Sauron encounters: Rivalry
„Move it Spartans, secure the zone!" The Announcer spoke while three Spartans – one blue, pink and the third green -were running across the catwalk above river of magma at full speed when from the other side their enemies opened fire.
Green spartan quickly slid under the rocket and fired a burst from his assault rifle while pink spartan fired her automatic grenade launcher, taking bullets on her personal shield.
"You need to move to cover!" Blue Spartan deployed the shield, and bullets pinged the energy barrier, and he fired at the attackers with his designated marksman rifle while Pink Spartan giggled.
"I am drawing their attention, go!" Blue Spartan nodded and run past his teammate as she unleashed torrent of grenades. "Eat nades suckers!"
Blue Spartan slid to his green teammate and both laid down suppressive fire, taking out one of the enemies firing from the other side, and forcing the rest to keep their heads down, only to be blown up by grenades.
"Ha ha!" Pink Spartan walked and shoot grenades, each blast followed by a curse or shout. "You are just bad at this point!"
"Now it's our chance! Go!" White Spartan rushed forward, green following behind while Pink Spartan looked after them.
"I got ya…" A precise shot from the Sniper rifle cut her sentence short.
"NO!" Green Spartan yelled as pink spartan fell from the railing, and started to search the place from which the shot came, but the Sniper was not there.
"We are a sitting ducks here, come on!" Spartan in blue armor put his hand on his partner's shoulder, green spartan quickly recomposed himself and run past his companion.
Or at least, tried to as the precise sniper shot entered through Spartan's head from his left side, exited from his right and still managed to kill the Spartan in blue.
I SEE Y0U sniped V3rbant L0tus
I SEE Y0U sniped You
"Oh c'mon! Where was he anyway!?" Jaune grumbled as he waited for the respawn.
"He must be using cloak." Ren wondered as he watched his death screen. "But that comes at a cost of lower shield."
"That's why only noobs take it!" Nora added, her grasp tightening on the controller. "I will get him next time!"
"Hey Pyrrha, wanna join?" Jaune turned to Nikos as she was doing her homework. "We could use a fourth player!"
"After I am finished with this, sure!" Pyrrha said, and smiled a little to herself.
"Just don't take too long!" Jaune said, and suddenly, Nora's character got shot again.
Pink Lightning: Hey, Gardening*(Be polite!) Spawncamper! Shotting at people leaving spawn is lame*(Be polite!) and unfun!
I SEE Y0U: Your rage is just like your skill.
I SEE Y0U: Impotent.
"That's it, I am going to teabag his body." Nora declared, and both Ren and Jaune gave her a worried look.
"You play too much with Yang." Ren concluded and Jaune nodded.
"What? Of course not!" Nora made a wide gesture with his controller while Ren and Jaune shared a look, remembering that from the very first day in their dorms, Nora and Yang played together, a lot, and Yang was really easy to tilt. "Don't tell me he doesn't pisses you off!"
"He is not that bad…" Ren wanted to say, but his Spartan got a bullet straight to his face.
I SEE YOU: Utterly predictable L0tus. A shame really. Ren took a deep breath.
"…At least we learn more about ourselves."
Jaune nodded his head and tried to fight back against charging enemy team, but a shot on his shoulder dropped him low enough for the enemies to gun him down.
"Seriously, is this guy a smurf?"
Sauron couldn't help but smile as he saw his minions, also known as his "team", rushing towards the objective while he calmly reloaded his Anti-material rifle.
"Who would have thought that these 'video games' could be so entertaining?" He wondered as he took aim and dropped a running enemy. He didn't even bother with the headshot, a single shot to torso was more than enough to finish the job.
After this second shot he quickly activated his cloak and changed position to a more suitable one.
When he started to discover the world of this 'video games', he thought that the strategy games will catch his interest, and for some time they did, however, the so called 'AI' was such a weak adversary that each grand strategy involving a world domination ended with him, well, dominating the whole world, even when he switched the settings to "Extra hard', learning that, much to his disappointment, his foe didn't receive more intelligence, but more resources and better units earlier. Even when he tried to work on this 'AI' to improve it, it was still disappointing, and he decided to return to this task once he comprehends this invisible engines more.
He tried most of the popular games, and none managed to catch his interest for more than a day, which prompted him to return to the first video game he had ever seen – Halo.
At first, when he played with other players, he found himself on the backfoot – Many had such reflex and reaction time that for a moment he suspected that they were more advanced 'AI', but, much to his astonishment, it turned out they were humans.
Since his pride couldn't accept losing to Humans, Sauron decided to change his approach – why play into their strength when he can play into his?
