October 25, 2026
5:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time
Discord: Valar Guild/meeting_place
[4:00 PM]Varda: Aiya : )
[4:01 PM]Varda: @Bounder @Guild-friend @Maia @Vala Yay! It's time for the Valar Guild meeting! Chat about gaming, Tolkien, and just say hi to old and new friends.
[4:02 PM]Varda: Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
[4:02 PM]Falco: Aiya
[4:02 PM]Earendil: Aiya folks!
[4:03 PM]Varda: Aiya Falco and Earendil : )
[4:03 PM]Varda: Membership:
[4:03 PM]Varda: Great to see you here!
[4:03 PM]Varda: Any membership news we want to pass along?
[4:04 PM]Varda: The current temp here is 81°F. : )
[4:04 PM]Falco: I got another 160
[4:04 PM]Varda: ooh! Ljshadow?
[4:04 PM]Earendil: Degrees!?
[4:04 PM]Falco: + Nerstir
[4:04 PM]Earendil: (Just kidding)
[4:05 PM]Earendil: 😆
[4:05 PM]Falco: lol
[4:05 PM]Varda: To make the degree sign, use the number pad (turn it on), Alt 0176
[4:05 PM]Varda: Thanks, Falco. Must check on that update. Very well done!
[4:05 PM]Varda: I should maybe game...
[4:05 PM]Varda: Not now, noo no. eyes the gaming buttons
[4:06 PM]Varda: Web:
[4:06 PM]Varda: Nothing new. Guess folks are worn out from Anniversary stuff or still working on it. : )
[4:06 PM]Varda: I know Earendil has been studying Tolkien! Caught him at it.
[4:06 PM]Varda: Gaming:
[4:07 PM]Varda: That's something we all love too, gaming. Doing it can be tougher.
[4:07 PM]Varda: Anyway, on to Gaming news. Falco has another top level character in LotRO. Huzzah!
[4:08 PM]Varda: Eonwe and Pallando are away at the moment, so we can quote Eonwe, And add our own comments.
[4:09 PM]Varda: Feel free to add in a mention of other games you play.
[4:10 PM]Varda: Since Eonwe plays WoW and is pretty much the sole person holding our WoW branches up, the news tends to skew to WoW. Plus WoW types a lot of news online!
[4:10 PM]Varda: World of Warcraft:
[4:10 PM]Varda: (and they give nifty pictures)
[4:10 PM]Varda: This week's bonus event: Delves and Battlegrounds.
[4:10 PM]Varda: This week's PvP Brawl: Deepwind Dunk.
[4:10 PM]Varda: Hallow's End runs until November 2nd. There's new achievements and housing decor, so don't miss them.
[4:11 PM]Varda: (Aside, Eonwe will take reports from the membership about announcements for their games.)
[4:11 PM]Varda: (and reviews!)
[4:11 PM]Varda: A new motion comic is out: "Singularity".
[4:12 PM]Varda: The Gods of Zul Aman is live in Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary.
[4:12 PM]Treebeard: Hello 🙂
[4:12 PM]Varda: Fangorn! Aiya!
[4:12 PM]Varda: There's an End of Beta Special on the WoW: Forever podcast.
[4:13 PM]Varda: Several new blogs are also out for WoW:Forever:
[4:13 PM]Varda: Choose Your Ruleset in World of Warcraft: Forever
[4:14 PM]Varda: Gather Around the Campfire in World of Warcraft: Forever
[4:14 PM]Varda: Claim Your World of Warcraft: Forever Character Names
[4:15 PM]Varda: World of Warcraft: Forever Raid Overview—Locations, Raid Sizes, and Attunement
[4:15 PM]Varda: (Here's hoping you guys are thinking up Tolkien topics meanwhile.)
[4:16 PM]Varda: Explore the New Dungeons of World of Warcraft: Forever
[4:16 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya All! I Was here earlier, but sent a note to Varda instead. Have to leave early to attend ab 80th birthday party for a friend.
[4:16 PM]Earendil: Well that's an awesome celebration!
[4:16 PM]Varda: Aiya! And happy 80th, truly excellent!
[4:17 PM]Arwen: 80 is a lot of birthdays 😄
[4:17 PM]Treebeard: Congrats on your friend's 80th birthday. And welcome back 🙂
[4:17 PM]Varda: Arwen, aiya!
[4:17 PM]Treebeard: Hello Arwen 🙂
[4:17 PM]Arwen: aiya !
