Menu Close

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!

187 Comments

  1. Patrick Stahl
    Reply

    I nominate Moiraine Damodred of The Wheel of Time series. (Hopefully she didn't do anything dumb in the twelve books of the fifteen-book series that I haven't read yet.)

  15. Kate Marie
    Reply

    I nominate Aine from the Song of Seare trilogy (which no one has probably heard if because its obscure… *sigh*). This is so hard because The Lord of the Rings is about as far I went into the fantasy genre, but I look forward to reading all the posts anyway!!!

  18. Florid Sword
    Reply

    Just a question: I know LotR and Hobbit characters are out of bounds, but what about Tolkien characters from other, more obscure works? Like the Sil itself, or some of his short-stories? It's fine if that's not allowed, just wondering.

  21. Shay
    Reply

    I nominate Jen aka Database from "Twinepathy" by C. B. Cook.
    I also nominate Captain Valithor from "The Door Within" by Wayne Thomas Batson.
    I also nominate Olin Grimwarden from "The Berinfell Prophecies" by Batson and Hopper.
    And of course, I also nominate Elle Goldarrow from "The Berinfell Prophecies" by Batson and Hopper (because really, how could you have Grimwarden without Goldarrow?? =D)

    • Sarah
      Reply

      I second all of these. Jen is fabulous, and Captain Valithor and Guardmaster Grimwarden and Sentinel Goldarrow were such a big part of a pretty significant time in my life.

    • admin Post author
      Reply

      @Sarah: I love those characters that mean something extra special to us! The Door Within Trilogy was one of the first series to get me hooked on fantasy in my early teens. So much love. <3

    • Shay
      Reply

      Sarah: oh, I so agree!! <3 It always kinda bugs me how little known those books are, when they're such fantabulous stories!!
      Plus, I love Goldarrow so much, even though she's not technically a main character, she just seems so complex and well-written!! I can't wait to see what Karis Nightengale will do with these characters in her continuation of the series. (*quick bit of fangirling over the fact the Berinfell is FINALLY getting a continuation!!!!* XD)

    • Shay
      Reply

      Yesss!!! Oh don't worry, I could probably talk about this bit of news all day!! XD

      A little while back, Karis Nightengale on Batson's "The Phantom Pen" forum announced that she was continuing the series. Here's that announcement and following convo: http://the-phantom-pen.1127394.n5.nabble.com/The-Berinfell-Prophecies-Book-Four-td109.html

      And there's a link to her website in there, too. She hasn't really posted anything much yet, but I've been carrying on an email conversation with her for several months, and from the little bits I've seen, I think she's gonna do a fantastic job!! 😀

    • admin Post author
      Reply

      @Shay: Oooh, thanks for the links! I'll have to check them out when I have time. ^_^ I always wondered if anyone would write a continuation after that letter Batson and Hopper put in the third book.

      @Daisy: The Door Within Trilogy, along with Bryan Davis's Dragons in Our Midst, were the series that got me hooked on YA fantasy! I haven't read Jenny L. Cote yet. Isn't she the one who writes the Biblical fiction with cats and dogs as characters…?

    • Shay
      Reply

      @Daisy: Yes, I'm a huge WTB fan!!! Especially for Berinfell, though I absolutely love all his other stuff, too. I've been reading through some of his short stories lately, and they're just as awesome as his books! I totally love The Skeleton Project stories, the characters are just hilarious, and I can't stand having to wait for him to publish the rest in the series! 😀

      @Tracey: You're totally welcome! I had always wondered the same, so I thrilled when it was announced there would be another book! 😀

    • admin Post author
      Reply

      @Shay: Very cool! Speaking of WTB, I can't wait until the Dark Sea Annals are re-released! I think they're being called something else… Myriad Chronicles?? I can't remember. Anyway, seeing that series rebooted is going to be fun. 🙂

  22. Shay
    Reply

    I have a quick question: can two characters be nominated as a team?
    I would nominate the duo of Grimwarden and Goldarrow, because although both are wise counselors, much of that is gained from one another, and they're even better counselors when they're together to balance each other. 🙂

  29. Daisy Phinney
    Reply

    This is hard. (As you can see above from my deletes). I nominate Professor Hamilton from Bryan Davis' "Dragons in our Midst" and "Oracles of Fire." He's in all those books in those series.

  30. Zoe Vickers
    Reply

    Also: nominating squire Terence from the squires' takes series by Gerald Morris. He starts out as needing a councillor himself, but in later books with other protagonists he serves as a mentor. Also Morgan Or Day from the same series! She trained several girls to be enchantresses and gave them what they needed to follow their paths, even if she wasn't a typical mentor.

    • admin Post author
      Reply

      Zoe, I've never heard of the Squires' Tales, but they sound pretty interesting! And all three of my siblings have recently read Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes–they all tell me it's great. 😀

  32. Lisa
    Reply

    *runs around frantically to nominate because is late* sorry Tracey, have been soooo busy. I must consult my lists. Will be back in the afternoon when I have my computer!

  34. Anonymous
    Reply

    Seconding time! I second the Prince of Farthestshore!

    … But after him and Aslan no one else is really actually wise…. But I love so many of the nominated characters!!! There should be like a "largest nomination/second", like a vote that counts as two votes that each voter gets to do ONCE for one character… to set them above their other nominations/seconds. Heehee. 😉

    Sooo, I guess I second Rayad too, because as far as "earthly" mentors go, he's pretty cool and wise. 🙂

    -Rebekah

    • admin Post author
      Reply

      It's true, characters like the Prince of Farthestshore and Aslan DO have the upper hand for this category. XD LOL, that would be fun, if a little confusing when it comes time to tally up the nominations! 😉 Thanks for playing!

  39. Anonymous
    Reply

    Seconding: Halt from The Ranger's Apprentice, Professor Hamilton, squire Terence from the Squire's Tale.

    -Rogue9

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *