Rhea Seraph wrote:

Heh.  I suppose Naga would be the fifth wizard, and Zelgadis would be
working for Saruman in hope of a cure for his condition.  Amelia could be
the King of Rohan's second daughter and Sylphiel..hmmm...myabe could be
Galadriel's daughter or possibly Boromir and Faramir's sister, living in
Minas Tirith.

They could be, yes.  But I'm not interested in a long work, and that
more or less requires one.  Plus, playing "guess who gets crossed over
next" isn't something I find particularly appealing as a reader, much
less as a writer.

Have you ever noticed that whenever the SNL writers come up with a skit
that is funny, clever, or interesting, they tend to turn it into a
two-hour movie that is neither funny, clever, nor interesting?  There's
a proper length for all stories, and I think this one needs to be much
shorter than a three-volume novel.

I have this sudden image of a Wizard of Oz style ending with Sauron
turning out to have been dead since the end of the second age, but Xellos
has been using a big illusion of the lidless eye to fake it all this time
and run the empire for  his own purposes to try to get the ring and
Sauron's power.  "Pay no attention to the Elf behind the curtain."

It's a clever twist.
 

And Lina vs. the Balrog would be a great fight.

Hm.  I don't think the Dragon Slave is something you would want to use
in a tunnel.  What's the blast radius on that thing, anyway?

-- David.