User:Glflegolas

The story of how I ended up in Middle-Earth

''I am Glflegolas now, but I wasn't always. Originally, I lived in a monk village with a bunch other monks, and I was a librarian named Steve. One day, I was walking through the realm of Minecraftia on a noon-day walk (it was too dangerous to go out at night, due to the zombie apocalypse), when all at once, I saw something I had never seen before. Looking closer at this object, it looked to be a quartz platform with a ring floating atop. I was very curious, so I decided to take a closer look. As I got closer, I began to sense a strong force pulling me to the ring in the sky. Soon, I could no longer go back to my village, even if I had wanted to. In a few minutes I was atop the pillar. By now I really didn't want anything to do with this structure anymore and I wanted to go home, but the forces of magic in this ring were too powerful; I was stuck on the pillar of quartz. Soon, my eyes began to see red. I tried closing them, to no avail, and soon all I could see was a uniform red. Then I sensed myself falling...and falling....and falling...through a realm of eternal darkness. I was worried what would happen when I hit ground, when I started slow down again. The darkness cleared, and I began to see things clearly again. It looked like Minecraftia, but it also seemed kind of different. I looked all around, but could see no sign of the portal. Then I saw the folk; they were smaller than monks, and loved food and drink. Anyways, one of them by the name of Peregrin Took came up to me and said; "There's a war coming. Will you fight for good or evil?" And so began my adventures in Middle-Earth. ''

''At first, I wasn't thinking too much about the war, and kind of travelled Middle-Earth like an adventurer. My thought at the time was "yeah, there's a war, but why would they attack a random librarian from a realm they do not know about?" But that was not to be. ''

''One night I was sleeping in my camp in the Lone-Lands, when I was awoken by a loud growl. Of course I woke up in a hurry, and saw a powerful wolf-like creature charging straight at me. I quickly grabbed my pockeknife (the only weapon I had at the time) and prepared for a fight. Granted, it wasn't much fun; fighting a hungry Warg with only a small knife isn't very easy, but in the end I was able to bring him down, although I did suffer a few scratches doing this.''

''In the morning, I thought that my troubles with Wargs were over. So I went back on my journey, and presently came to a large stone tower which looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. Still, I thought "well why not look at what might be inside?" and climbed up the tower -- no mean feat, because the stairs were badly crumbled. In the end, though, I got to the top and found a few things, among them a sword (which looked old, but still very sharp), and a few silver coins.''

''Later that afternoon I came to a camp. This camp featured several brown tents and what looked to be a small wheat farm. Curious, I walked over towards it. When I got inside the camp, I still couldn't see anyone. I then asked "Hello? Anybody home?" To my surprise, a man wearing a brown suit of clothes replied "Yes, there certainly is somebody home!" and he walked over to me. For a moment there I thought he was going to attack, but he didn't draw any weapon. I asked him "How come I didn't see you for so long?" He replied "I, like all the Rangers of the North, have ways to walk unseen if I so desire. I thought you would be coming this way -- our scouts saw you kill that Warg last night, although you probably didn't see us." "I certainly didn't," I said. The Ranger went on to say, "Your killing that Warg with your pocketknife was a good accomplishment -- as a result, I can hand you a few items that you'll find useful on your travels through this land." "I already have a sword," I replied. "May I see it?" asked the Ranger. "By the way, my name is Halbarad. I'm a chieftain of the Rangers of the North"''

''The Ranger looked at my sword. "That's a good sword -- that looks like it was forged by the Men of Numenor. It will hopefully serve you well through your travels." So I took the sword back. Halbarad went on, "I will give you a bow and arrows. It's good to be well armed when travelling these lands -- danger can often wait just around the corner. By the way what is your name?" "My name is Steve, at least that's what everybody called me back in my village," I stated. "Steve...that's too unoriginal a name for a Ranger of the North. How about Glflegolas? That sounds like a good new name." I agreed that this should be my new Middle-Earth name.''

''I ate supper with Halbarad. After supper I asked "So what is the war that this Hobbit was talking about? Was that the reason why I was attacked by the Warg?" "There is a war going on right now. A dark power is rising in the East, and anyone not allied with that power is being attacked. The Warg could tell by your smell that you were not allied with Gundabad, and that's why he attacked. Gundabad is the faction that the Orcs of the Misty Mountains belong to, by the way. They're not directly allied with Sauron, but they still won't like you," said Halbarad. "So what should I do?" I asked. "Your best bet tonight is to walk three kilometers due east. There we have a watchtower. In the morning you should consider heading south towards the Gap of Rohan and heading to Minas Tirith. Here, I'll give you a map of Middle-Earth so you don't get lost." I took the map and was about to leave when Halbarad called me again. "I have some Ranger clothes for you. I suggest you wear them, they will make it harder for Orcs to detect you. Now good luck and farewell."''

