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Relics of the Third Age: A Lord of the Rings Quest

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[X] The Hunter
[X] The Captain
[X] The Sage

[X][Appearance] Stronk
[X] Arphazel-Captain/Numenorean Warrior
The Captain and the Sage both lead Arphazêl towards positions of leadership. The Captain and the Hunter both give combat ability. The Hunter and the Sage will both grant some familiarity nonhuman inhabitants of Middle Earth, Dwarves and Hobbits respectively. The royal princess seemed a little delicate for the life Arphazêl will be leading, though it might fit if the Sage or the Peddler won. With the Captain leading the vote I think the short hair and muscle development of Stronk fits the military background.

I will hold off on the appearance vote until there are multiple entries.
 
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[X] The Captain

The hunter and the Smith might also work. Smiths especially tend to be respected people. But the captain is probably best
 
Chengar Qordath said:
so we'll probably have to walk."
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As Lord Tolkien would have wanted.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgMnCLHQuqc
Chengar Qordath said:
"Horsey!"
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... or not.

[X] Write in - Refuse to leave Gandalf
Hell no. This guy tricked you into coming with him to Nurn and now he thinks he can just leave you behind here? You refuse. This is payback for his deception earlier and you can be very persistent if you want to be. Stick to him like a limpet, annoy him and learn whatever you can from him. That's what you'll do. Surely a nice horsey like Shadowfax won't just let you be stuck in this village, right?

How hard can it be traveling with an old man even if he is a wizard?

I don't even care if it works, I just think it'd be funny. :V

Otherwise:
[X] The Captain.
[X] Arphazêl the Outcast

[X][Appearance] Stronk
 
Excalibur said:
[X] Write in - Refuse to leave Gandalf
Hell no. This guy tricked you into coming with him to Nurn and now he thinks he can just leave you behind here? You refuse. This is payback for his deception earlier and you can be very persistent if you want to be. Stick to him like a limpet, annoy him and learn whatever you can from him. That's what you'll do. Surely a nice horsey like Shadowfax won't just let you be stuck in this village, right?
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Gandalf will leave middle earth by the next few years though, long before Arphazel is adult.
 
[X] The Sage.
[X] The Captain.
[X] The Smith
[X] Royal Princess.

I like it and man Nurn,kinda got fucked by sauron ngl.
Why smith because it's middle earth and there still could be a damaged ring of Power out there in the land of mordor and who could fix it if not a great smith(just my head canon)
Btw do we use some of the lore of shadow of mordor (i know it does not conform with Tolkiens lore and hammer up for games sake but it would be funny if she meets talion)


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[X] Write in - Refuse to leave Gandalf
Hell no. This guy tricked you into coming with him to Nurn and now he thinks he can just leave you behind here? You refuse. This is payback for his deception earlier and you can be very persistent if you want to be. Stick to him like a limpet, annoy him and learn whatever you can from him. That's what you'll do. Surely a nice horsey like Shadowfax won't just let you be stuck in this village, right?

How hard can it be traveling with an old man even if he is a wizard?



You sire got me with this and how old are we btw it would probaly be pretty okay if he leaves in 4-5 years and we are 14-15.
 
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[X] Arphazêl the Outcast
[X] Write in - Refuse to leave Gandalf
 
Apparently we love beasts, if our enthusiastic greeting of and instinctive reluctance to harm Shadowfax is any guide at all. Perhaps our apprenticeship should let us care for them, as a squire, groom, driver, or stablehand.

[x] The Captain
[x] The Hunter
[x] The Peddler
[x] The Farmer
 
[X] The Smith
[X] The Captain
[X] The Hunter

All of these sound quite fun.
 
Blademaster said:
if I remember correctly he leaves two years after the coronation, so less then 3 from now. and we are 8. so we will be 10-11 when he leaves. no nearly old enough
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To be precise, Gandalf left Middle-earth on 29 September 3021, while the Battle of the Morannon occurred on 25 March 3019. Of this time, he disappeared for about two years to talk with Tom Bombadil.
 
