Ungol, the paths of the dead, narrators etc.

E! Online gave us new information today..much about Cirith Ungol..

parts of the update;

The walls are covered with sketches of the sets by Tolkien conceptual artists Alan Lee and John Howe. There are early versions of Treebeard, Gollum, the caverns of Khazad-Dûm, the dark Gothic towers of Mordor and the statue-lined hallways of Minas Tirith.
Lee, one of the original illustrators of Tolkien's novels, is temporarily back in Britain, but Major shows me around Lee's office. Drawing after drawing lays scattered across a massive drafting table.
"Alan and John's contribution to the project is fundamental," says Major. "They've provided us with the look and feel of Middle Earth, and they bring an enormous knowledge of Tolkien lore to their work."
"We identified the sense of each set that we want to evoke and the culture that each set comes from. Although we've drawn from other styles--art nouveau for the Elves, early Scandinavian warriors for the Rohan--it's important to create a uniquely Middle Earth look and to give a sense of the history and depth of these places."
Mostly, sets are built in the studios or locations where they'll be filmed. Hennah takes me to Studio C in Three Foot Six's Wellington Studios. Techies are hard at work constructing the towers and fortresses of Cirith Ungol, where Sam rescues Frodo from imprisonment by Orcs.
"We decided these sets needed to be ugly but intricate, as they reflect the evil of Mordor," Major explains.
Hennah says the team was inspired by Dutch artist M.C. Escher's drawings of impossible buildings. "The sets are asymmetrical and mazelike--they don't quite make sense. So, to Sam, who's running through this place, it's completely disorienting."
Staircases, doorways, ramparts and trapdoors are everywhere. Hennah points above us to a tiny staircase only three or four feet wide (just enough room for a Hobbit-scale double). I trip over a channel in the ground. "It's for rolling balls, which the Orcs use to knock out their enemies like tenpin bowling," Hennah says gleefully.
Hennah continues our magical mystery tour with a trip through the modeling workshop.

At one table, a draftsman works on architectural drawings of a set; at another, a guy carves a miniature Paths of the Dead out of polystyrene, using Alan Lee's sketches as a guide.


No really bad news this time...