''I walked to the east. As Halbarad stated, I did indeed come to the watchtower after walking about three kilometers. I got there and a Ranger said "Good evening. Who are you?" "I'm Glflegolas. I was told to come here by Halbarad." "Yes, do that. You'll be safer if you sleep in this watchtower than on the ground," stated the Ranger.''

''I climbed up the tower and went to sleep. But my sleep didn't last long; at 2AM (or that's what it seemed like) a loud horn blew. "What's going on?" I asked. "Invasion of Gundabad!" shouted the Ranger who blew the horn. "Get to your position and get ready to shoot your bow." "Where's my position?" I asked. "Here, I'll show you," said another Ranger. ''

''I got to my position, on the second floor of the Tower, and got ready to fight. I didn't have to wait long; before long, Orcs were showing up. I hadn't done much archery before (never having to defend myself prior to that Warg encounter, in Minecraftia, Iron Golems kept the village safe) and so wasn't exactly sure how well I could shoot. But great skill was not a prerequisite; there were plenty of Orcs to shoot at, and my inexperience and poor aim didn't hinder me very much. By morning, the Orcs had stopped coming, I was quite tired, and my archery skill had greatly improved. "Good job, my lad" said one of the Rangers. "You can have breakfast with us, and then go get some sleep," said another. So I did the latter.''

''That afternoon I left the tower, and got directions to go to Minas Tirith, via the Gap of Rohan. And every time I left a camp or watchtower, I was given directions for how to get to the next ranger camp or watchtower, and the whereabouts of any Gundabad Orc Camps. But even the Rangers of the North don't know everything...''

''One afternoon, I was walking in the direction of a Ranger Camp, when I saw a camp with black tents. I went over to investigate what this was. But as soon as I got within a few hundred meters of that camp, a horn blew and a whole squad of Orcs came walking out -- there must have been at least twenty. Luckily, it was daytime, so the Orcs weren't very fast, and I was able to shoot many of them down. When a few Orcs got too close for comfort, I drew my sword and fought hand-to-hand (also something I had never done much of before). It took a bit of getting used to, but I did figure it out, and I cleared out the camp. ''

''When I got to the Ranger camp I was given a welcomig by the Rangers. The Rangers warned me to not go through the gap of Rohan because they said that a major power of evil was rising in Isengard. Instead they advised me to cross the High Pass and head down the Anduin towards Gondor.''

''I then decided to go towards the High Pass, after the Rangers gave me a new stock of food and postions of new camps on the way. They said that the fastest way was to follow the East-West Road to Rivendell and then cross the High Pass. I wasn't attacked again on this journey, but I was on my guard all the while.''

''After a lot of walking, I came to Rivendell, where Elrond and his elves gave me a warm welcome. They also stocked up my food supplies. I stayed in Rivendell a full three weeks, during which time I was armed with advice for the road ahead.''

''Finally, I had to part with the Elves. I had rather liked them, but was also glad to get back on my way, because I knew I had a long journey ahead of me. I followed their advice and went towards the High Pass. All was well, until one day I came to a small cave. I decided that I might use it to sleep that night. That night almost turned out to be my last night.''

''During the night I was suddenly awoken by the shout of Orcs. I took my sword and drew, but there were simply more Orcs than I could easily take on by myself. I fought, but it didn't work very well at all; I was getting surrounded by the Orcs. That left only one option; run with the weapons I had on me at the time; only a sword and bow and arrows, both of which were tucked in my belt. There was no time to pick up my backpack and take along my food.''

''A mad chase followed, where I was chased by at least fifty Orcs over the path along the High Pass. I would occasionally turn and face them, bringing down one or two, and then run onwards. This very tiring chase continued until daylight, when the Orcs finally decided to go back underground.''

