Menu Close

Category: Characters

Silmarillion Awards – Winner of the Wisest Counselor Silmaril

Tracey Dyck 43 Comments



Me: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the final phase of the 2017 Silmarillion Awards! It has been a rollicking adventure indeed, and we can’t thank you enough for your enthusiasm and participation this year. To kick it off, I’d like to welcome up a very special character from Middle Earth to present the award for Wisest Counselor. *peeks over shoulder* Um, a very special character from Middle Earth. *clears throat* A certain wise counselor . . . to present . . . Ahem, it appears our presenter has yet to arrive–

*a pointy grey hat pokes out from backstage*

Gandalf: Not so, you fool! *strides onto stage and snatches mic* A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he intends to. I was merely arranging celebratory provisions for later.

Me: Apologies, Gandalf. We’re just happy to have you here. My friends, allow me to introduce Gandalf the Grey, also known as Mithrandir, the White Rider, Greyhame, and Stormcrow, among other names. He is certainly the wisest counselor anyone could meet in Middle Earth. *bows and exits stage*

Gandalf: Thank you. Now then. Where were we? Ah, yes, the time has come to award the Wisest Counselor Silmaril to the character deemed most worthy by all of you. *sniffs* You’re a much nicer audience than I find in Hobbiton, did you know? Taller, yes, but rather less noisy.

Ahem. Five characters of great wisdom contended for this Silmaril, but only one may receive it. And the fellow who secured the most votes is deserving indeed. I shouldn’t be surprised, really, but even the very wise cannot see all ends.

The counsel this gentleman has provided his friends has most certainly changed the courses of their lives, and perhaps even saved some. Like I always say, all we have to decide is what to do with the time that has been given us, and this man has decided to do a great deal of good with his. He knows that it is not our part to master all the tides of the world. Instead, he pours all of his strength and considerable heart into guiding the tides under his control, and surrendering the rest to his Master.

Though he has walked through times of sorrow and seasons of waiting, he has stayed the course. He is a beacon of light to those who follow in his footsteps. Others may claim the title of hero in his tale, but if not for him, the road would have taken a very different turn indeed.

My friends, may I present the winner of the 2017 Wisest Counselor Silmaril:

Professor Charles Hamilton!

*a smartly dressed older gentleman with wild grey hair rises from the front row and joins Gandalf on stage*
Professor Hamilton: *in a British accent* My, your fireworks get better every year, Gandalf.
Gandalf: I should say they do. Congratulations, young man. *hands over the Silmaril* This is yours to keep for a lifetime.
Professor Hamilton: Young? *smiles* Compared to you, perhaps. I am honored to receive such a prize, though I must that any wisdom I possess is thanks to the very Source of all wisdom. I merely listen to Him.
Gandalf: And that is precisely what makes you wise. Now, before we acknowledge the runners-up, I would like to take a moment to honor you, Professor, by calling up a scene from your past. *waves staff*
*translucent image appears over the stage*

The professor grasped [Excalibur] and limped toward the central pedestal. He knelt at Bonnie’s side and placed the sword in Billy’s hands, wrapping his own fingers on top and elevating the blade. Billy opened his eyes and tightened his grasp on the hilt.

“William,” the professor said, softly, “what now is your weapon?”

Bonnie could see Billy’s eyes reflecting the professor’s shining face, enhanced by Excalibur’s glow. She held her breath, waiting for Billy’s reply.

“Truth,” he whispered, his voice rasping. “Truth is my sword.”

The professor nodded, his eyes now flashing, and his voice erupted in deep, echoing tones as if Billy’s answer strengthened him. “And what now is your defense?”

Color returned to Billy’s face, and his jaw tightened. His voice surged with emotion. “Faith . . . faith is my shield.”

*image fades*
Professor Hamilton: *blinks back tears and beams at a row of young people in the audience* How well I remember that day.
Gandalf: As I thought. It was a turning point for one of your young charges. For using your wisdom to strengthen weary bones and direct wandering hearts, ladies and gentleman, I present to you Professor Hamilton!
*thunderous applause*
Professor Hamilton: *bows, then leans over to whisper* By the way, it is an honor to meet the namesake of a certain cat.
*sounds of a scuffle*
*a cat yowls and streaks away between chairs*
Someone in the audience: Walter! I told you to hang onto him!
*chuckling, the professor takes a seat*
Gandalf: I cannot forget the wisdom of four other magnificent characters, and I thought it might interest all of you to find out how they fared in the voting round. *pulls scroll out of his robe and consults a list*
Professor Hamilton from Dragons in Our Midst – 34%
Puddleglum from The Chronicles of Narnia – 23%
Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter – 21%
Prince of Farthestshore/Aethelbald from Tales of Goldstone Wood – 18%
Beana from Tales of Goldstone Wood – 4%
*a marsh-wiggle, wizard, prince, and goat incline their heads respectfully from the front row*

