Idea: Retooled Lord of the Rings

[Elric von Bek]

I made this up off the top of my head for another messageboard. The challenge was to make LotR a more interesting epic; I'd like your opinions of this outline. I believe that I would like to take the general idea of this outline and transition it to my fiction's setting. That'd include name changes/regional and racial name changes.

Boromir killing the Fellowship and taking the ring to Gondor. Aragorn would be forced to raise an army to sac Gondor and retake the One Ring.

Meanwhile the Witch-King would be mustering the forces of Mordor to pursue Aragorn for the Ring. Gollum is outright killed by Aragorn. Unbeknownst to Aragorn, the Ring raises Gollum as something similar to the Necromancer.

The elves under Elrond decide that Aragorn must be captured or killed at all costs.

Aragorn manipulates the elves into attacking Isengard, throwing them off his tail. In Rivendell he steals Narsil while Elrond and his kin are joining the elves in the assault on Isengard.

During the siege of Isengard and cleansing of Mirkwood, the Witch-King sends out emissaries disguised as humans, elves, and dwarves to garner the sympathy of their nations. Thus the Witch-King builds an army of humans, elves, and dwarves.

A few from each race see the monstrosities their women and virile young men are used to create in Saruman's eugenics program. They try to rebel and are violently killed.

Aragorn is forced to stealth his way into Mordor. Gollum is still following him. In Mordor Aragorn infiltrates the Nazgul Tower (where the Wraiths rode from in the FOTR film) and finds texts and artifacts to awaken and control the dragons used by Morgoth in the early ages.

Aragorn sets off on a quest through Mordor to find the components needed and forms alliances with orcs, goblins, and trolls dissatisfied with the Witch-King's attempt to bring Sauron into full power. Along the way Aragorn encounters situations/events that force him to examine his notions of good and evil.

The goblins, orcs, and trolls march with Aragorn; Aragorn gets the components to awaken the dragons. At this point Gollum engages him. Aragorn uses Narsil to kill Gollum and awaken the dragons of Morgoth.

The dragons, along with Aragorn and his goblins, orcs, and trolls, attack Barad-Dur. It turns out Sauron was never there; it was all a ploy for the Witch-King to rule Mordor and Middle-Earth.

The Witch-King mounts his Nazgul and commands the other Nazgul riding Wraiths to join him. The aerial battle ranges from Barad-Dur to Mount Doom.

The Witch-King breaks Narsil; the dragons go berserk and start destroying Mordor. Aragorn kills the Witch-King by throwing him into Mount Doom and going in with him.

They turn all of the lands of Gondor, Rohan, Erebor, and the Shire into blackened wastelands where they rule as kings.

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I mean no disrespect for Tolkien as an individual; his skills as a philologist and world-builder are second to none. His writing style never really captured my attention nor left me intrigued enough to reread the LotR.

 

[AiedailEclipsed]

... what... the hellacious cracker jack are you smoking? It must be some seriously good stuff. No, I kid. Interesting thoughts, but there are a few problems. Read on to see them (a note, I'm operating off of movieverse knowledge since its been like FOREVER since I've read the books, but I do have an operative knowledge of most of the LotR universe, so I think we're good, but forgive me for slips).

Boromir killing the Fellowship and taking the ring to Gondor. Aragorn would be forced to raise an army to sac Gondor and retake the One Ring.

First off, your main problem is that you seem to ignore the existence of several incredibly powerful characters that wouldn't allow most of these events to come to pass. I'm just speaking generally. Not really in terms of magical power or what have you. Since you didn't really elaborate on when this coup d'etat would take place, I'm going to assume for argument's sake this would occur around the time Boromir was to die. Boromir never really struck me as the type to be able to kill 7 other people (three of which are incredibly skilled warriors, two of which have been far longer than he has [eg: more experience]). Also, you must remember that this would be the same time that Saruman has sent the Uruk-hai, so you'd need to factor that in too. And finally, where is this man going to get an army to lay siege to freaking Gondor?!

Meanwhile the Witch-King would be mustering the forces of Mordor to pursue Aragorn for the Ring. Gollum is outright killed by Aragorn. Unbeknownst to Aragorn, the Ring raises Gollum as something similar to the Necromancer.

And... how do you propose Gollum is resurrected thusly? The Ring (to use a nice analogy) is essentially a perma-Horcrux that only works for Sauron. Nobody else. Why, you ask? Because Sauron created it. It is bound to him. On the Necromancer note, I'll come back to that soon.

The elves under Elrond decide that Aragorn must be captured or killed at all costs.

... what? I mean, just what? Let's tackle this in sections. Shall we? First: the elves aren't fucking insane. They would not just up and decide that Aragorn all of a sudden must be captured/killed. Second: where is Arwen in this? Do you think she'd allow this stupidity to continue? Somewhere up in here, Gandalf would be back and he'd most certainly put the kibosh on these plans. Or barring that, Galadriel. She's pretty muchly the wisest and most powerful being beside Sauron in Middle Earth for most of existence really. Somehow, I do not think this would go over well. OR BETTER YET, Elrond isn't exactly stupid either; he wouldn't go all "LET'S KILL 'EM!" Third, what elves? There are practically none left! Most have left for Valinor at this point and only an incredibly small number are left in Middle Earth.

