• 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 ~ [08/22/2021]

Textures and Videos!
Duke didn’t “no texture” the pack this time!
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Editor's Note by Mapthor
G’day! Welcome back to the MCME Times! It’s been a hot minute since we last spoke, but that’s what college will do to ya. Anyways, the news! We got a brand new texture update, Effie rolled out a stunning new video with a clickbait thumbnail, and another Guide stepped down. Truly intriguing times here on Minecraft Middle-Earth! Hope you enjoy :)

Happy Sailing,
Mapthor

~ Project Progress ~

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

Another 2 weeks go by in Anorien. More of the Pelennor has been built, with the fields finally passing the great gates of Minas Tirith. Additionally, more of the farmland has been planned out moving southwards towards Harlond and Pelargir, pathing the way for the final sections of the Pelennor to start construction. More terrain colouring plots have also been completed on the hills of Anorien, adorning the hills with much needed detail.

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Cair Andros – Lead: @Andrewpioneer | In Progress
Report by Andrewpioneer

We've begun building on main world now. So far we have pretty much finished the western gatehouse and its subsidiary gates. The wool planning needs to be updated to accommodate the new terrain. Terrain detailing jobs are still being planned out, not much news on that front.

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Harlond – Lead: @Mershy | In Progress
Report by Mershy

Lots of busy work including most of the main commercial area being done, interiors and exteriors have been sprouting up all over the shot as well as some great wall jobs ran by our amazing foreman Effie. Some continued planning and design talks have been held so we hope to keep progressing the project at a good pace so continue to watch out for jobs and plots!

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

Little progress has been made in Lond Daer, as I've been busy moving into a new apartment for school.

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

D&D have been working hard, not on season 9 of Game of Thrones, but in Moria. Daom has been working towards getting the upper West Gate entrance finished and is quite happy with what he's got. The next stages will be to paste it into Moria and align it where certain bits don't. Aside from that, Duke has worked hard on getting another update of the pack out by adding some great building blocks tying the pack closer to how Gondor is set up.

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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
  • Guest
  • Tidc
  • Puffer404
#MCMEdoesnotrunitself


~ Rank Updates ~
Report by givet10

ConfusedLlama: After mapthor decided to step down, Llama unfortunately has followed him. He's been a great Guide, with lots of PvP, tours and events. He's been very busy and can't find the time to contribute to the community at the moment. Let's hope he will be back in at some point in the future, thanks for everything you've done!
Resignation

~ Winners of “The Week” ~

This fortnight in #screenshots, we saw a floating ladder above Pelennor Fields, a puffer fish getting burned alive in a fireplace amidst a crowd of spectators, and Maski doing his balancing act on top of TheStephen. A shame none of it could make it into the Media Winners, but ah well, better luck next time. What did make it into the Media Winners, however, was some quality content ripe for viewing, and here it is.

MEDIA Winners:
Honorable Mention: I do really like the composition and lighting of this shot. It's just a shame it's such a low resolution (854 x 480p). Makes me think Bohemian_Beetle took this shot in windowed mode.

Bohemian_Beetle_4.png



Honorable Mention: I like the composition of this shot by Rogue_Scholar, except for the two blocks prominent in the foreground which distract pretty well from the focus. The lighting on those two blocks also makes little sense to me.

Rogue_Scholar_Apollo_Shader_2.png



Honorable Mention: There was a successful council at Rivendell today where Elrond picked the nine members of a new group called "The Fellowship of the Ring". Details from the meeting are still coming in, but it appears this company will be leaving Rivendell at some point to take some ring to Mount Doom to be destroyed. Here's a picture our lead photographer on the scene, D3rr3x, managed to snap shortly after the council's conclusion.

D3.png



Honorable Mention: The lighting on the blocks in this shot is very strange if you look closely, though it's a bit tricky to notice at first glance. I'll also mention the fire being lit in the rain doesn't make much sense, but perhaps the rain only just started, so I won't deduct points for that. Still, composition-wise, this looks pretty dang good. Shot by Givet.

Givet_2.png



Honorable Mention: Remember that resolution issue I mentioned with Bohemian_Beetle shot earlier? Here it is again, and it's pretty noticeable on the leaves in the foreground at the top left of the shot, too. I might also mention the fact that he has wind effects turned on which is making parts of the terrain wave in the wind. The lighting and composition were nice, though.

Bohemian_Beetle_5.png



Honorable Mention: Here we have a rare case where I think the higher FOV actually improves the shot. Shot by Rogue_Scholar.

Rogue_Scholar_Apollo_Shader_1.png



Honorable Mention: Pretty lil' shot of the statue at the King's Crossroad. Very simplistic, but very well done. Shot by Givet.

Givet_1.png



Honorable Mention: You might think this is the only floating ladder in the world, but you'd actually be wrong. In fact, Bohemian_Beetle was standing on the only other floating ladder in the world when he took this shot. It's true!

Bohemian_Beetle_3.png



Honorable Mention: While I don't think the lighting and tone of this shot compares too well to RRe36's previous Minas Morgul shots, I do really quite like the angle and slight blur of this one.

2021-08-12_19.42.27.jpg



Honorable Mention: One of the more photogenic fellows on the server, the Balrog had another shot taken of him recently by !TedoIsBad, which was quickly well-edited by Givet. It's rare to see a shot of the Balrog from this angle so far away from it, capturing with it the whole 2nd Hall.

