Latest news on Amazon's "Lord of the Rings" series

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

A new link has emerged to tie the Amazon series to Game of Thrones.

Are the signs indeed pointing toward a new GoT with a Tolkien flavor?

My question is, what the heck is up with this:

Originally Posted by Deadline

No details about the characters are being revealed but it is believed that English actor Mawle will play the series’ lead villain, Oren, opposite Poulter’s young hero Beldor and female lead Tyra (Kavenagh)

Oren? Beldor? Tyra? Those can't be real names, right?

-They're very clearly not Adunaic names. Those come in forms like Îbal and Zamîn; having three without accents on would be implausible, given how accented Adunaic is in general.

-Beldor looks like Sindarin, but I think it might be... bad Sindarin? 'Bel' could be Beleg (strong), and 'dor' is, well, Dor (land), but a) Strong Land is a stupid name for a person, and b) I'm pretty sure you'd wind up with something like Belegdhor, or even Belendor, not 'Beldor'.

-Tyra is clearly not Sindarin, with that ending - the only instance of 'yra' in the entire Sindarin corpus is in the collective plural yrath of the suggested Sindarin form yr of Noldorin ior. I don't think it can be Sindarin, either - 'ty' seems to be a consonant cluster, so can't be followed by another consonant. What it is is an Old Norse name, derived from Tyr (the god), which means it could be standing in for Northern Mannish.

--Which takes us back to Beldor, which is very close to Baldr, the son of Odin. So we have two possible Northern Mannish names - but would they really set a Second Age series up in Lake Town? (Or maybe they're dwarves? That would be hilarious, actually.)

-Oren... well, in our world it's a Hebrew name, so if you accept the reductive 'dwarves are Tolkien's Jews' stance, you've got a good case for Khazad-Dum: The Series (not gonna lie, I'd love that). It could be Quenya, using órë, 'heart' - in fact if you put the accent back on, it's valid Quenya for 'my heart'. There's nothing to stop it being Sindarin, but it feels a bit too Quenya-y for that to me.

So. We have three characters who cannot all be Elves, and cannot all be Numenoreans. They could all be dwarves (maybe), or Men of Middle-earth - but those really aren't the sort of stories you'd expect to see in such a series. Taking a quick look at the actors, I can see Elf or Numenorean in the two heroes, but not Dwarf. 'Oren's' actor could pull off a Dwarf, but I'm not sure he could play an Elf or Annatar.

Best guess? Fake names, because they're actually playing canon characters. Given the number of pouting faces both of the 'goodies' pull in their Google photos, I'm guessing Aldarion and Erendis.

hS

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Best guess? Fake names, because they're actually playing canon characters. Given the number of pouting faces both of the 'goodies' pull in their Google photos, I'm guessing Aldarion and Erendis.

"Oren" is said to be the "lead villain" though. I don't see how that could fit into the story of Aldarion and Erendis as set out in Unfinished Tales.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

-Beldor looks like Sindarin, but I think it might be... bad Sindarin? 'Bel' could be Beleg (strong), and 'dor' is, well, Dor (land), but a) Strong Land is a stupid name for a person, and b) I'm pretty sure you'd wind up with something like Belegdhor, or even Belendor, not 'Beldor'....

--Which takes us back to Beldor, which is very close to Baldr, the son of Odin. So we have two possible Northern Mannish names - but would they really set a Second Age series up in Lake Town? (Or maybe they're dwarves? That would be hilarious, actually.)

Actually, it is not "Beldor", it is unfortunately worse -- it is "Beldar". This, to me, only cause guffaws of derision, because Beldar was a Conehead as played by Dan Ackroyd in Saturday Night Live.

https://tvline.com/2019/10/21/lord-o...-villain-oren/

To be philologically unaware of Tolkien's languages is bad enough, but to be completely incognizant of cultural touchstones is laughable in the extreme. I wonder if Beldar will meet up with his Numenorean buds and say, "Come, let us consume mass quantities!"

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-li...conehead-74136

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

To be philologically unaware of Tolkien's languages is bad enough, but to be completely incognizant of cultural touchstones is laughable in the extreme. I wonder if Beldar will meet up with his Numenorean buds and say, "Come, let us consume mass quantities!"

"Aldarion, to gain the Kingship, you will....narfle the Garthok!

[Huinesoron]

Well, as of yesterday we have 15 cast members, which includes several we already knew.

It has, embarassingly, only just occurred to me that if you're bad at reading the appendices, the name 'Sauron' could be pronounced 'Sore-on'. Which is very very close to the 'lead villain' name of Oren.

Given that the series is still called 'The Lord of the Rings', of which as we know There Is Only One, I think Joseph Mawle is probably playing Sauron. Given the... inventiveness of that code-name, is it possible that the others are just as bad? 'Tyra' could be a contraction of 'Tar-Telperien', who was queen at the time the Rings were forged. (And I'm not just suggesting this because I want a Witch-Queen of Numenor arc! ) As for Beldar... yeah, I've still got nothing there.

From the pictures in the article, I think Morfydd Clark might be playing an elf - perhaps even Galadriel? She and Elrond are just about the only characters people who only know the films might recognize in this time-frame...

hS

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I'm basically expecting this to be every bit as bad as the Hobbit movies, crossed with The Last Jedi and Ishtar.

That leaves room to be pleasantly surprised.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

I'm basically expecting this to be every bit as bad as the Hobbit movies, crossed with The Last Jedi and Ishtar.

That leaves room to be pleasantly surprised.

I have foreseen abominations a'plenty coming since C. Tolkien relinquished his executorship. Now his sad passing really bodes ill for J.R.R. Tolkien's literary corpus.

[Rhun charioteer]

It really depends on the estate and how much they are willing to veto. They might only Veto large scale contradictions or thematic or plot notions. They might have a relatively free hand and be reluctant to use the veto lest they anger Amazon.

My worst case prediction is that Amazon gets around the veto by basically making up glorified fanfiction.

Basically Shadows of Mordor(and that actually contradicts the lore).

They can always claim they are filling in the gaps, or they aren’t violating the agreement not to contradict things.

This could mean the show is basically Shadows of Mordor but without even the pretense of being an “adaptation” except in the loosest sense.

But rather original fiction set within Tolkien’s world. Which at its best would probably be uncreative and mediocre. At worst it would be torture.

But with Christopher gone-my main concern is that if the show does well. The younger Tolkien family members might sell out as it were. Letting Amazon and other corporations poach and ravage the rest of Tolkien’s corpus.