He aimed his Anti-material rifle at clearly more experienced player, as he moved in an confusing loops and jumped around, his foe trying to do the same, but failing miserably.
A3Hander killed SweetMayonez33
I SEE Y0U sniped A3Hander
Sauron's sharp sight, and ability to quickly calculate and predict his enemies movements made a deadly combo while using a powerful sniper rifle. Capable of killing wakened foes with a single shot to the body, or straight up killing his enemy with a precise shot to the head made the Anti-material rifle his favorite weapon of choice. That doesn't mean he hadn't other tricks up his sleeves.
Through his scope he observed how his team's best player wearing ghost-like armor charged across the ledge above the river of magma, sliding under fire and quickly aiming at two foes.
NavyZero8745 killed G88rny
NavyZero8745 killed CPUn0tFound
He ran past two bodies falling to the flowing magma, but before he could reload another foe came from around the corner, which forced him to switch for his sidearm, only for a precise sniper shot to clean his foe.
I SEE Y0U sniped 01000010 01110010 01101001 01100001 01101110
Ghost Spartan nodded his helmet to ally in the distance and rushed forward, quickly joined by two other teammates while Sauron overwatched their advance.
With all honesty, he achieved everything he wanted to with Halo – He showed what he was capable of on the largest 'server' in Vale, technically there was no point in continuing. If not for a single detail…
"Let's go, move move move!" One of Sauron's teammates run gesturing with his gun to Navy and two more approaching Spartans, only to get shot through a head.
Red Spartan appeared on an elevated position, fired from the precision rifle and downed another foe, slid under the incoming gun fire, drew the energy blade, killed an enemy in close quarters, managed to dodge a burst shot from Navy's rifle, then disappeared behind cover, leaving Sauron's team with no chance to respond.
"There you are." Sauron said, a self-indulgent smile danced on his lips.
RedRipper2012. His greatest rival in 'Halo'. A Nemesis worthy of his attention.
She is swift and flexible while he is precise and patient. Her reflexes were unmatched by anyone he had ever met. And even after Sauron finally grasped how to play this, she managed to defeat him.
Currently, they sat at eight kills to nine in his favor, and he intended to finally make it eight to ten.
His attention now focused entirely on eliminating his foe he aimed at the last place she was seen, and overwatched all possible gaps and awaited.
Zero draw his energy blade and treaded carefully, ready for RedRipper's imminent return. He looked left and right, right and left, up…
Red Spartan launched into the air, fired a grappling hook at the Ghost Spartan. Immediately Sauron aimed at her and fired, but, much to his dismay, he was too slow for a fraction for a second, for the bullet passed really close to her head, but not close enough.
Red Spartan rammed her energy blade through Navy's helmet before he could deflect her strike with his own weapon.
RedRipper2012 killed NavyZero8745
Still mid-air red spartan switched to her precision rifle and fired in Sauron's direction, forcing him to take cover. When he poked his head out, his nemesis was already gone.
RedRipper2012: You missed!
He smirked when he read that.
I SEE Y0U: Next time, luck won't be on your side.
G0lden Drag00n: Man, I have seen you saying that few times already.
I SEE Y0U: Impossible, I rarely repeat myself.
G0lden Drag00n: I am sure you did.
RustedKnight09: Happens to everyone.
I SEE Y0U: Not to me.
Sauron was more than certain that these two were trying to make him think that he made a slip up to distract him, but their attempts were in vain, he won't fall for this kind of manipulation.
RedRipper2012: Know this – Today, I will get you for that trap you baited me into earlier!
I SEE Y0U: And you will fall for the tenth time, and our petty rivalry will be concluded with my victory.
Master ChEEks joined the game.
MasterChEEks: Hey guys, have you seen the Halo tv-series?
MasterChEEks has been banned from the server. Reason: Encouraging Toxicity
Sauron's avatar run across the map to the new position using cloaking device, relentlessly hunting the Redripper, more than determined on defeating her once and for all. And he found this determination to be something fascinating.
He was determined to conquer Middle-Earth, to destroy the line of Elendil or to recover the One Ring, but this petty rivalry as he considered it, was something else.
Redripper is not a person, nor a king or a powerful individual, just a title behind which complete stranger hides, who might be thousands of miles away, oblivious to the fact that she is fighting a maia. She might be completely normal person, without any goal or agency, completely unimportant in the grand scheme of things. And yet, he felt some sort of begrudging respect to her.
He reloaded his rifle and hid in his favorite spot, overwatching the central point in the map, sight of the most heated fight between two teams. She will come, sooner or later.
