~:~|~:~ Goblin Town ~:~|~:~
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Project Leader: @Wyattrox03
Co-Leader: @Joske50
Co-Co-Leader: @Larry881a
Project Staff: @Alfonios
Terrain Council: @barteldvn,@TheSweViking
(screenshot by Mithrilled)
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OVERALL PROGRESS AND STATE
Approximate Overall Progress Percentage: 12%
Current Progress State: Planning + Building
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Project Leader: @Wyattrox03
Co-Leader: @Joske50
Co-Co-Leader: @Larry881a
Project Staff: @Alfonios
Terrain Council: @barteldvn,@TheSweViking
(screenshot by Mithrilled)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OVERALL PROGRESS AND STATE
Approximate Overall Progress Percentage: 12%
Current Progress State: Planning + Building
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Introduction
Goblin Town is a goblin settlement located beneath the High Pass in the Misty Mountains. Goblin Town is visited by Thorin’s company in The Hobbit. It is depicted in Peter Jackson’s Unexpected Journey as a sprawling cave complex inhabited by scavenging goblins and ruled over by the Great Goblin. Deep beneath Goblin Town also exists Gollum’s Cave, where the creature Gollum lived for centuries while he possessed the one ring. Goblin Town will be the first true Hobbit location built on MCME and it will be built in the new Mordor resource pack.
Project Sections
1 - Great Goblin’s Cave - 10%
2 - Entrance Cave/leadup to Great Cave - 85%
3 - Exit Cave - 5%
4 - Gollum's Cave - 0%
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1 - The most iconic place in Goblin Town of course is the Great Goblin’s cave. This massive expanse is covered in sharp stone spikes on every surface of the cave. The flatter stone walls are infested with goblin tunnels consisting largely of dwellings but also of workshops operated by slaves taken by the goblins. In the center of the cave are two large stone spikes supporting the Great Goblin’s platform which is led up to by a winding flying wooden walkway. Since most angles of this cave shows it being covered in platforms with no apparent purpose other than letting the goblin see the Great Goblin in the center, we have labelled this cave the “Audience Chamber”.
2 - The entrance cave is a small shelter the company takes cover from a storm in, which is a trap the goblins set to ensnare travellers. The floor of this cave drops open so the company fall in. Here there will be the tp zone teleporting the player to the Entrance Sequence section where the goblins seize Thorin and company. Here will be two alternative paths, the movie and book. In the book Bilbo continues on with the company through the main cave, but in the movie he falls immediately after being attacked by a goblin and makes his way to Gollums Cave. The Entrance section is not depicted as having many structures/settlements except for the road connecting the front porch and the Great Cave. Most of the work in this section will consist of cave voxelling which is already largely complete.
3 - The Exit Cave sequence after Gandalf appears in the main cave is another long stone chasm perforated by stone spikes. It is shown as being densely occupied and inhabited by Goblins, which the fellowship cuts their way through to escape. Eventually the company reaches a bridge where the Great Goblin is killed, causing the bridge to drop the fellowship down the chasm. Had the fellowship actually crossed this bridge they would have reached the back porch of the goblins where the company escapes in the books. Instead in the movies they drop into the lower parts of goblin town and escape through Gollum’s entrance where Bilbo rejoins them. To accommodate book lore there will also be a more simple stone tunnel running the length of this which will end at the falling bridge.
4 - Gollum’s Cave is very deep below Goblin Town and is not often visited by the goblins. It is depicted as a lake cave with a number of stone spikes on the walls and ceiling, one spike in the middle serves as Gollum’s island. The cave is reached by a tunnel dug by the goblins by which they sometimes visit to fetch fish for the great goblin. In the movies Bilbo must reach this road after having fallen at the entrance and coming out from one of the many side passages that feed into this road. After putting on the ring, Bilbo follows Gollum out of the cave to his exit where Bilbo makes his escape.
Book vs. Movie Path
In this project we are going to attempt to have both a book path and movie path, much like exists in Paths of the Dead. This will require rerouting Bilbo to fall from the capture location in the movie immediately and somehow reach Gollum’s cave. This also means that in the movie the company as well as Bilbo do not escape through the back porch but from another exit which Gollum uses. In the book however Bilbo stays with the company until after the flight from the Great Cave, only to be knocked unconscious. He then wanders down the wrong way into Gollum’s cave while the rest of the company escape out the back porch. Because there would be footprints everywhere on account of so many path interpretations, and this not being a ‘fellowship location’, there will be no footprints in goblin town, and the guides will have another place to memorize to guide adventurers through.
