#still not over the fact that all it took for Sauron to get in Celebrimbor's good graces

[aspiringnexu]

I’ve played Shadows of Mordor and Shadows of War so I’m very used to Edgy, Sourpuss Wraith Celebrimbor who was game-canonically so fucking pissed at Sauron that he refused to leave Middle-Earth until he happened to find Talion and so began their decades long Old Married Couple dynamic. Until Celebrimbor fucks it up. Several times.

Now that Celebrimbor is very different to this new interpretation of Celebrimbor in TROP and honestly... I dig it. This Celebrimbor has eccentric uncle vibes. He has no thoughts other than for his forge and for Making Things in it. Every time we see him outside of the forge he seems nervous and he only gets fired up (forgive the pun) when Gil-Galad refuses to let him Make Stuff. He’s adorable. And I can totally see why he would fall into Sauron’s trap. The man has not an ounce of guile in his body if he isn’t following orders to keep a secret, why would he expect duplicity from his new smithing buddy?

And I know some in the fandom give him shit for not thinking of creating a mithril alloy but honestly I’ve done the same thing. Not with smithing of course but even if you’re an expert, sometimes the simplest answer can be staring you in the face and you won’t see it until someone pulls you out of your own head. And Celebrimbor is Feanor’s grandson, The master smith of Eregion. No one is going to contradict him. Until Sauron comes along and Celebrimbor latches onto this new partner like a touch-starved limpet.

Such a shame that when shit goes even more sideways Sauron’s gonna use his dead body as a war banner. They had such good chemistry.

[ellrond]

Is Halbrand Sauron? Probably.

Spoilers ahead!

TL;DR: it’s too lazy for him to be Aragorn 2.0- they want us so badly to come to the conclusion that he’s a lost king, it is too easy for that to be the truth. He’s in the right place at the right time to fill the role of Sauron in Numenor and he is of the right, charming, slippery, calculating disposition.

My main reason is they’re laying on this idea of him being Aragorn 2.0 way too thick and it’s the biggest red herring out there. We’ve seen the ‘lost king fulfilling his fate’ story already in the Lord of the Rings and in the Hobbit and it’s tired and lazy and boring.

So what does Sauron want to do in the books? He wants to infiltrate Numenor and recruit the people there to his side and he successfully does that over years of lies and manipulation when the majority of Numenoreans are poisoned against elves, Valar, and each other because of him. Sauron’s end goal in Numenor is ultimate control.

Now let’s look at the evidence in the first three episodes.

Episode 1:

Gil Galad says that he and Elrond foresaw that if Galadriel had continued trying to stop Sauron, she would inadvertently help him

Episode 2:

When the sea monster comes towards the raft, Halbrand advises to stand still to avoid detection when no one else suggests it and it initially works as it doesnt attack them - how would someone from a landlocked region have any knowledge of an ancient sea monster?

Galadriel asked why he separated his raft from the main one to save himself and he said ‘why be part of the larger target?’ - this could be alluding to the fact that Sauron’s forces are in central middle earth while he’s in the middle of the ocean

He talks about suffering and losing his home - Sauron served Morgoth in the First Age and their home was in Angband which was destroyed by the Valar in the War of Wrath. Sauron lost his home and he lost his master

Galadriel tells Halbrand to bind himself to her which is pretty loaded language when she could have just told him to tie himself to her. It’s at this point that he could have let Galadriel die, but he may already know that she could provide him with leverage in the future.

Episode 3 is where it gets way more obvious

Sauron is a charmer - in the books, Celebrimbor is all but in love with him when he’s in disguise. Halbrand flirts with Galadriel and charms her and goes above and beyond for her, like taking Finrod’s dagger from Elendil to give back to her

The moment he gets a bit of freedom, Halbrand goes to a blacksmith and asks for work and says his work is the best the blacksmith will have ever seen. Sauron is a mighty smith who learned under Aule, the god of smithery. Why’s he so set on having access to a smithy? He goes so far as theft to enable his pathway to work

Sauron took the name of Lord of Gifts when he was disguised with the elves, and what does he do in the tavern? Orders rounds of drinks for everyone

When he’s cornered in the alleyway he fights off 5 strong Numenorians with barely a scratch - Sauron was skilled in hand-to-hand combat

He’s eager to appease Tar-Miriel the queen and be seen as trustworthy. Yes, he is captive at the moment, but he has an easy charm even with great lords and ladies that do not befit his station

The figure at the end of the episode is another red herring - it’s not Sauron himself, but a commander of his, perhaps even the Witch-King of Angmar?

It makes sense that Sauron himself would be far away from the Southlands and the centre of his power when he knows that the elves keep watch - whether that be Gil-Galad from afar, or the Silvan elves who are now withdrawing.

His current location of Numenor where Sauron wants to be, and he is developing his relationship with Galadriel who is key to the entire race of elves. If he can manipulate her, he has an easy journey ahead of him. Remember, she ends up being a ring-bearer herself and although her ring is not made by Sauron, her fate is tied to the One Ring and to Sauron.

He’s also wanting to start crafting whatever and promises his work will be the best. He’s already privy to the two factions in Numenor - those who follow the old king and those who follow the queen - and is beginning to learn more about them.

As already said, he’s a charmer, he’s likeable, he has some sense of destiny about him, and he’s good-looking to boot. That’s Sauron’s go-to disguise. To many people familiar with the lore, it seems obvious that Halbrand is not the good guy Galadriel wants him to be. I think this will also lead into conflict between Gil Galad, Elrond, and Galadriel and a decline in her confidence and place in the world over the coming seasons, along with her rising from the ashes.

[sweetteaanddragons]

I Was Disappointed With My Eulogy, Celebrimbor and Elrond, Fix-It

These last three prompts are taking me a shamefully long time, but I finally got this one written! And just in time for Halloween!

There’s a small canon divergence in here - okay, there’s a large canon divergence here, but there’s a smaller one within it: technically, Gil-Galad should still have Vilya at this point in time. I have chosen to conveniently ignore this fact.

. . .

The blood-soaked remnants of his cousin’s body, hung up as a mocking banner against them, had crushed Elrond’s last thin hope that Celebrimbor might still be clinging to life.

He had known - Well, he had known from the start it was unlikely, and the terrible scream that had reached out through the mental bond that until then had been so firmly closed had seemed to be the final word on the matter.

It was just that Elrond could have sworn he felt his kinsman, even still. Frail, fluttering at the very edges of his mind, but there.

But there could be no doubt after seeing the dark, dried blood smeared out from the ruined gashes tearing brutally through the remains of muscle and skin.

It was over.

As of yet, they had been unable to recover the body, but Elrond couldn’t leave it at that. He had to do something to release the terrible grief welling up in his heart.

He had stepped out into the forest, not too far from the safety of the camp, meaning to do just that. There were others mourning too, he knew, but he had wanted privacy for this. He didn’t want to have to weigh the reactions of the living as he memorialized the dead.

That had been the plan, at least, but he realized as he stood there in the gathering dark that he had no idea what to say.

He took the ring his cousin had made him out of his pocket. He had been careful not to wear it, but equally careful to keep it close, given how dangerous it would be if it fell into enemy hands. With Celebrimbor’s remains still out of reach, this would have to stand in his place.

Even looking into the ring’s shining depths, however, his throat felt too tight to force out much.

“Celebrimbor - “

But what could he say? What could he possibly say?

Intellectually, he understood what his cousin had done, and he honored him for it.

But the weariest part of his heart only understood that he had lost his family to the works of their hands. Again.

Such small things to be worth such wars.

“I wish you were here,” he finally settled on, and the familiar sentiment slid easily out of his mouth.

Too easily, maybe, because the other half of the sentence, the half he’d been biting back for a millennia now, slid out too.

“Because I’d dearly like to hit you just now.”

It wasn’t fair of him, he knew, and he’d never actually do it, but -

But.

He closed his hand around the ring and made to put it back in his pocket.

