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Old 03-01-2011, 09:53 PM   #80
the phantom
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NAME: Aldarion

AGE/GENDER/RACE/WHERE FROM: 31, Male, Human, Dol Amroth

APPEARANCE: 6'1", lean and fit, dark black hair, blue-grey eyes

HISTORY: Aldarion grew up in Dol Amroth with his family. His father, Galador, was one of Prince Imrahil's captains in the great war, but Aldarion was too young to serve and stayed behind with his mother and older sister. He was always fascinated with performance and history, and at a very early age he got involved with Dol Amroth's fine theater scene.

His first promising role was playing the part of 8-year old Turin in The Swan Players' production of Narn i Chîn Húrin, but Aldarion considers his breakthrough to be playing the teenage Huor a few years later in an ambitious epic chronicling the history of Gondolin. By the time he was twenty Aldarion's status as a career actor was pretty well cemented, and he took every opportunity he could to learn under Gondor's finest actors and playwrights. He was uncertain of which he liked best, and so dreamed of one day both writing and starring in his own works.

When Aldarion was 28, The Swan Players put on a grand production entitled "The Rise and Fall of the Golden King", which told the story of Ar Pharazon's rise to the kingship and the subsequent fall of Numenor. Aldarion won the role of Ar Pharazon, and threw himself fully into his craft, winning great praise from common theater goers and critics as well. The final night of the drama was doubtless the high point of Aldarion's career, as the young actor received multiple curtain calls. His future looked to be brighter than the sun, but.... life doesn't go as planned.

The longtime master of Dol Amroth's royal theater (and primary writer/director for The Swan Players), Lord Imrazôr, retired after the triumph of his great play, and next in line was a man named Erchirion. He was a good writer and director, but he also had an aspiring lead actor as a son- Amlach. Aldarion and Amlach, as well as Amlach's sister Gloredhel, had always been great friends growing up, but Erchirion was not so kind, and did all that he could to diminish Aldarion's stature in The Swan Players and handing all the quality roles to his son. Amlach felt terrible about the situation and even threatened to quit, but Aldarion wouldn't allow his friend to give up his opportunity.

In fact, Aldarion was initially content to take to this change, as he saw within it the possibility of putting an increased amount of time into writing. But before long it was apparent that Erchirion would not let him contribute much in that capacity either.

It was at this time that The King's Players rolled through town. Curious about the group, Aldarion went to attend their show "The Halfling and The Trolls", a tale that the program claimed as a true story told to one of the members by a dwarf of the Lonely Mountain whose relative was present for the ordeal. It was immediately obvious to Aldarion that the tale was either untrue or that some key points had been left out by the dwarf, as the Halfing wasn't small and was gifted with all sorts of ridiculous magical powers- for instance at one point he allowed himself to be swallowed by one of the trolls and then turned himself into unbreakable stone and punched his way out of the troll's stomach, slaying it.

But despite such problems, Aldarion saw some promise in the group. For one, they planned to perform regularly in Minas Tirith, which was curiously devoid of any sort of theater scene. Second, their machine/puppet trolls were quite ingenious (and he heard fantastic things about their fake Smaug), which meant that they had at least one extremely talented engineer type- a must for any company. Third, there was talent there, even in the worst of them- talent that work and training could unlock! But most importantly, they were people who wanted to act who could most definitely use a member such as himself.

Perhaps this was the answer to his dreams! He could rewrite some of their plays, and help them punch up their performances. He could even write brand new plays! Over time they could become a powerhouse in Gondor- perhaps even rival the historic Swan Players! That would really stick it to old Erchirion! And so Aldarion went to speak with the troop manager Brinn, and with his experience he was quickly approved and put to work immediately.

CHARACTER: Aldarion is a decent enough chap, but his success in molding and influencing the rest of the crew has been slower than he initially hoped, and that makes him a bit grumpy at times, particularly when he remembers where he was such a short time ago and where he is now. In his darkest moments he fears he will never attain the heights he once knew, though he tries to keep plugging away, improving old scripts and playing roles here and there as best he can (which is quite good indeed if the role is actually one that allows him to shine- a rarity).

He has piece by piece corrected some of the most awful errors present in the The King's Player's historical plays (for instance, Angmar is no longer portrayed as a parallel dimension reached via portal, Carcharoth is no longer a badger, and Beren and Luthien no longer encounter one-foot high Tumhaden, king of the very-petty dwarves). But for the most part he has not been allowed to greatly alter the Smaug story, nor the War of the Ring tale, partly because in truth Aldarion would not be able to improve upon them greatly, as his knowledge of recent history is not nearly so masterful.

Despite Aldarion's extensive historical knowledge, by no means should he be considered a historical purist. Even the old stories that he knows well- he is more than willing to deviate here and there if he feels he can add some element of psychological drama and/or romance. In fact, though he's oblivious to this fact, he is a little too obsessed with such things- always wishing for every character to be dealing with some complicated issue or another, and always trying to insert love triangles or squares or whatever to "make things more interesting". He also is sure to include multiple fights/duels in every story, one way or another. Besides his stage experience in fight choreography, being the son of a war captain he naturally received a good bit of training through the years, particularly in fencing and sword-fighting which he has always loved. His horsemanship and archery were largely neglected however once he began performing in earnest.

For the most part Aldarion dislikes any sort of comedy- his fellows are forever telling him to loosen up a bit. He also has a great fascination and appreciation for Asta's tech work, and thus when he writes he is always thinking of how he can use her talent for putting together large moving contraptions.
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Last edited by the phantom; 03-15-2011 at 01:21 PM.
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