@MithLuin, on your chart, where should Annael's treachery fall?I know I keep saying 'this season is very full.' Obviously, we can tell however many stories we want...but they will have to share screen time. If we try to tell more than 3 stories in one episode, then they will all get less than 15 minutes, or one of them will only get a single 4 minute scene, etc. Now, in some cases, one brief scene will tell all we need, and that's fine. Keep in mind that the frame gets 2-3 scenes per episode, as well.
An 'A' plot is the main plot line of the episode. The characters appear in all 4 acts of the episode, and the main conflict is resolved during the climax towards the end of the episode. The protagonist is a single character from the A-plot from whose point of view we see the story unfold.
The B-plot is the side story. It's also something the audience is following, but less time is devoted to this plot line and it may feel less 'crucial' to the story of the episode.
The C-plot does not appear throughout the episode. Perhaps there will be a single scene in the middle of the episode, or two scenes as a before/after to establish something. These vignettes must speak for themselves and cannot tell the story of a complex plot. They have to give the audience a glimpse of something. Ideal for villain plots if we don't want to reveal too much, or for 'teasing' an upcoming storyline, or for showing a 'day in the life' scene for some of our characters (Men settling into their new home after a migration, Aredhel's life in Nan Elmoth, a visit with Círdan, etc.)
So, given that, another approach to planning would be to see how much 'space' we have, and if we can fit all the events we plan for our season into the available episodes. It *can* be done, but it's a squeeze, and this is before fully integrating the villain plots we'll talk about next time.
View attachment 3145
View attachment 3144
There's still space for some 'Thuringwethil the spy' action at the Pass of Aglon, and other minor stories. But there's not that much free space, and a lot of these events are rather time-constrained, so it's not easy to just shift them around. Naturally, that doesn't mean that *nothing* can move. I have the 'romance' portion of Aredhel and Eöl's relationship happening in Episodes 3-4. It's possible that Episode 3 could end with her accepting his proposal, and then episode 4 opens with a private wedding. Or something. So, which Episode contains the wedding is not hugely important. However...Episode 3 is (in this scheme) the 'wow, Bëor got old fast!' episode, so if we are emphasizing the 'hasty' nature of Aredhel's courtship, then we probably wouldn't want her decision regarding Eöl to still be in question at the end of the episode. We have to get that resolved. I did move up the Gondolin episode to Episode 10, and put Fingolfin's big push in Episode 11. I think that as long as we have a strong emphasis on the 'everything is still at peace' nature of things, it won't seem like a moot question as to whether or not they will go to war. So, that can work, and I think Maeglin will be old enough for his episodes. The dates assigned to episodes 2, 6, and 10 were fairly arbitrary; the other dates are much more deliberate.
Suggestions?
Well it isn’t started by Sauron, he just tries to take advantage of the situation so the Elves will be down a partner against Morgoth. He tried the same sort of thing last season with the Sindar and the Noldor and it worked... for awhile.When it comes to the House of Hador and their tensions with the Green Elves, I don't think we need to portray it as fueled by the bad guys - Sauron will have his fake Amlach plan, and the tensions will be bad enough naturally. Evil will do a lot to seperate Elves and Men throughout the Ages, but there's plenty of hostility to go around without their help - and nowhere else will it escalate nearly as badly this season as with the Green Elves and the Hadorians, so they're a nice example for the potential problems that can arise when there's no effort made to get along.
I would also like to involve the Ents in a significant way, because they're awesome, and showing that will make their decline all the more tragic. Also, their hardcore environmentalist stance will come across as more unabandonable (since it's core to their being) and therefore more sympathetic than the Green Elven one and help to make sure the Green Elves don't just look like xenophobic bad guys in this scenario. They dislike the Hadorians for their actions, not based on prejudice. The Men, meanwhile, won't really understand the Green Elves at first - the Avari (and Nandor?) they met before weren't as hostile and determined to preserve a particular piece of land how they like it.
Another use for the Ents: To broaden the environmental conflict beyond just the already well-known and kind of cliche "They killed a tree! Omg!!!" dispute, we could have a scene about an Entwife's (Fimbrethil's? She could use an actual role in our story considering she's been cast and her development is important for Treebeard, a memorable character throughout the Ages) garden that is being trampled all over and unintentionally plundered by human gatherers, leaving it damaged - maybe even somewhat destroyed because some of the plants are harvested whole (like carrots). Angry Entwives ready to squash you would make gathering food a lot more difficult as well as motivate and inspire Men to move towards agriculture sufficiently far away from Ossiriand.
(I also think Treebeard and Fimbrethil should have an Enting sometime to emphasize the significance of the seperation of the Entwives later, but that's another topic )
Well it isn’t started by Sauron, he just tries to take advantage of the situation so the Elves will be down a partner against Morgoth. He tried the same sort of thing last season with the Sindar and the Noldor and it worked... for awhile.
