On This Day in Middle-earth

May 27th

The escort of Arwen leaves Lórien.

After reaching Lórien on May 20th, Elrond and Arwen spent seven days there in the Woodland Realm.

They probably got lost in the beauty of Caras Galadhon and the tranquility of those woods. Perhaps, they spent seven days there helping the Elves rebuild after the destruction of their borders by Sauron’s forces. That’s a different perspective, but it’s something to consider. Many places in Middle-earth faced Sauron’s evil, and they are all in a period of time of celebration/rebuilding/mourning the fallen.

Our hearts go out to those affected by this evil and hopefully their grief won’t last forever.

We know for certain that a celebration is on the horizon, as Arwen’s escort gets closer and closer to Minas Tirith.

Thank you for your time and remember, deep roots are not reached by the frost.

– The Wandering One

What’re the Quidditch Cup Championships Like?

No, we’re not talking about the Quidditch World Cup, we know how awesome that is. We’re talking about those smaller championship cups. I mean the Chuddley Cannons play in a league somewhere and that league has a championship cup doesn’t it? At least, all of us at Of Blades and Kings like to think so.

There’s got to be massive fanfare and preparations similar to, but not as large as, the World Cup.

Fireworks. Music. Drinks. Parties. One could easily make a whole weekend out of it.

Imagine being a vendor at these things, you spend a weekend around all these parties and traveling wizards making tons of money. Going based off the books, it seems like Quidditch Clubs have fans as passionate as fútbol does. Plus, as easy as it is to travel in the Wizarding World, fans from all over could come to watch their teams play for the Cup.

That’s what the next Quidditch World Cup game needs, expanded leagues with teams all over the country just like FIFA. Maybe, if there’s enough traction, we’ll discuss our own plans for the next Quidditch World Cup game. Who wouldn’t want to play a manager campaign with the Chuddley Cannons? I don’t know about you but it’s time to bring the Cannons back to the glory years! If you’re a developer, let’s collaborate.

This was a very wandering post, we definitely got off the rails, but this was a thought that popped in my head during the Superbowl and we wanted to share it with you. I know there’s some rumors about a Harry Potter Quidditch movie, and you could do a lot with the content in Quidditch Through the Ages, but I’d like to see a Championship Cup played.

What’d you think the Quidditch Championship Cups are like? What match-up would you like to see in the finals? Thank you for your time and remember, not all those who wander are lost.

– The Wandering One

On This Day in Middle-earth

May 20th

Elrond and Arwen come to Lórien.

Pardon our tardiness, we hope you don’t mind as we catch up with the most recent event in Middle-earth.

While many members of the Host of the West have set out to their own lands, the Hobbits in Minas Tirith with Legolas and Gimli. Aragorn did not want the Fellowship to leave, at least not yet.

“At last all such things must end,” he said, “but I would have you wait a little while longer: for the end of the deeds that you have shared in has not yet come. A day draws near that I have looked for in all the years of my manhood, and when it comes I would have my friends beside me.”

He would not tell the Fellowship anymore about this certain day. In the days remaining the Companions of the Ring, as they were called, dwelled in a house together with Gandalf and went as the pleased throughout the city.

We can guess by yesterday’s events what day Aragorn is talking about.

As we get closer to the end of our tale Aragorn finds himself holding on to the Fellowship, wanting to share moments of his life with them. Truly, you can tell these Companions have become a family to each other. It’ll be a bittersweet moment when we have to say goodbye to these Companions, bitter because of the time we’ve had together, and sweet because they all get to return home.

Thank you for your time and remember, the crownless again shall be king.

– The Wandering One

Character of the Week

Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck

Leader of “The Conspirators,” lover of maps, squire of the Rohirrim, and future Master of Buckland.

Merry Brandybuck was far more than the second half of a comic relief duo. In the books he led Sam, Pippin, and Fredegar “Fatty” as they worked to discover the mysterious events in Bag End. It wasn’t long before they discovered the Red Book of Westmarch and learned of the One Ring. Merry knew, eventually, that Frodo would try to figure out a way to go on this journey alone, not wanting to bring this danger to his friends. When all this had come to light, Frodo was appalled that his friends had been spying on him and his family.

