I
began to tinker with this wonderful image,
animating the Eye of Sauron, as I imagined it would
be, peering like a great red beam of light from the
heights of the Dark Tower. I imagined the Ringwraith
as he bowed before his Master and the Ring of Power
spinning like a great wheel of fire in the Land of
Shadow. I began to realize how much I loved the Darkerside
of Tolkien's world and the seeds of an idea to bring
it to life began to grow in my mind.
With the brave new world of the Internet at my fingertips,
I decided to bring my passion to the web. I uploaded
my one lowly page of animation and called it Mordor!
I found 25 hobbits and created a link to my site.
There were very few visitors in the beginning and
I wondered if there were others like myself, that
wanted to know more about the Orcs, the Nazgul and
the Dark Lord of Mordor. So I began building this land
of Shadow one page at a time... with many fits and
starts it began to take shape.
As
I searched the web for others with a love of Tolkien,
I found that there was quite a Tolkien community.
There were few sites in the beginning, but that was
soon to change. The word was out that Newline Cinema
and a young director named Peter Jackson was going
to make three films! Like other Tolkien fanatics,
I was both excited and worried. Then came the first
Internet Teaser and the anticipation reached a fever
pitch. Like countless others I watched that Trailer
at least a thousand times. It looked Like Mr. Jackson
was going to do it right.
Mordor
grew... I created the Dark Servants of Shadow, The
Dark Domains, a movie news page, and more Dark Flash
animation's. Most important, I found many others with
a love of both Tolkien and the Darkerside of Middle-earth,
and so Dark Messages was born, the Mordor Community,
with an EZ Board Forum. We have always been a chaotic
band of Orcs and Goblins,
but nothing can seem to slow us down!
Finally
in 2001, I created the Domain Name for Mordor... www.theLandofShadow.com
We were official!
For many years I was worried about how some of the artists
might feel about how I displayed their original work.
I have contacted those that I have been able, such as
the Hildibrandt Brothers who were very generous about
my using their images here at The Land of Shadow. I was
most concerned that John Howe should like the work that
I have created here, since his Dark Tower was the inspiration
for this site. I was able to contact John and he was
the most generous person one could ask to meet. I
told him that I would remove any of the content from
my site that featured his work, if he was not happy
with it being displayed in this way. I took a deep breath
and waited for his response, his only request was that
if I altered the images, that I make it clear that it
was an alteration of the original. I always give credit
to the artist whose work I display on Mordor and link
to their sites if they have one. He was very gracious
when asked about how I had altered his Dark Tower...
|
"People
are probably going to prefer yours to mine,
but I'll take the risk! I'd like to add how
grateful I am for your response, and am really
glad this has all worked out. Please keep in
touch. Your site is an inspiration to me - so
very much darker than I generally go - you're
giving me ideas! Keep your eyes on film 3, there'll
be more colour rendering available when the
tie-in books appear."
John
Howe
|
I
know he was being kind... I could never compare to
his incredible talent
as a painter, illustrator and one who can truly visualize
Middle-earth!
Now
that all three films have come and gone, what does
the future hold for this site? Much more! The fan
base has grown with the films and the Die-hard Dark
Fans will always be ready to charge into battle for
Mordor on the Dagorlad at the feet of the Black Gate.
We shall see were this road takes us... so suit up
in your Orc gear and join the Dark Army of Mordor...
the journey is sure to be an interesting one!