Gandalf: To all who did not win this year, I will not say do not weep, for not all tears are an evil. You have all performed admirably. Once again, congratulations to the dear professor. *looks around* Now . . . what am I supposed to do? Just–leave? Introduce someone?
Me: *hurries back out* Not to worry, I’ve got it. Thank you, Gandalf! Make sure to follow along with the presentations, everyone. Tomorrow the winner of the Least Competent Henchman will be announced, an event you certainly won’t want to miss. Happy Silmarillion Awards 2017!
[Note: excerpt taken from The Candlestone by Bryan Davis]

EDIT: For your convenience, here are the links to the award presentations! (Will be updated as they are posted.)
Most Magnificent Dragon
Most Loyal Friend
Most Nefarious Villain
Keep Reading

Silmarillion Awards – Vote for the Wisest Counselor

Tracey Dyck 20 Comments

Welcome back to the second phase of the 2017 Silmarillion Awards! Last week was a barrelful of fun* as your nominations came pouring in. So many worthy characters were named, so many marvelous fantasy novels were discussed. Are your TBR piles toppling over yet? Mine is definitely reaching its tipping point!

*A barrelful of dwarves, that is! . . . Ahem, that was supposed to be a vague Barrels out of Bond reference.

We’ve tallied up the nominations and seconds (and thirds and fourths and fifths and so on), and only the top five characters in each category have moved into the voting round. If you missed the first round of action, here’s the infographic Deborah made:

As you can see, the voting period is open from today, July 10th, until Friday, July 14th. So be sure to make your way around to all the blogs to read about the top five contenders in each category. And there’s another reason you’ll want to visit everyone: there’s an epic scavenger hunt taking place!

Each of the ten blogs will include the phrase of a poem somewhere in their posts. It’s your job to gather all ten phrases (in the correct order!) and submit them in the voting form. Doing so will enter you into a giveaway for the Grand Prize! I don’t know about you, but that map of Middle Earth, One Ring, and copy of Aratar, Peredhil, and Halflings, Oh My! look delightful.
This is your first stop along the scavenger hunt, and here is the phrase you’ll want to write down:

Three great jewels (though for our purposes, ten)

Then click on the text to head to your second stop.
While we’re talking about giveaways, congratulations to Athelas H. for winning the one hosted here during the nomination phase! You’ve won a paperback copy of Alora: The Wander Jewel by Tamie Dearen and e-book copies of Evangeline, Eun Na and the Phantom, and Foxtails by Erica Laurie. Athelas, the email address you submitted in the Rafflecopter didn’t work, so please send Jenelle an email at Jenelle.L.Schmidt [at] gmail [dot] com. She’ll make sure your prize gets to you!
All right! Now to the moment you’ve all been scrolling down for! Drumroll, please . . .

The top five nominations for the Wisest Counselor Silmaril are:

Puddleglum from The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis: This gloomy Marsh-Wiggle may expect the worst in any given situation, but he’s actually more cheerful than his pessimistic kin. His common sense and steadfast presence keep his young friends on track even in the darkest of times. A bit of a “wet blanket,” he is nevertheless prepared for rain and ruin. Which, when you’re on a quest of great import, is a good quality to have.

Professor Hamilton from Dragons in Our Midst by Bryan Davis: A man of stalwart faith and honorable lineage, this teacher is a mentor in every sense of the word. His sound advice provides a staying anchor and a guiding rudder for those under his care, even going so far as to affect their eternities. Not only does he offer wisdom, but he is a living example of those unshakeable convictions in action. His friends would do well to follow in his footsteps.

Prince of Farthestshore (a.k.a. Aethelbald) from Tales of Goldstone Wood by Anne Elisabeth Stengl: Kind. Strong. Faithful. True. Those are just a few words to describe Prince Aethelbald. He is relentless in his pursuit of those he loves. He doesn’t look the part of a Prince Charming, but there is far more to him than what meets the eye. And while you may not always want to hear what he has to say, it never fails to be exactly what you need.

