Monday, February 21, 2011

Middle-earth according to Mordor

Middle-earth according to MordorLaura Miller - Well, there's two sides to every story, or to quote a less banal maxim, history is written by the winners. That's the philosophy behind "The Last Ringbearer," a novel set during and after the end of the War of the Ring (the climactic battle at the end of "The Lord of the Rings") and told from the point of view of the losers. The novel was written by Kirill Yeskov, a Russian paleontologist, and published to acclaim in his homeland in 1999. Translations of the book have also appeared in other European nations, but fear of the vigilant and litigious Tolkien estate has heretofore prevented its publication in English.

That changed late last year when one Yisroel Markov posted his English translation of "The Last Ringbearer" as a free download. ...

In Yeskov's retelling, the wizard Gandalf is a war-monger intent on crushing the scientific and technological initiative of Mordor and its southern allies because science "destroys the harmony of the world and dries up the souls of men!" He's in cahoots with the elves, who aim to become "masters of the world," and turn Middle-earth into a "bad copy" of their magical homeland across the sea. Barad-dur, also known as the Dark Tower and Sauron's citadel, is, by contrast, described as "that amazing city of alchemists and poets, mechanics and astronomers, philosophers and physicians, the heart of the only civilization in Middle-earth to bet on rational knowledge and bravely pitch its barely adolescent technology against ancient magic." ...

The protagonist of "The Last Ringbearer" is a field medic from Umbar (a southern land), who is ably assisted by an Orocuen -- that is, orc -- scout, who is not a demonic creature like the orcs in "The Lord of the Rings," but an ordinary man. They're given the task of destroying a mirror in the elf stronghold of Lorien before the elves can further use it to infect Middle-earth with their alien magic. Meanwhile, the remnants of Mordor's civilization fight a rear-guard guerrilla campaign to sustain the "green shoots of reason and progress," in opposition to the "static" and "tidy" pseudo-paradise of Middle-earth under the elven regime.

Some of the supporting characters from "The Lord of the Rings" -- such as Faramir and Eowyn -- get more attention and and even a bit more respect in "The Last Ringbearer." Others, like Aragorn -- depicted by Yeskov as a ruthless Machiavellian schemer who is ultimately the puppet of his wife, the elf Arwen -- have been completely transformed. (Still others, like the hobbits, don't even exist.) Nevertheless, the primary characters are entirely Yeskov's inventions, presented in a radically rethought version of Tolkien's world. The novel is clearly dependent on Tolkien's creation, but it's also original and ingenious. ...

via Middle-earth according to Mordor - Laura Miller - Salon.com.

More than 15 years ago Russian scientist Kirill Yeskov tried to settle certain geographical problems in Tolkien's fantasy world. One thing led to another, and he tackled a bigger project - what if we assumed that it's no less real than our world? His conclusion was that in such a case, the story of the Ring of Power is most likely a much-altered heroic retelling of a major war - but what was that war really about?

The result of this re-appraisal was the publication in 1999 of The Last Ring-bearer - a re-thinking of Tolkien's story in real-world terms. Dr. Yeskov, a professional paleontologist whose job is reconstructing long-extinct organisms and their way of life from fossil remnants, performs essentially the same feat in The Last Ring-bearer, reconstructing the real world of Tolkien's Arda from The Lord of the Rings - the heroic tales of the Free Men of the West written in that world. We have a pretty good idea how well heroic tales map to reality from our own world...I was impressed enough by this work to spend a few dozen lunch hours translating it to English. (Reportedly, some publishing houses have considered a commercial translation of this book, which had been published in several major European languages, but abandoned the idea out of fear of the Tolkien estate, which doesn't countenance any derivative works, especially in English. Witness the history of its relationship with New Line Cinema. This translation is non-commercial.) I have been fortunate to establish communication with the author and have the translation vetted (and much corrected) by him. I now offer this work for your perusal. At 139,000 words, this 1 Mb PDF is about 80% of the length of The Fellowship of the Ring. Suggestions for corrections will be appreciated. Please mention how you heard about this translation when commenting. Errata will be published here soon. - ymarkov

I've read the Tolkien books three or four times from start to finish. I'm looking forward to reading the Last Ringbearer, thanks to Laura Miller's review ... when I get done with my year long project of getting my 100 or so songs recorded.

6 comments:

Mirlen101 said...

I read all of them except this one of course . Sounds interesting might give it a go . But wait NO ! Hobbits ! ;-( That was a big mistake ! It's like Wizard of Oz without the wizard !
So your 50 songs really was more like 100 ! ;-) Good luck with that !

Xeno said...

Yeah, up to about 90 songs so far and I keep finding more I forgot about.

I was thinking it was kind of brilliant to ignore the hobbits. That was, after all, the downfall of Mordor, and what Gandalf was counting on. Mordor started looking for halflings too late, and then the eye mistook merry and pippin for frodo and sam.

Or you could frame it as an intentional slight. Not even worth mentioning.

Sam said...

This looks interesting. I am currently occupying my reading time with all those "History of Middle-earth" books, and I just am constantly blown away by the extent of completeness of Tolkien's world. So, later on, getting "Mordor's account" will be great fun!

Mirlen101 said...

Those little hobbits don't get any respect ! ;-) I can see your point though from the Mordor point of view they were mere fleas . That's why they were overlooked . Because of the new point of view you would almost be required to leave them out .Or they would be the fly in the ointment so to speak , muddy the story premise . Still I love the little people ! ;-(

Sam said...

Mirlen, if you will remember, Sauron was just BARELY aware of Hobbits at all; it's not just that he didn't see them as a threat. Remember that the Black Riders didn't even know where to find the Shire, and they worked directly beneath Sauron. In other words, Sauron didn't know, either. (Tolkien wrote it explicitly in "Unfinished Tales." As it turns out, even in Gondor -- with the exception of a very few -- they were mostly unaware of the existence of Hobbits.)

Mirlen101 said...

Good point .
I'm not impressed with Christopher Tolkien's writing abilities . Not the talent of the father ;-/ Too bad the elder didn't complete more works !