The New Shadow - Your thoughts?

[Nerwen]

I've had occasion to say this before, but I'm rather ambivalent about "The New Shadow". Like the Ring itself, it is dangerously seductive in a kind of meta-way. It's very intriguing and atmospheric, especially the end, so that part of me wishes Tolkien had continued- yet I believe he was artistically right not to do so. Not only would it be anticlimactic, I think that it would have potentially pushed Tolkien's work in the direction of one of those typical endless fantasy "sagas" where sequel after anaemic sequel gets churned out long after every trace of creativity has dried up.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Tolkien would ever have become that kind of hack, but as I say I think it could have been a step in that direction. And yes, he would have done it well and we would have lapped it up and come up with all kinds of high-sounding justifications about Realism and The Cyclic Nature of History- but deep in our fanboy souls we would have known. We would have known that magic, like the Elves, had departed from Middle-earth. We would have felt the Morgul Blade of Doubt driving its icy way towards our hearts, threatening to draw us into the Wraith World where all is faint and pale and wavery.

But don't mind me folks, I'm just your friendly neighbourhood intellectual snob who looks down on 90% of fantasy anyway, including most of the things you all love.

One thing's for sure, even what we've got could still become the basis for a great Hollywood Sequel to the LotR films. Might happen yet!

[Marwhini]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

I've had occasion to say this before, but I'm rather ambivalent about "The New Shadow". Like the Ring itself, it is dangerously seductive in a kind of meta-way. It's very intriguing and atmospheric, especially the end, so that part of me wishes Tolkien had continued- yet I believe he was artistically right not to do so. Not only would it be anticlimactic, I think that it would have potentially pushed Tolkien's work in the direction of one of those typical endless fantasy "sagas" where sequel after anaemic sequel gets churned out long after every trace of creativity has dried up.

I agree here.

While I am intensely curious about the pure History of Middle-earth (beyond the Myths and Epics surrounding the Heroes), I think that this story could have wound up pulling Tolkien down a rabbit hole where he would not have produced anything of real substance.

It is just an area where his talents would have been wasted compared to detailing more fundamental aspects of Middle-earth, which he seemed to have a preference toward in his later days as it were.

MB

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Well, I've never read Martin, so I can't speak to how that worked out.

You aren't missing as much as current pop culture would have you believe.

Originally Posted by Marwhini

So his works don't show a "More Realistic" Middle-earth at all. What they show is his own cynicism regarding other's beliefs about the world.

I couldn't agree with you more on that one.

Originally Posted by Marwhini

He has made a very compelling Fantasy World. But it is more "Our world with some Fantasy Elements welded onto it" than it is a "More realistic Middle-earth."

I agree with this as well, although on the whole I don't find Martin's world that compelling. Westeros is well constructed (for the most part) but the further east he goes the more bizarre and implausible it becomes. His world is one hundred miles wide but an inch deep.

He does craft a better world than most other fantasy authors, but that is more a condemnation of them rather than an endorsement of him.