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for a special discount code for my viewers for lordofmaps.com This tale begins in the
days of Eldarion, son of Aragorn Elessar of whom the histories have much to tell.
One hundred and five years have passed since the fall of Barad-dur - and the story of that time
is little heeded now by most of the people of Gondor. Here, in the very lands of Emyn Arnen,
one who remembers the War of the Ring discovers that a new evil is on the rise.
Today on Nerd of the Rings,
we cover The New Shadow - Tolkien’s abandoned sequel to The Lord of the Rings.
Over the course of his life, JRR Tolkien wrote no less than 3 versions of a sequel to The
Lord of the Rings - each with minor changes and improvements over the version that came before.
The story of the abandoned sequel and its creation comes courtesy of Christopher
Tolkien’sThe Peoples of Middle-earth, the twelfth volume of The History of Middle-earth.
JRR Tolkien called his sequel: The New Shadow.
And in a letter from 1972, just 15 months before his death, the author wrote:
These words open the dialogue at the center of The New Shadow and are spoken by Borlas,
an aging man living in the area of Pen-arduin in Gondor. Borlas is one of the few in Gondor who are
old enough to remember the War of the Ring even as a shadow upon their early childhood. For he is the
younger son of Beregond, who we meet in The Return of the King. Beregond was the guard of the Citadel
in Minas Tirith who befriended Peregrin Took in his service of the city. The very Beregond who
was forced to kill three of Denethor’s servants to prevent the lighting of Faramir’s funeral pyre.
He was a fiercely loyal man and seems to have passed this quality on to his son.
After the War of the Ring, Beregond, and his family - his son Bergil,
and perhaps by this time Borlas - would move to Emyn Arnen, serving as the Captain of the
Guard of Faramir - Prince of Ithilien. And it is here that The New Shadow likely takes place.
Old Borlas is speaking to Saelon, a younger man who had long been friends with Borlas’ son.
As Borlas unwittingly speaks aloud the promptings of his heart - that evil will
ever spring forth if the complacency of men allows it - Saelon enters into a conversation with Borlas
that is equal parts philosophical, antagonistic, and mysterious.
He mentions that Borlas is among those who is not content with enjoying their own fair
garden with strong walls, but troubles his heart about his neighbors, and the city, and the realm,
and all the wide world. He can’t simply live in his own small corner of peace and quiet.
Saelon also recalls a moment in his youth,
when Borlas rebuked him for stealing fruit from his orchard. Orcs’ work, Borlas had called it.
Saelon reveals that he and his friends would later play and pretend to be Orcs. It is clear that the
memory and shadow of the War of the Ring was truly lost on this younger generation of Gondorians.
Saelon had even considered taking his friends to Borlas’ orchard
and cutting down his trees - so that he might think the orcs had truly returned.
They go on to debate the morality of stealing an apple that is ripe
vs one that is not. Are they equal deeds?
Or is stealing an unripe apple worse, for you have robbed the world of what will now never be?
Saelon compares men and orcs in the eyes of a tree - would a tree view a man cutting it down
and burning it as any better than an orc? Borlas counters that the evils of the world were entered
into it due to the discord of Melkor and that Men did not come of this discord - they came after - a
wholly new creation of Eru - the One. Men are His children and they are given the right to use trees
without pride or wantonness, but with reverence. There is indeed a difference between the wanton
destruction of the orcs and the woodman who cuts the proudest tree to keep his children warm.
Saelon then confronts Borlas, saying that is was not of apples or orchards that Borlas spoke of
when speaking of the dark tree. His voice sinks low as the sun sinks behind Mount Mindolluin.
‘You have heard then the name?' With hardly more than breath he formed it. 'Of Herumor?'
Borlas looked at him with amazement and fear. His mouth made tremulous motions of speech,
but no sound came from it. 'I see that you have,' said Saelon. 'And
you seem astonished to learn that I have heard it also. But you are not more aston­ished than I was
to see that this name has reached you. For, as I say, I have keen eyes and ears, but yours are
now dim even for daily use, and the matter has been kept as secret as cunning could contrive.'
