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Mara999 β€” Troll-men of Far Harad

Published: 2012-05-30 10:03:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 5919; Favourites: 62; Downloads: 0
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Description At two points during the siege of Minas Tirith Tolkien mentions servants of Sauron described as "black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues" and later as "troll-men". Because of how vague the description is of these forces (and many other evil factions), there are many interpretations in different adaptions. Instead of portraying them as either freakishly large dark-skinned humans, or actual hybrids between trolls and humans, I've decided to go with a different approach.

I've taken inspiration from the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose Tarzan-novels have many types of tribal ape-monsters, such as the savage Torodons in the hidden valley of Pal-ul-don. As such the Troll-men are a separate species of hominids, with a savage culture based on violence, that Sauron could exploit for his advantage. Most likely these creatures would normally be in conflict with the human tribes of Far Harad, but Sauron's power and the mutual hatred for Gondor would enable a tenuous alliance.
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Comments: 10

Wingpeanut [2015-11-04 04:15:04 +0000 UTC]

What's the inspiration of the costumes of the troll-men?

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Mara999 In reply to Wingpeanut [2015-11-04 08:55:04 +0000 UTC]

Mainly Aztecs and other Mesoamerican cultures. One of them has a similar headdress to the one worn by the villain in "Apocalypto".

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maxvision92 [2014-12-30 18:35:58 +0000 UTC]

Kinda glad they were cut from the movie. You can't deny that their portrayal would make even guys like Robert E Howard flinch.

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Mara999 In reply to maxvision92 [2015-01-01 23:12:25 +0000 UTC]

Sure I can. There is plenty of room for a non-racist interpretation of these beings, whatever they may have been, plus that Howard would not have cared the slightest whether any would be offensive or not as long as they made a story entertaining. Besides, WETA even used cut imagery to fix a version of the half-trolls for the card-game.

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maxvision92 In reply to Mara999 [2015-01-01 23:24:50 +0000 UTC]

But just the same, you can see how, if they weren't done properly, they could wind up offending loads of people.

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TheSirenLord In reply to maxvision92 [2019-12-11 01:51:06 +0000 UTC]

people are too sensitiveΒ 

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riptidespiritwolf [2013-12-26 01:24:59 +0000 UTC]

XDD I would have wanted to see Peter Jackson's take on the half-trolls. sadly they weren't in the movie. Neither were the variags. At least EA's battle for middle earth 2 and rise f the witch king gave us a modern version of them

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maxvision92 In reply to riptidespiritwolf [2014-12-30 18:35:08 +0000 UTC]

There's probably a good reason they're not in the movie.

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Zeonista [2013-08-30 03:37:59 +0000 UTC]

That's the most original idea about the obviously tropical/sub-tropical troll-men that I have heard yet! I really like it! Definitely look like some tough customers, and vulnerable to Sauron's manipulation.Β 

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Herokiller12344 [2012-07-02 00:08:16 +0000 UTC]

Well that is horrifying.

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