What is the Green Book of the White Downs?

Many will have heard of the "Red Book of Westmarch", but few will likely have heard of the "Green Book of the White Downs"...

This obscure text, now located in the library of the Great Smials [1] and watched over by Donnamira Took [2], was the work of two explorers from very different backgrounds. One a Hobbit, born and bred in the Shire town of Michel Delving, the other an elder Elf, lost to her family for a long, long time but now joyfully reunited with her kith and kin. Together they formed an unusual friendship grounded in their love of old places, creatures and culture. As they wandered Middle-earth they took notes, made drawings, gathered information.

And so, after many years of exploration, and plentiful adventures, the authors settled down to document their tales and share their knowledge. This work became known as the "Green Book of the White Downs."

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Lore and background information
In Middle-earth lore, the White Downs are chalk hills in Westfarthing forming the western border of the Shire. The towns of Michel Delving and Little Delving are located here.

In terms of J.R.R. Tolkien, the White Downs are possibly a nod to the Vale of the White Horse, North Berkshire and the ancient trackway known as the Ridgeway. Along this route lies Uffington Castle, the Uffington White Horse and the prehistoric burial mound called Wayland Smithy where Tolkien used to take his family to picnic.

The photograph (taken in April 2016) in the blog logo is a view of the Ridgeway, somewhere between the Uffington White Horse and Wantage, where King Alfred the Great was born.

The Dwarf runes on the logo are Tolkien quotes:

"The Road Goes Ever On" (left)

"Not all those who wander are lost" (right).

This blog is many things. The core posts will follow my adventures in Middle-earth as I level through two characters created in Standing Stones Games' Lord of the Rings Online game (LOTRO) - High Elf Loremaster Lassewinta and Hobbit Burglar Mithiad. I am based on the Laurelin server, a dedicated Roleplay server for EU players and I am a member of the long-standing kin, The Elders, originally from the now-closed Gilrain server. I'll post more information about the two characters, including a little biography for each, at a later date.

But this blog won't just be about LOTRO. I will regularly update a "Gaming in Middle-earth" section, originally posted on Facebook for the benefit of Tolkien Society members and also on the Elders' forum. This section will cover the various games based on the Tolkien franchise including Cubicle 7's The One Ring roleplaying game and Adventures in Middle-earth roleplaying game, Fantasy Flight Games' The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game, Ares Games' War of the Ring line.

I'll also update with other Tolkien news as well as look at other interests and hobbies I follow.

And finally, I'll also be writing about my own adventures out in the "wild," following the walking trips I take, the places I visit and the events I go to in real life.

I hope you find something of interest for you here in my little corner of a much bigger world.

The road goes ever on...

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Footnotes
[1]: The Great Smials in Tuckborough, also known as the "Great Palace of the Tooks," is discussed on the  LOTRO wiki and the Tolkien Gateway.
[2]: Information about Donnamira Took can be found on the  LOTRO wiki.

Fun Fact #1
I've set this blog post's date to 25 December 3018, which was the day the Fellowship set off from Rivendell following the Council of Elrond! I've put the timestamp at 16:40 which today (24/12/2017) is considered "dusk" in my local area - the time the Fellowship departed. 

Fun Fact #2
In a bizarre twist of luck, this item fell into one of my alt's inventory bags today - [Cap of the White Downs] with the note "Cap of the Shire." Fate indeed!