“Thus spake Mandos in prophecy, when the Gods sat in judgement in Valinor, and the rumour of his words was whispered among all the Elves of the West. When the world is old and the Powers grow weary, then Morgoth, seeing that the guard sleepeth, shall come back through the Door of Night out of the Timeless Void; and he shall destroy the Sun and Moon. But Eärendel shall descend upon him as a white and searing flame and drive him from the airs. Then shall the Last Battle be gathered on the fields of Valinor. In that day Tulkas shall strive with Morgoth, and on his right hand shall be Fionwë, and on his left Túrin Turambar, son of Húrin, coming from the halls of Mandos; and the black sword of Túrin shall deal unto Morgoth his death and final end; and so shall the children of Húrin and all Men be avenged.
Thereafter shall Earth be broken and re-made, and the Silmarils shall be recovered out of Air and Earth and Sea; for Eärendel shall descend and surrender that flame which he hath had in keeping. Then Fëanor shall take the Three Jewels and bear them to Yavanna Palúrien; and she will break them and with their fire rekindle the Two Trees, and a great light shall come forth. And the Mountains of Valinor shall be levelled, so that the Light shall go out over all the world. In that light the Gods will grow young again, and the Elves awake and all their dead arise, and the purpose of Ilúvatar be fulfilled concerning them. But of Men in that day the prophecy of Mandos doth not speak, and no Man it names, save Túrin only, and to him a place is given among the sons of the Valar.”
—J.R.R. Tolkien, The History of Middle-earth V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, “Quenta Silmarillion”
“The appearance of Túrin at the end remains profoundly mysterious…. it is said that Túrin is named among ‘the sons of the Gods’ rather than among the Gods, and also that he comes ‘from the halls of Mandos’ to the final battle; about which I can say no more than that Túrin Turambar, though a mortal Man, did not go, as do the race of Men, to a fate beyond the world.”
—Christopher Tolkien, The History of Middle-earth IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, “The Quenta”
“But the last-comer [of the Istari] was named among the Elves Mithrandir, the Grey Pilgrim, for he dwelt in no place, and gathered to himself neither wealth nor followers, but ever went to and fro in the Westlands from Gondor to Angmar, and from Lindon to Lórien, befriending all folk in times of need. Warm and eager was his spirit (and it was enhanced by the ring Narya), for he was the Enemy of Sauron, opposing the fire that devours and wastes with the fire that kindles, and succours in wanhope and distress; but his joy, and his swift wrath, were veiled in garments grey as ash, so that only those that knew him well glimpsed the flame that was within. Merry he could be, and kindly to the young and simple, and yet quick at times to sharp speech and the rebuking of folly; but he was not proud, and sought neither power nor praise, and thus far and wide he was beloved among all those that were not themselves proud. Mostly he journeyed unwearyingly on foot, leaning on a staff; and so he was called among Men of the North Gandalf, ‘the Elf of the Wand’. For they deemed him (though in error, as has been said) to be of Elven-kind, since he would at times work wonders among them, loving especially the beauty of fire; and yet such marvels he wrought mostly for mirth and delight, and desired not that any should hold him in awe or take his counsels out of fear.”
“The dragon swooped once more lower than ever, and as he turned and dived down his belly glittered white with sparkling fires of gems in the moon–but not in one place. The great bow twanged. The black arrow sped straight from the string, straight for the hollow by the left breast where the foreleg was flung wide. In it smote and vanished, barb, shaft and feather, so fierce was its flight. With a shriek that defeaned the men, felled trees and split stone, Smaug shot spouting into the air, turned over and crashed down from on high in ruin.
Full on the town he fell. His last throes splintered it to sparks and gledes. The lake roared in. A vast steam leaped up, white in the sudden dark under the moon. There was a hiss, a gushing whirl, and then silence. And that was the end of Smaug and Esgaroth, but not of Bard.”
♂️ Gandalf meets lots of interesting people whenever he is on tour! At the Leipzig Book Fair he met none less than Tolkien illustrator John Howe! He was very busy signing books and drawing our little friend – when fans asked him so sketch something, he always chose Gandalf, that can’t be a coincidence!
“Among those of his servants that have names the greatest was that spirit whom the Eldar called Sauron, or Gorthaur the Cruel. In his beginning he was of the Maiar of Aule, and he remained mighty in the lore of that people. In all the deeds of Melkor the Morgoth upon Arda, in his vast works and in the deceits of his cunning, Sauron had a part, and was only less evil than his master in that for long he served another and not himself. But in after years he rose like a shadow of Morgoth and a ghost of his malice, and walked behind him on the same ruinous path down into the Void.” - The Silmarillion
((Wow but that is a really horrible title. Sorry, but I couldn’t think of a way to shorten it!))
Of course, this is entirely my opinion/view of the subject, since I haven’t met either Alan Lee or John Howe, and of course interviews are construction to push certain messages and silence other ones. For all we know, both actors absolutely hate the movies, and just haven’t been caught saying so out loud.
But, I don’t think this is the case. In one of the commentary/interview videos included with the Lord of the Rings extended edition (I cannot at all remember which one), they talk about how the two actors were originally invited to join the project. The stories themselves are kind of cute, but the basic point of them was that both Alan Lee and John Howe were very eager to be involved.
The question then becomes what they thought of the project once they saw what changes were being made. As far as a quick Google search could tell, they haven’t actually been asked this in an interview yet (please correct me if I’m wrong, and please provide a link to that interview!) But they would have been on-scene to see most changes being made, so it’s not like there would be any real surprises for them.
Anyway, here’s the real proof for me: both John Howe and Alan Lee agreed to work with Peter Jackson again on The Hobbit trilogy. I think that, if either of them had really had a problem with the changes made in Lord of the Rings, they wouldn’t have wanted to be involved with The Hobbit. Ergo, my theory is that neither of them have any real problems with the changes made for the movies.
SOURCES: That commentary/interview video that I mentioned. Seriously, can’t remember which one. But it’s one of the, like, 8 hours of interviews included with the LOTR Extended Edition DVDs…
“It’s kind of like being a little kid again. You get to sit at the table with the edge of the table under your arms.”—John Howe on the set of Beorn’s house [x]
His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.
Had a flip through this one at the bookstore the other day: A Middle-earth Traveler: Sketches from Bag End to Mordor. The book is illustrated by John Howe, who worked as a production designer on the Peter Jackson films, and offers a spectacular insight into his artistic vision of Middle-earth. Would highly recommend to any Tolkien fans, regardless of whether they prefer the books, the movies, or both.
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