"Vokul Fen Mah" - by Peter Hollens and Malukah
Fire, fire dragon fire
Searing words of ancient ire
Wake, wake from the grave
Rise to set the world aflame
Hmm-hmm-hmm
Night, night endless night
Terror is the only light
Bane, bane rage untamed
Darkness dwells in age-old blame
Voth aan JOOR-ZAH-FRUL rein
Vokul fen mah, fen mah
Fin norok ved viing bonaar
Vokul fen mah
Sul, sul fent alok
Nahkriin mahfaeraak nahlot
Qahnaar fin mey wo nis koraav
Vokunne qiilaan wah fin krein
Voth aan JOOR-ZAH-FRUL rein
Vokul fen mah, fen mah
Fin norok ved viing bonaar
Vokul fen mah
2942TA - 3018TA
After the Battle of the Five Armies, the newly established Dragon Rider order struggled to find its place in Middle Earth. Few among any of the races trusted dragons or foreigners, both having bad reputations. Eragon and Saphira first decided to have many talks with the White Council, to earn their trust first before moving on to the other peoples. Gandalf was an easy ally to win, having fought beside them at Erebor. Saruman was a wizard that Saphira instantly disliked, but for what reason, she could never pin in place. Lord Elrond was kind and stern but his was a trust slowly earned over several meetings, even though he had met Eragon before. Galadriel was an elf unlike any either rider or dragon had ever encountered – her eyes and power seeming to seep into their minds unless they had the most impressive shields against her.
Eventually, after five years of negotiations and placations, the White Council encouraged a summit. All the kings of every kingdom and race were invited to come and hear out the proposal of the Dragon Riders. Saphira had watched Eragon fret and obsess over the upcoming meeting for months in advance. Nerves threatened to send him to the brink of madness – and Saphira to the edge of her temper. At the meeting, Eragon and Murtagh and even Arya had arrived to attend and to recount the Rider's history to the assembled Kings. They laid the truth before them all and told them of their purpose in Middle Earth. Slowly, through demonstrations (as well as having three peaceful dragons looming over the whole proceedings) trust had slowly been earnt. But when Eragon had proposed the idea that dragon eggs would be brought to their peoples to choose a rider – that had met resistance.
For it was one thing to accept foreigners so long as they stayed away from their own kingdoms and were sworn out of politics. It was quite another to ask that members of your own people be forced to give up their lives and join that foreign organisation. Many feared the Riders were recruiting spies or attempting to create an army with which to take over Middle Earth. Men were the first race to agree to having the eggs choose one of their own – though Saphira feared it had been more because of their greed for power rather than their wish for cooperation. Galadriel had also pledged Lothlorien to the cause, Lord Elrond behind her. And because elves were involved, the dwarves had to pledge themselves as well so as to not be outdone. Only King Thranduil outright refused and continued to refuse for many years after.
Couriers were then recruited to ferry the eggs from kingdom to kingdom. Some having to travel all of Middle Earth and Alagaesia before they found their rider. Within three years, the Rider order had doubled in size. In the peaks of the Grey Mountains, Eragon and Murtagh taught the new riders, and Saphira and Thorn taught the young dragons in the safety and seclusion of the mountains. There, no bystanders would be hurt in accidents and the new dragons and riders would be themselves. This education lasted a standard of two years – though every pair was different, some completing their training far quicker or slower depending on their willingness to adapt and learn. From this, the Riders built the strongest bond with the dwarves, surprisingly enough. Rider blades needed to be made from star-metal, and Middle Earth had an abundance of it which the dwarves forged for each Rider (said Riders having to pay handsomely for it). With their blade in hand, the new riders were then shipped off across the sea back to Alagaesia to complete their training in hands on experience enforcing the peace there, under the command of Queen Arya. Only when she deemed them ready did they fully graduate as full-riders and could then choose which continent they wished to serve on.
As the Rider Order slowly grew, they were able to answer threats more effectively. Eragon had made a point to each of the races that should they ever have need, they could call on the riders, and they would be there to help. In the early years, Eragon and the others responded to threats from Orcs without much invitation. Shortly after the Battle of the Five Armies, Sauron had declared his presence in Mordor, a realm where not even dragons dared to venture. When Orcs raided villagers or threatened roads filled with travellers, the dragon riders responded without hesitation. Through this, they slowly gained a more favourable reputation.
The test to this reputation came in the form of small skirmishes when the people of Middle Earth finally did request aid. Gondor was first, having suffered attacks along their coast by murderous pirates of the Corsairs of Umbar. Saphira herself had led the charge of attack from both air and sea – the sailors had not expected the dragons to abandon the freedom of the air and their weapon of fire in order to attack with tooth and talon from below the waves. And with that decisive victory, it was clear for all to see the truth behind the Dragon-Rider's vows.
