• Welcome to MCME!

    Minecraft Middle Earth is a Minecraft community that recreates the world described by JRR Tolkien and his writings. Everyone can participate in organized events in which we collaborate to create major landmarks, terrain, caves, castles, towns, farms and more.

    To get started, visit The New Player Guide

    Joining the server

    Joining the server can be done straight away, but you will have to pass the New Player Quiz. Use the The New Player Guide to get acquainted with our community.

    IP: build.mcmiddleearth.com

~ The MCME Times ~ [03/21/2021]

Spring is in the Air!
It got up to like 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) here (Nebraska) today, that’s hot!
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Editor's Note by Mapthor
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome back to the most prestigious newspaper of all time, the MCME Times. Wall Street Journal? New York Times? Never heard of ‘em. Anyways, onto the news. The past two weeks have been…. really quiet to be honest with ya. Events Team got its official start up with Arch spearheading the Easter Events, the Aussie Edition of the Podcast was dropped, and Mershy kept shilling Yorkshire Tea in his Instagram interview. I really don’t understand the craze over tea, it’s just boiled water with more steps. I should probably shut up before more people get on my case for disliking tea. Hope you enjoy this new edition of the Times and I’ll see you in the next one.

Happy Sailing
Mapthor


~ Project Progress ~

Anorien - Lead: @draonic_slayer | In Progress
Report by draonic_slayer

Not really much progress to report, been busy with real life stuff the past two weeks. Xmine has come back to do a few rivers in the re-Voxelled area west of the Firien Woods, so feel free to ask him for any work in texturing the new rivers he is carving.

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Lond Daer – Lead: @mattlego | In Progress
Report by mattlego

The end date for the contest has been extended another week, now ending the 28th of March. Besides the contest progress in New Town has continued with very few plots remaining to be done.

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Moria – Lead: @barteldvn | In Progress
Report by Mershy

Slow and steady wins the race! The past couple of weeks haven’t seen much activity. Movie cave is progressing steadily, inching closer to the finished product and West Gate is also coming along quite nicely. Though there isn’t much to update this time around, I’m excited to see more fantastic work from our talented Moria team!

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~ General Announcements ~

Become a Donor
Keeping MCME running is not free, every month we have to pay $265 to keep up all our work. Donations help us keep doing what we love and providing you with amazing builds to look at. Donations are not required but greatly accepted, if you want to help us in our feat of rebuilding Middle Earth in Minecraft you can donate here.
Viewing Donation Drive: Community Costs
Our Donors
  • Wollip666
  • Aeroblitz
  • zorkygaming
  • Tim bronzebeard
  • ooitsbirdo
  • UnloadedChunks
  • Mershy
  • Office4Life
  • Bohemian_Beetle
  • TheChristopher1
  • junoknight
  • David
#MCMEdoesnotrunitself

#NEWS
Report by ItsJustPeyton

Events
We had some great events the past fortnight! The two Lore Hours were filled with Nazgul and the creatures of Middle Earth. Our Touring Tuesdays were a hit! This fortnight they were hosted by two Guide applicants, NelmanBlack and Melkor, we hope you all enjoyed them as much as we did!

It’s almost time for Easter, and that means MCME Easter Events!! Make sure to keep an eye out on all of our socials, as well as Discord/forums for all the details of what we have planned!

Podcast
This month Mapthor finally came to his senses and had some absolute legends on his podcast (I’m not biased, just speaking facts). We talked all things Aussie with ItsJustPeyton, Iru and NelmanBlack and even convinced Mapthor to try vegemite, though we still can’t figure out how to get it through customs. Don’t forget to check it out on the MCME Podcast YouTube channel.

Social Media Updates
Instagram: We’re inching closer to 10k! Make sure you’re following us so you can be there when we hit that milestone!

This month, our “Question Hour” guest was Mershy! Many important questions were asked; ‘What’s the best tea?’, ‘Which team member annoys you the most?’, ‘Where did you get that dashing suit?’. We made sure all were answered, no matter how uncomfortable he may have gotten, and we can’t wait to see who next month’s Question Hour will be about!

Facebook: Almost at 3000! A smaller milestone than Instagram, but still an important one!

Twitter: Lots of exciting stuff happening over on Twitter! It’s where we post everything...from screenshots to comp winners....Lore Hour to Touring Tuesdays and everything in between! Make sure you're following us so that you can keep up to date with everything, and who knows, you may even see yourself featured on there one day!

