#A Spy in Isengard

[oldschoolfrp]

Saruman the White ponders his palantír. "You are the trusted apprentice to one of the greatest Wizards in all Middle-earth" in A Spy in Isengard (Angus McBride cover art for Middle-earth Quest gamebook #1 by Terry K Amthor, Iron Crown Enterprises, 1988). McBride has been memed more than once.

[its-to-the-death]

Fictional Weapon War Round 3

Orb (Pondering My Orb meme)

First posted to Twitter in October 2021 and the rest is history

The image is from a gamebook called Middle-Earth Quest: A Spy In Isengard and the artist is Angus McBride

Kendal (Aurora webcomic)

Forged after Vash defeated the storm god, Tynan, by using the metal to replace his arm and the blue crystal to replace his eye

Was then passed on to a person by the name of Kendal

Mod comment:

These have both been very heavy hitters up until now but only one can move on

[calekinnieplus]

Hallo. I'm literally gonna pass out the moment I close my eyes, but I can't miss this update. I've read for 3 hours (I was out most of the day, when all I wanted to do was read, rip) and I reached chapter 738. A more meaningful accomplishment is the fact that I finished volume 3!! Officially started reading volume 4!! We're moving FORWARD AYEEEEE

What's there to say today? A lot. I wanna talk in detail about it all, honest. But I'll just skim today, I think. As I said, very sleepy (when am I not, when making these updates. It's like a requirement for me to do these while sleepy lol).

So! Klein engaged in a fight involving demigods! That's right, not just A demigod, but Multiple demigods. Reinette, Shanks, Suah, that crazy angel, Jahn Kottman, Azik and the added bonus of Admiral Blood Senor. Of course, each individual appeared at different times, but the fact that Klein was capable of creating such chaos is undoubtedly AMAZING. HOW did he successfully do that?? I mean, I know how, but HOW??

The Orange Light personally extended an olive branch to Klein and explained some stuff about the gray fog. Useful

Klein fulfilled his promises to bury the Loen soldier and to carry on the dead Nightmare Nighthawk's last wish. He's still so Kind.

Gehrman Sparrow gained an infamous reputation. He's now on the level of pirate admirals, comparable to the Four Kings of the Sea. Arguably, could be the 5th. His adventures left their mark on those around him and it warms my heart to see people remember him for his good deeds.

We have the entrance of Dwayne Dantès! And apparently, he's a DILF. Well done, Klein! /lh

The evil spirit found in the room where Alista did the Sequence 0 ritual is gonna be a huge headache in the future, I can feel it. I wonder where it went off to...

Klein actually got a hug!! Albeit, a greeting hug, but still! A win is a win! Detective Isengard, you have my heart. Please don't die :>

Concerning that, it was lovely to see Sherlock Moriarty reconnect with his companions. I missed you, my boy!! Ian, Sharron, Isengard, love 'em all <33

Speaking of Sharron, she has my respect for dealing with Klein’s ridiculous bullshit. It's not Klein’s fault his fate seems to put him through the most ridiculous adventures, but Sharron going "ok" after Klein dropped crazy thing after crazy thing was the funniest shit y'all. Slay.

Mmmmmm the ideas concerning the theft of the Antigonus notebook are difficult af, but I trust in Klein’s plans. After all, he got out of that demigod royale battle with incredibly few injuries. I wonder who the Nighthawk spy will be 👀👀👀 is it perhaps 👀 a certain poet? 👀👀👀

(I know he'll join the Tarot Club eventually, because Spoilers yay. But I wonder how that'll go down)

"Skim," I said. Uh-huh.

Anyway, considering that I've only read for 3 hours today, quite a lot of stuff happened and I'm failing to recall them all. I want to read what's next so bad, but I have stuff to do tomorrow as well, so :(( I'll see how it goes

Praise the Fool!