It's a shame really that he won't know the true identity behind the red mask.
"You saw that right!?" Red Spartan was soon joined by her Golden compatriot.
"You totally wrecked these guys!" Golden Spartan replied, and both players fist bumped for the job well done, and on the other side of the screen, Yang and Ruby fist bumped like their respective characters in game.
"I don't get what is so fun about it." Weiss said, watching both sisters playing. "You just run around and shoot people."
"Mhm!" Ruby eliminated another enemy player as she made her way to the middle while Yang have dealt with another straggler with a well-thrown grenade, which made Weiss just shake her head.
"What, you never played a video game Ice Queen?" Yang sarcastically remarked, and when silence answered her, she turned to Weiss with wide open eyes. "Bullshit, really!?"
"I had better things to do in my spare time." She lied, she didn't have much spare time to begin with, most of it spent on studies, trainings and even more studying to take over the company one day. And adding that Jacques had a really strict method of parenting regarding modern technologies, she never played a video game.
"Like reading books?" Ruby briefly inquired, her attention quickly returning to the match.
"For example. Or making the assignment about Treaty of Vytal for tomorrow's class" Schnee emphasized the last tidbit.
"Booorrring." Yang replied. "I will do it tomorrow morning."
"And I already finished mine." Ruby added while Blake just gave her thumb up and returned to her book.
"Wait, you did?" Weiss cleared her throat to not sound flabbergasted. "Nevertheless, I don't know how you can relax with this." Just as she said that, Golden Spartan got shot through her head, but Yang wasn't bothered.
"How about you try, huh?" Yang shook the controller in her hand.
"Yes!" Ruby joined in, sensing an opportunity. "Please Weiss!"
"It does not interest me in the slightest." She tried to sound all high and mighty, but a large part of her grew ever more curious while Yang shook the controller.
"You may never knooow." Weiss looked away, trying to ignore Yang's teasing and Ruby's pleading eyes.
Sauron overwatched the middle point, providing the sniper fire, downing some of the foes still brave enough to stick too much of their heads out of cover. However, his team, despite having such an advantage, were mediocre at best, only him and the ghost spartan somehow… humans have another word for it, ah yes, "carrying" this game.
Sauron looked at the clock on top of his screen. Three minutes, a single contested zone, which his team, despite their only ability being decoys drawing enemy fire, managed to hold for a time being. That means Redripper must get involved sooner or later, or lose this match.
He aimed for another foe and took his head of his shoulders with a single shot.
And from all the encounters with her Sauron knew that Redripper loves heroic entrances which turn the tide of battle, and most likely she will make her move with less than two minutes on the clock, just to add this dramatic flair. It's what humans refer to as 'a cliché', but she did that before, with the assist of another player, and actually won, taking him by surprise.
He briefly looked at 'the needler' and a grappling hook he dropped under his feet beforehand. This time, he was prepared.
Two minutes thirty seconds.
Out of nowhere, a new player, wholly in white armor walked out of the corner with a rifle, looked around and started firing, and from the way she moved Sauron could already say that it is someone inexperienced, not to mention she was an easy target. He almost felt bad for shooting at her.
Almost.
With a bang, White Spartan fell on her knees with a loud "Agh" and slammed her face against the ground.
I SEE Y0U sniped Ivory mage.
"…I think I did something wrong here." Weiss remarked watching her 'character' die.
"Maybe don't run out in the open like a Noob?" Yang suggested with an entertained look on her face while her spartan picked up a double rocket launcher.
"What does it even mean?" Weiss just left a sigh. "Whatever." She put the controller and wanted to walk away.
"Hey hey hey, don't worry about it! It is your first ever game…" Ruby wanted to cheer her partner up when game chat sparked to life.
I SEE Y0U: Living bait? Unexpected from you RedRipper.
"Living bait!?" Weiss shouted and sat back with an angry face. "Oh I will show you… How do I restart?"
"You mean respawn?"
"However it is called, how to do it?" Yang pointed at the respawn timer. "That's just unfair!"
"Don't worry, match is about to end soon, we will get him for you." Yang said as she and Ruby prepared with two minutes and ten seconds. "Ready to rock sis?"
Ruby nodded. "Ready to roll!"
"Ruby." Weiss spoke five seconds before clock reached two minutes, frantically clicking x button to respawn faster. "Break his knees." And the red spartan gave her a thumbs up.
Two minutes to end the game, one last objective.
Both girls sprang into action, red spartan engaging the enemies encroaching on the point while golden spartan fired rockets at a place from which I SEE Y0U shot came from, but he was no longer there as the missiles struck the metal.