A Note about the Scope of this project:
Goblin Town will be solely focused on what is beneath the mountains. It will largely not be concerned with the mountains themselves. These mountains have been in a state of incompletion since Finrod last worked on them over five years ago, and Goblin Town itself is already a large project and does not need a colossal terrain section alongside the already limitless cave systems. Since the mountains do not fall into this project they will be worked on at the leisure of the Head Builder, but do not have any bearing on the progress of this project. This project will however complete: the capture cave, the tp zone from it, as well as the back porch and the two other entrances/exits without being overly concerned about the exterior terrain.
A bit of discretion will be retained as far as the scope of the exit sequence cave as well. In the movies this fight sequence spans over a lot of cave which is very densely inhabited by Goblins, we will try and make the most iconic of these caves, but ultimately the Audience chamber cave needs to be the most impressive and sizeable cave in Goblin Town. Therefore as we move along we will decide how far to take it as the cave is being voxelled.
Section 1: Great Cave
Cave Voxelling and Layouts: 70%
Wood Structures: 8%
Tunnels: 0%
Section 2: Entrance Ravine
Cave Voxelling and Layouts: 80%
Wood Structures: 95%
Tunnels: 85%
Section 3: Exit Cave
Cave Voxelling and Layouts: 5%
Wood Structures 0%
Tunnels: 0%
Section 4: Gollum’s Cave
Cave Voxelling and Layouts: 0%
Tunnels: 0%
Background Lore
Etymology
Cirith Forn en Andrath – The High-climbing Pass of the NorthQuotes: High Pass
He [Isildur] therefore determined to make his way north from Osgiliath up the Vales of Anduin to Cirith
Forn en Andrath, the high-climbing pass of the North, that led down to Imladris.
The Disaster of the Gladden Fields, Unfinished Tales
In the earlier draft of this section of the present narrative there is a note referring to "the ancient Forest Road that led down from the Pass of Imladris and crossed Anduin by a bridge (that had been enlarged and strengthened for the passage of the armies of the Alliance), and so over the eastern valley into the Greenwood.
Note 14, The Disaster of the Gladden Fields, Unfinished Tales
There were many paths that led up into those mountains, and many passes over them. But most of the paths were cheats and deceptions and led nowhere or to bad ends; and most of the passes were infested by evil things and dreadful dangers.
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
It was a hard path and a dangerous path, a crooked way and a lonely and a long one.
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
It was getting bitter cold up here, and the wind came shrill among the rocks. Boulders, too, at times came galloping down the mountain-sides, let loose by mid-day sun upon the snow
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
They were high up in a narrow place, with a dreadful fall into a dim valley at one side of them. There they were sheltering under a hanging rock for the night, and he lay beneath a blanket and shook from head to toe. When he peeped out in the lightning-flashes, he saw that across the valley the stone-giants were out, and were hurling rocks at one another for a game, and catching them, and tossing them down into the darkness where they smashed among the trees far below, or splintered into little bits with a bang.
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
“We have found a dry cave,” they said, “not far round the next corner; and ponies and all could get inside.”
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
But their main gate used to come out on a different pass, one more easy to travel by, so that they often caught people benighted near their gates. Evidently people had given up going
that way, and the goblins must have opened their new entrance at the top of the pass the dwarves had taken, quite recently, because it had been found quite safe up to now.
Out of the Frying-Pan and into the Fire, Ch VI The Hobbit
Forn en Andrath, the high-climbing pass of the North, that led down to Imladris.
The Disaster of the Gladden Fields, Unfinished Tales
In the earlier draft of this section of the present narrative there is a note referring to "the ancient Forest Road that led down from the Pass of Imladris and crossed Anduin by a bridge (that had been enlarged and strengthened for the passage of the armies of the Alliance), and so over the eastern valley into the Greenwood.
Note 14, The Disaster of the Gladden Fields, Unfinished Tales
There were many paths that led up into those mountains, and many passes over them. But most of the paths were cheats and deceptions and led nowhere or to bad ends; and most of the passes were infested by evil things and dreadful dangers.
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
It was a hard path and a dangerous path, a crooked way and a lonely and a long one.
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
It was getting bitter cold up here, and the wind came shrill among the rocks. Boulders, too, at times came galloping down the mountain-sides, let loose by mid-day sun upon the snow
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
They were high up in a narrow place, with a dreadful fall into a dim valley at one side of them. There they were sheltering under a hanging rock for the night, and he lay beneath a blanket and shook from head to toe. When he peeped out in the lightning-flashes, he saw that across the valley the stone-giants were out, and were hurling rocks at one another for a game, and catching them, and tossing them down into the darkness where they smashed among the trees far below, or splintered into little bits with a bang.