“But it does not seem that I can trust anyone,” said Frodo.

Sam looked at him unhappily. “It all depends on what you want,” put in Merry. “You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin – to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours – closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo. Anyway: there it is. We know most of what Gandalf has told you. We know a good deal about the Ring. We are horribly afraid – but we are coming with you; or following you like hounds.”

Merry stood for what was right and did more to help Frodo on his journey, he helped him move, set him up with a house in Crickhollow, led the Hobbits on a path through the Old Forest and on to Bree. For the beginning of Frodo’s journey Merry led the way. Frodo probably would have never made it to Bree, if Merry wasn’t around.

Not to mention, this Hobbit goes on to join the Rohirrim and fights in the Battle of Pelennor Fields, where he landed a mighty blow against the Witch-King of Angmar.

After the events in The Return of the King, Merry becomes the Master of Buckland and marries Estrella Boldger, Fatty’s sister. Both Merry and Pippin were in their 100’s when they past away, and they were entombed beside King Aragorn Elessar.

This Hobbit was more than second breakfasts, pipe weed, and a fun time. We hope you join us as we celebrate Merry Brandybuck with the Character of the Week title.

Thank you for your time and remember, a light from the shadows shall spring.

– The Wandering One

Thoughts on the Gollum Game

It was reported, back in March 2019, that a Gollum game was being brought into the world.

This is a different choice, it’s a character that people wouldn’t think to make a game about. It’s certainly not one of our top expansion stories set in The Lord of the Rings, but we still wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. These video game developers are creative folk, maybe they’ll think of a way to make this work. However, as more news of this game continues to unfold, us Tolkien purists at Of Blades and Kings have become concerned.

To be fair while I think of my self as a Tolkien purist, I still love the movies, inaccuracies and all. The movies started my passion and brought us where we’re at today. That being said, as I’ve continued to re-read the books, I get more and more disappointed by the deviations and find myself wishing the two weren’t so different. I’ve grown to accept that the books and the movies are different things and should be treated as such.

My passion and purist tendencies nowadays prevent me from really enjoying new additions, especially the video games. These video game companies have a tendency to take advantage of The Lord of the Rings name and create stories that don’t fit the lore and world that Tolkien built. It’s unfortunate because there are so many more stories to tell or expand on. Stories that can be unique and beautiful, but no, they just want to tell their stories and force them into the setting.

I fear this game is down the same dark path.

Personally, I don’t understand why this game is in development in the first place. As someone who plays video games I’m unsure of the appeal of Gollum. Why this character? Does he have a tragic story? Yes, but it’s not a story where he conquers adversity, his lust for the Ring creates it, and many times it ends up with him being hurt. There are other storylines you could follow in The Lord of the Rings that would lead to a successful game.

Gollum by himself cannot take on a man or an Orc, he’s definitely not going near elves or dwarves. He doesn’t do much fighting, and when he hunts, it’s usually for small animals and fish, i.e. things that can’t hurt him. Sometimes he gets tired of the fish taste and will hunt for Orc, but, even then the Orc always has to be the runt of the litter.

Gollum’s not a warrior, or someone who partakes in battles. If there was ever a fight going on he wouldn’t join, he would find a safe place to stay and wait till it’s over. Once the fighting ended, he would go rummaging through the remains. I’m not sure how you could make a whole game out of this level of activity. It could play as a stealth/survivor game but the idea doesn’t fit with Tolkiens works. Gollum spent the majority of his time in a cave, in a mountain, not caring about anything that went on in the world. Maybe the game will put Gollum in a scenario where he gets lost and all he has to do is survive and find a way back to his cave. The survive and stealth style would work here and the situation is feasible enough to fit in the world Tolkien built. It’s much more of a game that fits in the TaleTell series. Sadly, it doesn’t seem like they are heading in this direction.