That’s it? That’s my eulogy?

The tattered bond with Celebrimbor’s mind quivered, and Elrond jumped as the words echoed through his mind. 

He had seen - but it had been so far away, maybe, maybe -

Down here. The words had an edge of weary amusement, and Elrond looked down with chill realization at the ring.

“Celebrimbor?” he whispered, hope and terror mingled together. 

The light in the ring shimmered. Yes. Apparently Grandfather wasn’t the only one to pour a bit too much of himself into his works.

“You’re stuck in there?” Horror choked him as he imagined a spirit trapped in the claustrophobic confines of a small band of gold. “I’ll break the ring. There’s tools at the camp - “

Then I’d just go to one of the others. Possibly on down through the seven and the nine, and I’d much prefer not to be stuck in a ring Sauron’s gotten his hands on.

That was hard to argue with.

Then the rest of what Celebrimbor had said hit him with that reminder.

Those rings were not the only treasures of the Noldor to have been held by a dark spirit. 

“Feanor,” he said. “You said he poured too much of himself in too.”

The light flickered uneasily. It was just a theory for a long time, he admitted. Now . . . Now I feel a good deal more confident in it. Given the circumstances. 

The circumstances. Elrond had to restrain a somewhat hysteric laugh.

He dearly hoped Feanor had been bound up in the stone now carried by his father, given what the alternatives were.

Although if the spirits could speak . . . 

Suddenly Feanor wasn’t the only one he was concerned for in that scenario.

And all of that paled next to the little circle of gold in his palm with his cousin trapped inside it.

I tried to tell you sooner. The thought was tinged with apology. It took a while to - My strength is not what it was.

No. And now his thoughts turned in a different direction. Could a spirit be healed, trapped as he was? Could any of the healing arts - 

Elrond. I’m alright. Or. Better, at least. Anything is better than that.

Elrond closed his eyes, a futile ward against the memories that echoed at the edges of that thought. The ring almost seemed to tremble in his hand.

“I’ll find a way to fix this,” he said, voice steady as he could make it.

I know. You were always the best at fixing this in this family. But it’s alright if it takes awhile. Really.  A sense of grim satisfaction swelled up. I’m more than happy to stick around for as long as it takes to take  that backstabbing Maia down.

“Alright,” Elrond breathed, still struggling to comprehend the enormity of what he now held.

He’d have to get a chain to wear the ring on. It felt wrong to slip it back into the dark confines of his pocket.

But it was reassuring too, to be able reach down and feel the familiar spirit, now safe and sound within his grasp.

Selfish and shameful as it was, he hoped he could keep this comfort with him for a while yet.

[douxreviews]

Five Potential Storylines for Amazon's Lord of the Rings Series

Ever since it was announced that Amazon was making a (very expensive) series based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, speculation has been rife about what the whole damn thing would actually be about.

For a long time the popular theory was that the series would chronicle the adventures of a young Aragorn. This left a lot of people depressed. The king ranger formerly known as Strider may be one of the franchise's most beloved characters, but no one was excited about seeing a show about his teenage years. Thankfully, all this Adventures of Young Aragorn nonsense was put to bed when the show's official Twitter account slowly revealed that it would in fact be set in the Second Age of Middle-Earth, thousands of years before Aragorn was even born.

The Second Age is not one that is covered extensively in Tolkien's witting. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings depicted events from the end of the Third Age, while all the works edited and published posthumously by Christopher Tolkien, such as The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin, mainly deal with events from before and during the First Age. Most of what we know about the Second Age comes from the Appendixes from The Lord of the Rings and the final two parts of The Silmarillion, which is mostly just a recap of the major events. So a lot of people are rather excited about this opportunity to delve deeper into a mostly untouched part of Middle-Earth lore. Assuming, that is, it remains respectful to Tolkien's work.  

While Amazon has nicely told when this show will be set, we're still utterly clueless regarding what it will actually be about. The Second Age lasted for a rather long time, 3,441 years to be exact, and in that time many wars were fought and many kingdoms rose and fell. There's a (lonely) mountain's worth of potential stories for them to choose from. But, based on what limited material has been released so far, I have a very strong feeling that these are the ones that the show will likely cover over its proposed five seasons.

