And then there were four! We move out of the regional divisions and into the Semi Final of this year’s March Madness, the Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth. Here’s how the table stands now:
Round Five – Final Four
So who triumphed in the Elite Eight? This was a nail biting round; this very post was drafted with certain costumes as winners, but then there was a late surge in voting and a couple of outfits made a comeback!
Beginning with the Humans and Maiar, a fully armoured Eomer was taking on Aragorn in ranger garb. This duel had the widest margin in the Quarter Final, with just under 60% of the vote going to Aragorn’s outfit. He’ll meet the Witchking in the Semi Final; in the Villains region, the Balrog was finally defeated, with the epic helm and long robes of the Witchking claiming about 10% more votes.
Quarter Final time! Only the Elite (or Elegant?) Eight remain in the Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth; one final round in the region divisions. Here’s the latest table:
Round Three – Sweet Sixteen
Let’s take a look at the Round Three results; starting with the Villains this time. The Mouth of Sauron was no match for the Balrog, only managing to muster a third of the vote; and the regular Witchking took 70%, to crush his Twilight self. This means we’ll see the ruler from Angmar taking on the demon of the ancient world in the Quarter Final; and just to prove that there are Balrog cosplays, here’s a brilliant one from a TORn staffer:
Staffer Rasputin looks incredible as a Balrog showgirl
So, what happened in Round Two? Let’s begin this time with the Elves. Galadriel’s Lorien gown beat Arwen’s dress when on the bridge with Aragorn; but now she has to take on her granddaughter again, as Galadriel meets Arwen’s blue and red dress in Round Three. Here’s a certain TORn founder looking very fetching in that gown:
And like that, the numbers are halved. Just 32 made it through – which costumes are still in, for Round Two of the Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth? Here’s how the bracket looks now:
Let’s take a look at some of the battles of Round One. In the Human/Maiar category, the easiest win went to Aragorn’s ‘hero’ Strider costume, which defeated Beorn with 88% of the vote – fellow fan Pavel will be pleased with this victory, as he has a wonderful Strider cosplay (see below). That one is perhaps not surprising; but there are some astonishing results in this region. Four of Eowyn’s costumes started in this region; but only her coronation gown has made it through, defeating Gandalf the Grey’s robe in a very tight battle (51% to 49%). And in one of the biggest upsets of the first round, 16th seed Theoden triumphed over number one seed Saruman; the white wizard could only muster 39% of the vote! The King of Rohan finds himself up against his nephew Eomer in Round Two; show us your Rohan cosplays!
It is time … time to vote in Round One of the Battle of the Best Dressed in Middle-earth!
Following our initial bracket reveal on last week’s TORn Tuesday, our Wild Card round at the end of last week saw Bard replace the Dwarf Women for a spot in the contest. So now we begin the match ups! Will Theoden’s splendid armour overcome Faramir’s coronation robes? Can the Haradrim defeat the Easterlings? And in an epic confrontation of elvish beauty, which will triumph: Galadriel’s dress in An Unexpected Journey, or Arwen’s gown on the bridge with Aragorn? Here’s how the bracket looks, for Round One of our contest:
We’ve been encouraging you to rally the vote for your favourite costumes, by showing us your cosplays for some of these characters. Let’s take a look at some we’ve received thus far! Voting begins below as well!
Less than 48 hours to go until this year’s Middle-earth March Madness competition gets going; and today we bring you the result of the Wild Card round. Who has found a spot in the Battle of the Best-Dressed, and who has been knocked out before the fun even begins?
Battle of the Best-dressed in Middle-earth – Middle-earth March Madness 2021
In a landslide victory (which will perhaps surprise no one), with 84% of the vote, Bard is the man joining the fray. Not much love for Alfrid in drag… As to the slot that Bard will take, that was a much closer call. We nearly saw Tauriel going home to Mirkwood; but with 6% of the vote, it is the dwarven women who are leaving. As Gimli might say, ‘There ARE no dwarf women!’
Middle-earth March Madness begins on Monday. You can find the complete bracket below. Don’t forget, if there’s a costume or character in there which you have cosplayed, share some pictures with us to help secure the votes! You can email spymaster@theonering.net, post to TORn’s page on Facebook, or tag us on Twitter or Instagram, using #middleearthbestdressed. Campaign for the one you want to see go all the way to victory! Then come back here on Monday to cast your votes in Round One.
