S02E08:The Trial of Melkor

by the way... aredhel later will eventually become a huntress who rides off with feanors twins... does the teen aredhel already play a role and are the brothers already fond of their little "cousin" or did you save up such considerations for later?
 
Yes, we have a 14-year-old Aredhel ride off and go hunting with Celegorm and Curufin towards the end of Episode 9.
 
So we seem to have some consensus that Tulkas destroying a dam and releasing a cascading flood of water down the mountain will be suitably dramatic for a climax.

(No one is hurt; proper dikes and levies were in place.)

What we don't have is any idea how Tulkas is going to play detective. He can spy on Melkor's activities, and try to figure out what he's working on, but what can Aulë 'give away' in a conversation to make Tulkas think Melkor is up to no good? It's not like Aulë handed over sticks of TNT to help with the construction of this dam!

I feel like we need that detail before we can turn over the script outline to the Execs. 9-11 are in good shape, so once 8 is ready to go, I can send them off.
 
Oh, and we also need Frame, for this episode and 11-13. We have the Frame laid out for Episodes 1-7, as well as tentative Frame for 9 and 10.
 
It is very difficult for me to get away from nuclear power or fossil fuels as the dangerous item.

Also, a pump could be driven by a stirling engine powered by geothermal heat. Perhaps the dangerous item is a tool used to tap a lava channel beneath Taniquetil?
 
I have some trepidation about trying to introduce nuclear-powered. ..anything in Valinor. It would sound as out of place as 'nervous system' no matter how obliquely we referred to it in the script. Similar issue with fossil fuels. Can't we stick to something poisonous or explosive without going there?

I will try to think of something else that sounds more...naturally -occurring-in-Middle-Earth.
 
I would prefer geo-thermal power to nuclear or fossil fuels. It seems to fit better. Oil/coal especially feels more like a Saruman innovation.
 
Geothermal is good for hot springs, though I don't see how that would raise the water to the reservoir. We do need a pump of some sort for that, even if it is powered by draft animals yoked to a large wheel or a windmill.
 
Geothermal is good for hot springs, though I don't see how that would raise the water to the reservoir. We do need a pump of some sort for that, even if it is powered by draft animals yoked to a large wheel or a windmill.
No idea. My degrees are in Liberal Arts, Medieval History, and Library Science; none of which are helpful here. My super-helpful contributions are limited to whining "no nuclear!" and mumbling "I don't wanna have fossil fuels!"

You're welcome. ;)
 
My degrees are in Chemical engineering and education, and my professional experience is in teaching science and consulting work for industrial projects. So I will try to make myself useful.
 
That means I order tanks and pumps for a living, and I used to teach bio, physics, and chemistry to high school kids. While there are certain aspects of that background that should make me qualified to plot destruction in Valinor. . . I haven't come up with anything yet.
 
Geography questions....

Where is Valmar built?

It is meant to be on a plain behind the Pelori. Taniquetal is meant to be the highest mountain in the Pelori. So have the Vanyar moved to the slopes of Taniquetal or to Valmar? And have we built Valmar at Taniquetal in this story?

I think we can kinda make this all work, but it's hard to figure out the logistics of a dam on the plains...that sorta needs to be...uphill.
 
i tried to rationalize the geography of valinor and came to the conclusion that valmar is not more than about 1000 miles inland.of course you can change that in a way the plot needs it.i guess you could also still show elves living in valmar.there's no need that the city is inhabited only by ainur... i believe a lot of vanyar and maybe even some members of the other two tribes would be drawn to live in neigjbourhood of the valar..
 
Currently, I am somewhat imagining Valmar not having a clear distinction before we blend into the homes of the Vanyar around the base of Taniquetal. That should keep Valinor 'cozy' enough to feel stifling, while not actually *being* stifling (there's a whole wide plain to explore). More importantly, it causes more mingling of the Vanyar and Valar/Maiar, rather than keeping them completely separate.

But it doesn't have to be this way.
 

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i believe valmar could be closer to taniquetil and the entire geography could be imagined more compressed for a film adaption. question: is tirion east from taniquetil or west from it on the road to valmar?
 
I am imagining that Tirion is in the midst of the Calacirya, while Taniquetal is the westernmost mountain - I don't feel like there should be any smaller mountains west of Taniquetal, but that there should be mountains to the east and west (well, okay, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest) of Tirion. So that would put Tirion east from Taniquetal (or perhaps east-northeast). But this is just my impression.
 
i could't find any textual references yet, but most internet maps i found placed taniquetil south of the calacirya and tirion on a hill in the midst of it.
 
Again, this all depends how wide the Pelóri are. Taniquetal is, of course, huge, but if we're making the Calacirya a very long gap in the mountains...Taniquetal would have to be on the Western side, not the Eastern side. At least, that's how I showed it on my sketch.

For the purposes of this episode, though, the real question is the bounds of Melkor's probation, and whether or not he is permitted onto the slopes of Taniquetal in his vague 'stay in Valmar' restriction. If he can't leave the plain, he can't build whatever dam/pumped water system we were planning. Which requires me to come up with a new civic project.....
 
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