10 Movies That Could Be Made In Middle-Earth After The Hobbit

6. The Voyage Of Earendil

What's the story? The son of human hero and an Elvish princess, Earendil the Mariner, sets sail on his ship Vingilot carrying a Silmaril, the mythic gem prised from the crown of the Dark Lord Morgoth. Earendil sails to the Undying Lands of Valinor in the West to ask for the assistance of the Valar, Middle Earth's divine beings, in defeating Morgoth. In the War of Wrath, the Valar attack and defeat Morgoth with Earendil and his ship flying through the air and defeating a dragon. Why should it be filmed? The Silmarillion is Tolkien's most significant unfilmed work and the one that fans are now crying out for seeing on screen. In practical terms the book is a series of loosely connected episodes, so may make more sense tackled as a series of individually produced films rather than an all-in-one trilogy as we've seen with the other Middle Earth movies. The next four entries represent the four most likely Silmarillion episodes to film. The Earendil story would take Middle Earth adventure to the high seas, a location hardly covered by the films thus far. It has strong links to the Elvish story of the current films (Elrond is Earendil's son and the Mariner is also Aragorn's ancestor, while the starlight Galadriel gives to Frodo is from the star that he, his ship and his Silmaril became). The War of Wrath would provide an epic battle above and beyond what we've already seen (the promise of a flying ship fighting a dragon could be spectacular). Why shouldn't it be filmed? Despite links to the original series, Earendil's story wouldn't make a lot of sense on its own. It provides a climax to the Silmarillion story, but could only be made if other Silmarillion films are made and first and are successful. The gods at war climax and flying ship could equally prove as preposterous looking as spectacular.