[mykofanesvlepy]

39. "Pondering better world" Angus Mcbride, cover of Middle-Earth Quest: A Spy In Isengard

[hayden-in-a-cheguevara-shirt]

ok esse é um clássico favorito então resolvi traduzir pq sou uma filha da puta inútil

[post]:

[reblogs]:

user 1:

isso parece uma camisinha e o fato de todo mundo nos comentários estar dizendo "o orbe" prova que ninguém nesse site transa

user 2:

que tipo de camisinhas com cara de bolas saltitantes são essas que você tá usando

user 3:

o fato de alguém pensar que parece uma camisinha é prova de que ninguém nesse site transa

user 4:

ok pessoal LITERALMENTE tiraram isso da imagem "mago ponderando seu orbe"

é um orbe.

user 4:

ok sem querer bater em cachorro morto mas eu encontrei a imagem ORIGINAL e é a arte da capa de um ttrpg temático de senhor dos anéis.

então

user 5:

Não não é essa é de 1993 seu poser do caralho, é de A SPY IN ISENGARD publicado em 1988, eu tô DOENTE e CANSADO de vocês sempre ERRANDO

user 6:

5 adições de reblog depois e esse post ainda é melhor resumido por "ninguém nesse site transa"

[danceswithswords]

“Based on my likes”

Tumblr, what on earth part of my likes about the queen dying, remixes of the hobbits going to isengard, and hollow knight stuff makes you think I want to see 1 step away from hentai on my dash? If it’s the one drawing of jesse james and meowth as Spy X Family characters I s2g...

[feralpaules]

Writing from Scratch #4: The Milieu Plot

The Milieu Plot

The problem of the milieu plot involves a problem of location or setting. The character is often either in a place they need/want to escape from or not in the specific place they need/want to be in. The try-fail cycles will involve traveling away from or to the location. Gulliver’s Travels, The Great Escape, and The Hobbit contain milieu plots.

The Lord of the Rings contains one very large milieu – the problem of getting the One Ring from the Shire where its been hidden for a number of years to Mordor where it can finally be destroyed. We can further break this down into smaller milieu plots. Let’s look at one: the problem of crossing the Misty Mountains. (And we’ll use the events as they occur in the movie, since more people have watched that than read the book)

A few solutions they could try are not considered because they already know they are too dangerous, such as the northern route, which is swarming with orcs and goblins, and the Gap of Rohan, which gets too close to Isengard for comfort.

First try: take the Pass of Caradhras. Fail: No, they can’t cross this way, and Saruman is actively attacking them.

Second try: enter the Mines of Moria. Fail: Yes, they are able to enter, but the Dwarven reception committee they were expecting to lead them through is not there.

Third try: search Moria for the Dwarves and a guide through. Fail: No, there are no Dwarves to guide them, and goblins have now been alerted to their presence and are attacking.

Fourth try: run like hell away from the goblins. Fail: Yes, they are able to run across a chasm to escape the goblins, but a Balrog takes out Gandalf.

Final try: follow Gandalf’s instructions to flee (or “fly”). Solution: they get out of the Mines of Moria, and are on the other side of the Misty Mountains, ready to continue with another micro-milieu.

Prompt: write a flash fiction with a Milieu in which your character’s plot-problem is that they need to go to their grandmother’s house for Sunday dinner. The character, setting, genre, and stakes, as well as what is preventing them from simply going to Grandma’s is up to you. This simple plot can create a story that is anything from family drama to international spy thriller.

If you want to read more of my 80+ posts, you can check them out on my website theferalcollection.com

[assassinbait]

Y'all, I have in my possession an original orb. Had this for years and knew this meme was familiar somehow. It's my boyfriend's mother's og copy she let us borrow or gave I dunno the circumstances, we got it like 10 years ago. You can see where Fade chewed the corners when she was a puppy

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

The part of griomer that makes me most insane is the period we don’t see… when eomer must suspect or essentially know that grima is working for Saruman but has no proof. Thoughts on this?

I have returned from the haunted house. Time for more Grima asks 🐍 🐍 💜

Oh man!! It is a wild and feral making time for everyone, those two to three years.

As usual, I wrote an essay in response. Because what is brevity when I have a free soap box upon which to stand? I go on about the books for a bit then go into Swimming Through Fire/Shit I Think For Reasons

tl;dr: It’d be two to three emotionally intense years where Eomer wouldn’t really look at what he’s feeling or why he might be feeling it and would instead do a lot of reacting rather than responding. 

