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The One Ring Forums: Tolkien Topics: TV Discussion: The Rings of Power:
French interview with John Howe about his work on the show

Voronwë_the_Faithful
Valinor

Aug 13 2022, 10:07pm

Post #1 of 4 (350 views)
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French interview with John Howe about his work on the show Can't Post

https://image.noelshack.com/...-20220812-061125.jpg

I can't vouch for the translation.


Quote
What did your work consist of?
Imagining the world in which we would evolve. I mainly worked on the settings. We would start by discussing a subject, I would go off and make a series of sketches, and then we would have a long discussion, through drawings, to come up with something that not only suited us aesthetically but also met the requirements of the shoot.

Númenor?
I began by designing the map of Númenor, which is going to be of significant importance in the series: a vast island located off the coast of Middle-earth. Tolkien drew a lot of maps in his lifetime, but not this one. So we had to visualize what this world was like before the cataclysm that brought it down. We proceeded by doing a lot of research in the texts, grabbing a word here, an indication there... We had to locate it, check its size, set up the cities and different places. We spent a lot of time to know who could have built such road and when...

Confronting the fans?
And at some point, we put this map online. Twenty minutes later, a fan sent us a message to tell us that we had made two mistakes: a city and an estuary were wrong!

A dwarf with no beard?
On the lack of beard of the dwarf princess Disa: You have to accept that passionate people consider themselves the guardians of the temple. They are formidable and have encyclopedic knowledge. Some of them even speak the Elvish language invented by Tolkien. It is both frightening and exciting. So yes, we know that the slightest mistake will be blamed on us, but they are also a great source of information and their sites have always helped me a lot.

A Balrog with wings? Blasphemy!
Some of them have been with us since the first Peter Jackson movie. I've also been fiercely criticized for putting wings on the Balrog, when today the concept is part of the populare culture...

Remaining faithful?
In the end, only one thing is important: to go back to Tolkien's texts, keeping in mind that it is above all their spirit that we must illustrate.

How many drawings?
I made 1500 sketches for the first season. And I'm already at 450 for the next one. I try to produce between five and ten sketches a day.

Real world references
Unlike LOTR, which was a world in decline, the equivalent of Rome in the 17th century, with great empires that left nothing but ruins, here everything is alive, vigorous and populated... It's really going to be exciting. I only have one regret with the work done: not being able to discover it with a new look, like a regular spectator.[/qote]

'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'

The Hall of Fire

(This post was edited by Voronwë_the_Faithful on Aug 13 2022, 10:07pm)


DGHCaretaker
Rohan

Aug 14 2022, 3:13am

Post #2 of 4 (303 views)
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Observations [In reply to] Can't Post

Just a few short:

1. Númenor: Tolkien drew the shape, I believe and/or it was well described. That's substantial.

2. Confronting: It's not stated whether they fixed the city and and estuary.

3. No dwarf beard: Complete non-answer, unless he's saying in context that it was a "slightest mistake."

4. Balrog wings: I'm into a faithful adaptation, but I'm fine with wings. How 'bout that.

5. Faithful: A lot of lip service on this all around. We'll see.

6. Real world references: This wasn't answered in the way I hoped, as in the controversial "What's the deal with adapting it in the image of the world today?" Instead it's related to the height of an empire, as a historical reference. The latter is fine. I enjoy seeing a story of something at its full potential - much more enjoyable than deconstruction, which is just awful and has no enjoyment for me. I like positive stories like the Enterprise with Kirk, or the Star Wars Old Republic and Jedi "before the Dark Times, before the Empire" up through the resurrection of the Republic in Return of the Jedi (Lucasian eps 1-6). The rest is meh.


(This post was edited by DGHCaretaker on Aug 14 2022, 3:24am)


DwellerInDale
Rohan


Aug 14 2022, 4:44am

Post #3 of 4 (280 views)
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Translation of one of the other questions [In reply to] Can't Post

Here is my translation of the fourth question concerning John's thoughts on the budget.


There has been a lot of talk about the colossal budget for the series, which will surpass a billion dollars for five seasons, with an estimated 462 million for just the first season. Have you felt that this has been a luxury during your work?


No, the only luxury we had was time! You need to realize that we were going to to produce eight hours of film for each season. That's a lot! The equivalent of a trilogy once a year. A Marvel film costs 300 million dollars for two and a half hours of footage. And then there's the question of "production values". The streaming series have now raised the bar very high. The first episodes of Game of Thrones seem quite modest from this standpoint. These days, the expectations of the public are tenfold in comparison; they expect a grand spectacle from the first episode.



Don't mess with my favorite female elf.





Stranger Wings
Rivendell


Aug 14 2022, 7:09am

Post #4 of 4 (263 views)
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Well [In reply to] Can't Post


In Reply To
Just a few short:

1. Númenor: Tolkien drew the shape, I believe and/or it was well described. That's substantial.

2. Confronting: It's not stated whether they fixed the city and and estuary.

3. No dwarf beard: Complete non-answer, unless he's saying in context that it was a "slightest mistake."

4. Balrog wings: I'm into a faithful adaptation, but I'm fine with wings. How 'bout that.

5. Faithful: A lot of lip service on this all around. We'll see.

6. Real world references: This wasn't answered in the way I hoped, as in the controversial "What's the deal with adapting it in the image of the world today?" Instead it's related to the height of an empire, as a historical reference. The latter is fine. I enjoy seeing a story of something at its full potential - much more enjoyable than deconstruction, which is just awful and has no enjoyment for me. I like positive stories like the Enterprise with Kirk, or the Star Wars Old Republic and Jedi "before the Dark Times, before the Empire" up through the resurrection of the Republic in Return of the Jedi (Lucasian eps 1-6). The rest is meh.


1. I imagine Howe meant that Tolkien never drew a map of Numenor that’s as detailed as his Middle Earth maps. So within his sketch (that includes the main cities and some roads) he had a lot to create.

2. No idea.

3. The least interesting controversy in the fandom, so no issue for me.

4. Well, since there’s no definitive answer to the balrog/ wing debate, that’s fair even as a purist.

5. This production thus far strikes me as very faithful to Tolkien in terms of its tone and aesthetic.

6. Dark times, however, will very quickly infect the show’s world. And though I like such positive stories too, Tolkien’s stories were almost always tinged with melancholy and loss. A bittersweet tone. Which I’ve always found more interesting than the sometimes trite optimism/ happily ever after approach. There’s a middle ground between Pollyanna and Cassandra, between positivity and despair, that I think is hope, with a knowledge and acceptance that loss is simply a core part of existence.

“He went alone to look in Mirrormere.” - The Book of Mazarbul

 
 

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