Redripper dashed under the gunfire, quickly scoped one of her enemies before switching to her energy blade, parrying a combat knife and splitting her attacker in two.
Meanwhile Golden Dragon mid-air drew the gravity hammer landed between two of her foes, and in one swing killed them both, both sisters clearing the point.
"Yeah!" Ruby cheered for a moment, the point cleared, only one contesting it…
A burst of needler shards started to puncture the Golden Spartan, and with a quiet curse Yang tried to back off with less than a quarter of her healthbar left, but grappling hook attached to her torso and a black spartan flew out of seemingly nowhere and pierced through her skull with a red energy blade.
"No!" Ruby tried to quickscope the Onyx-black spartan, but he dodged out of the way, fired a burst from needler, it's tracking projectiles taking half of Redripper's healthbar, making her susceptible to his red energy blade.
And somehow, behind onyx-black spartan's volcano like visor, Ruby could feel the shit-eating grin.
"All according to plan." Sauron thought as his character charged at the Redripper, who was still taken aback by his sudden close quarter attack.
His nemesis expected him to play like usual – fire from afar, to not put himself directly in the harm's way, and on that foolish presumption he decided to base his trap. He trained how to use the energy blade, reviewed how the Redripper fights up close, and now he used this knowledge against her.
Spartan in black was swiftly upon her, two quick slashes to the torso, but Ripper parried both strikes, then tried to back off to regain her health, but he won't give her this chance.
As soon as she tried to gain some distance, he fired quick burst, one or two shots from the needler to keep her shield down and prevent her from regenerating, and Redripper realized that she either fights him up close, or gives up the point. Or worse.
She drew her blue energy blade and counterattacked with series of quick stabs, one of them taking down his shield, but it was fine, he already didn't highly rely on it due to his preferable playstyle, while she was still at an disadvantage.
Slash followed by thrust, parry, faint leading another parry, with three slashes followed by a kick. Each time their blades met, the crackling sound could be heard as energies battled with one another like they did right now.
Although Sauron gathered all the advantages before he engaged, Redripper was more experienced with fighting in close quarters, and managed to cheapen black spartan's healthbar down to half, but it mattered not – Sauron knew that she is panicking, one blow from being downed.
That was it. He won. He could already taste his victory, it was so… intoxicating.
Suddenly, a torrent of bullets struck his side, nearly killing him, but he managed to jump away. Unfortunately he had to stop his fight with Redripper before he could finish her.
"WHO DARED?!" He roared inside his head as rage surged within, his perfect trap ruined by someone, but he seemingly stayed calm, such petty emotions won't ruin his image.
He heard a kettle in adjacent room whistling. Strange, he didn't put it on fire.
Spartan's head jerked to the direction from where the bullets came from, where stood a white spartan from before, right in the open, now reloading her rifle to fire again. Not a chance.
He fired the grapple, pierced through white spartan's torso and lunged at her, energy blade in tow, and she fired a burst at him again, but her inexperience made her miss completely. Sauron dropped kicked her, and while collapsing on the floor stunned, he stabbed repeatedly with energy sword for interrupting.
Satisfied with this kill, he now could refocus on…
"No!" He quickly turned his head, just in time to see Red Ripper aiming her precision rifle at him, and pulling the trigger.
Blue team won!
"Yeah!" Ruby and Weiss jumped after their win, while Yang just chuckled seeing them acting like that.
"Feeling the dopamine?" Xiao teased when Weiss realize what she is doing.
"Ekhem, I… I think I do." Wiess reluctantly admitted while Ruby hugged her.
"Yay, we won thanks to you!"
"Hey, don't touch me!"
Post-game chat:
Tilt3r77: Dude, you don't interrupt melee duels.
H000minni: Yeah, that was a lowball.
EmilGaming: Imagine losing to a Noob.
Redripper2012: Hey, it was her first game, you should be more polite!
Tilt3r77: No point in defending some beta trash.
Before Weiss could make a comment on that or write a response, Yang stretched her arm and cracked her fingers.
"With people like them, you have to be harsh." She said and picked up her controller. "Watch."
At first Ruby, Weiss and Blake watched curiously what Yang is writing as a response, and at first it took them aback, then disgusted them, nearly making Ruby puke, then distressed them, but Yang kept going, writing in such a way that profanity filter didn't censor her obscenities.
"Where did you learn that vocabulary!?" Weiss shouted while covering Ruby's eyes and in turn Ruby covered Weiss's, all the while Blake hid her face behind a book, and Yang finished with a proud smile on her face.
