Khamûl wrote:
But if it is "Middle-earth" in scope & not just a LotRs adaptation (or history supporting events in LotRs) then why would they not call it a "Middle-earth TV Series"? I mean, the term "Middle-earth", I think, is well understood to mean Tolkien's imaginery universe by the general public. I think it would make sense to reference it as such if this is what it's going to cover. I don't think "LotRs" (what we already have) is that much of a selling point vs. an adaptation of Tolkien's Middle-earth generally (which we haven't seen yet).

I have no argument to your reasoning but I do think the term The Lord of the Rings has weight to it that instantly resonates with film fans and creates buzz.

I will come back to your point a little earlier:

So if someone is proposing to make extensive use of Tolkien's imaginative creation to frame both his stories & new ones, buying the rights to The Silmarillion (book) on its own doesn't really make a great deal of sense; they would be more likely to attempt to acquire full rights to all of Tolkien's Middle-earth material.

That is a really great point and one that I think Amazon would be all too clued in to when thinking about putting together a series. We know from the maps they at least have some access to names which are clearly from Silm/Unfinished Tales/HoME and your point raises the question of just what do they have and what would they pay $250Million for? Would they throw such enormous sums at a LoTR TV series? I think the answer has to be no, but $250Million for everything gives Amazon a fighting chance to make money from it. Amazon are risk adverse and I don't think they would take such a risk on a series unless they had massive scope to work in.

Lokki wrote:

Woods near Eldalonde is in Nísimaldar region are the Fragrant Trees. They are not the great woods of Andustar described by Tolkien. Mountains near Meneltarma look similar in height to me as the other mountain ranges. Extra river in Numenor, extra mountain range in Forlindon. Oh well, poetic freedom it is.

Thanks for the correction on the trees. I think, based on reading up more on the forests and trees, that the ones shown on the Amazon map are another clue that backs my pet theory:

- The Fragrant Trees in Nísimaldar around Eldalondë are the malinornë, some of which were given by Tar-Aldarion to Gil-Galad in Lindon where they could not grow, so he gave them to Galadriel who had success growing them in Lothlórien (per UT) aka Lórinand.

- The great forests of Hyarrostar where grew the laurinquë trees. In this region "[f]rom the days of Tar-Aldarion there were great plantations in the Hyarrostar to furnish timber for shipbuilding." (UT)

UT of course also mentions "But much of the southerly part of the Andustar was fertile, and there also were great woods..." but there is no mention of what use those great woods were put to.

With this in mind, I think it underscores even further my pet theory about Tar-Aldarion being a focal personality. Forests that he was involved with (on Númenor as well as Middle-earth) are drawn on the map, woods he was not, are often left off.

Areas in CAPS on Map 5: Hyarrostar, Eldalondë, Lindon, Lórinand, in addition to the ones I mentioned above.

On the subject of which rights are purchased, etc. I am going to sit back and wait to learn more. I think Aelfwine's point about drawing too many conclusions about rights from names on the map is a valid one (though I will speculate about connections to possible stories, as can be drawn from Tolkien's use of these names... and which books they are in!)

Another theory someone mentioned on Twitter that I have been looking into - love to hear other thoughts on this one!

Map 5 uses Lórinand. This is the name of the Nandorin realm of elves who resided here before Galadriel contacted them. "This was peopled by those Elves who forsook the Great Journey of the Eldar from Cuiviénen and settled in the woods of the Vale of Anduin." (UT) Galadriel moved here circa SA 1350-1400. Sometime after that, she would have planted the Mallorn seeds and the trees would have started to grow.

Map 4 uses Laurelindórenan (matches LOTR spelling, UT uses different spelling Laurelindórinan), “Land of the Valley of Singing Gold” - another older name for Lothlórien, but likely after the golden mallorn trees were brought?

Again, this locale naming seems to indicate an association with the mallorn trees, Galadriel, and perhaps Aldarion.


One final note - I am not saying that the sole story for the TV series will/could be The Mariner's Wife - just that it seems to feature prominently on the map.

Here’s some interesting uncollaborated info on the deal with Amazon:

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/08/amazon-prime-video-feature.html

But money alone wasn't going to separate Amazon from the pack — Amazon's $250 million offer wasn't even the highest bid for the show's rights, according to a person familiar with the matter. The ultimate selling point, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations, related to Amazon's original business from over two decades ago: books.
The Tolkien estate was convinced that in promoting the series, Amazon could sell truckloads of Tolkien's fantasy novels, including "The Hobbit" and "The Silmarillion" as well as "The Lord of the Rings." During meetings with the Tolkien estate and publisher HarperCollins, Amazon's Sharon Tal Yguado, who was hired from Fox in 2017, demonstrated a near encyclopedic knowledge of Tolkien's characters, stories and geography, said the people, who asked not to be named because the talks were private.

Urulókë wrote:

With this in mind, I think it underscores even further my pet theory about Tar-Aldarion being a focal personality. Forests that he was involved with (on Númenor as well as Middle-earth) are drawn on the map, woods he was not, are often left off.

Areas in CAPS on Map 5: Hyarrostar, Eldalondë, Lindon, Lórinand, in addition to the ones I mentioned above.

I think that your theory is very good. I am more and more stoked about this series

Amazon selling books?! That made me chuckle a wee bit there.