Chris La Porte 10/15/21 Chris La Porte 10/15/21

Lord of the Rings Places: Mirkwood Forest

Mirkwood forest in The Lord of the Rings is full of darkness and danger. Dive into the lore of Mirkwood forest and the literary symbolism of forests used throughout history, including in The Lord of the Rings.

*Entering Mirkwood (Credit: The One Ring RPG)*

If there’s one thing that’s guaranteed to be in a fantasy story, it’s a dark, scary forest that may or may not have a candy-hoarding witch in it.

For the people living in Middle Earth, Tolkien skipped the whole witch thing (in this particular forest anyway) and went straight for something a million times worse: spiders.

But Mirkwood Forest hides more secrets than just spiders in there. In fact, Mirkwood forest wasn’t always Mirkwood.

We’re going to dive into the history of Mirkwood, the dangers inside, and what forests represent from a literary standpoint. Tolkien sure loved using their symbolism, and there’s a good reason why.

And, since our crew is running through The One Ring RPG on our actual play podcast called The Party Business Podcast, we’ll also look at how you can use Mirkwood as inspiration in your own tabletop campaign.

So, let’s stay on the path or risk getting lost in the lore of Mirkwood in The Lord of the Rings.

The (Summarized) History of Mirkwood Forest in The Lord of the Rings

Here’s the thing...if we dive into the details of the history of Middle Earth, this article is going to be tens of thousands of words long, and I’m still going to miss a ton. It’s like studying actual history, that’s how dense it is.

Ok not really, but you get it.

Let’s keep it simple.

Early on in the Lord of the Rings history books, there were a ton of forests. More accurately, I should say that they were all one big forest covering most of Middle Earth. And Middle Earth, in the early days, had more to it before a lot of the western stuff ended up at the bottom of the ocean.

BTW “western stuff” was definitely the term used by Tolkien...he was big on linguistics, after all.

Mirkwood forest was a part of this big ass forest that covered just about everything. It may have even been connected with Lothlorien at one point.

As that was cut down by Men (typical), smaller portions of it were left behind, making up the forests Lord of the Rings fans know and love. The Old Forest near the Shire, Fangorn Forest, and Mirkwood are three that definitely have the remnants of that ancient, vast tangle of woods.

Any forest with walking trees and willows that try to eat Hobbits is pretty old and has some emotional baggage from people trying to cut it all down.

But Mirkwood, at this point, was known as Greenwood the Great. Not the most clever thing the Elves ever named, that’s for sure. I’m sure there’s an Elven word for it that sounds beautiful. But it was green, and it was the woods, and it was really big: Greenwood the Great.

Great work y’all.

Now, this is before spiders and dark branches clogging up the air in the forest. Elves settled here, the Silvan Elves, which is an important distinction since, apparently, as they weren’t as cool and magical as the High Elves like Elrond and Galadriel.

I always found it funny that Tolkien makes that reference in The Hobbit. I guess these are the Duck Dynasty Elves or something. Remember that show? Didn’t think you would see a reference here, did you?

But they were still Elves, so they’re automatically better than just about everyone else. And they know it too, those cocky bastards.

Then, Sauron starts tricking everyone with these super lovely rings (I’m summarizing a couple thousand years here.) The Elves figure it out, and a whole war starts as Sauron tries to get all the rings he made back and uses his One Ring to kick everyone’s ass.

The Last Alliance of Men and Elves (that we see at the very beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring movie) defeats Sauron...kind of...and some of those Elves return to their homes, including Mirkwood.

As time goes on, Sauron starts getting his groove back and enters Greenwood the Great. He builds Dol Guldur, a fortress in “modern” Southern Mirkwood, and starts tainting Greenwood the Great. Over time the forest gets so dark and gross and spider-y that the name is changed to Mirkwood or the Forest of Great Fear.

The Forest of Great Fear isn’t exactly what you want to see on your National Park map.

The return of Sauron (known as the Necromancer at this point) brings a lot terrible things to Middle Earth, including a plague. I won’t go into details because the last thing you want to read about right now is a plague, I get that.

But Mirkwood becomes what we know it as: dark and terrible.