Beana from Tales of Goldstone Wood by Anne Elisabeth Stengl: Beana isn’t who you would expect to be a voice of wisom. In fact, she’s a stubborn goat. (Though she may also be something more.) But her stouthearted courage, foresight, and protectiveness are precisely the traits a wise counselor needs. Being centuries old doesn’t hurt, either. Whether you need a shoulder to cry on or a bit of tough love, Beana will be there.

Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling: Albus Dumbledore is quite possibly the most powerful wizard the world has ever seen. If he plays his cards close to the vest, it is only because he loves the young people in his charge and would spare them pain if he could. A bit eccentric and secretive, Dumbledore is definitely someone you want on your side, whether you need a powerful wizard or some kind words of encouragement.

(function() { var qs,js,q,s,d=document, gi=d.getElementById, ce=d.createElement, gt=d.getElementsByTagName, id=”typef_orm”, b=”https://embed.typeform.com/”; if(!gi.call(d,id)) { js=ce.call(d,”script”); js.id=id; js.src=b+”embed.js”; q=gt.call(d,”script”)[0]; q.parentNode.insertBefore(js,q) } })()

powered by Typeform

Whew! That’s quite the impressive list from which to pick! Who will you vote for? (Be sure to hit submit when you’re done.) And don’t forget to click on the first line of that poem and embark on that scavenger hunt!

Feel free to discuss everything in the comments! Which characters you’re torn between (all of them, right?), who you end up voting for and why, and whether you’ll cast the One Ring into the fire if you win it.

Keep Reading

Silmarillion Awards – Wisest Counselor Nominations

Tracey Dyck 187 Comments

Hear ye, hear ye! The second annual Silmarillion Awards begins today!

What are the Silmarillion Awards, you might be wondering? You might remember when I hosted the Best Riddling and Poetry Silmaril last year, but if not, let me give you a rundown.
They’re like the Oscars for fantasy characters, voted for by you. This is a fun way to show your favorite characters your love and support! Of course, since Lord of the Rings is widely accepted as a standard of excellence in this genre, each award is presented by someone from Middle Earth. This means that you cannot nominate or vote for a LOTR character. But anyone else within the realm of fantasy is fair game!
And what kind of awards, pray tell, will be handed out? Well, the lineup is new and improved (since a couple of categories last year veered into spoiler territory), and it looks more exciting than ever!
infographic designed by Deborah O’Carroll
Your first step, once you finish reading this post, is to head to all the blogs and start making nominations!
Wisest Counselor Silmaril – Tracey @ Adventure Awaits
Least Competent Henchman Silmaril – Kyle @ Kyle Robert Shultz
Silver Tongue Silmaril – Madeline @ Short and Snappy
Most Epic Hero Silmaril- Abbey @ Regarding Reading and Writing
Strangest Character Silmaril – Savannah @ Scattered Scribblings
Most Epic Heroine Silmaril – Deborah @ The Road of a Writer
Most Mischievous Imp Silmaril – Elise @ Author E.E. Rawls
Most Magnificent Dragon Silmaril – DJ @ DJ Edwardson
Most Loyal Friend Silmaril – Zachary @ Zachary Totah
Most Nefarious Villain Silmaril – Jenelle @ Jenelle Schmidt

The Rules:

  • You can nominate as many characters for each award as you like.
  • You may “second” as many characters as you like. (An example of seconding: someone might nominate Susan Pevensie for an award, and if you agree, you can second the nomination.)
  • Please mention which book/series each nomination is from!
  • You may not nominate and then second your own recommendation. (At this stage of the awards, you can nominate and second as many characters as you want, but you still get only one vote per character.)
  • Authors can gladly participate, but they may not nominate/second any of their own characters. However, they are welcome to let their readers know about these awards and may suggest characters to their own readers that could be nominated for various awards.
  • The awards are for fantasy characters only. Sorry, Katniss Everdeen–you’re from a dystopian series.
  • These are lifetime awards! Last year’s winners are now ineligible.
  • Again, because Tolkien characters are the standard for the awards, they are also ineligible. (As one of the Silmarillion Awards hosts put it, having Gandalf present an award to himself would be awkward.)
  • Use #SilmAwards2017 when talking about or promoting the awards on social media!
This year is going to be even more fun than last year! For one thing, there is a smorgasbord of giveaways, and also an upcoming scavenger hunt. For another thing, you can now buy mugs and t-shirts! The proceeds will go to cover the costs of prizes for the giveaways.
Speaking of giveaways, before I get into the particular award I’m hosting here on Adventure Awaits, why don’t you check out this giveaway? a Rafflecopter giveaway (If my attempts to embed it into the post don’t work, please just click the link.) You could win these four books!
paperback copy of Alora: The Wander-Jewel by Tamie Dearen + ebook copies
of Evangeline, Eun Na and the Phantom, and Foxtails by Erica Laurie
The top five characters with the most nominations/seconds in each category will move on to the voting round next week!
If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to ask.