As news of this game has come out, I’ve grown increasingly worried about it’s creation. In January 2020, members of the development team behind the game made some concerning comments, like the following:

“Tolkien didn’t give a size reference for Gollum to begin with, so in the first illustrations, he’s gigantic!”

“Can we use the cool Nazgul?”

“I think ours are the less cools ones. They’re the drummer and bass player of the band. But we have the chance to make them more popular.”

“You will have maybe two, three or four conflicts per chapter that lead to a final decision point. And at this final decision point, it will be harder to pick Smeagol, for example, if you’ve always fought for the Gollumn side before.”

Based off the article, we’re essentially looking at a stealth based game with good/bad decision choices peppered in.

Now, if we use The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and look at these comments in regards to his books, you will find inaccuracies.

In The Fellowship of the Ring: Chapter 2 Shadows of the Past, Gandalf recounts the history of the One Ring. When he gets to Smeagol’s portion of the story he describes his race as such:

“Long after, but still very long ago, there lived by the banks of the Great River on the edge of Wilderland a clever-handed and quiet-footed little people. I guess they were of hobbit-kind; akin to the fathers of the fathers of the Stoors, for they loved the River, and often swam in it, or made little boats of reeds.”

So, we have proof that Sméagol or Gollum was an ancestor of Hobbits, he could’ve been from the line of the first “little people” to walk Middle-earth. There’s your frame of reference for Gollum’s size, possibly slightly taller than your average Hobbit, but not by much. In the past week images of the game have released and Gollum size fits this description, but we were very concerned at Of Blades and Kings. It took two chapters into the story to figure that out, they either didn’t know or they were thinking about ignoring Tolkien’s words.

Someone will need to explain to me what cool Nazgul are. While the Nazgul in the books are very different than the movie, both are sinister and evil. They work together as one, they are Sauron’s enforcers with one leader, the Witch-King of Angmar. There’s no other hierarchy of Nazgul, there’s no Nazgul who are more important than the others. When the Witch-King was ultimately defeated, that didn’t stop the other’s from working for Sauron. They only follow his will and they only have one purpose, to serve him. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings only took time to name one Nazgul. Beyond naming the Witch-King, they are all equal. I don’t get the point of speaking about the Nazgul like they’re a band. That’s not how this group works, they are a unit that works together seamlessly. To suggest there’s a hierarchy of Nazgul is folly and inconsistent with Tolkien’s writings. Maybe they’re just referring to the difference between books and movies but, this is concerning. It doesn’t seem like they know what the Nazgul are.

Decision points and choosing between good/bad in games has been a common theme for a long time. Video game players want to exercise their free-will while making sure their decisions weigh heavily in games. It’s a fun feature, but in the essence of the One Ring, it doesn’t make sense. When in possession of the One Ring, one may want to do good things but the Ring’s power would only make them evil. Gandalf would not wield the One Ring for this very reason.

“But I have so little of any of these things! You are wise and powerful. Will you not take the Ring?”

“No!” cried Gandalf, springing to his feet. “With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a power still greater and more deadly.” His eyes flashed and his face was lit as by a fire within. “Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me! I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe, unused. The wish to wield it would be too great for my strength. I shall have such need of it. Great perils lie before me.”

Yes, Frodo and Bilbo both displayed extraordinary resilience to the Ring’s power, and Gollum weilded the Ring longer than anyone besides Sauron, but even so, after a short period of time with the Ring, Frodo couldn’t even try to destroy it. That’s also even more telling of the Ring’s power when you consider the fact that he had the thing stored away and hidden for a long time. Frodo and Bilbo, however, were destined to be Ringbearers, to have a huge part to play in this story. Gollum as well, but his part of the tale was a cautionary one, Gollum is an example of someone who the Ring would want to be found by, selfish and greedy.

These three Ringbearers are extraordinary in there own right, but the Ring itself is no slouch. When in possession of the Ring there is no choice between doing the right thing or the wrong thing, the Ring will always bend individuals to its will. That is what it does, it is altogether evil. If you look at Sméagol’s history with the Ring, he was so enamored with it from the beginning he killed his friend just to have it. That is the power of the Ring, and after that, for Gollum, or Sméagol, there was no turning back. He immediately used the Ring to discover secrets and use that information maliciously, he was crooked and evil, he was shunned by his family and took to thieving, and eventually his Grandmother cast him out. For Gollum there was no Sméagol, there was only the Ring and its influence from the very beginning. A decision based game between Gollum and Sméagol doesn’t make sense because of his story.

