Tolkien's Unfinished Sequel to The Lord of the Rings
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- Опубликовано: 11 дек 2024
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Tolkien had his "this isn't a story that needs to be told" moment. I wish more sequels were subject to that assessment.
That level of clarity is brilliant. I've observed the intellectual struggles and writer's block that can plague follow up books, sometimes resulting in a rushed or hackneyed sequel. It makes me respect his restraint and consideration
@@ThommyofThenn _Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman,_ Walter Miller Jr's follow-up to _A Canticle for Leibowitz,_ is my go to example of a sequel that not only didn't live up to its predecessor but really didn't need to be written.
@@dlxmarks I've seen "Canticle" praised quite a bit, a pity about the sequels. I intend to read the first one and I will be sure to relish the experience as a standalone read.
@@ThommyofThenn I definitely recommend the first book. But the sequel was exactly what Tolkien assessed _The New Shadow_ to be: a weak uninspired follow-up to an epic. Miller worked on the sequel for decades but couldn't finish it and its depressed cynical story reflects his sad decline.
Every story is a story that needs to be told. That's what stories are for.
Tolkien fought in the largest war ever only to see humanity fight an even bigger one a few decades later. The idea that people become bored with peace and forget true evil is something I'm sure resonated with him personally. I can see why, even if just for a moment, he contemplated how his own created world respond to a long peace.
I was thinking exactly the same thing.
Peace can breed complacency, which breeds a weak mentality. Generations of people never knowing what the cost of freedom truly is... They remember the battles but not the blood. 💯 Freedom and peace are never free.
The first world war coul MAYBE fit the description ppl were bored with peace..there was a lot of nationalistic sabre rattling going on and everyone still kinda thought war is glorious.
But the second was not born of boredom or even hunger for war.
It was an born of economic desperation., nationalistic humiliation that was exploited by a populistic psychopath.
The other countries actually tried to pacify germany for as long as possible..which fun y enough made the war possi le in the first place. Had they reacted aggressively, as soon as it was clear germany was arming themselves and started to expand it would have been a beat dow., not a war...
And now, a generation or two removed from that even bigger war, we do indeed seem to be forgetting many of its lessons.
@taylor65712 I dont know peacful coexistence could be possible should be without the threat of violence.
Thanks Robert
- From everyone
“For it is the doom of men that they forget.” - Merlin.
My favorite line from Excalibur.
He wrote the words "Somehow Sauron returned", and realized it was stupid.
Stop. Just stop.
Yup like just about everything that comes out now... Just saw the new Alien film. Somehow it returned 🙄
I see what you did they, and gave you a like!
My friend that is literally the plot of LOTR
@@claytoncoyneyou know what… good point
The appendices at the end of the LOTR are almost a story in itself. Seeing the history of the Shire unfold and Sam, Legolas, Gimli all sailing to Valinor was an amazing read...
The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are "history" others are reference books equivalent to those of the New World before (and in some cases, far before the discovery of Vikings in Canada) 1492.
This channel deserves a billion followers.
Ironically, the idea of humanity's quick satiety with good and forgetting of the past is the kind of story would have been rather valuable today.
Came here to say something to that effect. Complacency settles in all too quickly.
I’ll forever be grateful to Tolkien for essentially defining the Fantasy genre. He started something which will never die…
It’s frustrating that everyone cites him but no one ever talks about Robert E Howard who wrote the Conan series.
@@AnotherZenThought there's that as well ignoring that he had taken inspiration from old myths and legends. He repackaged those things and presented the world with what was in his heart.
@@AnotherZenThought Sadly, Howard's writing never achieved the level of fame they deserved.
It can be said that Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy.
@@staceymalchow4528 …yes fantasy is the reimagining of the ancient myths - of magic, might, and monsters. Engaging with the meaning in myth and the honor of sacrifice.
"The world is gnawed by nameless things. I will bring no report to darken the light of day." - Gandalf // & Tolkien, probably.
Comme d'habitue, une excellente réflexion sur l'univers de Tolkien. Vos vidéos sont toutes remarquables.
You really are a geek re: Tolkien/Tolkienia, Robert! Always finding something else to tell us about JRRT's world. And not any rambling, off the cuff blather, but educated insights, too.
I wanted to thank you not only for making a really good channel and sharing it with us, but also for referencing Tolkien's Catholicism. You seem to understand enough about Catholicism and how it affected Tolkien and his writings to include discussion of it when it is relevant. I very much appreciate your not leaving Tolkien's faith out of your videos.
