Here are notes for this session. Sorry for the delay in posting.
SilmFilm Session 5-01: Pre-Production
The story so far …
Season 4 stretched from the rescue of Maedhros to. The last episode notably contained the first appearance of Glaurung and the wedding of Galadriel and Celeborn, which was the culmination of their season-long love story. The beginning of Season 4 was focused more in tensions between the Noldor and Sindar and the houses of the Noldor. The latter half of the season contained the building and establishment of Nargothrond and Gondolin, and the villains’ catch-and-release program.
Season 5 will begin by showing Finrod’s discovery of the House of Beor shown from the Men’s perspective. It will end with Fingolfin’s death in single combat with Morgoth, and a montage of mourning that follows.
There was a request for a musical theme that focuses on Sorrow but perhaps contains other themes like Doom and Hope. This theme could be revealed in full after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad but some of it will come after the Dagor Bragollach.
The storylines for Men should tell of how the three houses enter Beleriand and form alliances. We want major stories for Beor, Haleth, Andreth (character from “Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth” in Morgoth’s Ring, which is the book currently being discussed by the Mythgard Academy), and Hador Lorindol. Potential candidates for minor stories include Amlach, Marach/Malach, Bereg, Magor, Haldad/Haldar, Boromir, Bregolas, and Barahir.
The storylines involving Men should focus on their reactions to/willingness to live with the Elves. Each house will have a different kind of relationship with the Elves. The House of Beor will be most loyal to the Elves. The Haladin will be unwilling to directly serve the Elves but still want to dwell in Beleraind. The House of Hador will be most unsure about Elves and most willing to leave Beleraind and return east until Hador begins to work for Fingon.
House of Beor
Beor – Beor will have a close relationship with the Elves and with Finrod in particular. He will dwell in Nargothrond and will be the first Man to die, which will be a surprise to the Elves because the Dwarves have concealed their mortality from the Elves.
Andreth – Andreth will fall in love with Aegnor, continuing the trend of the House of Beor’s close relationship with the Elves, though of a different kind. Aegnor will reciprocate her love but refuse to marry. Ironically, she, the mortal, will outlive the Elf because Aegnor will be slain in battle. There was some talk of how to handle this – whether she should outlive him by decades or die soon after he does – but nothing was decided. The Hosts have suggested that Andreth be the leader of the House of Beor rather than just a wise-woman. She will be friends with Finrod, and they will have a discussion. It was suggested that Andreth could be the one to pass on Narsil, which is currently Aegnor’s sword.
Barahir – Barahir’s rescue of Finrod in the Dagor Bragollach will again show how loyal the House of Beor is to the Elves.
House of Haleth
Haleth – Haleth will become leader of her people after Haldad and Haldar, her father and brother, are slain in an Orc attack. She will meet Caranthir but refuse to serve him and lead her people through Nan Dungortheb and settle in Brethil. Haleth will demonstrate that it is possible to be a good guy without being closely connected to the Elves. She should be independent but committed to fighting evil. The journey through Nan Dungortheb is kind of the fault of Thingol since he would not let any Men through the land surrounded by the Girdle. It can be an almost Helcaraxe-like ordeal for her people. We need to come up with more personal stories for Haleth, like those that explained why different groups of the Teleri stayed behind in Season 2, so her storyline is not just geopolitical.
Druedain – The Hosts decided that the Druedain should not come into Beleriand with the House of Haleth in Season 5, but they may enter offscreen in Season 6. There was some discussion of the previous decision to attribute the origins of Druedain and Hobbits to a Vala (or Maia) somehow altering a community of Men. This would occur after Melkor had caused the Fall of Man and not be shown onscreen, rather it is our way of knowing what happened.
House of Hador
Amlach – Amlach is most notable for being impersonated by some servant of Morgoth at a debate which resulted in many Men leaving Beleriand and moving back east. The real Amlach then enters the service of Maedhros. This story gives us an opportunity to have some horror/mystery elements. Sauron could potentially be the one who impersonates Amlach since he and Thuringwethil have done that kind of thing in the past.
Hador - Hador can show the turning point in the House of Hador’s relationship with the Elves. He may be present at the debate with fake Amlach. When he is young, Hador can do something distinguishable, perhaps in battle, that earns him the respect of the Elves and helps the Elves to see him as less of a vassal and more of a peer. Hador will be gifted the Dragon-helm, and it will become an heirloom of his house.
In all the houses, there is kind of a split between the founders/older characters and the younger characters who will be around for the Dagor Bragollach.
Elf storylines
Fingolfin’s storyline about the siege and his desire for an offensive should be the most prominent of all the Elf storylines since we will lose Fingolfin at the end of this season.
There will be two love stories: Aredhel and Eol, and Aegnor and Andreth.
Elves will react to Men differently. Finrod will be a friend to them all, particularly the House of Beor. The House of Hador will serve Fingolfin and Fingon. The Green-elves will have unfriendship with the Men who pass through Ossiriand
Galadriel and Celeborn may be involved with the Green-elf storyline because of Celeborn’s sister.
Dwarf storylines
In Season 4, the Dwarves were most prominently involved in the building of Nargothrond and forging Narsil and the Dragon-helm. In Season 5, they will be involved with Eol and Maeglin and with making the Nauglamir. We should find ways to emphasize the parallel between the Silmarils to the Elves and the Nauglamir to the Dwarves. The Nauglamir is the greatest work of Dwarven craftsmanship. There can be behind-the-scenes storylines about the Nauglamir that the Elves do not hear about, even a war between Nogrod and Belegost and kinslaying parallels. We know Belegost from Telchar and Norn, but we do not yet know Nogrod. There could be visitors from Khazad-dum and possibly mithril. Men and Dwarves might meet, but there does not need to be a storyline about them.
Villain storylines
The villain storylines will include Rhogrin and Annael’s escape, fake Amlach, buildup for Dagor Bragollach, and Glaurung rising in Angband politics. Sauron’s relationship with Glaurung can lay groundwork for Gandalf’s fears for Sauron’s relationship with Smaug, and Glaurung might be involved in the hypnotism of Annael. Sauron and Morgoth’s relationship will develop over the course of this season as Gothmog declines in Angband politics. Sauron will be more clearly Morgoth’s chief lieutenant and above Gothmog. Gothmog will be third after Sauron and Glaurung, as evidenced by Sauron getting Tol-in-Gaurhoth and Glaurung ruling Nargothrond at the height of their power. We want the Dagor Bragollach to be a surprise, so political tensions in the villain storylines will conceal the buildup of military strength.
Throughout this session, the Hosts talked about their desire to compress the timeline, reduce the number of generations of Men that pass, and give most of the roles to a handful of main charaters. They do not want the show to focus heavily on genealogy to the point of being confusing like the book and are reluctant to include any character that does not have a role that could be given to someone else. I could not keep track of all the changes they suggested, but these included things like replacing Bregolas with Boromir, having Barahir be the grandson of Beor, and having Amlach be the first leader of the House of Hador. Objections to this included the fact that compressing the timeline would mess with the Elves’ storylines, particularly Maeglin’s, and that these Men could simply exist and lead uneventful lives without being named or mentioned in the story. There was also a suggestion that we change our mode of storytelling with Men and have an episode focused on a single character, which would overlap in the timeline. The Hosts said they were willing to consider not cutting individual Men if someone thought of interesting stories for them.
Next session will include more discussion of the storylines beyond Men’s, and we may get to talking about overarching season themes and an outline of episodes.