[4:18 PM]Earendil: My god, the candles...aiya Arwen!
[4:18 PM]Earendil: 80....
[4:18 PM]Earendil: 😆
[4:18 PM]Varda: Check out this week's hotfixes.
[4:18 PM]Treebeard: Yep, candle melt down, wax icing, etc 🙂
[4:18 PM]Varda: How does one tell the icing from the wax? Ohh, why bother. ; )
[4:19 PM]Varda: Number candles can help out there.
[4:19 PM]Treebeard: ,,, peels the hard layer from the top of the cake and licks it...
[4:19 PM]Varda: hah! 🙂
[4:20 PM]Sandalf13: I hope Sherri has enough breath to blow out 80 candles!!! heh heh
[4:20 PM]Varda: Soo, the present is a Japanese fan.
[4:20 PM]Varda: Snowblower?
[4:21 PM]Earendil: I'm sure that varda hears me laughing from here..
[4:21 PM]Treebeard: ...I would run an air hose/nozzel from the garage air compressor and hedge a little 🙂
[4:21 PM]Varda: I did. 😉
[4:21 PM]Varda: Fangorn, o man. I can see you doing that!
[4:22 PM]Treebeard: Elevensies...did Bilbo have candles on his cake?
[4:23 PM]Varda: A table-length flat cake, maybe.
[4:23 PM]Varda: struggles to complete report, writing with icing
[4:23 PM]Varda: Diablo 4:
[4:23 PM]Treebeard: sweet
[4:23 PM]Varda: Patch 3.3.0 is coming to the PTR
[4:24 PM]Varda: Diablo Immortal:
[4:24 PM]Varda: A Hallow's Wake is going.
[4:25 PM]Varda: (Lots of Halloween fun going on in our games! Be on the lookout!)
[4:25 PM]Varda: Overwatch:
[4:25 PM]Varda: This week's Weekly Recall: Double The Doki.
[4:26 PM]Varda: Hearthstone:
[4:26 PM]Falco: Is that a Short O or Long OO for Doki
[4:26 PM]Varda: Reign of the Black Empire is live.
[4:27 PM]Varda: Hmm, for all I know it could be "ducky".
[4:27 PM]Earendil: Long if it's Japanese pronunciation, like 'do-oh-ki'
[4:27 PM]Varda: Thanks : )
[4:27 PM]Falco: Not the American DooKi
[4:28 PM]Cenedra: Heya, made it in
[4:28 PM]Varda: Aiya Eowyn!
[4:28 PM]Treebeard: Welcome, Cenedra 🙂
[4:28 PM]Arwen: Aiya 😄
[4:29 PM]Earendil: Thus ends my limited understanding of Asian pronou...yeah like think roll that second o sound a little. I'm the opposite of a polyglot but I've tried learning Japanese before.
[4:29 PM]Sandalf13: Aiya Cenedra!
[4:29 PM]Cenedra: Aiya!
[4:29 PM]Earendil: Aiya cenedra!
[4:29 PM]Varda: StarCraft 2:
[4:30 PM]Varda: Seen in-game: Eowyn aka Cenedra, Fangorn, Faramir, and Varda.
[4:30 PM]Varda: Lord of the Rings Online:
[4:30 PM]Varda: Code for free 6-hourTome of Defence until Oct 29: SHIELDAGAINSTDARKNESS
[4:30 PM]Varda: That's a nice item to have!
[4:31 PM]Varda: Valarites that showed up in our LotRO kin branches this past week:
Peregrin branch:
Glamdring branch:
Meriadoc EU branch:
Angmar branch:
Mordor branch:
[4:31 PM]Varda: That's my report.
[4:31 PM]Varda: Any other fun stuff to bring up?
[4:32 PM]Earendil: As game news?
[4:32 PM]Varda: Gaming, membership
[4:32 PM]Varda: Yes
[4:32 PM]Varda: Then we switch to Tolkien
[4:33 PM]Earendil: If anyone is curious, fallout 4 released a halloween free dlc with the original voice actors...
[4:33 PM]Varda: How neat! And yes, stuff like that.
[4:33 PM]Varda: Mass Effect shut-down.
[4:33 PM]Varda: or news like that.
[4:34 PM]Varda: (although it's less fun)
[4:34 PM]Earendil: It's setup to play as a poignant story where you are seemingly saved by the ghost of a loved one for halloween, and concludes with an awesome soliliquy about resilience.