YouTube: It’s a bit of a different release this time around...WE HAVE MUSIC!!! Thanks to the hard work of the Music Team, we were finally able to release a full song with it’s very own music video! Huge thanks to Icarus197 for being the brains behind this stunning audio! (shhhh...don’t tell anyone we told you...but there might be even MORE coming soon!)

Make sure you jump on the server and /warp Weathertop to hear the music for yourself in game ;)


~ Rank Updates ~
Report by givet10

Orruss: Welcome Orruss to the purple rank! We all look forward to seeing more of your builds on the main map- be sure to mute your brother as well!
Promotion

~ Interviews ~
Interview with @aVeryAngryBadger

Question 1. Ok so why are you so angry and why a badger?
The answer to this is difficult to ascertain. I’ve been ‘Badger’ for so long that its origin has been obscured by the mists of time. I’ve always been somewhat angry, but the point that pushed me to those greater heights of fury was that fateful day I made my first Minecraft account, and discovered that ‘anAngryBadger’ was already taken. You can guess what happened next.

Question 2. What’s your opinion of Animal Farm?
Do you mean the allegorical political satire by George Orwell? It’s outstanding and a great example of how fiction can be used to explore complex concepts and reveal so much about humanity through that medium. It’s also a good access point to Orwell’s writing. If you’re a bit daunted by the idea of reading 1984, try Animal Farm first. Or did you want me to comment on the absence of badgers in this work? Mate. Badgers ain’t got time for these shenanigans. TL;DR Great book, but no badgers.

Question 3. What is it like to build in Movie Cave?
It’s complex and disorientating. You often get lost. You think you’ve achieved something only to turn a corner and discover a whole new section of planning put down by some madmen coughdavandooitscough long ago. I have built monuments to remember those fallen artists who gave their sanity to this noble cause. The only lights illuminating the darkness are the emergency flares I send up, the only noises are the creak of these colossal structures as they struggle under the pressure of this endless cave. ‘Hello? Is anyone there?’ I call into the darkness. Only my echo replies. Send Help.

Question 4. Describe your least favourite person on MCME.
My least favourite person has a pink skin, a green name, who recently finished Osgiliath but never finished his river in movie cave.

Question 5. If you could create your own Fellowship, and it could be any celeb, basically anyone outside MCME who would it be and why?
1. Morgan Freeman - to narrate things and dispense wisdom.
2. A Furious Goose - for attack.
3. My dog, Monty - can’t leave him behind. He’s good at barking at suspicious inanimate objects and men in hats, and that’s about it, tbh.
4. While we’re at it, let’s have Henry Cavill along to help build a PC. Could be needed, who can say?
5. Tom Bombadil - don’t come at me lorefolk, we all know it’s time this guy pulled his weight.
6. One of the Eagles - just to flex and say ‘we could use it, but we don’t need to.’
7. Me? I assume I need to go too?
8. Margaret Thatcher - to strike fear into the hearts of all who behold her. Whatever you think of her politics, imagine her in staring contest versus Sauron.
9. Gordon Ramsay - to cook those potatoes and also for attack.

Question 6. Favourite Band and Song
Band: Radiohead - sure, there’s better bands out there, but it turns out teenage angst is forever. Song: Nantes by Beirut

Question 7. If you could be any Middle-earth race, what race and why?
Hobbits have it made, we all know that, but I want to travel, I love trees and bow spamming, so perhaps a non-uppity Sindarin elf who leaves Middle-earth to explore the high seas?

Question 8. How would you rate these questions?
450/800 Daom tokens, which is the equivalent of 1 tenth of a Mershy doubloon, or 9,127 Itai coins.

Interviewer: Yes yes, it’s the one and only Arch.


~ Winners of “the Week” ~

This week we have another round of amazing builds and Media posts. We only choose from the best every time, so hard work does pay off. Sometimes it can get competitive and that is what will win a place here. Please give a warm welcome to this Times, winners of this week.

MEDIA Winners:
Yep, you've scrolled down to the second-best part of the MCME Times: the Media Winners as judged by me, GingerlyGinger! I won't take up anymore of your time, you just go right on ahead and take your favorite drink, pineapple pizza, and your comfy chair and enjoy.

Honorable Mention: This is definitely an improvement from the original shot Emeryld took with Voyager shaders. Good lighting and composition, though I can't help but feel the camera isn't close enough to the focus.

