The New Shadow Promo Post

[grundyscribbling]

(written by zorbo_jorks ) 

Summary: The New Shadow is an unfinished manuscript for a sequel to Lord of the Rings, published in The Peoples of Middle Earth (ch. 10). Tolkien only ever wrote 12 pages for the sequel, detailing a scene between Borlas and Saelon, two men of Gondor living in Minas Tirith in 220 F.A., well into the reign of King Eldarion. Borlas meets Saelon, who is a friend of the former’s son, and they discuss an orc cult that has begun to grow in popularity in recent years. Tolkien is stated to not have finished the story because he felt that plunging Middle Earth back into a “dark era” after the war of the ring didn’t match the ethos of the work preceding it (but personally, I would have liked to see where he took the idea!).

Why should I check out this canon? Though it was abandoned by Tolkien, there are some very interesting bits of worldbuilding in The New Shadow that aren't really in other Legendarium texts, including orc cults and development of Gondorian society after the reign of Elessar! There is also some great potential for Human and Orc OCs, and exploring the longer-term aftermath of The War of the Ring.

Where can I get this? It is published as chapter 16 of The Peoples of Middle Earth (part 4), which you can source through:

• Open Library (Locating editions of The Peoples of Middle Earth in libraries, NOT a downloadable copy): https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1004582M/The_peoples_of_Middle-earth
• The New Shadow on Anna’s Archive (multiple download options): https://annas-archive.org/md5/65101150733a877c69596839c65c1099
• Synopsis on Tolkien Gateway: https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_New_Shadow

What fanworks exist already?

• There is no specific tag on AO3, but there are 7 works that contain the characters specific to TNS (you can find them by searching character tags for Borlas and/or Saelon). Of those works, most seem to be fannish takes on a continuation of TNS, or Post-War of the Ring AUs in which they simply appear. These fics appear under an assortment of General Tolkien fandom tags, including “The Lord of the Rings – All Media Types” and “TOLKIEN, J. R. R. – Works & Related Fandoms”.
• There is 1 fic on FFN featuring Borlas and Eldarion (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12684653/1/The-Beginnings).
• Unsure about fic posted elsewhere, but my assumption is that it is just as scant.