''After that I had only one goal; get as far away from the Orcs as I could. I didn't have any food at all, and the only breaks I took from running that whole long day were a couple of water breaks at small mountain streams, one of which yielded a half-dozen wild strawberries (not at all much food for a whole day's run). Still I kept right on running as fast as possible, and by nightfall I had estimated that I had managed to run at least fifty kilometers. ''

''At the end of my run I came to the remmnants of a rockslide, and I decided to go down this slope; there looked to be a forest of conifers at the bottom. Unfortunately, when I went down, all the rocks started to go down with me. Pretty soon I was in the middle of major rockslide. Luckily, I was able to stay on top of all the following rocks (I didn't want to get buried) and I came to the forest, swung myself up into the lower branches of a pine-tree. Once the rocks stopped sliding, I decided to keep trying to make progress, because I somehow had a thought deep inside that this part of the forest wasn't very safe.''

''And my fears were justified, for when I came to a small clearing in the forest I heard the hungry howl of Wargs -- it sounded like not just one Warg, but several Wargs -- and they looked very hungry. I did the only thing available; I ran to a large white-pine tree and climbed up part of the way. From there I started to shoot at Wargs, but realised a major problem was emerging; I only had around thirty or so arrows left, and there were at least a hundered Wargs. At that point I decided to stop shooting at the Wargs and simply wait the night out.''

''That wasn't such a good plan, because later that night Orcs started to appear. Some of the Orcs had bows, and I climbed higher in the tree to avoid getting shot at. For a while all seemed well; the Wargs couldn't figure out how to get to my perch. But then the Orcs came up with a plan; they would climb the tree en masse, and figure that sooner or later, one of them would manage to knock me out of the tree. I knew about this once I saw Orcs climbing the tree. I shouted at them "I am Glflegolas, Ranger of the North! You shall not pass!" to which they replied "Ranger of the North? You'll be all the tastier when we cook you." I went higher up in the tree, but pretty soon I was getting about as high as I could go safely. I went higher nonetheless and soon I was near the crown of the tree. This was starting to bend under my weight. But the Orcs were creeping up, and going down was not an option, so I went even higher, until I was practically hanging upside-down. The Orcs were also adding weight to the tree, and eventually the top of the tree gave in to the stress and snapped right off. Just then I sensed something pick me up by the back. I wasn't sure whether whoever did it was friend or foe, but I was confident that I was safe from these Orcs. So to the Orcs I yelled "FREEDOM!" Needless to say the Orcs weren't impressed.''

''Yet my gratitude for being rescured wasn't complete; I still didn't know where this bird (I assumed it was a bird) would take me. So I rather cautiously asked "Excuse me, sir, but where am I going? And who are you?" To which he replied "I am an Eagle of the Misty Mountains. And I heard the Orcs were up to mischief in the forest, so that's why I gave you a lift to my eerie." "O thank you!" I replied.''

''True to his word the Eagle took me to his eerie, and I was dropped off there. A short while later the Eagle returned with food in the form of raw mutton. Unfortunately, I had lost my matches, so I couldn't start a fire. "Do you have matches to light a fire?" I asked the Eagle. "No, I simply eat the meat raw," said the Eagle. And he started eating the sheep. I wasn't too crazy about the idea of eating raw mutton, but I hadn't eaten much lately, so I figured raw mutton was going to be all I could get on the menu. And truth be told, it was much better than eating nothing.''

''After supper I went to sleep in a rough wooden eerie. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable bed I had ever slept in, but it did the trick. Pretty soon I was asleep.''

''In the morning I was awoken at a very early hour, by the Eagle. "You'd better go and have breakfast now, else you'll have to leave without it," he said. Breakfast was, again, raw, cold, mutton. And right after breakfast the Eagle asked me "Where do you want to go?" to which I replied "Minas Tirith, Gondor." The Eagle agreed to give me a lift all the way to Osgiliath, which was only a short distance East of Minas Tirith.''

''I will never forget the flight to Gondor. It was beautiful from the beginning. I flew over the foothills of the Misty Mountains, and the view was great; I was able to see the Vales of the Anduin, Mirkwood, and even the Grey Mountains in the distance -- they were almost 320 km to the North.''

''Hour after hour, beautiful lands slipped beneath me. The flight that day lasted at least twelve hours, and probably longer; I calcuted that the distance from the Eagles' Eerie to Osgiliath must have measured almost 1'300 km. As night fell the Eagle landed on top of one of the trees of Lothlorien. He said; "You go and get yourself some supper from the Elves; I daresay that you'll like their food more than what I can offer you. I'll meet you here again at first light tomorrow morning." I met with the Elves, told them who I was, and the Elves handed me some dinner, along with Miruvoir to drink. That evening in Lothlorien was to be the last time I would visit Lothlorien in a long, long while. I slept in one of the Elves' treehouses that night, a lot more comfortably than the cold, rough eerie the night before.''

