Utumno and surroundings (Including Angband)

[MithLuin]

Back to the environs...

I would like Melkor's entrance to Arda to break the ground he walks on. So it is immediately visually clear that his presence there is making this into Arda Marred.

My first thought for this is the Giants' Causeway in Northern Ireland:

At the very least, a volcanic rock formation would serve us well (no Sea, of course - ignore that).


Kilauea in Hawaii is another natural option:

It doesn't have to look completely ruined and desolate yet, but the immediate impression should be that this place is far from habitation - remote, stark.

 

[Haakon]

Here's some more inspiration - pictures of dead forests.

 

[MithLuin]

Melkor's arrival would be pre-trees and forests, I think, as there are no Lamps yet.

But I agree that this sort of dead forest in the aftermath of a forest fire would be perfect for later in the Season when Utumno has become much more clearly a habitation of evil.

 

[Haakon]

But I agree that this sort of dead forest in the aftermath of a forest fire would be perfect for later in the Season when Utumno has become much more clearly a habitation of evil.

Exactly! 🙂

 

[MithLuin]

Not really sure where to put this, but Arda-before-Almaren should also be fairly barren, little plant or animal life.

I immediately thought of the Burren in Western Ireland - it's a rocky landscape with bits of green mixed in:

Now, making someone video edit all of that grass into moss might be a bit much, but we're looking for *extreme* alpine landscapes here.

 

[Haakon]

Not really sure where to put this, but Arda-before-Almaren should also be fairly barren, little plant or animal life.

I immediately thought of the Burren in Western Ireland - it's a rocky landscape with bits of green mixed in:

Now, making someone video edit all of that grass into moss might be a bit much, but we're looking for *extreme* alpine landscapes here.

Great! I think I might have some pictures somewhere that would be good. I'll get back. EDIT: No, there was too much grass and trees on those pics.

 

[Haakon]

Not really sure where to put this, but Arda-before-Almaren should also be fairly barren, little plant or animal life.

I immediately thought of the Burren in Western Ireland - it's a rocky landscape with bits of green mixed in:

Now, making someone video edit all of that grass into moss might be a bit much, but we're looking for *extreme* alpine landscapes here.

Actually, we could make Almaren green without grass. There are tall kinds of moss we can use:

 

[MithLuin]

Yes, I am counting on moss and ferns for Almaren to make it green.

I was more thinking early in Episode 2, we should see a barren rocky coast, with just hints of green moss/algae/lichen about (all three date back to the Devonian at least).

 

[Haakon]

Yes you mean very early on, when they've just arrived in Arda? How much will they be on the island of Almaren then? They will have so much work to do all around Arda.
But of course, at some point they arrive there and before it's moss green it must be rock grey.

 

[MithLuin]

Currently, the script outline shows the Valar in Middle Earth (all around Arda) in the beginning of Episode 2, meeting each other, sorting out their spheres of influence, etc. I am picturing a lot of rocky landscape with shallow seas intruding for the aerial shots, though the actual interactions will be along the coast. Then, about halfway through, Manwë decides that they should all be together in one place, and invites everyone to join him in the center - and they make Almaren as the end of Episode 2. I agree that the appearance of Almaren will change in episodes 4-6 and the Valar continue to work on it.

 

[Haakon]

Back to Utumno - I found this picture from a salt mine. The tunnels to Angband could look something like this. It looks like the inside of some dead animal.

And this - not so much an animal as the first one, but cool:

 

[MithLuin]

From the podcast:

The Radcliffe Camera in Oxford is known to be Tolkien's concept of what the Temple to Melkor on Numenor built by Sauron looked like.

Based on this, the Hosts said that Utumno would need to have a dome, but *not* look like the Hagia Sophia:

 

[Haakon]

Ok. That works well with what we've said so far.

 

[TheWitchKing]

Perhaps though we need to combine these images with some higher peaks... The Iron Mountains should be rather high.


Yes but perhaps we need to see three cones more clearly. And they should be next to the Ered Engrin range. By the way, do we have Thangorodrim this season already or not until season 2?

I thought maybe the remarkables in New Zealand could be the iron mountains range

 

[Haerangil]

I kind of like the Idea of having Morgoth using some Albert Speer-like architecture... but i also like the Völkerschlachtsdenkmal in Leipzig:
http://www.port01.com/uploads/citie...15:35:18_voelkerschlachtdenkmal-a20742848.jpg

I know the decision so far has been that Utumno should not be depicted as dark and warlike but that Melkor as a hoarder of light surrounds himself with Light and lots of Gold...

personally however I#ve somehow always imagined Morgoth to surround himself with a castle made of ice...https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-medi...l_progressive,q_80,w_800/199aalpwkwzb1jpg.jpg

 

[Marielle]

personally however I#ve somehow always imagined Morgoth to surround himself with a castle made of ice...https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-medi...l_progressive,q_80,w_800/199aalpwkwzb1jpg.jpg

Ice is definitely a motif we can play with for Angband. Melkor's thing, or at least part of it, is "the extremes of heat and cold", so it makes complete sense to me to build Angband into a mountain, so that the peaks can be icy cold and the deep, dark recesses can be filled with lava.

 

[Ange1e4e5]

Try Siberia, maybe where the gulags are.

 

[Haakon]

I thought I'd posted this but maybe I forgot. Anyway I found some pictures that could work as inspiration for Thangorodrim. There are just two peaks. I'm afraid, and we need three, but still, they're quite cool I think.

 

[Haerangil]

yes, impressive!

 

[Haakon]

Wow in this picture you can see that there actually are three peaks! (Bezymianny, Kamen and Klyuchevskoy)