Welcome to The Great Hall of Poets, our regular monthly feature showcasing the talent of Middle-earth fans. Each month we will feature a small selection of the poems submitted, but we hope you will read all of the poems that we have received here in our Great Hall of Poets.
So come and join us by the hearth, and enjoy!
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
Ode to Elanor
By D.McGlinchey
Elanor, my star flower, my beautiful golden sun. From lonely isles did your namesake travel to bring beauty and joy from afar. Elf Child, though of Halfling kin, fair beauty of the Shire. Your grace and wisdom outshines them all and your laughter a Dragon would halt. Blessed with the grace of the Valar you glow.
Though hard was the road that led to your being, I never faltered nor forsook the dreams I made. I travelled there and back again to make true those distant dreams. And I did. With you Elanor. My star flower. My beautiful golden sun.
~ * ~
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
Sixty-four began the contest; in the end it came down to just two costumes, in TheOneRing.net’s March Madness 2021: the Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth. Aragorn’s Strider garb took on Legolas’ ‘hero’ outfit – and the voting was fast and furious. Thousands of votes were placed – this final round saw the biggest turn out by far. The lead swung back and forth between the two costumes; but in the end, there could be only one. This year’s Grand Champion is…
‘We come to it at last – the great battle of our time….’ From 64 costumes at the start, we are down to the last two; which of those will be the Grand Champion of March Madness 2021, the Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth? Here are the results of the Final Four:
Round Six – Grand Final
Strider took on the Witchking. It is said that no man can kill him; but the clothing of a ranger could defeat the wraith’s robes. By a margin of only about 150 votes, it is Aragorn who strides into the final.
And then there were four! We move out of the regional divisions and into the Semi Final of this year’s March Madness, the Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth. Here’s how the table stands now:
Round Five – Final Four
So who triumphed in the Elite Eight? This was a nail biting round; this very post was drafted with certain costumes as winners, but then there was a late surge in voting and a couple of outfits made a comeback!
Beginning with the Humans and Maiar, a fully armoured Eomer was taking on Aragorn in ranger garb. This duel had the widest margin in the Quarter Final, with just under 60% of the vote going to Aragorn’s outfit. He’ll meet the Witchking in the Semi Final; in the Villains region, the Balrog was finally defeated, with the epic helm and long robes of the Witchking claiming about 10% more votes.
Quarter Final time! Only the Elite (or Elegant?) Eight remain in the Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth; one final round in the region divisions. Here’s the latest table:
Round Three – Sweet Sixteen
Let’s take a look at the Round Three results; starting with the Villains this time. The Mouth of Sauron was no match for the Balrog, only managing to muster a third of the vote; and the regular Witchking took 70%, to crush his Twilight self. This means we’ll see the ruler from Angmar taking on the demon of the ancient world in the Quarter Final; and just to prove that there are Balrog cosplays, here’s a brilliant one from a TORn staffer:
Staffer Rasputin looks incredible as a Balrog showgirl
So, what happened in Round Two? Let’s begin this time with the Elves. Galadriel’s Lorien gown beat Arwen’s dress when on the bridge with Aragorn; but now she has to take on her granddaughter again, as Galadriel meets Arwen’s blue and red dress in Round Three. Here’s a certain TORn founder looking very fetching in that gown:
