April 5, 2026
5:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place
[April 3, 2026
[6:13 AM]Eönwë Valar: Made it to Housing level 5.
[April 5, 2026
[4:00 PM]Varda: Aiya!
[4:00 PM]Varda: @Bounder @Guild-friend @Maia Meeting time!
[4:02 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya! Just finished the FIRST rototilling of the garden.
[4:03 PM]Sandalf13: Just in time....I finished just in time....heh heh
[4:04 PM]Varda: Grats on the tilling!
[4:05 PM]Sandalf13: THanks! THe soil is SO dry.
[4:05 PM]Varda: Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
[4:05 PM]Varda: Membership:
[4:05 PM]Varda: We had a lot of rain yesterday, made the power flicker for hours before the company got our area repaired.
[4:05 PM]Varda: Really poured.
[4:05 PM]Varda: Today it's just overcast.
[4:05 PM]Varda: Anyway...
[4:05 PM]Varda: Happy Easter!
[4:06 PM]Varda: We are very happy to have power steady again.
[4:06 PM]Varda: We are very happy that Elwing is visiting us for Easter. : )
[4:06 PM]Varda: We are happily stuffed with goodies.
[4:06 PM]Sandalf13: Congreats! I am so glad that you have company for Easter todahy.
[4:07 PM]Varda: She's a sweetie. : )
[4:07 PM]Sandalf13: I have stuff to stuff you with as well if you care toc ome over.
[4:07 PM]Varda: and currently on LotROl
[4:07 PM]Varda: It's a bit of a long walk...
[4:07 PM]Sandalf13: Or drive
[4:07 PM]Varda: Might go bad by then.
[4:07 PM]Sandalf13: Maybe this summer?
[4:07 PM]Varda: We've been cooking a lot over here too, more than one of us.
[4:07 PM]Varda: Maybe. : )
[4:08 PM]Varda: Pippin-(V) has passed into the West. This happened October 2025. Nimrodel found out about it and passed it along. Here's an obituary and photo for him from the old GoFundMe page for his family.
[4:09 PM]Varda: I was not able to go to the Facebook page, so this is the best I can give you. Plenty there.
[4:10 PM]Sandalf13: He does not appear to be too old in the photo....
[4:12 PM]Varda: He was not all that old.
[4:12 PM]Varda: We knew him mostly by his LotRO main: Avengelina
[4:12 PM]Varda: Very active with us for a long time.
[4:12 PM]Varda: Any other membership news?
[4:13 PM]Varda: Nellas-(V) has been busy with a new job and hasn't played since fall. But she is well.
[4:14 PM]Varda: Erkenbrand-(V) has been playing Echoes of the Fall, a LotR game (that is not LotRO).
[4:15 PM]Varda: Nothing new on the Tolkien Site this past week.
[4:15 PM]Varda: Gaming:
[4:15 PM]Varda: Sandalf, doubt if you had time, but have you had any gaming going on this past week?
[4:15 PM]Treebeard: Hello 🙂
[4:15 PM]Varda: Aiya Fangorn : )
[4:16 PM]Cenedra: Heya
[4:16 PM]Sandalf13: No...but believe it or not, I have a gaming appointment with a friend later this week. We will work on LoTRO.
[4:16 PM]Varda: Aiya Eowyn 🙂
[4:16 PM]Varda: Good luck, Sandalf. : )
[4:16 PM]Sandalf13: Since we are still getting some membership news, here is the link for the Tolkien Society Big Read.
[4:16 PM]Sandalf13: The Tolkien Society
[Join us for The Big Read
[We are excited to share a brand new program with you: The Tolkien Society’s first Big Read!
[The Big Read is a continual event designed to create an opportunity for members to read through Tolkien’s books with your fellow members. Part book club, part lecture series, this program will meet fortnightly, reading a few chapters every two weeks. The sessions will begin with an introduction to the reading by a scholar or public educator before breaking into smaller groups for discussions.
[The Big Read is free to join but only open to Tolkien Society members. The first session takes place on 6 April. You can sign up by logging into the members area of the Tolkien Society website and clicking on the Big Read program. Sessions will be recorded so you can watch any presentations you might miss.
