Lord of the Rings from the bad guys' perspective . . .

[Ben]

Here's an article about a Russian quasi-fan-fiction retelling of the Lord of the Rings. This one casts the different sides in a new light. I haven't had time to read it, but I hope to have some time to soon.

http://www.salon.com/books/laura_mill...

Best of all, there's a link to the free translation into English.

[[deleted user]]

"Others, like the novelist Michael Moorcock, have attacked Middle-earth as a childishly rose-tinted vision of the Merrie Olde England that never was, as well as willfully blind to the hardships and injustice of preindustrial and feudal societies."

Wow.


But I'm definitely liking the idea of an LOTR expanded universe. Or, expanded Earth, I guess.

[Larry]

Just some guy trying to use LOTR as a springboard. It might be interesting but to be honest the idea of a story from the orcs perspective doesn't interest me.

If you want to read a story from "the bad guy" perspective I recommend Grendel by John Gardner.

[Tamahome]

The first thing I thought of was the Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West book, but that bored the c*** out of me.

[Tom]

I definitely plan on giving this a look. It certainly can't hurt to give it a few pages to hook me.

It's always convenient from a storyteller point of view to have an absolute good side and an absolute bad side, but real life rarely works out that way. They say that the winners in any conflict write the history in a way that paints them in the best possible light.

Whether it's LotR, Beowulf, The Wizard of Oz or something else, I find the concept intriguing.

Of course, unless it's written by the original author, it's easy to question motives (which doesn't bother me a whole lot) and extremely difficult to do well (which bothers me quite a bit).

Fingers crossed....

[Dennis]

Somewhat related, but here is a Salon article by David Brin from several years ago talking about some of the same things. Pretty interesting, I thought.

[Tom]

Interesting article, Dennis. Thanks! I'll have to read it again later. It's rather long for iPhone consumption.

One quotation from the article that made me chuckle:

"The urge to crush some demonized enemy resonates deeply within us, dating from ages far earlier than feudalism. Hence, the vicarious thrill we feel over the slaughter of orc foot soldiers at Helm's Deep. Then again as Ents flatted even more goblin grunts at Saruman's citadel, taking no prisoners, never sparing a thought for all the orphaned orclings and grieving widorcs."

[R.H.]

Interesting thread. I've always been a little suspicious of high fantasy's obsession with kings and queens. I wonder what a fantasy would be like in a world of elected alderman and city mayors? I'm sure stories like this exist, but I don't recall ever coming across any.

[Paul]

Not read russian lor yet but a book I loved was Orcs by Stan Nicholls and as you might guess it is a story from the Orcs perspective. Very cool

[Anthony]

I'd looked into this one a week or two ago. It's not a different point of view so much as a reworking of the world. If this was a story where the author merely writes from the point of view of the other side, it might have appealed to me.

[Curt]

All I can say is; "For the Horde!!"

Downloaded and parked on the Kindle, the idea is just too good to pass up.

[Paul]

Anthony wrote: "I'd looked into this one a week or two ago. It's not a different point of view so much as a reworking of the world. If this was a story where the author merely writes from the point of view of th..."

If you are talking about Orcs - it is written from the point of view of the Orcs - the main characters are Orcs. Maybe I am missing something.

[Anthony]

Paul wrote: "If you are talking about Orcs - it is written from the point of view of the Orcs - the main characters are Orcs. Maybe I am missing something. "

No, I'm talking about the Lord of the Rings retelling. It's not a point of view shift story. The entire world has been remade to push the point the author's trying to make.

[aldenoneil]

Anthony wrote: "If this was a story where the author merely writes from the point of view of the other side, it might have appealed to me. "

I think that's part of people's issue with the original, though, in that it would be nigh impossible to make a compelling story from the enemy's point of view as it's presented in the original. They're hell-bent on world-domination and destruction, and that's it.

This seems more interesting to me, because from what I can tell the author's telling "what really happened," getting at the true story behind the myth. I would assume any remaking of the world comes with that shift in viewpoint.

At any rate, I'm looking forward to reading it.

[Anthony]

aldenoneil wrote: "Anthony wrote: "If this was a story where the author merely writes from the point of view of the other side, it might have appealed to me. "

I think that's part of people's issue with the original..."

To each their own. I've nothing against people playing around with conventions. I'm just pointing out that the story isn't a point of view shift. It's a revisionist history retelling of the events of LOtR told from the point of view of the traditional villains.

[Patrick]

Has anyone found/seen this in epub or mobi format? PDF files on the Kindle still feel too clunky to me.

[Tamahome]

Patrick wrote: "Has anyone found/seen this in epub or mobi format? PDF files on the Kindle still feel too clunky to me."

You can convert it in Calibre.

[terpkristin]

Someone in one of the other threads had a link to a LiveJournal site that had a link to somebody who made a .mobi. I downloaded it last night but did not yet put it on my Kindle. I'm having a lot of issues doing any reading during the week, especially when work is going crazy long. This is why I love Kindle books that I can put on my phone and audiobooks--I'd be getting more reading done if the book I'm currently reading were available in Kindle.

Anyway, if I remember, I'll try to find it again tonight. Or if someone else finds it...

[terpkristin]

Actually the link to the LJ is in the Salon article. Then there's a link on the LJ entry to a guy who has made the .mobi version. The .mobi version can be grabbed from the link on the bottom of http://www.akademy.co.uk/blog/2011/02...

[Patrick]

This is great (and looks great). I don't know why, but whenever I try to convert something via Calibre it looks terrible.