There would be a lot of circling around each other with Grima catching on to Eomer’s awareness of his treason pretty early on. They’re both sly and cunning people, in their own way, so it’d be viper versus viper. A dangerous liaison game for a few years. Beneath it, of course, would run many a strange undercurrent. 

Eomer and Grima - a tale of two idiots being idiots while the world is falling down around them. One of them tries to fix it, the other just adds more oil to the grease fire that is the third age. 

-- 

Some nattering on about the books: 

In canon for the book it’s a bit unclear exactly what Eomer knows when it comes to Grima. When he meets up with Aragorn et al out in the wilds of the plains, he does refer to Some People Speaking Craven Councils to the King, which we can infer to be Grima. Eomer also tells Aragorn that he doesn’t think all of Saruman’s friends reside in Isengard - a nicely veiled way of saying he thinks there’s a spy in the court and that spy is close to the king. But he is never explicit, and we are never really given a deep glimpse into what Eomer knows/suspects when it comes to Grima. (Which is a lovely nod to Eomer’s political acuity, something that often gets overlooked/forgotten in fandom.)

In addition, it is important to remember that Grima was a trusted member of the king’s household and council and had been for many years. There are bits in TTT where rando soldiers are like “kinda wish Grima was here. That dude always had like five plans up his sleeves. He had back up plans for his back up plans”. Even Theoden talks about how much he missed having Grima as his advisor.

Which speaks to how shocking it must have been for a lot of people! And how part of every-day life Grima was and how present and trusted he was. People might not have liked him (canonically unclear if people did or not, pre-treason), but they certainly respected his skills and relied upon him. It must have been absolute whiplash for a lot of people when it was exposed!

Now, the bit where Eomer threatened Grima and ends up under house arrest (compounded by the fact that he let Aragorn et al wander the land without bringing them to the king, which goes against ““Theoden’s”” orders) was done off screen, so we don’t see it. However, based on the conversation between Gandalf and Eomer when Grima’s about to be booted out, it’s very clear their altercation was about Grima paying undue attention to Eowyn, rather than anything to do with Saruman.

What exactly the undue attention was, we don’t really know because no one appears to have bothered to ask Eowyn her opinion on basically anything and Eomer doesn’t give us much beyond “he was spooking on my sister!!” However, given Eomer’s hair thin trigger when it comes to threatening people (see: the entire Gimli bit) who knows - Grima could have just said “you look very nice today my lady” and Eomer is like “LEAVE MY SISTER ALONE. IM GOING TO KILL YOU” and Grima is like “….Eomer…you are aware that threatening someone’s life in the king’s hall is against the law right?” To which Eomer is just like “TOO LATE.”

This is the man who almost started an International Incident after talking to Gimli for 0.5 seconds. Bless both of them.

All of this is to say, in book canon we know Eomer had suspicions SOMEONE WHOSE NAME RHYMES WITH SHRIMA might be working for Saruman, but no proof. And any and all details of the who/what/where/when/why of Eomer’s suspicions about our favourite Wyrm are entirely unknown.  

Like, when Gandalf visited in summer of 3018 to warn Theoden of Isengard, Eomer just said that Gandalf alerted them to a potential war with Saruman, who previously Rohan considered an ally, and Theoden didn’t listen then Gandalf fucked off with Shadowfax, the king’s favourite horse. Now Theoden is pissed, so don’t say Gandalf’s name in his presence. There’s no mention that Gandalf was like “and also, Grima is working for Saruman” when he visited.

So any suspicions Eomer may have had, it’s unclear if they were ever substantiated before the Big Reveal in TTT.

Anyway, enough with the books. Obviously in the movies Eomer is aware of the treason, he just can’t prove it.

-

NOW THAT THAT IS OUT OF THE WAY: Swimming Through Fire

I’ve spoken a bit before about how I think they would have engaged with each other for much of their knowing one another - mostly, neither paid each other much mind until the last five to seven years before the events of LOTR. 

