The King's Players - Discussion/Planning Thread

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

On further consideration, "Vat's up with zis Frodo fellow I've heard folks here in Gondor mention? I zought ze halfling who burned down Barad-dûr vas ze same as stole zat magic ring from Smaug's hoard - vasn't his name Bingo or Dildo or some such? Unless of course it vas ze Ernil i Pheriannath himself..."

Channeling "Eorache" from Bored of the Rings?

I'm not quite sure yet where Vëandur's going to make his entrance. I think I'll just look at how things start to play out and take it from there.

[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Channeling "Eorache" from Bored of the Rings?

"Vat do you mean, ve have a funny vay of pronouncing ze Vyestron in Dorvinion? *mutters* Arrogant Númenórean suprematists..."
Actually, I imagined Coldan's accent to sound somewhat like Star Trek's Chekov. "Keptin, ze Ringvraiths are penetrating ze Rammas Echor!" (The German sync speaker in Star Trek 2009 had the awesomest fake Russian accent I've ever heard, palatalized vowels and all. [/OT])

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I'm not quite sure yet where Vëandur's going to make his entrance. I think I'll just look at how things start to play out and take it from there.

Spontaneous idea which may not appeal to you and I don't know what Ang thinks of it, but couldn't Vëandur be Cirdacil's nephew or something? I mean, with Cirdacil originally being a merchant, he could have a younger brother who went to sea, couldn't he?

phantom, I think Coldan is beyond himself with pride to be cast as Gimli - usually, he only gets roles with little stage presence and next to no text (think of characters like Ceorl or Hirgon in the book), having to hide behind the sets and prompt most of the time. But I suppose Gimli's part in the play - which must originally have been quite substantial in order to please our Dwarven fans back home and would have been played by someone else then - was cut a lot when Aldarion adapted the play to suit Gondorian taste?

[the phantom]

Okay, so I decided to make some lists here. As we discuss and add more, I can edit in the changes and we can use the post as a reference point.

sources of The King's Players information

• a couple dwarves from the Lonely Mt that heard stories from other dwarves who heard things from Gimli
• men of Laketown that heard stories from Elves of Mirkwood who heard stories from Legolas
• farmers & such from Gondor & Rohan that saw/heard things here and there
• a pair of travelers from Bree they met in Minas Tirith during their first visit

I don't think it would be difficult for us to have received awful information about the story and characters, if we consider that many of the people wishing to tell tales were lying drunkards, or perhaps just inventing scoundrels looking to get a free meal. Plus I think some of us might be prone to believe the most fantastical/interesting stuff we hear given that the events were so big and the stakes high, not to mention as actors we'd want the story to be crazy.

some possibilities for The King's Players version of The Lord of the Rings

• Gandalf shows up mysteriously at random moments, doesn't say much, and is just sort of around behind the scenes (role played by several people in heavy costume & makeup).
• Whoever heard about Merry mistakenly thought "Mary" and after that the group filled in blanks with the assumption Merry was a lady. The thought that "she" is an Elf stemmed largely from "her" ability to speak to the trees (Fangorn). It was later decided to make "Mary" a love interest for Boromir, which added nicely to his death defending "her".
• Gollum is an orc. After all, he's an evil creature that knew his way around Mordor. What else could he be?
• From what we've heard, we know that the Hobbits ran into lots of trouble up around Bree, and we know that Aragorn helped them get out of Bree alive. Regarding their near deaths, we heard that the attempted murder was while staying with Butterbur (who must've been some sort of ruler if he had dozens of guest rooms), and that he had their ponies stolen, and that Butterbur was an evil man. (The travelers from Bree the King's Players met were full of crap and had a grudge against Barliman.)
• Frodo was a mighty warrior and a bit of a wizard too. He did fight Sauron after all- what else could he have been?
• Since we believe Sam to have been a somewhat stupid and unimportant servant, we decided to have him die earlier in the tale to add some drama (somewhere between the Shire and Rivendell). Imagine our surprise when we find out the visiting Hobbit-Mayor is Sam!

