Author's Note:

I love Lord of the Rings and this story is in no way, shape, or form meant to detract from the beautiful story and characters created by JRR Tolkien and brought so amazingly to life by Peter Jackson and his fantastic crew. I truly apologize to them both because I know that Mr. Tolkien would be spinning in his grave if he saw what I'd done to his characters, and Mr. Jackson would probably die of a heart attack. That said, I do not (nor will I ever) own any of the Lord of the Rings characters contained within (but I promise I won't hurt them too much). Fiona and Brenna Donovan, however, belong to me and my Sis, Arien (who has generously given me permission to use her as co-author and creative consultant)

A little bit of what you need to know:

Since this is fan fic and very few people would like to read me trying to expound upon this world that my Sis and I have shaped around so many of the things we love, here's a little cheat sheet to bring you up to speed so you might enjoy the story better. Believe me, we've been working on this since the Fellowship of the Ring came out last December. We've got a LOT OF CRAP you don't want to read LOL.

This 'realm' takes some from the books, some from the movie, and some from several other places (including, but not limited to Arthurian legend, Greek Mythology, Dr. Who, and a whole bunch of other crap we made up or just happened to like)

Deviations from the LOTR Books/Movies:

Boromir didn't die and is now Aragorn's lieutenant

Aragon is king of Gondor, and has been for about 10 years now, but he has a wanderlust that won't allow him to stay in Gondor for too long, so Faramir is steward while he is gone

Aragorn, Boromir, and Legolas like to jaunt about the woods, looking for bad things

Arwen is missing, presumed dead, for about 5 years now

Elrond is still Lord of Rivendell

Galadriel and Celeborn are still Lady and Lord of Lothlorien and have not yet gone to the Undying Lands

Thranduil is still King of Mirkwood

Gimli is married and is now King of Durin's Folk in Erebor

Gandalf and Merlin are two different incarnations of the same Timelord

Valinor (the Undying Lands) and Avalon are the same place

Galadriel is the Lady of the Lake

Excalibur and Narsil are the same sword

Tolkien had been writing The Lord of the Rings as a fictional mythology/history, in this story it IS the far past history, though it has fallen into legend and myth and no one actually believes it ever happened (much like Arthurian Legend and Greek Mythology which are also very real)

There is magic in the world, if you know where to look

Mages and other extraordinary people are governed by the White Council which is made up of Mages/Wizards, Elves, Timelords

Elves, unlike Mages and Timelords, have chosen to remain separated from humans, keeping to themselves on Avalon/Valinor, though they do like to meddle in the kettle so to speak

Also, I have found that trying to write chapter to chapter is SO hard! My Middle Earth muse doesn't really speak to me chapter to chapter but more like scene to scene. But I will at least try to keep the vignettes in chronological order.

SO, if you're not too afraid to read on, I hope you enjoy our humble labor of love.

Sources:

Lord of the Rings - Trilogy by JRR Tolkien

The Encyclopedia of Arda (found at www.glyphweb.com/arda)

Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring - movie by Peter Jackson