That famous scene in The Two Towers when Gollum has an argument doesn’t really take place in the books. Something like it does, but on a much smaller scale, and it’s from Sam’s point of view. At the end of this “debate,” Sam didn’t know which “side” of Gollum won, it was never portrayed like it was in the movie. Regardless, that movie scene is great and we all love to see the Sméagol side come out on top, but that’s not Gollum. While his Hobbit side might be there, hidden somewhere, that’s not who he is anymore. Creating a game where Gollum has battles between Sméagol and Gollum, is basing a game off a movie scene, not the source material. To me, that’s a problem.

We feel the need to circle back around to the fact that Gollum was not a warrior. He was not someone who put themselves in situations where he could get killed, as we’ve said before if there was a bigger plot going on he would hide from it instead of being involved. The only reason he ever left his mountain cave was because Bilbo had taken his Ring. An extreme event had to pull him away from solitude. I’m not sure there is a story for him when the Ring isn’t in his possession. At least not in the way this development team is describing. Did things happen to Gollum after Bilbo had taken the Ring? Absolutely, Gollum goes through many trials and hardships, but he spends most of his time captured, being interrogated, and trying to escape. At this point in Gollum’s life there is no internal battle between Gollum and Sméagol. That Hobbit side of him never comes out until he joins Frodo and Sam.

In the end, Gollum, as Tolkien had written him, is a wretched character. He symbolizes what can happen to a person when greed, anger, and hate consume their being. They become horrible to be around, and someone to pity at the same time. They make you think, “If they had a better life, or if things had been different, perhaps they wouldn’t have turned out this way.”

Tolkien didn’t write Gollum to be a character we’d want to pretend to be, he is a warning, a personification of all things hopeless. When everything is hopeless we stop caring and become greedy to the things around us, we’re angry at those who have hope and any sign of hope because we know it’s a lie, and we hate anything good. Misery loves company, and Gollum is misery, he’s not a character to be fantasized and played with. He’s a character we show kindness to as he bites our hands and wrings our necks. There is no saving Gollum, he had a part to play in The Lord of the Rings and his greed led him to his doom. The premise of this game is against Tolkien’s purpose for this character.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Gollum, I feel for him, I have been hopeless. I have stared into blackness, I’ve fought my own Gollum. But, it’s not a one time battle, I’ve been lucky, I’m still fighting, and I still have a choice. So for me, to see him possibly being portrayed inaccurately, it’s incredibly disappointing.

Even if these quotes are just possibilities and not things that’ll actually happen, I still care deeply, this is my passion.

Neither does The Lord of the Rings nor Gollum deserve a fantasy RPG company capitalizing on their names to make a story they could tell in any setting. Instead these companies should be creating stories that fit within The Lord of the Rings and do the characters justice. Gollum however, deserves his story to be tainted no more by the entertainment industry. He’s had his moment, leave him be, and don’t ruin the character.

Let me know your thoughts, I know this is a lot, and I know I’m intense about my Lord of the Rings. It’s just apart of me, but don’t let that hold you back. Let me know if I’m way off base. If you think I just need to chill cause it’s not real life, sure I understand that, but you’re not understanding me when I say this is my passion. Or is there some truth to my points?

Thank you for your time and remember, all that is gold does not glitter.

– The Wandering One

Character of the Week

Commander Rex

We’re doubling up this week, simply because we couldn’t wait to honor this character. After finishing the last season of Clone Wars, how could we not?

Captain, brother, friend, and leader of the 501st Legion of Clone Troopers during the Clone Wars.