🤓🤓🤓
Fully agree.
A story unwritten, but one that sounds like it could have been a parable for our time.
Seeing so many nazis today makes me think Tolkien had some sort of foresight.
Fitting for a man that actually fought real nazis.
It's a parable of ALL time. This is how history repeats as it always has. Where those who forget what evil is and follow it to destruction.
@@NicholasHEADSHOTAlthough it was his sons who fought Nazis, so to speak. Nazi is a term now loosely used, just as fascism is, or gaslighting.
@@NicholasHEADSHOT The real kind of nazis or the "everyone I don't like is a nazi" kind of nazis?
One more reason to respect Tolkien. Few things in art are more depressing than a truly great artist dropping their standards purely as a cash grab, and Tolkien refused to do it.
10:33 that stands to reason since Melkor sang the dissonance into creation. It had been there since the beginning of things and would be a constant until the end of things.
Thank you for bringing this video back! I was sad when your first video about this unfinished sequel disappeared for whatever reason.
I think I am also missing some older videos of his about the world of ice and fire. Does anyone know why he deletes old videos?
Typically he deletes them because they are either not up to his modern standards and he wants to remake them, or because he feels the information is no longer correct/useful as it has been covered later 👍
@aero42Correct. some folks misunderstand the purpose of reuploads. Thank you for explaining it so well!
@aero42 so was it mandela effect or did InDeepGeek once have multiple videos on obscure Game of Thrones locations?
Borlas, being the youngest son of Beregond, a LotR Character, telling a story 220 years after the events of said LotR makes this youngest son pretty longlived. His family has some good (Numenorian) genes.
I wonder if Beregond must have been a younger man in ROTK. Aragorn was in his 80s at the time
Did Merry and Pippin visit Beragon when they left the Shire to visit Rohan before the king died and ended up in Gondor?, His first son would surely be alive. Forgive my typing names
Yeah I think that would have changed if Tolkien had continued with this story because Gondorians were not living that long; even Faramir made it to _only_ 120. Beregond was already old enough to have a 10 year old son Bergil during the War of the Ring so let's say he was 30 and 5 years younger than Faramir. If Beregond had Borlas when he was 100 (year ~70 of the Fourth Age), Borlas would still be 150 in this story.
@@richardmaier28 Bergil would have been in his 70s when Merry and Pippin retired to Gondor so likely still around.
Basically, Tolkien didn’t want to write a book without Elves and Dwarves and Hobbits and magic - and good for him, because I probably wouldn’t have wanted to read it :/
Tolkien didn’t want to write a story laid upon the foundation of cynicism. The Hobbit was a frivolous adventure tale without anything particularly profound to say about humanity, but there was no undercurrent of cynicism to it. That’s simply not who Tolkien was. He recognized that “The New Shadow” was taking him in a direction he couldn’t bear to go spiritually.
The Hobbit may have been a children’s book but it’s by no means frivolous.
I think you are right that it woul be to depresing for Tolkien to writer Stella I would love to read the sequel. Ewentualnie if it would be no more elfs, dragon or dwarfs in it, and the rolę of magick would be minimized.
A lesson l need to hear at the moment, delivered in a customary manner of gravitas and erudition
About "forgetting in 1 or 2 generations" for normal humans it was more. It was the rest of Aragon's life and the full life of his son. Both were elvenkin and longer lived than normal humans. Granted, there would be overlap between Aragorn and his son's lives, but it still would have been. It's perhaps akin to what WWII will be in 50 years or so.
Excellent point! Eldarion's reign ended in 4th Age 220 so we're talking about a period of over 200 years and even the other people with a lot of Númenorean ancestry weren't living much beyond a century by that time. For example, Faramir lived to be 120 and he was likely one of the longest lived people outside of Aragorn's line.
Yes, and most people have already forgotten the impact of WWII. Those who fought that war, survived it, and/or helped to put the country back on its feet afterwards are diminishing, in a society that has ceased to listen, let alone value their contribution (winter fuel allowances, for starters).
With disturbing frequency and swiftness of time, wars are no more than recorded dates, winners and losers, a few of the worst and greatest deeds.
It seems to be a natural thing for humans - particularly politicians - to become complacent, taking their eye off the ball while another menacing mindset quite openly plans, manipulates, brainwashes and prepares to plunge the world into violence and misery once again.
There have been a few instances in history where it was well known for a surprisingly long time that an enemy nation had been building military stock and training armies prior to attack.
Yet the governing body of the target nation has behaved most irresponsibly, not acting on the advice of spies and worrying reports from merchants, leaving preparatory action until it is almost too late (and much too late at other times).
