Short Hand: The Lord of the Rings 1 · 4:38am Feb 23rd, 2022
Shepherd looked down upon the Pelennor Fields, as the Rohirrim charged upon the armies of Mordor. He smiled, almost grimly, as the Riders of Rohan rode to sweep the orcs heroically.
He blinked, as Twilight appeared next to him.
Shepherd: "Eh?! Twilight?!"
Twilight: "Ah, I'm sorry Shepherd. I was experimenting with a dream walking spell Luna taught me... I can leave if you'd like-"
Shepherd: "No, no... It's okay. Anything to help you grow in your education, I guess."
He gave her a warmer smile, one she returned. They turned and watched the battle.
Twilight: "This is from those stories by... Tolkien? You mention him often. A great sage of your world?"
Shepherd: "Yes, after a fashion. He was a philosopher, a theologian, a linguist, and a great storyteller. He was also a war veteran. He took his experiences from the horrors of one of our worst wars... And made an amazing world out of it. He invented at least a dozen languages and crafted his world out of them. Truly, an amazing man. And the story he made... People all over the world love it. It's a truly universal human experience."
Twilight slowly nodded.
Twilight: "I see..."
Shepherd: "Yeah... But now I'm not sure if I'm remembering it properly. There are... So many details I've forgotten. From the books, from the movies... It's so hard to recall."
He bowed his head.
Shepherd: "There's so much of my world I've forgotten... How much more will I lose?"
Twilight nuzzled him, and leaned comfortingly against his side.
Twilight : "If it helps... Sometimes I worry about the same. I know... I suspect my future."
Shepherd: "Another new spell, Twilight?"
Twilight: "No... Just... I've been suspecting this for some time. What Princess Celestia's plans for me are. Why she tests me."
Twilight looks Shepherd in his eyes, her own wide and worried.
Twilight: "... She wants me to ascend. Become an alicorn, like her."
Shepherd does his best to remain nonchalant.
Shepherd: "... You're sure?"
Twilight: "You've suspected it too. Haven't you?"
Shepherd: "I will admit... The possibility has occurred. But... Wouldn't that be what you would want?"
Twilight: "..." looks out at the fields again "You spoke of the love between a man and an elf. The immortal elf outlived her love. Despite becoming mortal... She couldn't join him ever. Even in death."
Shepherd: "Twilight... I mean, for all you know, Ponies and humans go to the same afterlife-"
Twilight: "That's the problem. I don't know. Princess Luna and Celestia know something of the world beyond Death, but... Nothing for sure." Twilight stared out across the bloody fields "And if I become a princess... I will have to watch my friends, my family... You. All of you will wither... And die. And I will never see... Never see any of you again."
Shepherd: comfortingly "Twilight-"
Twilight: "How long until everything I've seen becomes nothing more than a distant memory? Forgotten? Princess Celestia at least had her sister, and Cadence... I will have them but everypony else? I... I can't imagine a world without any of you. I don't... I don't want to."
Shepherd: "... It's not like you have to become a Princess, Twilight-"
Twilight: "But I do. If the potential is there... I have to explore it. I have to push myself. I can't just give up on it..."
She looked down, her eyes filling with tears.
Twilight: "But at the same time... If it meant losing all of you, I... I don't know what to do. Sometimes... Sometimes I think I can't do this. I can't go on."
Shepherd: "... I've felt that way. Sometimes."
He stroked her head. She looked up at him curiously.
Twilight: "And what do you do when you feel that way?"
Shepherd: "I think of my friends. I think of the happy times we've all had... And I think of something Tolkien taught me. Why he's so important to me."
Twilight: "What?"
Shepherd: smiles "It’s like in the great stories, Twilight. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened.
But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why."
Twilight is silent, as Shepherd continues.
Shepherd: "But I think, Twilight, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something."
Twilight: "What?"
Shepherd: "That there’s some good in this world, my Twilight. And it’s worth fighting for. Whether it's fighting an evil dark lord, or fighting to preserve the good inside you."
Twilight: "..." smiles warmly, and nuzzles him "Thank you..."
Shepherd: "I don't do it justice, really." sighs "Honestly, I'm worried I'm remembering it wrong already. Not like I can just look it up."
Twilight: "I promise you, Shepherd, that I'll find these books of Tolkien the Sage! I'll find you copies! And we can read them together!"