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Honorable Mention: Maski captures this old version of Bree very well with Chocapic V9 shaders. If I had to complain I'd complain about the lack of shadowing on the trees in the back on the left, which can be solved by turning up your shadow distance to 256. I'd also say it might've been better to crop the bottom a bit.

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Honorable Mention: A basic shot like this shouldn't look this good, honestly. But somehow Xmine01 has managed to pull it off well. Good composition, good lighting. Very unique.

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Honorable Mention: Yes, that wasn't the only shot from Xmine01 to make it in! While I can't help but feel the lighting on the boulder on the ground is flat, it's not very noticeable in the grand scheme of things. A very cinematic shot, Xmine.

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Honorable Mention: Green_Giant evidently subconsciously has an eye for good composition, as we can see here. His original shot was excellent, but Givet improved upon it in an edit with a splash of color. Good work to the both of them.

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Honorable Mention: Speaking of Givet, he took some neat shots as well this edition. This one, for example. Let's be honest, those shadows are iffy, especially on the right side of the shot. But the focus is so well-illuminated that you don't notice them at first. Pretty dang good composition, decent lighting.

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Honorable Mention: Taking a stroll 'round 'bout the Old World, Givet chanced upon Fornost and managed to capture this shot. The Kappa shaders certainly do wonders to help this version of Fornost look decent. Can't help but feel the bottom of the shot could've used some cropping, though.

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Honorable Mention: Plenty of good Moria shots this edition. This one was taken by Givet, but almost certainly wouldn't have made it to the Times without ESPER's editing skills. Now, this is Moria; A cave underground. So as to where this light's coming from, I have no clue, but it looks incredibly mysterious nonetheless.

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Honorable Mention: Oh if only the focus was lower in the shot... but looking past that one detail, Emeryld has taken a very unique Moria shot here. I like the tone and I especially like how the, er, rail(?) extends on into the depths of Moria. If it was only lower in the shot, I'd be very happy.

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Honorable Mention: I couldn't look past this old Annuminas shot by Givet. It's interesting how he chose the ruins around the dome to be the focus rather than the dome itself, something uncommon in today's Annuminas shots. Consequently, the focus doesn't stand out much.

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Honorable Mention: I'm gonna be honest, I only picked this one because of that Shrek face thingy on the left. Beautifully disgusting edit by Itai. (Original shot by Johnyeric)

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Honorable Mention: It's pretty rare for such a wide shot to make it to the Media Winners, but that doesn't stop Draonic, who took a lovely shot of Weathertop this fortnight. 2nah helped him along significantly by removing that Espen's Edit sky and doing some color grading. Personally, I feel the sky here's a bit too light a blue, but it's not that bad and is definitely an improvement over the original.

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Media Winner: 2nah's ability to edit out Espen Edit skies is a valuable one, to be sure, but perhaps more valuable is his ability to take a new shot of Minas Tirith with excellent composition and lighting. Personally, I wish there weren't as many trees on the right, but it can't be helped. Well done, 2nah!

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Media Winner: What's this? Yes, we have more than one Media Winner this fortnight! First time that's happened since... since... (frantic researching noises) ...since January 11th, 2020! Ignoring the black line along the bottom edge, this shot is very well done by Itai, who, it appears, was using Spectrum shaders for this shot. Excellent composition, good fog work, nicely done sky. Well done, Itai!

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THEME-BUILD Winners







~ Lore of the Week ~

The Great Eagles of the First Age
The Eagles were birds that served as messengers of Manwë. Among those were the Great Eagles, immense birds who were sentient, capable of speech, and often helped Men, Elves and Wizards in their quests to defeat evil. They were "devised" by Manwë Súlimo, King of the Valar, and were often called the Eagles of Manwë.
They were sent from Valinor to Middle-earth to keep an eye on the exiled Ñoldor, and on their foe, the evil Vala Morgoth. During the First Age, at a command of Manwë, the Lord of the Eagles, Thorondor, kept his eyries at the top of the Thangorodrim, the volcanoes above Angband, for a time. While he lived there, Thorondor helped Fingon rescue Maedhros. Thorondor wounded Morgoth in the face after Morgoth's battle with Fingolfin, and he carried Fingolfin's body to the Echoriath, where he was buried by Fingon. Years later, three of the Great Eagles came to the aid of Beren and Lúthien, bearing them away from Thangorodrim after both had drained their strength in the Quest for the Silmaril. Thorondor's folk later removed their eyries to the Crissaegrim, part of the Echoriad about Gondolin. There they became friends of Turgon, bringing him news and keeping spies off their borders. Because of their guardianship, Orcs were unable to approach either the nearby mountains or the important ford of Brithiach to the south. They redoubled their watch after the coming of Tuor, enabling Gondolin to remain undiscovered for the longest of all Elven realms. When the city fell at last, the eagles of Thorondor protected the survivors, driving away the orcs that ambushed them at Cirith Thoronath, the Eagles' Cleft north of Gondolin. The Eagles fought alongside the army of the Valar, the Elves, and the Edain during the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age. After the appearance of winged dragons, all the great birds gathered under Thorondor and aided Eärendil, destroying the majority of the dragons.