[4:35 PM]Earendil: (I cheated and heard the speech, it's actually awesome. )
[4:35 PM]Varda: heh
[4:35 PM]Varda: Thank you for the intriguing info!
[4:35 PM]Varda: On to...
[4:35 PM]Varda: Tolkien!
[4:36 PM]Varda: I wonder if Earendil has a comment to make about.. trolls?
[4:36 PM]Varda: We have a lot of peculiar beings that one has to wonder where came from.
[4:37 PM]Varda: Like left-over from early Tolkien musings before settling down into his folklore/myth set-up. Made for England that lacked such a thing of its own.
[4:37 PM]Earendil: Ah yes, I've been doing some very interesting reading about whence they've come and they do seem to have a bit of a surprising lineage.
[4:37 PM]Varda: Covered sneakily under "nameless things"
[4:38 PM]Varda: I wonder who kept track of the lineage? Sauron?
[4:39 PM]Earendil: So far, I've followed this trail all the way to 1930 and found surprising evidence Tolkien himself always thought that Trolls were part of something larger, placing them almost adjacent to Ungoliant in address in the legendarium.
[4:40 PM]Earendil: Or Canon as it were ( legendarium sounds grander)
[4:41 PM]Earendil: Sauron, morgoth, multiple drafts and unfinished plans. They may be dull as rocks but why they are at all gets interesting. Oddness, not address. Auto correct is killing me today.
[4:43 PM]Varda: Amazing to type all this on a phone. : )
[4:44 PM]Varda: Seemed as if trolls might have come from human stock early on. That's interesting that they may have been pulled in from outside.
[4:45 PM]Varda: Somehow they came up with black blood that was acidic enough to melt Hurin's axe.
[4:45 PM]Earendil: I've been slightly sidetracked in my reading by a disagreeable starter on my van but this unexpected turn started with discovering that Tolkien himself had commented of the source of these creatures, he believed he needed (I know it's killer sometimes on this thing!) "Great concentration and leisure" to really do his thoughts on them justice. As a tease, however, if you didn't know...Sauron did not create them, or even fully achieve his own goals, but included orcs, men, and at one point even the petty dwarves along side them in origin.
[4:46 PM]Varda: (auto-incorrect, possible secondary name)
[4:46 PM]Earendil: Please god stop being funny guys, my sides are killing me.
[4:47 PM]Varda: They did seem alive, which suggests they were corrupted from something or someone alive, as only Eru could create true life.
[4:48 PM]Varda: I'm thinking of Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs. pardon. He had that bad blood.
[4:49 PM]Earendil: Mm-hm, and there's so much more. The period of writing and drafting around them goes way back in the foundation of middle earth's history and I'm still not out of references in the shaping of middle earth.
[4:49 PM]Varda: ./duck At least I try to correct my errors to keep others from repeating the mistakes. : )
[4:49 PM]Varda: O good! piles up some more books for you
[4:50 PM]Earendil: (....actually yeah I'm going to wind up comparing a lot of text, so books a million!)
[4:51 PM]Varda: I wonder if balrogs were a source in a small way for the black blood we read about in a number of the corrupted beings?
[4:51 PM]Varda: Pardon the interruptions. Interesting topic.
[4:51 PM]Earendil: Experimentally if nothing else, it's possible.
[4:52 PM]Earendil: Endlessly interesting yes.
[4:54 PM]Earendil: While I haven't completed my reading, it did prompt me to wonder, do you guys remember 2 weeks ago I think it was, we talked about how Ungoliant stood out from other creatures for conflicting directly with Morgoth (once upon a silmaril) but also not serving manwe or Iluvitar?
[4:56 PM]Earendil: (Nah it's alright, I'll run on if you don't slap the ol' record player from time to time)
[4:57 PM]Earendil: At any rate, I think Tolkien meant far more, possibly entire Canon additions around other corrupted spirits and beasts.
[4:57 PM]Varda: There were powerful Maiar that were attracted to Morgoth's power and rebelliousness, but not necessarily interested in taking orders very well.
[4:58 PM]Varda: Sauron figured out ways to use them, set them up in locations that made them useful guardians.
[4:58 PM]Varda: Shelob for one.
[4:59 PM]Earendil: Yep, but that's where I'm at for now. Don't worry I'll be obsessively thorough and have references by next meeting guys.
[4:59 PM]Varda: Dragons may have helped "contain" the elves, as the dragons in the mountains north of Mirkwood.
