J· R· After completing the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit, and The Elven Diamond (unpublished), R. Tolkien began conceiving a sequel almost immediately to continue the story of what happened in Middle-earth after the End of the Lord of the Rings War. But unfortunately, until the death of the old man, this "New Shadow" was not finished, and now only some incomplete fragments can be seen from the manuscript compiled by his family.
Today, I will briefly introduce the plot direction of this sequel and why Tolkien has made a start but has not been able to finish "The New Magic Shadow".
The New Shadow takes place 220 years after the end of the War of the Rings, nearly 100 years after the death of King Elessa (Aragon), and the Kingdom of The New Union is currently ruled by Eldarion, aragon's son.
The change occurred at the end of the Erdarian dynasty, and due to the relatively pure Numanorean blood, the royal family of the Reunited Kingdom was only passed down for two generations in more than 200 years, but about ten generations have passed in the folk. Ordinary people have long lost their intuitive feelings about the damage caused by Mordor, Sauron, and orcs, and those heroic deeds of the past have become part of history and legend.
At this time, most of the elves in Middle-earth had already crossed the sea to the west; the dwarves were digging deeper into the ground, caring less and less about things on the ground; Mordor was completely dismembered, the orcs were almost exterminated, and only a few fled into the Misty Mountains and the mountains further north, and the social order in Middle-earth was completely dominated by humans, in the words of the movie, "This is obviously the era of mankind."
In the early days of Erdarian's reign, he was able to rely on his father's prestige to keep a watchful eye on the dark forces of Middle-earth, but most of the nobles and commoners in the kingdom were born after the fall of Sauron, and they had never seen how quickly the evil of the past had grown, and they could not understand why the kingdom needed to remain on high alert at all times. This became more evident at the end of the Erdarian dynasty, when more and more young people dissatisfied with the kingdom began to quietly join underground cults, and the ancient kingdom, which had only been restored for more than two hundred years, began to have a new crisis.
The story begins with a POV character, Borlas, the youngest son of Beregond.
Boras
You may not be familiar with this Berry Gonde, who is an ordinary soldier of the Janissaries in the royal city of Gondor in the novel, but is a very key character. During the Siege of Minas Tyrell, he rescued the dying Faramil from Denisor II , ( the film only shows Gandalf and Pipin rescuing people together , but in the novel they arrive in time because of Berry Gordond 's desperate resistance ) , and later promoted to captain of the White Guard for his heroic performance at the Battle of The Black Gate.
Berry Gund
Despite his Numanor ancestry, Berrygangd's son Bolas was already a dying old man at this time, and he was one of the few people who were born in the Third Age and still alive, so he always remained vigilant against the forces of evil. The main part of the story is a conversation between Bolas and a young man named Ceylon.
The simple summary is that Bolas learned from Ceylon about the recent changes in the kingdom, the frequent disappearance of people in southern Gondor, the circulation of a cult worshipping "alien gods" among the commoners, and even a clear mention of a mysterious figure named Hermol, who seems to be the leader or evangelist of this cult. In short, something must have gone wrong in the kingdom, and the two also mentioned the "Dark Tree" in the dialogue, which was clearly a reference to the white tree of Gondor, which Bolas believed symbolized that the evil forces of Middle-earth were growing, that its roots could not be truly destroyed, and that it would spread throughout Middle-earth if not carefully.
Ceylon told Bolas that if he wanted to know more details, he could join him on an adventure after nightfall, and then turned away. Bolas thought he would agree to Ceylon's invitation, and despite his advanced age, he wanted to know more about that evil force, and in his own words, "Maybe the real meaning of my living for so long is that a man who has survived from the war years should still feel the evil of that year." "Bollas made up his mind and stared into his home, and suddenly he seemed to feel something, a feeling of déjà vu, the kind of ancient evil that was looming...
Tolkien's writing ends abruptly here, and the dark depiction contrasts sharply with the beautiful and serene Shire at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings. The New Shadow is a completely different style of middle-earth in the post-Lord of the Rings era, a world that no longer has the magical creatures of dwarves, elves, and tree people.
The heroes of the past have also become legends and myths, and of course new heroes will appear, but these heroes will eventually be drowned in the power struggle for self-deception, which may be the most painful place for Tolkien.
We can also see his pain in his letters to his friends,
"I did start a whole new story after the Big War, but it turned out to be both dark and frustrating. Since I am dealing with people, it is inevitable to focus on the most regrettable feature of their nature: their insatiableness with the good. As a result, the human race in Middle-earth will become increasingly discontented and insecure in times of peace, justice, and prosperity, and Aragon and his descendants will become rulers like DeNessor II. I found that even at this early stage, there were already signs of conspiracy, a secret cult that went around creating panic. I could certainly write a "thriller" about human nature and "intrigue," but in reality, it's not worth doing. ”
In fact, Tolkien has expressed his attitude towards human nature more than once in public, and has always been outspoken and pessimistic about the flaws that naturally exist in human nature, but he has always refused to project this view directly into his works, and he prefers that the Middle-earth world he has created can become a safe haven for people's hearts rather than a judgement to examine the soul.
"Sometimes a story can be just a story and doesn't need to be a preachy sermon full of preaching."
A sequel full of suspense and plot twists is not difficult for Tolkien at all, and it will be interesting for readers, but it will not become a real epic like The Lord of the Rings, and I think that is why Tolkien failed to complete the New Shadow.
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