This is a (lets call it a blog) series that I have wanted to start for some time, however have not been able to justify taking up forum space until the recent addition of catagories. Now that there is catagories, I am hoping this will be a little better received, as the more important stuff has its own place now, and the general area has a bit more freedom.

So, let me introduce you to Tolkienology- a series that takes a look at the many fascinating people and places that we have encountered in the game so far. I don’t claim to be a Tolkien expert, however I have had a rather unhealthy obsession with Middle Earth since I was around 11, so hopefully I can make this interesting and informative to those who have little or a casual knowledge in Middle Earth, and still an entertaining read to those who are better versed in Tolkien lore. Its also a chance for me to brush up on characters/events i dont have as much knowledge as id like on.

The first chapter takes a look at whats currently flying round the forum discussions- Elladan and Elrohir.

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Elladan and Elrohir are the identical twin brothers (though it is never said they were twins outright, it is heavily suggested given Elf reproductive cycles cannot allow for 2 non-twin births in the same year) and sons of Elrond of Rivendell and Celebrian of Lothlorien (who was Celeborn and Galadriel's daughter). They are also therefore Arwen's siblings as well, and seeing as Elrond fostered Aragorn, then he can be seen as a sort of non-blood relative. They were born in the year 130 of the Third Age (though i have seen it as 130 and 139 in various encyclopedias, but the appendices in the book tops), and it is indicated that they were inseparable. Elladan means Elf-Man, or as Tolkien states in his letters, more specifiacally Elf-Numenorean, showing his dual decent, and Elrohir means Elf-Knight, though rohir’s literal translation is horse-lord (rohirrim for istance), though Tolkien specifically stated that it meant the former.

Despite being elves of high birth, the brothers both sought a life more akin to that of the Dunedain- the Rangers of the North, often helping them in protecting the remnants of Arnor in the north. This was in no small part due to the fact that their mother, Celebrian, was ambushed by orcs in the year 2509, whilst crossing the High Pass of the Misty Mountains (the same pass that Thorin and co. are attacked in in The Hobbit). She was wounded with a poisoned arrow, and despite her rescue, she departed Middle Earth to the Undying Lands. From then on the brothers kept a special grudge against orcs, and hunted them wherever they could find them.

During The War of the Ring and the events of the trilogy, the brothers aid Aragorn alongside the other members of the Grey Company- a small group of rangers who travel towards rohan and accompany Aragorn through the Paths of the Dead and onto the epic battle of The Pelennor Fields, and then presumably onto the battle before the Morannon (the battle before the black gate).

After the fall of Sauron and the departing of their father from the Grey Havens, they are said to remain in Rivendell for some time, as they, like their sister Arwen, were given the choice to remain in Middle Earth or depart to the Undying Lands. It is never said by Tolkien that they chose either way, but given the delay, many think they chose the life of mortal men, though either way, it can be said with certainty, that they both chose the same fate.

Well that's it for chapter 1...a little short seeing as they arent really central characters, but i couldnt resist the obvious choice given the hype around their synergy. So, post if you have any input, or if ive made any mistakes.

peace

Rich

This is marvellous! Thanks very much! Definitely need something like this is needed as more and more minutiae are involved!

Keep it up, my good man!

spalanzani said:

thank you, you have made my night

As soon as I saw the Elrohir card I thought, "Richsabre should write a thread about him so people can learn more about him." It's cool to see that you actually did!

This was very cool, Richsabre! Thanks.

Definitely hope to see more of these! You keep writing em and I'll keep reading em!

thank you both!! (yey im liked.....haha)

1. Keep up the good work man! 2. I had no idea Celebrian was a girl! I remember having a Games Workshop miniature of that character, and I could have sworn it was a boy. My mind is blown.

^^^My bad. Celebrian =/= Celeborn. Too many Elf names..

conykchameleon said:

thanks

just to confuse even more she was the daughter of Celeborn and galadriel, so yeah confusing

on that note i used to collect GW lord of the rings but stopped about 5 years ago when i ran out of money!

richsabre said:

Hahaha. That's rather funny. Yeah, same here, I actually ended up selling my collection for quite a bit of money, those things held their value better than stocks right now.

arghh i find this out now after ive had them in a box going round 6 houses getting broke to pieces.....oh well

You should write something about the East.
It would greatly help me.

cordeirooo said:

as in rhun? because theres not much to tell, unless we find alatar and pallando and ask them what they found aragorn had also been there, and sauron obviously had some sort of power base there. it was also the lands of the easterlings which he allied with in the war of the ring, and we know one ringwraith - Khamul the Easterling, came from there

though i admit it'd be fun to collect as much info from good sources as possible and try and write something, though in the end itd still be 90% speculation

richsabre said:

That's already enough for me.
You have a good knowledge of Tolkien's world, and you have lesser chances to mess up than I do.

