#War of the Ring

[velvet4510]

Headcanon that Merry sent a letter personally informing Éowyn of Wormtongue’s death so that she would hear the news from a friend and know, without a shadow of a doubt, that she truly was free of that monster forever.

[elena-kukanova]

In the meantime, a whole plot bundle has come together

Fen of Serech

[sesamenom]

alternate war of the ring decoy, featuring Quest For The Silmaril Part Two, Descendants Edition!

sauron: *chuckles* im in danger

bonus version:

none of theme even had to dress up for this, since arwen has the fashion sense of an early-FA doriathrim noblewoman (she got it from galadriel), aragorn dresses like a first age beorian with fingolfin's choice in hairstyles, and aesthetically gildor is a miniature version of his father. (the dog is somebody's pet and looks nothing like huan)

[mfelewzi]

The Nazgûl attacks Minas Tirith.

By John Howe.

[paontaure]

Epic duels from LOTR, original art in graphite, ink and watercolor.

2018-2023 © Paontaure

[madcat-world]

the Lidless Eye - D8P

[coopsgirl]

This day in Middle Earth history: March 15, TA 3019

Hold on to your hats. This is a busy day!

In the early hours the Witch-king breaks the Gates of the City. Denethor burns himself on a pyre. The horns of the Rohirrim are heard at cockcrow. Battle of the Pelennor. Theoden is slain. Aragorn raises the standard of Arwen. Frodo and Samwise escape and begin their journey north along the Morgai. Battle under the trees in Mirkwood; Thranduil repels the forces of Dol Guldur. Second assault on Lorien.

[askzloyxp]

Him and I have about the same level of understanding this game

[catofadifferentcolor]

An Incomplete List of Lord of the Rings AU Fic Ideas

All Those Frustrating Fools: In which Legolas and Gimli are surrounded by Middle Earth's most oblivious idiots

Everything (Between Us): In which Legolas and Gimli secretly wed before the quest

First Age Legolas: Born as Doriath falls, Legolas is one of the oldest elves left in Middle Earth - a child of war, and grief, and loss

Half-Elven Legolas: Born Eluréd Diorion, war and truama-induced amnesia lead to his adoption by Thranduil during the First Age

Half-Maia Legolas: Born of Thranduil's relationship with a handmaid of Oromë, the only two people in Middle Earth who know the identity of Legolas' mother are Thranduil and Legolas himself

Of Aerandír and his Coming to Arda: PJO/LotR crossover, in which Percy’s presence in Middle-Earth changes everything and nothing

Princess of Dol Amroth SI: In which a Modern Woman in Middle-Earth changes almost nothing - but still makes a difference to her nephews

Second Age Legolas: Born as Númenor sank beneath the waves, Legolas serves as his father's regent during the War of the Last Alliance - a child of suffering and survival

Third Age Legolas: Born after the fall of Erebor, Legolas is one of the youngest elves alive, coming of age during the quest

More Terrible Fic Ideas

[foxinarda]

Atmosphere for Part I of the Healer and the Horselord series… Minas Tirith

[velvet4510]

In both the movies and my book headcanon, Thranduil just gives off the vibes of one of those dads who always sees his child as his little baby, no matter how big or strong that child grows, and he’s just not ready to let Legolas go.

I think this is further inflamed by his PTSD from the War of the Last Alliance, as he can’t handle the thought of his innocent son being exposed to that kind of trauma like he was.

And whether his book wife tragically died like his movie wife or not, either way, life in spider-infested Mirkwood would alone increase his paranoia about his son’s safety.

I think this is why Legolas became an archer; Thranduil wanted to be sure Legolas knew self-defense just in case, but he never wanted Legolas to have to face war. (I personally headcanon that Legolas’ mother is an archer, and this is why he chose to develop that particular skillset.)

I also think this is the in-universe reason why Legolas is nowhere to be found in The Hobbit book. Thranduil simply refuses to include his son in the Battle of Five Armies, perhaps with the excuse that he’s not old enough to fight and instead, as Crown Prince, needs to watch over their people while the king is gone.

Therefore, when Legolas joins the Fellowship and comes home forever changed, this is when Thranduil finally has to admit that his son has left the nest.

[bitesthestuff]

Gandalf reads from the Book of Diddy

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"GROND THEY NAMED IT, IN MEMORY OF THE HAMMER OF THE UNDERWORLD OF OLD."

PIC INFO: Spotlight on an illustration depicting Sauron's host during the Siege of Gondor, bringing up the hundred-foot long battering ram, Grond, to smash the Great Gate of Minas Tirith and burn the White City. March 3019 of the Third Age.

"Great engines crawled across the field; and in the midst was a huge ram, great as a forest-tree a hundred feet in length, swinging on mighty chains. Long had it been forging in the dark smithies of Mordor, and its hideous head, founded of black steel, was shaped in the likeness of a ravening wolf; on it spells of ruin lay. Grond they named it, in memory of the Hammer of the Underworld of old. Great beasts drew it, orcs surrounded it, and behind walked mountain-trolls to wield it."

-- "The Siege of Gondor," Book IV of "THE LORD OF THE RINGS: The Return of the King," written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Source: www.instagram.com/tr.middlee_earth/p/CxtNQ_0Nknh.