Givet_3.png



Honorable Mention: Very similar to a shot by Bohemian_Beetle that made it in last edition's Media Winners, but this is indeed a different shot with a different tone and lighting. Plus, this one has a fine-looking sky edited into it. What more could one ask for?

Bohemian_Beetle_6.jpeg



Media Winner: I really liked the composition and lighting of this shot by Rogue_Scholar. No flaws stand out to me or anything and the lighting is nice and smooth. Well done, Rogue!

Rogue_Scholar_Apollo_Shader_3.png


THEME-BUILD Winners




~ Lore of the Week ~

The Origin of the Orcs, part I

One of the hottest topics in Tolkien lore - what are the Orcs really? The answer is not a straightforward one.

As with many things in Tolkien’s lore, there are contradicting accounts and texts that should be taken into consideration when seeking an answer, and we cannot always find a concrete answer at all. When it comes to the origin of the Orcs, there are two likely solutions: (1) Orcs are tortured and corrupted Elves; and (2) Orcs were originally Men (i.e. humans). The difference between the two, insofar as the validity of those options goes, is that one is firmly rooted within the established narrative of published stories, whereas the other is clearly Tolkien’s own later view on the matter, though he never got around to implementing it in practice.

(I will note that a third view also exists - that Orcs are in fact soulless beasts of humanised shape - but this notion was rejected by Tolkien in the very same essay in which it was introduced, so I will say no more of it.)

So as to not make this overlong, I will now present the first possible origin of the Orcs, and save the second for the next edition of the Times.

The original view - that Orcs were bred from Elves - comes from the published Silmarillion:

“Yet this is held true by the wise of Eressëa, that all those of the Quendi who came into the hands of Melkor, ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison, and by slow arts of cruelty were corrupted and enslaved; and thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves, of whom they were afterwards the bitterest foes. […] This it may be was the vilest deed of Melkor, and the most hateful to Ilúvatar.”
(The Silmarillion, “Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor”)

Undertones of this narrative persist throughout the stories of Middle-earth as we know them. A major theme in Tolkien’s works is that Men awoke with the dawn of a new era, with the very creation of the Sun and Moon; however, from the stories of the First Age we know that the first two of the six major battles of Beleriand - the First Battle and the Dagor-nuin-Giliath (“Battle-under-Stars”) - were fought before the creation of the Sun. Thus, by necessity, the origin of the Orcs must significantly predate the Awakening of Men, and so a Mannish origin cannot fit in the storyline as we know it. Furthermore, the corruption of Elves into Orcs, thralls of Morgoth, underlines yet another theme present in the stories of the First Age, which then gives further colour to the turmoils of the later days too: Elves are indeed corruptible.

The corruptibility of Elves (i.e. the descent or fall from the unshakeable moral standard of the graceful and eternal angelic beings that they might be viewed as by other, “lesser” peoples in Middle-earth) can be seen in many places in the legendarium, from the Oath of Fëanor (and the later actions of his sons), to Thingol’s treatment of Beren (and plenty of other shortcomings on his part), to the persecution of the Petty-Dwarves by the Doriathrim, to the actions of Eöl and Maeglin, and even to Thranduil’s greedy predisposition (“If the elf-king had a weakness it was for treasure […]” [The Hobbit, “Flies and Spiders”]). The existence of Orcs, in this sense, highlights the extreme end of the spectrum of what an Elf could be made into, and the weight of the horror of this corruption drives the very foundations of Tolkien’s stories.

The final part of the quote from the Silmarillion above - “This it may be was the vilest deed of Melkor, and the most hateful to Ilúvatar” - is (IMHO) one of the most powerful quotes in the legendarium as a whole, for it gives us a glimpse into the true depths of Morgoth’s terror: his assault on and the bastardisation of the first and purest creation made by Eru personally within the World. Later in his life Tolkien leaned away from this narrative, and more towards the idea that Elves are indeed even purer and thus entirely incorruptible - Tolkien’s own love for the Elves, it seems, made him drift away from the Elvish origin of Orcs. But herein lies another argument for keeping the Elvish origin: it can be argued that it is simply a stronger narrative choice, more impactful and profound in its implications.

As for the implications of Tolkien’s later view of Elven incorruptibility, as well as his later writings on the origin of the Orcs - look forward for the next edition of the Times.

~ Question of the Week ~

This Week's Question: What was the colour of the other bearded Elf's beard? (Bonus: how many times can you fit the word "beard" and its derivatives in the answer without being too awkward about it?)

Question: What in Círdan’s appearance set him apart from most other Elves?

Correct Answer: Círdan is notable for having a beard, and is in fact one of only two Elves (that we know of) to have one.

Turns out if Melkor won't answer in 23 minutes, Hypr will in 45!

Presented by: HoverKing


~ 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~

Yeah, I don't know why we always wait until the last minute to turn in our parts, but it just works.

Excellent work, Times Team!


Quote by Sam Porter Bridges
"If you're not scared of death, how can you value life?"

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The Official MCME Times
mcmiddleearth.com​
 
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This Week's Question: What was the colour of the other bearded Elf's beard? (Bonus: how many times can you fit the word "beard" and its derivatives in the answer without being too awkward about it?)
Mahtan, Feanor's father in law had a beard, which was red like his hair. (no bonus :p)
 
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