Aragorn manipulates the elves into attacking Isengard, throwing them off his tail. In Rivendell he steals Narsil while Elrond and his kin are joining the elves in the assault on Isengard.

Again, the elves are not stupid and there aren't enough of them left at this point to attack anything. Or at least, none that'd help IMO. Thranduil seems a bit too isolationist to attack Isengard, Galadriel... SHE AIN'T STUPID, and Elrond... I don't think he has much of anyone left to attack anything. Most have already left as I said earlier.

During the siege of Isengard and cleansing of Mirkwood, the Witch-King sends out emissaries disguised as humans, elves, and dwarves to garner the sympathy of their nations. Thus the Witch-King builds an army of humans, elves, and dwarves.

... I'm starting to worry about you now. You continually assume that everyone is stupid. The only one this might work for is the humans because A) the elves are not stupid and B) the dwarves aren't stupid and they're short. And they're super isolationist. They aren't getting involved in nothing that isn't directly related to them.

A few from each race see the monstrosities their women and virile young men are used to create in Saruman's eugenics program. They try to rebel and are violently killed.

... I just. What? I mean. Literally. What?

Aragorn is forced to stealth his way into Mordor. Gollum is still following him. In Mordor Aragorn infiltrates the Nazgul Tower (where the Wraiths rode from in the FOTR film) and finds texts and artifacts to awaken and control the dragons used by Morgoth in the early ages.

The "Nazgul Tower," as you call it, was actually once a great city by the name of Minas Ithil and is considered within the realm of Gondor, technically. However, it is generally considered Mordor territory during its stint as Minas Morgul (the time period which you're talking about). Anywho. Please try to follow my logic here. Why would the Witch-king possess such things... but not use them? I mean, really. Having dragons on his side would essentially win the war.

Aragorn sets off on a quest through Mordor to find the components needed and forms alliances with orcs, goblins, and trolls dissatisfied with the Witch-King's attempt to bring Sauron into full power. Along the way Aragorn encounters situations/events that force him to examine his notions of good and evil.

Hokay. Somehow I don't really see this working. I mean, so they're dissatisfied. And they're going to switch sides to side with man who isn't going to bring Sauron to power? Even orcs/goblins/trolls aren't so stupid as to believe that he'd willingly give up his new found power at the end of all this.

The goblins, orcs, and trolls march with Aragorn; Aragorn gets the components to awaken the dragons. At this point Gollum engages him. Aragorn uses Narsil to kill Gollum and awaken the dragons of Morgoth.[/quote[

So. He kills Gollum again. When he would definitely be dead. Interesting. And just how to propose that he resurrect these dragons, by the way?

The dragons, along with Aragorn and his goblins, orcs, and trolls, attack Barad-Dur. It turns out Sauron was never there; it was all a ploy for the Witch-King to rule Mordor and Middle-Earth.

Would never work. First, where is Sauron? Did he magically go poof? The Ring hasn't been destroy, ergo Sauron is alive. Period. Second, although we have very little information on the Witch-king and how he became like he did, etc. We do know a few things. He became like he did after receiving a Ring of Power from Sauron. This Ring (and the other eight of Men and the 7 for Dwarves) were all bound to him. The Witch-king wouldn't be doing anything unless it would somehow benefit Sauron.

The Witch-King mounts his Nazgul and commands the other Nazgul riding Wraiths to join him. The aerial battle ranges from Barad-Dur to Mount Doom.

Nifty.

The Witch-King breaks Narsil; the dragons go berserk and start destroying Mordor. Aragorn kills the Witch-King by throwing him into Mount Doom and going in with him.

Hokay, sounds good.

They turn all of the lands of Gondor, Rohan, Erebor, and the Shire into blackened wastelands where they rule as kings.

Who, exactly, is "they?" As you JUST said the Witch-king and Aragorn are dead having been toasted in the fires of Mt. Doom. I'm gonna make a wild assumption and say you mean the dragons. If so... You were saying that the dragons went beserk and started destroying Mordor. Well, that's all cool and good, but I mean, how are they going to rule as kings. I mean, if I went on a destructive rampage I doubt I'd all of a sudden pull out of it after reaching the end of the small section of the Earth that is Middle Earth.

So overall. You have several logical problems with these scenarios. I'm sure there are a myriad of others that I haven't even begun to consider or type. Oh hey, just thought of like fifty more. Be glad to discuss this further, but try to think it through a little further next time. You do have to remember that Ea (the planet on which all of this is taking place) does have a god and a set of incredibly powerful beings that have a dubious nature as to godhood (Eru Illuvatar and the Ainur/Valar/Maiar) most of which are generally pro-good (the notable exceptions of course being the Ainur/Valar Melkor, the Ainur/Maiar Sauron, and the Maiar Saruman).

Just saying.