🏀 2025 Middle-earth March Madness Round 3 — The Fellowship of the 8
The field has narrowed again. Who continues on?
Characters from all across Middle-earth have faced off in the first two rounds of Middle-earth March Madness. And what was once a group of 32 contestants has narrowed to the Company of 16 and then again to the Fellowship of the 8!
Each character who still stands can almost taste victory! This is the championship round of each region and the winners of these matchups will proceed to the semifinals and then, just maybe, to the championship matchup.
Before the recap and matchups, here’s a reminder of our schedule for this tournament:
Round 2 (The Company of 16): Tuesday, 3/18
Round 3 (The Fellowship of 8): Today, 3/21
Tolkien Reading Day: Tuesday, 3/25
Round 4 (The Final Four): Thursday, 3/27
Middle-earth March Madness Championship: Tuesday, 4/1
Before we go on, special shout-out and thank you to Notsu N, who upgraded to a paid subscription to the Jokien with Tolkien: Extended Edition this month! This newsletter is possible because of supporters like you: thank you!
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“Middle-earth March Madness” — Round 3: The Fellowship of the 8
Here is our updated bracket for the third round:
Let’s talk about what happened this past round and the matchups we have as a result this week!
The Lord of the Rings
Both matchups in the LOTR region saw the higher ranked contestant fall! Treebeard sent Arwen across the sea, while Éowyn showed Faramir who wears the pants in their relationship. They now face off in a contest of shieldmaiden versus shepherd of the trees!
The War of the Rohirrim
No upsets here: Helm Hammerhand and Hera handed Haleth and Hama a hearty hammering. Now this internecine family conflict culminates in a father versus daughter contest:
The Silmarillion
Could this region have ended any other way than to have Beren and Luthien face off? Huan and Fingolfin (and the rest of the bracket) never stood a chance, and now this part of the greatest love story Tolkien ever wrote comes to its epic conclusion:
The Rings of Power
Galadriel and Elendil have sent Celebrimbor and Elrond home in convincing fashion and are one step away from being the final Rings of Power character standing. Who will go on and who will go home? Is the sea always right? Or will Galadriel overwhelm the Númenórean with waves of effort and competitiveness?
This week the Fellowship of the 8 will break and only four will move on to the next round. Who will it be? See you next Thursday with the results and the final two matchups!
Appendices
Thank you to the C.S. Lewis Official Substack for providing a fellow Inkling with a sneak peak at the Deluxe edition of Mere Christianity coming out next month! This was an incredibly formative book in my journey of faith and I’m so pleased there’s such a beautiful new edition so near on the horizon!
You can get more information and preorder this Deluxe Edition on the HarperCollins website here.
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📚 You can read more of my writing by reading my books! My latest is a collection of essays on The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and more of Tolkien’s works (and their adaptations). You can also find it and more of my books on Amazon or Gumroad
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I still think Bill the Pony should be in the contest... but whatever I suppose
Ten points for “internecine”