Happy Middle-earth Day! March 25th* is the day the Ring was destroyed, and the beginning of the Gondorian new year.

*Yes, I know... it's still the 25th somewhere, so it counts.

To celebrate, I wanted to share some things you may have known, but probably never fully noticed, in a list I like to call...

Three Things You Kind Of Knew About Middle-earth But Not Really

1. It's stuffed with prophecy

One of the things that sets The Lord of the Rings apart from many of its successors is that Frodo is not a Chosen One of Prophecy. There is no ancient wisdom saying he will succeed - just hope.

But Frodo aside, there is so much prophecy in M-e. Practically everyone can be a prophet! You remember that the Witch-King was prophesied by Glorfindel not to die by the hand of man, but do you remember that Aragorn taking the Paths of the Dead was the subject of prophecy? Malbeth the Seer, who gave that prediction, also prophesied the death of the last king of Arnor (and, given his title, probably other stuff too). Galadriel had her Mirror, of course - but her mentor, Melian, had the same powers, and is actually seen in the Silmarillion prophesying to Galadriel. Then there's the Prophecy of Mandos, and several attributed to Feanor, and...

But forget the great and powerful - mere mortals have the same power. Huor, father of Tuor and uncle of Turin, foretold the birth of Earendil - 'from you and from me a new star shall arise' - and Aragorn's mother foresaw her own death in her last farewell to her son. But perhaps the most Tolkien prophecy of all has nothing to do with wars, kings, or Dark Lords - it is a simple, homely thing uttered by Frodo just before his departure, to his dear friend Sam:

"And also you have Rose, and Elanor; and Frodo-lad will come, and Rosie-lass, and Merry, and Goldilocks, and Pippin; and perhaps more that I cannot see. Your hands and your wits will be needed everywhere. You will be the Mayor, of course, as long as you want to be, and the most famous gardener in history."

2. It's a hotbed of political intrigue

One of the repeated ideas about Game of Thrones is that, unlike Tolkien, it's written in shades of grey. In Tolkien (the theory goes) the good are Good, and the bad are Bad, with no blurring of the lines between them.

HAH!

Let's forget the First Age, where the most famous elf in history was a mass murderer, and his sons pulled off a soft coup against their cousin and held the princess of a neighbouring power prisoner. Let's ignore the Second Age, where the kings of Numenor sink from near-elven grace to slave-taking death-worshippers even before they accept Sauron as a friend. We'll even ignore the history of Arnor in the Third Age, which fell apart due to royal infighting and was then slowly converted and conquered by Angmar. We'll focus entirely on the holders of one title: the Stewards of Gondor.

Most people notice that Denethor II is a pretty conflicted and morally-grey figure. He is a staunch fighter against Mordor and Sauron, even hazarding his own mind against him through the Palantir. He loves his sons - one more so, true, but he loves both of them, and despite what certain movies would tell you, doesn't actually send Faramir off to kill him. In fact, it is Faramir's near-death that finally breaks him.

And yet... he spurned the advice of Gandalf. He was caustic, even vicious to those around him. He was at least a little bit racist, believing in the superiority of Numenoreans above other men. And he vehemently opposed the return of the King.

In that last, he seriously overstepped the bounds of his authority - but there is ample precedent for that in his line. Steward Cirion, five hundred years earlier, essentially sold off a chunk of Gondor to buy Rohan as an ally, and did so by swearing in the name of Eru; invoking that Name required priestly authority which it is far from clear the Stewards had. He also moved the most sacred site in Gondor, deciding for himself that the Tradition of Isildur 'was now made void'.

Or go back further, to Mardil the Steadfast, a thousand years before Denethor. When the last King of Gondor was captured or killed in Minas Morgul, Mardil chose not to perform his duty of chosing a new king - no, he assumed the rule himself, establishing a millennium of Ruling Stewards 'until the King returns'. There's no way that was part of his job description - it was a blatant seizure of power.

Mardil's grandfather, Pelendur, also exceeded his authority, and was rewarded for it. He made the choice to reject the claim of King Arvedui of Arnor to the vacant Gondorian throne, instead passing it to a Gondorian general who was a distant cousin to the last king. After his day, we are told, the stewardship became hereditary - which it is hard not to see as a reward from the new King Earnil.

And it goes still further back, to the very first named Steward, Hurin of Emyn Arnen. He, too, had to deal with the loss of the royal line, with the closest heir being a nephew of the last king. Two years earlier, King Minardil was killed by descendents of exiled King Castamir the Usurper; now his sons both died of the plague. Gondor was weakened, almost crippled - but Umbar, and Castamir's descendents, were strong, strong enough that their raids reached right into the Gondorian heartlands.

It does not take a lot of imagination to picture Steward Húrin going to Prince Tarondor, hiding from the plague in Minas Anor, and saying, "There's a faction - a powerful faction - that wants to pass you over. The Usurper's descendents are strong - they could renew the watch on Mordor, and repopulate Osgiliath - and then there is the matter of your however-many-times-great grandmother, who wasn't even Numenorean.

"Of course I'm on your side - of course I am - and I'm sure I can bring the council around. But first... first I need you to promise something."

And after his day, we are told, the kings always chose their stewards from among Hurin's descendents.

The Stewards of Gondor - political manipulators of the highest degree, and masters of getting away with it.

3. It's SUPER haunted

Seriously. Do you realise how haunted Middle-earth is? The Fellowship visit more locations populated by ghosts than by elves! You've got the Barrow Downs, where - even if the wights themselves don't count - Merry was possessed by a spirit two thousand years dead. You've got the Dead Marshes, with the silent spectres of armies, and corpse-candles drawing the living down among them. You've got Dunharrow, with its cursed Dead Men.

Then there's the Nazgul, which are some form of zombie-ghost-lich thing. Rohan (which has a word for 'undead' - Eowyn uses it to the Witch-king) has legends of King Helm's ghost walking the battlements. Dive further back, and you find Gorlim the Unhappy paying a post-death visit to Beren, confessing his betrayal - a classic 'unfinished business' spook. Tolkien even tells us straight up that dead Elves can linger on as ghosts, perhaps even possessing the living.

Nor are spectres the only form of classical undead in Middle-earth. Werewolves? Check (though they might just be large wolves). Vampires? Check (though ditto, they could be just oversized, iron-clawed bats). Necromancy? That's Sauron's whole thing for a while. There's even a Hobbit poem about Mewlips, slimy swamp creatures who carry the bones of their victims in their sacks.

Forget mermaids, unicorns, fairies and genies - if you want to add a new species to Middle-earth, the way to hew most closely to Tolkien's vision is to make it some form of horrifying undead monster.

hS