[edennill-archived]

In Selih, they tell a legend of a princess-broideress, a hero's mother, who fell into a sleep beyond waking, and he starts when he first hears it, too similar as it is to a different truth. Like as not, it is an echo, perhaps even of things he himself has carelessly revealed somewhere or other, but the likeness of it disquiets him. He stays only a week to earn some coin for a good headscarf and leaves at dawn.

In a village by the Bay of Kenteh, an overjoyed middle-aged woman comes running up to him. It is the thin slip of a girl with dark braids, now greying, the last in a line of foundlings, who had caught the eye of a boy here, when they were passing through thirty years ere. He had stayed a while then, long enough to see her married and safe, but that was so long ago he would not be surprised if she had stopped believing his promise to return one day. I am a man of my word, he says lightly, as if it meant no more than that, and then, feeling pressed to be more honest, though he is as ever speaking in riddles and allusions — I only broke a vow once, but it was not one worth keeping. He tries not to look in the direction of the Sea.

Sarakhir has seen two dynasties risen and overthrown in the century since he last visited, and they say one of the Blue Wizards had been seen in Verna. He curses and heads further south, but he's grown adept at evading Istari by this point.

He does not enter Ekithmar. They brand thieves and murderers on the hand there, and he is a thief and a murderer, many times over, but, all the same, he prefers not to make it known. They have no mark for one who has left it all behind many lifetimes of men ago, he reasons with himself, although be feels guilt for the luxury of being able to choose — where to stay, where to go — places where gloved hands do not rouse suspicion, and he can hide the truth about himself. He makes a wide circle around the city and its lands.

By the Verid they speak in hushed voices, when children are abed, of Khand and even of the land of Mordor, and of the eternal fate of peoples with such neighbours. Young men take down heirloom swords from their places of honour and try the feel of them in their hands. The deret of Sorah levies tax for his army, and so does the king of Dul-im-n'Kar, farther east, but the people on either bank of the river have strong doubts about whom the latter wishes to mount troops against. In rumours he is allied with Uvrath Il-Khand, or even, in the wilder ones, with the Sorcerer.

Maglor partakes in conversation at times, but listens more, though the weight of the truth behind the reports cannot be ascertained, and he has heard talk of Sauron arising every other century. He tests his old skill with a blade, and gives a few lessons to eager youths behind their stables and farmhouses.

Ivratu has killed its king again. From the vantage point an immortal walking through a land of mortals has, it does this regularly, every two centuries, give or take one. Why the regularity, Maglor can't say, unless that perhaps everything is easier to repeat when you've done it once. He should know, he laughs ruefully, as if what governs a mob was ever the same as that which governs the decisions of a single man. But if cities have traditions, Ivratu's has become to kill those brave, or foolish, enough to try a hand at ruling it, and its denizens are proud of this dark history. Maglor might suppress a shudder, but he reprovisions at the markets and listens to the bloody gossip.

Evralthum does not exist anymore, swallowed up by the Mridyanvan Empire (he walks the ruins of the old royal palace and sings a lament for its laughing princes). The people are still there, scattered in a few jungle villages. It is hard to kill a nation, and they have little love for Mridyanva; so perhaps not all is lost for Evralthum, Jewel of the Veda, whose kings were once his friends. Farther east lie Olondë, Milyan-kai, Ta-L'nau, places he wishes to visit, if only to see how they've changed, but the rumours lying on his mind press him to retrace his steps, back to the Verid. If there is to be war with Mordor in the west, he wishes to be there for it.

There once was a boy he had picked up in Zûnar, a laughing ten year old with copper skin and closely-shorn black hair. And another one, before that, whom he had left in Rivendell after a time - or no, that was further north. In Zûnar they care little for potential war; they've had a dry season and are at the risk of famine. He stays there awhile, to sing some water into the fields in secret, and an early and abundant harvest; having witnessed which, he leaves for the north.

Mild Gondor winter is great relief after a Harad drought, though he needs to acquire a new set of clothing, and the kingdoms-in-exile, Arnor most, but the other too, have always reminded him, in the slightest, of his own people. It comes with sorrow and guilt, and the whispers that follow him here strike too close to the truth, at times, but he has learned not to stay in one town for too long. He earns his keep as a minstrel, and, his song done, keeps vigil in the inns deep into the night, listening to soldiers' talk. Mordor has to be stirring indeed.

He wonders whether to go to Artanis — it is near enough — but as much as he desires to meet his only surviving cousin and hear his mother tongue again, it would mean several months delay, and he has things he might do in the South that he could not do here, conspicuous as he is. Still, it is a pity, if he were to fall at last, for Artanis not to know where, and in one of the taverns there is a kid of the sort that vows they will seek the Golden Wood. He doubts he will be allowed entry even if he goes through with his talk, but it does no harm to give a letter for the astonished boy to carry. In the Pelennor fields, he buys a horse and a sword.

(a companion post) (ao3 link)

[madcat-world]

Caradhras the Cruel - D8P

[coopsgirl]

This day in Middle Earth history: March 16, TA 3019

Debate of the commanders. Frodo from the Morgai looks out over the camp to Mount Doom.