HOW TO READ THE KINGDOM OF THE WOODLAND REALM TRILOGY
I have read complaints from people that seem understandably lost when reading from blog to blog, so I’m going to try to explain it has best as I can (especially now that TKWR Trilogy has a larger audience than originally thought). Most people may not be watching the TKWR Trilogy Newsfeed: @tkwrtnewsfeed often (where I often post free downloadable books now and then--one coming next Wednesday on my Dad’s birthday), so I’ll try to explain how to follow this book.
This is the first blog: the FIRST ONE you should start with. It begins here: https://tkwrtrilogy.tumblr.com/post/135724032251/book-ii-the-saga-of-thranduil-chapter-i-i-am. That’s the very first excerpt from the entire first book (either version).
This is also the first book I started with; it began as one book then it was to be a trilogy about Thranduil and evolve into a trilogy about the multi-generational stories of his family (thus is why the links seem odd versus the titles on the page). This blog is THE FIRST HALF OF BOOK II: THE SAGA OF THRANDUIL.
THE SECOND HALF of BOOK II: THE SAGA OF THRANDUIL starts here: @tkwrtrilogy2. You are taken to the additional 9 chapters of Book II: The Saga of Thranduil. It begins here: https://tkwrtrilogy2.tumblr.com/post/147531755302/chapter-i-a-love-beyond-time-pt-i-legolas-was. The chapter titles reflect what would have been the original THIRD BOOK of the ORIGINAL TRILOGY. It was easier to do that than add to this blog because I already had ended what was the original end of Book II.
THE EXTENDED VERSION: First, it’s here: @extendedtkwrtrilogyend. Secondly, it begins before Êlúriel dies in the first (original) versions–i.e., the above two blogs. It begins here: https://extendedtkwrtrilogyend.tumblr.com/post/148916252443/chapter-xviii-ext-the-return-to-shadow-pt-i. The Extended Version starts in the middle of Book II: The Saga of Thranduil and covers parts you read in the first two blogs. The chapter titles reflect the additional titles for the (now) new trilogy (that added 9 chapters and 140+ additional pages). This is part of a SEPARATE BOOK; the extended version of Book II: The Saga of Thranduil.
BOOK I: THE EPIC OF ERYN GALEN
Going back into time: After doing some research to make this entire story appear to work alongside actual Tolkien, I realized that when Oropher dies during the War of the Last Alliance, he was too young to be “awakened” by Lake Cuiviénen; hence I had to create his family while all the while making him related to Celeborn (as Christopher Tolkien said his father said he was but never elaborated). That took about six months and when it was ready, Book I: The Epic of Eryn Galen went up here: @tkwrtrilogy3. This is the book I am writing now. I am technically done with Book II and going through editing both versions.
The NEW Book III: THE LAST TALE OF LEGOLAS GREENLEAF (LASGALEN)
I knew that all the generations of the Woodland Royals had to be consistent. Book I is told by Orothôn, father of Oropher and Oropher himself. You can thank Thranduil for making it possible that all generations tell their story from their point of view. So I decided to change what was a diary into a book. So now Legolas is Book III. He can be found here: @trenarnolegolaslasgalen. It will still be written in Sindarin more than the others; as the name suggests it means “The Last Tale of Legolas Lasgalen”. That will be the last book in the trilogy. Since Legolas is in most of Book II and its extended version, this means Legolas’ book has an extended version. That one is here: @tkwrtrilogylasttale. Nothing’s there yet (obviously). That doesn’t mean I’m not working on it--I am.
The only “updates” to the blogs will be in PDF versions of the books as they are made available periodically (like next week’s download that will last for 24 hours in honor of my father’s birthday). The online versions are the very first rough drafts.
You are reading the evolution of a high fantasy novel based on the Tolkien characters Oropher, Thranduil and Legolas from their point of view (so look for a lot of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in Legolas’ story (Book III) and a lot of The Silmarillion in Orothôn and Oropher’s point of view in Book I. There will be an end--unlike other fan fictions. Also, unlike other fan fictions, the entire book will have an annotated version--complete with notes for source material for how this book evolved in the first place; when that day comes, you’ll know: This book has 10 TKWRT related blogs.
In conclusion: the first two blogs mentioned here are the same book (Book II: The Saga of Thranduil), the third mentioned is the extended version of the first book which is Book II, Book I (fourth link) is the story of Thranduil’s ancestors and Book III (fifth and sixth links) is Legolas telling his story as his father did in Book II and his great-grandfather and grandfather did in Book I. 😁 I hope this helps somewhat as the story continues to get more detailed and comprehensive.--JMM, author.
Images: ©2001, 2002, 2003. Warner Brothers Pictures. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. All Rights Reserved.
© 2015. “The Kingdom of the Woodland Realm Trilogy by J. Marie Miller.
Disclaimer: New characters are intermingled with canonical characters–from the books, not the films. My non-canonical characters were created and based solely on Tolkien’s Middle-Earth (on purpose). Though there are events and relationships between new and canonical characters, the story itself is original, there are absolutely no passages, prose or quotes within this story that come from either The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings or any volume on the History of Middle Earth or the History of the War of the Ring written by J.R.R. Tolkien or Christopher Tolkien unless specified (in the form of Tolkien Elvish).**
**Annotated version of The Kingdom of the Woodland Realm Trilogy by J. Marie Miller (forthcoming).
Spanish and French versions TBA.
