Chapter Text
Note the first: I will play a little fast and loose with timelines for the sake of a stronger story (and, yes, one more appealing to general audiences). And/or take ruthless advantage of canonical slow Dúnedain aging to spread the timeline out over several decades).
Note the second: Aragorn's actor will be cast for trueness to character first, including real love of the books and understanding of their themes; hotness second; and acting ability third. All genders of characters of the race of Men should be assumed to be correct in Tolkien's writing and cast accordingly, including (I believe) hobbits; however, Elves, Dwarves, and Wizards are free game. (Elves DO need to be ethereally beautiful and ageless even while committing war crimes, though that shouldn't come up in this show.)
Note the third: the theme song, over opening title sequence and closing credits, is a cover of the "All that is gold does not glitter" poem. The one I know best is Clamavi de Profundis, but I'm not fixed to it!
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The Framing Device
- As with all of Tolkien's best works, we will have a framing device of history being recounted by hobbits. To whit: each season will open with a few minutes in the homey parlor of Bag End in the early Fourth Age, where the fireplace crackling merrily, toys and remnants of snacks are strewn about, and contentedly aging Samwise Gamgee reads aloud from the Red Book as a pre-bedtime story to at least 6 of his children at any given time, ages 0 (held by Rosie) to adulthood.
- The children (or even grandchildren?!) ask for stories of the King and he tells them, reading the honest, thoroughly researched account and only making things up where details are missing or some dramatic embellishment (or careful gentling for young hobbits) seems truly necessary...
The Beginning
- In the first episode(s), probably a two-parter, Aragorn is age 21ish, functionally late teens, and leaving Rivendell to start wandering the wilds with the Rangers. I would do Elrond & his people dirty and say that Aragorn has been kinda sheltered growing up, a little because Elves tend to baby Men, especially young Men, and mostly because everyone wanted to be sure Isildur’s heir was safe as darkness grew in the world, especially after his father was killed when he was 2.
- So Aragorn starts with significant book smarts, homely peace smarts—historical knowledge, animal friendship, herblore, diplomacy skills, technical sword/knife/bow skills…but he doesn’t know the dirty fighting tricks that win a fight. His tracking, hunting, forest stealth, etc. skills…suck at first. He’s prone to freeze in urgent healing (or combat) situations, because he’s never done this on his own before—though he has a natural talent for the ‘calling people back from death’ thing we see in LotR.
- (This gives Aragorn obvious skills to pick up that demonstrate his character growth as a leader, while also establishing from the start that his real talent in kingship is, and always was, diplomacy, strength of character, connection with his people, and literal and metaphorical healing. Also, weirdass plans, often based on things he read, with success resting on luck/prayer/hope more than any reasonable thing...and these plans work because absurd hope IS the correct answer in Middle Earth; the characters just aren't allowed to know that for certain or it doesn't count. It's about faith.)
- The first episode is mostly restless late teen!Estel in Rivendell, feeling stifled because he's a teenager (by Dúnedain standards), ignorant of his true heritage but starting to suspect something, either because Elves aren't actually that good at keeping secrets or because there's a touch of prophecy in his blood, or because all teenagers in their hearts know that they're a destined protagonist and every adult who says otherwise is lying about it.
- When an experienced Ranger stops by for a couple nights with some new recruits in tow, to consult with Elrond and refill their packs, Estel's determination to uncover mysteries and do something heroic gets him into trouble somehow.
- Key introductions: the other 2 baby Rangers who will soon be his best friends; the slow-building plot of the season, assorted relevant worldbuilding and history of Kings of Gondor, Chieftains of the Dúnedain of Arnor, Elves and Men and Half-elves, the current average state of peril in the northern wilderness, etc.
- This episode ends with Gilraen (Aragorn's mother) and Elrond sitting Estel down for what he expects to be a lecture but instead they reveal his true name and heritage, maybe with a brief flashback of newly widowed Gilraen arriving in distress 19 years ago with toddler in tow. Gilraen gives him the broken sword and tells him how his father held it, and his father before him, and etc. etc. back to Isildur and Elendil. Elrond offers the Scepter of Annuminas, once held by the Kings of Nùmenor, as far back (with some Ship of Theseus'ing) as Elros...then takes it back because Aragorn isn't ready yet. He has to go forth and learn about leadership/your kingdoms/himself…
- SMASH CUT to the start of episode 2: Aragorn tripping on a root in the forest and falling in a stream while the 2 other baby Rangers laugh at him and whoever’s stuck training these new recruits sighs heavily.
- There’s a lot of “this is the new Chieftain of the Dúnedain, Isildur’s heir?”, especially in this episode but also as the season continues and Aragorn meets more of his people and they get his measure, and he rises to meet their expectations.