Eternal_0bserver said:
I don't think Arphazêl would want to do peasant work, so The Sage and The Captain seem more appropriate. The former is somewhat in keeping with what her parents did, while the latter seems appropriate after meeting Gandalf. Outcast sounds too sad to be a choice.

[X] The Captain.

[X] The Sage.

As for looks, I kind of like the idea that Arphazêl's looks would make her stand out, even if her mannerisms didn't. Plus, being Númenorean would probably mean she'd be taller than most, if not everyone in her village, so her origins would almost certainly be an open secret.

[X] Royal Princess.
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generally agree on the look, but IMO the image looks a bit too ethereal for a girl raised in a village. I suggest those instead:



View: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/478859372895170868/

two options for whats seems like the most popular choices, but I can probably find more later if another option gains traction

[X]Numenorean warrior

View: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/66146688271634496/
 
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I would encourage everyone who hasn't voted on a character appearance yet to look at some of the options and vote their preferences. We are up to 3-4 options so far and the majority of votes have not stated a preference as of yet.

Edit: Case in point: Blademaster, you brought two options forward but didn't vote for either them or the existing options.
 
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Blademaster said:
generally agree on the look, but IMO the image looks a bit too ethereal for a girl raised in a village. I suggest those instead:


View: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/66146688271634496/


View: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/478859372895170868/

two options for whats seems like the most popular choices, but I can probably find more later if another option gains traction
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This is actually intentional. My idea is that, due to her Númenórean blood, despite working hard like everyone else, Arphazêl looks like a princess who has never worked in her entire life. It's just another way to emphasize how odd she looks compared to everyone else in the village. I find this concept quite interesting for the story.
 
Eternal_0bserver said:
This is actually intentional. My idea is that, due to her Númenórean blood, despite working hard like everyone else, Arphazêl looks like a princess who has never worked in her entire life. It's just another way to emphasize how odd she looks compared to everyone else in the village. I find this concept quite interesting for the story.
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I have to be honest I don't really see this with Numenorean blood. Aragorn certainly looked weathered enough from his years as Strider that people remarked on his appearance.
 
Eternal_0bserver said:
This is actually intentional. My idea is that, due to her Númenórean blood, despite working hard like everyone else, Arphazêl looks like a princess who has never worked in her entire life. It's just another way to emphasize how odd she looks compared to everyone else in the village. I find this concept quite interesting for the story.
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I think that even then, this picture looks almost glowing, magical. doesn't seem to fit
even beyond that, there is some peacefulness to the picture which fits Arphazel even less- I don't see her forgetting the death of her parents easily
 
Servetus said:
I have to be honest I don't really see this with Numenorean blood. Aragorn certainly looked weathered enough from his years as Strider that people remarked on his appearance.
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If you're constantly on the road in the wilderness, no amount of natural beauty will help you. To be honest, I'm not sure where I got this impression of Númenórean blood from - it's been a while since I read these books. In any case, it's not necessarily even the right reason - just how Arphazêl explains it to herself.

Blademaster said:
I think that even then, this picture looks almost glowing, magical. doesn't seem to fit
even beyond that, there is some peacefulness to the picture which fits Arphazel even less- I don't see her forgetting the death of her parents easily
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I don't see it that way, but I'm certainly not insisting that my option is the best - just what seems interesting and appropriate to me.
 
Blademaster said:
I think that even then, this picture looks almost glowing, magical. doesn't seem to fit
even beyond that, there is some peacefulness to the picture which fits Arphazel even less- I don't see her forgetting the death of her parents easily
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Just to reiterate, you should probably edit your voting post to include a vote for one of the options you brought forward.
 
