The Last Ringbearer - Middle Earth from the Mordorian perspective

[Edric O]

I just found this highly interesting English translation of a novel by Russian author Kirill Yeskov, entitled "The Last Ringbearer" (although a translator's note mentions that the Russian title could have also been translated as "The Last Ringwraith", thus it has a double meaning absent in English). It's set in the world of Tolkien's Middle Earth, but with a big twist: The story of "The Lord of the Rings" was only propaganda written by the winners of the War of the Ring - winners who, by the way, happen to be reactionary, oppressive, and genocidal.

In "The Last Ringbearer", Mordor is a thriving, advanced civilization on the brink of an industrial revolution - a shining light of science and progress in a world still engulfed by medieval barbarism. Orcs and Trolls are not monsters at all, but rather human ethnic groups, who are described as monstrous by the racist lies of the Western barbarians. Sauron is a human being, known as King Sauron VIII, the constitutional monarch of Mordor, who is particularly known for advancing universal literacy. "The Eye" is a myth, part of Mordorian religion, and Mordorians are described as "making the sign of the Eye", presumably by analogy with Christians making the sign of the Cross. The forces of Mordor are the forces of Reason, standing against the ignorant, backwards West and the mystical East:

This, then, was the yeast on which Barad-dúr rose six centuries ago, that amazing city of alchemists and poets, mechanics and astronomers, philosophers and physicians, the heart of the only civilization in Middle Earth to bet on rational knowledge and bravely pitch its barely adolescent technology against ancient magic. The shining tower of the Barad-dúr citadel rose over the plains of Mordor almost as high as Orodruin like a monument to Man – free Man who had politely but firmly declined the guardianship of the Dwellers on High and started living by his own reason. It was a challenge to the bone-headed aggressive West, which was still picking lice in its log ‘castles’ to the monotonous chanting of scalds extolling the wonders of never-existing Númenor. It was a challenge to the East, buckling under the load of its own wisdom, where Yin and Yang had long ago consumed each other, producing only the refined static beauty of the Garden of Thirteen Stones.

Also, the Nazgûl are "the magic shield that had for ages protected the little oasis of Reason in which your light-minded civilization had so comfortably nestled.", and one of their members seems to be the Middle Earth equivalent of Newton. Meanwhile, the White Council of wizards is a magical society dedicated to the preservation of the old ways and the destruction of science, reason, and technology. Gandalf is the most extreme among them, a genocidal mastermind who calls for a "final solution to the Mordorian problem."

The elves are invaders from a parallel universe (the world of magic, Aman), and the Mirror of Galadriel is the artifact that enables travels between the worlds, allowing the elves to inhabit Middle Earth and allowing the existence of magic. The goal of the elves is to take control of Middle Earth, and turn humans into their obedient pets - well cared for, but with no freedom, creativity or progress. Aragorn is a puppet installed by the elves on the throne of Gondor, and Arwen is his puppet-master (not his lover).

The novel starts after the events of "The Lord of the Rings". Mordor has fallen and its people are being hunted down and killed by the elvish oppressors and their Gondorian puppets. The hero of the novel, a southern human named Haladdin, is tasked by the last of the Nazgûl to destroy the Mirror of Galadriel, thus abolishing magic, breaking the power of the elves, and saving Humanity from eternal servitude, ignorance and stagnation.

I find it to be a fascinating premise, and I'm currently reading through the novel at great speed. The original is in Russian, of course, and I can't read Russian, but fortunately there is an English translation available (for free, since the Tolkien Estate would summon their army of lawyers if this novel was being sold for money):

http://www.sendspace.com/file/nrtxld

And here's a Salon.com review of it: http://www.salon.com...ast_ringbearer/

I love the story so far, but I do have three negative comments to make about it, in all fairness:

First, the genre in which it is written is basically spy-thriller, not classic fantasy. I suppose that's part of the whole point, to make the world of Middle Earth more realistic by exploring its politics... But when the basic premise of the plot is very much in accordance with classic fantasy tropes (the hero must destroy a powerful magical artifact), it feels completely out of place to see the hero execute this quest as if it were Mission Impossible.

Second, the translation is bad in many places. Modern expressions and idioms (e.g. "you guys") are used all over the text. Given the fact that this setting is still supposed to be a world at about the Renaissance level of development, it feels jarring to hear characters speak in 20th century slang. I hope this is just a problem with the translation, and not with the original.

Third, the novel adds numerous modern, 20th century details to its world, which are definitely out of place. For example, the Mordorians seem to have a very modern army structure, including field medics. Universities work like they do in our present day, not in a late medieval world. People apparently drink coffee in the morning (!?!). And there are far too many "intelligence agencies" and spy networks for a Renaissance world. None of these really affects the plot - except maybe the unusual abundance of spies - but they are annoying details that can break your immersion.

But overall, it's a great story. Give it a try and let's start a discussion about it. And for those of you who know Russian, there's always the original text! :)

[Edric O]

I just noticed that Yeskov makes a reference to Dune in the second appendix, where he talks about his reasons for writing this story:

It’s unlikely that anyone will devote any serious effort to analyzing the ecosystem of a barren desert populated by train-sized predatory worms that eat excavators and sweat psychedelics – fantasy is fantasy. Not so the Middle Earth; the developed perfection of Tolkien’s world quite impels one to conduct natural history studies of it, sometimes provocatively so.

[MrFlibble]

I certainly have heard about Yeskov but haven't read any of his books. Russian Wikipedia says he's a biologist specializing in palaeobiology, and his primary interest in writing fiction lies in an attempt to construe a scientific basis for imaginary worlds such as Middle-earth (apparently, the continent of Middle-earth as described by Tolkien is not possible from the standpoint of geophysics).

I've never found the idea of retelling a fictional story from the point of view of another character or faction (e.g. a villain) particularly interesting, and I'm not a fan of Tolkien either, however now I understand that Yeskov's novel differs from what I expected in a number of ways, and might be really worth a read after all.