[5:00 PM]Earendil: (OH, and if anyone has ideas where I might find more clues don't be shy in posting them please!
[5:00 PM]Earendil: )
[5:00 PM]Varda: Smaug was intended to block that passage at the Lonely Mountain as a handy entry point of attack for the evil forces.
[5:01 PM]Arien Valar: Quick aiya from an esrly to rise sun
[5:01 PM]Varda: And it's the hour. Please feel free to continue in After-meeting, and chat between meetings.
[5:01 PM]Varda: Aiya Sunshine! And namarie. Thanks for coming out today!
[5:02 PM]Arien Valar: Namatie and forgot abut the us hour ...
[5:02 PM]Arien Valar: Nothing new thete
[5:02 PM]Varda: Sneaky Valar of Time. :)
[5:03 PM]Varda: I do try to put out a look out message at the start, but it doesn't show up everywhere. (and I don't always remember to do the "at" message :) )
[5:03 PM]Varda: hammerpad is disguising itself as a clock
[5:03 PM]Varda: bonnnng!
5:04 PM]Varda: After-meeting!
[5:04 PM]Varda: Free chat!
[5:04 PM]Varda: even about Tolkien. ; )
[5:04 PM]Varda: gavels are still vibrating
[5:04 PM]Earendil: Man that guy held information in his mind like a fictional Sherlock Holmes!
[5:04 PM]Arien Valar: Nai nai ...
[5:05 PM]Treebeard: Good night all and namarie ! 🙂
[5:05 PM]Varda: This is true. Must have been murder trying to find his notes. Some written on the back of envelopes during the paper shortage.
[5:05 PM]Varda: Namarie!
[5:05 PM]Cenedra: Namarie!
[@Arien: "Nai nai..."]
[5:06 PM]Earendil: Namarie!
[5:09 PM]Earendil: I thought when I'd read from his son that he would find notes or sample text written on scrap paper tucked in random seeming books I appreciate the maestros mind, but researching this I've realized when Chris T. mentioned his dad going back and meticulously editing these notes on the same paper that TOLKIEN HAD DEVISED A WAY TO KEEP ALMOST ALL OF THAT INFORMATION IN MIND AND READY AS NEEDED...FOR LITERALLY DECADES OF IDEAS! It's remarkable.
[5:10 PM]Earendil: (Probably meaning none of it was randomly stored at all as well by the way. He co-opted the Dewey decimal system to assist his memory!)
[5:11 PM]Varda: Not-really-random storage!
[5:11 PM]Varda: I would love to know his system. : )
[5:12 PM]Varda: Lack of room, thus enforced de-clutter into something he could dig into?
[5:13 PM]Earendil: Scary thought? His son was confounded by it, so he had no findable written key. This means as amazing as it is it might have been a complete after thought to him.
[5:13 PM]Varda: Straight memory.
[5:14 PM]Earendil: Also, using an established system as a key to an encoded additional layer of data is a military practice. He could have learned the practice as a soldier and it became a hobby or a habit.
[5:18 PM]Earendil: See why i loved starting this impromptu quest for knowledge? Sharp indeed is the mind that barely seems to know how uncommonly strong it is. Him casting the image of himself as the lowly mortal in love with an incarnate goddess of beauty (in beren and luthien's story) just goes to show how humble he was.
[5:19 PM]Earendil: I bet it frustrated his missus when he didn't seem to notice his own genius.
[5:19 PM]Earendil: Anyway guys, I'm off to ramble a bit and stretch this laughter stitch in my side out. Namarie!
[5:37 PM]Varda: Neat about the domestic stuff. : )
[5:37 PM]Varda: I'm going to game with the family now, heh.
[7:21 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Aiya, reading up.
[7:42 PM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I recall reading that trolls were a corruption of ents as orcs were of elves, but I can remember neither the source nor that source's place in the Timeline of Canoninity.
[October 26, 2026
[@Varda: "Since Eonwe plays WoW and is pretty much the sole person holding our WoW branches up, the news tends to skew to WoW. Plus W..."
[3:19 AM]Eönwë Valar: How much WoW gaming news is on the Games Site and given at the meeting has nothing to do with me playing WoW and everything to do with how much WoW news is put up over the week. It does skew towards Blizzard games in general and separately LotRO in particular because that's what most of us play. If anyone would like to provide gaming news beyond that (like Pallando does for Eve) they're welcome to.
