John Howe speaks!

"As for myself," said Eomer, "I have little knowledge of these deep matters; but I need it not."
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The World Of Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power ‘Isn’t The Middle-Earth You Remember’ – Exclusive

An interview with John Howe will appear in Empire magazine's "Summer Preview" edition, which publishes tomorrow, and they have a short preview of it up on their website.
John Howe wrote:This isn’t the Middle-earth you remember. This is a world that’s very vibrant. The elves are not hidden away in Mirkwood or lingering in Rivendell. They’re busy constructing kingdoms. The dwarven kingdom of Moria is not an abandoned mine and the Grey Havens is not yet an abandoned city. I loved having the opportunity to explore that unseen history.
John Howe wrote:We’re finally sailing on the oceans of Middle-earth. [Of "a set of sea-faring elves":] They’re daunting and enterprising and are almost colonising the world. They were a lot of fun to imagine. It’s something neither Lord Of The Rings nor Hobbit movies went anywhere near.
Seeing the more fantastical, less obviously in terminal decline world of the Second Age is one of the things I'm most looking forward to about the show. I'm glad they're retaining that element of the texts. Though the addition of an "almost"(?) colonial Elvish thalassocracy is an ... interesting decision. I'm curious to see what that looks like in practice.
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Is John Howe interested in this? Hmm, I am no fan at all of these new movies that don't honour what has been published so far. But perhaps it is nice to post the interview here, if that is possible. That Empire magazine is not available out here.
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Aikári Salmarinian wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 2:29 pmIs John Howe interested in this?
Howe is a concept artist for The Rings of Power, the same position he had on Peter Jackson's LOTR and Hobbit trilogies.
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Also from Empire magazine: three new images from the show, and a piece of John Howe concept art, will be featured as collectible covers:

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/new ... -revealed/

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The Howe piece is apparently a "fearsome snow-troll."
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Say what you want about the series, John Howe cranks out incredible art and has been for a long time. Great guy to have on a project of any kind, but especially LOTR.

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Is that a dwarf woman without a beard? *faints*
The world was fair in Durin's Day.

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KingODuckingham wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 3:22 am Say what you want about the series, John Howe cranks out incredible art and has been for a long time. Great guy to have on a project of any kind, but especially LOTR.
Yeah, I think regardless of what may or may not happen with the plot and characters it's definitely going to look cool and, you know, I can at least get on board with that :grin: I really enjoy John Howe's work in particular both Tolkien and non-Tolkien, he has a great instructional fantasy art book too.

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