gunteuch-woodgoer - Tumblr blog

[gunteuch-woodgoer]

Gunteuch grabs her pack and leaves her husband in their tiny hut in Rhosgobel. She runs toward the bit of forest inside the town's grassy walls where Radagast's hut is hidden. It never seems to be in the same place, but that's just because the wizard's magic is ridiculous and silly and (mostly) uncontrolled chaos. Gunteuch has been coming to his hut for as long as she can remember, though, and she'd long ago figured out that there was enough of a logic to the mazes the trees made that she can find her way fairly consistently.

The wizard's home sits in a clearing surrounded by a thick ring of trees that probably shouldn't be growing that close to each other. Smoke billows from the chimney in a way that, to the uneducated eye, would look more like the building was on fire than whatever benign thing was actually going on inside. It's a shambles of a shack, made from about 10 different materials in about 15 different architectural styles, which is impressive both because of how small it appears to be and because exactly half of the architecture hasn't been invented yet.

Since she knows knocking on the door would be just as likely to make the structure disappear as it would to get Radagast's attention, she walked right inside. "Hello, sir! It's me!" she shouts down a hall that's frankly entirely too long for the exterior dimensions of the building. She turns her head into a room to find a scraggly old bearded man wearing brown robes and a decorative amount of bird poop sitting on the floor teaching a raccoon how to play patty-cake. This is inexplicably the source of the smoke outside.

"Oh Gunteuch come in! Perhaps you'll have more luck with this than I. Rupert here just doesn't seem to be picking up the clapping bit. Strange because the squirrels got it right away..."

"Please tell me this isn't why you sent for me?" Gunteuch rolls her eyes but smiles and tries to stifle a chuckle.

Radagast jumps to his feet. "I sent for you? Did I? Good to know..." He paces the room trying to jog his memory and walks face first into a helmet sitting on a pile of books, sending the whole stack tumbling to the ground and scaring Rupert right out the window. "Always taking the easy way out, that one," grumbles the wizard. "Anyway yes, it's about this!" He holds up the helmet. Gunteuch looks at it. Steel inlaid with gold, carvings of trees on the cheekguards, a glittering green gem set above the brow, and a beautiful crest of dark horsehair.

"It's a lovely piece of work. What am I doing with it?"

"Well you see the people living in the East Bight have been having some trouble with the dead lately. The 'walking around when they really shouldn't be' kind of dead. The 'literally scaring people to death' kind of dead. Their leader, Ceawin, has decided to give this as an honored gift to the spirits in hopes that they'll take it and stop bothering all the nice living folks in the village."

"Does he really think that'll work?" Gunteuch raises an eyebrow and wonders silently why this couldn't have been somebody else's job.

"He's confident enough that he had it forged specifically for the purpose of throwing it at some ghosts. And let me tell you he does not have the resources to be doing that if it isn't going to work so he'd really better hope it does."

"I suppose the better question is, do you really think that'll work?"

The wizard ponders the question. "I've found that when dealing with the undead, whatever you think is going to work probably will eventually, but not in the way you expect. So in short, absolutely not. But I trust you to figure something out once you're there."

"Lovely." She stuffs the helmet in her pack and turns to leave. "Thank you for the vote of confidence. I'll see you when I get back." Radagast is already hanging out the window yelling for "that blasted raccoon to get back here right this instant" and doesn't seem to hear her. Gunteuch smiles again and heads back out on the road for a new adventure.

[gunteuch-woodgoer]

Gunteuch: Please don't patronize me, Will. You know I can't sit idly by at home while the world falls apart around us. I have a duty of care to the forest, and it's crying out. Willcar: I know, Gun, but have you considered how I'll feel with you gone for who knows how long? What if you get hurt? What if you can't come home? You can't tackle everything by yourself. Gunteuch: First of all I can take care of myself, but of course I can't do it all alone. It's just that if I don't help, don't even try, and something I could've fixed goes wrong I'd never forgive myself. Now I really have to go, Radagast's expecting me. Willcar: I know, I just worry. Gunteuch: And that's how I know you care. Bye love! Willcar: Love you too.

[gunteuch-woodgoer]

Gunteuch was raised by the Woodmen in the southern eaves of Mirkwood forest, in the town of Rhosgobel. In her youth she was chosen by the wizard Radagast to be one of his pupils. Her love of the forest led her on many ill-advised solo jaunts into Mirkwood, earning her the nickname "Wood-goer," as well as more than a few bruises and scars. Radagast's training in the healing arts taught her how to patch herself up when she got hurt, allowing her to be even more self reliant on her adventures.

After the slaying of the dragon Smaug in Erebor and the banishing of the Necromancer from the castle of Dol Guldur, Mirkwood became calmer. Or at least as calm as Mirkwood can get. The people of Wilderland had a renewed vigor and hope that the Shadow could be kept at bay. Gunteuch spent these years serving as a messenger for Radagast, taking solo journeys throughout the forest and across the Anduin Valley. A new company called the Wild Watch was founded during a folk-moot in Rhosgobel, their purpose being to keep any remaining evils in Mirkwood away from the people dwelling in and around the forest. While Gunteuch nominally held membership in the group, she still preferred to do her travelling alone.

Her adventures became more infrequent, however, when she met her husband, Willcar. The couple settled down and spent about a year together in Rhosgobel. The world was quiet now, and while Gunteuch felt the itch to get back out on the road, there was nothing pressing to keep her away from home. And besides, Willcar wanted to start a family.

Then the bad news came. Early in 2951 of the Third Age, Sauron unveiled his presence in Mordor to the world. Radagast gathered his students together and warned them that dark years were ahead. Gunteuch now felt a renewed sense of responsibility to the world. The forest she grew up in and had spent so much of her life defending might now be darkening once more. She could neither bear the thought of bringing a child into a world where tomorrow was no longer guaranteed, nor stand to tie herself down in Rhosgobel when there was work to be done. She understood why Willcar begged her to stay, and she wished dearly that she could, but deep down she knew that she'd never forgive herself for abandoning her duty now.