Insulting Elves

Posted on June 4, 2014 by The Dwarrow Scholar

Update: June 20th: David Salo has since published a detailed explanation of the phrase seen in the films.   Thank you for that David.   All updates in the below article are placed in italic.

 

As many have requested my view on the neo-khuzdul insults Thorin delivers to Thranduil in the second installment of the Hobbit movies, I thought it might be interesting to make a post on the topic.

The first insult Thorin makes to Thranduil in neo-khuzdul is “Imrid amrâd ursul!” which is “Die a death of flames!” (lit: “Die a fiery death”). “Ursul” means “fiery” and in typical khuzdul (semitic) fashion it is placed after the noun. This phrase can also be found on page 97 in the Weta AUJ: Chronicles II. Though they seem to have forgotten the “^” on the second “a” in amrâd (which takes the aCCâC form – usual for abstract concepts – seen in khuzdul words such “aglâb” (language).

image

The second phrase has actually changed in meaning over the course of history.  As David Salo’s neo-khuzdul version has changed significantly, it’s original meaning (what Gimli says in the Extended Edition of Fellowship of the Ring) could no longer fit into his current neo-khuzdul version. (Apparently he never even wrote the line himself).  Originally it was: “Ishkhaqwi ai durugnul” and translated into “I spit upon your grave” (according to a German fan site).  This earlier neo-khuzdul version is not Salo’s own creation and obviously not the one used in the Hobbit movies.

Meaning that David Salo had to come up with something that sounded very similar but had an actual meaning in his current neo-khuzdul version.  The current phrase became: “îsh kakhfê ai’d dur-rugnul!” Witch sounds very similar but has a different meaning altogether.

It means (according to me – which is backed up by Richard Armitage’s own words and Salo’s site – see link above): “May my excrement be poured upon the naked-jawed (ones)” – Ish = likely a gerund form meaning “pouring” – and fits nicely into Salo’s overall scheme for imperatives, CiCiC; it could come from a root ʔAYAŠA , kakhfê (kakhf = excrement ê = my), ai = upon (as seen in khazâd ai-mênu), ‘d = id = objective article (“the”), Dûr simply means bare, naked, or uncovered, from a root √DAYARA (*√DAWARA) “strip, shave, make naked” (some have suggested this means “head”, but I do not agree as the mountain “Bundushathûr” means “cloudy head”, head would be “bund”); rugn (plural ragân) is the lower jaw (or chin).

So, that’s my* lesson in insulting elves, I hoped you all enjoyed it friends.

*Updated by the teachings of mister Salo of course.

Note: I do not support insulting elves, half-elves or elf-friends in any way, form or fashion and shall not take any responsibility for any physical injuries (or injuries of any kind) upon using the above insults.  😉

Posted in Language | 30 Comments

The Dwarrow Scholar needs you!

Posted on May 8, 2014 by The Dwarrow Scholar

Well met!

Those that are giving me a somewhat angry look… mercy please! *starts waving a little white flag*.  It has indeed been a tremendous long time since my last post… and I’ve kept everyone waiting for the updated materials… however… I hope you’ll be thrilled to hear that the updated neo-khuzdul material is getting its last finishing touches. Hence the reason I have not been putting up any new posts on this blog recently… as I’ve used up every spare second of my free time to update and create new neo-khuzdul material for you! … yes you 😉

I’m not going to go into too much detail on the new material in this post (saving that for later), but those that have signed up should be more than happy with the result (if I may say so).

So why this teasing post ? Well… spending months updating and creating new documents has also made me have a closer look at the YouTube lessons I had made in 2012 (those currently online).  As all those needed urgent revision as well.  The result is that I’m in the midst of completing an entire “lesson pack” – containing no less than 24 individual neo-khuzdul lessons.  To make it a bit more interesting than before several stories have been created (finishing some of those now), which will form the backbone of the lessons.  For these stories I hope to find several people to voice the characters.

Dwarrow Scholar Needs YOU

Dwarrow Scholar Needs YOU

What exactly am I looking for:

* 4 to 6 people to voice-act the various characters in the lessons, both men and women of all ages are welcomed.

* People that speak English (does not need to be native, yet needs to have a very good understanding of the language) – if you are reading this without the use of Google translate I guess that means you!   You do not need an understanding of Khuzdul or Semitic-languages, though it’s a plus.

* People with a passion for languages and learning.

* People that are able to record .mp3 audio (via audacity or other) and a have a good quality microphone.

* People that are willing to do this for the glory of it and the good of education (all those sick of hearing only my voice in the current lessons will be tremendously grateful).  This is all non-profit as you might imagine, though your name (or alias if you prefer) will be listed at the credits of each lesson.

How will this work:

* The chosen voice actors will receive materials (transcripts and audio files – to help with the pronunciation) via email (including details on the story, which part they should record, etc…).

* You record your part before the given deadline (you’ll always have a minimum of two weeks to record and send the material)

* The lessons will be audio only (in the style of the 2012 lessons), so no need for any video application.

* The voice actors can always contact me via email or Skype when running into challenges, you won’t be on your own with this material.

* These lessons will be recorded and edited over a period of 6 weeks, after which the project ends.  At the start of each two weeks the voice actors will receive new material (see above), meaning that they’ll need to do three recordings sessions in total, each taking about an hour in total (if that).

What part am I auditioning for ?

That’s difficult to say at this point really, as the lesson stories have several male and female dwarven characters.   These range from soldiers, traders, miners, tavern keepers to famous characters such Ori or Thorin Oakenshield himself.

Interested ? Now what ?

* send me an email BEFORE MAY 23rd at kstrongbeard[AT]aol.com with a recorded .mp3 file.  This audio file should tell me a bit more about you (your name and interest in khuzdul is a good start) and should include the famous phrase “Baruk khazâd, khazâd ai-mênu”.  This way I should be able to tell if your audio quality and voice are what I need.

Thank you all and keep you posted!

Posted in Language | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Kili’s Runestone

Posted on December 24, 2013 by The Dwarrow Scholar

SPOILER ALERT

There has been some discussion of late related to Kili’s Runestone featured in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

The Big question most have is (apart from why doesn’t WETA™ already have this in their shop?)… “what do the runes say?”

As I received a kind request from Kristie Erickson to help out with the translation… that I couldn’t deny in the spirit of Christmas after all… I jumped right in and had a closer look at the stone.

First of all, the stone is not your regular find-in-your-local-stream-kinda-stone, but appears to be a very beautiful polished Labradorite, which is a feldspar mineral.

Kili's Runestone featured in the Desolation of Smaug

Kili’s Runestone featured in the Desolation of Smaug

If we take a closer look at the picture of the runes, we notice it appears to consist of 6 runes. I say “appears”, as I’m not sure that some of the markings here are not just wear and scratches. In fact I personally believe that the last rune has some markings that very likely are not part of the rune.

