Fanart: A LOTR Space AU

[Yeade]

Well, it's been a while. Re-reading my own posts from 2005 is at once a hilarious and rather humbling experience. Tolkien scholars much more qualified than I have since tackled LOTR's many genealogies, but I've come to present yet another harebrained project, lol, my interest in Middle-earth rekindled by the prospect of new films.

I'm drawing and worldbuilding a LOTR space AU, as the thread title says. Why? I guess because every fandom that isn't already sci-fi must have a few. Also, I've been meaning to dust off my artistic skills, such as they are, after years of letting them languish and didn't feel inspired by any other subject.

Two pieces are completed, linked to deviantART below, with at least half a dozen more in the planning stages. Both are accompanied by extensive notes on the setting that I'd be glad to receive commentary on, especially along the lines of how better to adapt Tolkien's universe. Granted, I assume forgiveness for raising a question as ludicrous as what LOTR might look like as a space opera to begin with...

Currently, I'm working on Lothlórien. It'll be some time before I can finish, however, as I'm experimenting with watercolor pencils. Lórien and Mirkwood I intend to place together on a forest moon orbiting the system's largest gas giant just past the asteroid belt, analogous to Jupiter and its many natural satellites. Esgaroth and probably Dale will be on another moon, though I've not yet decided where Erebor should go. I suppose it depends on what exactly Smaug is, lol, seeing as he must travel from the Lonely Mountain to Laketown without the aid of a spacecraft.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

That's very cool. I like it a lot

Excuse the uneducated person, but what in the name of Valar does "AU" mean?

[Nerwen]

"Alternate universe".

[Yeade]

I'm glad you like it, Legate of Amon Lanc! As Nerwen said, "AU" is short for "alternate universe." I forgot that the term is only common in certain fannish circles, namely the creative side that frequents sites like FanFiction.Net, LiveJournal, and Tumblr. In this case, my drawings are AU because I've adapted Tolkien's world to a setting that he probably never would've contemplated in a million years, lol, but AU is also often used to describe timeline deviations from canon. That is, "what if?" stories, such as Thorin Oakenshield surviving the Battle of Five Armies, which has grown quite popular amongst The Hobbit fanfic writers for obvious reasons.

At any rate, I'll keep adding to this thread as I finish more pieces. My venture into watercolor pencils is going well--it's a relief not to have to worry about smearing anything after the Paths of the Dead--but I've gotten a bit stuck on the issue of Smaug, not to mention Middle-earth's other creatures. I think I might end up taking a leaf out of Anne McCaffrey's Pern books and just make dragons psychic teleporters, lol. Well, perhaps only the great fire drakes, with the other types planet-bound. Then Smaug and his kin can retain their canon forms, wings and all, hopping dimensions instantaneously to be wherever they're supposed to be.

Unfortunately for Men, Elves, and Dwarves, teleportation significantly increases the already high threat level of these dragons. Ancalagon could literally crush armies whole simply by dropping atop them from out of thin air with his mountain-sized bulk, and Smaug would certainly have the element of surprise over Laketown's defenders. OTOH, I suppose the general technological upgrade means Bard and company can now scramble fighters in response, lol.

What to do about the Eagles is the next question. They need to be spaceworthy, too. And, unlike the dragons, they carry passengers at times. I feel a field of some sort is the answer, similar to the bubbles generated by spaceships in most sci-fi to travel at FTL speeds. I'm considering both races as truly alien species, as well. Maybe silicon-based lifeforms that can better survive the inimical environment of the interstellar void. They do have to be armored at least heavily enough to take the battlefield with futuristic vehicles and energy weapons. Suggestions are welcome, of course.

Balrogs? Er. I'll work on that?

ETA:

I've been considering the early history of Middle-earth and have a few questions.

First, I need a geography lesson, lol. I understand that Beleriand lay west of Middle-earth's most familiar lands, those of the Third Age, with Ossiriand becoming Lindon after the rest of Beleriand was drowned by the sea. Cuiviénen, where the Elves awoke, is in the distant northeast of ancient Middle-earth, the Sea of Helcar bordered on its western shore by the Blue Mountains. Where are Beleriand and Cuiviénen in relation to one another? Was Cuiviénen destroyed during the War of Wrath, too?

I'd always assumed that it's Beleriand the Elves cross in their westward journey to Aman but, if so, when was the rest of Middle-earth settled? By Men only, who spread west from Middle-earth's far eastern shore, until after the War of Wrath? And where does the Helcaraxë connect with Middle-earth? Northern Beleriand, I guess. Any relation to the Sea of Helcar?

Second, with the Lamps of the Valar ruined by Melkor, was all of Middle-earth in darkness except Valinor, which was lit by the Two Trees? Could the light of the Trees be seen from, say, Beleriand or, more generally, Middle-earth's far western shore? I seem to remember Arda was flat until the Downfall of Númenor, so Valinor might've been visible as a glow on the horizon no matter how wide the sea.

Tolkien's creation story for the Sun and Moon can, I think, be adapted for this AU of mine with relative ease by having Anor and Isil both be stars in a binary system. The difficulty lies in the westward migrations undertaken by both Elves and Men after their awakenings. Neither race could possibly be spacefarers so early, such advanced technologies taught to the Elves by the Valar and later by the Elves to Men. How then to situate the events of the Years of the Trees and First Age? I'm tempted to just dump everybody concerned on a single planet that encompasses Beleriand and more, leaving the rest of Middle-earth unexplored or perhaps even not yet in existence until well into the First Age. The Valar can send spaceships to ferry to Aman the Elves who answer their summons and, by the time Men are an issue, the Noldor would've returned to Beleriand with the knowledge to brave deep space themselves, establishing colonies on new worlds.

[Yeade]

I finished another piece, this time of Lothlórien, as mentioned before. Next, I'll work on, again using watercolor pencils, the Two Trees, which I'll add below when completed. (ETA: Done!) I think... one more picture before I stop editing this post and move on already, lol. Mount Doom is coming up on the to-draw list.

[Nerwen]

Cuivienen
It's not clear exactly where the Sea of Helcar lay, but it was it was in the far north-east of Middle-earth, effectively off the map as far as the rest of the story is concerned. (Tolkien did draw a map showing it lying right next to the Blue Mountains, but I think this was an early conception- it certainly won't fit the action of the published Silmarillion, anyway.) Cuivienen ceased to exist at some point, but it's not specified when or how.

The Great Journey from Cuivienen
No, this wasn't just across Beleriand, but right over the "known" lands (Rhovanion, Eriador, etc.), plus, presumably, some others that are, again, outside the borders of the maps. It is supposed to have taken two hundred years or more. Not all Elves took it, and of those that did, many dropped out before reaching Beleriand, and were therefore the first people to settle those areas.

The Helcaraxe
This lay somewhere to the north of Beleriand. No relation to the Sea of Helcar.

The Two Trees
These could not be seen from Middle-earth, which at that time was lit only by starlight.