"I once had to help uncle Qrow in a toolshed, and held a flashlight while he worked on the engine." She explained, and Ruby nodded her head, now understanding everything.
I SEE Y0U: Well played, Redripper2012, well played. I look forward to our next fight.
Redripper2012: You are logging off already?
I SEE Y0U: Indeed, I have something to do.
Redripper2012: Ok, see you then, thanks for the game!
Sauron put down the controller and left the living room. He was so close! If not for that interruption, he would have finished it once and for all!
He left a heavy sigh. Back to nine-nine it seems. And as much as he wanted to get angry, this trivial rivalry made him somewhat nostalgic in a way.
For a moment he watched how his men carry out the tables from his workshop hidden in a basement to make space for something larger, and while they were working, Sauron thought about the time he had such rivalry with someone in game before…
Angband, thousands of years prior
"Checkmate Yrgul." Sauron stated as he put the rook, and the orc chieftain looked overly stressed.
"How?" He asked, and Sauron left a heavy sigh.
"That's for you to think about, return when you figure it out, now get out of my sight!" Orc quickly bowed and run away leaving Sauron and the Chessboard alone.
"Why are you wasting time for these mongrels?" Gothmog bellowed as Sauron started to put pieces back on the board. "They are a sword-fodder* at best."
"And for them to fulfill this role well, their leaders have to have at least some common sense, don't you think?" Sauron spoke back, and Gothmog left something akin to laughter.
"And you call me delusional."
"Yet it's a truth – Chess force you to think, a quality that most of Morgoth's servants lack."
"You try to make it sound overly complicated."
"Playing chess is easy to learn, yet hard to master, each move must be calculated three moves onward, or your strategy will fall apart. And your comments only prove my point."
Gothmog turned to him, fire leaving his nostrils. "Is that a challenge?"
"Challenge?" Sauron chuckled. "Gothmog, you never played chess before, it will be an easy win for me."
"Oh, so it is a challenge!" Gothmog approached the table. "Then let's play a round!" And he reached for the figures…
Only to realize that that his fingers are too big and bulky to grab the individual piece, and the table itself was too small for him.
"Do you want me to move these pieces for you? Or perhaps you need a pincers?" Sauron said with a cheeky smile, making giant Balrog growl in anger, but then, something shined behind his fiery eyes.
"I will be back!" He declared and left the Forge, his steps like drums echoing around the fortress.
For a moment Sauron wanted to stop the Black Captain, but he saw a spark of idea in Gothmog's eyes, and knew that he would not be able to stop him, for once the Commander of Balrogs makes up his mind about something, it would be easier to move a continent than change his mind. And, as he went back to his crafts, he only hoped that Gothmog won't do too much damage…
Ten minutes later
"Out, all of you!" Gothmog's voice boomed, and both orcs and goblins run from the chamber Gothmog decided to claim, trampling some of them and dropping their stolen belongings, while those too slow were forced to stay by the corrupted maia's wrath.
"You" He pointed at the trembling orcs. "Paint your armors white and black."
'Wha-?"
"DID I ALLOWED YOU TO QUESTION ME?!"
"No!" Orcs stood straight.
"Good, finish painting yourself before I return." Gothmog left the large chamber while orcs looked at one another in confusion, the impending question coming to mind.
"Where are we going to find a white paint in the Black Fortress?"
In different section of Angband
"What are you dragging me into again?" Glaurung grumbled as Gothmog dragged him by his tail through the corridors.
"You shall be an accountant." Gothmog stated, and Glaurung growled in disappointment.
"Another way of mocking me…"
"You do it yourself really well." Gothmog chuckled while the Father of All Dragons still felt the wounds dealt to his pride by Morgoth's Baltmorkre – his mighty belt.
Some time later
Sauron was working on a giant horn, which sound could shake the very earth once blown when Lungorthin, Gothmog's second in command walked into the forge.
"Lord Gothmog wants to see you, Lord Sauron." It's voice crackled like a furnace, but Sauron didn't pay the Balrog even a glance.
"If Gothmog wants something from me, then he should come by himself." Fallen Maia retorted, focused on carving the tusk. Even though Gothmog is strong, Sauron would never lower himself to obey his command, especially if Angband's black Captain thinks he can order him around by a proxy.
"It's not an order." Balrog clarified. "It's an invitation."
"Oh?" Sauron turned to the Balrog. "Gothmog invites me?" And Balrog nodded his head. "In that case, I may pay him a visit soon."
