'If understand aright all that I have heard,' he said, 'I think that this task is appointed for you Frodo; and that if you do not find a way, no one will.'
'But it is a heavy burden. So heavy that none could lay it on another. I do not lay it on you. But if you take it freely, I will say that your choice is right;'
-- Elrond, half elven, son of Eärendil and Elwing.
By that I mean, these mods are a very large and complicated project... and it will take a very long time to create. But I'll try.
The Lord of the Rings Mod: Legacy was a very great work, bringing The Lord of the Rings to minecraft; it was the best I've seen, and I doubt any Lord of the Rings Mod will ever come near it. Yet still, there is some attempt to create a new mod which could rival it. The Lord of the Rings Mod: Renewed was worked on also be Mevans, but as it has been two years since the last update to it, and it seems he has stopped working on it, now there is LOTR: Renewed Extended which seeks to fill in the blanks and bring The Lord of the Rings Mod: Renewed to the glory of The Lord of the Rings Mod: Legacy.
But, as the old was, so the new follows... Neither of The Lord of the Rings Mods are Open Sourced. This is a pity, but it did not stop Mevans from making the best there has been of The Lord of the Rings in minecraft. But now that mevans is not working on it, I believe it should be open sourced. Therefore, as I do not foresee any mod being made which could rival The Lord of the Rings Mod: Legacy. Yet the more tries there are, the higher the chance of success; I shall make an attempt, in fabric, open sourced, in the newest versions of minecraft I can. I do not expect, I hardly dare hope, that these mods will come to greatness, yet I will work on them wether or not they do.
Mods? Plural? Yes. To keep it clean and crisp, and also because there are many things of The Lord of the Rings Mod: Legacy, which would be used elsewhere, but the whole mod would not be wanted, I shall make multiple mods, resource packs, and data packs. The Lord of the Rings Mod: BarchamMal's Edition will be a modpack, not a mod.
The current branches which I have and am working on are:
Take a look at the TODO.md file in each one for what needs done.
Important
I am now finding that my art skills leave much to be desired! If you know how to make pixel art please take a look at the existing textures and improve them if you can!