Khuzdul (and the film version neo-khuzdul) is formed as a Semitic language, meaning amongst other things that the type of vowels and order in which these are arranged among the consonants in a word dictate the exact meaning of it. The linguist charged with forming the film version of Khuzdul is linguist David Salo. One of the characteristics of his neo-khuzdul is the iCCiC form (C being a consonant) for the imperative form (form used for command, orders, requests, permission and prohibition).

An example of that is found in the line “Nî ikrit fund” (meaning: never trust an elf). In this example the word “ikrit” is the imperative form of the verb to trust. We are, in a way, “commanded” not to trust an elf.

Now, what does all this have to do with Kili’s runestone? Well, we can clearly notice the runes for “i” on the first and third rune. Plus the stone also seems to have six rune markings, again consistent with the imperative form of neo-khuzdul. So chances this is some form of command or request are extremely high.

Another hint for this is given when we look at the lines from the film (spoiler alert reminder):

Tauriel:The stone in your hand, what is it?
Kili:It is a talisman…. A powerful spell lies upon it. If any but a dwarf reads the runes on the stone, they will be forever cursed… or not. Depending on whether you believe that kind of thing. It’s just a token… a rune-stone. My mother gave it to me so I’d remember my promise.
Tauriel:What promise?
Kili:That I would come back to her…. She worries. She thinks I’m reckless.

Kili clearly states that it is a promise to come back. This fits with our assumption that these runes use the khuzdul imperative form. “Come Back” (or “Return”) is an imperative form.

The question now is, does this really say “come back”?
What can the other runes tell us ?

Unfortunately not much. The forth could be a “Kh” rune. I say “could be”, as the little dot next to it could be the “h” of the K, but it could very well be the separating word dot (used as a space) to indicate the following word.  Let us assume this is a separating marker, a space indicating two words. The others I can’t be 100% sure of. As the second rune seems to be a form of “N”, the extra stroke is likely a duplication mark, meaning it would be a double “N”. while the fifth rune seems to be a “d”. The last and sixth rune is the biggest question mark. It looks like the rune for the extended “e” (ê), but I cant be sure as the markings are quite unclear.

So if we put all of these assumption together we get “innik dê”.

The main problem off course is that we are not sure what are scratches on the rune or what are actual rune markings. But if by some tremendous amount of luck my assumption would be correct than this word has the radicals “N-N-K”.

The consonants (or radicals) of a Semitic word will determine the general meaning of a word (while the vowels will make it specific). An example of this is (staying with our previous example): AKRÂT, means “The Trust” (using aCCâC form – making it the abstract form), while “IKRIT”, means “Trust!” (using iCCiC form – making it a command). All of the above tells us that if there is another word with these same consonants, we can identify the exact meaning.

The radicals N-N-K seem to be inspired by the biliteral root N-KH, meaning “come” (related to the Adûnaic form “nakh-“).  This could be linked to a duplication pattern we often see in semitic languages which intensifies the verb.  Turing N-Kh to N-N-K, turning “come” to “come back”.

The second word “dê” could be a merger of the word “du” (meaning “to”) and the singular pronominal suffix -ê.  We see an example of the word “du” in Thorin’s battle cry “Du Bekâr (to arms!) in the first installment of the Hobbit movies (at the Battle of Azanulbizar).   So translating this would give us “to me”.

Thorin at the Battle of Azanulbizar ® & ™ 2012 Warner Bros, Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Thorin at the Battle of Azanulbizar
® & ™ 2012 Warner Bros, Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Though we can’t be sure of it at present, I personally remain convinced that it means “RETURN TO ME”

Update: David Salo has in the meantime confirmed our assumption: http://midgardsmal.com/kila-steinn/

Posted in Language, Writings | Tagged , , , , , | 33 Comments

Delving the Dwarrowdelf

Posted on November 14, 2013 by The Dwarrow Scholar

When the fellowship journeys through the long dark of Moria they at one point arrive at one of the Great Halls of Khazad-dûm.  This is where Gimli sings to the fellowship of Durin and the Dwarrowdelf (changed to Gandalf briefly mentioning it in Peter Jackson’s adaptation).

The Dwarrowdelf in Peter Jackson's LoTR

The Dwarrowdelf in Peter Jackson’s LoTR

“There must have been a mighty crowd of dwarves here at one time ‘ said Sam; ‘and every one of them busier than badgers for five hundred years to make all this, and most in hard rock too! What did they do it all for? They didn’t live in these darksome holes surely? ‘     ‘These are not holes,’ said Gimli. ‘This is the great realm and city of the Dwarrowdelf. And of old it was not darksome, but full of light and splendour, as is still remembered in our songs.” [LoTR – FoTR – Journey in the Dark]

At which point our friend Gimli begins to chant of the city of old.

Reading this passage again recently, a tiny question popped into my mind… “could Khazad-dûm really have been built?”.  A question that didn’t go away either and starting gnawing at me until I finally did it justice by doing a bit of research and crunching some numbers.   Obviously we have (unfortunately, as usual) little factual numbers to work with from Tolkien’s writing, so we must base ourselves on what little we do know and what conjecture could be valuable for this exercise.

So, what exactly do we want to find out here…

Could Khazad-dûm actually have been built beneath the mountains?

To answer this question we have a multitute of variables to take into account, being amongst others: the density and weight of the Mountains, the amount of dwarven workers, dwarven excavating techniques, workhours per worker, strenght of each worker, system of rubble removal, etc… .

So let’s start with our facts and data we can deduct from these fact.

Khazad-dûm was delved under three mountains; Bundushathûr (Cloudyhead), Barazinbar (Redhorn) and Zirakzigil (Silvertine).  Unfortunately we do not know the actual height or base diameter of these mountains.  We could however base ourselves on maps to find out the base diameter of these mountains.  With a perfect conical mountain, the base diameter is usually twice the length of the actual height.  So, this means that if we found out the base lenght of these mountains by studying Tolkien’s map in more detail we would be able to deduct the estimated height.

Conical Shape

Conical Shape

With both height and base we could make a decent estimate at the weight of this range.

Though we are able to find maps that feature the Misty Mountains, of which these three peaks are part of, it’s a bit of a challenge to find an original map that features these three mountains prominently.

Hence me basing myself on a map featured on The Encyclopedia of Arda. Based on this map our mountains would end up with the following specifics:

Thanks to The Encyclopedia of Arda http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/

Mountains of Khazad-dûm

Mountains of Khazad-dûm

Bundushathûr Height

3500
Bundushathûr Base

7500
Bundushathûr Cubic M

206,167,017,892
weight in tons

992,188,732,273
Barazinbar Height

4500
Barazinbar Base

9500
Barazinbar Cubic M

425,293,105,480
weight in tons

2,046,743,613,431
Zirakzigil Height

5000
Zirakzigil Base

12000
Zirakzigil Cubic M

753,982,236,862
weight in tons

3,628,575,935,169
Connecting Passage Weight (tons):

1,000,126,242,131
Kh-D Mountains weight (tons):

6,667,508,280,874
Total Kh-D Range weight (tons):

7,667,634,523,005

So, what do the above numbers tell us really?