This is because Eomer was young and Grima would have been busy climbing the greasy pole. They come into each other’s orbits in a meaningful way when Eomer fully steps into his role as Third Marshal, and Grima becomes more prominent in the court as advisor/law speaker/whatever Unferthian role it is he plays. 

Given that Eomer is twenty-seven when LOTR takes place, I can see him stepping into Third Marshal role formally when he hits twenty/twenty-one/twenty-two. Something in there. We don’t know when Rohan’s Of Age is for men to properly take over their father’s former positions. So, Eomer has to take his job seriously as a marshal of the mark starting five to seven years before the series, and that’s when Grima’s existence would start meaning something to him beyond “some dude who works for my uncle”. 

In Swimming Through Fire, they’ve always had a bit of a competitive/quarrelish relationship. But it’s not vicious, the way it becomes for a bit there from circa 3016/17 through to 3019. Indeed, we know Eomer makes quite a few references to that standing backgammon/tabula competition they have wherein they apparently have been keeping logs of who wins each game and are trying to outdo each other. 

Eomer might not have wholly enjoyed Grima’s company - even though they’ve got their Game Nights that happen, I think it takes Eomer a long time to figure out how to maneuver around Grima. Like...he’s basically finally figuring it out in the events of Swimming Through Fire. 

Grima just spent three years viewing everyone as pawns as he basically just lived in a state of near constant disassociation which, as we all know, does wonders for a person. Very healthy. 

They both have this weird, semi-fixated UGH YOU’RE ANNOYING-hate(?)-hard-on for each other (though they’re not at all aware of this). The existence of this hard-on-fixation-whatever, is partially due to the fact that they might not necessarily enjoy each other’s company, but they do have respect for one another in terms of their capabilities and are aware that the other is smart and, well, a worthy opponent. in the weird little games of court (though Eomer would say he’s not willingly part of these games. Grima’s just made him part of them). 

Eomer: I would like to remove myself from this narrative. 

Grima: Too late, you’re a pawn on my scheming. Time to play real life chess, bitch. 

Because of this weird quasi-hate-hard-on-fixation Eomer twigs onto the treason pretty swiftly. I’m not sure Eomer knows what he feels about it aside from the expected anger, frustration, a lot of “how fucking dare you” and “I hate you So much” etc. 

But there is something beneath it, and it’s hurt. Plain and simple hurt. Because while in Swimming Through Fire universe, Grima’s treason isn’t strictly speaking personal, it’s still a betrayal. It still wounds those who once trusted him. 

Eomer is very much, ‘We might have always been at each other’s throats or trying to smash each other’s fingers with backgammon pieces, but you were one of us. I always thought you were on our side, at the end of the day. We could rely on you and trust you.’ 

So, because Eomer deals with things in a very Mature Adult Manner, this doesn’t at all lead to all kinds of weird blow-outs between them that NO ONE UNDERSTANDS because Eomer has no proof of the treason and so can’t tell anyone other than like Eowyn. But he’s all weird older, protective, overbearing brother with her so I doubt he keeps her much in the loop. It’s the whole Dead Dad Macho-Man of the Family bullshit. 

Eowyn: have you thought about not leaning into the intense Rohirric machismo for ten minutes? 

Eomer: ??? why would I do that ??? 

Grima: please gods someone tell him he can stop being The Man for a hot minute.

That said, Eowyn is canny so I wouldn’t be shocked if she figured it out on her own. Or at least had some heavy suspicions. 

(An aside: I think there’s limited textual support in the books of E^2 having had a close sibling relationship, which is something fandom doesn’t really engage with. Ditto for the Faramir-side of the Faramir and Boromir deal. Though I know it’s a little different in the movies) 

So yeah - those two to three years would be emotionally very intense ones where I think Eomer wouldn’t really look at what he’s feeling or why he might be feeling it and instead does a lot of reacting rather than responding. 

As noted above, Grima’s just living a great out-of-body-experience for most of it, so he has zero (0) emotions and that won’t backfire for him at all. 