Servetus said:
I have to be honest I don't really see this with Numenorean blood. Aragorn certainly looked weathered enough from his years as Strider that people remarked on his appearance.
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On the other hand, Aragorn had lived threescore-odd years in the Wild by the time we meet him in Lord of the Rings. This is not comparable to half a decade being raised in a settled community, even if that community primarily does subsistence farming. I'm sure Aragorn was quite fetching in his mid-twenties, shortly after leaving Rivendell.

I would caution in any event, however, against imaging Arphazel as at all elvish (i.e., ethereal, superhumanly beautiful, overtly magical, etc.). Not only is the time of the elves over generally, but she would have had little to no contact with them growing up (there would have been few in Mordor or Umbar who were not prisoners of war, and Arphazel does not seem to have been apprenticed to gaolers or torturers at any point), and none of her proposed guardians are elves.
 
Zimmerwald1915 said:
On the other hand, Aragorn had lived threescore-odd years in the Wild by the time we meet him in Lord of the Rings. This is not comparable to half a decade being raised in a settled community, even if that community primarily does subsistence farming. I'm sure Aragorn was quite fetching in his mid-twenties, shortly after leaving Rivendell.

I would caution in any event, however, against imaging Arphazel as at all elvish (i.e., ethereal, superhumanly beautiful, overtly magical, etc.). Not only is the time of the elves over generally, but she would have had little to no contact with them growing up (there would have been few in Mordor or Umbar who were not prisoners of war, and Arphazel does not seem to have been apprenticed to gaolers or torturers at any point), and none of her proposed guardians are elves.
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even then, what he did effected him. and Aragorn started going into the wild in his 20s. your looks are far more adaptive when you are growing up.
plus, if she is going to train, she will grow muscled. if she will be a farm, her skin will darken slightly from the sun. the food she eats, the places she goes, will shape her appearance, we see that with Aragorn quite clearly. her clothes will also fit being in a village. and her experession won't be of a peaceful princess. she might be beautiful, but she will be hardened, simply cause thats how growing bodies work.

her upbringing will be affected by where she grew up and how. sure, she will be different, probably taller, different in build and hair, and possibly have some of the potential for that looks. but even the elves change their appearance like that. Numenorean certainly would.
 
Eternal_0bserver said:
To be precise, Gandalf left Middle-earth on 29 September 3021, while the Battle of the Morannon occurred on 25 March 3019. Of this time, he disappeared for about two years to talk with Tom Bombadil.
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That's the main reason I'll have to put a QM veto on having Arphazêl stick with Gandalf. He knows he's leaving Middle Earth soon, and most of what he'll be up to before leaving isn't compatible with bringing along a kid. It's valid to have her want to stick with him, but she won't be able to annoy him into adopting her.

Eternal_0bserver said:
As for looks, I kind of like the idea that Arphazêl's looks would make her stand out, even if her mannerisms didn't. Plus, being Númenorean would probably mean she'd be taller than most, if not everyone in her village, so her origins would almost certainly be an open secret.
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As I understand it, tallness was mostly a feature of the Second Age/Pre-Fall of Numenor Numenoreans. 3000 years later, people with Numenorean heritage don't seem to be as visually distinct. Aragorn isn't visually distinct from other people (aside from looking very young and fit for an 87-year-old). Of course, we can still have Arphazêl be tall if we want, it's just not a mandatory feature.

Regarding hiding her heritage, Gandalf was more concerned about the "Her parents worked for Sauron" piece than her Numenorean blood. Bragging about what rank her parents held in Sauron's service will not make a good impression on the people Sauron enslaved.

Lord Bane said:
I like it and man Nurn,kinda got fucked by sauron ngl.
Btw do we use some of the lore of shadow of mordor (i know it does not conform with Tolkiens lore and hammer up for games sake but it would be funny if she meets talion)
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Sauron was a bit of an evil overlord prone to doing evil overlord things.

I'm not opposed to using some Shadow of Mordor/Shadow of War lore to fill in gaps and flesh out ideas, but I'll generally stick with the books as the primary lore source and films as secondary (If only because it's so iconic for capturing the visuals and characters).
 
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