Rex was, without a doubt, the top Clone throughout the Clone Wars TV Series. Sure Cody had his highlights, and no one is slouching on Commander Wolffe, but Rex was as much a feature character as Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan were. He was a true testament to what a good soldier should be, how a mentor should teach, and how a brother should act. You could not find a better man throughout the wars.

In the end, he was the only Clone to even put up a fight against Order 66. That should be enough to tell you how strong this man’s will was, no other Clone came close to him.

Thank you for your time we hope you join us this week as we celebrate a great man, Commander, Captain, and brother.

Remember, we’re not programmed. You have to learn to make your own decisions.

– The Wandering One

Character of the Week

Darth Maul

We’ve been Star Wars heavy recently, but it’s hard not to be after the “Star Wars Week” we had. We ended the week with the final Clone Wars season.

That being said, we have to honor the dark warrior, cheater of death, Son of Dathomir, the one and only Phantom Menace.

Darth Maul, the first evil doer receiving Character of the Week honors at Of Blades and Kings, after watching the final Clone Wars Season, and having previously honored Ahsoka, we had to tip our cap to this dark warrior.

After stepping into the Star Wars lore with Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Darth Maul was swiftly removed from the Universe by a young Jedi Padawan by the name of Obi-Wan Kenobi. After which, it took years before the Clone Wars finally (canonically) brought Maul back to life. His story arch in the Clone Wars brought destruction to the galaxy and the Jedi. It also brought fans happiness seeing this Sith Warrior showcase his power.

After years of fan outrage for killing off the coolest Sith, Star Wars finally brought him back and provided us with storylines worthy of his name.

Don’t think Maul is as strong of a force user as people make him out to be? Go watch the final episode of Clone Wars Season 7, he was throwing down some “Force Unleashed” skills.

Maul has become a complex layered character throughout the years as storytellers have expanded his arch. We hope you take the time to appreciate some of their work like we have.

Thank you for your time and remember, every choice you have made…has led you to this moment.

– The Wandering One

Shattered: The Clone Wars’ Final Season

The Clone Wars is, and forever will be, Ahsoka Tano’s story.

If that wasn’t clear prior to the new season, it’s obvious at the end. We don’t know what it was like for everyone to watch this final season of the Clone Wars, but we need an Order 66 support group. We clearly hadn’t gotten over the tragedy of Order 66 and we had to relive it again through the eyes of a favorite Jedi warrior. The pain, the loss, and the suffering ring harder than ever. Ahsoka was left all alone, with only Maul to help her, as the Clones turned on her, it’s a good thing she’s a boss, cause man did she power through this.

Overall, here’s what we thought of the final season.

It was nice to see the Bad Batch brought to life, and as Order 66 comes and goes, again, we have to wonder, did these guys have the inhibitor chips put in them? Or, because they were labeled as defect Clones, did the Kaminoans simply not bother. I can’t remember if it was mentioned in the episodes they were apart of, but I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of these guys. Also what about Echo?

Darth Maul quickly became a story leader in the last few seasons of Clone Wars. His influence and strength were on full display during the final 4 episodes as he led a crime syndicate on Mandalore, and showcased some “Force Unleashed” type skills against Order 66-ed Clones and their hyperdrive systems. At Of Blades and Kings, we’re big fans of Darth Maul and we’re incredibly happy the show brought him back and allowed him to be the force we knew he could.

While the show started with Anakin and Ahsoka, we were expecting more interactions between the former master and apprentice. Unfortunately, we never got more than a few scenes with these two together and Ahsoka was colder to her former Master. There was no closure for Ahsoka, at least not at this point, she never got a chance to speak to him again before he turned to the dark side. It’s hard to describe the emotions I was feeling as the show kept playing out details of Episode III. One thing is certain, I was dreading what was to come. When Anakin helped Palpatine defeat Mace Windu, we all could feel the disturbance in the force. For me personally, Order 66, is one of the saddest scenes in Star Wars, add in John William’s score, and I’m fighting back tears. Having to re-experience that with Ahsoka was tough. At least we were able to see her save Commander Rex, yes he finally received the rank of Commander, and watch them work together. It was a fitting moment for two favorite characters.