'Whose cunning?' said Borlas, suddenly and fiercely. The sight of his eyes might be dim,
but they blazed now with anger. 'Why, those who have heard the
call of the name, of course,' answered Saelon unperturbed. 'They are not many yet,
to set against all the people of Gondor, but the number is growing.
Borlas and Saelon engage in a back and forth - each holding their cards close to the chest,
neither wanting to reveal much to the other first. Borlas asks what this growing unrest
plans to accomplish - Saelon responds by asking how Borlas comes to know the name of Herumor.
As we learned in my previous video on the Black Numenoreans, there was also a Herumor in the
late Second Age, who rose to power among the Haradrim. While this is obviously a different
person in the Fourth Age, the name’s meaning remains the same - Herumor is “Black Lord”.
Finally Saelon says later that night, when it is full dark, he will pass by the eastern
gate of Borlas’ house. Should Borlas wish to have the answers to all his questions,
he should dress as Saelon will - all in black and come with him.
Left alone, Borlas’ thoughts go to how his conversation with Saelon started - a conversation
about his son Berelach, who lives near Pelargir, serving in the Gondorian naval forces. He had
told his father of the disappearance of some of his fellow shipmen and a ship of the Gondorian
fleet. Berelach had assumed these shipmen had left without leave or pilot had drowned in the sea.
But Saelon had expressed doubt at this official view of events.
Finally, Borlas is left with his decision - to go with Saelon to whatever meeting
may lie in wait for him - or to stay. He debates what he may know of the situation.
Is Saelon part of this conspiracy? Or is he an infiltrator? Surely he is not attempting to
convert Borlas to darkness, that would be useless. For Borlas remembered the old Evil of Sauron.
Could Saelon be a spy? Or is he luring Borlas into some kind of trap?
Borlas says to himself:
The thought crossed his mind even as he stepped over the threshold:
He enters the house, where none of the accustomed sounds of evening were present - only a soft,
dead silence. He calls, and there is no answer. He feels wrapped in blackness
and suddenly he smells it - the old Evil...and he knew it for what it was.
With this chilling end, Tolkien closes out his brief look into what a Lord of the Rings sequel
would entail. We are left to wonder - was Saelon was truly a member of this Dark Tree?
What happened to the missing boat and sailors from the Gondorian navy? Who was Herumor,
leader of this Dark Tree? And what would Borlas find in his dark and silent house?
In the end, these would remain among the great mysteries in the History of Middle-earth.
While much of what we discuss here on the channel is focused on the lore and the canon
stories in Tolkien’s world, I think this The New Shadow shows us much about Tolkien the man.
He understood that left unchecked, evil will arise to corrupt the hearts of men.
That in a world marred by the discord of Melkor, evil could not be wholly removed from the world.
But even more, Tolkien knew when to practice restraint in writing about the world he
created. He acknowledged that the Great Peace of Aragorn’s rule would have few great tales worth
writing - for there would be no great evil for Aragorn and his people to come against.
But I think Tolkien also realized how depressing it would be to bring about a new great evil
after such a huge and wonderful victory as the defeat of Sauron.
Like Christopher himself, I have no doubt that a thriller of a tale with this setting,
and written by Tolkien, would have been exceptional. Though I also agree with
Christopher that his father perhaps had a deeper conviction - that the vast structure
of the story JRR Tolkien created came to its true end with the Downfall of Sauron.
I, for one, am thankful that Tolkien was wise enough not to go through with a LOTR sequel.
Too often I’ve found they serve only to take away well-earned, and often happy endings - a
price too great for what is promised, let alone delivered. Even setting his tale
after the lifetime of his main heroes, Tolkien realized it was simply not a tale worth doing
and that the final days of the Fellowship and the fitting ends to each and every character
were indeed how we should in the end, leave Middle-earth.
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