Writing Elven-songs for Dummies.

[scottishclaymore]

I am running a long-term Darkening of Mirkwood campaign (53 sessions and counting, and we are about 12 years in), using the published book as an outline and then supplementing a good deal of original material as I have seen fit. One of the things I have done, as an inducement to encourage the players to spend treasure and fellowship phases raising their standing is to write a funerary lament for any of my players who manage to achieve sufficient standing within their community to be mourned by important NPC's or patrons (obviously this can also be done by serving a patron well or forming a romantic attachment with an NPC; both have happened in my campaign).

I am a poet and I have made considerable study of the verse forms Tolkien uses for different cultures. What I have tried to do is to write each lament in a meter which would be appropriate for the player character's culture (or the culture of the patron who commissioned the piece) based on what we see in Tolkien's writings.

Again, I do not do this for every Player Character, just those who would have cause to be mourned by the NPC's. For less "important" player characters, they have the option of being mourned by the company (we always hold a wake after character deaths, of which there have been four now, and on one occasion Lumeryn, our elf, wrote death songs for her fallen friends), or the company can commission a poet to write a song in honor of their fallen friend (in which case I will compose something appropriate). Each song, as I have said, is written in the meter that Tolkien uses for the given culture, or as closely as I can approximate it based on his works and historical analogues.

Each song is written first, and then a tune is either composed or borrowed. I write these well in advance and update them every so often so that in the event of an unexpected death, I can pull it out as an epilogue to the adventure and give the player some closure. Lumeryn, the party's wood elf, recently fell in battle defending the Black Tarn at the end of her 49th session of play. I actually had three laments ready to go for her, because at one point it was debatable whether she would die in battle, sail away West, or become a fell wraith thanks to the Morgul wound she took during "Murder at Lake-town." As it was she died heroically, and I was able to tuck the other two laments away. Perhaps I will eventually repurpose them for some other character.

Here, then, is the Lament of Lumeryn. I am happy to say there was a good deal of crying at the table by the end of the night.

The Lament of Lumeryn

Lumeryn was an elf-maiden, under the spreading trees.
She sang a song of elven-home beyond the final sea,
She sang of silver blossoming, of golden flowers bright,
She sang of the light of Valinor ere ever fell the night.

Lumeryn was an elf-maiden, under Mirkwood's shade
She made her home 'neath spreading oaks and silver beech-wood glades.
She mighty waxed in song and lore and happy were her years
Until the grasping Shadow brought a darkness and a fear.

Aside the harp Lumeryn set, and for it took a bow,
To sing the songs of battle, loss, great sorrow and great woe.
She traveled down to Anduin and battled with her song--
And there beneath the murky mere endured the darkness long.

She sang a song of elven-home, of Elbereth the bright,
Mere maiden's words fell cold like stone, to chill the heart of wight.
But the elven songs were stronger songs, and the shadow passed away.
But across the vale of Anduin there dawned a darker day.

Lumeryn walked through shadowed vales and many caverns wide.
A star was in her shining hand, a light was in her eyes.
But twilight dimmed that burning star, it faded in the night,
Lumeryn heard the shadow's call and fell before its might.

But fallen long she could not lay who elven-wise had been,
And ere it fell she conquered night, and lies beyond its ken.
A bright green mound above her lies, no shadow crowns its head.
And the wind whispers to the silver beech that Lumeryn, she is dead.

Lumeryn was an elf-maiden, under the spreading trees.
She sang a song of elven-home beyond the final sea,
She sang of silver blossoming, of golden flowers bright,
She sang of the light of Valinor ere ever fell the night.

[Majestic]

Just wanted to say that these are all amazing. Great work, everyone!

[Dunkelbrink]

This is great, would love to see more of these (maybe your other hero laments, scottishclaymore)! Just got inspiration to write a short lament of my own for a Woodman in our group doomed to die soon (it's in Swedish though so I won't publish it here).