Retelling of Lord of the Rings Imagines Mordor as Victim

In Salon, Laura Miller writes about a novel by Yisroel Markov which tells the LoTR story from Mordor's point of view. Here's a summary of The Last Ringbearer:

In Yeskov's retelling, the wizard Gandalf is a war-monger intent on crushing the scientific and technological initiative of Mordor and its southern allies because science "destroys the harmony of the world and dries up the souls of men!" He's in cahoots with the elves, who aim to become "masters of the world," and turn Middle-earth into a "bad copy" of their magical homeland across the sea. Barad-dur, also known as the Dark Tower and Sauron's citadel, is, by contrast, described as "that amazing city of alchemists and poets, mechanics and astronomers, philosophers and physicians, the heart of the only civilization in Middle-earth to bet on rational knowledge and bravely pitch its barely adolescent technology against ancient magic."


http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/2011/02/15/last_ringbearer/index.html via Ace of Spades HQ | Image: New Line Cinema

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Reminds me of a cracked.com article I read... hold on
http://www.cracked.com/article_18417_the-lighter-side-dark-side-5-villains-who-were-good.html

Here you go!
It's interesting to try and look at movies from another perspective
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I had a similar idea for a story about the bad guys in The Road Warrior, where Humungous is actually a leader of a slave rebellion determined to right the wrongs of the "Juice Hoarders," but were sidetracked by that renegade villain, Mad Max.

It just didn't pencil out, what with all the raping and killing.
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