Warning: If you want to go into this show completely spoiler free, don't read any further, because I'm going to talk in detail about the major events of the Second Age including the fates of certain characters.

The Forging of the Rings of Power

The maps Amazon released in the build up to the reveal about the Second Age setting each came with a different verse from the Ring rhyme:

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie

The final map showed Middle-Earth at the beginning of the Second Age complete with the island of Númenor and, perhaps more importantly, the Elven kingdom of Eregion. Why is Eregion more important? I'll tell you. You see, it was in Eregion where the Rings of Power, save for the One Ring, were originally forged by the elf smith Celebrimbor with the help of a bloke named Annatar, who called himself the Lord of Gifts and claimed to be an emissary of the Valar, who were essentially the gods of Middle-Earth. This was all a lie. He was actually Sauron in disguise.

The use of the rhyme and the inclusion of Eregion on the map strongly suggests that the show will cover, in some part, the making of the rings as well as Sauron's rise to power. Which makes sense if they still want to call it The Lord of the Rings. This could also be our first chance to see Sauron as an actual character rather than a special effect. During this time he still had his original form, and often took on a "fair" appearance to trick people into doing his bidding. So, yeah, prepare yourselves for people being thirsty for hot Sauron.

The War of the Elves and Sauron

Once the other nineteen Rings of Power were made, Sauron returned to Mordor and forged the One Ring.  When he put it on the Elves became aware of who he really was and hid the other Rings from him. This started a war between Sauron and the Elves, led by High King Gil-Galad, that resulted in the destruction of Eregion, the death of Celebrimbor and the almost complete defeat of the Elves of Middle-Earth. Only the last minute intervention of Númenor saved them from total destruction. If the show is going to cover the making of the Rings, it is only natural that it will then feature the war that followed. Amazon wants this series to be their Game of Thrones so they are going to want lots of action and epic battles. Hopefully they won't want lots of sex too, because that is sure to piss off the Tolkien purists.

The Origins of the Nazgûl

Since the show is almost certain to cover the forging of the Rings of Power, it stands to reason that we'll get to see who they are given to. This means we might get an answer to one of the great mysteries of Tolkien's mythology – just who the hell were the Nazgûl? Almost nothing is known about who the Nine Ringwraiths were before they all fell under Sauron's power. Three were possibly Númenóreans and one was an Easterling king named Khamûl, but apart from that nothing else is known about them. If Tolkien had any idea what their real identities were, he never mentioned it in any of his writing, at least nothing that has been released. This show could finally answer that question. Of course, that means we have to accept risk that the answer may disappoint.

The Decline and Fall of Númenor

As I said earlier, Amazon is setting this up as the potential successor to Game of Thrones, which means as well as action and battles they'll also wants tons of political scheming and backstabbing. Well, they'll certainly get all that from Númenor, Tolkien's take on the Atlantis myth.

The Second Age is sometimes called the Age of Númenor. The island nation was the dominant political and military power of that age. But as its power grew, Númenor became increasingly corrupt. Although blessed with lifespans three times that of normal humans, the people of Númenor grew resentful of the Elves and their immortality and turned against them and the Valar (the gods of Middle-Earth). The island became divided between the Faithful, a pro-Valar faction, and the King's Men, the anti-Valar faction. Sauron took advantage of this schism and allowed himself to be taken to Númenor as a prisoner, where he set to work destroying the nation from within. He convinced the people to worship Melkor (the first Dark Lord and Sauron's former master during the First Age) and to wage war against the Valar by invading their homeland in the west. The invasion was an utter catastrophe that resulted in the complete destruction of Númenor.

Now this is where adapting these stories gets tricky. Because the Second Age was so long many of the major events are centuries or even millennia apart. There's at least 1,500 years between the forging of the One Ring and the fall of Númenor. If the show is looking to cover all of these, it will either have to employ some pretty big time jumps or condense all the action so that all these events overlap. The latter seems the more sensible option as it would allow the show to hold on to the same human characters for its duration.

