And like that, the numbers are halved. Just 32 made it through – which costumes are still in, for Round Two of the Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth? Here’s how the bracket looks now:
Let’s take a look at some of the battles of Round One. In the Human/Maiar category, the easiest win went to Aragorn’s ‘hero’ Strider costume, which defeated Beorn with 88% of the vote – fellow fan Pavel will be pleased with this victory, as he has a wonderful Strider cosplay (see below). That one is perhaps not surprising; but there are some astonishing results in this region. Four of Eowyn’s costumes started in this region; but only her coronation gown has made it through, defeating Gandalf the Grey’s robe in a very tight battle (51% to 49%). And in one of the biggest upsets of the first round, 16th seed Theoden triumphed over number one seed Saruman; the white wizard could only muster 39% of the vote! The King of Rohan finds himself up against his nephew Eomer in Round Two; show us your Rohan cosplays!
It is time … time to vote in Round One of the Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth!
Following our initial bracket reveal on last week’s TORn Tuesday, our Wild Card round at the end of last week saw Bard replace the Dwarf Women for a spot in the contest. So now we begin the match ups! Will Theoden’s splendid armour overcome Faramir’s coronation robes? Can the Haradrim defeat the Easterlings? And in an epic confrontation of elvish beauty, which will triumph: Galadriel’s dress in An Unexpected Journey, or Arwen’s gown on the bridge with Aragorn? Here’s how the bracket looks, for Round One of our contest:
We’ve been encouraging you to rally the vote for your favourite costumes, by showing us your cosplays for some of these characters. Let’s take a look at some we’ve received thus far! Voting begins below as well!
As we approach the end of March, once again, TheOneRing.net prepares for our take on ‘sports ball type activities’; yes, Middle-earth March Madness is almost here!
Last year, we had a hotly debated contest to decide the best scene from Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth films. Newly quarantined and locked down, many of us found solace and entertainment in discussing the match ups; and for the first time in MeMM’s history, we hosted live shows to discuss each round. We also shared a look back at all the previous MeMM contests – you can read that article here.
2021 is the TENTH edition of Middle-earth March Madness – and on last night’s TORn Tuesday, we revealed the theme for this year. It is ‘Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth.’ Looking at costumes from Peter Jackson’s two Middle-earth trilogies, we want to know which outfit is your favourite. You can see the four ‘regions’, with 16 entrants in each, below.
Here’s the key thing: we’re hoping for lots of participation from you this year, and particularly, we want to see YOUR versions of these costumes and characters. In choosing from our ‘long list’, to decide the final 64, we thought particularly of all the amazing cosplays we’ve seen over the years. (That’s why the bracket includes characters such as Gollum and the Balrog – not exactly costumes as such, but we have seen some brilliant cosplays for these characters!) We tried to pick costumes which seem to have been popular with cosplayers; and we’d like you to campaign for your favourite. You can do this by sharing pictures of your cosplays; show us video if you have it; tell us about your creative process; whatever you’d like to share! Convince us that THIS is the costume which deserves to win, because it so inspired your own creativity.
You can share your images on our facebook page; you can email them to spymaster@theonering.net; or you can simply tag us on Twitter or Instagram, and use #middleearthbestdressed. As last year, we’ll have live shows to discuss each round, and we hope to share some of your images on these shows. Staffers are already prepping their armour, as they’re expecting some battles royale! Join in the fun: campaign for your favourite, and get ready to vote when the contest launches at the start of next week.
AND – stay tuned for an announcement coming later today, as we mix things up a bit before Middle-earth March Madness 2021 has even got going…
Exciting news: tomorrow, Tuesday 9th February, Viggo Mortensen and his son Henry will be joining Quickbeam on TORn Tuesday!
Last week saw the online release of Viggo’s powerful and moving directorial debut, Falling. You can rent or buy the movie now on Amazon or iTunes. It’s a profound, compelling piece about families, love, and dementia. Viggo and Henry will be chatting about the movie, and about the power of story telling, at 5pm PT/ 8pm ET tomorrow; find TORn Tuesday on YouTube or Facebook. Don’t miss it!
What lessons can Amazon learn from the team that’s been there & back again? Let’s find out! Join TORn Tuesday hosts Cliff Broadway and Justin Sewell for an epic All-Star LOTR panel tomorrow! Joining us will be Mark Ordesky (Executive Producer), Sean Astin (Actor – Sam Gamgee), Rick Porras (Co-producer), Jim Rygiel (Visual Effects Supervisor), Michael Pellerin (Producer, multiple LOTR & Hobbit documentaries), Keith Stern (Ian McKellen’s Digital Manager), and Sala Baker (Actor – Sauron), as we all relive memories of filming LORD OF THE RINGS. What were those early days on set like? Did producers follow the fan discussion online? What made this effort so special? Get your deep knowledge questions ready for this multi-Oscar winning team and join the Live chat tomorrow 5pm PT. There are three options to watch the live stream, each of which let you comment and ask questions of your own:
Beginning last Saturday and running through to September 4, TheOneRing.net is hosting a Pledge Drive (see the banner at the top) as well as a bunch of auctions for some really cool memorabilia and collectibles.
The day-to-day operation of the website, and the events we host, require a lot more resources than when we first started nearly 15 years ago. We sometimes find it hard to ask our readers for the help we need to keep running, so we began discussing what it is that makes TheOneRing.net worth helping out. It started out as a search for the Top Ten Moments of TORn, but the list got so long because each staff member had their own idea of important moments in TORn history. Here, instead, is something more encompassing: Ten Ways TORn helps serve Tolkien and Lord of the Rings fandom (listed in no specific order).
And, if you enjoy what we do, consider a donation (no amount too small, because every bit does help!) to keep us running!
If you can’t, that’s fine as well — keep reading, commenting and contributing. Because TORn is as much you as it is us!
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.