[Note from Varda for the transcript: Fair and true comment from Eonwe. Thanks.]
[8:18 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Personal gaming report:
[8:23 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: For (non)flashgaming, something new this week. Matchless is something that pretends to be strategy and defense but really is just a match-3 and idle game 😄
[8:25 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: It starts with match-3, which gives you crystals and gold and experience. Use the crystals to upgrade the match-3 stuff, get levels to unlock new features, and gold for more permanent upgrades. Complete quests, collect gear, use this to upgrade your chess pieces fighting other chess pieces at the bottom to advance through stages.
[8:27 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: As you go on, there's also achievements, talents, masteries, events, and other rpg-like stuff for your chess pieces.
[8:28 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: So go as far as you like, and make things as complicated as you like. There should be even more stuff later on!
[8:28 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Or just match some tiles and watch your pieces beat up other pieces 🙂
[8:33 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Blizzard gaming:
[8:35 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hearthstone:
[New expansion is now fully underway, and I've gotten to level 17 on the reward track so far! Rewards have been a free legendary at the start, Archaedas, various golden cards, a random epic, a black empire card back, and a ton of card packs.
[8:35 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I've got 521 packs to open, and while I like to leave one of each type for the collection, I should probably resume opening packs... it's a bit daunting!
[8:37 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Anyway, completed the previous quest event, getting the Zek'voz priest skin, and a new one has opened up, Reign of the Black Empire, with a Ritual N'zoth skin for warlock at the end.
[8:38 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Journey is also continuing! Completed chapter 1 part 1, and started part 2. It does indeed seem that they come at one part a week, with 7 quests each, so one quest a day, though you can complete each part at any point in the week, or even later if you don't mind catching up.
[8:38 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Though you will have to wait for the next part after 7 days.
[8:39 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: I also got enough gold to buy a new shaman skin for 1000, Bulletstorm Al'akir, a cowboy version of our favorite windlord.
[8:41 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Two new darkmoon faires have opened up, one for Eye of the Empire bundle, and one for Y'shaarj with the center piece being a skin for both shaman and priest.
[8:41 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: The free stuff I got was Hungering Cavern and Entropic Rift signature cards.
[8:44 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And finally, the new brawl is, as usual at the start of an expansion, class recipes! Black Empire Recipe gives you the choice between classes, with each class having a deck filled around the new expansion, with specific mechanics for that class. I don't actually remember which class I took for my one win, but they should all work, and give a good preview of the expansion 🙂
[8:47 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Oh, I might start adding story progress from the journey here, for fun 🙂 Last week we were introduced to the Nya'lotha of the past by a hooded figure, presumably still Xal'atath, doing some merchant assignments for her, before she led us to the main city. This week there was some questing to get papers for the guard, accidentally getting the priestess killed who was supposed to give us the seal, only to find out all the guard wants is a bribe. So now we're in the city, dodging patrols!
[8:48 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Making better story progress in Hearthstone than in WoW, it's a bit silly actually1
[8:48 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Warcraft Rumble:
[No new upgrades alas. Did finish the October reward track, and preparing for the new pvp track about to begin.
[8:49 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hallow's End event is in full swing, and I'm almost done with all the challenges. I've also been buying cheap daily offers, so in a few days I should have enough to complete the track.
[8:50 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And considering the end of track rewards are not just the new cosmetic towers, but also some gold and a free legendary core, it's actually financially efficient as well!
[8:51 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: That said, among the daily offers was a legendary core which I bought, and I got a free one from the Molten Core raid that's back up this week. So that's 52 to go!
[8:55 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: WoW:
[8:56 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: More raiding, as we defeated Kith'ix on normal, followed by some heroic farming in the Abyss. Finally cleared adventurer's crests as well 🙂
[8:57 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Got my first Sszorak kill, with some new decor, and I won the Shadeweaver's Hearthstone toy from Kith'ix!
[8:59 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Hallow's End is going, and I've been fighting the Horseman daily, though no new mount yet. I did get the Horseman's Head decor.
[9:26 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Weekly quest is delves! I really should be working on that, but I'd prefer to have the Isle unlocked for that. I've now finally completed the first arc for that, letting Zul'jan get away with the Fang. Silly me, now we gotta go fight sneks invading Zul'aman!
[9:26 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: And that's my report for the week!
[9:27 AM]Ar-Pharazon-V: Namarie!
[4:50 PM]Varda: Thanks, Phar. 🙂