The History of the Silmarils - a serialization

[Elentári]

Thanks, V, I couldn't ask anymore than that! This isn't about garnering plaudits, but simply celebrating the fellowship that we disparate souls found through Tolkien's legacy!

Al, that would be great if you are willing... I've emailed you the text-only documents for the episodes up to the end of Season 2 - basically all that I've posted so far, and what I hope to get up in the next few days. Removing the images brings the file sizes right down, so I guess it would make one downloadble file more manageable now.

If I go on to post Seasons 3 and 4 at some future date, I'll email them to you once I've posted them, not before, in case there are any changes made when I post the scenes...

[Elentári]

Talking of images, I spent not an inconsiderable time over the years compiling a make-believe cast list to go with our script. Rather than use real-life, recognizable actors, I went with the idea of using digitally created fan art to make a gallery of ideas and suggestions for how the characters might look in our dramatization.

Here are some clickable thumbnails for characters in the first couple of Seasons:












For the Valar, who obviously do not have a fixed appearance, I chose to use images of how they might appear in front of the Eldar, in "humanoid" form, and to try to find images where they would all look consistent and youthful - so Ulmo in particular looks more like an Elf and younger than he is normally portrayed. Among the images you might recognize work by Breogan and an artist called Anya Valle who has a page on the Tolkien Gateway site. Some eagle-eyed readers might notice a couple of famous faces where the artist was inspired by an actor. I should point out also that several illustrations are not labelled as the characters the artist actually intended their art to portray...this is in cases where I simply felt that the image better suited how I imagined a different character to look, particularly where it was one of our OCs. If anyone wants the credits for particular pictures I will try to put up the link to the original.

[Ethelwynn]

I'm amazed at the amount of time and thought you put into collecting these pictures. Maybe because I am not so much a visual person, but I never gave much thought to how the characters look. You capture them wonderfully. Thanks, if I haven't said it before.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I share your amazement, Ethel!

[Elentári]

Well, there's plenty of fanart out there, and plenty of differing interpretations, to say the least! Sometimes one wonders if the artist has actually read the text (blond Fingolfins come to mind ) so the hardest part is sifting through them all until you find one that seems to fit all the criteria, and which is of a suitable level of realism, with that "photographic" quality you can get with digital art as opposed to traditional drawings...

I find I like having a visual reference in front of me, as well as the text, to help bring the scenes to life. I know that when I am writing and reading the screenplay it works to imagine the dialogue acted out in my head - which is not how I would read a novel, normally!

One thing that becomes clearer from looking at the characters, is just how the visual demands of film impact on a novel in terms of having to differentiate between the different characters. For example, this production features Elf after Elf, and glancing at all the silver/grey haired Sindar featured in the Doriath episode, it is easy to see how the audience would be confused without some strong way of identifying them individually. Makes one appreciate the trouble PJ has had with the Dwarves!

[Ethelwynn]

A lot of the visual differences could be solved by personality of characters, fortunatley. Elves aren't homogenous, any more than Dwarves or Humans are. Some might favor body art, or even be slobs who don't brush their hair often enough. Some might have curly hair, crooked teeth, or poor eyesight. Imperfections could be a director's life ring.

[Elentári]

Thus we rounded Season 2 off with a standalone double-length episode. This not only provided the requisite number of episodes to match that of the first season, but also gave us a chance to fill in the background for characters featured briefly upon in the Tale of Fëanor but not properly established in terms of the bigger picture. Although our initial premise was, and remained for the most part, to concentrate on the 3 mre fleshed out ‘Great Tales’ of Fëanor, Beren and Lúthien, and Tuor/Fall of Gondolin, and not dramatize every single page in the book, as we progressed through the series it became more and more apparent that we could not continue to focus on those Tales in isolation, when all the First Age plotlines do inevitably intermingle in an incredible overall tapestry. One such example was naturally Thingol and the founding of Doriath, where we found that such background provision for the audience was necessary, particularly in anticipation of Beren & Lúthien’s story.

And then we found references to Gondolin starting to creep into the storyline… We had planned to dramatize Tuor’s story and the Fall of Gondolin, but how could we have a “Fall” without a “Founding?” It seemed a good idea to introduce the audience to the concept of Turgon’s hidden city. That on its own would have filled maybe one standalone episode at most, and I had always been intrigued by the tale of Aredhel and Eöl so we crafted that story into a kind of “miniseries” on Gondolin running up as far as Eöl’s death, and which sets up the sewing of the “dark seed of evil” in that fair realm.