Perhaps there is something missing in the inflated egos of those personality types who are naturally drawn towards or born to power.
Perhaps the elite rulers think their status is so very important (or even divinely chosen. A concept repeated in this day and age by David Cameron ex-PM) that noone would 'dare' attack their realm (when ordinary people understand well that an invader has quite the same degree of ego and belief they can't possibly fail to achieve their goal to take power).
As a race, we are doomed to repeat history again and again and again. War isn't just an inevitability, it's our nature. You only have to look at our closest cousins in the animal kingdom - Chimpanzees - to realise that both species originated from some pretty nasty stock.
So, a follow-up to LOTR is really quite natural, and Tolkien could have gone on forever with strings of stories relating to cult uprisings based on power emanating from Mordor artefacts, and then artefacts created using the powers sequestered by that cult, etc. (It's something we do to this very day, although our created artefacts obviously lack magical power).
But I do think it was good for 'us' all to hear an end to Tolkien's story, so we can manifest a sense of relief in that beloved characters can live free in an imaginary paradise. We'd be bored of such existence in our own lives, but a peaceful Middle Earth, where everything is all right with the world, is somewhere safe and kind for our minds to take rest in when our real lives are in fear and chaos.
This is why, even though I have played RPGs for 30 years I have never had any interest in doing anything in Middle Earth, because it seems to me that his world IS in every way like a song; there is no room for my song within his. I hum his tune in other worlds, like Faerun and Oerth.
MERP was pretty fun. You can have isolated adventures that don't impact the main thread. Its a bit deadly of a system for sure.
You are pretty much my favorite Tolkien channel. And there's some other good ones!
"...a story not a sermon." That's quality content right there.
While I'm glad Tolkien never diminished his work with an unnecessary sequel, I do think the concept of a new company of heroes trying to stop a cult of Sauron/Morgoth worshippers from ushering in the return of the dark times would make for a solid adventure in the Middle Earth Role-playing System or the new One Ring RPG. Fun supplemental material, but not true canon.
I disagree with the premise that it was a story that was unnecessary. One can gaze over the face of the globe today and see very clearly that the people, far too many, have forgotten the evil of authoritarian fascism, fervently embracing it as a panacea for the country's ills in each nation where it has been embraced.
Agreed
This was an excellent video Robert, I constantly look forward your content! Would love to hear your take on the distinction between Sauron and the Balrogs, why so many Maiar serving Morgoth took the form of Balrogs whereas Sauron seemed more unique. Regardless, hope you're doing well!
Damn even his throw away stories sound amazing
Thank you Professor Tolkien.
I think thats a real chilling way to end his second story tbh. The realization from the old that evil is again festering in the hearts of men. As it will when histories become legends and legends become myths. For the men live short lives and continue to make mistakes their fathers learned the hard way.
"somehow sauron returned!"
Not aragorn in not lotr 2
2 Lord 2 Ringz
@@hokoganMorgoth Drift
A lot of it is that Tolkien thought the story would’ve been incredibly sad.
It would’ve been far off from the adventure novel that LOTR and the Hobbit were and much more of an internal character drama where man slowly is corrupted by evil.
The Legendarium itself is a kind of Antediluvian fanfiction as well. So mankind HAS to fall mankind has to become worse than Sauron in order for God to deem the flood necessary. It’s something Tolkien wouldn’t have the heart to write given how emotional he was as a person.
When you consider the fact that Tolkien disliked Dune, it's completely understandable that he would struggle with writing a low-fantasy, conspiracy-filled thriller.
This wouldn't be low-fantasy, nor is Dune (which isn't set on Earth).
@@clownpendotfart "Low-fantasy" is the phrase that was phrase In Deep Geek used to describe The Return of the Shadow in this video. Also, while Dune may not be fantasy, it does have fantastical elements, and I'd say it has more in common with low-fantasy than it does high-fantasy.
@@Jonathan-ic9ef I don't think Dune has much of anything in common with The Indian in the Cupboard or The Magician's Nephew or the TV series Supernatural.
Tolkien disliked Dune, did he? Or was it the byline?
@@random22026 In one of his letters, Tolkien said he "disliked Dune with some intensity." He never elaborated as to why he disliked, it, however, so we can only speculate
Passing thought - Old Man Willow is the Dark Tree.
This was great. I have heard of these brief starts and to not believe I have heard anything this deep. Great insights.
