Forging the Fellowship tag-I may or may not be bringing a baby to Mordor…

Hello friends! And strangers! And enemies who had been tracking me down for years and have finally caught up to me!

Last month, while I was still finishing up finals and therefore absent from the blogosphere, the Story Sponge tagged me for the Forging the Fellowship tag. The tag requires me to assemble a fellowship out of book characters who will be tasked with destroying the ring. What could go wrong?

The Rules

• Include the tag banner in your post (BEHOLD the graphic above these words)
• Link back to the creator of the tag ( LITAFLAME.BLOG )
• Thank and link back to the person who tagged you (Many thanks to the incredible StorySponge! Be sure to check out her fellowship here)
• Forge your Fellowship out of BOOK CHARACTERS by answering the given questions!
• Tag three bloggers to pass the Ring to.

1. [The Ring Bearer]: If you could choose, which of the four races would you be: Elf, Dwarf, Human, or Hobbit?

I lack the grace and stateliness to be an elf, I get too claustrophobic to be a dwarf, I know from experience that I don’t make the greatest human…

And Hobbits eat so much food and have so much time for admiring flowers and taking naps (although–if I’m on a quest to destroy the ring–food, flowers, and naps are all probably going to be in short supply).

2. [Gandalf the Grey]: A wise/powerful elder/mentor character:

I want to say McGonagall SO BAD, but she’s already leading the Story Sponge’s fellowship and, as amazing and McGonagall is, leading two fellowships at once might be a bit much even for her.

So. Someone else.

Ummmm….

The Old Doll in The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. So, she’s not exactly powerful like wizard powerful, but she does have the power to reduce you to a bucket full of tears with her utterly heart-shattering wisdom. She has seen so much of the world and known so much pain. She has been literally broken, and yet she still has hope and the courage to allow herself to love and be loved.

Maybe she’ll distract Sauron just by talking to him and causing him to have an emotional breakdown about the unbearable, heartbreaking, but also beautiful nature of humanity? Who knows??

3. [Aragorn]: A character with good survival skills.

Vango Romano from Vango: Between Sky and Earth. Assassins have been trying to kill this kid since he was, what, fourteen? And even though he has no idea who they are or why they want him dead, he continues to climb buildings, stowaway on aircraft, run along rooftops, peel potatoes, and stay alive.

4. [Boromir]: A character who makes mistakes, but has a good heart

Sammy Lou from The Boy Who Steals Houses.

Does he make mistakes?

Yes.

Might one even describe his life as a series of desperate, bad decisions?

Possibly.

But does he have the best heart and deserve all of our love, protection, and brownies?

Undoubtedly.

5. [Gimli]: A stubborn character.

Constance Contraire from The Mysterious Benedict Society. If stubbornness was a super-power, Constance…would be a superhero. And she would keep us all entertained/exasperated by composing and reciting impudent poetry during the journey.

6. [Legolas]: A character who is talented

Jeffrey Magee from Maniac Magee. Super talented at running, untying knots, athletics in general, pretending to be a baby buffalo, and making me cry.

7. [Peregrin Took]: A character who at first seems useless, but ends up surprising you.

Gummy from The Gammage Cup. I loved Gummy from the beginning, but let’s face it: “useful” would not be a good word to describe him in the first part of the book. In fact, he often makes a point of doing nothing but lying around all day writing poetry. And yet, behold! Soon enough we find him risking his life to save his friends.

8. [Meriadoc Brandybuck]: A character who is small/not very strong, but has great courage.

Sunny Baudelaire from A Series of Unfortunate Events. She may be a baby, but she is a baby with sharp teeth, sharp wits, and impressive courage for one so young. Whether it be climbing an elevator shaft, being accused of murder, getting kidnapped by a band of villains, or nearly dying of a poisonous fungus, Sunny remains strong and courageous.

9. [Samwise Gamgee]: A character who is extremely loyal and doesn’t give up.

Timothy Davidson from House Arrest. Timothy is devoted to his little brother Levi and his mom, and he will do whatever it takes to help Levi and keep their family together (even if it means doing something…illegal). He would never leave his family (unlike SOMEONE I could mention), and he certainly won’t give up on them.

So, let’s look at my fellowship, shall we? We have:

1. Me as a hobbit
2. The Old Doll
3. Vango Romano
4. Sammy Lou
5. Constance Contraire
6. Jeffrey Magee
7. Gummy
8. Sunny Baudelaire
9. Timothy Davidson

This looks like a GREAT team that would be very successful at destroying the ring! Just look at all the good things we’ve got going for us:

• We’re led by a Doll!
• Less than half of us are over eighteen!
• We have a baby and a toddler!
• We have two poets!
• We have multiple child criminals!
• In addition to orcs, we’re probably being chased by assassins now too!
• What fun!

This is the point where the rules say I’m supposed to choose three bloggers to pass the ring onto, but there’s no way I’m falling for that. I took the ring so I could DESTROY it, not hand it off to some other poor soul to make the journey to Mordor! And my fellowship is CLEARLY more than equipped to complete this task.

Do you have great faith in the fellowship I have assembled? What characters would you choose to take with you if you were going to destroy the ring? How important is a good poet on a quest like this? Have you ever been chased by assassins? Do tell!

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