Also, fun fact, the spiders in Mirkwood are mostly the offspring of Shelob herself.

Sauron in Mirkwood Forest

*Mirkwood Forest by J.R.R. Tolkien (yup he could draw too)*

Let’s look at dates for a moment.

The Hobbit book takes place in 2941 in the timeline of Middle Earth. That means...spoiler alert, I guess, for a book you almost certainly have read because I really doubt you’re looking up Mirkwood otherwise...The Necromancer is driven out of Dol Guldur by Gandalf and the White Council “off-screen” as we follow Bilbo’s journey.

But Gandalf figured out that The Necromancer was Sauron in 2850. Bro! That’s nearly a hundred years of sitting on that information! Everyone takes forever to do anything against Sauron until, finally, Frodo leaves with the Ring. Which also takes forever for him to leave! It’s like 17ish years between Frodo leaving the Shire and Bilbo’s party.

But I digress. Just like...be more efficient, and maybe darkness has way less of a chance.

Anyway…

Sauron actually has a couple of stints as the Necromancer in Mirkwood but what’s important is the darkening of Mirkwood is directly his fault. Jerk.

Bats, spiders, and orcs make Mirkwood pretty uninhabitable. There was a very nice Dwarf road called the Old Forest Road that was unusable with the arrival of Sauron. (Orcs create abysmal traffic.)

The Elf Path that the Dwarves and Bilbo use in The Hobbit is made by the Elves and protected with their hick-elf magic, but it’s still a tough road to use. It’s so narrow, it can’t really be called a road.

Mirkwood forest gets so dark and dangerous that leaving the path is a damn foolish idea. And for a while, literally, Sauron is out there somewhere in the darkness.

What’s interesting to me is what happens after Sauron is cast out in The Hobbit. Smaug the Dragon is also dealt with, and trade flourishes again in the area for a little while. There are still, like, 78 years between The Hobbit ending and the Ring being destroyed.

That’s a lot of time for a story or two.

There are some things we know from the appendices at the end of The Return of the King. First, the darkness grows again, and Thranduil, in charge of the Mirkwood Elves and Legolas’ dad, has to fight back orcs in the forest as the Ring travels through Mordor.

At the same time, Galadriel and the Lorien Elves march to Dol Guldur and take it down.

While all that stuff is happening, Dale and the Lonely Mountain have their own battles repelling Sauron’s forces as the actual last battle in The War of the Ring. (Besides that whole Shire thing that happens in the book. Yes, I know the Battle of Bywater is the actual last battle, don’t @ me.)

Honestly, Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show should have been about all the Mirkwood and Lonely Mountain stuff, but whatever.

But for a little tiny sliver of time, there was peace but a growing worry about the return of darkness.

And that’s a story that will get told, but more on that in a sec.

Mirkwood Forest and the Literary Symbolism of the Woods

Forests in fairy tales and folklore are deeply rooted (get it) in our human psyche.

When humans were scraping by to survive, the forest was a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, forests provided much-needed materials. Wood, food, water sources, and shelter were just a few things our ancient ancestors needed from forests. That we honestly still need from forests.

But the darkness of the forests revealed a risk in getting those resources. There were plenty of actual dangers to worry about, but forests represented something even greater than those realistic worries: The Unknown.

The imagination is a great and terrible thing. The forest represents challenges, gifts, dangers, provisions, and a vast sea of hidden things. And if humans can't instantly understand something, they start making shit up.

The forest is the perfect setting for those things because entering the trees means leaving the known and taking a chance on something new. And new is exciting and scary at the same time.

In literature, “crossing the threshold” is a key component of the Hero's Journey. We don't really like stories that stay in the safety of the known forever and then end. Pretty boring. (Even if the cast of The Party Business Podcast laments for a pleasant stroll through the Shire constantly.)

Stories that take us into the unknown and challenge the characters are what we want to read. That means having to cross the threshold into an alien world. And the forest provides the literary playground storytellers need to force change upon their characters.

Think about Bilbo's journey in The Hobbit. It's through the trees that he has to sneak up on three trolls and begin to prove himself.

