{"id":117731,"date":"2024-03-22T07:25:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T12:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=117731"},"modified":"2024-03-22T20:07:58","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T01:07:58","slug":"middle-earth-march-madness-2024-launching-round-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2024\/03\/22\/117731-middle-earth-march-madness-2024-launching-round-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle-earth March Madness 2024: launching Round Two!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" class=\"intro\">The battle is underway, and Round One has already drawn to a close. Who or what has already fallen, in <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2024\/03\/18\/117706-it-is-time-middle-earth-march-madness-2024-launches-today\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Middle-earth March Madness 2024: Magical Moments\">Middle-earth March Madness 2024: Magical Moments<\/a><\/strong>?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a reminder: this year our divisions are made up of moments where magic occurs, in <em>The Hobbit<\/em> and in the three parts of <em>The Lord of the Rings. <\/em>What exactly constitutes magic in Middle-earth? And what are the best, most thrilling, or perhaps most intriguing moments when magic occurs? YOU decide!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Staffer Madeye Gamgee shared some thoughts on what we&#8217;ve seen in Round One:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many of the Round One matchups are much tighter this year versus years past, an indicator that there&#8217;s a broader sense of passion and resonance across the fan base over these magical moments.&nbsp; We&#8217;re not seeing any of those &#8216;Galadriel versus an Elven Loremaster&#8217; or &#8216;Elendil versus a Librarian&#8217; matchups with 95%+ victory margins like last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of the #1 and #2 seeds have not had easy matchups:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Disappearing Bilbo, #1 in FotR, only won with 54% against #16 Bombadil&#8217;s rescue songs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bruinen Water Horses at #2 took only 60% of the vote versus #15 reforging of Narsil<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>#2 in The Two Towers, the Palantir snaring Pippin, only defeated a very well-aged Aragorn, the #15 seed, with 57% of the vote<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And in the RotK region the #2, #3, and #4 seeds all went down to their lower-seeded opponents\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sam&#8217;s Galadriel Gift (#15) overcame the #2 summoning of the Dead<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>#14 Rohan arriving in the nick of time took out #3 Galadriel&#8217;s Phial in Shelob&#8217;s lair<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Athelas at #4 lost to #13, the Discovery of a New White Tree<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Interestingly, many book-only references, including the restoration of the Shire, finding a new White Tree on the slopes surrounding Minas Tirith, the two Bombadil entries (songs and Ring tricks), disappearing Elvish feasts in Mirkwood, and Beorn&#8217;s hospitable animals have all been very competitive. Of course, there are some, like William&#8217;s talking purse and Miruvor on the slopes of Caradhras, that got fairly overwhelmed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So here are the winners who are continuing on to Round Two (with their starting seeding number):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Hobbit Division<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Moon Runes Appear on Thrain&#8217;s Map (1)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bilbo&#8217;s Ring Turns Him Invisible (2)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Last Light of Durin&#8217;s Day Reveals the Keyhole (3)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Trolls Turn to Stone at Sunrise (5)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Black Arrow Strikes Home\/Takes Down Smaug (6)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Beorn Shape Shifts (7)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Arkenstone Shines with a Brilliant Inner Light (9)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Smaug is a Good Conversationalist (13)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The only surprise in this division was seed #13, Smaug&#8217;s conversation with Bilbo, defeating the &#8216;orc-warning&#8217; blue glow of Sting and Orcrist, which TORn staffers had voted to the #4 seed position. Now Smaug will have to take on the sun-struck stone trolls; will he talk his way to victory? See how the rest of the moments pair up in the coming round, in the full bracket below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"778\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/5.-Stone-Trolls-1024x778.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-117733 no-lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/5.-Stone-Trolls-1024x778.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/5.-Stone-Trolls-300x228.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/5.-Stone-Trolls-768x584.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/5.-Stone-Trolls-1536x1168.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/5.-Stone-Trolls-210x160.jpg 210w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/5.-Stone-Trolls.jpg 1655w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Fellowship of the Ring Division<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bilbo Vanishes at His Birthday Party (1)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gandalf Adds Wild Water Horses at the Flood of the Bruinen (2)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Galadriel Has Psychic Mind-Probing Power (3)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gandalf Puts On a Spectacular Fireworks Show (4)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Durin&#8217;s Doors Open at the Right Password (5)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gandalf Confronts the Balrog with Glamdring and the Flame of Anor (6)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Mirror of Galadriel Proves Perilous (7)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mithril Mail Stops a Cave Troll Spear (9)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this bracket, two of Gandalf&#8217;s magic moments came up against each other in Round One: his confrontation with the Balrog, and his moth-whispering ability. Perhaps not surprisingly, the mighty deed of a Balrog showdown won, and goes on to face a talent of Galadriel &#8211; her mind-probing powers. Tom Bombadil, arguably one of the most magical (and mysterious) characters in all of Tolkien&#8217;s legendarium, didn&#8217;t make it past this first round, alas; once again, Tom is conspicuous by his absence&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1237\" height=\"1121\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/16.-Bombadil-Rescue.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-117734 no-lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/16.-Bombadil-Rescue.png 1237w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/16.-Bombadil-Rescue-300x272.png 300w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/16.-Bombadil-Rescue-1024x928.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/16.-Bombadil-Rescue-768x696.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/16.