"Lord Gothmog told me to relay to Lord Sauron the Great that Lord Gothmog hopes that your arrival will be quick." Lungorthin continued, and Sauron rolled his eyes at this obvious attempt to feed his ego.
Partially successful.
"Very well, if he so insists. Lead the way." And both fallen and corrupted Maia left the forge and walked through the tunnels towards their destination, Sauron wondering what exactly this brute was planning. His mind gave him plentiful of answers, some even warned him of potential ambush.
But what actually followed was even more surprising.
Turns out, Gothmog repurposed whole chamber into giant chessboard, with two podiums on the opposing ends and a seat for Glaurung on the sideline to act as a judge, while two groups of orcs stood on the chessboard, one colored white and one black.
Gothmog looked at flabbergasted Sauron with clear pride.
"Now we can properly play your 'game'" He declared.
"You do realize that this chamber's purpose was different, right?" Sauron inquired, remembering how he preplanned it to be orcs barracks, but Gothmog just shrugged his arms.
"There are more important matters than some orcish dwellings."
"Like what Gothmog?"
"Like putting you in your place." Gothmog taunted, but it was not a threat, more like, a 'friendly banter', as weird as it sounds from someone like Gothmog. "Now, face me, so I can show you that I am superior in all aspects of war, even in such watered down form as chess!"
Sauron left a deep chuckle in his throat.
"Alright then, let's play."
And thus that day, The Great Games, as the orcs later called this in their legends, begun – Morgoth's Master Strategist against the Morgoth's Herald of War.
Their games turned out to be even more than any of them could anticipate – Sauron was cunning and thought dozens of moves ahead, but Gothmog proved to be adaptable and quick-minded, sometimes even able to predict Sauron's traps. Not only that, Gothmog never lost to the same maneuver twice, while Sauron had to invent new strategies to win their matches.
Despite playing thousands of games, their score remained even, mostly because when one of them won, the second immediately demanded a rematch, the pride unable to take a loss, and the tie was a compromise both Gothmog and Sauron could agree on.
The exact count of their games was lost after Glaurung got the illness that is a more common for orcs than dragons – a quick stab to the gut. And after Sauron left Morgoth's service, chamber remained silent and sealed by Gothmog's orders, so when the Beleriand was flooded, the chamber remained undisturbed to the end of times underneath the sea, the last vestige of Gothmog's and Sauron's rivalry.
As for the orcs who were painted black and white - they escaped the War of Wrath and continued The Great Games in the far, cold north, now it being a right of passage for their Chieftains.
Facts about the Middle-Earth you are probably not aware of.
1. Fellowships tenth member.
All know that the Fellowship consisted of four Hobbits, two men, one elf, one dwarf and one wizard, but most forget about the Bill.
Who was Bill? He was a Pony. Bill the Pony.
He was purchased by Samwise "the GOAT" Gamgee in Bree and was with the Hobbits and Aragorn when they got to the Rivendell, then when the Fellowship was formed he traveled with them as they tried to get through the mountains, dutifully carrying their belongings when they fought against the falling snow.
However, Bill was released before the fellowship reached Moria and Sam was afraid that his friend was killed by the wolves, but before that encounter with the Watcher, Gandalf spoke Bill the words of guard and guiding, then told the pony to return to Rivendell.
And the pony safely returned to Bree, where he reunited with Sam and returned with him to Shire.
2. Humans of the second age were just built different.
Quick background – Nírnaeth Arnoediad, also known as the Battle of Unnumbered Tears has reached its climax. Fingon (The same guy who wounded Glaurung, as shown in Silmarrilion dumb down) is dead, slain by Gothmog, so Meadhros, the Eldest son of Feanor, was forced to run to the hills from Morgoth's army.
Among the Elven forces was King Turgon of Gondolin and his regiment, and Morgoth was focused on capturing at least one of the Elves from the Hidden Kingdom, because, as the name suggests, it was hidden from him, so he sent a lot of his beasts and orcs after them.
Enter Hurin (Remember the guy?), he told King Turgon to run while he and his warriors would hold the enemy at bay and made their last stand in the middle of the ravine.
Yes, they Leonidasd the sh*t out of Morgoth's forces, piles of orcs bodies so high that orcs and men had to climb up the mountain of corpses to continue fighting. Hurin on his part was absolute powerhouse, personally slaughtering at least seventy trolls.
Yep, You read that right. TROLLS.
And not ordinary trolls – Gothmog's personal guards!
Few times, he even had to dig himself out from the piles of bodies just to continue fighting.
