Middle-earth Madness officially starts today! We’ve split our field of 64 characters and objects into four divisions: The Shire, Erebor, Angmar and Mordor.
As noted in previous comments and on FB, there are some very interesting match-ups in this first round. In a semi-rematch, can the brave Hobbit Merry take out The Witch-king in a division that includes his own name? Who will win in the battle of brothers as Kili and Fili face off in the Erebor division? And what about last year’s champion Samwise Gamgee?! Can he really take out the ever popular Balrog of Moria? Imagine what “Bullroarer” Took will do against Shelob in the Mordor division. Can the dragon Ancalagon the Black take out Legolas’s father Thranduil in The Shire division?
A note to those of you whom may not know some of the names in the bracket. A great way to educate yourself on the vote is by simply googling the name. We found that Wikipedia has a plethora of information on each character.
Voting in Round 1 will remain open until March 21st at 10pm ET. At that point, we’ll calculate the winners and post the next round on March 22nd. Follow after the break for a complete bracket image (download it), and to vote on all of our Round 1 match-ups! [Round 1 Bracket] (If you are interested in how we came up with this bracket and why some characters are left off (*cough Legolas*), check the note at the bottom of this post)
The Shire – Round 1
March 19th – March 21st 2013
Erebor – Round 1
March 19th – March 21st 2013
Mordor – Round 1
March 19th – March 21st 2013
Angmar – Round 1
March 19th – March 21st 2013
A note on the selection process. TORn staffers got 32 votes to distribute as they saw fit across nearly 100 names. Some staffers are very fond of Silmarillion, some of the Hobbit and others of LOTR, and voted for their favorites. From the results was born the list of 64, who were then distributed across the 4 realms, as you see.Characters like Legolas did receive votes, but missed the final 64 by a single vote!