After gaining the Ring and building at least some of his confidence up, the forest is where he is left utterly alone to rescue not only himself but his companions.

And that place is none other than Mirkwood Forest itself.

The forest is a magical place–one of transformation. You go in one thing and come out another.

We still do this today. Camping is the escape from reality. Go on a hike a weary human of consumerism and anxiety, then come out the other end in tune with your roots as someone belonging to nature.

Or some crap.

And it wasn't just handed over to you–you have to earn it. You have to struggle through the hike, sweat a little, deal with your allergies, whatever the case may be. The trial of the forest might not mean facing actual spiders, wolves, and witches, but the symbolism is still there.

Tolkien, being the lover of fairy tales and mythology, did not let the importance of the transformative power of forests get away from him.

Mirkwood changes Bilbo as he saves the Dwarves from spiders.

The Old Forest reveals the dangers of the quest to Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, testing whether Frodo is willing to sacrifice himself for his friends.

Fangorn Forest forces Merry and Pippin to take a stand in the fight they have been whisked off into.

Lothlorien represents something truly ancient, magical, and possibly dangerous, even as the Fellowship gains new gifts and rest.

And I find it interesting that Mirkwood specifically goes through the change that it does. It's reduced to its boundaries in The Hobbit by greedy Men. It's cared for by the nature-loving Elves. But the Elves aren't going to be around forever. And orcs, in general, chop every tree they can find. They are the ultimate utilitarians seeing only a resource where the Elves see so much more.

Which leaves the question of what will happen to these forests when Elves leave and the orcs are all by wiped out? The race of Men are the middle ground. Will they lean more towards caring for the forests, or harvesting?

Tolkien certainly wasn't trying to say anything. Nope, not at all.

Mirkwood Forest in The Party Business Podcast

I said earlier that I would go into more about that mysterious time in Mirkwood's history right after The Necromancer is driven out.

And I am.

Because there's a story being told about that time in our One Ring RPG actual play podcast. The Party Business Podcast sees a group of 5 companions facing the dangers of Mirkwood.

The start of our story has them crossing it, going from the east side of it to the west side—kind of like The Hobbit, but backward.

And it begins their own transformative character arcs. Some might not even come out the other side.

The ambiguous nature of Mirkwood makes for some fantastic room to play in too, as a storyteller. As the Loremaster running the game, I may have some truly crazy stuff for them to face.

It’s the freedom of the “nameless things” Tolkien talks about in The Lord of the Rings. The dark shadows of evil that can take the shape of just about anything.

Orcs and spiders? Sure. But what about great wolves infused with dark magic? Or wights that have entered the trees themselves? Or great bat creatures that drain your blood?

Fun fact: werewolves and vampires exist in The Lord of the Rings universe. Just sayin’...

But, let me be real here for a sec:

Starting an actual play podcast is kind of like going into a forest in of itself. I don't know what's going to happen in there. Are we going to be lame? Are we just a bunch of geeks that laugh at each other but others would just roll their eyes? Are we...uncool?

I mean, yes, we are, but that's because we started a One Ring RPG podcast, so nuff said.

But I'm someone that loves listening to The Adventure Zone and The Glass Cannon Podcast. I know what a good time sounds like. Can we manage that in The Party Business Podcast?

Even in Episode 1, which was a two-parter, there's something special that starts happening. The friends that joined me are hilarious and have crafted such cool Woodsmen, Beornings, Hobbits, Bardings, and Dwarves that I genuinely love listening to our own episodes.

That only gets better in Episode 2. I hate, yet love to say it–we already feel like we are hitting a stride, which means it’s only going to somehow get even better.

So if you want to see how the darkness returns to Mirkwood and what the unsung heroes of Middle Earth do about it, listen to The Party Business Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

And if you're a geek like me, and the rest of the Party Business crew, then you probably play tabletop RPGs. That means you also probably spend a ton of time crafting characters.

Have you ever had one that just fell flat or didn't have the depth you hoped for?

We have a solution for you.

Our character creation guide is free and has simple steps to making a deep character that is a blast to play at the table no matter what game you are playing. D&D, Pathfinder, or...The One Ring RPG...these tips will help.