There so much room for a good RPG sequel to take up the reigns with Tolkien's actual prologue and let each gaming group write their own story. Oh I'd just die for a good video game of this. Thanks dude. Fun vid.
Edit: let Hollywood take note; Tolkien: "Thats it. The story is told; you've even got a happy ending. The end, get it?"
The sequel is the world we live in and it’s our duty to tell the story.
Hello lord Robert !! We thank you for your constant contributions to the world of Tolkien & the world of Ice & Fire..
Your videos on LOTR are among the best on RUclips
Despite being a short little snippet, I find myself reflecting on the wisdom to be found in the New Shadow.
Like a garden, you must constantly maintain it to ensure the weeds don’t spread, consuming all.
Title typo btw Robert ❤️
Lord of the Random Number Generators
He took his world into its next logical step and realized it was too depressing. That's pretty powerful.
THANK YOU for this insightful commentary on Tolkien and The New Shadow, bringing out once more how Tolkien's being Catholic was such an important element in his imagination and his writing. 🛐
I read those 13 pages of the sequel and it was hard to make sense of it, Understandable considering it was just subtext and Narrative building
I fully understand Tolkien's reasoning for not continuing The New Shadow, but I find the setup to the story to be VERY interesting. I think that if done right, it could've been great addition to the LOTR mythos.
7:12 Huh, curious. Tolkien's basically admitting the unreality of his setting - that, stripped of the mythical quality, it doesn't work. (To be clear, that's not a criticism; I'm not saying myth is inferior to realism.)
I think it's best that LotR ends where it does, but I can't help but be intrigued by what kind of plot could've been made of an age when people had begun to forget the evils of old.
I also wonder whether Hobbits would've gotten involved in some way, given that they would still be thriving in the Fourth Age.
I'm glad Tolkien didn't publish it, but now would be a great time for that story, either finished as a book, or adapted into a film.
Depends who gets their hands on it. Amazon would kill for the chance, and ruin it completely.
Hey robert, I would love to see a video on hobbit society and who had important families and why, things such as that, thanks for consistent amazing uploads!
I love your content and everything you do! Is there any chance you’ll do some Cosmere videos?
Tolkein wanted to write British Mythos. That being done, after that comes mere legend. Dude saw this better than Lucas.
He glimpsed the shadow of his work, and he blinked and looked away.
Reupload and I am here for it
Where is Butterbur of Bree?
Tolkien after writing 13 pages: "This is cringe"
Horrendously based
there is another story he didn't write - the resolution of the Melkor and Fëanor in the last(?) age and the remaking of the world
Legend has it that the title Tolkien considered for the LOTR sequel was “2 Lords 2 Rings”
That ending is the ultimate cliff-hanger.
I was always curious about this topic
Thank you, Robert.
Amazon took a big dump on Tolkien and his works with that garbage Rings of Power series.
Yep, capitalizing on second-rate writing.
Ahh...this is the just the thing..
I'm gonna load some firewood in icy, windy weather in the remote north to this video. Gonna imagine i'm a forrester in Winterfell around year of 212AC
There is an absolutely fantastic mod based on The New Shadow for Rome: Total War called Fourth Age: Total War. It is beyond great.
In the lack of darkness the light will become dull. The good sometimes needs evil to challenge it
Hullo, Robert! Merry christmas!
What a legend ❤
With the connections to the past so frayed, would there even be a point setting such a story on Middle Earth?
Also, I think the post war world was very conscious of the prospect of evil rising again, already. The Cold War exemplified that.
Tbh, it wasn’t that bad. I like the idea of there being a Cult in Gondor and Orcs potentially being good. Idk, after Aragorn coming to power and subjugating the rest of the lands is a very intriguing time period and a lot of questions are asked.
Orcs cannot be good.
Orcs were bred for the explicit purpose of having an evil nature.
Of course beings can fight against their nature, but it's fucking hard.
For an Orc to become good would require great personal struggle and growth.
This might make a great story
But for Orcs, plural, to be good?
That's borderline impossible
A story about what happens when society & people little by little forget how hard earned their freedom really is, and therefore inevitably backslide toward chaos sound like a very relevant one to be told in this age.
You might have mentioned this elsewhere, but Tolkien also took a stab at placing Middle Earth history into real-world history. This isn't an exact quote and I don't remember where in JRRT's writings I read it, but he wrote, set in a time long after LOTR, something like, "Hope now lies only in a far land of men," meaning our ancient Israel and the birth of Christ.
There's a bit more to it than that but I don't remember any more than the above.
good video totally agree.