After that, more requests came. The dwarves had wanted to retake the ancient lost kingdom of Moria from Orc occupation. Murtagh had left to join the expedition, along with one of the recently graduated students. They and their dragons had helped to protect the expedition team and drive off the orcs effectively and efficiently. When the head of the team – Balin, who had journeyed with Eragon to Erebor – had declared it safe, the riders had returned to their home. Five years after that, all contact with the colony ceased. The Dragons and their Riders attempted to learn what had happened, but found only orcs and goblins. They had their vengeance on the foul beasts, but Moria was ultimately deemed lost. Saphira had been absent from that battle, busy rearing a batch of five wild hatchlings that had recently been born in the vault; but she had heard it was a good fight, one all of Middle Earth appreciated.
And so, slowly, the Dragon Rider Order had found its footing.
And then the day arrived that Saphira had always suspected would come…
3018TA, October - 3019TA, January
"Strangers from distant lands, friends of old, you've been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor."
Sixty years after the Battle of the Five Armies, it finally happened. The Riders had received a summons to a special meeting in Rivendell, called the Council of Elrond. Not much detail had been given in the summons, only that it was most urgent, and all representatives of every species needed to be there. Eragon had been loathed to go, for Mordor had been bustling with activity and Gondor could not keep watch of every point along the border. The Riders had taken to patrolling the area on occasion, attempting to scout to see if they could spy what the Dark Lord there was up to. But, he could not refuse this recognition, not when they had been yearning for this for so many years.
Murtagh had been left in charge of Fort Arngor, and Eragon and Saphira had taken two of their most prestigious students along with them to the council. It was there that they learned the full extent of the importance of this meeting. Apparently a hobbit, Frodo Baggins (a relation of Bilbo's, Eragon was happy to learn) had managed to come into possession of the One Ring. They learned that Sauron, the evil entity that had attempted to capture Smaug and the Lonely Mountain all those years ago, was an evil god-like being that lived in the realm of Mordor. Thousands of years ago, he had attempted to rule the earth under a blanket of darkness and cruelty, and now he sought to do so again. The only thing standing in his way, was a single ring – a ring of power. They learned that Sauron had put most of his power and will into this ring, and should he get it back, he could take physical form once again and be reinstated with his full might.
Upon even seeing the Ring, Eragon had been beset by a foulness that had attempted to take hold of his mind. Only through Saphira's rage and protection was he spared. It was clear to nearly all of them that the Ring had to be destroyed, for only then would Sauron's evil truly be defeated. The Dwarves had attempted to smash the Ring. Eragon and the Riders had attempted to use the most powerful magic they knew – they even attempted to use the name of names to undo the magic on the ring! Even the dragons attempted to melt the ring in the breath of their fires. But still the Ring remained intact, mocking them.
"Valiant of you to try, Saphira the Great," said Gandalf to her. "But there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough to melt the Rings of Power. Nor was there ever any dragon, not even Ancalagon the Black, who could have harmed the One Ring, the Ruling Ring, for that was made by Sauron himself."
"The Ring cannot be destroyed by you, Gimli, son of Gloin," said Elrond, "nor you Eragon, son of Brom, nor any craft that we here possess. The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came!"
Then had come the decision of who should carry the ring. Frodo volunteered to lift this burden, and soon nine others rallied around him. Legolas, prince of the Mirkwood elves. Gimli of the dwarves. Boromir of Gondor. Gandalf the Grey, and Aragorn, the supposed lost heir to the throne of Gondor. One of Eragon's students and his dragon volunteered to accompany this Fellowship on their quest. It was initially thought that the dragon could carry them all to Mordor and have the journey done with. However, the Ring could be brought near no dragon, for to be in its very presence brought them to near madness. Saphira knew why. Morgoth, Sauron's ancient master, had used foul magic to dominate the dragon species so many thousands of years ago – that was the fate that befell the dragons of this continent, for all were now his creatures in some form. The dragons of Alagaesia had some protection from it – Saphira suspected it was due to their Eldunari – but the same foul magic that Morgoth had used was in the One Ring. It was decided it was best not to tempt fate. So, the young Rider was chosen instead to accompany the Fellowship as protection on their quest.
Eragon and the others had then been summoned back to Fort Arngor, leaving with promises to bring aid to the battles Middle Earth would face against the forces of Sauron. Once returned, they summoned the entirety of their order together and it was decided they would be used as an airstrike force to help reinforce alliance lines and to attack enemy forces from the air. The battles came quicker than expected, when Saruman the White Wizard had transformed his fortress of Isengard into an industry of war. He declared himself allied with Sauron, and bred vicious Orc-monstrosities to ransack the countryside. And as they spread out, so too did orcs and goblins pour out from the Misty Mountains and Dol Guldur to attack Lothlorien and Mirkwood and Rohan.
