I feel like I have seen this addressed before, but I can't find the thread so here we go again.

Reading Tales of the Wilderland right now. And something struck me. I have always interpreted blighted land to be specific areas. But Don't Lave the Path says that the whole Elf Path is blighted. If that's the safest place in the forest, then wouldn't that make the whole of Mirkwood blighted? According to the book, the only advantage to using the path is an easier roll for corruption. One of the reasons I ask is I had some NPC's planned that made there home in the Wild. I am also curious how people interpret this.

I certainly wouldn't class Mirkwood as being Blighted all over nor would I agree that all of the Elf Path is either.

Warning: Yep, it's a long one.

Renaming a major terrain feature and having it stick across multiple cultures (particularly among the Elves who loathe change) means that when "Greenwood the Great" was changed to "Mirkwood" there must have been vast and substantial changes in appearance and perception of the area.

As the Elves were "spooked" out of their capital of Amon Lanc (Dol Guldur) without recognizing it as enemy action or something they could fight, whatever occurred had to be be very subtle. An infestation of spiders or goblins (orcs) - the two known infestations to the area per conversation with Beorn - would not be sufficient. I would also postulate they were later additions, guardians of evil intent that secured portions of the forest after the Elves had already abandoned the area. Greater evil would follow, securing Amon Lanc and beginning its transformation to Dol Guldur. Eventually Sauron in the guise of the Necromancer would inhabit the site.

Sauron may very well be the primary impetus of change. Imagine him just prior to his return to mortal form. There is some indication that as spirits the Ainur were formless, so their neutral (not consciously controlled) form might be an amorphous cloud. In the PJ LotR movie, when Isildur successfully strikes, Sauron implodes/explodes into a smokey form. If something like this was what Tolkien had in mind happening to Sauron then the reverse process might be how Sauron returned to Middle-earth.

Sauron may have existed since the Battle of Dagorlad, but as a cloud spread too thin to retain consciousness. As a globe-spanning creature he might not be noticed by anyone. (How often do we notice "X parts per billion" substances in the real world?) Leading up to his return, Sauron would have to contract, to pull inward bits of himself and try to take form. Keep in mind that he invested most of his power within the Ruling Ring so he's effectively crippled while trying to reform. Sauron may well have chosen a random point as his center and pulled inward for years. In the process, the center would become more and more familiar and comfortable to him.

Now, Tolkien has already indicated that within Middle-earth the material world cannot be affected by the spirit world without Eru's permission. Yet it might be possible that a spirit could affect other spirits. So as Sauron is coalescing, his evil spirit is slowly warping everything he comes into contact.

So the vital, life-affirming spirit of Greenwood the Great is suppressed by the nebulous presence of Sauron. The Elves would have felt this but it would have been a general sense of unease. Just before Sauron re-forms, his presence might actually be visible to them as a kind of dark, obscuring fog. An ever increasing blurriness that made it harder and harder for them to speak to their surroundings. Meanwhile, like radiation poisoning, the life of Greenwood started to change as a reflection of it's warped spirit. Mutated life forms appear, living or dead, sporadically and at random, as plant and animal life is tainted by Sauron's evil presence. As it progresses, maybe good creatures become desperate to survive and become more vicious than normal. Sentients become wary and move away, for safer areas. Evil begets evil though, so as Good withdraws, it leaves a vacuum to be filled by incoming evil, which are not called per se, but simply find that "a step to the left" feels more comfortable than a step in any other direction. Step by step these things find their way into Mirkwood.

By the T.A. 2946, the beginning of the TOR campaign, yes, Mirkwood is a blighted place. Evil pervades it in many places, shapes, forms and types. However the forest has not been wholly subjugated (ie, like Mordor); Greenwood's vital spirit still exists and limits further predation. Not as a conscious form, but as simple natural processes. Assume that 65% of Mirkwood is technically defined as blighted. The problem is it isn't one finite area. It is a gallows-vine here, a malignant pond there, a nest of poisonous snakes, a cliff-side ready to smother unwary travelers, etc. Little bits and pieces spread all through the entirety of the woods. Not a sharp-edged area (with the exception of the environs of Dol Guldur, but even then it is gradient, a progression into ever greater darkness).