The War of the Last Alliance

If the show is going to start with Sauron making the One Ring, it's only natural that it should end with him losing it.

After the destruction of Númenor, the Faithful, led by Elendi and his sons Isildur and Anárion, fled to Middle-Earth, where they founded the kingdoms of Arnor in the north and Gondor in the south. Although his body was destroyed, Sauron's spirit also survived the fall and soon returned to Mordor and the One Ring. Once he'd fully regained his strength he attacked Gondor forcing King Gil-galad to form the Last Alliance of Men and Elves, which also included dwarves and other creatures so really should've been called the Last Alliance of Men and Elves and Dwarves and Other Creatures, but that isn't as catchy. The War of the Last Alliance is the ideal ending point for this series. It marks the end of the Second Age, the defeat of the main villain (if temporary), the death of most of the major characters, and sets the stage nicely for what eventually happens in The Lord of the Rings.

Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011

[northeasternwind]

more Second Age AU, this time after sauron is found out and reacts violently and is ousted somehow lmfao

(Part 1) (Annatar) (Yelling about bodyguarding)

Talion is strong, but Celebrimbor fears for him.

His sleep is fitful, not at all aided by the pain he must feel every time he draws a breath, or releases one, and occasionally he lets out a whimper that breaks Celebrimbor’s heart to hear. There is little that can be done for his ribs except to wait and try not to injure them further, and for some time the medics keep him in a drugged sleep that Celebrimbor can only watch miserably.

If he were to die he would surely have done so by now, but to see Talion suffering and know that it is through fault of his…

He does not mean to leave Talion’s side for so long. Truly, he does not. But seeing Talion so vulnerable, so broken, so terribly hurt in his defense awakens a fire in him that he has never had much luck controlling. Celebrimbor retreats to his forge, and there loses all sense of time in his labor.

Celebrimbor remembers his father’s fey moods. They say that his grandfather could sustain a mood for weeks, even months, and recall what he accomplished in that time. Celebrimbor and his father were less lucky: Celebrimbor only rarely remembers what occurs during his strange moods. The results are no less spectacular, however, and when he emerges from his subconscious activity Celebrimbor has created a full set of beautiful, splendid armor— perfectly sized to fit the one who has occupied his thoughts for so long now.

“Welcome back,” a voice says blankly, and Celebrimbor jumps nearly a foot to find a familiar dwarven figure supping at a nearby table, a vaguely amused expression on his face.

“Narvi!” Celebrimbor cries, setting his work down so he can greet his friend with an embrace. “How long have you been here? How long have I been gone?”

“Eh.” Narvi makes a noncommittal gesture. “Came soon as I heard. The Dark Lord himself! You’ve had a close shave, my friend.”

“I— Not as close as Talion,” Celebrimbor admits. “He— He would not awaken when I— Do you know if—?”

“He’s recovering,” Narvi assures him, accepting Celebrimbor’s hug. “Been worried about you, though. Keeps asking if you’re really okay, or if everyone is lying to him.”

“I should reassure him then.”

“Hey! Not ‘til you’ve reassured me first!” Narvi cups Celebrimbor’s face in his hands, examining him closely. “Not too hurt, are ya? I know these strange elf trances of yours don’t much care for injury, so don’t go using that as an excuse to lie.”

“I have bruises, but nothing serious,” Celebrimbor tells him. It is something of a blow: he is mostly unhurt because Talion took the brunt of the damage, using his own body as a shield even knowing that Celebrimbor would recover faster.

Narvi nods. “Good to hear! But now I guess you’ve got business to attend to, what with having been indisposed for so long.”

Celebrimbor blushes faintly, looking back at the armor he has made. It is… beautiful.

“That for him?” Narvi asks, clearly already knowing the answer.

“I cannot give it to him,” Celebrimbor says. “It would—”

“Show favoritism, frighten him, make others jealous, whatever other excuses your silly mind can come up with,” Narvi dismisses. “You can’t just put it on a pedestal, Celebrimbor.”