In short, the range of the three mountains above Khazad-dûm (mountains and connecting passages and plains) would weigh 7.6 trillion tons.  With the ice and snow on top of these it would likely be closer to 8 trillion tons.

For those that wonder, I calculated the weight based on the average weight per cubic centimeter of earth (5.5gr) and granite (2.8gr), using a 75/25 ratio (a bit more then usual in most mountains – taking into account Sam’s comment “and most in hard rock too! ” ) Metals such as gold, silver or even mithril in this case would not even account for one thousand of a percent of the total weight of the mountains.   Yet to be as complete as I can be, I’ve taken all this into account, and came up with an average weight per cubic centimeter of 4.813 gram.

Now you might wonder what the weight of these mountains has to do with the whole question we’ve asked.. well we’ll come to that a bit later.

Let us focus first on the key question here.. How many Dwarves would we have needed to excavate Khazad-dûm to the size we know from the books?  Without question Khazad-dûm was beyond vast.  By the time of the Balrog (T.A 1980) thousands of smaller and larger mansions would have been build/excavated to house the growing number of Dwarves.  Bring into that equation the Great Halls and the Smaller Halls and the numerous passage ways, this mammoth construction task would make the Great Pyramid of Giza look like a tiny LEGO-set.  So, how many Dwarves would we have needed to actually have completed this “job” ? And would there have been enough of them around to build Khazad-dûm in the first place ?

In order to come up with an answer to this question I based myself on the Khazad-dûm we find in Turbine’s LoTRO.

Moria in LoTRO

Is this the definite answer to the inner size of Khazad-dûm ? No, it isn’t… that I fear rests forever in the genius mind of Tolkien himself.  But to be frank, Turbine did a brilliant job at capturing the vastness of the Dwarrowdelf and in my view comes close to the vastness described by Tolkien.   So let’s crunch some number shall we…

Sizing up and adding up all the Great Halls, Small Halls, mansions, passage ways and mines we find in our virtual LoTRO Moria a grand total of no less then 1.5 billion tons of excavated matter.  To give you an idea this rubble pile could have made a small mountain/large hill on its own with a height of about 500 meters.

We know that the vast majority of the Khazad-dûm would have been completed by the mid of the Second Age (when the friendship with the Elves of Eregion was at its height and the West-Gate would have been built).  Seeing that Durin the Deathless would have founded his seat of power back in the year of trees, we are looking at roughly 6000 years of construction time.

Moria West Gate

Moria West Gate

Now add to that the concept that Dwarves are very hardy beings, that live more then twice as long as men and are expert delvers, we start to get a good idea of how many delvers we would have needed to complete this epic monument that is the Dwarrowdelf.

Let’s say our average dwarf works for 150 years (excluding their youth and old age), hardy as he is he can work 12 hours a day (forget the Middle-Earth union for minute).. and would work about 300 days a year (apart from the Dwarven holidays these lads would be delving away).  Being stronger than men we can safely say these dwarves would have had no problem with cutting away 30 kilos per hour (which would be twice as much as what men would have been able to on a very good day, in present day).  So with all these founded assumptions… we can work out that we would have needed a work-force of 2381 dwarves (on average) each generation.   Each dwarf excavating about 16 tons of rock over their lifetime.   If the above were true, Khazad-dûm could indeed have been completely built by mid Second Age.

These figures aren’t pulled out of thin air either as Gimli gave us a very decent hint at the construction fury of the dwarves:

At the Hornburg: “Ever my heart rises as we draw near the mountains. There is good rock here. This country has tough bones. I felt them in my feet as we came up from the dike. Give me a year and a hundred of my kin and I would make this a place that armies would break upon like water. …Sleep! I feel the need of it. Yet my axe is restless in my hand. Give me a row of orc-necks and room to swing and all weariness will fall from me!”  [LoTR – The Two Towers – 7 Helm’s Deep]

This may have been a bit of boasting on Gimli’s part, though I doubt it myself.  Still, Gimli seems quite convinced that a hundred longbeards could construct a massive defensive structure in only a year.  Which strengthens my earlier suggested numbers on dwarven work ethic.

The big question now is, would there have been at least 2381 dwarves ready for delving each generation ?

Dwarf miner by Vikingair Thane

Dwarf miner by Vikingair Thane

Short answer… eventually YES.   The first generations, at the time Durin the Deathless founded Khazad-dûm, would have been too few to complete anything more than a few mansions and perhaps a small hall.  But after about 30 generations the numbers would have been enough for the dwarves to go into overdrive and create massive construction works, such as the endless stair, many of the great halls and eventually passages to the West leading to the Hollin Gate.   So work on Khazad-dûm would have started very slow, due to the very slim number of dwarves around.  At the end of the first age, when many of the Firebeards and Broadbeams fled to Khazad-dûm (after the Halls of Tumunzahar and Gabilgathol fell to ruin), there would have been more than enough dwarves around to reach our minimum number of 2381 dwarven workers.

It would be fair to assume that the workers that actually delved the Dwarrowdelf would likely not have been the largest group of workers by the start of the Third Age.  As by this time most of the grand constructions of Khazad-dûm would have been completed and mining for Mithril would have become the highest priority.

Which leads me to a little bonus point in this article.

Bilbo/Frodo's Mithril Courslet

Bilbo/Frodo’s Mithril Courslet

 

How much mithril would the dwarves have mined by T.A 1980?

I know, I know, this is based on a zillion variables and would be as accurate as pinning answers on a board and throwing a few darts at them.  Still, that won’t stop me to have a bit of fun and come up with a somewhat educated guess.

“‘The wealth of Moria was not in gold and jewels, the toys of the Dwarves; nor in iron, their servant. Such things they found here, it is true, especially iron; but they did not need to delve for them: all things that they desired they could obtain in traffic. For here alone in the world was found Moria-silver, or true-silver as some have called it: mithril is the Elvish name. …… ‘Mithril! All folk desired it. It could be beaten like copper, and polished like glass; and the Dwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder than tempered steel. Its beauty was like to that of common silver, but the beauty of mithril did not tarnish or grow dim.” [LoTR – FoTR – Journey in the Dark]

What does the above tell us…  Mithril was a very light metal and the mining industry of Khazad-dûm was aimed at it exclusively.  We also know the dwarves were relentless at finding new veins of Mithril, eventually leading to their own doom.     So, without much shame, here come my darts…

1) Mithril was nearly as light as water (1.05 grams per cubic centimeter)

2) It was common at first in Khazad-dûm (likely slightly less common as gold would be, yet at lot less frequent than iron ore), but became ever more rare as time went on.

