In case you haven’t heard yet, the new Lord of the Rings series from Amazon Prime Video will not be retreading the same ground that Peter Jackson paved in this trilogy back in the early 2000s. No, it may bear the Lord of the Rings name, but it will be telling completely different stories set during the Second Age of Middle-Earth.

I’ll admit, I’m not Tolkien aficionado myself. My knowledge begins with The Hobbit novel and ends with The Lord of the Rings novels. Beyond those stories, I never really indulged in the greater world of Middle-earth. But apparently, there’s a lot of breathing room in the Second Age for Amazon to play around in, as indicated by Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey, who recently said as such to a German-language Tolkien fansite when he said they don’t know a whole lot about the age.

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“It is difficult because the Second Age kind of “stopped” twice. Once with the Fall of Númenor and then, about 150 years later, with the Last Alliance and the defeat of Sauron. The end of the Second Age on a map looks about the same as the beginning of the Third Age in terms of place names, coastline or border lines. In addition, the difference to the middle of the Second Age is already much greater. Númenor is still listed on the map, the place names are different, we are literally before the transformation of the world by Ilúvatar.

“It will be of great importance for the series when exactly the plot takes place, at which point in Middle-earth history something happens. This was one of our difficulties when creating a map for the Second Age, because you have to determine very precisely what date this map should be from. Tolkien wrote some of it down, but as far as the Second Age goes, the information we have is a three-page timeline in the appendices to the Lord of the Rings and the List of Kings of Númenor and a little more material in the Unfinished Tales, but that’s about all.”

So, in short, they don’t have a lot to go off of, and the main goal will be to tell a great story that simply doesn’t contradict anything that has been written. And in regards to how much free rein Amazon will have in the story, Shippey said:

“Amazon has a relatively free hand when it comes to adding something, since, as I said, very few details are known about this time span. The Tolkien Estate will insist that the main shape of the Second Age is not altered. Sauron invades Eriador, is forced back by a Númenorean expedition, is returns to Númenor. There he corrupts the Númenoreans and seduces them to break the ban of the Valar. All this, the course of history, must remain the same. But you can add new characters and ask a lot of questions, like: What has Sauron done in the meantime? Where was he after Morgoth was defeated? Theoretically, Amazon can answer these questions by inventing the answers, since Tolkien did not describe it. But it must not contradict anything which Tolkien did say. That’s what Amazon has to watch out for. It must be canonical, it is impossible to change the boundaries which Tolkien has created, it is necessary to remain “tolkienian”.”

Sounds like quite the challenge, and one I hope that translate to an engaging story. While I respect Tolkien for his world-building, his actual storytelling in the books were…not the focus. As such, I hope that, in remaining “tolkienian,” the writers aren’t so slavish to world-building that they forget to include plenty of dramatic tension along the way.

What do you think of Shippey’s comments? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Deutsch Tolkien