The Dragon Rider forces were stretched thin as they were distributed far and wide to protect everyone. They fought alongside Thranduil and Galadriel to protect their forest homes. They held off enemy forces to buy retreating villagers more time, the dragons themselves being used to carry as many children and elderly as possible. They even went straight to Gondor to help with reinforcing the lines to be sure none of the enemy would take the ancient human kingdom.
And then, betrayal found them.
Saphira herself had seen it. When Sauron finally made his move and turned three of her students. The War of the Ring (as it had come to be known) had thought to be a sure win for the free peoples with Dragons and Riders on their side. That hope was turned to ash as Sauron worked his poisonous magic on three young students. Two had turned because of their greed for power, one out of hate: as a young girl, she'd watched her family be slaughtered by Urgals during the final war against Galbatorix. And when she had been chosen as a rider, she had felt betrayed when she was expected to call those same monsters her brothers-in-arms. She'd hidden that hate so well not even Saphira and Eragon had seen it in her. Sauron used it against her now, twisting it inside her to make her turn against her own order.
The dragons had been made furious with this development! They knew that Sauron might attempt to steal the power of the Eldunaris away from the dragons that he now had under his control. If he did, even with only three of them, he would be made too powerful to fight against – and he would be unstoppable if he also obtained the one ring. So, as punishment for their betrayal, the Eldunari Council had decided to work the same spell that they had worked upon the Forsworn almost two centuries ago. They used their magic to strip the betrayed dragons of their names, of their very consciousness. Now, they were little more than beasts, animals with no sentience, and therefore their Eldunaris were useless.
Eragon blamed himself for this failure, that he should have seen this coming, that the rider order was a failure all over again if he couldn't prevent corruption. This was the same betrayal that had driven the last order to the brink of extinction. Saphira had shared in his sorrow but had instead used it to fuel her vengeful fury.
When Eragon had received word that the Fellowship had been broken, and those of its members scattered, he'd had to get in touch with his student. He'd reassured them that they were doing their best to regain themselves and instead had told him to focus his attention on keeping Sauron's attention. And indeed they did, for along with the three riders he'd turned, Sauron thought to make a mockery of the order by having his Nazgul ride Fell-beasts: worm-like dragons that spouted no fire nor scales, with only two legs, as Smaug had been. Saphira hated them, for they were vile creatures with little intelligence that scorned the dragon-legacy. Though the dragons were larger and far more powerful, the Fell-Beasts were smaller and more agile, and they had the power of the Nazgul to protect them. Wherever the dragon-riders were, the Nazgul came to oppose them. It became a personal quest of Saphira's to kill them all.
Though she did not learn about this until long after the fact, but the Rider Order and Middle Earth at large had actually missed a fatal blow that would have seen the end of them – and none of them realised.
Thanks to Saphira's efforts in the sixty years she had been in Middle-Earth adopting awakened wild dragon eggs from the vault, the Middle Earth Wild Dragon population had suddenly spiked from the brink of extinction to being in full bloom. Some of the children she raised had made homes in Alagaesia, and others stayed in the wilderness of Middle Earth. Sauron had thought to take advantage of this, and recruit as many of them to his side as possible. His plan, she suspected, had been to create an army of dragons just as his master had done in the War of Wrath. It had been a host of Dragons that had turned the tides of war in Morgoth's favour and pushed back the gods themselves. If Sauron managed to do the same, he would be truly unstoppable.
Perhaps his arrogance had gone too far, or perhaps he had assumed he would be successful because of his own master's enslavement of dragons. For Sauron had gone to the wild dragons – of both Middle Earth and Alagaesia – and had attempted to recruit and dominate them. The dragons, led by their alpha, Saphira's real son, Aurye, had declared that they would not partake in the War of the Ring at all. They refused to partake in the fight, staying out of the conflict all together to fight for neither side. Despite knowing of Sauron's power and his attempts to win them over by appealing to their greed or self-interest, they refused his call. For Saphira had been a mother to each and every one of them, and though they did not fight at her side, out of respect for her and the fight she fought against the Dark Lord, they would not fight against her.
One she had learned of this, Saphira had been close to bursting with pride. And she had also felt a bit overwhelmed. Because she had done the simplest thing in the world: she had loved a child. She had been a mother. And yet somehow, that alone had been enough to save the world from complete and utter annihilation. How could that be? How could something so simple bring out such an astounding result?
From her memory, she recalled a time when Gandalf had visited Fort Arngor, and had sat down with her in the quiet of a dawn and had said:
"Saruman believes that it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found." A smile crinkled his weathered lips. "I have found it is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love."
And in that moment, she knew no truer words were ever spoken.
But the war was not over yet…