The Hobbit / LOTR sub-world works wonderfully because it contains a good deal of "magic" and some creatures of legendary status.
Without those elements an otherwise similar tale, regardless of its literary quality, would not be so appealing.
Vaudeville performers knew it well: "Always leave them wanting more." "The New Shadow" would violate that principle.
🤓Say what one wants about "low fantasy" vs "high fantasy", but the tales between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Aryas, gave us an age undreamed of, except in Robert E Howard's mind. But Conan's tale is a story for another time.
Good use of 🤓 my friend
Yep, Howard gave us many great stories; too bad he's not better known.
@@istari0 part of why I'm appreciating YT so much in the last few years. I've joined a book club and several channels that discuss any number of both well known and obscure books. The combination of videos and then discussing in comments/on streams really works well for me. I've seen Howard mentioned many times so it seems there is at least a dedicated following here but i'm still really a newbie
@@istari0 His sad early exit from life... but he's generally known, as long as someone knows "Conan", then it's a quick conversation to have people know Howard.
hi robert i think you misspelt rings in the title of this video. cheers, love your videos
Somehow Sauron has returned.
In World of Peace, the root of evil is moving thru darkness. Waiting spurt out of the darkness too corrupt the peace into darkness again. Simply wanted to write something
Make it a movie!! And they should do Father Christmas while they’re at it! 🐻❄️
It is absolutely true that people get bored and complacent with peace and do not learn from the past. Yet, when great wars and atrocities return (and they always do), people always ask and pray for an enduring peace. It is a strange thing. Wars somehow lose their meaning when they are being reflected on after 3 generations of peace. I agree with Tolkien and his reason for not writing another story. Possibly a concept of a group of acolytes comprised of men, orcs, goblins, and elves that worshipped an old evil relic could have been a tool to bring new life into evil. But I'm not sure how it would work. We know that immortal beings like Morgoth and Sauron really can't be destroyed permanently by mortals, so it is possible a group of people that worshipped the "Void" might have worked in a story, but it gets more difficult when trying not to make it just cliche. However, complacency with peace and the short memory of people is a very real thing, and it is a very fertile ground for literature to explore.
But... do people want to go to war? I have never heard a random young man saying he wishes to go to war. Many people are so frightened about the thought of ww3. People are forced to go to war and have always been. Everyday people want peace and happines. But the kings and polititians need money and land for happiness so they forse everyday men to go to war under some false ideals. Maybe that is just my country, we had war 30 years ago and its still very fresh, people are still afraid of it.. as much as people have a tendency for violence, I still think all of us understand what large wars do to everyday people and don't want it
Oh God, I just realized that somebody, somewhere is going to make that sequel based on those 13 pages. Whether it be in the form of a movie, an animated film or a game, we will definitely get it someday. I wonder if the blue wizardsare behind it all? As you have indicated in the past.
My dude has some serious drip in the thumbnail
A dark tree would be an interesting idea as trees of light are a major thing in Tolkien's world. I imagine a dark tree born from darkest magic come over from Melkor himself and sprouting after millenia of Sauron's care as the basis. Or maybe made from the ent-wives by Sauron?
As one who lived through both world wars, surely he must have seen at first hand how in a generation lessons hard won can be forgotten with ease and evil re arise. Perhaps it was intended somewhat as an allegory to that and then he just thought, no, too difficult or painful maybe to write?
I mean I think that this story really was just the view of what was going on after the wars. People were already forgetting things and looking at the world now I think he was on point. But yeah that's exactly it, by itself that's a pretty short and narrow view story, I think if had lived longer and seen more of the world and how all that plays out he'd have had lots to work with to make it more universal but I doubt he could've lived long enough to see that inspiration. I'm a man of faith but I appreciate that he was always concerned with making stories and themes everyone could enjoy so I'm glad in a way it was left there. Edit: there is a level of humility there and I think that's something many of us looking at the world when people tell stories can appreciate because it's not very common.
What I struggle with is the notion that, this big wide world of fantasy we know and love, all the history and lore, all the heroes and villains, it feels all for nothing, at least in my heart.
Sure, we defeated the bad guy, and days of peace and prosperity reign in the Age of Men, but we know peace isn't eternal, just as our world goes through cycles of peace and war.
So for Tolkien to say it's not worth doing, it makes me sad to think that a new age of strife isn't something we'll see and overcome.
Just my two cents.. love Tolkien and his worlds, just wish we could have more is all.
