Tricia walked 20 miles this week | 1330 miles to Mordor
Rachel walked 30 miles this week | 1315 miles to Mordor

Walking Across Middle-Earth

Week 18: I Made it to Rivendell!

This post is a little late. I got to Rivendell in mid-August, just in time to daydream about how I could incorporate Emerald City Comic Con into my celebration. Rachel had reached Rivendell in early July (she flies!) and we spent the majority of our ECCC experience wandering the Exhibitors and Artists Alley for the perfect LotR merch.

There were a lot of great options, and I ended up choosing a watercolour triptych with scenes from each movie in the trilogy balanced on a sword. Rachel got a bottle opener shaped like the shards of Narsil. Why the sword theme? Well, it’s in Rivendell that Bilbo gives Sting to Frodo, and in the books, Aragorn leaves the elven city equipped with Narsil’s shards reforged. Initially, Rachel wanted to get an actual sword, but ECCC only sold foam swords (probably smart), and in the end a real sword felt more like an End of the Journey reward.

We also ran into the Eye of Sauron at ECCC. We saw her from afar twice, and when we passed near her a third time, we knew we had to ask for a photo. As we thanked her and turned away, she said, “I have something for you,” and handed us each a plastic gold ring. “Don’t worry if you experience any side effects.”

AMAZING.

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