There would be a lot of circling around each other. I think Grima would catch on that Eomer knows about his treason pretty quickly. Their both sly and cunning people, in their own way. So it’d be this interesting viper against viper game for a few years. But beneath it, of course, the world’s whackiest undercurrent of ???? and lust??? and more ????? and “fuck i hate that you’re smart” followed by competency-boner???? then ????

Eomer and Grima - a tale of two idiots being idiots while the world is falling down around them. One of them tries to fix it, the other just adds more oil to the grease fire that is the third age. 

🐍 🐍 Thank you again for asking!! I love our weird snake boys!!

[roccondil]

You know, it just struck me as interesting, but while the Ring gets all the credit for taking down its bearers directly (see: Isildur, Gollum, almost Frodo) as well as some folks by proximity (Boromir), there was one more whom it had ensnared and brought low just by existing: Saruman.

Now granted, Saruman was being manipulated and then mastered by Sauron via palantir. But even so Saruman still had a ton of free will left to him, and that free will ended up being obsessed with obtaining the Ring. This became even more Important to him once he learned that the Ring had reappeared and was apparently easily obtainable.

And so, had he not sent the Uruk detachment to waylay the Fellowship and steal the Hobbits, Merry and Pippin would not have been brought to Rohan. They would not have (inadvertently) been freed by the Captain who Saruman’s spy had exiled, only to escape into Fangorn Forest and meet Treebeard. The hobbits would not have been anywhere near able to convince the Ents to fight back against Isengard.

Basically, Saruman’s greed ended up setting in motion a chain of events that caused his own downfall, and the Ring had merely to exist and make itself relevant again to trigger that series of events.

[arofili]

men of middle-earth ❅ northmen ❅ headcanon disclaimer

          Ealdor was the seneschal of Edoras, an old man in the time of the Lord of the Rings, though in his youth he had been strong and doughty, a great hunter and falconer. He served as a mentor to Háma, the doorward of Meduseld, who learned from Ealdor how to anticipate the moods of the King.           Yet this was only so helpful when Théoden King was ensorcelled by Gríma Wormtongue, the treacherous son of the much wiser and nobler counselor Gálmód. Nonetheless, Háma abided by the rules of the King’s House when Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, and Gandalf arrived at the Golden Hall, insisting they surrender their weapons before seeing the King. Yet in his heart, Háma was grieved at Théoden’s fall, and chose to allow Gandalf to keep his staff despite knowing of the wizard’s power with such a tool.          This decision allowed for Gandalf to throw off the enchantments of Saruman from Théoden and send Gríma scuttling back to his true master, but Théoden still could not let this oversight go unreprimanded, and Háma was temporary relieved from his position as the doorguard. Háma then released the King’s sister-son Éomer from captivity, arrested Gríma, and recovered the King’s sword Herugrim from Gríma’s hoard.           Háma was loyal to his king to the last, riding with him to the Hornburg and falling before its great gate in the ensuing battle. Théoden deeply grieved the loss of his faithful companion, and buried him in great honor under the shadow of the Hornburg, Personally casting the first earth on his grave. After the War of the Ring, Háma’s orphaned son Haleth was taken under King Éomer Éadig’s wing as his squire, in honor of his father’s noble memory.           Despite Háma’s efforts, Gríma Wormtongue fled to Saruman after Théoden’s mind was freed from thralldom, and he informed his master of all he had learned while spying for him in Meduseld. He had not been the most faithful of servants, having revealed Saruman’s double-crossing of Sauron when the Nazgûl came to Rohan, though he attempted to conceal this betrayal from Saruman. When Gandalf rode to Isengard to confront Saruman, Gríma threw a “heavy rock” at him, which was actually the palantír of Orthanc, a precious artefact, and for its loss Saruman punished him severely.           Exiled from Isengard, Saruman and Gríma travelled westward in the guise of beggars, eventually reaching the Shire, where Saruman had been quietly exerting his control under the name “Sharkey.” By the time of their arrival, Gríma had become so degraded and wretched that Saruman shortened his nickname to “Worm” in derision. Under his master’s orders, Worm killed Lotho Sackville-Baggins, and may have eaten him; yet his hatred for Saruman only grew, until it overwhelmed his fear and he was spurred to action by the words of Frodo Baggins after Sharkey’s defeat, slitting his oppressor’s throat and darting down the road. Thus Gríma Wormtongue found his final escape: not through flight out of the Shire, but into death, as hobbitish arrows found their mark, making him the final casualty of the War of the Ring.           Gríma’s dreadful actions were shamed by those Rohirrim who remembered him, but many others who died in the War were greatly honored in songs and poems. The Song of the Mounds of Mundburg honored those who fell in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, and the minstrel Gléowine immortalized Théoden King in his own song, though only the last stanza survived into history. That the whole poem was not lost was thanks to his niece Idis, a woman of the court who became a handmaiden to Queen Lothíriel. Idis was a dear friend to her queen, helping her and her Gondorian handmaidens adjust to their new life in Meduseld, and she grew especially close to Lothíriel’s friend Morwen, and after an extended courtship, the two ladies were wed in a great celebration organized by the Queen herself.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Today in Tolkien - February 26th

