Forum:Historical Fan-Fiction for Middle Earth in the vein of Polybios, Plutrach, or Livy
I have had an idea brewing in my mind for some time to do a set of articles that chronicle the various wars of Middle-earth more along the lines of the Polemics and Histories of ancient Greece and Rome by Authors such as Polybios, Plutarch, Livy, Dionysus of Halicarnasus, Thucydides, and so on.
These authors dealt with documenting the growth and conquest of their various nations. I know that there are similar works by Anglo, Saxon, Frankish, and Byzantine sources as well (I am only familiar with the Frankish and Byzantine authors in that regard).
What I would like to try to do is to create a piece of "Historical (Fan) Finction" for Middle Earth concerning the Wars against Sauron and his allies of the Second and Third Ages as written by either eye-witnesses to the events (As Polybios and Procopios were of the Republican Roman and Byzantine wars of their times), or as written by later historians producing propaganda/polemics for their contemporary rulers to create support for their policies and give a legitimacy for their rule (such as the rule of Eärnur II, who was a descendant of the royal line, but probably of a lesser claim to the throne than Arvedui who was of direct descent from Isildur's line and wedded to Firiel daughter of Odopher, the last of Elendil's line through Anarion, King of Gondor).
Middle-Earth's history is ripe with episodes that could have come straight from the pages of such a histroy as Livy's History of Ancient Rome, Plutarch's Parallel Lives, Polybios' History of Rome, or Procopios' History of the Byzantine Line of Basil I.
If any would like to collaborate on a similar Historical (Fan) Fiction along the lines of these real Historical Fictions (as they do contain very real data, but much in them is confabulation to flatter the sponsors or patrons of the author), I would love to try to write several of them that deal with the Wars of Númenóre and the Kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor.
Matthew 20:48, 24 August 2008 (UTC)