Obviously, since Tolkien only gives us the bare bones, we were left with no option but to use reasonable speculation whilst ahering to canon as much as possible, in order to flesh out the drama. The main liberty I took was to hint at a possible unrequited love on the part of Ecthelion for Aredhel - well it's the sort of thing PJ would do! - in order to give him a character arc. Oh, and Glorfindel is somewhat younger at the start of our story, for the same reasons of character growth. I have hesitated over posting this part of the screenplay because of this, in favour of going straight into the Tale of Beren and Lúthien, but to make chronological sense it really needs to kick off the 3rd Season, particularly while the characters of Turgon, Idril and Aredhel are still fresh in the audience’s mind from the previous seasons. Maybe this particular section of the script should be considered a sort of "spin-off"
from the main series???

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I really like the Gondolin scenes so far.

[Elentári]

Hey, thanks!

And if anyone else feels so inclined, do feel free to offer general comments here, or if anyone wants to make specific reference to any of the scenes then by all means post in the relevant thread, it won't matter about interrupting the flow of the story. I'll probably continue to post an instalment daily for the most part...

[Elentári]

So we come to the design and construction of Gondolin...

As always, our task was to take a paragraph of Tolkien's and turn it into a drama! Fortunately, sauronsfinger had always harboured dreams of visualizing the building of Gondolin and was only too pleased to put his ideas down on paper. It was his clever concept of using the characters of the anonymous young lovers and seeing their growing relationship during the construction montage to show the passing of time as the city rose from its foundations. It simply fell to me to assemble the jigsaw of vignettes, and provide the opening scene to tie everything together.

[Elentári]

So Gondolin is finally ready for habitation and not all at Nevrast are eager to relocate! For those wondering about the name "Meleth" for Idril's maid/friend, that was the name Tolkien gave to Eärendil's nurse in his original version of the Fall of Gondolin in BoLT, and I figured that Idril would quite possibly have chosen her best friend to take on that special responsibility!

Credit must go to Ethelwynn for several of these latest scenes: renown for her deft characterizations, she always takes pains to ensure that our characters should be fully fleshed out and have real-life feelings and emotions. She came up with the wonderful scenes between father and daughter (including the seals!) and between Turgon and his sister in the stables. I was also grateful for her help in rounding out the scene between Aredhel and Idril, and on the opening scene with Ecthelion.

Thanks, Ethelwynn!

ETA: Oh, and here are further pics for characters in the Gondolin episodes:

[Elentári]

So we finally get to see the finished hidden city of Gondolin in this instalment...

When SF and I were looking for inspiration on how this most fabled of cities should look, I stumbled across this breathtaking real-life architectural gem, the Fisherman's Bastion, or Halász Bástya, in Budapest, Hungary.



This website gives historical background about the site, and those with a penchant for such things will be interested to know that the Bastion was recently rennovated and now boasts an enviable fine dining experience!

Meanwhile, we attempted to progress the plot with several small, character illuminating scenes, to show Aredhel's increasing dissatisfaction with her situation. In the book, of course, there is 200 years for this aggrievement to fester, but we opted to ignore this time issue in favour of pacing the story more evenly.

[Elentári]

And now we have reached the midpoint in the Gondolin screenplay: it seems the optimum place to divide, with the fate of Aredhel's escort unknown, and the lady herself having walked into the clutches of a mysterious stranger...

I reckon the screenplay would work out at no more than 2 hours each half, so could be shown over consecutive evenings, even on a weekend, perhaps.

This instalment opens with a nice scene between Aredhel and Turgon, which I expanded on, whilst lifting the existing dialogue straight from the book where at all possible.

The biggest problem with this next part of the story is how Aredhel really came to loose her escort... I should note htat, yes we decided to use the named elves that JRRT originally proposed, even though he later acknowledged that their failure here would diminsh their later reputations and he decided on keeping the escort anonymous. For the purposes of our screenplay, and the chracter development we are aiming for, it made sense for us to use recognizable characters, but hopefully make their failure seem reasonable in the circumstances. It fell once again to sauronsfinger to pick up the gauntlet for these action scenes, and I think he did a marvellous job in creating a set-piece spectacular for our heroes!

The old bridge, btw, is the iant iaur over the Esgalduin, and the pinnacled constructions either end of the bridge that sf describes we envisaged as being remnants of the abandoned guard posts.

Finally, we get to meet Eöl, the mysterious loner who dwells in the shadows of Nan Elmoth, an we see how he casts his snares over the ill-fated Aredhel as she wanders ever deeper towards his lair. What will she make of this forthright stranger remains to be seen in the next episode!

[Elentári]

Having chosen to dramatize the story of Eöl and Aredhel, we were naturally faced with the dilemma of interpreting Tolkien's description of Aredhel as being "not wholly unwilling." If you have read HoMe you will know that Tolkien's original intention was for Eöl to have taken her to wife by force...but that he later changed his thinking on this.