The Breaking of the Fellowship. It has an ominous beginning:

The day came with fire and smoke. Low in the East there were black bars of cloud like the fumes of a great burning. The rising sun lit them from beneath with flames of murky red.

In the morning, Aragorn calls the Fellowship together and asks Frodo for his choice of which direction to take, to Mordor or to Gondor. Frodo asks for an hour’s peace and solitude to decide, but comes no closer to a decision. Sam is the one member of the Fellowship to understand him - he says the same thing to the Fellowship as Frodo says to Boromir. Frodo knows he has to go to Morodor, but is afraid to do it.

But by the time Sam says that, Boromir has already left the rest of the Fellowship found Frodo. When Boromir attempts to take the Ring, Frodo put it on and flees to the summit of Amon Hen and, wearing the Ring, sits in the Seat of Seeing.

Frodo sees signs of war everywhere he looks:

The Misty Mountains were crawling like anthills: orcs were issuing out of a thousand holes. Under the boughs of Mirkwood there was deadly strife of Elves and Men and fell beasts. The land of the Beornings was aflame; a cloud was over Moria; smoke rose on the borders of Lórien. Horsemen were galloping on the grass of Rohan; wolves poured from Isengard. [The First Battle of the Fords of Isen was the previous day.] From the havens of Harad ships of war put out to sea; and out of the East Men were moving endlessly: swordsmen, spearmen, bowmen upon horses, chariots of chieftains and laden wains.

All that we see, in the books and even in the Appendices, is only a part of the full scope of the War of the Ring.

And then Frodo looks at Barad-dûr and suddenly senses the Eye of Sauron becoming aware of him, and looking for him, first to Amon Lhaw on the river’s other bank, then to the pinnacle of Tol Brandir in the middle of the river, tracking towards Amon Hen.

He threw himself from the seat, crouching, covering his head with his grey hood. He heard himself crying out: Never, never! Or was it: Verily I come, I come to you? He could not tell. Then as a flash from some other point of power there came to his mind another thought: Take it off! Take it off! Fool, take it off! Take off the Ring!

The two powers strove in him. For a moment, perfectly balanced between their piercing points, he writhed, tormented. Suddenly he was aware of himself again. Frodo, neither the Voice nor the Eye: free to choose and with one remaining instant to do so. He took the Ring off his finger...A black shadow seemed to pass like an arm above him; it missed Amon Hen and groped out west, and faded.

Two key points. First, the Voice is Gandalf; as he later tells Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli: Very nearly [the Ring] was revealed to the Enemy, but it escaped. I had some part in that: for I sat in a high place, and I strove with the Dark Tower; and the Shadow passed. Then I was weary, very weary; and I wandered long in dark thought. Gandalf briefly overstepped here; he is not supposed to compel, as he was doing in the moment Frodo fels himself poised between Voice and Eye, but to guide and give people the freedom to make their own choices, even in truly dire situations like this one. And that is what he ultimately does: he counters Sauron for an instant to give Frodo a moment to choose, and Frodo chooses rightly.

