- Location
- Germany
And now imagine Sauron wearing 9 Rings, looking like he has a deep need to show off his bling, but doesn't know gold chains are a thing.
Ring-Maker [Worm/Lord of the Rings Alt-Power] [Complete]
- Thread starter Lithos Maitreya
- Start date
- Crossover Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- Germany
Maia in general are not restrained to human forms, but Sauron in particular lost most of his shape over time.
Animal form when he got beaten up by a dog, good-looking form when Numenor sank, now only the Dark Lord is left.
- Location
- Germany
He got beaten up by a dog? I didn't know that Bitch was in the Silmarillion.
KnightDisciple
Brotherhood. Unity. Peace.
- Location
- Midwest, USA
Not a dog. He got trashed by The Dog. He was The Hound of Hounds, basically.He got beaten up by a dog? I didn't know that Bitch was in the Silmarillion.
He got trashed by, all intents and purposes, a divine Hound. Not that Bitch hasn't gotten it going with her dogs, but I am not sure she'd ever be able to make the Jesus of dogs.
...I wonder how they would have gotten along, actually.
Sauron liked turning into bats, werewolves, and who knows what else during the first age. Mind, a lot of the rebellious Maia decided to go the Juggernaut route and take up the form of Balrogs. As in, Balrogs were invented because, being rebellious spirits of the fire, turning into titanic beings of fire, darkness and smoke was how they could best kick ass.
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Lithos Maitreya
Character Witness
- Location
- United States
Haven't played Shadow of War, so not intentionally. I just needed the Nazgûl to have their Rings. Again, the reason will become clear by the end of the arc.
KnightDisciple
Brotherhood. Unity. Peace.
- Location
- Midwest, USA
I'd say more like the Elijah of Dogs? He spoke prophetically, died, and stayed dead.
And probably really well!
As for Balrogs, they are definitely the result of someone dumping everything into 1 form.
PS the sun is a non-fallen version of a Balrog.
deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
- Location
- Earth
I don't recall Sauron being stated to lose his ability to transform into animals after his fight with Huan. I remember him just getting beaten and having to run off with his tail tucked between his legs.
Also, while he lost his ability to take fair form during the destruction of Númenor, the taking of the One Ring from him prevented him from holding physical form at all for nearly a millennia afterwards. When he got it back though, he could transform into like, a tree or something (I am now admittedly imagining the White Council attacking Dol Guldur and there's just an ordinary tree fighting them. I have a strange imagination).
- Location
- Germany
Hmm, true.
I missremembered that he left that form behind, but that was not the case.
deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
- Location
- Earth
Ah, I know that pain all too well.
That particular relationship dynamic is so obvious in concept, that it's a pity we'll never see it realize; Huan would probably be Bitch's almost literal spiritual animal.
Huan: "They are but men, weak and naive. Not all insults most be paid, and not all conflicts most end in blood. The life of these gansters aren't a good trade for your morality, siiiiigh, Bitch."
Bitch: "But they're stupid assholes!"
- Location
- Somewhere, Maybe
Damnit, now I'm giggling my butt off at the mental image of a bus-sized dog giving that utterly exasperated Momma Dog look and pinning Bitch to the street with one paw to keep her from going after someone who "insulted" her.
- Location
- Rotting in port
The epigraph on the opening post should be updated now that the intended ring bearers are revealed.
Lithos Maitreya
Character Witness
- Location
- United States
Oh, yeah. I'll do that after work.
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
Well, this has been quite the experience. Mostly enjoyable, though some scenes were... difficult to read. About my only complaint is that i feel that Sophia's transition from "closely watched, barely trusted almost hero" to "Taylor's closest friend" was a lot shorter than i find entirely believable.
AionVal
(Verified Figment)
- Location
- Beyond The Veil
Hello!
Just finished catching up. I love this, let me tell you. It was a little hard to read sometimes; Arcs 9 and 10 were really emotionally draining for me, but everything is fantastic. Can't wait for the rest of the story.
I do have a question: Aren't all the Rings supposed to let you step into the Unseen at will? This should be true of at least the Nine, but all of the Rings save for the Three and the One were made using the same design/method, I think. I have to admit that my LotR knowledge is a bit dusty, so not 100% sure there. Anyway, should we expect to see the Penitent all gain a Stranger rating soon?