''When morning came, I ate breakfast, and spoke with the Elves a bit -- I would have stayed longer, probably two or three days, but the Eagle was waiting. So I left the Elves, and got on the Eagle's back. But before the Eagle took off, an Elf climbed up the tree. He said "Glflegolas, here's some good food for the flight ahead. It's Lembas. Light, tasty, filling, great food for a long trip." The Eagle then took off, and with some regret, I admired the Golden Wood of Lothlorien slip beneath us.''

''The flight that day was no less epic than the previous; vistas of the Anduin, Fangorn, and, in the distance, Rohan, were but a few of the lands that I got to see that day from the air. "The view of these lands from above is...amazing," I told the Eagle. "You're a lucky man; very few mortals -- and even immortals -- have seen these lands the way you're getting to see them," he replied. That night we slept near the Falls of Rauros, eating raw rabbit (the Eagle) and Lembas (myself), and I had to sleep once more on the hard, cold ground.''

''In the morning, the Eagle left. Panoramic vistas of Rohan and the White Mountains were awe-inspiring, but not far away stood the gloomy lands of Nindalf, Emyn Muil, and the Brown Lands, giving testament to the conflict occuring in these lands. In fact, the Eagle, with his greatly superior vison to mine, was able to pick out an army of Rohirrim marching across Rohan, chasing down an army of Uruk-Hai. And to the East, he pointed out an army of Orcs walking over Dagorlad. ''

''In late afternoon, as we neared Osgiliath, I was able to see the dark mountains of Mordor and the Shadow of Mordor -- and they were none too inviting, let me tell you. The thought of living so near this shadow was starting to make me nervous. But the sight of Minas Tirith and its strong walls in the distance helped restore courage. And in a short while, the Eagle landed at Osgiliath. Since it was getting late, I opted to spend the night there. The Eagle stated that if I did this, he'd remain nearby just in case there would be an Orc raid overnight. It was a good thing he did, because in the middle of the night, I was awoken to the jeers of Orcs approaching. The Orcs, in fact, had snuck up upon us and had surrounded us. Luckily, the Eagle was awoken, too, and he told me to get on his back right away. I did that and he took off very quickly indeed. But he had hardly managed to get a hundred meters off the ground when we saw arrows flying. "Looks like the Rangers of Ithilien have begun an attack on this company of Orcs," he said. "In that case, I think I can also have some fun." So he swooped back down into the forest, right into the thick of the Orc company -- with me still on his back. When he got there, he did manoevers that I had thought were impossible; he would swerve around trees, grab an Orc by the neck, and go up almost vertically to drop the Orc from a great height -- all the while swerving to avoid being shot at by arrows, both from the Orcs' bows and those of the Rangers attempting to shoot the Orcs. It was all I could do to stay on his back during these extreme flying manoevers (I had never been flown before in my lifetime, and I certainly never had to witnes a dogfight before). To tell you the truth, I nearly blacked out on some of the fastest loopings due to the intense G-forces.''

''By morning, all the Orcs had been slain, and the Eagle flew back down amongst the Rangers. "Hello, Rangers. Are you Captain Faramir of Ithilien?" he asked the Ranger who appeared to be the leader of the group. "Yes, I am Faramir. Do you bring Glflegolas with you?" he asked. "Glflegolas is here," I said. "Perfect. I've been looking for you for a while," said Faramir. "But who is this Eagle? I thought Eagles lived in the North." "Well, I do come from the North. I brought Glflegolas here. We were sleeping here when Orcs attacked us. We were going to fly away but then I saw you shooting. I thought 'well why not lend a hand' and killed a few Orcs. It was great fun while it lasted, wasn't it, Glflegolas?" said the Eagle. "It was a unique experience, that's for sure," I said, "but I did have to hold on very tightly." "Well I congratulate you, sir Eagle, for helping us kill these Orcs. From now on, your kin shall be considered friends of Gondor. But I had best get back to Minas Tirith soon. Glflegolas can come with my company," stated Faramir. So after a few goodbyes, I left the Eagle, who went back to the North, and went with Faramir's Men. "So you knew who I was?" I asked him. "Well, yes I did. Your coming here was expected," said Faramir. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well, you were 'destined' to come to Middle-Earth if war was declared on Sauron since your birth. You were always known as Glflegolas among our company. But ask Gandalf the specifics. He's in Minas Tirith, and he can tell you your history and why you came here," finished Faramir''

