Of the Blue Wizards and the Mouth of Sauron

J.R.R. Tolkien is one of my favorite authors. His most famous work, The Lord of the Rings, is just the tip of a huge iceberg that contains an entire world, thousands of years of history, from gods on down to Hobbits. Unfortunately for those of us intrigued by his work, he died before bringing the vastness of his work to conclusion. But perhaps like a real historian, his work would never have really been done anyway. For the purposes of creative writing, there's plenty to work with.

A number of years ago, I began writing a sequel to the events of Lord of the Rings based on unfinished business found both in the text of LOTR and in some of his other work. It's title in Sindarin is I Ithryn Luin ar i Antoeva Saurona, which the title of this post is the translation of. Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast are the only three of the five wizards (Ithryn) that came to Middle Earth. The other two, described as blue were said to have gone into the "East" and are never heard from again within the canon. It's never said what happens to the Mouth of Sauron either. This is the primary genesis of this story.

The following is a poem written by Tolkien, which also seems to point towards the thrust of my story, and which I adapted for my use.

I Ithryn Luin ar i Antoeva Saurona

Prophecy of Eodred; son of Elfwine King of Rohan

"Wilt thou learn the lore That was long secret

of the Five that came From a far country?

One only has returned The others may not yet

Under Men's dominion Middle Earth shall seek

until Dagor-Dagorath And the Doom cometh

How hast thou heard it: The hidden counsel

of the Lords of the West in the Land of Aman?

The long roads are lost That led thither,

And to mortal Man Manwe speaks not.

From the West that was A wind bore it

to the Sleeper's ear In the silences,

under night-shadow When news is brought from lands forgotten and lost ages..

over seas of years. To the searching thought,

Not all are forgotten By the Elder King."

This little poem was extremely intriguing to me, because to me, it hints towards places Tolkien may have gone after the Lord of the Rings had he the time. I don't pretend to know what he would have done, or to be able to produce anything as good as what he probably would have done. What I have done with it is merely a labor of love to bring new life to a land whose creator has passed beyond the Western shores as his world would put it. More to come with this.