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
“We have found a dry cave,” they said, “not far round the next corner; and ponies and all could get inside.”
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
But their main gate used to come out on a different pass, one more easy to travel by, so that they often caught people benighted near their gates. Evidently people had given up going
that way, and the goblins must have opened their new entrance at the top of the pass the dwarves had taken, quite recently, because it had been found quite safe up to now.
Out of the Frying-Pan and into the Fire, Ch VI The Hobbit
Quotes: Front Porch
Still it was not very far to go, and before long they came to a big rock standing out into the path. If you stepped behind, you found a low arch in the side of the mountain. There was just room to get the ponies through with a squeeze, when they had been unpacked and unsaddled.
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
It seemed quite a fair size, but not too large and mysterious. It had a dry floor and some comfortable nooks.
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
At that he woke up with a horrible start, and found that part of his dream was true. A crack had opened at the back of the cave, and was already a wide passage.
The crack closed with a snap, and Bilbo and the dwarves were on the wrong side of it!
They seized Bilbo and the dwarves and hurried them along. It was deep, deep, dark, such as only goblins that have taken to living in the heart of the mountains can see through. The passages there were crossed and tangled in all directions, but the goblins knew their way, as well as you do to the nearest post-office; and the way went down and down, and it was most horribly stuffy.
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
It seemed quite a fair size, but not too large and mysterious. It had a dry floor and some comfortable nooks.
Over Hill and under Hill, Ch IV The Hobbit
At that he woke up with a horrible start, and found that part of his dream was true. A crack had opened at the back of the cave, and was already a wide passage.
The crack closed with a snap, and Bilbo and the dwarves were on the wrong side of it!
They seized Bilbo and the dwarves and hurried them along. It was deep, deep, dark, such as only goblins that have taken to living in the heart of the mountains can see through. The passages there were crossed and tangled in all directions, but the goblins knew their way, as well as you do to the nearest post-office; and the way went down and down, and it was most horribly stuffy.
Quotes: Goblin Town
when they stumbled into a big cavern. It was lit by a great red fire in the middle, and by torches along the walls, and it was full of goblins.
There in the shadows on a large flat stone sat a tremendous goblin with a huge head, and armed goblins were standing round him carrying the axes and the bent swords that they use.
They can tunnel and mine as well as any but the most skilled dwarves, when they take the trouble, though they are usually untidy and dirty. Hammers, axes, swords, daggers, pickaxes, tongs, and also instruments of torture, they make very well, or get other people to make to their design, prisoners and slaves that have to work till they die for want of air and light.
he was trotting along again, as fast as he could trot, at the end of the line, down more dark passages with the yells of the goblin-hall growing fainter behind him.
Not for a long while did they stop, and by that time they must have been right down in the
very mountain’s heart.
On they went. Gandalf was quite right: they began to hear goblin noises and horrible cries far behind in the passages they had come through.
Still goblins go faster than dwarves, and these goblins knew the way better (they had made the paths themselves),
It was quite a long while before any of them dared to turn that corner. By that time the dwarves had gone on again, a long, long, way on into the dark tunnels of the goblins’ realm.
he touched the wall of the tunnel; but neither up nor down it could he find anything: nothing at all, no sign of goblins, no sign of dwarves. His head was swimming, and he was far from certain even of the direction they had been going in when he had his fall. He guessed as well as he could, and crawled along for a good way, till suddenly his hand met what felt like a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor of the tunnel.
Riddles in the Dark, Ch V The Hobbit
There in the shadows on a large flat stone sat a tremendous goblin with a huge head, and armed goblins were standing round him carrying the axes and the bent swords that they use.
They can tunnel and mine as well as any but the most skilled dwarves, when they take the trouble, though they are usually untidy and dirty. Hammers, axes, swords, daggers, pickaxes, tongs, and also instruments of torture, they make very well, or get other people to make to their design, prisoners and slaves that have to work till they die for want of air and light.
he was trotting along again, as fast as he could trot, at the end of the line, down more dark passages with the yells of the goblin-hall growing fainter behind him.
Not for a long while did they stop, and by that time they must have been right down in the
very mountain’s heart.
On they went. Gandalf was quite right: they began to hear goblin noises and horrible cries far behind in the passages they had come through.