3) We know these mountains contained gold and jewels, so taking real life examples of mountains that also contain gold and jewels, we can estimate how much of these metals would have been in these mountains.

As a result: The three mountains of Khazad-dûm likely contained over 100 tons of Mithril.  That sounds like a tremendous amount at first, yet is not even one billionth of the total weight of these mountains, making it extremely hard to find.  And once the first larger veins were excavated the price of mithril would have gone “beyond price”, forcing the dwarves to delve deeper and deeper for it, as we know.  By T.A 1980, some 9000 years since the founding of Khazad-dûm, it is extremely unlikely the dwarves would have been able to find more then 1% of that total mithril weight.

Giving us a bit more than 600 kilos of true-silver.  If you think that thousands and thousands of dwarves would have been delving for generations to gather this “small” amount, you quickly think at how rare a mithril shard would have actually been. The average dwarven delver would likely not even have found a handful of it, over his entire lifetime.

Posted in History, LoTRO, Maps | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Durin! And the winner is…

Posted on November 11, 2013 by The Dwarrow Scholar

In a not so distant past I launched a contest to label a true Dwarven ale with the Deathless name of “Durin!”.

Durin!

Durin!

I asked artists (and beer-lovers alike) to design a front and back label for this delicious ale, and I must say that I was certainly not disappointed.

Obviously (let’s be honest here folks) the main drive for our artists/beer-lovers was the chance to get their hands on a fine selection of Durin!, with their very own labels printed on them.

Receiving no less than eleven entries by artist from all over the world this has truly been a delight and tremendous honor.  A grand dwarven thank you for all those artists that sent in their fabulous art-work!

Saying that picking a winner was an extremely challenging task would be a huge understatement, hence this taking a bit longer then I had originally planned.

 

However, without further ado… the winner of our Durin! Label Contest is…

Matthew James Aldridge from the UK!

His winning front label:

Durin! Frontlabel

Durin!

And backlabel:

Durin! Backlabel

Durin! Backlabel

Matthew is an extremely talented English 3D Artist who (as we can see) does tremendous 2D work as well.  The details on the design, without making it over-complex nor blinding the viewer, draw in all who take a glance at it.  Stunning work!

More info on Matthew and his artwork can be found on his site: http://matthewjamesaldridge.co.uk

Matthew, congratulations my friend, you can expect an email soon so we can finalize the details and get your selection of Durin! to your doorstep.  Don’t hesitate to share with us your view on this delicious Dwarven ale.

Again, to all artists that entered the contest, thank you again so much…. and those beer-lovers that want their chance for their own selection of Durin!… stay tuned my friends.

Posted in Food, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Queen Dís ? (Dwarven Customs of Succession)

Posted on October 10, 2013 by The Dwarrow Scholar

Some time ago I asked everyone to send me any question you might have concerning the Dwarves. As a result I got a wonderful collection of questions, of which I have already attempted to answer some in previous blog posts.

One outstanding one, – and one I’ve saved up as I felt it deserved quite a bit of thought-, is this one from Laure M.

“If Dis would not have had children, and Dáin would not have existed, would Gimli have become King of the dwarves?”

gimli3

Firstly my apologies Laure for not answering your question straight away.
Apart from a busy schedule that prevented me to dive into it at once, I felt this question deserved a bit more time to answer properly.

As first glance, my answer to the above question would be “no, Gimli would not have become King of the Dwarves.”
This off course raises more questions than actually answering them, such as “why not ?”, or “who would have been King instead?”. A deluge of what-if-scenarios pour down, but let’s explore shall we.

To answer these questions, we would need to take a closer look at the Dwarven customs of succession first.
These would clearly indicate who (and by what right) would inherit the throne.
Right off the bat we run into problem number one. If J.R.R. Tolkien wrote anything concerning the customs of succession of the Dwarves it unfortunately did not reach any of his published works.
So we must study the published works that we do have to attempt to “reconstruct” the succession customs of the Dwarves.

Let’s start with the answer of our follow-up question… “why wouldn’t Gimli have become King?”

Line of Durin

This depends firstly on “when” this question is asked. As if you mean at the time of Thorin’s death, then Gimli’s father Glóin and uncle Óin were still alive, in addition to his cousins once removed Balin and Dwalin. Gimli’s grandfather Gróin had died 18 years before the Quest for Erebor at the ripe old age of 252, Gróin being one of four great-grandchildren of King Náin the Second, along with King Thráin II, the father of Thorin Oakenshield.

Now, for the sake of argument, let’s say Dáin, Balin, Dwalin, Glóin and Óin all perished in the Battle of Five armies, along side Thorin, Fíli and Kíli. I believe that in this scenario Gimli would have become King, at the tender age of 62.
Now, one could argue if Dís herself would have right to claim the throne herself, becoming Queen of Durin’s Folk.

Well, there are a number of problems with this scenario, mainly we don’t know if she herself was still alive at this point, as Tolkien only gave her year of birth but never her year of death. But even if she would have been alive (which is very likely), the fact that Dáin Ironfoot – who was seven years younger than her – became King when her brother Thorin and two young sons died clearly indicates that dwarven females would have no (or very little) right to inherit the throne. As Dís was a direct descendant of King Thráin II and was older than Dáin (who was “merely” King Thrain’s cousin once removed), yet was not considered to become Queen of Durin’s Folk.

So with all the above in mind, what would the rules of succession of Durin’s Folk be?

Being well-known with historical primogeniture rights (the right of the firstborn son to inherit the throne, in preference to siblings), it is very likely that Tolkien based himself on the historic succession laws of European monarchies.

The most popular rule of succession in Europe has long been Male-preference cognatic primogeniture, a very fancy way of saying that a female member of a dynasty can inherit the throne if she has no living brothers and no deceased brothers who left surviving descendants. It is the succession right currently in place in Monaco, Spain, Thailand, and the sixteen Commonwealth Realms. I believe we can safely say that this rule is not in place with the Dwarves, as otherwise Dís would have become Queen in T.A 2941.

Which would leave two likely alternatives…

Agnatic primogeniture – The Kinship is determined patrilineally, only through males back to a common ancestor. One form of agnatic primogeniture is know as “Salic Law”, which altogether excludes females from the throne. A variation on Salic primogeniture allows the sons of women to inherit, but not women themselves. This seems to be the case with the Dwarves. Seeing that we known that if Fíli had not perished in the Battle of Five armies, he would have become King of Durin’s Folk.

Semi-Salic law, (yet another variation on agnatic primogeniture) which allows women to succeed only at the extinction of all the male descendants in the male line. The female who is nearest in kinship to the last male monarch of the family inherits the Kingdom. In case of multiple females the elder are preferred over the younger.

As Tolkien only mentioned one female dwarf, being Dís… nor is there any talk ever of a Dwarven Queen one might believe that it could be fairly likely for the Dwarves not to have Queens at all and implement a form of Salic Law, barring females from ruling positions completely.

Dís, the dwarf-woman * Artist: Gregor Roffalski

Dís, the dwarf-woman * Artist: Gregor Roffalski

There is one thing however that makes me doubt that.

Between the time of Awakening of the Dwarves and the Battle of Five Armies lay approximately 90 to 100 generations (assuming the early Dwarven generations also had children around the age of 100, which is common in the later generations of the Line of Durin). We know that only a third of all Dwarves were females and that not all of them married. Looking at the royal line of Durin we notice that the later royal generations didn’t have that many children (3 at most). With all of the above in mind it’s fair to assume that as some point one of the Kings of old would not have had a son (Thorin being a prime example of this in the third age). At such a time they would have looked at other male heirs, similar to Dáin becoming King when Thorin, Fíli and Kíli died. What if there would have been no direct male heirs in the same branch of descendants ? So, as a practical example, what if there would have been no Dáin, Balin, Dwalin, Glóin, Óin or Gimli… .

Would the Dwarves have made Dís Queen or would they have looked further down the line of Durin to find an male heir in a further branch, if so how far would they go back ? As Dís was likely too old to still have children this might not be a good example as her branch would have had no potential heirs it is likely they would have needed to go back 11 generations to the potential brothers or sisters of Durin VI (the King who was slain by the Balrog in Khazad-dûm). And tracing the descendants of these back to any living relatives.

I do believe however that if their would have been a female heir with potential of still delivering male offspring she likely would have become Queen. Now this is a personal view of mine, basing myself on the fact that the Dwarves would have preferred to keep the line of the Kings as close to the direct line of first-born descendants of one of the seven fathers (in this case Durin) as possible.

Example Scenario

Imagine the above scenario for a minute. One of the Kings of Old (we’ll call him Frár) had no sons and only one daughter (let’s call her Fía), his brothers (Fráin and Frarin) had no descendants of their own, nor did the rest of the nearest family members have any sons. In our scenario here Fía is a young dwarf maiden, still able to have sons later in life. Woe strikes the royal household and a Dragon attacks the Halls of King Frár, and in the battle that follows the King and his two brothers perish. Would Fía become Queen, in a regent-like-function, until she would have sons that would become King themselves ? Or would the Dwarves go back further down the family tree, to find a male heir, if so, what if Fía did have sons later on in her life? Surely they would contest the throne with the dwarf of further lineage that was made King prior to their birth.

To conclude, though it is possible that the Dwarves would have in place a form of Salic Law, I believe it to be more likely for the Dwarves to have had in place a form of Semi-Salic Law, ensuring the line would remain closest to the direct line of first-born descendants of the Seven Fathers.

Laure M, thank you so much for your brilliant question, as it has lead to us exploring more on the succession of the Dwarves.

—

“There he lived so long that he was known far and wide as Durin the Deathless. Yet in the end he died before the Elder Days had passed, and his tomb was in Khazad-dûm; but his line never failed, and five times an heir was born in his House so like to his Forefather that he received the name of Durin.” “Durin’s Folk – Appendix III” – The Return of the King – LOTR – J.R.R. Tolkien

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Durin! Bottled

Posted on October 5, 2013 by The Dwarrow Scholar

As I’ve received quite a few of emails asking for a sneak peek at our Dwarven Ale “Durin!“, I just couldn’t bring myself to disappoint you fine folks and had to drag myself to the brewery for another tasting.   It was quite the challenge but you know me, anything for you wonderful ale enthusiasts!

Me and a few of my mates headed over to the brewery yesterday and had a select tasting of (if I may say so myself) our excellent Dwarven ale.   Well, truth be told… we were in luck we knew the brewer that well, otherwise he likely wouldn’t have allowed us to behave like drunken dwarrows as the night progressed… but I digress.

Without further ado, I bring you… Durin!

Durin!

Durin!

 

“Durin!” is a deep brown, creamy, richly flavored bitter ale sporting a woolly foam beard. A true cross between a bold Stout and a traditional Trappist. The deep burnt malt flavor and heavy alcohol aroma form a dwarven chorus with the coffee, liquor, fruit and caramel flavors. A very pleasurable long and bitter aftertaste complete this “deathless” of ales.

And now our “Deathless” bottled..

Durin! Bottled

Durin! Bottled

 

As you can see the deep brown ale in the brown bottle make for a very dark brown (nearly black) look at first glance.   The bottle cap with the same color complete this ale perfectly, well… not quite off course.  As I’m still looking for that perfect label to stick on this fine bottled brew.

Anyone willing to have a go at designing a brilliant label, or wishes to win a selection of Durin! should have a look at the artist competition article posted earlier last week.

Good luck and cheers!

Oh, and here’s to the Dwarven New Year *raises another Durin!*

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Durin! A call to Artists and Beer-Lovers alike.

Posted on September 25, 2013 by The Dwarrow Scholar

Artists and lovers of Beer alike, time to pay attention!

As some of you might know, I’m from Belgium, a country known for its plethora of gourmet delights, among so many… our beers.

Ever since I started my blog “The Dwarrow Scholar” I’ve always wanted to try my hand at brewing my own ale, a real Dwarven Ale.

So, about a year ago I started to try just that.
After many months of failed attempts (or attempts that didn’t quite give me and my friends the result we hoped for), I contacted a local brewer.

I was overjoyed to hear they were more than willing to help out in our quest for a true dwarven ale and a month or so later they succeeded in brewing an ale that surpassed all expectations.

Durin!

Durin!

This is the description for the back label we came up with, which should give you a grand idea of our ale:

BACK LABEL TEXT:

“Durin!” is a deep brown, creamy, richly flavored bitter ale sporting a woolly foam beard. A true cross between a bold Stout and a traditional Trappist. The deep burnt malt flavor and heavy alcohol aroma form a dwarven chorus with the coffee, liquor, fruit and caramel flavors. A very pleasurable long and bitter aftertaste complete this “deathless” of ales.

—————————————-

For those that are wondering “why this combination of flavors?” Well, for me it’s clear from The Hobbit that Dwarves have a sweet tooth for cakes and anything fruity (hence the caramel and fruity flavors). Making it heavy on the burnt malt and alcohol flavor is more of a link to the old Norse Dwarves where Tolkien got quite a bit of his inspiration.

“Some called for ale, and some for porter, and one for coffee, and all of them for cakes . . . A big jug of coffee had just been set in the hearth, the seed-cakes were gone, and the dwarves were starting on a round of buttered scones . . . ‘And raspberry jam and apple-tart,’ said Bifur. ‘And mince-pies and cheese,’ said Bofur. ‘And pork-pie and salad,’ said Bombur. ‘And more cakes — and ale — and coffee, if you don’t mind,’ called the other dwarves through the door. ‘Put on a few eggs, there’s a good fellow!’ Gandalf called after him, as the hobbit stumped off to the pantries. ‘And just bring out the cold chicken and pickles!’” An Unexpected Party, The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Durin! Bottled

Durin! Bottled

The time has now come to bottle our dwarven ale and put labels on these beauties.
Hence me coming to the artists among us to put their talents at work and come up with a great label.

Now some might be thinking, “what’s in it for me ?”.

Well, to be clear, “Durin!” wouldn’t be sold (it’s not something I will be making a profit on at all – quite the contrary in fact), but would be an exclusive sample product (handed out to friends and benefactors of this blog).

However, the artist coming up with the winning design will be getting the following:

a) A selection of Durin! (labeled with your design) sent to your home*
b) Your name (and link to your site if you have any) on the labels
c) A permanent promotional link to your site on the Dwarrow Scholar site

* I say “selection” here because I know it can be difficult to ship alcohol to specific countries, and some countries have limits of what can be sent. But you can be sure that I will aim to provide what I can and won’t be stingy.

Competition rules:
* Artists have until Friday 25th October to send me their designs (via email to kstrongbeard[AT]aol[DOT]com).
* Designs must be in .jpg format.
* Any design must have a front and back label.
* Front and back label must clearly mention the name of the ale, written as: “Durin!”
* Label sizes: must be no larger then 3.5″ (9cm) wide and 3″ (7,5cm) high
* Back label must contain above mentioned back label text, including “Brewed in Belgium in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien” , “non-profit sample product, not to be sold” and “10% alc vol – 33cl” text.
* Front label should contain your name (or artist name) and may have the name of your site mentioned.

Note: seeing that the prize of this competition contains alcohol this directly means that all artists entering this competition must in fact be of the legal age (in their country of residence) to drink beer.

Other then the above mentioned “rules” I don’t wish to constrain anyones creativity.
If you would have an interest in lending your talents to this project, I look forward to receiving you designs.

Any questions ? Feel free to contact kstrongbeard[AT]aol[DOT]com

The winner will be announced on Wednesday October 30th.
Have fun and Good luck!

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Is Durin’s Day upon us ?

Posted on September 22, 2013 by The Dwarrow Scholar

This article is partly in response to a very well written article from Iduna related to the calculating Durin’s Day on the “Heirs of Durin site” (Thank you again for that Iduna), and in response to many similar questions about this dwarven holiday I’ve received over the past months.

Quite a few that have emailed me have wondered how this day is really calculated and I’ll try to do my best to explain in this article what my view on that is.

Firstly, though a well-thought-out and sound theory, I can’t say I fully agree with Iduna’s calculation of Durin’s Day, let me try to explain why.

“The first day of the dwarves’ New Year is, as all should know, the first day of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter. We still call it Durin’s Day when the last moon of Autumn and the sun are in the sky together. “

This means that for the dwarves their New Year is on the first day of the last moon of Autumn. Now this indeed does not make it into a “Durin’s Day”, as Iduna has pointed out as well. It would only be called a Durin’s Day when the last moon of Autumn and the sun can be seen in the sky together.

Durin's Day - Sun and Moon

Durin’s Day – Sun and Moon

As Iduna also correctly pointed out, a new moon cannot be seen together with the sun. In fact it could only be seen with the sun in the event of a solar eclipse (when a new moon passes before the sun). When we look for more details in “The Hobbit”, we can clearly see that this however is not what Tolkien meant.

In fact when we look closely to the details given to us in the Hobbit all becomes much clearer I find …

[The Hobbit – On the Doorstep – Page 243] “As the sun turned West there was a gleam of yellow upon its far roof, as if the light caught the last pale leaves. Soon he saw the orange ball of the sun sinking towards the level of his eyes. He went to the opening and there pale and faint was a thin new moon above the rim of the Earth”

What does this tell us about this Durin’s Day: a) the sun was setting, at the point of having gone below the horizon b) a thin pale new moon could be seen faintly – this means that it was in fact not a “new” moon (as those can only be seen in the event of a solar eclipse) but was in fact a moon on the first day of a waxing crescent (a thin new moon). With the above description in mind we can in fact pinpoint exactly at what time this would have happened – being on the evening of the second day after the new moon.

This being the very moment the Old thrush was hinting at:  “At that very moment he heard a sharp crack”… “It had caught a snail and was knocking it on the stone. Crack! Crack!”

The Old Trush

Now the most important thing we must not overlook when we wish to pinpoint Durin’s Day exactly is something clearly mentioned in Thorin’s line at the start of this article: “… on the threshold of Winter”.

Assuming that the seasons start/end at the same time they do in our current reckoning could potentially be a great mistake.  Unfortunately, as the Red Book of Westmarch tells us, „the seasons usually named … had no exact definitions, and quellë (or lasselanta) was also used for the latter part of autumn and the beginning of winter” (TC), otherwise known as yávië and hrívë, respectively. It may seem reasonable to guess that the calendar of Erebor may not have been vastly different from that of nearby Dale, for anything else would have been an inconvenient complication in the on-going commerce.

And we know that in Dale the last month of the year was celebrated at the beginning of the harvest season. The Men of Dale called it by a name similar to Hobbitish Winterfilth, signifying „the filling or completion of the year before Winter.” (TC) Winterfilth of the Shire Calendar corresponds more or less to the 10th month in ours, October (cf. Winterfylleth of the heathen Anglo-Saxons, recorded by the Venerable Bede). Therefore we may predict that the Dwarvish New Year occurred in late October, after Winterfilth, and that Thorin therefore said quellë, not hrívë which (in the Shire) began around Yuletide.

Tolkien himself established the New Moon of June 2941 on the 26th and that of October on the 19th. This would fit perfectly with our idea that “on the threshold of Winter” is not the winter in our current reckoning (otherwise this date would be in December not October). In addition further information in The Hobbit confirms this assumption – as Bilbo arrived in Lake-town on September 22nd and about a month later sat before the doorstep of the Lonely Mountain on Durin’s Day (giving us an exact match with our date October 19th, established by Tolkien)

Crescent Moon above Rivendell – The Hobbit Movie

The above theory would place this year’s date of the Dwarven New Year on October 5th 2013 (the last new moon on the threshold of winter). Seeing that Tolkien considered the waxing crescent (a thin new moon) as still being a new moon, we must add our 1,5/ 2 days to this calculation.

This means we clearly have a difference between Durin’s Day and the Dwarven New Year (of almost 2 full days) . We’ve established that the Dwarven New year is on October 5th, so this means that Durin’s Day this year is on October 7th…  if we would be able to see the first thin slice of the waxing crescent moon together with the sun.

Posted in Calendar & Festivals | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

LoTRO: Harnkegger Games (2013 Edition)

Posted on August 21, 2013 by The Dwarrow Scholar

EVENT on the LAURELIN SERVER

————————————-

 

Hail and well met!

As the end of summer comes within reach, the Dwarves of Khuzd Belkul and Durin’s Folk and the good Hobbits of the Shire Angling Club will together host the 3-day-long Harnkegger Games – On 27th, 28th and 29th of August.

Known for its various gaming contests, general merriment and consumption of rather large amounts of ale, this festival of Dwarvish origin, is often nicknamed the Deep Ale Fest. As ever the fest and games will be opened to all, be it dwarves, hobbits, men or yes… even elves 😉

This year the Games will be bigger then ever before, with 7 full-scale events spread over 3 days… and the largest hoard of prizes ever seen in Middle-Earth!
Our grand benefactors of these Harnkegger Games are the good people of Turbine, who have donated a harras of horses ((Perlino- and Cremello Steed codes)) and hundreds upon hundreds of Tasty Pies ((codes for 9000 TP IN TOTAL!)) to be given to the winners. On top of these very generous prizes the organizing committee will also ensure additional exclusive gifts and gold coins.

On overview of the Schedule Activities:

DAY 1 – TUESDAY 27TH AUGUST
Opening of the Harnkegger Games (at the top of the steps at Thorin’s Halls) by Lord Kandral of Khuzd Belkul – start at 2:30 PM ST August 27th – The opening will include plenty of ales, food and music for all.

1) The HARNKEGGER RACE – our first Horse Race of the Games, starts at 3PM ST- in good dwarrow tradition, having a horse race after having had plenty of ales, will surely provide a merry opener of the Games.

RACE INFO: The Harnkegger race is a short but exciting race and uses the area of Thorin’s Halls

Harnkegger Race

RULES: See horse race rules below

RACE COURSE: Entrance of the Festival Arena – Down the steps to Frerin’s Court (must go round the central statue) – back up the steps to the Festival Arena, first one to make it up the stairs wins.

PRIZES: The organizing committee will grant the following prizes:
• WINNER: 2 gold pieces + 1 Perlino Steed code + 1 Cremello Steed code + a 500 TP code + 1 Raffle number (*3)
• RUNNER-UP: 1 gold piece + 1 Perlino Steed code + 1 Cremello Steed code + 1 Raffle number (*3)
• THIRD: 500 silver pieces + 1 Perlino- OR 1 Cremello Steed code (selected by the third place**) + 1 Raffle number (*3)
2) THE BROKEN BONE RACE – our second Horse Race of the Games, starts at 3:30 PM ST – And takes us from Thorin’s Hall to the borders of the Shire.

RACE INFO: Though this yearly grand race is originally a pony race, like last year, goats and horses will be allowed… and is open to all… so allied men, elves and hobbits are most welcomed.

RULES: See horse race rules below

RACE COURSE: From Thorin’s Hall Gate, through the vale of Thrain – passed Noglond – then the first checkpoint* at Gondamon – through eastern Ered Luin toward the second and final checkpoint* at Duillond – to the finish line just West of Needlehole. *officials will be present at the Gondamon and Duillond checkpoints, which all competitors must pass.

PRIZES: The organizing committee will grant the following prizes:
• WINNER: 2 gold pieces + 1 Perlino Steed code + 1 Cremello Steed code + 2 x 500 TP code + 1 Raffle number (*3)
• RUNNER-UP: 1 gold piece + 1 Perlino Steed code + 1 Cremello Steed code + a 500 TP code + 1 Raffle number (*3)
• THIRD: 500 silver pieces + 1 Perlino- OR 1 Cremello Steed code (selected by the third place**) + 1 Raffle number (*3)

 

3) FISHING CONTEST at the Needlehole river – Hosted by the Shire Angling Club.

GAME INFO: This fishing contest marks the start of the Needlehole Festivities, commemorating the founding of Needlehole 677 years ago – (2342 T.A) There will be fine music and plenty of food between the end of the fishing and the announcement of the winners. Cooks will be standing by to turn your freshly caught carps and dace into delicious dishes.

 

RULES: Competitors will all have 15 minutes to catch as many fish as they can. They will receive points depending on the type of fish caught:
• 1 point per normal fish
• 3 points for cooking fish
• 10 points for mountable fish

((All competitors must be in fellowship, judges will count the points))

LOCATION : Needlhole River

PRIZES: The organizing committee will grant the following prizes:
• WINNER: 2 gold pieces + 1 Perlino Steed code + 1 Cremello Steed code + 1 Fisher’s Backpack + 2 x 500 TP code + 1 Raffle number (*3)
• RUNNER-UP: 1 gold piece + 1 Perlino Steed code + 1 Cremello Steed code + a 500 TP code + 1 Raffle number (*3)
• THIRD: 500 silver pieces + 1 Perlino- OR 1 Cremello Steed code (selected by the third place**) + 1 Raffle number (*3)
• CONSOLATION PRIZE (4th-till 14th placed): Shire Angling Club Lebethron Rod
END OF DAY 1 – With music, food, fine drinks and Fireworks!

DAY 2 – WEDNESDAY 28TH AUGUST – Start at 3PM ST

4) MUSIC EVENT (Needlehole) – Continuing the Needlehole Festivities that commemorate the founding of Needlehole 677 years ago, this Music Event searches for the finest of singers and musicians.

GAME INFO: Can you impress the judges with your musical skills?

Music Event

RULES: A best song competition – contestants will be judged on lyrics, song tune and performance.

* Can be groups or individuals
* Each contestant can only enter one song, either individually or as part of a group.
* Jury decides the winner, runner-up and third place.

LOCATION: Needlehole market square.

PRIZES: The organizing committee will grant the following prizes:
• WINNER: 2 gold pieces + 1 Perlino Steed code + 1 Cremello Steed code + 2 x 500 TP code + 1 Raffle number (*3)
• RUNNER-UP: 1 gold piece + 1 Perlino Steed code + 1 Cremello Steed code + a 500 TP code + 1 Raffle number (*3)
• THIRD: 500 silver pieces + 1 Perlino- OR 1 Cremello Steed code (selected by the third place**) + 1 Raffle number (*3)
5) THE DRUNKEN MERCHANT RACE – A foot race that takes us through the pubs of the Shire.

GAME INFO: Competitors must run on foot, drinking one or two drinks at each pub they pass, first one to cross the finish line wins. This is a race that commemorates the first trade between Dwarves and Hobbits in the Shire.