[We hope you’ll join us on this new adventure!
[Erik & Clare
[4:17 PM]Sandalf13: Email
[NOSPAMerik.andersson@tolkiensociety.org
[4:17 PM]Treebeard: Hello Cenedra 🙂
[4:17 PM]Varda: Have fun with that.
[4:18 PM]Sandalf13: Yes. Fortnightly. I like that.
[4:18 PM]Treebeard: erik.sanderson?
[4:19 PM]Sandalf13: andersson
[4:19 PM]Varda: Also for gaming, Easter events will be popping up in various games. Enjoy!
[4:19 PM]Varda: And may you all have a wonderful Easter. : )
[4:19 PM]Varda: Gaming news from Eonwe:
[4:20 PM]Varda: World of Warcraft
[4:20 PM]Varda: (and he got Housing level 5)
[4:20 PM]Varda: This week's bonus event: Pet Battles and Cataclysm Timewalking.
[4:20 PM]Varda: This week's PvP Brawl: Temple of Hotmogu.
[4:20 PM]Varda: The Darkmoon Faire is going this week.
[4:21 PM]Varda: Noblegarden begins tomorrow and runs for one week.
[4:21 PM]Varda: Voidspire LFR Wing 3 and March on Quel'Danas Normal, Heroic, and Mythic Difficulties are available.
[4:21 PM]Varda: See WoW Weekly for anything not mentioned above.
[4:22 PM]Varda: Check out this week's hotfixes.
[4:22 PM]Varda: Diablo Immortal:
[4:23 PM]Varda: Winds of Fortune runs April 9th to April 16th.
[4:23 PM]Varda: "Patch 4.3.1 is a minor maintenance update featuring small adjustments to high‑rank PvP matchmaking and introduces our first refined Battle Pass cosmetic."
[4:23 PM]Varda: Diablo 2:
[4:23 PM]Varda: Patch 3.1.2 is out.
[4:24 PM]Varda: Overwatch:
[4:24 PM]Varda: A new Weekly Recall is out: Seriously Fun.
[4:24 PM]Varda: Hearthstone:
[4:25 PM]Varda: Check out the Patch 35.0.3 notes.
[4:25 PM]Varda: Heroes of the Storm:
[4:25 PM]Varda: A new patch is on the PTR.
[4:26 PM]Varda: Lord of the Rings Online:
[4:26 PM]Varda: Update 47.3 is out.
[4:27 PM]Varda: The list of kin members this past week will probably be put up here later today.
(It's now "later". Adding in.)
Peregrin branch (main) (11):
Glamdring branch:
Meriadoc branch:
Angmar temporary branch:
Mordor temporary branch:
[4:27 PM]Varda: StarCraft2:
[4:27 PM]Varda: Guild members playing this past week:
[4:27 PM]Varda: Eowyn, Fangorn, Varda. Faramir
[4:28 PM]Varda: If anyone would like to mention their games this past week, now is a good time.
[4:28 PM]Varda: Such as Cities: Skylines II
[4:29 PM]Varda: Now is a good time to make suggestions about anything, ask for aid, or otherwise contact an officer.
[4:29 PM]Arien Valar: Happy Easter 🙂
[4:29 PM]Varda: Aiya and Happy Easter, Arien!
[4:30 PM]Treebeard: Hello and welcome! 🙂
[4:30 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya Fangorn 😃
[4:30 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya Arien!
[4:30 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya Fangorn!
[4:31 PM]Arien Valar: Aiya Varda and sandalf
[4:31 PM]Arien Valar: 😃
[4:33 PM]Varda: On to
[4:33 PM]Varda: Did anyone have a question or a thought they've been mulling over? Maybe a scene that really stood out to you?
[4:35 PM]Varda: Oh, for LotRO: +5 Hope code, through April 9: HOPEFULWISHES
[4:36 PM]Varda: Hope is such a major theme in Tolkien's writing, that it seems like a wonderful idea in the game based on it.
[4:36 PM]Varda: Instead of "health", it's "morale".
[4:37 PM]Varda: Someone can be too depressed to fight on, good or bad guy, and just fall over.
[4:37 PM]Varda: But give that same one enough hope/morale, he or she or it gets right back up.
[4:37 PM]Varda: Music aids morale, having a healing effect.
[4:38 PM]Varda: Like Tom Bombadil's singing, that calls back to the singing of creation, it aids the person's ability to stand.
[4:39 PM]Varda: Even Aragorn's youthful nickname means Hope, in the Elvish word "Estel".
[4:39 PM]Sandalf13: Please remember that Tolkien describes TWO types of hope: estel and amdir.
[4:39 PM]Treebeard: Tom spoke to Old Man Willow and made him spit Pippin back out?
[4:39 PM]Varda: A star breakiing through the reek over Mordor can bring sudden hope, cheering a person on to greater efforts.
[4:39 PM]Varda: Yes, go ahead.
[4:40 PM]Varda: (There is a character in LotRO named Amdir, a Ranger working for Aragorn. You can see why he is not Estel.)
[4:41 PM]Treebeard: Tom always spoke in sing-song verse
[4:41 PM]Varda: Looking up, rather than a deep, spiritual hope like Estel.
[4:41 PM]Sandalf13: Exactamente.
[4:42 PM]Treebeard: He twirled the One Ring, slid it over his finger, and such in his investigation of it and handed it back. The One Ring had no effect on him.
[4:42 PM]Arien Valar: What is the difference then? I did not know that amdir mesns hope es well
[4:42 PM]Varda: Aye, Treebeard.
[4:44 PM]Sandalf13: Amdir is a more common type of hope, based upon past experiences: we won the last battle, so it seems likely (I hope) that we will win the next battle. Or, this idea has worked in the past, I hope (amdir) it works again. Estel is a much deeper-seated hope that has nor previous point of reference. It is not based on previous facts, or experiences, just on a feeling that things will get better.
[4:44 PM]Sandalf13: Estell is based on belief, not fact.
[4:45 PM]Arien Valar: I see. Thanks Sandalf 😀
[4:45 PM]Varda: Sort of a "hope of the moment" rather than deep-seated conviction.
[4:46 PM]Sandalf13: The Elves valued estel far more than amdir, that is one reason that Elrond chose the name "Estel" for Aragorn.
[4:47 PM]Arien Valar: Inteesting
[4:47 PM]Arien Valar: Interesting i mean
[4:47 PM]Varda: In the books, Amdir is a Sindarin elf, father of Amroth, I think. Will check
[4:49 PM]Sandalf13: Finrod had a huge epiphany at the end of the Athrabeth where he had a sudden insight into the estel that it would be MEN who heal Arda at the end of time, and help bring the Elves to attend the Second Singing of the Ainulindale.
[4:53 PM]Varda: Unfinished Tales, Malgalad and Amdir seem to be the same person.
[4:53 PM]Arien Valar: The sun shone one last ray on the fallen statue of the king at the crossrioad ..." They cannot win forever:
[4:57 PM]Varda: It's mentioned in the UT index under Malgalad.
[4:58 PM]Varda: and is under "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn".
[4:58 PM]Sandalf13: No, they cannot. At the end of the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, Huor had a sudden foresight, and told Turgon that if Turgon survived the battle and escaped behind the rearguard made by Hurin and Huor, that a "new star" would arise from the House of Turgon and the House of Hador/Beor...this was an example of estel in action, as Huor had no logical reason to assume that such a hopeful event would occur, yet he believed it anyway. Thus, Tuor wedded Idril, and Earendil became "the new Star" that brought hope to the Elves and Men of Middle-earth at the end of the First Age.
[4:58 PM]Varda: The Rings gave more of a looking back, preserving, than hope for the future.
[5:00 PM]Varda: Foresight, information passed along from the unseen.
[5:00 PM]Varda: Prophetic messages are mentioned here and there.
[5:01 PM]Varda: Such can give hope that a bad outcome may be avoided by the right actions. More hope.