- By the end of the episode, of course, Aragorn has used his diplomacy/healing/weird-idea-he-read-about-in-a-history-book skills to save the day and earn respect. He even uses that knack for calling people back from Morgul-blade induced chill and despair! He also made some minor but symbolically significant progress in sneaking through the woods/throwing a quick punch/etc practical Ranger skill.
- To be clear: every time I say "Aragorn suggests an out-of-the-box plan based on something he read in a history book or ancient poem" I 90% of the time mean "this is a Silmarillion reference subtle enough to evade copyright laws, which nobody will notice except the extreme nerds, who will eat it up" and 10% mean "we make something up wholesale, possibly even naming one of the few Silm characters we're copyright-permitted to name, and present it with the exact same seriousness as the other 90%." Maybe 80/20.
- At the end of this episode, while wandering for a moment of introspection alone and singing his favorite song to cope, young Aragorn spots The Most Beautiful Woman In The World and momentarily assumes he conjured the illusion of Lúthien Tinúviel by singing of her, like the great elven bards can do. He runs after her, calling her name...
- It is Arwen, of course. This is directly from canon.
- Episode 2 ends with a mild cliffhanger of him chasing her; episode 3 opens with him catching up and her being like, "wtf kid" and Aragorn turning bright read while trying so hard to speak poetically to his insta-crush. She explains who she is, turns him down gently, and walks away. He returns to camp and the next morning the actual plot of the episode starts, which involves, say, hunting a warg that's cowed a significant wolf pack into following it.
The Rest of the Season, In General
- The basic format of Crownless is 22-episode seasons, 41-44-minute Monster Of The Week with season-long plot arcs that build mostly in the background before culminating in climactic episodes. Like ERU INTENDED FOR SHOWS TO BE.
- It's focused on the newest young Rangers: Aragorn, Halbarad and Dúnawen (OC: “maiden of the west”, don’t @ me for original names), as they range throughout Eriador learning how to be badasses who guard the boundaries of civilization. Monsters include orcs, wargs, mortal bandits, trolls, giant spiders, a small ice wyvern that made its way to northern Dale, barrow-wrights, hröa-hungry unhoused fëa (ghosts), rival clans of Men or maybe Dwarves who are about to start a blood feud war…
- …and a slowly mounting season plot of the trouble of 3 Nazgúl reoccupying Dol Goldur, after the White Council forced the “Necromancer” out 15ish years ago. (Riling up ghosts throughout the countryside? Something something themes of moving on from the past. Also, can’t go wrong with an episode in which heroes must confront their literal personal ghosts!)
Notable Characters, persistent and one-off:
- Aragorn, our hero
- Halbarad, the best of what I'm dubbing the Junior Rangers at woodcraft, friendly to Aragorn from the start
- Dúnawen, the best of the Junior Rangers at combat, judgy of Aragorn for longer
- (Older Ranger woman who is mentoring these three, for her sins)
- Elrohir & Elladan, cousins of all Mannish Dúnedain and kind of older brothers to Aragorn in particular! Are they helping him? Are they harder on him than on the other new recruits? Are they good cop/bad cop-ing it? I haven't decided! They're in like 3 episodes - early/mid-season, late/mid-season (maybe in a Season Plot-related episode) and season finale.
- Arwen! Likewise a cousin, of course, but more Elvish in behavior than her brothers, and a student and guest for many years of her grandmother Galadriel. We ARE throwing out the so-called "canon" that Aragorn and Arwen didn't interact between their initial meeting and many years later in Lothlórien, but for the most part she's absent this season - appears about as often as her brothers, though not at the same time. Except yes in the season finale, which is some sort of dramatic big-group attempt to subdue Dol Goldur again.
- Gilraen, mother of Aragorn. A guest in Rivendell these many years, though she'd go out Ranging now and then. Semi-official Regent-Chieftain of the Dúnedain since her husband's death (they're pretty independent; they don't need much reigning. There are fixed settlements of Dúnedain btw; they're not all Rangers. That's a job, albeit a common one, and always held by the Chieftain. When Aragorn leaves Rivendell, so does Gilraen, to see her family for the first time in years in their northern village.
- Aragorn & co. visit her there for an episode, dealing with local MotW. Aragorn connects with her side of the family, maybe learns some history about them as well as his father, and asks her opinion of him and Arwen. She shoots him down on the grounds that Elves and Men shouldn't marry, it only brings grief all around. Also, tbh Arwen is out of his league.
