Dragontide in the Tale of Years

[jamesrbrown]

Is the first Dragontide in Lake-town intended to take place in 2946, the same year that The Gathering of Five Armies takes place in Dale?

[Hermes Serpent]

All the material I've seen implies that the Dragontide celebrations are in early November and the Gathering of the Five Armies fifth anniversary celebrations at the end of the month in the same year, T.A. 2946 with some sort of planning meeting about six months earlier. I don't know if Dragontide is supposed to be an annual event that has run for several years prior to T.A. 2946 though or if the one in that year is the first.

[jamesrbrown]

The Tale of Years found in Appendix B of The Return of the King records that Bard rebuilds Dale in 2944. That leaves 2 more years before the city is ready for the Gathering of the Five Armies. I guess it can be safely assumed that Esgaroth also takes 3-4 years to rebuild. Maybe the earliest Dragontide could possibly start is 2945, unless it began as a festival on the shores in earlier years? Beginning in 2946 makes great sense.

Dragontide takes place November 1-3. The Shire Calendar would make that a Monday-Wednesday, or the middle of the week (since Saturday was always the beginning of the week, corresponding more nearly to our Mondays). Thursday and Friday would be like our week-end with Friday being the high day with evening feasts.

It would be safe to assume then, that the first whole week of November in Esgaroth was like an RPG convention! Lot's of preparation, setup, festivities, entertainment, food, drinks, games, commerce, and of course...cleanup.

Let's see: Dragontide. Dragonmeet. Dragontide. Dragonmeet. Close enough. I propose that C7 add 'The Day of the Black Arrow' to the lineup of festivities this December. The winner would get a replica of Bard's black arrow as a trophy. Think about it; it could become a yearly RPG Tournament.

[Hermes Serpent]

I'm going to be running a game again for Dragonmeet, last year it was Laundry but I said to Cat that it could well be One Ring this year as the next Hobbit film is due out in London the week after the show.

So you write a Day of the Black Arrow con scenario and I'll run it

[Otaku-sempai]

The observance of Dragontide could well have begun as early as T.A. 2942 if we assume that it did not become a full-blown festival until after the completion of the rebuilding of Esgaroth. The first Dragontide might have been no more than a candlelight vigil on the shore of Long Lake.

[Hermes Serpent]

A candlelight vigil hardly gives the feeling of a sense of optimism now the dragon is dead though does it. I could understand a beach party with kegs and a large bonfire with roasting meat as being a proper celebration of the end of the terror from the skies.