[5:01 PM]Varda: Anyway, we've hit the hour. : )
[5:01 PM]Varda: Here's hoping that all of you have a wonderful rest of the day!
[5:01 PM]Sandalf13: The same to you and yours!!!! For all of you!!!
[5:01 PM]Varda: hammerpad rolls over to the oncoming gavel and they dance
[5:01 PM]Varda: After-meeting!
[5:02 PM]Varda: Thank you. : )
[5:02 PM]Varda: It's always delightful to get together with Valarites here!
[5:03 PM]Arien Valar: Thanks a lot for such a great topic 😄 have great day, evening and week all !
[5:03 PM]Sandalf13: Namarie!!!
[5:03 PM]Varda: Namarie!
[5:04 PM]Arien Valar: Namarie!
[5:04 PM]Cenedra: Namarie
[5:06 PM]Treebeard: Happy Easter 🙂 Namarie
[5:10 PM]Eönwë Valar: Heya.
[5:17 PM]Varda: Aiya Eonwe. : )
[5:17 PM]Varda: Happy Easter!
[5:25 PM]Eönwë Valar: Happy Easter :}
[5:25 PM]Eönwë Valar: Sorry I missed the meeting.
[6:58 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya, happy easter, reading up!
[7:00 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Another weather-based power issue? Eek, sounds like your area of Texas is really prone to horrible weather. Either that, or your electricity redundancy needs work 😄
[7:05 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For WoW news, I'll add World of Warcraft Forums: Patch 12.0.9 “Nine Minutes After Midnight” (working title) April 1, 2026 Production notes This patch is going to be a real crowd-pleaser when we reveal it via a series of elaborate videos. Please do not forward this document to anyone, so that we can avoid leaks and everyone can continue doing great work. Remember what ...
[7:05 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Some interesting stuff in there!
[7:16 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hmm, seems like amdir is closer to a sort of optimistic expectation rather than the more desperate hope of when you would otherwise have no reason to hope.
[7:18 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: "Hope is what you have when all other things have failed you"
[7:18 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: "Where there is hope, you make room for healing, for all things that are possible... and some that are not. "
[7:18 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Is that a third kind of hope? One based on neither foresight/faith nor on extrapolation from experience?
[7:19 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Well, I know it's a few hours late, but if people have anything to comment on that, feel free 🙂
[7:44 PM]Sandalf13: Wenn alle die Hoffe verloren ist, muss man hofft, dass alle die Hoffe nicht verloren ist.
[10:24 PM]Varda: Hope keeps you going. : )
[10:24 PM]Varda: and helps you sleep, which I am about to do!
[10:24 PM]Varda: Namarie!
[April 6, 2026
[4:51 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Personal gaming report:
[4:54 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For (non)flashgaming, here's Puzlogic Plus
[4:55 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I'm sure I've linked it and its predecessor puzlogic before, but it's a fun logic puzzle game and it came up again this week 🙂
[4:56 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: You have a grid in a certain shape, partially filled with numbers. Like a sudoku, you have to place the numbers on the side in the grid in a way that you don't get duplicates in a row or column.
[4:57 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: But there's also math involved, since you'll get hints that give totals along a line, for blue numbers, white numbers, or all numbers (including the pre-placed). And eventually entire groups get totals as well.
[4:58 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So you need to math and logic your way one square at a time! No guessing needed, it can all be done with logic.
[4:59 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And if you do all the levels without hints or the mistakes indicator enabled, you get stars for that!
[4:59 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: With a bonus ending level if you get all the stars.
[5:01 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Blizzard gaming:
[5:05 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hearthstone:
[Level 50 on the reward track. That came with a free random legendary reward from the new expansion, in my case Nozdormu, Bronze Aspect. That makes it my third Nozdormu card. Bronze dragons really can be in different places at once, though the other aspects have a bit of a habit of that as well.
[5:07 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: More free cards this week, a few random signature cards. Always nice to look at.
[5:08 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And completed the quest event, fending off Deathwing's first attack with the help of the aspects! Got the Dragonscarred Thrall Hero skin for shaman as a final reward, along with lots of card packs.
