits of the Fellowship have to organize an uprising against him in order to finally drive the wizard out and make him a pincushion for hobbit arrows. While Saruman’s death is much different in the films, a movie devoted just to the aftermath of the War of the Ring would be an interesting angle to take on the story.
10 Erebor and the War of the Ring
But maybe the most interesting story of all is one that ties almost directly into the story of The Lord of the Rings itself. In the books, part of the environment established in the Council of Elrond is that Sauron has made overtures to the dwarves of Erebor, asking them for information about “Baggins” and The Shire and offering some of the dwarven Rings of Power in return. While Dain Ironfoot ultimately refused these bribes, he angered Sauron and his forces in the process, and they moved to open war against him, the dwarves of Erebor, and the Kingdom of Dale as well. At the same time as battle was raging at the gates of Minas Tirith, a massive army of Easterlings was besieging the Lonely Mountain. King Brand of Dale and Dain himself were both killed in these battles, and the Kingdoms were only saved when the Easterlings were driven back after hearing of the failure of the attack of Minas Tirith.
Heroism and tragedy are both present in this storyline, and it is something that would promise to be very near to the themes and ideas of Tolkien’s world as he wrote it. Only time will tell if any of these ever come to pass, but there is still clearly a great many excellent stories still to be told about Middle-earth.
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