It sounds strangely a lot like the times we currently live.
hi Robert, this is everyone
Interesting he never decided to give the high fantasy part of the story a comeback. He could have written and return path for those elements, but he apparently wanted those elements to stay gone
I would think that the dark tree would be the opposite of the trees of light in Valinor
I wish we had an outline, including how it would have ended.
It sounds as if a sequel would have been devoid of any mystical beings and shrouded in darkness. 😱
Tolkien wrote himself into a corner at the end of LotR. All of the races would go away and leave only humans (and halflings). His works were focused on the differences between races and with them gone there was nothing to write about.
Even the differences between good and evil had disappeared with the dissolving of Sauron and Sarumon and the sailing west of Gandalf, Galadriel, and Elrond.
Granted the evil was going to be brought back in the sequel. This very much could be due to the influence of the remaining Blue Wizards. But without the supernatural high fantasy races that had become staple of Tolkien's work there would only be men to fight against the (former?) Maiar.
This would either result too heavy handed against the humans or the Maiar would be regulated to a behind the curtain Wizard of Oz. Either way would too closely resemble our own world and not that which Tolkien had created.
So yes, by closing up most if not all loose ends of his Hobbit and LotR series Tolkien had written himself into a corner. He could no longer continue that world and a sequel would be something entirely different and would be like what everyone else had been writing at the time.
Glad to watch this after some time has passed. I still find it an awesome idea to take a minor figure from an earlier book and then make them central later! Great literary device
3:45 Is today a reflection of how lessons are forgotten?
What did she say at the very start?
Since it can be read in just a few minutes I would suggest “barely started” rather than “unfinished” sequel would be a more accurate way of putting it. When I first read it I got the feeling that it was probably the work of a single sitting.
I think it's at the end of the silmarillion when it's summarizing the events that follow, a character named Herumor is mentioned having gone to Harad from the fall of Numinor, I think. Perhaps it would center around a plot from a black Numinorian clinging to the teachings of Suaron and manipulating the people of that land to stir up war once more. Could have been fun but I totally get why he didn't proceed with it. Leaves us something to wonder about though.
The Fall of Númenor was well over 3000 years before the time in which The New Shadow was set. No Man could live anywhere near that long outside of the Nazgûl, who all perished at the end of LOTR.
@@istari0 How many Denethor's and Icthillion's do we have? Names get inherited. If it's a cult why would it be hard to believe they passed the name of the leader of that cult down almost like a title? Black Numenorian's are around in the third age so why is it so far fetched that Sauron had a group in Harad to keep them serving him? When Sauron fell they could have gone underground and formed a cult to spite the goody two shoes kings of men.
I think he would have got there if this was not started at the end of his life. LOTR if you don’t know, he was scribbling the ancient history and linguistics in school. He wrote Hobbit and then LOTR like decades later
tolkien knew that without the rings, the future of the middle earth in the hands of humanity would just conclude to a game of thrones
Oh I remember Beragond. Serki's scouse portrail of him stick in my mind!
Sauron is dead. However, Morgoth has simply been gone for a very long time into the timeless void. So you have him come back. You have the reason being that the two blue wizards have been working hard in the East to do so. And then Morgoth's "ring" which was actually kind of the time that Middle Earth has been around to that point...sort of. But he was supposed to come back for Ragnarok (or Dargothsomething or other) you have a big battle. And at the end, the good guys win, but Middle Earth just becomes Earth.
Still more pages written in The New Shadow than in The Winds of Winter. 😭
That story would have been a great lesson about the dangers of forgetting history. Already, after less than 100 years, we're already forgetting what the Nazi's truely were. There are people still alive who suffered under their regime, and we already have people calling them liars. And it's not uncommon for people to call anyone who disagrees with them a Nazi. And in doing that, we not only downplay the evils of the Nazi's, we open the door for more people to adopt those similar ideologies. I use this example because as an American, that's the obvious one people use, particularly in regards to conservatives. Whether or not you or I agree with them, some people do. And if people agree with them, and we're already labeling them as Nazi's, what in reality is a very large gap between most American conservative ideology and Nazi ideology becomes that much easier to cross. For Tolkien, I understand why he didn't finish it. But something like that, from an author as great and influential as Tolkien, it might have had an even greater lesson than the Lord of the Rings.
Another great vid! Could you make one explaining what people thought the wizards were? Did they know that they were Maiar or even what a Maiar was? Did they know Sauron wasn't human/elf?
Maia, singular
Any story set in Middle Earth must be high rather than low fantasy, because it's set in a "secondary world".
I could have sworn you had a video on "The New Shadow" earlier, but I can't find it now.