December 2022 – Wyatt Pokorny

28/12/2022

Gil-Galad the Elven King

Many people have Gil-galad in their headcanon as an impressive guy: a kind ruler, friendly to all of his subjects, always warm and welcoming to his allies, but a spear-wielding murderer to his foes. Of course, when Benjamin Walker portrayed him, people were stunned at how this did not live up to their expectations.

In all of the canon legendarium (what I like to call the ‘Big Three’: The Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings, and the Hobbit), the name Gil-galad is mentioned approximately 70 times, (at least in the editions that I have), index entries included. To contrast, the name of Gandalf is mentioned 1370 times in these very same books. One may argue that Gil-galad appears more in the less canonical works: In LotR, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Morgoth’s Ring, The Nature of Middle-Earth, The Children of Hurin, The Hobbit, and the Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, , Gil-galad has 169 mentions. Gandalf, to continue my previous example, scores over 5 times this in LotR alone, with 1180 mentions, and over 10 times in total, with 1712 mentions.

My point is, people like Ian Mckellen have a much easier job acting for characters like Gandalf, because he is a very fleshed out character of whom we know much more. Gil-galad is merely a character in the histories of Middle-Earth, with nothing on his personality or ruling style at all. We think we know Gil-galad, but that is all in our headcanon. Benjamin Walker’s portrayal is no less canon than our beliefs.

Now, I’m not saying I necessarily like Walker’s portrayal. Gil-galad is called a wise king, and his land was ‘the last whose realm was fair and free between the mountains and the sea.’ I don’t think that he would be so easily fooled by the sick tree, as even Annatar did not fool him. But, like most of my complaints about the show, I think that falls more to the writers than to the actor.

27/12/2022

Tale of Aragorn and Arwen

One of Peter Jackson’s lesser faults that really made the movie great was the introduction of material found in Appendix A, Tale of Aragorn and Arwen, into the main narrative of the film. While many fans have struggled to find this tale in the Lord of the Rings, it is truly the most important part of the Appendices, which are almost as long as the Return of the King itself.

As well as having the greatest Sindarin lines the films contained, the Aragorn and Arwen scenes are really a callback to the Silmarillion, in the tale Of Beren and Luthien. Just like Aragorn and Arwen, Beren and Luthien were a mortal man and immortal elven princess who fell in love, making for the most important relationship in the First Age, resulting in the theft of a Silmaril, the destruction of the elven kingdoms, and of their offspring came Eärendil the Mariner, who saved the Edain and Eldar, and so on. Aragorn and Arwen are a wonderful parallel, as their love was part of the culmination of the Third Age, and started the Age of Men. In fact, when Aragorn first meets Arwen, he mistakes her for Luthien and calls out to her by that name!

The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen is the most important piece of material found in the Appendices, as Tolkien himself told us. The main narrative is supposed to be mainly hobbitocentric, so Arwen and Aragorn’s story was not important, but it could not wholly be left out. There are very few small hints throughout the narrative, such as Bilbo suggesting to Aragorn that Arwen’s presence at a feast would mean he should attend, or even just the fact that they seemed to be speaking as close friends, by Frodo’s observation. Nothing solid in the whole book, until, of course, the wedding on Midyear’s Day in the City of Kings. Not March 25th, the date of the fall of Barad Dur (as seen in the films), but the day of Lithe, somewhere in September on our calendar ( as the calendar of Imladris starts the year in April, and each month has 30 days, plus 3 enderi in September, and two days between years, it gets quite confusing when you can’t get numbers to line up).

Even just as a Sindarin student, I enjoy every Arwen scene to the fullest, as very little English slips through in them. While I’m sure many of you can’t stand them, when you have the connection the the lore the movies are far more potent. There is a scene which in the films takes place in Imladris, though I have managed to trace it to an event in Lothlorien in the book, where Arwen asks if he remembers when they first met. Yes! I do! Of course one of my favourite Sindarin sentences in the movie, Nauthannen i ned ôl reniannen ( I thought I had strayed into a dream), and in that very same scene, when she forsakes the Twilight, (I would rather spend one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone, I choose a mortal life, etc), you feel the true meaning of this through the lore:

” ‘I will cleave to you, Dunadan, and turn from the Twilight. Yet there lies the land of my people and the long home of all my kin.’ She loved her father greatly.”

She is sacrificing so much more than just her immortality, and only when the two mediums are together do you truly see its greatness.

22/12/202230/12/2022

War of the Rohirrim

Now that most of the hype over Amazon’s Rings of Power has died down, I will turn my attention to the new movie from from Warner Bros, War of the Rohirrim. Set to release for theaters on April 12th, 2024, the animated film is to tell the story of Helm Hammerhand and the greatest story in Rohan’s history: where the famous fortress of Helm’s Deep got its name.

This should be far easier to produce than RoP, canonically speaking, seeing as the entire story is detailed in the LotR Appendices. However, two members of the cast seem to be out of place. For one, Miranda Otto as Eowyn shouldn’t be there; this story happens far before Eowyn’s time. My theory is that she will be like a narrator, telling the story to a group of children many years in the future. Second we have Gaia Wise as ‘Hera’. Sadly, it appears that this, too, will contain a number of original characters, as a search for ‘Hera’ in a database of all thing Tolkien returns nothing.

This story is a big fan favourite, and we are all excited to see it. But of course, it’s still 16.5 months away… As we still await a release date from Amazon for RoP season 2, it could very well be a close collision of new Tolkien to watch in early 2024…

03/12/202230/12/2022

The Names of the Nazgûl

Though if you are actual fans I shouldn’t have to explain this simple concept, today I would like to address the issue of the names of the Nazgûl. The truth is, we only know the name of one: Khamûl, second in command to the Witch King.

The names Murazor (the Witch King himself), Dwar, Ji Indur, Akhorahil, Hoarmurath, Adunaphel, Ren and Uvatha were produced by Iron Crown Enterprises for a RPG. Sadly, these names have now spread and become treated as the new names of the Nazgûl, though they have zero basis in Tolkien’s works. While many people are on the side that if Tolkien does not give a specific detail, we have the right to fill it in: that is absolutely false. Tolkien himself hated adaptations of his work, unless they were perfect, down to skin tone, clothing, and even accents. It would be unacceptable to him to have us name his characters that he has on purpose left unnamed to generate fear and mystery about them.

Another set of names ( from the game by NetEase, LotR: Rise to War) include ‘The Witch King’, Skalhelm, Cestaro, ‘The Undying’, ‘The Shadow’, Lathar, and 2 still unnamed. This approach is better, but not by much. 2 remain unnamed, retaining some of Tolkien’s idea, and many bear epithets rather than true names. This argument over changing of minor details or filling in small blanks was quite heated in September/October due to Rings of Power. I merely state my opinion (though in this case it is Tolkien’s opinion), and you are welcome to disagree with me (yet again, Tolkien’s own words though…). Thank you.