“I will hide it.”

“That’s not what I meant! It’s meant to be used, Celebrimbor— ain’t your elf-magic finicky about what you do with it?”

“It’s not magic,” Celebrimbor argues, though he knows this is besides the point.

Narvi knows too. He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, whatever you say. Point is, someone you love is hurt and now you’ve made something that can stop them getting hurt again. Give it to him.”

Celebrimbor hesitates. Narvi makes it sound so simple…

“Not now,” he says. “When he is better. I… will think about it.”

Narvi heaves a long groan. “Fine. That’ll be plenty of time to convince you, anyway. Now go hide that stuff if you want and git! You’ve got a whole kingdom and a boyfriend waiting for you.”

That is— unfortunately true. Celebrimbor does exactly as Narvi suggests, stashing the armor in his room and heading straight for the medical wing. He… He should check to see what has transpired in his absence, but the need to see Talion again, to ensure he still lives is much too strong. No one disturbs him as he walks.

The moment he enters and sees that Talion is still there, abed, alive, Celebrimbor’s heart turns over. Earlier it had seemed he would pass if Celebrimbor did so much as look away, but his lapse in attention does not appear to have done Talion any harm.

In fact, Talion is actually lucid, and his face relaxes in a similar expression of relief as his gaze falls upon Celebrimbor.

“Talion,” Celebrimbor says at once, and goes to him.

“Celebrimbor,” Talion greets weakly in response. “They said— but you never came, and I feared—”

Celebrimbor drops to a knee by Talion’s bed and grasps one of Talion’s hands in his, causing the mortal man to flush mightily.

“I am well,” Celebrimbor assures him. “I was merely— I was taken by a trance of sorts, and I could not control my actions— I am sorry to have made you worry so.”

“No— if you had no control…” Talion blinks, face creased in concern. “A trance? Does this happen often?”

“No, but though I have no control over it whatsoever I assure you it is completely harmless. Forgive me.”

Talion shakes his head. “There is nothing to forgive. I merely…” He swallows, and Celebrimbor cannot stop himself from following the line of his throat as the muscles work there. “I am glad you are safe.”

“And I am glad to see you are improving,” Celebrimbor says. “Last I saw you I feared you might perish at the slightest provocation. Even now I imagine the pain is unbearable.”

Talion’s blush deepens, but something in his expression hardens. “Then I am grateful for your strange trance, as it has saved you much unnecessary distress.”

I would rather have been here, Celebrimbor thinks, but that— that is too much like a confession, and the words do not find their way from his mouth.

“Rest,” he orders instead, rising to seat himself at Talion’s bedside. “I am well, and so you need only fear for your own sake.”

Talion sputters. “My lord, you have— there is an entire kingdom out there—”

“It can wait until you have found sleep again,” Celebrimbor assures him. “Rest, Talion. For my sake.”

Talion turns beet red, and Celebrimbor fears— but he settles back into bed, wincing minutely as he jars his injuries.

“As my lord commands,” he murmurs, already surrendering himself to oblivion.

“Goodnight, Talion,” Celebrimbor says quietly, holding Talion’s hand and standing vigil until he has found his slumber again.

[garden-ghoul]

fellowship of the bloggening, part 7

“I actually checked this time and it’s totally part 7″

THE BRIDGE OF KHAZAD-DUM

Gandalf finds a bloodstained book by Balin’s tomb, and Tolkien makes it his mission to recreate as accurately as possible the experience of reading a partial text that needs Deciphering. Because he’s a nerd. The book is basically a family diary that recounts how things went for Balin & co since they came to Moria 30 years ago.

'I fear their end was cruel. Listen! We cannot get out. We cannot get out. They have taken the Bridge and second hall. Frár and Lóni and Náli fell there. Then there are four lines smeared so that I can only read went 5 days ago. The last lines run The pool is up to the wall at Westgate. The Watcher in the Water took Óin. We cannot get out. The end comes, and then drums, drums in the deep. The last thing written is in a trailing scrawl of elf-letters: they are coming. There is nothing more.'