Morgoth was so impressed (And probably terrified) that he ordered Gothmog to capture the guy. It's my headcanon but I believe that both Hurin and Gothmog had this glorious duel on top of the pile of troll bodies before the axe Hurin wielded broke, allowing Gothmog to win the fight and drag him to Angband.
There, Morgoth tried to taunt him, diminish his accomplishments and boast how mighty he was, and Hurin basically called him a little bitch, which infuriated Morgoth.
Even Tolkien himself called him "The Mightiest of Men."
3. Morgoth's automatons.
I don't know if it is still canon, but in the early iterations of Silamrilion Morgoth actually utilized robots!
Just to be clear, these 'robots' were more like golems, not sophisticated machines like Atlasian knights or paladins. There were in fact piles of metal crudely molded together, some having a size of a foot soldier, others were moving rivers of sharp steel and iron.
They were really hard to kill, but had some disadvantages – they were mindless, basically a suicide weapons that you launch at the enemy and hope it will cause as much damage as possible. Second was that such automatons were hard to store, since their purpose was only to destroy, they did just that to their allies. Not to mention that they are actually hard to control in the battle.
So I think Morgoth just ditched them out of convenience, or Sauron nagged him that they are not optimal use of resources, and convinced him to stop wasting his time and effort to make them work.
*Sword-fodder – basically means the same as 'cannon-fodder', but cannons were not invented in the Middle-earth, so it would be quite strange to say, right?
Authors Note
Few things out of the way: 1) quotes used by the "Players", as well as their 'nicks' came from my games (except the Halo tv-show one) with slight changes and 2) Some player nicks used by team RWBY and JNPR are direct references to "Hunters of Justice" Fanfic written by TrestWho. I am not going to hide it, it's a really good fic I like it and definitely recommend , even if you are not a fan of DC universe.
And that 'gardening' and 'unfun' are direct references to one particular game profanity filter, which I find pretty hilarious.
What else there is to say? Ah yes! Those who celebrate Thanksgiving – Happy Thanksgiving! I know, pretty late. I personally do not celebrate it, but I wish you the best regardless!
From less good news – my update schedule will now probably go into a crawl due to many reasons, but worry not – I am still writing!
Now, to you reviews:
In response to Xealchim:
"Goum? really? pass"
"Wow, so you made him pathetic. What a waste, so stupid . I'm actually mad you made him the worthless rat whose only use was to be kicked into the Mt Doom to destroy the ring. Stop cooking its burnt"
Yeah, I refrenced the Smeagol line, and that's because I believe Nazguls were ALSO obssesed with their rings. No need to get mad here, Arc is not becoming a second Gollum, I just wanted to show that he sloly becomes as obssesed as the previous ringbearers.
And what Konsilio said in Author's note was a friendly banter with two cowriters not meant to be taken THAT seriously.
Stay safe!
In response to Valen Skata:
"It's been a while since I last read so good corruption arc." Well thank you! I am doing my best here.
As for the Nazgul being in the same position as Jsune, not quite - they were powerful kings, most of them Numenorians, they were afarid to die, that's why they are refered to as "Lords of Unending Life". In my headcanon, for each of these lords Sauron had to take a different approach, and for Jaune's appraoch is simple - praying on his fears.
His situations is more akin to Boromir's - Boromir wanted to use the ring because he was afraid for his Kingdom, his Nation, and the Ring preyed on that.
"But I should, in earlier chapters he was hinted to become more important to the story. But the sequence of Junior learning Sauron's true nature, it was good!" Konsilio: Yeah, I am pretty proud of this part too!
"Tolkien's only Ungolianth comes to my mind. If that is the case, why was she on Remnant, why was she hunting silvereyed and why she is no longer around?" Those are pretty good questions that I have already answered a nearly a year ago!
Small hint - Bonds and Chains.
And also, don't worry about accidently hitting post review, it happened to me!
Twice
Take care!
In response to Vanguard Crosscut
"Jaune... you better throw the ring to the forge fires or things will get nasty" Why would he? It is his ring, right? His thoughts, Right?
"Nameless" I snickered when I read that for the first time!
Summer Killer Grimm, yeah, that's right, it's just a Summer Killer Grimm, right?
Have a nice weekend *Honk honk!*!
In response to Marine:
I mean, RWBY world is full of the blank spaces that cry to be filled, and I decided to do so. As long as they make sense for me, and for the story.
Take care!
In response to FictionWriter2983:
"I am pretty sure that is Ungoliant in the ending bit" - Perhaps? Won't confirm, won't deny
In response to Dhestrya:
So you are "Right" in Italian? That's... Nice
Good day to you!
