Hear that sound of swords clashing, of cries from the battlefield? It can only mean one thing – March Madness is here! Time to decide where your allegiance lies… This year, TheOneRing.net brings you Middle-earth March Madness 2024: Magical Moments.

Our ‘Regions’ are made up of moments where magic occurs, in The Hobbit and in the three parts of The Lord of the Rings. From the reading of moon runes to the secrets of Galadriel’s mirror; from Gandalf’s return in white, to the resurgence of the White Tree – what exactly constitutes magic in Middle-earth? Which beings have magical abilities, and what are the most compelling moments when they use those powers? YOU decide!

TORn’s volunteer staffers have voted and come up with a ‘long list’ of 64 events (16 from each book), which have been seeded based on staff votes. These moments have abbreviated titles on our bracket graphic, due to space limitations; but here’s the complete list in full (listed in their seeding order):

The Hobbit Division

1. Moon Runes Appear on Thrain’s Map
2. Bilbo’s Ring Turns Him Invisible
3. The Last Light of Durin’s Day Reveals the Keyhole
4. Orcrist and Sting Glow Blue
5. The Trolls Turn to Stone at Sunrise
6. The Black Arrow Strikes Home/Takes Down Smaug
7. Beorn Shape Shifts
8. Mirkwood Elven Feasts Disappear and Leave Intruders Stunned
9. The Arkenstone Shines with a Brilliant Inner Light
10. Beorn Has Highly Hospitable Animals
11. Mirkwood’s Enchanted River Leads to Bombur’s Long Nap
12. The Eagles Arrive at the Battle of Five Armies
13. Smaug is a Good Conversationalist
14. The White Council Dislodges the Necromancer
15. Troll William’s Purse Talks
16. Sentient Spiders React Poorly to Name-Calling

The Fellowship of the Ring Division

1. Bilbo Vanishes at His Birthday Party
2. Gandalf Adds Wild Water Horses at the Flood of the Bruinen
3. Galadriel Has Psychic Mind-Probing Power
4. Gandalf Puts On a Spectacular Fireworks Show
5. Durin’s Doors Open at the Right Password
6. Gandalf Confronts the Balrog with Glamdring and the Flame of Anor
7. The Mirror of Galadriel Proves Perilous
8. Boromir’s Horn Echoes Throughout Gondor
9. Mithril Mail Stops a Cave Troll Spear
10. Lorien’s Time Flows Differently
11. Gandalf Is a Moth-Whisperer
12. The Elven Tonic Miruvor Cures the Cold
13. Frodo Can See All the Way to Mordor from Amon Hen
14. Tom Bombadil Does a Parlor Trick with the One Ring
15. Narsil Is Reforged to Become Anduril
16. Tom Bombadil Responds to His Rescue Song

The Two Towers Division

1. Gandalf the White Returns from the Dead
2. The Palantir Snares Pippin
3. Gandalf Heals Theoden from Saruman’s Curse
4. Elven Cloaks Hide Their Wearers Very Well
5. Hithlain Rope Comes When It’s Called
6. Lembas Sustain the Fellowship on Their Quest
7. Growing Hobbits Drink Ent Draught
8. Shadowfax Can Run Really Really Fast
9. Elven Boats Are Unsinkable Even After Rauros
10. Saruman Upgrades Regular Orcs to Uruk-Hai
11. Faramir Dreams of Boromir’s Death
12. The Tower of Orthanc Is Indestructible Even for Ents
13. Enraged Ents in battle
14. Don’t Mess with the Huorns
15. Aragorn Ages Well
16. The Dead Marshes Have Party Lights

The Return of the King Division

1. The Witch King Is Destroyed by “No Man”
2. The Army of the Dead Is Summoned at the Stone of Erech
3. The Phial of Galadriel Stops Shelob
4. Athelas Will Cure Whatever Ails You
5. Turns Out You Can Destroy the One Ring (aka the power of Mount Doom!)
6. Elven Ships Leave Middle-earth and the Spheres of the World
7. Gandalf the White Repels the Nazgul During Faramir’s Retreat
8. The Dark Tower Falls
9. The Smoke from Orodruin Covers Vast Territory for Days
10. Aragorn Wields the Palantir to Confront Sauron
11. The Watchers at Cirith Ungol Warn of Spies in Mordor
12. Shelob’s Webs Are No Match for Sting
13. It Turns Out a New White Tree of Gondor Has Been Growing for Years
14. Rohan Arrives on the Pelennor Fields as the Rooster Crows
15. Galadriel’s Gift of Soil to Sam Sees the Shire Reborn
16. The Witch King’s Sword Is on Fire!

