Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Relan goes to the shire

Relan journeys to the Shire. He's told that agents of the enemy are beginning to spread even into the quiet world of the hobbits. His enemies are goblins & brigands. He is to defeat as many as possible for the glory of Bree & to protect the hobbit and their bountiful farms. So, he travels to Michael Devling with stern determination. The hobbits all eye him with suspicion whenever he mentions trouble. Trouble doesn't happen in the Shire. Perhaps the occasional wolf problem. But trouble?

So, he sets off looking for his glory. Sure enough, there are no enemies. The tranquility is utterly lost on him. He sees endless green fields and only thinks that perhaps the enemy will be over that hill or the next. He begins to wander aimlessly. Nothing. This place of green hills and pipeweed fields, of low ceilings and small doors grates at him.

Before he was sent here, he was on important missions in the old forest & the Barrow Downs. Certainly, it was filled with horrors that would haunt him for the rest of his life, but there was also exhilaration and adventure. Certainly, his duty was there. Wasn't it?

Perhaps over this next hill...

1 comment:

Avouz said...

One of our crew, and I don't remember who exactly, once commented that it's good to go to the Shire once and a while to remember why we're battling the Enemy.

In some ways, the LOTRO Shire isn't tranquil enough, with bandits, spiders, wolves, and goblins threatening. But as your experience points out, these threats are still largely confined to the fringes of the Shire and foretell of worse things to come if we heroes fail.