We’ve come to it at last. The final match-up of the 2013 Middle-earth March Madness is now set.
The finalists are Gandalf the Grey vs. Thorin Oakenshield.
Thorin’s story in this competition is one of significant achievement. He managed to handle some historic Middle-earth talent by off’ing Fingolfin, Beorn and Smaug. In the semi-finals, Thorin held off a Number 1 seed, Lady Galadriel, with 53% of the vote. He is now riding a wave of popularity into this final match-up with Gandalf.
Gandalf had a bit of a cake-walk in the early rounds of the Angmar Division, easily taking care of Arwen and Merry. He didn’t escape unscathed however. He had a bit more compeition when he faced Gollum and ultimately The One Ring, but he bested both foes. The semi-final match-up with Elrond seemed to be a simple road bump, easily beating the Lord of Rivendell with 80% of the vote.
Now we have a true ‘Hobbit’ final. Who will win? Will Thorin continue to defy the odds and best yet another great of Middle-earth? Will Gandalf finally put an end to Thorin’s streak? Will the Richard Armitage fans out-vote the Ian McKellen fans? So many questions – who will win?!
Voting for the Finals will end on Monday April 8th at 10pm ET. Vote now!
The Final Four combatants in the 2013 edition of Middle-earth March Madness are set! With thousands of votes cast in the last round, we can now announce the champions of each division….
The Shire Division
As the number one seed in The Shire, (1) Galadriel skated through the entire division easily handling Nori, Huan, Morgoth and now Luthien. Based on her popularity in these match-ups, she is going to be a tough one to beat in the Final Four.
The Erebor Division
The Lord of Rivendell, (6) Elrond, the lowest seed left in the tournament, had a tough second and third round to make it the division lead. But can Elrond handle his old friend Gandalf the Grey?
The Mordor Division
In a surprise victory, the third seed (3) Thorin Oakenshield took out number one seed (1) Smaug. It seems Thorin is still benefiting from the RA Army, but he now has his hands full with The Lady Galadriel. Thorin’s journey to the Final Four has been nothing short of miraculous, often causing most of the heated discussions in the comments of the entire tournament.
The Angmar Division
In a battle of top Angmar division seeds, (2) Gandalf took out early tournament favorite (1) The One Ring. It can be said Gandalf had an easy time dispatching his opponents to make it to the Final Four, but how will he fair against his friend Elrond?
Voting in the Final Four starts right now and will close on April 5th at 10pm ET!
We’ve reached the Elite 8 line-up for Middle-earth March Madness 2013! 68,000 votes were cast in our last round which eliminated some big names in Middle-earth: Sauron, Gollum, Gwaihir, Beorn, Pippin and more! Our list of eight remaining combatants contain three members of the white council, two unlikely romantics, an inanimate object, and two of the main characters from The Hobbit.
Here are your Elite Eight Match-ups…
The Shire Division
So after all is said and done in The Shire, the battle comes down to (1) Galadriel vs. (6) Luthien. While Galadriel may be the more popularly known character, Luthien will give her a run for her money. This is a match-up of some of Middle-earth’s most powerful female characters!
The Erebor Division
Luthien’s lover (4) Beren, a mortal man, has his hands full facing battle-tested (6) Elrond. Elrond is hot off a significant victory over another star-crossed elf lover, Aragorn. But can Beren pull out the victory to give us one of the most memorable semi-finals of all time?!?
The Mordor Division
That gold hungry worm, (1) Smaug, managed to defeat the Dark Lord Sauron and will now face the flawed stubbornness of (3) Thorin Oakenshield. As this played out in ‘The Hobbit,’ Smaug handled the dwarves with ease, but will it happen again?!
The Angmar Division
As this reporter predicted, the number one seed (1) The One Ring has made it to the divisional final with a resounding victory. This inanimate object however has its hands full (wait, it has no hands…) as it faces off against one of Middle-earth’s most popular characters, (2) Gandalf the Grey. In this round we’ll finally see just who would conquer whom in this epic battle.
Voting starts right now and will run until April 1 at 10pm ET.
The Round of 32 is over and we have the Sweet Sixteen line-up for Middle-earth March Madness 2013! 22,000 votes were cast, and if you expected this year’s competition to progress based solely on ‘film’ character popularity, you are mistaken! Many non-film characters have made their way into the final 16 combatants!
Here are your Round 3 Match-ups…
The Shire Division
Looks like we have a high chance the winner out of The Shire Division will be an elf! The Lady of the Light, and number one seed, (1) Galadriel has a match-up of mind-blowing proportions as she faces the definitive antagonist of Arda, (4) Morgoth. Helped a bit by his prevalence in Peter Jackson’s Desolation of Smaug tease, (7) Thranduil now has a significant challenge as he faces J.R.R. Tolkien’s favored elf princess (6) Luthien.
The Erebor Division
The Cinderella story continues as (16) Pippin has made it past Dwarven favorite Fili. But will that journey come to a dramatic end as he faces fourth seed (4) Beren? But far more interesting is the match-up between (6) Elrond and (7) Aragorn. The soon to be King Elessar better not underestimate the Lord of Rivendell.
