Description
Copyright (c) 2024 - S. C. Watchman Dedicated to my friends Jessi, Patrick & Dylan. The New Shadow is an unfinished thriller by J.R.R. Tolkien, set in the Fourth Age of Middle-earth, about 100 years after the events of The Lord of the Rings. It was meant to be a sequel, that takes place around the end of the reign of Aragorn's son, Eldarion, and the return of darkness to Gondor despite Sauron's defeat. The fragmentary narrative explores the discontent brewing among the people, who have begun to lose faith and revert to old, evil practices. The story's main character, Borlas, an elderly man who remembers the history of the War of the Ring, speaks with a younger man named Saelon, who hints at the rise of a sinister cult among Gondor's youth. There is a sense of unease as Borlas suspects that Saelon may be involved with these dark forces. Tolkien, however, abandoned the story after about 13 pages, feeling that it lacked the same depth as his previous works and that the primary conflict of Middle-earth had already been resolved with Sauron's fall.
INTRODUCTION