Drunken Merchant Race – Course

RULES: Competitors must follow the following route (1-8):

• 1) Start at Needlehole Market to Brockenborings.
• 2) At the Plough and Stars: purchase and drink 1 Wooly-foot Stout
• 3) To Stock: At the Golden Perch, purchase and drink 1 Old Withywindle
• 4) To Frogmorton: At the Floating Log inn, purchase and drink 1 Toad’s Tongue Ale
• 5) To Bywater: At the Green Dragon, purchase and drink 1 Green Dragon’s Breath Ale
• 6) To Hobbiton: At the Ivy Bush, purchase and drink 1 Thistlebelly Brew
• 7) To Michel Delving: At the Bird and Baby, purchase and drink 1 Blagrove’s Brown
• 8) Run to the finishing post at the statue in the centre of Michel Delving.
• Competitors must run a fair race on foot ((no buffs, no mounts of any kind))
• Stewards will monitor the race at undisclosed locations ((competitors will be in fellowship/raid to ensure correct drinks are purchased))
• The route taken by the competitors is at their own choice (suggested route below), they must however pass the taverns and drink the drinks that have been specified in the specified order.
LOCATION: Starts at Needlehole market square – Ends at Michel Delving Centre Statue.

PRIZES: The organizing committee will grant the following prizes:
• WINNER: 2 gold pieces + 1 Perlino Steed code + 1 Cremello Steed code + 2 x 500 TP code + 1 Raffle number (*3)
• RUNNER-UP: 1 gold piece + 1 Perlino Steed code + 1 Cremello Steed code + a 500 TP code + 1 Raffle number (*3)
• THIRD: 500 silver pieces + 1 Perlino- OR 1 Cremello Steed code (selected by the third place**) + 1 Raffle number (*3)

END OF DAY 2 – With music, food, fine drinks and Fireworks!
DAY 3 – THURSDAY 29TH AUGUST – Start at 3PM ST

6) SPARRING TOURNAMENT (Gondamon) – We start of the Ered Luin festivities in Gondamon with a good old sparring tournament, organized by the Dwarves of Durin’s Folk

GAME INFO: Participants will be put into groups depending on their strength ((level)).

RULES: Standard sparring rules will apply – depending on the number of participants several rounds can be held until we declare a winner of each category. Minimal 3 Groups will be made ((low, mid, end-game lvls)) – exact divide of the groups will be done when the amount of contenders is known before the start. The Judges decide how the divide will be made.

LOCATION: Gondamon center trading square

PRIZES: The organizing committee will grant the following prizes:
• WINNER of EACH GROUP: 1 Gold piece + 1 Dwarrow Gift Box + 1 Raffle number (*3) (+ For winner of End Game Group: 1 Riddermark Crystal)
• TOURNAMENT BEST(*4): 2 gold pieces + 2 x 500 TP code + 1 Tarnished Symbol of Celebrimbor + ‘ 1 Raffle number (*3)
We will then move to the Lune River as a group where the final event of the Harnkegger games will be held:
7) THE LUNE SWIM – A swimming contest in the Lune River.

GAME INFO: Swimming from an island in the Lune, round a pillar of the Bridge that crosses the Lune, back to the island. First one to set foot on the island is the winner.

The Lune Swim

RULES: Competitors must follow the route described above (will be displayed by the judges once we reach the Lune) –

• Competitors must swim a fair race on foot ((no buffs of any kind, nor steeds))
• Stewards will monitor the race

LOCATION: Starts on an island in the Lune River.
PRIZES: The organizing committee will grant the following prizes:
• WINNER: 2 gold pieces + 1 Perlino Steed code + 1 Cremello Steed code + 2 x 500 TP code + 1 Raffle number (*3)
• RUNNER-UP: 1 gold piece + 1 Perlino Steed code + 1 Cremello Steed code + a 500 TP code + 1 Raffle number (*3)
• THIRD: 500 silver pieces + 1 Perlino- OR 1 Cremello Steed code (selected by the third place**) + 1 Raffle number (*3)

THE HARNKEGGER

The Harnkegger games will end with the traditional ceremony of the Harnkegger – the grand winner of the Harnkegger games will be announced. This winner, selected by a group of judges from all the winners of the events in the past three days, will receive the title “Harnkegger” ((in game title code: “The Sociable”, will be given)), in addition to 6 gold and 500 silver pieces.

Additional rules and notes :

HORSE RACE RULES:
(Grand thanks to folks of Windy Acres Ranch and gracious Kiralynn especially. As we’ve used their standard rules as a base for our races)
* Only standard speed ponies, horses or goats (62% – NOT 68%!) will be allowed.
* We ask all competitors NOT to use any mount speed buffs. People that have acquired the new Apprentice and Journeyman riding skills are kindly asked NOT to enter the race, as this would give them an unfair advantage over the other racers. As it would otherwise become impossible to determine which racing tier a steed belongs in.
* Participating riders will be given a clear explanation again of the course before the race begins. Riders are welcome to visit the race site and practice the course before race day.
* Riders must only use their pony, horse or goat for transportation. Changing steeds will not be allowed mid race, you must finish the race with the steed you started with. Stables, milestones, wayfaring, camps, rally points, acorns, mustering horns, summons and all other non-mount forms of travel are not allowed.
* Spamming fellow riders, giving a false start signal, having allies ride in the wrong direction to mislead riders, and all other forms of unsportsmanlike behavior will result in disqualification.
* Riders must clear all checkpoints in the proper direction and order. Course judges are the final authority in determining if a checkpoint has been properly cleared. ((A decision can be appealed if screenshots or video can be presented immediately after the race.))
* The winner will be determined by the first rider to cross the finish line, not the first mount.
* If more than a dozen riders show up to participate, there may be a qualifier race to narrow the field.

NOTES ON PRIZES:
** For some games the competitors that finish in second or third place have the choice to select either a Perlino or Cremello Steed code. If one of these codes would have become depleted (through previous races) the choice would become void and the competitor will be given a Steed code of the type that is still available.
*3 = each winner will receive a Raffle Number to be used at the next Open Day of The Shire Museum of Fishing and Hunting’s Grand Raffle – Held on August 31st 2PM ST @ 2 Chalk Road, Harville, Shire Homesteads.
(*4) = The tournament best is selected from the winners of each category of the sparring tournament

Have you ever wondered how to advance your angling skills, or where to catch that elusive Darter? Wonder no more! The Shire Museum of Fishing and Hunting is holding another Open Day, and this time the subject is ‘Fishing Holes of Middle Earth’. Come along to discover how to catch game fish including Trout and Salmon and where to find safe spots to angle for Darter and Sturgeon. All-comers welcome, regardless of angling skill. Take part in the Crazy Catfish Catch then let our fish chefs convert your catch into supper. There will be plenty of music and dancing and a grand firework display!
August 31st 2PM ST @ 2 Chalk Road, Harville, Shire Homesteads.

NOTE ON TIME ZONES / TIMES OF EVENTS:
All times mentioned in this post are on SERVER TIME of the LAURELIN Server (which is Boston Time) – Meaning that 3PM ST, would equal 8PM UK Time and 9PM Central European Time.

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