Let the Wisest Counselor nominations begin!

As you have seen, I will be hosting the Wisest Counselor Silmaril. This award should go to a character who exhibits maturity regardless of age. Someone whose advice is sound and whose counsel is timely. This kind of character is often instrumental in helping the protagonist(s) achieve their goal, although their words may not always be what the hero wants to hear. This character holds fast to truth and imparts it to others. He or she is not necessarily perfect, but they provide an example to be followed. Without their sage counsel, many a quest would end in tragedy, and many a hero would make unfortunate decisions. We owe quite a few happy endings to this wise sort of character, indeed.
Last year’s winner of the Wisest Counselor Silmaril was Aslan himself. (Check out the award ceremony here.) Just like last year, Gandalf will be presenting this award to the winner. I think we can all agree that these fellows of Middle Earth are two of the most iconic counselors in the history of fantasy! And Aslan was definitely a worthy first winner!
(Remember, Gandalf, Elrond, and Aslan are ineligible to receive this award.)

Now it is up to you to nominate who you think is the wisest counselor in fantasy! Nominations are open from today (July 3rd) until Friday, July 7th! Be sure to stop by each of the participating blogs this week to get those nominations in for every category. Happy nominating!

Keep Reading

We Have a Winner! {Silmarillion Award for Best Riddling and Poetry}

Tracey Dyck 50 Comments

Oh, hello there. It’s much too early for tea, do come back lat– Oh. Is it that time already? Well then.

*rushes onto stage*

*scans audience and clears throat*

Good morning! I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. But I am getting used to unfamiliar faces intruding upon my quiet routine, so here I am at the request of the fine folk in charge of the Silmarillion Awards.

You’ve likely already guessed it would be me presenting the Silmaril for Riddling and Poetry. For the sake of riddles, however, I’m inclined to introduce myself thusly. . .

I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led. And through the air. I am he who walks unseen. I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them alive again from the water. I came from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me. I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles. I am Ring-winner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrel-rider–better known as Bilbo Baggins.

It brings me great pleasure to present this award to someone nearly as skilled at riddles and rhymes as I am. Perhaps you can hazard a guess? Here’s a poetical conundrum to help you along.

Ancient I am
And enchanted too
With the power of four
I am magically imbued


With wisdom vast
I peer inside minds
Their thoughts and intentions
I sort and divide


September is when
My song will ring out
Then I hem and I haw
Then proclaim with a shout


The house you belong in
One out of four
My most famous student
I placed in Gryffindor


My name should be clear
I’m grouchy and grim
And I sing and I speak
Through a rip near my brim

*smiles a self-contented smile*

Not half bad, considering I’ve never met him–er, it–before today. Ahem. The winner of the 2016 Riddling and Poetry Silmaril is . . .

*consults a paper*

The Sorting Hat!

Congratulations, my dear fellow! You bear a striking resemblance to the hat of a grouchy wizard in my acquaintance. But that is neither here nor there. For your wise counsel to the new students of Hogwarts, and your guidance often presented in the form of poems and songs, you deserve this gleaming jewel.

Many notable poets and riddlers were contending for this award. You may be interested in seeing how they fared.

Best Riddling and Poetry
111 out of 123 voters answered this question.
The Sorting Hat (Harry Potter Series) 36 / 32%
Curdie Peterson (The Princess and the Goblin) 31 / 28%
Sir Eanrin (Tales of Goldstone Wood) 28 / 25%
Gummy (The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall) 8 / 7%
Leonard the Lightning Tongue (Tales of Goldstone Wood) 8 / 7%
Some close competition among the top three, but in the end, the famous Sorting Hat emerged the winner!
Thank you all for your participation. The Silmarillion Awards would be impossible if not for you! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve tea to steep, a pipe to smoke, and a book to read.
*awkwardly waves goodbye and retreats offstage*
Me: Thank you for taking time away from your comfy morning, Bilbo, to present this award. Congrats again to the Sorting Hat, and thanks to all of you!

Don’t forget to visit all the stops. You can see the schedule HERE. And please feel free to join the fun during the last weekend of July, during which time many of us will be celebrating with a Tolkien Party!

No veren! [Enjoy yourself/be joyous]
Keep Reading