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Recent LotR game announcement junk
Jul. 30th, 2014 06:37 pmSo there was apparently an announcement regarding some next-gen Lord of the Rings game that Celebrimbor, grandson of Fëanor from The Silmarillion, is going to be a major character. Not the main character, evidently, but some wraith who can help Ranger McGeneric if he opts to follow the dark path, etc. I imagine this is big news in part due to the prominent use of Silmarillion material, which was previously off-limits by the Tolkien estate for the movies and their tie-in paraphernalia.
Anyhow: all this just makes me wish there were a version of The Silmarillion that wasn't horrible. Most folks stop reading the book because it allegedly reads too much like the "A who begat B who begat C" sections of the Bible, but I stopped because it was just too hateful and sadistic. Its gods are petty, cruel, and incompetent, and the book quickly devolves into a Saw-like recitation of the horrors and tortures that - rightfully, in the author's eyes - befall the sons and descendants of the one elf who calls these unjust deities out on their behavior. The "bad" elves have dark hair and darker complexions and work with their hands (and are deemed evil no matter what their actions); the "good" elves have golden hair and pale skin and are largely indolent (and are deemed good no matter what their actions); and the obeisance of mortals to gods - of serfs to masters - must be absolute. It's an indulgence of the worst of Tolkien's medieval classism, a big U-turn from The Lord of the Rings and its elevation of the most seemingly insignificant of Middle-Earth's peoples to a position of great heroism. This could partially be due to how The Silmarillion was pieced together by another party after Tolkien's death from decades of drafts written at different times in Tolkien's life; presumably, Tolkien's attitudes evolved in some respect, since the values systems of LotR and the Silm (while both retaining a degree of provincial royalism) are in crucial ways so opposed. But in The Silmarillion's existing published form...well, I'd like to get more involved with the history of Middle-Earth's elves, but the priorities evinced are just awful all the way on down.
I initially misunderstood Celebrimbor to be the hero of the new game, which was intriguing to me. While Fëanor's methods were wrong in many aspects, I feel the rationale behind his actions (possessiveness toward his prized Silmarils, yes, but also a stand for self-determination and justice, even in the face of near-certain defeat, instead of unthinking submission to tyrannical authority) is more identifiable to modern audiences than the values The Silmarillion espouses. Putting one of Fëanor's cursed descendants in a starring role might have signified an attempt to reclaim The Silmarillion, which would have been a noble endeavor: There's a nuanced story that could perhaps be told there (albeit still a very grim, bloody, and unpleasant one) if characters were taken on their own merits and actions instead of bound to their roles in a feudalist morality play. Alas.
.
Anyhow: all this just makes me wish there were a version of The Silmarillion that wasn't horrible. Most folks stop reading the book because it allegedly reads too much like the "A who begat B who begat C" sections of the Bible, but I stopped because it was just too hateful and sadistic. Its gods are petty, cruel, and incompetent, and the book quickly devolves into a Saw-like recitation of the horrors and tortures that - rightfully, in the author's eyes - befall the sons and descendants of the one elf who calls these unjust deities out on their behavior. The "bad" elves have dark hair and darker complexions and work with their hands (and are deemed evil no matter what their actions); the "good" elves have golden hair and pale skin and are largely indolent (and are deemed good no matter what their actions); and the obeisance of mortals to gods - of serfs to masters - must be absolute. It's an indulgence of the worst of Tolkien's medieval classism, a big U-turn from The Lord of the Rings and its elevation of the most seemingly insignificant of Middle-Earth's peoples to a position of great heroism. This could partially be due to how The Silmarillion was pieced together by another party after Tolkien's death from decades of drafts written at different times in Tolkien's life; presumably, Tolkien's attitudes evolved in some respect, since the values systems of LotR and the Silm (while both retaining a degree of provincial royalism) are in crucial ways so opposed. But in The Silmarillion's existing published form...well, I'd like to get more involved with the history of Middle-Earth's elves, but the priorities evinced are just awful all the way on down.
I initially misunderstood Celebrimbor to be the hero of the new game, which was intriguing to me. While Fëanor's methods were wrong in many aspects, I feel the rationale behind his actions (possessiveness toward his prized Silmarils, yes, but also a stand for self-determination and justice, even in the face of near-certain defeat, instead of unthinking submission to tyrannical authority) is more identifiable to modern audiences than the values The Silmarillion espouses. Putting one of Fëanor's cursed descendants in a starring role might have signified an attempt to reclaim The Silmarillion, which would have been a noble endeavor: There's a nuanced story that could perhaps be told there (albeit still a very grim, bloody, and unpleasant one) if characters were taken on their own merits and actions instead of bound to their roles in a feudalist morality play. Alas.
.