I’m endeared, because this is exactly the kind of thing I wrote in my journals when I was 12 because I thought it sounded impressive--that semi-poetic repetition of we cannot get out and the “trailing scrawl” at the end where you can see someone was trying to run away while writing. I really want dwarven record-keeping to be a specific poetic form, I want every kind of writing to have a specific poetic form, up to and including sales receipts.

As the company is leaving the records chamber they hear the doom, doom of enormous drums (have always loved that as an onomatopoeia). Legolas and Gimli, the nerds, immediately quote from the ominous text they just read, to express their fear, and at the same time the hypothesis that whatever killed Balin’s guys is coming for them. Very elegant use of echolalia! But it does make them sound, like nerds.

They are attacked by orcs, bla bla, the hobbits are surprisingly courageous and good at fighting! Well, Frodo and Sam are. We hear nothing of valiant deeds performed by Merry and Pippin. They flee out the other door of the records chamber; Gandalf stays behind to do something--I thought he was sealing the door with magic, but he says he was nearly defeated by something up there? It did a magic battle with Gandalf over the lock of the door, which is terribly exciting but left our wizard exhausted. When the door exploded, something “dark as a cloud” was obscuring the room. One point for my firesmoke balrogs. Anyway, we reach another hall, one level below the west gate (I love how Gandalf is carefully narrating exactly where they are). This hall has familiar pillars carved into the shapes of enormous trees. I assume it’s one of Tolkien’s imagery obsessions, but still I’m adding it to the Menegroth-Angband-Mandos trifecta of places to face one’s doom. Doom, doom, say the drums in the deep. The company moves on to the narrow bridge over a Hella Pit, designed to be difficult and unsafe for enemies to cross.

Also there’s this really neat balrog description:

What it was could not be seen: it was like a great shadow, in the middle of which was a dark form, of man-shape maybe, yet greater. It came to the edge of the fire and the light faded as if a cloud had bent over it. Then with a rush it leaped across the fissure. The flames roared up to greet it, and wreathed about it; and a black smoke swirled in the air. Its streaming mane kindled, and blazed behind it.

So basically balrogs look like a cloud of black smoke concealing an enormous humanoid form, but their dash attack is rocket powered. Also later it says that it has wings that span the entire hall. Very cool, but not as cool as walking tripod jellyfish things that whip out tendrils of fire to sting people.

Gandalf faces the balrog on the bridge, cuts its flaming sword to pieces (hell yeah). And he makes a stopping-spell so powerful that his staff shatters as the spell takes effect, cutting the bridge in two. But as we know he gets dragged into the pit. The company flees into daylight, scattering terrified orcs before them, and then once they’re out of bowshot of the walls they all stand there weeping.

Will our heroes make it to

LOTHLORIEN?

Tune in right now to find out! Or, in a little while. Aragorn says, enough crying we have lots to do. Gimli takes a brief detour to see Dimrill Dale’s biggest tourist spot, the location where Durin first looked into the Mirrormere and saw a prophetic vision of himself becoming an eternal king. You can actually see the jewels in his crown down there “till he wakes.” Um. What? What are those? Ah also Gimli really really wants Frodo, specifically, to see this with him. He knows Frodo is a history nerd. I love him.

Anyway they hike until they get to Lorien; it being winter, the leaves on the trees are gold. Thanks Galadriel for acknowledging that seasons exist, kinda. Legolas notes that a “secret power” protects the wood, although apparently nobody knows what it is (Nenya). Boromir is less happy to be here, because in Gondor the rumor is that nobody who walks into the Golden Wood ever walks out. Probably because y’all aren’t exactly elf-friends.

'Perilous indeed,' said Aragorn, 'fair and perilous; but only evil need fear it, or those who bring some evil with them.’