Shepherd: "Works for me!"
Twilight: "On our honeymoon!"
Shepherd: "Uhhh... Maybe one step at a time there, Twilight?"
Twilight: "Whoops. Sorry..."
- - -
There is a new Amazon LOTR series coming out that... Looks like utter garbage and has been promoted like it is utter garbage and the creators know it. Am I angry? Sure I am.
But the originals will always be there. The original stories that we all love, cherish and adore. That inspired us and made us want to be more than what we are. Those stories will endure forever, while the self centered, greedy, arrogant distortions of those amazing tales and worlds will fade and be forgotten.
And I have the feeling Twilight Sparkle would love Lord of the Rings...
Nice.^^
Well said!
I'm sure it is garbage, but the people complaining about a dark-skinned elf and beardless dwarf-women are being pretty petty. That's pretty far down on the list of things to whine about.
5638763
It's more that they are symptoms of the larger problem: That the showrunners do not care about the lore of the world enough to get things right or to find ways to allow for diversity that do not violate the Lore. And honestly there are several easy ways to do that. Haradrim and/or Easterlings ending up in Northern Middle Earth during the Second Age as fish out of water would work perfectly to A: Allow for natural exposition as the Haradrim would be foreigners to these lands B: Have conflicting loyalties between serving Sauron or siding with the Free Peoples, leading to many plots, and C: Allow for roles that would require darker skinned actors without needing to alter the lore in any way.
Rather than do this, something truly original, they just decided "Eh, black elves. It's just a silly fantasy story."
5638764
I wouldn’t want the same dismissive attitude for other stories either.
I would be against the show runners of a samurai film, set in the Edo period, if the populace was filled with other races for the sake of diversity.
5638764
Well, there is a second series that was announced: War of the Rohirrim
The art style is supposed to be anime but the story is going to be faithful to the lore, depicting the story of Helm Hammerhand and that time period, roughly 100-200 years before Lord of the Rings.
What's more, the showrunners got a lot of the people that worked on the movies to work on this project as well.
So not all is lost...I hope.
The only thing that is going to make me watch the new show, is if we finally get some confirmation about the 2 blue wizards. That's been my question for so long.
5638787
When you consider that Fellowship starts with Bilbo's 111th birthday, there's a chance that the show, if it is 100 years before LOTR, it could happen when Bilbo is still a child.
I was really hoping it would take place in the 2nd before the War of the Last Alliance and give us much more back story on who the Nazgul were, especially the Witch-King of Angmar, and how long they lived before being transformed into wraiths.
I own a special edition of The Hobbit and the full trilogy of the Lord of the Rings as well as a few expansion books of Tolkien and have enjoyed his way of weaving you into an expansive universe.
But Shepherd is right that at times it is the journey, not the destination that shows the path of your progress and your life.
5638755
Took the words right out of my mouth.
I think I would LOVE to have these epic long stories made in to series long stories.
I mean I love Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, but how much more could you dive into the story if they were multi season long stories that explore the stories inn a way movies could not.
I DO see what you are saying about Amazons LOTR though.
My only hope is that they do for it what they did for the Sonic movie.
I did not see the trailer for it, but what did you not like about it?
5638764
Couldn't have said better myself. I'm all for stories that includes characters of different races/genders/sexualities/etc. but the problem is that, often times nowadays, that's the only thing they're thinking about. As a result, the story and characters arcs suffer because they're not given as much development as the labels the character is given. Just watch Arcane and High Guardian Spice back to back (Or don't for the latter if you don't want to waste your time) and you'll see how to do it right and wrong, respectively.
To me, a character/story is like a meal and the themes of race/gender/sexuality is the salt or spice. If you don't have those things, it's still good regardless. If you sprinkle in a bit of it, it can add the right amount of zest to it with the right combination. Too much, however, and all you are tasting is the salt/spice with the taste the original meal lost.
5638818
The Lord of the Rings is one book in 3 volumes. Although each volume is divided into two sections with 6 books in all, plus appendices.
I hate it when people call it a trilogy. If my niece and nephews inherit my now-pretty-valuable red leather collectors edition when I'm gone and spill something on it, I'm damn well going to haunt them.
Although the Silmarillion is probably my favorite book. Not nearly as long, but difficult to follow for people who never read the old epics it was written in imitation of, and/or haven't gotten the hang of the Quenya roots and pronunciations.