Second, this is the first moment since Rivendell that Sauron has had clear knowledge of the Ring’s location; he doesn’t know exactly where it is, but he has a good idea. His later decisions are extrapolations from this. He knows a halfling has the Ring; he knows that Saruman captured two halflings and sought to bring them with all speed to Isengard, and that shortly after a halfling looked in the palantir of Isengard. He thinks that Saruman obtained the Ring. But Saruman was defeated, and Aragorn and Gandalf were there; either of them might now have it. Aragorn looks in the palantir, outright threatens him, and then commands an army of the dead - Sauron’s particular power of necromancy. From that time on, I expect he’s quite certain Aragorn has the Ring, right up until the Battle at the Black Gate.

Saruman also strongly suspects the Ring was here at Amon Hen: he was likely the one sending the crows that were watching the Fellowship in Eregion, and has been spying on them with birds on the trip down Anduin. He definitely thinks Merry and Pippin had the Ring at that point; after Éomer’s destruction of the orcs, he fears the Rohirrim have obtained it and so throws all his forces at Rohan. During the parley, at the time he throws Gandalf’s offer of clemency and release back in his face, Saruman may even believe Gandalf has the Ring. Certainly, believing that Gandalf controls and commands the Ents is more in line with Saruman’s attitudes than recognizing them as independent beings with their own priorities.

In short, the plots and plans of all the major figures in the War or the Ring stem from here; and fortunately - because Frodo has loyal friends who insisted on coming along, and thus the Fellowship has excess hobbits - Sauron and Saruman are both mistaken.

So here the Fellowship breaks:

Frodo and Sam row across the lake to the east shore and set off across the Emyn Muil in the late morning. They miss the orc attack entirely and do not know that Merry and Pippin are captured. Gandalf knows that Frodo and Sam set out towards Mordor, but no more than that.

Aragorn sits on the Seat of Seeing but can see nothing of note except “far away...a great bird like an eagle high in the air, descending slowly in wide circles toward the earth.” Gwaihir, certainly - perhaps carrying Gandalf down from the “high place” where he countered Sauron?

Boromir is killed by the orcs, and Merry and Pippin are captured (Merry cuts the arms and hands off several orcs). Pippin awakes in the orc-camp in the evening and overhears the orcs arguing about him and Merry. The orcs fight, killing some of each other, and Pippin is able to cut the bonds on his hands and replace them with loose loops of rope to disguise them. The orcs carry the hobbits like sacks until early night, and by then have reached the far side of the Emyn Muil on the borders of Rohan. The orc scouts report being detected by a horseman. [The horseman brings news of the orc-band to Éomer.] The hobbits are made to run all night, with whips behind them, but Pippin is able to run off to the side and leave footprints and the elven-broach from his cloak to be detected by Aragorn. (He sees every now and again “a vision of the keen face of Strider bending over a dark trail and running, running behind.” The source of this vision is never explained, so far as I can tell.)

Yes, that’s right, Pippin manages both to free his hands and leave signs for trackers on the same day that he is first captured by orcs. What a good hobbit!

Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli tend to the body of Boromir, mourn him, and set off in pursuit of Merry and Pippin to rescue them from the orcs. They reach the Emyn Muil by dusk and continue climbing through them for most of the night.

Additionally, in the aftermath of the First Battle of the Fords of Isen (which occurred the previous day and night), various Rohirrhim who were scattered in the Isengard attack return to the fords. News of the death of Théodred son of Théoden reaches Erkenbrand at Helm’s Deep; he assumes command of the Westfold and send riders towards Edoras with the news of the battle and an urgent request for reinforcements.

[its-to-the-death]

Fictional Weapon War Round 4

Portal Gun (Portal)

Can create two portals so anything can move between them

Surfaces can be treated with moon rocks or space debris to more compatible with the portals

Can pick up and manipulate objects directly in front of it.