- Elrond is the wise old mentor to wise old mentors, of the Dúnedain. He's everyone's kindly great-uncle. There will come a time where Elrond is visibly alarmed and afraid, at which point other characters and the audience themselves will go, "oh shit, we're fucked-fucked", but that time will not come in Season 1. I'm not sure exactly what their co-parenting dynamic was, but as a rule, while Gilraen is the one to whom Aragorn goes for Dúnedain-specific and/or personal advice, Elrond is directing his broad education in kingship.
- Also, Rangers all keep logbooks of what they fought and where, and any notable - or completely normal, daily - weather patterns, animals, plants, etc; and all of these are collected in Rivendell, and have been for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. If research needs to happen, it happens there.
- Gandalf! For the sake of letting him spend as long as possible pretending to be a random human old man, let's say he's never been to Rivendell while Aragorn was there - not that young Estel noticed, at least.
Other Notable Elements of Season 1
- All combinations of Aragorn/Halbarad/Dunawen ARE welcome, nay, encouraged. They’re functionally in college and they’re all hot, and constantly in near-death situations. I advise the writers to have fun. Bisexuality is free. This happens regardless of Aragorn's nascent feelings for Arwen - his mother did totally shoot down his chances for that. He can have some friend group romantic drama instead!
- Hand in hand with diplomacy, and rising to meet the initial skepticism of many Dúnedain of this kid who's barely been outside Rivendell in his life, is Aragorn's willingness to extend a hand in trust and turn an enemy into a friend. This will serve him well in the far future when, as King of Gondor, he repairs relationships with Harad, Umbar, Rhûn, etc; for now, it's part of a theme of the need to revisit old hurts only to heal them, and then move forward.
- Like I said, there's totally an episode where the Junior Rangers are trying to investigate Dol Goldur and some terrible spell makes them confront (literally with necromancy? or just illusions drawing on their own thoughts and feelings?) their respective ghosts.
- Just when the season plot is getting a little heavy, there's a bottle episode - the penultimate or maybe pre-penultimate episode of the season. Due to a thunderstorm/mudslide/cave-in incident, Aragorn, Halbarad and Dúnawen are trapped in a small series of caves & tunnels with a random assortment of other travelers on the road west of Bree:
- a pair of Dwarvish merchants
- a few men
- 1 elf (journeying to the Havens to Sail?)
- 1 hobbit, Mr. Drogo Baggins of Hobbiton, who was making a perilous journey to Bree and back in order to fetch his beloved, very pregnant wife a particular kind of cheese she was craving.
- There's no threat of loss of air, but they’re stuck until the storm ends and they can't risk shifting rocks without provoking another mudslide - especially when everyone snapping at each other. Obviously getting Drogo home is of utmost importance! (and everyone else needs to get home safe, too). Tempers run high! Only once the Junior Rangers sort out their late-season interpersonal drama can Aragorn rise to the occasion and organize/mediate this microcosm of Middle Earth’s populace to dig their way out of this cave.
- Season finale: having figured out that it is literally Nazgúl re-occupying this fell fortress and rousing ghosts, all the 1- or 2-episode people from earlier in the season come together, as well as some new ones (Legolas!) to defend a Mirkwood settlement which the shadow creeping from Dol Guldur, and the dead kings which led that shadow, were threatening to consume. They save the settlement and beat the deathly power back within a pre-established watchful perimeter, and the local Elves swear to keep an even tighter watch than before, with even brighter songs. It is clear that this isn't a permanent solution - as we've known since Aragorn's father was killed, evil is waking again in the world. But it's a real victory today.
- In a quiet moment after the day is won, Aragorn asks Elrond about Arwen. Elrond warns Aragorn that he shouldn't marry before he claims his crown - indeed, that he won't do so.
- Aragorn: "Won't marry...Arwen specifically...?"
- Elrond: "Won't marry anyone. And don't you dare tempt my daughter toward Lúthien's choice. Speaking of which: you've gained a great deal of experience here in Arnor, but you must learn the other half of your kingdom as well. The Rangers of Eriador have a long-standing, if unofficial and discreet, exchange program with the Rangers of Ithilien, in Gondor on the borders of Mordor. You should go - go soon, for best travel weather."
TL;DR:
- This season is about Aragorn (starting to) come into his own as a member and leader of the northern Dúnedain. The main villain is Nazgúl and other ghost they’ve enslaved because their haunting from the past and weaponized despair is perfectly countered by this young king just starting to realize his full, bright potential - this bright young king who is skilled at holding, who explicitly by name represents, hope. Evil is waking again in the world, but we have Estel!
- This show is about hope first and teamwork second, and looking badass in a beautiful landscape while Howard Shore music swells third.