[5:10 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I really should start opening those again, but having nearly 400 packs does look impressive and a bit intimidating 😛
[5:11 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Anyway, got the april card back, Wyrmrest, along the way.
[5:12 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For WoW-players, this was the place where the raid to take down Deathwing started, with the other Aspects and Thrall helping us out (and ultimately stealing the kill). So it fits!
[5:14 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Brawl for this week is "A Totally Normal Game of Hearthstone?" Which kinda has april fools vibes to it, because while you make a normal deck, playing a card can have wild random effects, like summoning any minion or casting any spell at any target, with no regard for the cost like more regular brawls of this type.
[5:15 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So you can either build a functional deck and hope for the best, or go like me and focus on cheaper cards so you can generate more random effects since those usually turn out positive 🙂
[5:15 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Even so, still luck needed!
[5:17 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Warcraft Rumble: No new collection level. Not for lack of stars, since I got a bunch of new minis to what's needed for epic, I'm just lacking cores. The queue grows.
[5:18 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Continued the heroic sigil campaign, defeating Rend Blackhand with the remaining families, and putting me at 154 sigils.
[5:19 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Next up is heroic Drakkisath, and he's a pain, since his minis have elemental resistance now, taking less damage from elemental damage and spell damage, as well as the furnaces on the ground that can be enabled. He also has some seriously heavy minis coming out at a timed pace rather than needing gold.
[5:20 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Took a few tries, failed, then I looked up strategies, and it turns out that because of the molten giants, it's another one that is made easier with banshees. So I dropped a banshee in my alliance army and won! I'm sure it'll work for the other families too.
[5:22 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: The Lich King event is almost over. I got all the challenges done except one more daily login, spending actual money, and defeating the Lich King in harder maps, but between a few strategically bought tomes that came with 500 tickets, I only need the login to get all the remaining rewards on the reward track. That'll be a bit of gold, 10 more stars of Arthas himself - maxing him out for sure - and a bunch of arc energy. That'll come in handy as we promote more minis!
[5:24 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: In fact, maybe I could have saved myself a small bit of gold since 5 of those stars for Arthas are redundant and therefore I shouldn't need the 1500 tickets. But stars in the grid for an already maxed mini give arc energy, so maybe this one will too? Good time to find out!
[5:28 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: April login reward track has started! Lots more goodies to come, ending with a new epic skin for Blackhand. Really tough to see what it's going to look like. It looks like some sort of helmet on his face icon, but other than that, no idea.
[5:28 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Someone (on Reddit) zoomed in on the picture at the bottom of the track.
[5:29 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Not sure that makes it better though 😄
[5:29 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Guess we gotta wait for the end of the month!
[5:30 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Pvp season has also started again, so that's yet another reward track on its way 🙂 For my rank at the end of the previous season I also got some rewards, including 2 rare cores, making enough to get an epic core, for the first mini in the queue, moonkin.
[5:31 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Got final talent too after getting it to epic.
[5:32 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For the other quality upgrades, here's the list of minis that made it to 25 stars and into the epic queue this week:
[5:33 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Priestess, Whelp Eggs, Gryphon Rider, Ancient of War, the leader Tirion Fordring (about time, he was the first leader I got, as well as promoted), Smoke Bomb, Cheat Death, the leader Hogger, and the Headless Horseman.
[5:33 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: About a dozen minis remain.
[5:34 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: WoW:
[5:35 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: No raiding for me yet. Still level 84. Have been really tired, a bit ill, as well as some easter-related stuff with family, and mostly did my daily routines in smaller games.
[5:36 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Well, and in WoW, since I did go for the daily decor hunts. And I will be looking at noblegarden as well for any new things.
[5:40 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: The only story progress I've made was finding Halazzi, the second loa in Zul'aman (very huggable lynx kitty!) and doing most of the work to resurrect Jan'alai, the dragonhawk loa. Hopefully next week will be better!
[5:40 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Is that really everything I've done? Hmm, can't think of anything else...
[5:40 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Welp, that's my report for the week then!
[5:40 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie!
