{"id":88042,"date":"2014-03-28T11:28:26","date_gmt":"2014-03-28T16:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=88042"},"modified":"2014-03-28T11:28:26","modified_gmt":"2014-03-28T16:28:26","slug":"weve-reached-the-elite-eight-vote-now-in-middle-earth-march-madness-round-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2014\/03\/28\/88042-weve-reached-the-elite-eight-vote-now-in-middle-earth-march-madness-round-4\/","title":{"rendered":"We’ve reached the Elite Eight! Vote Now in Middle-earth March Madness Round 4!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"middleearthmarchmadness14-vertical\"We’ve reached arguably the most exciting round of this year’s Middle-earth March Madness – The Elite Eight! Eight combatants have tested their gruff against some impressive opponents, and now face a battle for the ages! In the Lonely Mountain division we have the (16) Elrond taking on fan fav (6) Aragorn. In Erebor, (1) Thorin Oakenshield faces a much bigger challenge than gold fever when he faces (3) The One Ring. The Bag End match-up is a battle of the top seeds as (1) Bilbo takes on the trending (2) Thranduil (aka Sparkles). And last but not least, Mirkwood gives us a battle of two all-time Middle-earth juggernauts – (1) Gandalf vs. (14) Legolas. This is a round for the ages!<\/p>\n

Voting in this round will end on April 1st (we promise to give you real results) so don’t delay – fight for your choices. Share! Tweet! Comment!<\/p>\n

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\"2014-middleearthmadness-bracket-rd4\"<\/a>LONELY MOUNTAIN BRACKET<\/b><\/p>\n

To say we seeded (16) Elrond too low may be an extreme understatement. He dispatched (1) Smaug, (8) Fingolfin and now (13) Treebeard to reach an epic battle with the crowd favorite (6) Aragorn. These two calm combatants seem oddly matched, but one must come out victorious. Is this the end of Elrond’s long run?<\/p>\n

BAG END BRACKET<\/b><\/p>\n

In a battle of the top seeds, we see (1) Bilbo Baggins taking on ‘Team Sparkle’ (2) Thranduil. Thranduil is riding a wave of fan buzz (#teamsparkle), but we have our doubts he can take down the greatest Hobbit of them all! Bilbo! Thranduil! FIGHT!<\/p>\n

EREBOR BRACKET<\/b><\/p>\n

The top seed, (1) Thorin Oakenshield, survived match-ups with (16)Pippin and (8)Boromir, but is he any match for the power of (3) The One Ring?! If you are going based off his persona in the books, I highly doubt he would be able to resist the power of The Ring, and surely he’d succumb. It’s the Richard Armitage Army versus potentially the most powerful object in Middle-earth!<\/p>\n

MIRKWOOD BRACKET<\/b><\/p>\n

I’m calling this the ‘favored’ bracket – where we pitted a lot of popular character favorites against each other. And while (14) Legolas did not make last year’s tournament, he’s pulling gout some major upsets to make the Elite Eight. He’s already dispatched previous champ (10) Samwise Gamgee and is now on a collision course with arguably the most popular character in all of Middle-earth, (1) Gandalf. Is this elf any match for Gandalf!?<\/p>\n

Happy voting!<\/p>\n

Download the Bracket!\u00a0[Round\u00a04<\/a>]\u00a0[Round 3<\/a>]\u00a0[Round 2<\/a>] [Round 1<\/a>]<\/p>\n



\nThe Lonely Mountain – Round 4<\/strong>
\nMarch 28th – April 1st 2014<\/em>
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