Orb (Pondering My Orb meme)

First posted to Twitter in October 2021 and the rest is history

The image is from a gamebook called Middle-Earth Quest: A Spy In Isengard and the artist is Angus McBride

[ai-artedtmblrposts]

that looks like a condom and the fact that everyone in the notes is saying “the orb” proves that no one on this website fucks

7 Dec 2021 21:41:30

the fuck kinda  bouncy-ball ass condoms are you using

7 Dec 2021 21:47:03

the fact that someone thinks that looks like a condom is proof that no one on this website fucks

7 Dec 2021 21:52:14

ok y’all it’s LITERALLY taken from the “wizard pondering his orb” image

7 Dec 2021 21:56:21

it’s an orb. 

7 Dec 2021 22:03:19

ok not to beat a dead horse but i found the ORIGINAL image and it’s cover art from a lotr themed ttrpg.

7 Dec 2021 22:27:48

No it isn't that's from 1993 you fucking poseur, it's from A SPY IN ISENGARD published in 1988 I'm SICK and TIRED of you people getting it WRONG

8 Dec 2021 6:24:50

5 reblog additions later and this post is still best summarized by "no one on this website fucks"

8 Dec 2021 6:27:48

I know things about the hobbit and I fuck like a champ, sorry about your personal failings but they do not apply to me

8 Dec 2021 6:31:45

[tolkienmatters]

Gríma Wormtongue was a Rohirrim man of the Third Age. He served Saruman and ultimately betrayed him. Gríma was the son of Gálmód, an unknown man of Rohan. Little is known about Gríma’s life prior to his service with Saruman. He is described as “a wizened figure of a man, with a pale wise face and heavy-lidded eyes” when he is the adviser and Saruman’s spy in the court of Théoden of Rohan. He was likely coerced into Saruman’s servitude through a mixture of intimidation and reward (It is implied that he was promised Éowyn, the king’s niece, from Éomer’s accusations). He enters the story when the Thee Hunters and Gandalf The White arrive at Edoras. Gríma speaks for the weakened King and insults them, naming Gandalf “Láthspell, a bearer of ill news”. Gandalf purges the poison spirit from Théoden and releases him from Saruman’s control, to Wormtongue’s chagrin. Gríma is offered the chance to redeem himself if he rides with Rohan to fight the White Hand, but he turns this down and flees for Isengard, spitting at the King’s feet. A guard uses his helmet to pour water and wash the stone spat on “that he defiled”. (all LOTR, TT, King Of The Golden Hall). After the Battles of Isengard and Helm’s Deep,  Gríma was trapped in Orthanc. Following the argument between Gandalf and Saruman and the breaking of Saruman’s staff,  Gríma angrily threw a heavy stone at Gandalf, (Or Saruman, nobody could tell) missing. That heavy stone was Saruman’s Palantír. This foolish act led to Saruman torturing Gríma severely. Gríma and Saruman were found on the road by the returning Hobbits after the destruction of the One Ring. Gríma was reduced to a crawling slave, and when Gandalf gave him the thought of freedom, he “only shot a glance of his gleared eyes full of terror, then shuffled behind Saruman” (LOTR, ROTK, Many Partings). When the Hobbits returned to The Shire they found it under the control of Sharkey (Saruman). With most of the Shire being liberated, the Hobbits marched to Bag End, where they found Saruman and Gríma in Bag End. Frodo pleaded for Wormtongue to free himself, Saruman mocked him; citing his weakness and his murder (and probable cannibalism) of Lotho Sackville-Baggins. This was the last straw for the crawling and weak Wormtongue, who drew a knife and slit Saruman’s throat. He then attempted to run away but was shot down by Hobbit archers.

“‘Then I will’ said Saruman ‘Worm killed your Chief, poor little fellow, your nice little Boss. Didn’t you, Worm? Stabbed him in his sleep, I believe. Buried him, I hope; though Worm has been very hungry lately. No, Worm is not really nice. You had better leave him to me.’” - Saruman revealing the fate of Lotho. Return of the King, The Scouring of the Shire.

[kinmepls]

Your kin today is...

The wizard pondering his orb from the cover of both Middle-Earth Quest: A Spy In Isengard and Valar & Maiar