~ Question of the Week ~

This Week's Question:
Did the Rohirrim and Hobbits know each other in the distant past?

Question:
How did Angrist break?

Correct Answer:
Upon prying the second Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown.

The winner for this week is Mithlondel!

Presented by: Arothir Alamareo

~ More Media ~

You know us, we love sharing our progress and Twitter is the perfect place. Give us a good follow and always have something to look forward to on your daily scroll. Just to spice it up, comment your favorite parts of our builds at MinecraftMiddleEarth (@MCMiddleEarth) | Twitter. You won't be disappointed!

Sometimes you just want to enjoy some quality pictures, we got you covered. Head on over to our Facebook account, try following us there too Minecraft Middle-Earth

It doesn't matter if you just woke up or after a busy day at work; scrolling through Instagram and seeing a cool project you have worked on, or just amazing graphics from your favorite server on your favorite game- MCME's Instagram is the right place to be. Check it out at mcmiddleearth on Instagram, or this perfectly good link to take you straight there.

But of course, the most important and obviously most used social network is of course Planet Minecraft! Be sure to give us a diamond there. It costs nothing! Minecraft Middle Earth Minecraft Server


~ Closing Statement ~
Oh no, it looks like the Lore and Question of the Fortnight are not included! Not to worry, those are just delayed, they should be edited in soon! And would you look at that, Mapthor has decided to take up the Editor's Note full-time now, it's great to have another helping hand and less work for me. In light of the Reunion we had, and the upcoming Easter Events, I'll send off this Edition with a relevant quote :)

Thanks and hope you enjoyed,
Shen

Excellent work, Times Team!


Quote from Tim McGraw
“We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere.”

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The Official MCME Times
mcmiddleearth.com​
 
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This Week's Question:
Did the Rohirrim and Hobbits know each other in the distant past?

Yes, and no. To be more precise, the ancestors of the Rohirrim - the Northmen of the Vale of Anduin (Éothéod) - knew the Hobbits before either group migrated away from the Vale. The Rohirrim in turn remembered the Hobbits as creatures of legend, whom they called Holbytla (pl. Holbytlan):

The Riders laughed. ‘It cannot be doubted that we witness the meeting of dear friends,’ said Théoden. ‘So these are the lost ones of your company, Gandalf? The days are fated to be filled with marvels. Already I have seen many since I left my house; and now here before my eyes stand yet another of the folk of legend. Are not these the Halflings, that some among us call the Holbytlan?’
‘Hobbits, if you please, lord,’ said Pippin.
(The Two Towers, "The Road to Isengard")

In truth, this term is the etymological root of the word "hobbit":
The origin of the word hobbit was by most forgotten. It seems, however, to have been at first a name given to the Harfoots by the Fallohides and Stoors, and to be a worn-down form of a word preserved more fully in Rohan: holbytla ‘hole-builder’.
(The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F: "Of Hobbits")

Merry also eventually wrote a short treatise on the linguistic relations between his native "Hobbitish" and the Rohirric tongue:

In Brandy Hall there were many works dealing with Eriador and the history of Rohan. Some of these were composed or begun by Meriadoc himself [...]. He also wrote a short treatise on Old Words and Names in the Shire, showing special interest in discovering the kinship with the language of the Rohirrim of such ‘shire-words’ as mathom and old elements in place names.
(The Lord of the Rings, "Prologue")

So to summarise - the ancestors of the hobbits knew the ancestors of the Rohirrim, though the two peoples did not cross paths in many centuries, and the hobbits became a thing of legend in Rohirric culture.
 
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