-Bombadil-Rescue-177x160.png 177w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1237px) 100vw, 1237px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Bombadil responds to his rescue song (Illustration by Henry Neff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Two Towers Division<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Gandalf the White Returns from the Dead (1)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Palantir Snares Pippin (2)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gandalf Heals Theoden from Saruman&#8217;s Curse (3)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hithlain Rope Comes When It&#8217;s Called (5)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lembas Sustain the Fellowship on Their Quest (6)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Growing Hobbits Drink Ent Draught (7)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Shadowfax Can Run Really Really Fast (8)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Enraged Ents in battle (13)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An upset here was the magical camouflage of Elven cloaks (seeded #4) failing to make it past the power of the Ents. How will the shepherds of the trees fare against Hithlain rope, in Round Two? Seed #9, a surprisingly-attractive-for-an-87-year-old Aragorn, gave Pippin and the Palantir a good run for their money; but in the end, the #2 seed was the victor. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"288\" height=\"205\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/15.-Aragorn-at-87.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-117735 no-lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/15.-Aragorn-at-87.png 288w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/15.-Aragorn-at-87-225x160.png 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 288px) 100vw, 288px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Pretty good for his age&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Return of the King Division<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Witch King Is Destroyed by &#8220;No Man&#8221; (1)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Turns Out You&nbsp;Can&nbsp;Destroy the One Ring (aka the power of Mount Doom!) (5)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Elven Ships Leave Middle-earth and the Spheres of the World (6)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gandalf the White Repels the Nazgul During Faramir&#8217;s Retreat (7)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Dark Tower Falls (8)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It Turns Out a New White Tree of Gondor Has Been Growing for Years (13)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rohan Arrives on the Pelennor Fields as the Rooster Crows (14)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Galadriel&#8217;s Gift of Soil to Sam Sees the Shire Reborn (15)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Return of the King bracket saw the most upsets of all in this opening melee. The healing power of Athelas (seeded #4) was not strong enough to see it past this first round, being defeated by another plant &#8211; the 13th seed, the new White Tree of Gondor. Perhaps the most surprising result of this entire opening round was more plant power &#8211; Sam and his soil regenerating the Shire kicked out the #2 seed, the Army of the Dead. New life conquers death! The defeat of the phial of Galadriel (seeded #3) by the epic arrival of Rohan at dawn was also an upset; but can the Riders of Rohan overcome the Elven ships sailing into the West, next round? YOU decide &#8211; <strong>place your votes now, in Round Two!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/15.-Shire-Reborn.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-117736 no-lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/15.-Shire-Reborn.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/15.-Shire-Reborn-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/15.-Shire-Reborn-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/15.-Shire-Reborn-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Galadriel&#8217;s Gift, by Mat\u011bj&nbsp;\u010cadil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>How does it work, you ask? <\/strong>Simple! Click on one of the orange division buttons below. Then click the &#8216;Vote Now&#8217; option that appears above the divisional bracket. This year, as with last year, you get to vote in each divisional match-up in one convenient and visual interface. <em>Note &#8211; you need to click each division to vote in their respective brackets.<\/em> So let&#8217;s get voting!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/commoninja.site\/433061bd-c084-47c9-b3f5-4e470c23d3cc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Hobbit Division<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/commoninja.site\/b9fbc66e-77f7-43e3-a6cc-bd3f369b33d7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Fellowship of the Ring Division<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/commoninja.site\/cb654680-8387-4619-b100-0b5eb3417131\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Two Towers Division<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/commoninja.site\/ac9406ec-5b6d-45dd-b9aa-ac8fa3c30979\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Return of the King Division<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"790\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/memm-bracket-R2-1024x790.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-117739 no-lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/memm-bracket-R2-1024x790.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/memm-bracket-R2-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/memm-bracket-R2-768x593.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/memm-bracket-R2-207x160.jpg 207w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/memm-bracket-R2.jpg 1034w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You have until the end of the day<strong> Monday March 25th <\/strong>to vote in Round One; on Tuesday 26th we&#8217;ll announce winners and open voting for Round Three! Join us that night for TORn Tuesday, where we&#8217;ll have further discussion and debate on March Madness 2024. Rally the troops!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The battle is underway, and Round One has already drawn to a close. Who or what has already&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":117709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,197,36,7,35,3619,38,148,149,37,156,159,152,3656],"tags":[1438,1801,2044,1807,807,771,1970,2462,3135,3741],"class_list":["post-117731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-fans","category-fotr-book","category-hobbit-book","category-lotr-books","category-march-madness","category-rotk-book","category-hobbit","category-lotr","category-ttt-book","category-torn-announcements","category-torn-community","category-tolkien","category-tolkiens-writing","tag-dwarves","tag-elrond","tag-elves","tag-galadriel","tag-gandalf","tag-hobbits","tag-magic","tag-march-madness","tag-middle-earth-march-madness","tag-runes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-03-16-08.54.44-Dial-back-the-magical-elements-in-the-image-of-two-diverse-groups-running-towards-each-other-in-a-vast-open-field-creating-a-more-natural-but-still-.webp","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1tLoH-uCT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117731"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117742,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117731\/revisions\/117742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}