How you decide, of course, is up to you. We expect there may be some debate, out of the moments we have chosen, about which are actually ‘magic’. How/what defines such power, and how does it operate in Middle-earth? And for the moments you believe ARE magical – how do you choose your favourite? Will your votes be based on how these moment are described in Tolkien’s writing? Perhaps you have preferences based on childhood memories of Rankin Bass cartoons… Or maybe you’ll just toss a coin! It’s up to you; but however you decide, now is the time to place your votes!

How does it work, you ask? Simple! Click on one of the orange division buttons below. Then click the ‘Vote Now’ option that appears above the divisional bracket. This year, as with last year, you get to vote in each divisional match-up in one convenient and visual interface. Note – you need to click each division to vote in their respective brackets. So let’s get voting!

You have until the end of the day Thursday March 21st to vote in Round One; on Friday 22nd we’ll announce winners and open voting for Round Two! Join us for TORn Tuesday, where we’ll discuss and debate March Madness 2024; let the games begin!

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Partially hidden behind the show title on one of the new Amazon Prime The Lord of the Rings–The Rings of Power posters is a hammer handle bearing Cirth runes. They appear to say “AWAKE SLEEPING STONE”, which is appropriate since the poster seems clearly to portray a Dwarf, hands permeated with gold dust.

Perhaps the meaning behind these words can be discovered in The Silmarillion. When Aulë, one of the Valar, created the Dwarves in secret “in a hall under the mountains in Middle-earth”, he preempted Eru Ilúvatar’s desire that the Elves, the Firstborn of his design, be the first sentient beings in Middle-earth. Instead of destroying Aulë’s creations, Ilúvatar granted them life, but not until after the Elves were awakened. Ilúvatar tells Aulë:

“They shall sleep now in the darkness under stone, and shall not come forth until the Firstborn have awakened upon Earth; and until that time thou and they shall wait, though long it may seem. But when the time comes, I will awaken them…”

J.R.R Tolkien, The Silmarillion, Of Aulë and Yavanna

Or it could be that the inscription on the hammer refers to the Dwarves’ love of delving deep under the earth, awakening the stone to its potential to become vast and glorious halls, such as Menegroth, the realm of King Thingol and Queen Melian, and Moria, or as it is called in the Dwarven tongue, Khazad-dûm.

In regards to the runes that appear on the hammer, they are a system of writing called the Cirth, or the Angerthas. They were created by Tolkien and appear in a chart in the Lord of the Rings in ‘Appendix E: Writing and Spelling’. Historically, runes were used across Northern Europe during the Middle Ages by the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. Tolkien borrowed from these sources and others to create his own unique set of runes. In Tolkien’s legendarium, the origins of the Dwarven runes as we know them date back to the Sindar and Noldor Elves, and the Dwarves did not come to learn them until the beginning of the Second Age, which fits in with the show’s timeline. The Elves later abandoned Cirth for Tengwar, used commonly to write Quenya and Sindarin. Cirth only represented the sounds of Sindarin, and were primarily used for engraving into stone, metal, or wood, the reason for the straight edges and angles of the letters. The Dwarves of Moria added to and expanded the Angerthas to serve their own language and purposes.

In translating the poster, there were two runes that confused the meaning at first. The first was the rune used for “ng” in “Sleeping”. The poster uses the rune for “nj” instead of “ng”. According to the LotR appendices, the “ng” rune was one of the newer cirth introduced by the Dwarves of Moria, though it does not say at what date. It does say “This Angerthas Moria is represented in the tomb-inscription.” Assuming this references Balin’s Tomb, the “ng” rune might not have been in popular usage until later than the series may portray. The second thing that tripped me up was the rune used for the silent “e” in “Awake” and “Stone”. The symbol for the silent “e” is given a value of “*” on the chart in the appendices, and it was only through further research that I was able to confirm the corresponding letter and sound.

It’s really wonderful to return to Arda! There is so much to look forward to when The Rings of Power airs this fall – and even sooner if these posters are any indication.

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