The Mordor Division
The two baddies from Tolkien’s most popular works (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings respectively) will face off in Round 3! (1) Smaug the Magnificent hopes to defeat the all seeing eye of (4) Sauron! (Someone make up a cool graphic for this one and we’ll post it on FB) In the other match-up, two popular characters from The Hobbit butt heads as (3) Thorin Oakenshield, most likely helped by his RA army, will face everyone’s favorite mysterious shape-shifter, (2) Beorn.
The Angmar Division
Could this division be any more exciting? (1) The One Ring has made it past Frodo Baggins, but will it defeat the King of Arda (12) Manwe, in hopes to have a potential re-match with (3) Gollum?! Gollum shouldn’t count those eggses before they hatch though. He needs to make it by (2) Gandalf the Grey. Will Gandalf’s sympathy for the wretched creature be his downfall? We shall see!
Voting starts right now and will run until March 28th at 10pm ET.
Middle-earth March Madness moves to the round of 32 with a bit of controversy and surprise. With some victories settled by a single vote (Beorn vs. Faramir) and others knocking out favorites, the competition is really heating up!
Here are some Round 2 Highlights…
The Shire Division
(8) Huan had a major push against his first round opponent, but can he keep up the momentum against fan favorite and number one seeded (1) Galadriel? Can the most powerful of the Ainur (4) Morgoth take out the eldest ent (5) Treebeard? The story of (6) Luthien, considered by many to be one of the greatest told in Middle-earth, is profound and impactful, but can she overcome the recent Billion dollar box-office success of (3) Bilbo Baggins? And finally, can the elvenking of Mirkwood (7) Thranduil take out the head of the White Council (2) Saruman?
The Erebor Division
There are some very interesting match-ups in Erebor this round. Cinderella seed (16) Pippin takes on recent dwarven heart-throb (9) Fili. Last year’s champ (12) Sam is up against (4) Beren in what will most likely come down to a battle of familiarity with the stories of Middle-earth. (6) Elrond faces off against (14) Eowyn, one who continues to long to win renown in battle. Can she make this her next big victory!? And finally in a battle man vs. beast, (7) Aragorn faces off against the windlord (2) Gwaihir.
The Mordor Division
The Mordor division has some very powerful characters with some very intriguing competitions. (9) Gil-galad, the high kind of Noldor, has his hands full with the number one seed (1) Smaug. The Dark Lord (4) Sauron faces off against a worthy dwarven opponent (5) Dain Ironfoot. (11) Fingolfin could take on the likes of Morgoth, but can he handle the stout and stubborn (3) Thorin Oakenshield? Hot of this shape-shifter’s victory by a single vote, can (2) Beorn continue past her magnificence (7) Shelob?
The Angmar Division
The Angmare division looks like it has the most interesting match-up of Round 2. In a rematch of sorts, (1) The One Ring goes up against (8) Frodo Baggins. It can be said that The One Ring won out last time, but will Frodo accomplish the task this time?? The Eldar King (12) Manwe, an Ainur, faces off against a simple man, (4) Bard. Can Bard overccome insurmountable odds to win this match? Will the quickness and general sneakiness of (3) Gollum lead him past imposing dwarf (6) Dwalin? And last but not least, will (10) Merry finally get back at (2) Gandalf for making him wash all those dishes!
Voting starts right now and will run until March 25th at 10pm ET.
Round 1 of Middle-earth March Madness lived up to the hype as some match-ups came down to a flurry of last minute voting, and one match-up being decided by a single vote! With nearly 12,000 votes cast, round 1 will go down as one for the record books!
In The Shire division, the battle between (8) Huan and (9) Quickbeam ended up not being as close as expected, with Huan sounding beating the hasty ent. The rest of the match-ups were pretty much across the board victories for the top seeded combatants.
In Mordor, two match-ups came down to the smallest margins. (7) Shelob squeaked by (10) “Bullroarer” Took by 32 votes, but the match-up between (2) Beorn and (15) Faramir was even more epic. That’s right, Beorn out-matched Faramir by a single vote in the closest shave of the tournament so far.
In the Erebor division, (16) Pippin may be putting on the ‘Cinderella’ moniker as he out wits the division number one seed (1) Balin. In the much hyped, and highly contested battle of dwarven brothers, (9) Fili skated by (8) Kili in easier fashion than one may have expected. And in a surprisingly close match-up, number four seed (4) Beren made a last minute push to beat out (13) Boromir.
The Angmar division did not feature any close match-ups in this round, but we did have an upset or two as (10) Merry got by the division namesake (7) The Witch-king of Angmar, and (12) Manwe got by (5) Glaurung.
Voting for Round 2 will begin tomorrow and run until 10pm on March 25th.
While you wait, download the latest bracket – [Round 2 Bracket]
We’ve come to it at last. The final match-up of the 2013 Middle-earth March Madness is now set.
Middle-earth March Madness moves to the round of 32 with a bit of controversy and surprise. With some victories settled by a single vote (Beorn vs. Faramir) and others knocking out favorites, the competition is really heating up!