Just finished catching up. I love this, let me tell you. It was a little hard to read sometimes; Arcs 9 and 10 were really emotionally draining for me, but everything is fantastic. Can't wait for the rest of the story.
I do have a question: Aren't all the Rings supposed to let you step into the Unseen at will? This should be true of at least the Nine, but all of the Rings save for the Three and the One were made using the same design/method, I think. I have to admit that my LotR knowledge is a bit dusty, so not 100% sure there. Anyway, should we expect to see the Penitent all gain a Stranger rating soon?
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
IIRC, thats only a side effect of the One Ring. The Ring Wraiths being able to see and interact with it is a result of them being thousand year old undead rather than anythjng to do with their rings.
I mean, wouldn't that also be a side effect of the other Rings then if a belated one? After all, the Ring Wraiths only linger because of the Rings, so at some point you have to ask how is it that they see, feel or interact with anything at all:
When their eyes rot away and they can still get some sort of visual feedback, is that because they retain sight out of their Rings anchoring them? Or because, as basically shadows bound to cloaks, the way they would see would be with the ability to see into the unknown?
I speculate because I am not sure the Dead Men of Dunharrow CAN see into it despite being ghosts. What with not ever being in the Unseen world because of their curse to remain in Middle Earth and all.
AionVal
(Verified Figment)
- Location
- Beyond The Veil
Alright, I had to go look for it but Gandalf says that the Nazgul are invisible because they turned invisible so much that they got stuck like that after a while. I'm paraphrasing. Is in Fellowship, if your interested.
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
Huh. that seems strange, but alright.
deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
- Location
- Earth
The Unseen isn't a place where dead people go (well, it kind of is, but only if you go to the Halls of Mandos, where everyone who dies goes eventually). It's more like where souls are when people are alive. It's weird and little described within the legendarium.
It's also notable that even near the end of their existence, when the Nazgul have the least connection to the regular world, they are still present in it to some, small degree. They have poor vision though, and are virtually completely incorporeal, so their 'fading' does affect how they interact with the normal world.
The Men of the Mountains likely could see and interact with the Unseen, being wraiths themselves, but in turn probably lacked the ability to physically affect the real world. Certainly they never use their weapons in the books.
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The Ring Wraiths would have never lost connection to the regular world, though, as their Rings were meant to be anchors. If they stopped Elves from losing their magic and their homes from losing their mojo, then keeping a sapient shadow from dissapearing into the aether is small chump change.
Now for the purpose of this discussion I am assuming that the canon being used here isn't completely book LoTR given some of the rather limiting aspects of it, namely one Tim Bombandil. God I hate that character. And the movies had some, well, things that upgraded the story such as the Ghost army that actually went and styled all over the Eastern Men. I mean, being scared into a riot is a VERY punkish way to go and I am glad that's not what happened in the movie.
As for the Unseen? I .... don't think that's right but then there are a whole lot of Tolkien letters that I haven't read.
KnightDisciple
Brotherhood. Unity. Peace.
- Location
- Midwest, USA
In the books, the ghost army helped Aragon free up all the forces down south at the coast, including a frick-ton of high-quality armored knights.
Also in the books, Minas Tirith's defense wasn't nearly as shitty.
Also in the books, Minas Tirith's defense wasn't nearly as shitty.
deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
- Location
- Earth
That's arguably true. Whether the Wraiths even still possessed their Rings by that time is questionable though. And there's rather a difference between "slow the natural decay of magic in the world" and "keep someone from stretching their soul so thin they vanish from actual reality". The two aren't the same thing, and whether the Rings would affect the second is unknown.
Bombadil works fine for what's supposed to be, which is a device to show the idea that there are beings and creatures even the Wise don't understand. It hints at a larger and more complex world. And the Dead turning up at Pelennor raises many questions (even ignoring the fact we don't see them use their weapons there in the movies either, we only see the King clash with Aragorn, and it's heavily implied to be because of Anduril that's possible) like why bother with the Corsair fleet at all? Why not just head straight to Minas Tirith with the Dead? And why bind them for two battles instead of one?
The Unseen is very poorly explained. And technically different from what Frodo was in, which IIRC was called the wraith world (although Glorfindel shows up in the Unseen and Frodo can see him like that in the wraith world, and it's kind of just a whole weird messy thing). Tolkien never really went into much detail on it though, from what I recall.
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