''When I reached Minas Tirith the next day (I spent the night with Faramir's men) Gandalf welcomed me and told me, just as Faramir had, that my coming here was predicted. When I asked him why, this is what he said:''

''"When Minecraftia was first colonized back in the Second Age of Middle-Earth, it was colonized by many folk. Among them were Men of Gondor, Rohan, and Rhun. There was a second wave of colonists around Year 100 of the Third Age (which we're now in). Your grear-great-great...grandfather was the second son of Isildur. He left on the condition that if a war occured in Gondor, he or his descendants would return to Gondor to defend it. Now no war occured for many, many years, so there was peace in Gondor. Minecraftia, meanwhile, began to grow more corrupt; the ancient mines were taken over by mutant spiders, the great underground strongholds were abandoned, and the ancient monuments constructed in jungles and deserts were no longer built. At the same time, many men were overcome by a certain illness; the regular ones simply became flesh-eating Zombies, while the solders lost all their flesh and were turned into bow-wielding Skeletons. Spiders -- which for many years were small -- also began to grow great and terrible, and a new foe -- a green explosive creature -- appeared around the same time. All these events seem to have taken place shortly after TA 2463, the year the Smeagol first got a hold of the One Ring. The only humans left built villages to protect themselves, and used great iron creatures to defend themselves. This time of war in Minecraftia lasted around 525 years and continues today. But now -- in the year TA 3015 -- war is coming to Gondor. We have called you to return to Gondor to defend your homeland! Will you take up arms?"''

"Yes, I shall," I said.

"Do not fail," stated Gandalf.

''And from that day on I became soldier of Gondor and Ithilien. I wore Rangers' robes, and wielded the same weapons that the Rangers of the North had given me, along with the old Numenorian sword. Over the next three years, I became a well-known warrior, killing many foes of Gondor, and leading many companies. And now, in this year of TA 3019, I join forces with other generals, including HPFanatic, Sinthoniel, Gen. Grievous1138, Mevans, and Handles-081, preparing for war....''

Anyways, welcome to my userpage. I am Glflegolas, slaying Orcs, Wargs, and other evil creatures of Sauron. I also do not like Haradrim, and will slay them on sight. I started playing this mod in Beta 8; it sure has come a long way since then. If you want to find me playing Minecraft, try sending me a TP request. I am known as ~Captain_Faramir on the One Ring Server.

Interestingly, I have never played as an evil player.

I joined this wiki on June 24, 2014. Back then, the wiki had only 16 pages. Today it has over five hundred.

What would I like to see implemented in the mod?

 * The implementation of some of my builds &amp; constructions
 * Wood-men living east of the Misty Mountains
 * Rohan and Gondor villages, civilians
 * Siege equipment
 * Roads (may be added in the next update)

Favourites in the LOTR mod

 * NPC: Ranger of the North -- simply look awesome
 * Trader: Blacksmith of Rohan -- best trades ever
 * Tree in the mod: Larch -- I really like Larch in real life, I prefer Eastern White Pine, but that's not in the mod yet
 * Beverage: Dwarven Tonic -- Who doesn't like night vision
 * Food: Pancakes and Maple Syrup -- so Canadian right?
 * Weapon: Dwarven Sword -- great strength, easy to make
 * Tool: Dunlending Trident -- finally fishing is fun!
 * Faction: Rohan -- best warriors in all of Middle-Earth
 * Biome: Foothills of the Misty Mountains -- mountains are simply great, especially when you only look at them in the distance (I don't really like crossing the Misty Mtns much, though)
 * Structure: Blue Mountains Stronghold -- the blueish bricks and Dwarven bricks look so good together, and there are great warriors available for a good price.

LOTR favourites

 * Character: Aragorn -- I think my personality is similar to his
 * Book: The Two Towers -- The Battle of the Hornburg is simply great
 * Adaption: The Lord of the Rings: 1981 BBC Radio Drama -- great dramatics, despite it being over 30 years old
 * Race: Dwarves -- strong warriors, great metalurgists
 * Favourite Quote: "Do not fail." ~Eomer, The Two Towers.
 * Second favourite quote: "Almost said you liked the forest? That's good. That's uncommonly kind of you." ~Treebeard, The Two Towers