What would you have him do for the rest of the season then? The Fake Amlach plot is only a single episode.I mean, it's not completely weird or unfitting that Sauron would be involved ^^ But the Green Elves aren't the ones who need to be manipulated to not work with Men, and Men don't want to have anything to do with them either already. The big danger is a Noldorian-Hadorian alliance - which the fake Amlach plot tries to prevent.
@MithLuin, on your chart, where should Annael's treachery fall?
Also, I guess Sauron's attempts to ramp tensions between the House of Hador and the Green Elves is off the table?
@MithLuin, you have the best overview over what's planned for the next session - is there any topic I (or others) could help with that could use some more thought and fleshing out in case the hosts have questions? Is there something you feel like we need to work on in general? I don't think I have a good overview about everything we managed to work out over the last month or two anymore, but I'd like to help in more concrete ways, not just toss ideas around
As for details that are still kind of open, I'd like Adanel to not go on the journey to Dorthonion and instead give up her life willingly in Nargothrond after the decision to move has been made - giving up your life willingly at the right moment instead of dragging it out despite difficulties is what good and wise Edain do throughout the Ages, and it'd be nice to set that up before the Numenorean story. Also, Andreth is supposed to be the focus of the story and Adanel's presence would kind of of loom over Andreth, during the meeting with Haleth and the settling into Dorthonion, as a past authority figure unless she suddenly becomes totally inactive and Andreth doesn't talk to her anymore, which would be weird.
As for Andreth's end, maybe she could wander back to Nargothrond after the refugees are in place? I feel like it'd be poetic for her to see Finrod one last time, and they could talk about the House of Beor (to conclude its story) and Barahir (as a setup for the beginning of the next season).
If Andreth goes back to Nargothrond, would we want her still alive when Beren comes to Nargothrond to ask for Finrod's help?
Year | Event |
455 | Dagor Bragollach (Beren 23, Barahir 45, Galdor 43, Gundor 41, Andreth 63) |
453 | Death of Hador (66) |
444 | Birth of Huor (Galdor 29, Hareth 25) |
441 | Birth of Húrin (Galdor 26, Hareth 23) |
440 | Aredhel returns to Gondolin |
439 | Double Wedding (Haldir 27, Gloredhel 26, Galdor 24, Hareth 21, Haleth 74, Hador 52) |
432 | Birth of Beren (Barahir 22) |
415 | Birth of Galdor (Hador 28) |
415 | Romance of Aegnor and Andreth (23) |
413 | House of Bëor moves to Dorthonion (Andreth 21, Barahir 3, Haleth 48) |
411 | Hador (24) marries Gildis |
410 | Birth of Barahir |
408 | Council of Estolad. House of Hador moves to Dor-lómin |
405 | House of Haleth settles in Brethil |
395 | Stockade Battle (Haleth 30) |
392 | Birth of Andreth |
387 | Birth of Hador |
385 | Birth of Maeglin |
380 | Death of Bëor (93) |
375 | Aredhel departs Gondolin |
365 | Birth of Haleth |
340 | Finrod meets Bëor (53) |
Aside from the Villains plot, which is still up in the air, I do feel like more work is needed in fleshing out the subplots for the elves we've discussed over the last two sessions: Galadriel, Thingol, Círdan, and Gil-galad. Now, much of what was said about Gil-galad was 'save his story for Season 6', so there's not much to do there, other than to make sure he gets born. But the other three are going to need specific scenes to bring out some of what the hosts requested we do with their stories, and that's going to be very challenging with them being such minor characters this season. Figuring out what episodes they would fit into and how their story would advance alongside the main story of the episode would be something important to establish. A lot of what I have in 'Episode 5' of my chart should connect to Thingol and Galadriel this season. If someone wants to figure out what that might look like and put something together beyond 'Galadriel and Thingol appear in this episode' that could certainly be helpful.
Círdan should probably appear approximately twice this season, interacting with different characters each time. Who? When? Why? I certainly don't have any clear idea of that, and would welcome suggestions on how to integrate him into the Season 5 storylines. Is he going to have the opportunity to meet Men? If so, who? Do Finrod and Bëor visit him by the Sea early in the season? Does he visit Nargothrond or sail up to Hithlum and interact with the Noldor or House of Hador there? Will we have Fingolfin visit him while trying to recruit aid for his Big Push? Etc. Does he go to Doriath and interact with Beleg or Thingol? If someone could figure out when and where we can show Círdan this season, that would be helpful.
What I have worked out are (mostly) the constraints of timing. If anyone has any questions or comments about those constraints, I can try to establish what I have based it on, so that we can figure out if we are all on the same page there. I am trying to think of the best way of showing the critical path through the season, with the understanding that the Men have the most constraints. (Though Maeglin also needs to grow into a young man, so Aredhel's story has some time constraints as well.) I do expect the hosts to want to shift events around to different episodes, and that will result in some interesting consequences as the timeline then gets...wonky. So, we shall see!