The One Ring has confirmed on Twitter that the new The Lord Of The Rings series that Amazon is spending a billion dollars on, including half a billion spent on the book rights in cooperation with the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien, will be centered around the character of Aragorn. Specifically the young Aragorn prior to the events of trilogy.

Reservations

I confess that my first reaction was not positive. Although Amazon Prime have produced some good series such as The Grand Tour, The Lord Of The Rings has a special place in my heart and, I suspect, in the hearts of the generations of readers who’ve grown up with Tolkien’s masterpiece.

As I have expressed elsewhere, prequels in general fill me with disquiet. When it is a beloved story that has had such an impact on our culture, and a character that has modeled heroism for a lot of young men, the potential for disaster is great.

Once I put aside my initial reaction though, I can see the potential for such a story, if it is done well. Aragorn is not Frodo, who spent decades living quietly in the Shire until the coming of the Black Riders drove him to flee.

By the time of the events of The Lord Of The Rings Aragorn is 88, an old man as others reckon it, although still young by the standards of the men of Númenor.

Dude looks old. And Native American. Now, that is interesting…

Although he spent his childhood in the house of Elrond, he spent many years battling the enemies of the Free Peoples alongside his people, the Rangers of the North, the Dúnedain, before meeting Frodo.

The Lord Of The Rings, through Aragorn, offers the opportunity to create a swords & sorcery epic that can draw on much of the rich background lore that Tolkien created for his books, notably The Silmarillion. In contrast to the movies however, I hope they can convey the confidence and sense of purpose that Aragorn radiated in Tolkien’s writings.

Hope

Done well, The Lord Of The Rings series could be fantastic.

I have to hope that if Amazon are willing to put a billion dollars into a series, they’re going to do it correctly. That they’ll also accept input from the custodians of Tolkien’s estate, including Christopher Tolkien who has been quite protective of his father’s work. If Christopher is willing to trust Amazon, then I shall too, at least for now.