Both Maul and Ahsoka had to fight through being hunted by the Clones. No force user was safe.

The pacing of the season was broken into three storylines: the Bad Batch, Trace and Rafa, and Maul/Order 66. As much as we enjoyed the Bad Batch, and Trace and Rafa, we were hoping for a more direct story that focused around Order 66. Especially after Fives’ storyline in season 6. But, once episode 9 hit we couldn’t stop watching, and that made everything worth it. Even though some storylines were harder to get through than others we consider this season a success. The only other negative thought we had about this season involved the last storyline with Darth Maul/Order 66. It involved 4 episodes close to 30 min each. If we look at that, in total, it would’ve been super cool to have a 120 min live action movie for these last 4 episodes. I mean this storyline was incredibly amazing, these characters deserved a live action full feature movie. I’d love to see that.

Obviously, George Lucas had some part to play in the last four episodes. I’m not sure how big of a part it was. Maybe it was just the fact that the timeline matched up with Revenge of the Sith and, therefore, there were scenes and discussions from the movie in these episodes. Maybe it was just because, in the beginning, George Lucas was heavily involved in Clone Wars, and today’s storytellers wanted to honor him. Regardless of his involvement, he had his name on these episodes.

They wrapped up this season with a poetic view of an old, cracked, Ahsoka Clone trooper helmet. We watched the helmet’s visor as Darth Vader walked away to somber music, much like the prequel trilogies, this tv show doesn’t really end with hope. It ends with the Sith winning and all hope seems lost. Even though we know Luke Skywalker is on his way, it’s hard not to feel sad at the end of this tragedy.

Let us know what you thought of the final season, did it meet your expectations or did it leave you wanting more. There seems to be more stories out there to tell after Order 66, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Thank you for your time and remember, I am one with the force and the force is with me.

– The Wandering One

On This Day in Middle-earth

May 8th

Éomer and Éowyn depart for Rohan with the sons of Elrond.

As Lord Aragorn, King of Gondor, passed his new judgements on the peoples of Middle-earth, he reached Éomer last. In this meeting he greeted Éomer and treated him, not as a friend or companion, but as a brother, for through their battles and trials they had forged a strong bond.

And last of all Aragorn greeted Éomer of Rohan, and they embraced, and Aragorn said: “Between us there can be no word of giving or taking, nor of reward; for we are brethren.”

Happy were the days of celebration, but Éomer and Éowyn had to return to Rohan, for there was much to heal and set in order in their homeland. However, they agreed to leave the fallen King Théoden in the tombs of Gondor, for the time being. A fitting resting place for a king of great renown. Both will return, Éomer to take his uncle and return him to rest in peace with his son and fathers, Éowyn will return and stay for she is betrothed to Faramir.

Thank you for your time and remember, renewed shall be blade that was broken.

– The Wandering One

Character of the Week

Qui-Gon Jinn

Jedi Master, leader, and student of the living Force.

Qui-Gon Jinn was our first glimpse at what a Jedi Master was like in their prime. Previously, we had a much older Obi-Wan Kenobi and a young Luke Skywalker. However, Qui-Gon was very different from these two force users, he followed the Force but didn’t let the Jedi path get in the way of his own convictions. He was a teacher of living in the moment and trusting your instincts.

When Obi-Wan was sensing something outside of their current mission, Qui-Gon was quick to remind his student to focus on the task at hand. Being mindful of the living force is important, but not when it’s at the expense of your current objective. Even though Qui-Gon was a powerful Jedi Master he never sought out or wanted a seat on the Jedi Council. In fact, he went against the Council many times, I doubt they would offer him a seat.

Qui-Gon Jinn was a Jedi who did the right thing, followed the Jedi Order, and still retained his own morality. He knew what was right and what was wrong. Imagine if he had been the one to train Anakin, not that Obi-Wan did a bad job, but I feel like Qui-Gon would’ve done better handling Anakin’s struggles with the Jedi way.

We hope you join us this week as we celebrate a great fallen Jedi with our Character of the Week title.

Thank you for your time and remember, your focus determines your reality.

– The Wandering One