Also, on an unrelated note...
Vampires and Werewolves in Middle-Earth; where they do come from and how do they interact with other of the Peoples?
One of the 'encounter sets' I'm designing is based on vampires, but I really have no much knowledge about them.

Thanks.

cordeirooo said:

firstly before you quote me i actually did get a bit mixed up on the above, when i said sauron conquored the easterlings that isnt entirely true as they were already evil from the 1st age, in the service of melkor (this just shows how limited my knowledge on it is!!!)

vampires are mentioned in the 1st age- melkor had them in his service, and sauron took the shape of one for a while, so they exist in middle earth and have done, though obviously tolkien doesnt particualrly refer to them in the third age other than vampire bats- which may or may not be related

werewolves similarly have a basis in 1st age, sauron had them in his service, in the isle of the werewolves where he ruled, and again sauron took the form of a werewolf to fight huan in the quest of the silmaril, though was beaten and fled in the form of a bat- they arent to be mixed up with wargs though, who are creatures, however werewolves are evil spirits in wolf form, note- they couldnt shape shift like the stereotypical werewolf of legend (sauron could as he was a shapeshifter), however they could talk, likewise the wargs of the 3rd age could talk though they tended to use their own speech, so its speculated that they were decendants of the original werewolves

rich

Hmmm, this is good. Very good.
It's really a shame that my last necromancy ritual to bring Tolkien back didn't work, though, I would love to read stuff about these more 'obscure' topics. Anyway, I like the fact it is open-ended.

Thanks again and sorry to misrepresent (sp? don't know if this word actually applies here) your topic.

cordeirooo said:

i would recommend you check out these little known topics onthe web, as id be the first to admit i have a limited knowledge ESPECIALLY of the 1st age as my interests tend to lie in the third age, and barring us actually getting tolkien back- we have to speculate alot

also its fine, i hoped that these would turn into debates anyways, and to anyone else who has a more informed idea of werewolves and vampires please chip in

note-i may have added some to the previous posts describing them since you posted your reply- i had to quickly fish out my encylopedia to make sure what i was saying was 1.true and 2. made sense

further note: 1. it is speculated that the spirits that inhabited the bat and wolf forms were in fact lesser maiar- though again i think this is specualtion

2.just like werewolves werent shapeshifters, vampires were huge bats in form, not the shapeshifters that we think of when we hear vampire

3.vampires are hardly mentioned in tolkiens works, in fact there are only two of what i can find- both of which were maiar taking that form- so it would be a far stretch to have them appear in numbers (or at all) in the third age

phew - that was some hasty research.....ive learned alot i didnt know about 1st age tolkien mythology in the last hour

and a final note- its been a long while since i read the silmarillion and lets face it- it isnt the most accessable of tolkien's work and certainly isnt easy to remember everything in it, so if anyone has found anything wrong with the previous posts, then please say so, so i know whats what

I'm reading the Silmarillion right now. Actually, it would be more accurate to say I started it a couple weeks ago. I've only finished the creation story so far.

Budgernaut said:

i think i made the mistake of rushing through it when i was younger, its really not the same style of narrative as the hobbit and the trilogy however i was too young to really appreciate it and how crucial it is to explaining tolkiens universe, i am planning to read it properly when ive finished my current re-read cycle- im currently on the two towers

ive actually seen someone post that it should be listed as a cure for insomnia before- which suffering from this i can tell you 1.that it doesnt work and 2.thats so harsh!!!!!!! no work of tolkien can be considered boring, its just people like me go in to reading it after reading his other works, and dont realise its meant to be different, which of course now i know different

Good thread. It's been twelve years since I've read the books. (They're on my list.)

gatharion said:

thank you

Great thread, rich! I concur with the posters who would encourage you to keep it going. It is neat to have a Tolkienologist contributor to these forums!

Thats a brilliant first episode Richsabre. I think players of the game will be interested to learn the history of the various character cards before them. One thing that has puzzled me though, after reading various books on the history of Middle Earth, is why Elladan and Elrohir remained there, resulting in being mortal. Obviously Arwen chose that life to be with Aragorn but why did Elladan and Elrohir decide to stay? Ive always thought it was to live out their lives as part of the Dunedain but was there a bigger reason?

Ted Sandyman said:

i think that you got it with the dunedain part- perhaps they hung around mortals for too long, though youd think theyd be keen to see their mother- so perhaps the departed after all, in fact i read somewhere that tolkien states in a letter that they 'remained in rivendell for a while' (not direct quote) so if this is correct then it implies they left

- remember also that their sister arwen stayed, and their adopted (and also in law....is that correct? i always get inlaws confused) brother aragorn was mortal, and lived on after the events of the trilogy