[Mnemosyne]

Sorry about not adding Pitch to the character list--I was holding off because I didn't know what list to put him in, and rather than do the sensible thing and add him to the minor one for now, I had quite forgotten...

I was going to suggest that we had forgotten that Sam existed entirely!!

And I will put in a second plug for Frodo going to Barad-dur to challenge Sauron to single combat, since that's pure canon.

Also, if we're still looking at aborted plots for ideas, I would love it if we had a Trotter...

I'm going to try to get a First Post up on this thread tomorrow so we all have a general idea of when and where the game is officially starting.

Oh, and this is now officially morphing into the Discussion Thread as well as the Planning thread.

[the phantom]

I was going to suggest that we had forgotten that Sam existed entirely!!

That's fine with me. I can change it if you'd like.

And I will put in a second plug for Frodo going to Barad-dur to challenge Sauron to single combat, since that's pure canon.

Oh, definitely. And as far as Saruman's character description, that's due to what you said about Brinn's husband wanted to play comic roles- I figured Saruman had some comic potential if we portrayed him as a rather ineffective crazy wizard. He couldn't have been very powerful after all, as the rumor is he and his works were ended by some walking plants.

Originally Posted by Pitch

But I suppose Gimli's part in the play - which must originally have been quite substantial in order to please our Dwarven fans back home and would have been played by someone else then - was cut a lot when Aldarion adapted the play to suit Gondorian taste?

Yes, I think that would be appropriate.

And what do you guys think about Lothlorien? How should we portray it and Galadriel?

[Boromir88]

Originally Posted by the phantom

And what do you guys think about Lothlorien? How should we portray it and Galadriel?

If we want an insanely twisted romance plot, Branor's Aragorn would totally have the hots for Galadriel. A powerful beautiful elf-lady, who gives Aragorn gifts, as opposed to the sappy elf-maiden he's supposed to shack up with....

Of course it might be one-sided, as he attempts to court Galadriel, but Branor's Aragorn does not want to be with Arwen. No way. (Edit: Oh wow, and I just realized the whole grandma thing, that may be tooooo messed up)

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by the phantom

And what do you guys think about Lothlorien? How should we portray it and Galadriel?

In keeping with Boromir's feeling about the Golden Wood, as corroborated by the Rohirrim generally, I think something of a "Midsummer Night's Dream" take might be appropriate. In that case, perhaps Galadriel should be modelled on Titania and Celeborn on Oberon?

In which case is Legolas a Puck who has gone along with our "human heroes" ? :-p

[Anguirel]

ha good one Formendacil. I was thinking along similar lines but via Spenser not Shakespeare (note last line of my character's profile)

Inziladun and Pitchwife, I'm definitely open to having a sailor cousin (whom the newly minted Lord would be quite ashamed of)...might be a bit coincidental that my character just happens to intersect with Veandur and Amlach from Aldarion's cast though? reckon we should have one such link and not the other?

[Galadriel55]

Galadriel is of course a powerful witch, and all witches are bad. She tries to stop the fellowship (it was her that sent the dragon to the mountains, but he was defeated by Gandalf), but then orcs come (randomly) from the Misty Mountains and assail Lorien and the fellowship. Boromir is killed. The orcs are driven off. Galadriel humbles herself and helps them.

Something to echo the Battle of Five Armies, which men of Dale will be more familiar with.

And... just sayin'. Yeah. No need to change the scenario if this is a stupid idea.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Anguirel

Inziladun and Pitchwife, I'm definitely open to having a sailor cousin (whom the newly minted Lord would be quite ashamed of)...might be a bit coincidental that my character just happens to intersect with Veandur and Amlach from Aldarion's cast though? reckon we should have one such link and not the other?

Well, I'm fine with the kinship, and maybe the double link would still work out, as I'm thinking Vëandur has been to Minas Anor on several occasions, but never when the King's Players were in town. As a matter of fact, I don't think he really knows what to expect from a "play". He might be looking for a stiff, reverential, "historical" drama.

And phantom, I think it's neat that Aldarion and Vëandur have such similar backgrounds and yet took completely different paths. Might be an opportunity for some drama between them, at some point?