In response to RedHood001:
"What I love about this chapter is how everyone is dealing with the aftermath." I mean, it's in the name!
I would say that both Gollum and Jaune has one similar characteristc - obssesion.
How Jaune will behave in the future chapters? You will have to see it for yourself, I won't spoil anything.
Konsilio: I may...
No.
As for Team RWBY getting a first reality check and maybe employing Annatar's lesson might prepare them for challenges ahead, both from the outside, and the inside...
"The line about the Devil being a Fallen Angel, or one without wings, is so spot-on when you know what it means to be a Maia." - I really proud of this exchange, at the beginning the whole Junior plot was about to take a different turn, but Junior understood that he will be ousted, that he will lose control, so he had two options - To fight or to submit.
So he chose the third - To bargin. But before he did that, he wanted to understood what he is dealing with.
His line about the devil was stretch, but when Sauron answered him... He got reality checked.
"Both Melkor and Mairon could be inspired by Lucifer in Christianity for obvious reasons, even though Tolkien hates allegory or anything like it to my knowledge." I even think that it was his intention all along, and his story is more "Meta".
I once read that our Earth is actually the Middle Earth in it's "Seventh era", so Melkor literally is Satan and Sauron is a Lucifer.
So, is it really allegory?
"The Faunus that got captured, whose life torments Penny because of guilt, definitely got a hard reality check." I mean yeah, but that wasn't exactly the point, the point was that Sauron actaully cares. He knows that what happened will weight on Penny, so he removed the cause. He helped that faunus not because of benevolance, but because of Penny.
"It seems Ozpin has gotten a lead" Far more than that, he is certain, but he needs further proof.
About their interactions, it is coming, not sure how quick, but it will happen before the finale of the first season.
Konsilio: End of Jaunedice pt. 2 (hehehehehe, I said it!)
*Sigh*
"Has there ever been a case of body-hopping reincarnation in Arda? I guess technically the Elves do that since they get new bodies when they get out of the Halls of Mandos, but Ozma is Human... so is Salem, for that matter." Some facts as a food for thoughts:
On Remnant, Humans came in two waves, the first one seemingly more powerful, capable of using magic and connected to the Brother Gods, and the Second, abandoned by the Gods, not sure from where they came.
On Arda, Elves came first, they were able to use magic and were more connected to the Valars, and the second came humans, not sure from where and they were abandoned by the Valars.
I didn't make that up.
So, answer me this riddle - Are Ozma and Salem really humans?
"Man, the amount of lore that can be explored here... I'm so HYPED!" Konsilio: Me too!
"Morgoth may consider himself Melkor still, but everyone else sees his true nature and so they gave him a more fitting name. The same is said for Sauron, regardless of how seemingly well-intentioned the Second Dark Lord is." THIS, exactly!
"I love how Penny would be a good "investment" as a friend because of her nature as an Android, which meant she would live forever with the proper maintenance... unless she gets turned into a human and dies. I think Sauron would see that as a waste, but I don't know how he'd develop as a character in this story later on. He might understand or at least accept why PENNY would make that choice, who knows?" - There is a whole story developing just answer this, so stay tuned!
I hope you are doing well too friend! Take care and Have a Great day!
In response to Of the Worst 3:
"The bit about angels and demons means that Sauron and Remnanters have a similar idea about such entities. As I am trying to show, Sauron is going through Remnants myths, stories and history, so when read about angels he was like "Wow, they are similar to me."
"...or as a consequence of greater 'harmonies' in Eru Ilúvatar's song." - You can call it that way. And I think that's very close to the actual answer.
"I like how the world re-building intersects with our characters' lives. The canon back stories were thin; you've breathed life where there were bones. That's aside from the crossing elements, which suggest further depths. - What can I say? I love worldbuilding. And worldbuilding should interact with our characters.
"As for Arc in particular, am I wrong to say he has received exactly what he desired?" Yes, Exactly that! But it is all about the price.
"Oz and Sauron are a pair of immortal schemers trying to change the world. If they sat down to play chess, who would win the match?"
Konsilio: Do you see what I see?
I think I do, but say it out loud
Konsilio: He called it.
Damn.
It will be a spoiler, but yeah, they will sat up to play a game of chess. Good job
Konsilio: We really had it preplanned.
And now, no one is going to believe us!
Konsilio: Nooooo! Curse you, Perry the Platypus!
Wut?
Konsilio: I felt that it matched the tone.
...
Anyway, thank you for your review! Have a nice week!
That's all from me today! See you later, and if I don't update before Christmas: Merry Christmas.