Stares at Aragorn. Stares at the Ring, the most evil artifact left in the world. Stares at Aragorn again. Anyway they walk until they find the river Nimrodel, which Legolas says brings healing to the weary. So he paddles in it for a bit. When they make camp he sings about Nimrodel and her beau, but breaks off, saying that he forgot the rest. When did elves become able to forget things? This new?

Then there’s a long passage that I forgot to blog because it was really engagingly written, but basically our heroes meet some Lorien elves and hang out in treehouses for a while, Legolas and Gimli argue about why the Lorien elves distrust dwarves so much, and the party takes a stroll. Everyone gets un-blindfolded and Frodo and Sam talk a bunch about how dreamlike and unchanging Lorien is. Sounds like a terrifying place. There’s also an element of “echoes of the past” here; Frodo hears the sea and calls of extinct seabirds from on top of Amroth’s Hill. The implication is that Lorien has been unchanged for thousands of years, and Frodo feels it will remain that way forever.

THE MIRROR OF GALADRIEL

We enter the one and only city in Lothlorien, Caras Galadhon. This city is unique not only in that all the buildings are trees, but also in the fact that our heroes can’t see anyone there. They hear people moving around, talking, and singing, but they don’t see anyone. This implies some kind of very interesting culture, I’m sure. Well, when they get to the throne room or whatever, Celeborn greets each of the travellers by name, as if to impress upon them that he already knows everrrrythingggg. Galadriel is silent and scary until it’s time to correct her husband on the reason Gandalf isn’t here. The tale of Gandalf’s fall is told; Celeborn is so ready to blame dwarves for this, because he is as racist as ever, but Galadriel chides him for it like she always does. She speaks of Khazad-dum and environs in dwarvish, possibly for the purpose of flirting with Gimli, and they smile at each other.

He rose clumsily and bowed in dwarf-fashion, saying: 'Yet more fair is the living land of Lórien, and the Lady Galadriel is above all the jewels that lie beneath the earth!’ 

Did you have to put in ‘clumsily.’ We get it, he’s not an elf. Whatever. Gimli and Galadriel are cute, she’s trying very hard to show everyone that she’s less racist than her husband. I also want to appreciate how people keep using “before the fall of Gondolin and Nargothrond” as a very specific time measure. I’m guessing that that’s what people say when they mean “in the First Age” but don’t want to, uh, ruin immersion by being specific.

Our heroes get some much-needed rest. They sleep a lot and go for constitutionals among the trees. Legolas goes out to a lot of elf-ragers or something, and gradually starts bringing Gimli with him. Oh, you finally noticed he’s a real stand-up guy, huh? Well, it’s nice that they’re both making friends.

Later Galadriel fetches Frodo and Sam to look into her magic mirror. They see various things. Frodo last sees the Eye of Sauron, and Galadriel does a little speech about how she uses Nenya to defend Lothlorian from his eye and his mind.

‘Do you not see now wherefore your coming is to us as the footstep of Doom? For if you fail, then we are laid bare to the Enemy. Yet if you succeed, then our power is diminished, and Lothlórien will fade, and the tides of Time will sweep it away.’

Oho! So the Three do draw a good portion of their power from the One, even though Celebrimbor tried his best to make them independent. That must have taken some doing, forging a magic that would subjugate all free rings. I like to think that he had to put a constraint of rings only on it, in order for it to be strong enough to stand against Celebrimbor’s work. Also:

‘We must depart into the West, or dwindle to a rustic folk of dell and cave, slowly to forget and to be forgotten.'

Mmm perfect memory as maybe a First Age thing specifically; perfect memory that depends on the state of the world and maybe even the blessing of the Valar and their presence on the same planet. I friggin dig it. Frodo also offers Galadriel the Ring--one passing that I have to assume the Ring is actually encouraging, rather than its normal unwillingness to leave any one owner. Galadriel does her speech about what will happen if she gets the Ring. I read it as kind of a warning/intimidation tactic honestly. In the movie they portrayed it as a power trip and her being tempted, but I think she already finished tempting herself long ago and decided not to take it. The test she speaks of here isn’t a test of wisdom, it’s a test of willpower in sticking to the decision she already made.