The little rendering Plot bunny...

One night I woke up and had a scene in my mind. It resulted in getting up immediately and setting it up in my rendering program; but it took far more than 2 months to actually complete the scene.

I have thought for quite some time about writing a story around this picture myself. But then, while chatting with my friend Kharessa, I came to a much better idea. How about letting *other* authors write something about this?

This is the picture (you can click on it to open a bigger, detailed version - but be careful, it may take some time to load - 440k). To find out what you actually see in the picture, scroll down; I have added a detailed description at the end of this page.

Here's the task:

Write a story around this picture. There are only some things that I ask of you:

• The twins have to be in it.
  And I did not say that the twins you can actually *see* in the picture have to be Elladan and Elrohir; there are another pair of twins that I could think of if you  ignore the scrolls as this would not match the timeline the scrolls provide.
   
• Whatever happens, you cannot change the inscriptions on the scrolls to match your story. It is, however, possible to completely ignore the scrolls in the story. You just cannot change what's written on them for your story's sake.
  For example, you cannot pretend that Elladan has read the love letters from his father to his mother.
   
• I would like to read and, afterwards link to your story if it is archived somewhere. If you have no place to archive your story, I would be proud to host it here.
   
• If your story is archived somewhere, it will for sure have the usual header (beta; rating, blah, blah). It would be nice if you could add the link to this site in the header so that your readers can also see what you are referring to in your story.
   
• Any genre is accepted, any rating and - also - two languages: English and German. If you *are* actually writing a story, you have to send the link or the story via email to me and/or also tell me if and where it is archived!

If you need more information on the scrolls, please scroll down. And if you should need a different rendering angle - maybe over Elladan's shoulder or something like that - just email me and I will happily do this for you!

And this is the prize:

Of course, there will be a little reward for the ones who actually write the story.

For the three stories I like best, I will render a picture which will be added to the actual picture, and you will get a personal desktop background from me. For example, if your story would result in a, well, slashy Elladan/Gil-galad story, the picture could look like this (of course, *if* someone comes up with a story like that, the 'dream' image will be different, depending on the scene which is actually described in the story!) :

This little competition will close on the 31st of December, 2003. If you should have no idea what to write about this picture but still like the idea, please feel free to email the link of this site to your friends - maybe they have an idea :-) 

Here's the detailed description of the picture.

Elrohir is standing next to Elladan who obviously fell asleep in a chair. There are some scrolls, one on a table between the chair and Elrohir and another one that Elladan has on his knees. The scrolls read as following:

The scroll on the table is written in Sindarin:

Gil-Galad nant aran edhellen
O den i thelegain naer linnar:
I ben vedui go ardh vain a lain
Min Eryd ah Aear.

Vagol dín and, ech dín laeg,
Thôl hilol dín palan-gennen;
In ngail arnediad mi dalf menel
Cennin mi thand geleb dín.

Dan io anann palan-rochant,
Ah ias e dortha uben bôl peded;
Mi môr gil dín dant
Mi Mordor ias i núath gaedar.

- and in English (I think this text is well know, as it is from Tolkien
himself, but I thought I should add it):

Gil Galad was an Elven King
Of him the harpers sadly sing:
the last whose realm was fair and free
between the mountains and the sea.

His sword was long, his lance was keen,
his shining helm afar was seen;
the countless stars of heaven's fields
were mirrored in his silver shield.

But long ago he rode away,
and where he dwelleth none can say;
for into darkness fell his star
in Mordor where the shadows are.

(By the way, have a try and sing these lines to the sound of "When the
Saints go marching in" - it matches!)

The scroll on Elladan's knees:

On the right side of this scroll there's a picture of Ereinion Gil-galad (by the way, please keep in mind that my Ereinion has *red* hair!). Over his chest, the words 'Gil-galad' are written. The left side (partly hidden) is also written in Sindarin and reads as following:

Gil-galad dangen ne medu auth, Sauron penio ho ne lech.
I medui brand aran edhellen aen neth ir ho degi na iphant 3579 idrinn.
Ned tin estent cuil, ho carn rim mae naid.
Ho hiro aranarth ned Lindon, ias rim edhil hiro sidh....

Would be in English:
Gil-galad was killed during the war, Sauron himself set him aflame.
The last high King of the Elves was young when he died at the age of 3579
years.
During his short life, he did many good things.
He founded the kingdom of Lindon, where many Elves found peace...

The book on the table:

There is also a book on the table behind Elladan's chair, but it is too dark to actually recognize the cover, so this is up to your imagination ;-)