I decided, in consultation with Ethelwynn, that it might be wisest to choose a middle route which might fit the definition of "not wholly unwilling" and avoid any violence, or "elven glamours" - the idea of a M-e equivalent of "date rape." The premise being that Aredhel is flattered and seduced by this charismatic, roguish elf who is totally different to any male she has encountered before, and she is attracted to the dangerous, bad boy side of him. Presumably Eöl does not get many highly attractive, nubile young women wandering alone in his forest domain, and having decided he wants her for himself, decides to use whatever means are at hand to make her want him too.

I also wanted to avoid any suggestion that Eöl would mistreat her, or keep her there by force, once they were joined/bound, so the idea is that she is bound by the laws and customs of the Eldar, the force of his personality and their mutual sexual attraction. I hope this scenario works for you!

[Elentári]

Hmm...I thought kicking off Part 2 with a hot and steamy sex scene would have at least produced some comment

Oh well...

Not much to say regarding the next instalment: from here the story will concentrate mostly on Maeglin's early life, with a couple of alternating scenes back in Gondolin just to break up the Nan Elmoth action, but it is hard to find anything to use for the Gondolin storyline at this point, so they are just fillers whilst we focus on Maeglin.

[Elentári]

One of the problems with Tolkien's narrative here is just exactly what keeps Aredhel and Maegln in Nan Elmoth all these years...we know that initially Aredhel lost her way due to the mists and magic that the forest of Nan Elmoth was imbued with - perhaps remnants of Melian's magic from the time she and Thingol spent there. Yet Tolkien writes the mother and son simply rode away when they had had enough, so clearly the magic was not in operation all the time. One wonders whether or not Eöl himself has any direct control of this magic, since the escape was made when he was in fact absent...however, that would not explain why Aredhel dd not escape previously when Eöl was away on visits to the dwarves. Did she stay out of wifely loyalty and subserviance?

In the end I decided to go with the idea of the "moving maze" of pathways that only Eöl would know the secret to in order to leave the forest...and which Maeglin had secretly observed and learnt!

The escape, Eöl's pursuit and subsequent events in Gondoln play out here as in the book. One detail I added was the taking of Eöl's sword by Maeglin: this is not explicitly stated in the chapter "Of Maeglin" but rather there is a line in the story of Túrin where it is stated that Anguirel was stolen from him by his son Maeglin.

Thanks once again to SF for the setting of the scene (and camera angles) for the procession through Gondolin.

The only other invention here is my addition of the lovelorn Ecthelion storyline...and the idea of Pengolodh as the far-seeing recorder of the History of Gondolin.

Enjoy!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The only other invention here is my addition of the lovelorn Ecthelion storyline

What is that based on?

[Elentári]

Er, like I said previously, at the start of this mini-series, it's my invention - just some added human interest...you know, the sort of thing Jackson and co might do!

Seriously, in terms of making a drama, in the throne room scene, we need some dialogue and action to be going on before the news of Eöl's arrival is announced. It can't just be boring chit-chat, and the vignette between Glorfindel and Ecthelion, encouraging him to approach Aredhel works really well, IMO in terms of added dramatic tension and keeping the audience involved...

I wanted to give the charcter of Ecthelion some added depth, to try and provide an emotional journey to link what we do know of his role in the legends. He may well have had a wife and kids, of course, that Tolkien chose not to mention. But he seems to have been a career soldier who ultimately gave his life to protect Tuor and his family. You will see in the final instalment how I have linked Aredhel's death into his decision to become warden of the Great Gate, away from life at court.

ETA: Hang about, did you mean "where did this come from because Ihaven't noticed it in the storyline so far"???

Perhaps I've been too subtle, then...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

To me it seems not only unnecessary, but forced and distracting. Worse, to me it potentially detracts from the important unrequited love of Maeglin for Idril that I presume will come later on.

It's really the first thing that I've seen that you've identified as your work that seems "off" to me.

Needless to say, that is just my opinion. Obviously others' mileage will certainly vary.

[Elentári]

Ah, well...perhaps when you see how things resolve in the last instalment it will seem different. IMO, it's not a similar "unrequited love" situation...Idril could never return Maeglin's feelings for her because of the person he is, whereas in this case Aredhel simply has not acknowleged Ecthelion's steadfast devotion for whatever reasons of her own, until it is too late, when she finally realizes what she has thrown away.

Besides, the Idril-Maeglin situation would have not have been covered until we got to The Fall of Gondolin season (6) but we haven't made it that far...

But I'm grateful you have been taking the time to read our efforts, and offer comments, Voronwë.