Still goblins go faster than dwarves, and these goblins knew the way better (they had made the paths themselves),
It was quite a long while before any of them dared to turn that corner. By that time the dwarves had gone on again, a long, long, way on into the dark tunnels of the goblins’ realm.
he touched the wall of the tunnel; but neither up nor down it could he find anything: nothing at all, no sign of goblins, no sign of dwarves. His head was swimming, and he was far from certain even of the direction they had been going in when he had his fall. He guessed as well as he could, and crawled along for a good way, till suddenly his hand met what felt like a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor of the tunnel.
Riddles in the Dark, Ch V The Hobbit
Quotes: Gollum’s Cave
So up he got, and trotted along with his little sword held in front of him and one hand feeling the wall, and his heart all of a patter and a pitter. Now certainly Bilbo was in what is called a tight place. But you must remember it was not quite so tight for him as it would have been for me or for you.
Riddles in the Dark, Ch V The Hobbit
The tunnel seemed to have no end. All he knew was that it was still going down pretty steadily and keeping in the same direction in spite of a twist and a turn or two. There were passages leading off to the side every now and then, as he knew by the glimmer of his sword, or could feel with his hand on the wall. Of these he took no notice, except to hurry past for fear of goblins or half-imagined dark things coming out of them. On and on he went, and down and down; and still he heard no sound of anything except the occasional whirr of a bat by his ears, which startled him at first, till it became too frequent to bother about.
Suddenly without any warning he trotted splash into water! Ugh! it was icy cold. That pulled him up sharp and short. He did not know whether it was just a pool in the path, or the edge of an underground stream that crossed the passage, or the brink of a deep dark subterranean lake.
He stopped, and he could hear, when he listened hard, drops drip-drip-dripping from an unseen roof into the water below; but there seemed no other sort of sound.
“So it is a pool or a lake, and not an underground river,” he thought
There are strange things living in the pools and lakes in the hearts of mountains: fish whose fathers swam in, goodness only knows how many years ago, and never swam out again, while their eyes grew bigger and bigger and bigger from trying to see in the blackness; also there are other things more slimy than fish. Even in the tunnels and caves the goblins have made for themselves there are other things living unbeknown to them that have sneaked in from outside to lie up in the dark. Some of these caves, too, go back in their beginnings to ages before the goblins, who only widened them and joined them up with passages, and the original owners are still there in odd corners, slinking and nosing about.
He was Gollum—as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face. He had a little boat, and he rowed about quite quietly on the lake; for lake it was, wide and deep and deadly cold. He paddled it with large feet dangling over the side, but never a ripple did he make.
They had come on the lake, when they were tunnelling down long ago, and they found they
could go no further; so there their road ended in that direction, and there was no reason to go that way—unless the Great Goblin sent them.
Actually Gollum lived on a slimy island of rock in the middle of the lake.
Not far away was his island, of which Bilbo knew nothing, and there in his hiding-place he kept a few wretched oddments, and one very beautiful thing, very beautiful, very wonderful.
Just in time he turned and ran blindly back up the dark passage down which he had come,
keeping close to the wall and feeling it with his left hand.
With a spring Gollum got up and started shambling off at a great pace. Bilbo hurried after him, still cautiously, though his chief fear now was of tripping on another snag and falling with a noise.
Soon they came to places where, as Bilbo had noticed on the way down, side-passages opened, this way and that. Gollum began at once to count them.
“One left, yes. One right, yes. Two right, yes, yes. Two left, yes, yes.” And so on and on.
As the count grew he slowed down, and he began to get shaky and weepy; for he was leaving the water further and further behind, and he was getting afraid. Goblins might be about, and he had lost his ring. At last he stopped by a low opening, on their left as they went up.
“Seven right, yes. Six left, yes!” he whispered. “This is it.
Riddles in the Dark, Ch V The Hobbit
The tunnel seemed to have no end. All he knew was that it was still going down pretty steadily and keeping in the same direction in spite of a twist and a turn or two. There were passages leading off to the side every now and then, as he knew by the glimmer of his sword, or could feel with his hand on the wall. Of these he took no notice, except to hurry past for fear of goblins or half-imagined dark things coming out of them. On and on he went, and down and down; and still he heard no sound of anything except the occasional whirr of a bat by his ears, which startled him at first, till it became too frequent to bother about.
Suddenly without any warning he trotted splash into water! Ugh! it was icy cold. That pulled him up sharp and short. He did not know whether it was just a pool in the path, or the edge of an underground stream that crossed the passage, or the brink of a deep dark subterranean lake.