A lot of advice comes from crafting engaging literary characters, simplified to make it work for a character that's easy to make in a tabletop RPG.

So click here to get it emailed to you, or use the form below.

Chris La Porte 10/4/21 Chris La Porte 10/4/21

Rollin’ in Middle Earth: The One Ring RPG Review

This One Ring RPG review breaks down what makes this Lord of the Rings roleplaying game so unique. Dive into the One Ring RPG shadow points, Middle Earth setting, Journey rules, and much more.

“God, I just wish I could live in Middle Earth…”

How many times have you said that?

If you’re like me, pretty much every day.

I actively look for little Hobbit moments.

Drinking coffee with the sun coming through the windows…

Going on walks around my vibrant green neighborhood…

And most importantly: avoiding people that come knocking at the door.

And, if you’re like me, you’ve probably wished there was a super immersive video game that captured that feeling perfectly. (LOTRO exists, I know, and it’s awesome, but I want more, damn it!)

That’s where tabletop games come in. And honestly, it’s high time I tried (and you tried) The One Ring RPG because it’s the blend of things I already like: D&D and Lord of the Rings.

But, just because it’s a Lord of the Rings tabletop RPG doesn’t mean it’s exactly like D&D. It’s actually VERY different (and that’s a good thing.)

The One Ring RPG: The Middle Earth Setting

What separates this game is the Middle Earth setting. Shocker, I know.

It’s every geek’s dream to be a part of the lore Tolkien started because he was bored grading papers. (Seriously, that’s how he came up with The Hobbit, look it up.)

It’s diving into the immersion of that world that makes it something special because, for a moment, your imagination becomes a part of the canon.

But what’s most fantastical is how...realistic it is. This is especially noticeable compared to the high fantasy magic setting of D&D.

Now, don’t get me wrong...one of the best things about D&D is a wizard suddenly bending over and summoning a unicorn out of his ass while shooting magic missiles from his fingertips. That’s what makes the game fun–the complete insanity.

Middle Earth, for being the fantasy setting to compare all fantasy settings to, isn’t very...magical. There are no healing spells to help players dig themselves out of the balrog pit they made for themselves, and they won’t be raining fire from the heavens on enemies anytime soon.

And at first glance, that seems like a bad thing.

But when you have to focus on the little details of how far you’re traveling with what gear and have to cross your fingers every time you roll the dice to see if the group gets tracked by wargs or something, you immerse yourself into the world like never before.

Granted, it’s unfair because immersing myself in Middle Earth is way easier than the Sword Coast, but still.

And this is coming from someone running the game, not even a player.

As a player, you have to get clever. Some polymorph spell isn’t going to change a mind flayer boss into a rat that is then controlled by one of the characters’ rat commanding magical items and forced into a furnace that makes the DM throw his notes across the room. Not, uh, speaking from experience or anything.

It’s the little choices that build over time to make a character feel real, and the player can truly connect with them.

Do I climb the wall and free the guy in a spider’s web, or do I chance the web itself if I can be sneaky?

Can I impress this Elf guard enough to convince him to give me a nicer room and also eavesdrop on some delicate conversations?

Should we keep to the river or wade through the marshes?

Choose wrong, and there are consequences.

And there’s nothing that makes you connect to a character faster than consequences.

Shadow Points – The Dark Side of The One Ring RPG

In D&D, if you kill a shopkeeper and rob the place, your biggest concern is, “did anyone see that?”

In The One Ring RPG, if you kill an innocent shopkeeper, witnesses or not, that will cost a heavy toll on your character.

Shadow Points are earned as your character succumbs to the evil of the world either by murder-hobo choices or because they came face to face with some dark, unnamed thing in Middle Earth. Which is rare because Tolkien sure loved naming things.

If you get too many Shadow Points and it overcomes your character’s Hope Points, your character has a bout of madness. This is like Boromir desperately trying to steal the ring from Frodo–dude just failed his Wisdom Test.

This allows for a character arc. Something that’s really not in the mechanics of Dungeons and Dragons. Sure, there’s an alignment chart, but that’s not used the same way as Shadow Points are.

Here’s the thing...have too many bouts of madness, and your character is done. Not only can you die, which early on is pretty easy, but you can also simply experience too much darkness. You depress your way out of the game.

It makes you think about your next move as a player. There’s always a battle happening. You may be out of the fight with those spiders, but the evil lair you’re in is still draining you.

It accounts for the mental fatigue that adventuring would take. I like to think I would love to live in Middle Earth, but if I was with Frodo when Shelob took him...good luck, pal, it’s been real.

The players aren’t these demigods that can charge into any situation; they feel real. And because they feel real, you as a player immerse yourself even more.

The One Ring RPG is About the Journey...and Yeah, Also the Destination

In Dungeons and Dragons, the setting is in the name. You are going to be in some dark, dank, mazelike places.

I’ve had some fantastic tales spin out of a good dungeon crawl...but typically, the journey to that ancient temple or mine or whatever isn’t fleshed out much.

There might be bad weather, or a group of goblins that jump into the firelight of your camp, but that’s just to get the dice rolling.

The journey in The One Ring RPG IS the adventure.

And that makes total sense.

The Lord of the Rings is all about the walking, walking, and more walking. The Hobbit spends very little time actually at the Lonely Mountian, which is the whole point of the journey. The things that happened on the way are what make the story fun.

That’s what the Journey mechanic tries to do in The One Ring RPG. Now, it’s not perfect and takes some finagling from the DM...uh LM. Loremaster is the Gamemaster term here.

Each player has a role while they get from one place to another. Maybe they are scouting ahead, hunting for food, or keeping a lookout around the fire, but they do something. If they fail their dice rolls, hazardous events start to happen.

With 1st edition, the math can kind of get overwhelming. Hopefully, the 2nd edition fixes that because they have the chance to make something special of the Journey function.

But a little imagination is really all that’s needed. The game map and roles the players find themselves in while they travel can help spark some ideas for the person running the game. And if there’s one thing a DM, GM, LM, whatever you want to call them loves, it’s making trouble for the players in immersive ways.

You can find out all the antics my group gets into in our podcast Party Business. In the first few episodes, all they need to do is help a merchant get across Mirkwood forest. Literally, it’s that simple. It took hours, and elves, spiders, weird hermits, and even darker things have made their way into the story.

Mostly, what happens with all that is based on the Journey rules. You still have that aspect of not knowing what will happen next.

And that’s the fun of tabletop RPGs.

You make a character you really want to immerse yourself in. Then you just want to see what’s around that next corner...and the next one...and maybe that one too.

And speaking of characters...

It’s About Roleplaying, Not Abilities in The One Ring RPG

Coming from tabletop RPGs like D&D and Pathfinder, The One Ring can be a little shocking when you make your characters.

This is because your class, called Callings in The One Ring, has no real active abilities. There’s no barbarian rage, sneak attack, or minor illusion. So...what the hell?

Callings instead focus on traits that your character gets to choose from and favored common skills they lean on. It’s easier for your Wanderer to level up in travel, for instance, and that makes perfect sense.

Even your race, called Culture in The One Ring, doesn’t really give you any abilities either. You have a certain loadout of base skills you build from and can choose some more traits, but that’s it.

What’s going on here? Is this...fun?

Actually, it makes The One Ring Roleplaying Game...well, roleplaying. Your traits are a roleplaying mechanic for you to initiate as you will. The more you lean into your character’s traits, the more your character is going to accomplish.

Sure, that means you won’t have some insane magical ability to throw the DM off course, but you have more flexibility on how you can roleplay your way through even something like combat. It gives you the mechanics to roleplay right in the rules of the game.

Then you can throw the LM off course.

And once again, it makes it even easier to immerse yourself in Middle Earth.

This is why The Party Business Podcast crew is already having a blast recording episodes. We barely remember that we are making a show, that’s how sucked in we’re getting.

So if you want to have that same experience, we highly recommend finding a PDF online for The One Ring or getting 2nd edition when that’s available to everyone.

And I want to help you make better tabletop RPG characters and not take hours to do it. Have more fun, and build characters fast with our free character creator cheat sheet.

Get it right here and make characters that are fun to play through the entire campaign.