We lost "The Lord of the Ringers" in a server crash in late 2003. A few months afterward, Mithrigil emailed Michael Martinez expressing interest in continuing the story. That very day, Michael's personal hard drive died and all correspondence between Michael and Mithrigil ended there. We regret the incompleteness of the story, but hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless. Mithrigil, your contributions are missed.

This tale will grow in the telling, until it will become a history of ...well, we don't know of what, just yet. It was begun soon after the jubilant feelings over "Peter's Rings" wore off. But we did not immediately publish this sequel, mostly because I, Michael, was ill, although Mithrigil subsequently had a bad encounter with a baseball bat. And I wished first to get better, and to update as much of Xenite.Org as possible to carry banner rotation software as I could. Well, now we have the banner rotation software implemented (actually, now it's been replaced). I desired to do this out of greed and a dim hope for financial security and independence.

When the banner revenues started trickling in and I saw how pitiful they would be, dim hope became no hope, but what's done is done and there's no going back. Yet I couldn't sleep one morning and decided to return to Mithrigil's book. The story is drawn irresistably towards the older, far more renowned world of Tolkien, and is becoming an account, as it were, of whatever the heck Mithrigil decides to make it an account of. The process had begun in the exchange of a few emails, and Mithrigil sent me a funny little snippet in which there were already some references to the newer matter: Harvard, Dr. Grey, the Football Team, Professor Smygel, the Ring (or, maybe, the ring).

So I asked Mithrigil for more and I got it, but I had to wait a long time to put it up on the Web; for the maintenance of Xenite.Org while one is ill goes on and off at intervals, and I had many duties I have had to neglect, and some other interests as a surfer and Webmaster (and I do like to eat on occasion). The delay was, of course, also increased by my inability to comprehend the written word for a few brief days while my illness ran its course. By the end of the first week I had not yet read Chapter I. But I've read it now, and laughed out loud (as heartily as I may), and now I share it with the rest of you. (Editor's note: I wrote that so long ago now that Mithrigil insisted we needed a new introduction.)

I suppose everyone and their brother will find defects and flaws in this work. We are a nit-picky bunch and we're constantly looking for things to criticize. Well, I didn't write it so I don't have to listen to all the complaints. But I have one of my own: it is too short.

And here is where the Foreword is cut short, you see, because I can only parody so much of the real one before I run out of material. I won't go on about allegory and all that. If you see any allegory in this your vertigo must be worse than mine was.



A note on the language: There is some occasional light profanity. Nothing heavy or intense. Nonetheless, you are warned. These are not hobbits, after all, no matter how well versed in Ring lore some of them may be....
About the author

Mithrigil Galtirglin has been an avid and contributing member of the Tolkien Community for nearly all her life. Her age and true occupation are unknown, but she holds forth that the elves were never in league with Santa Claus, so we can assume she's Jewish. Her non-Tolkienic hobbies include anime and art. In fact, she has been trying to discover ways to combine those 3 hobbies (and Tolkien) for quite some time into one grand project, so far unsuccessfully. And ideas on how would be appreciated.