Personally, I would say that the Elven Path itself is not blighted. However the line of demarcation between being "on the Path" and being "in Mirkwood" is much sought after predatory ground.

Ungolliant, perpetually ravenous, ate life and light out of any form and spewed darkness and unlight at will. It does not appear that her offspring retain those abilities although they do seem to suffer a portion of her hunger. Just like other corporeal Maia, each successive generation of spiders is more present within, and must conform to, the material world. So there are now thousands of hungry spiders within Mirkwood, preying on the creatures inside who are becoming ever more rare. The spiders can no longer consume light and life, nor is all life fodder for their hunger. Like other mortal creatures they require prey within the material world, nutrients found only within other mortal creatures. And those nutrients are being rapidly depleted.

The Elven Path would be a temptation that the spiders cannot withstand. Just as moths cannot withstand the allure of the light given off by flames. The Elven Path represents a vastly delectable meal that, if the spiders are very lucky, might be had if the prey is ever so foolish as to wander. They just need to cross that line of demarcation.

Thus the Elven Path is not, in and of itself, blighted. But one atom's distance outside of that enchanted path there is a ravenous horde waiting to pounce. Remember Bilbo mentions there are eyes in the darkness as they travel the path so this is not a wild guess.

I like that. And it makes sense to me. Ties in with how I was interpreting it for the game. Blighted areas are specific s, not whole regions. But you can still be effected by corruption just by being near. So yes, all of Mirkwood requires a periodic corruption test. The question is more, how often, and how difficult. Once a week at TN 12 is certainly not as oppressive as once a day at TN16.

Though I never thought of Sauron as reforming spread over a great area. Like he was made of particulate matter. Rather that he was a weakened spirit, unable to effect the real world in any way until he amassed enough power. Though I kinda like your interpretation. Especially the idea of Mirkwood being ground zero for his...reformation.

Will be giving it a try tonight. Here hoping for a decent turn out.

Glad you like the proposed idea. I had been working on a Pre- and Early Necromancer article (for lack of a better term) which got lost in a hard drive crash. I've mentioned several bits and pieces of it through these forums at different times, although a few aspects have gone unvoiced. Mainly because I hadn't done any research - just conjecture.

Most of the formless nature of Sauron was a result of Morgoth's impending return (see Tolkien Gateway: Dagor Dagorath) at the end of time. Basically I tried to think of a way that a creature banished to the Void (nowhere and nothing and no place) could return. Hibernation and the fact that matter cannot be created or destroyed - but it can change state - got me to thinking that perhaps you could smear a being across so large an area, you render them almost, but not quite, comatose. Reducing the functioning of the creature such that the tiniest, simplest action could take decades or centuries to complete. With this in mind the rest of the idea as outlined in my previous message is a more obvious conclusion.

Not sure if this meets the requirements for spirits or if I've got a flaw, but it seemed to fit most of the rules others have mentioned for fëa that I could remember.

But I should clarify it is complete conjecture on my part. No proof or indication this is what Tolkien intended. Just took some legitimate Tolkien canon and applied it as I needed.

I think this is the key thing you need to decide, definitely. Its great following Tolkien's theories, and what Garn posted is excellent, but you also need to keep the game playable. Francesco changed the rules on Blighted Places as the RAW was restrictive and extremely limiting so (assuming it wasn't all a book misprint that required alteration) you can infer that right up until release his thoughts on the matter were also fluid.

EDIT: Also, from 2946 to 2951 you may want to go with a reduced difficulty so that you can ramp it up when Sauron declares in Mordor and the shadow returns to Mirkwood as it'd be nice to hold back so that you can bring in a mechanical impact at that point in time.