J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of Lord of the Rings, did begin work on a sequel to his epic trilogy, provisionally titled The New Shadow. He did, however, abandon the project after writing several pages because he felt the work too dark and he worried that it would ultimately undermine the optimistic conclusion of The Lord of the Rings.

The story was set about 100 years after the defeat of Sauron, during the reign of Aragorn’s son, Eldarion. Tolkien noted that with the “Age of Men,” he would have to deal with what he saw as the most “regrettable feature of their nature: their quick satiety with good.” In the story, a new “shadow” would arise, not from a single Dark Lord, but from men who had become bored with peace and were turning to a sort of “Satanistic” religion, with young boys playing at being “Orcs.”

So, in essence, Tolkien didn’t have to write it because we’re living it.

Tolkien’s idea of men becoming “satiated with good” and turning away from it for a new “shadow” certainly sounds like our modern moment. They say that good times create weak people. Sad but true. Prosperous societies, one’s that aren’t constantly dealing with existential threats, will likely deal with a loss of meaning and a search for that meaning can lead to some, especially the young, searching for darker ideologies or forms of rebellion.

In Tolkien’s almost sequel, there were “young boys playing at being ‘Orcs.” Hmmm… this sound familiar? I’d suggest that this is similar to online subcultures that embrace nihilism, and perhaps even embrace Satanic or mock-Satanic ideologies online.

In short, without an apparent enemy we become our own enemy.

In Tolkien’s world, the hobbits won. They won the whole thing. The good guys. Peace on earth. And all that. And what do you do with peace? What do you do with a good thing? It gets boring. Right? You sit around. You get soft. The muscles atrophy. The mind goes soft.

You develop an itch. You scratch it. Youźz scratch it until it bleeds. They had a Dark Lord. A big, bad guy with a big, bad eye. Simple. Good versus Evil. You see the enemy. You know the score.

But then there’s no Eye. No Mordor. No volcano. It’s us. It’s always been us. The shadow. It’s inside. It’s the itch. The need to break something. To watch the pretty thing burn.

Kids on the internet, they’re playing at being Orcs. They don’t know what it means. They just like the look. The feel of it. The darkness. It’s the fashion.

They’re bored with good. Bored with peace. It’s a commodity. Goodness? What is it? You get a degree, a house, a car? But it seems cheap because theyZ didn’t earn it. So they find a new god. A new thing to believe in. A thing with no rules. No… no morality. Just… impulse.

They’re selling it. They’re selling the new shadow. It’s on their phone. It’s in your feed. It’s a product. The last one was an evil empire. A damn army. This one? It’s a grift. A hustle. A way to sell a feeling. The feeling of being special. The feeling of being… in the know. Of having a secret. A secret that’s dark. But you tell yourself it’s true. More true than the lie they sold you. The lie of a happy ending.

The sequel. The sequel no one wanted to write. And nobody wants to read because we’re living it. Because the good guys… they won. And then they forgot what they won. And they started to hate the prize. They’re Orcs now. Just small-time. On the internet. And they’re looking for a leader. And they don’t even know it. But they’re looking. They’re all looking. For a new Dark Lord. And he’s not coming from a tower. He’s coming from the comments section. He’s coming from the talking heads spreading hate. He’s coming from our political class. He’s coming.