While we’re close to frothing at the mouth over the new Lord of The Rings series, Game of Thrones writer and JRR Tolkien superfan George RR Martin has some issues ahead of the Amazon Prime prequel.
In 2020 (we think) LOTR fans will be taken back to the Second Age, thousands of years before Bilbo Baggins fought a fire-breathing dragon and Gollum became entranced by his preciousness, when the ring first came into existence.
The streaming service is thought to have spent $250 million (£202 million) on the fantasy epic, but Martin has warned writers to fill some of the 100-year-old plot holes which have been rattling his brain since the dawn of Westeros.
‘It’s one of the great books of the 20th century, but that doesn’t mean that I think it’s perfect,’ the 70-year-old author explained while accepting his Burke Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Discourse through the Arts.
‘I keep wanting to argue with Professor Tolkien through the years about certain aspects of it.
‘He did what he wanted to do very brilliantly but… I look at the end and it says Aragorn is the king and he says, “And Aragorn ruled wisely and well for 100 years.”
‘It’s easy to write that sentence,’ Martin continued. ‘But I want to know what was his tax policy, and what did he do when famine struck the land? And what did he do with all those Orcs?’
‘A lot of Orcs left over. They weren’t all killed, they ran away into the mountains.’
“Did Aragorn carry out a policy of systematic Orc genocide? Did he send his knights out into the hills to kill all the Orcs? Even the little baby Orcs?
‘Or was there Orc rehabilitation going on. Trying to teach the Orcs to be good citizens. And if the Orcs were the result of Elves…could Orcs and Elves intermarry? They can in Dungeons and Dragons I guess.’
Regardless, Martin previously credited Tolkien for his own game-changing literary series, admitting the death of Gandalf played a huge part in killing off his own heroes.
The Lord of The Rings series will likely land shortly after Game of Thrones prequel, currently thought to be titled Bloodmoon.
So far very little is known about the latest Tolkien adaptation, with security measures going above and beyond measures at the gates of Mordor to make sure all details are kept firmly under wraps. However, it’s now been revealed Will Poulter of Black Mirror and Midsommar fame will be leading the drama.
Lord of The Rings is expected to drop on Amazon Prime in 2020.
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