He stopped, and he could hear, when he listened hard, drops drip-drip-dripping from an unseen roof into the water below; but there seemed no other sort of sound.
“So it is a pool or a lake, and not an underground river,” he thought
There are strange things living in the pools and lakes in the hearts of mountains: fish whose fathers swam in, goodness only knows how many years ago, and never swam out again, while their eyes grew bigger and bigger and bigger from trying to see in the blackness; also there are other things more slimy than fish. Even in the tunnels and caves the goblins have made for themselves there are other things living unbeknown to them that have sneaked in from outside to lie up in the dark. Some of these caves, too, go back in their beginnings to ages before the goblins, who only widened them and joined them up with passages, and the original owners are still there in odd corners, slinking and nosing about.
He was Gollum—as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face. He had a little boat, and he rowed about quite quietly on the lake; for lake it was, wide and deep and deadly cold. He paddled it with large feet dangling over the side, but never a ripple did he make.
They had come on the lake, when they were tunnelling down long ago, and they found they
could go no further; so there their road ended in that direction, and there was no reason to go that way—unless the Great Goblin sent them.
Actually Gollum lived on a slimy island of rock in the middle of the lake.
Not far away was his island, of which Bilbo knew nothing, and there in his hiding-place he kept a few wretched oddments, and one very beautiful thing, very beautiful, very wonderful.
Just in time he turned and ran blindly back up the dark passage down which he had come,
keeping close to the wall and feeling it with his left hand.
With a spring Gollum got up and started shambling off at a great pace. Bilbo hurried after him, still cautiously, though his chief fear now was of tripping on another snag and falling with a noise.
Soon they came to places where, as Bilbo had noticed on the way down, side-passages opened, this way and that. Gollum began at once to count them.
“One left, yes. One right, yes. Two right, yes, yes. Two left, yes, yes.” And so on and on.
As the count grew he slowed down, and he began to get shaky and weepy; for he was leaving the water further and further behind, and he was getting afraid. Goblins might be about, and he had lost his ring. At last he stopped by a low opening, on their left as they went up.
“Seven right, yes. Six left, yes!” he whispered. “This is it.
Quotes: The Back Door
The passage was low and roughly made. It was not too difficult for the hobbit, except when, in spite of all care, he stubbed his poor toes again, several times, on nasty jagged stones in the floor. “A bit low for goblins, at least for the big ones,” thought Bilbo, not knowing that even the big ones, the orcs of the mountains, go along at a great speed stooping low with their hands almost on the ground.
Soon the passage that had been sloping down began to go up again, and after a while it climbed steeply. That slowed Bilbo down. But at last the slope stopped, the passage turned a corner and dipped down again, and there, at the bottom of a short incline, he saw, filtering round another corner—a glimpse of light.
Really it was only a leak of sunshine in through a doorway, where a great door, a stone door, was left standing open.
there were a few steps running down into a narrow valley between tall mountains; the sun
came out from behind a cloud and shone bright on the outside of the door—but he could not get through.
Then he looked forward and could see before him only ridges and slopes falling towards lowlands and plains glimpsed occasionally between the trees.
Soon the passage that had been sloping down began to go up again, and after a while it climbed steeply. That slowed Bilbo down. But at last the slope stopped, the passage turned a corner and dipped down again, and there, at the bottom of a short incline, he saw, filtering round another corner—a glimpse of light.
Really it was only a leak of sunshine in through a doorway, where a great door, a stone door, was left standing open.
there were a few steps running down into a narrow valley between tall mountains; the sun
came out from behind a cloud and shone bright on the outside of the door—but he could not get through.
Then he looked forward and could see before him only ridges and slopes falling towards lowlands and plains glimpsed occasionally between the trees.
Maps: (Book Lore)
Inspiration
There is a much more extensive inspiration server on discord, which if you are interested you can receive an invite to by asking any project staff, but here are some of the primary shots and inspirations:
Concepts:
How to Help?
We are endeavoring to make this as collaborative a project as possible. So whatever your rank or experience is there will be a place for you. If you are a foreman this is your project. If you are an artist, there is no end to the stuff to build. And if you are a commoner there will be hundreds of plots. If you feel that you do not know how to build that is ok since we will have numerous build guides and our ‘competent’ project staff will be happy to help you develop your understanding of the build style and resource pack.
Join Jobs when they happen or DM Wyattrox03 Larry881a Alfonios or Joske50 on discord or in game for plots!
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