The Middle Earth Popularity Cup

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Have you ever wondered who's the most popular Middle Earth character here on the downs? What better way to find out than by a silly popularity-game?

I've arranged a tournament grid of 32 main characters of JRRT's books which here follows (sorry if I forgot someone significant; Edit: I did, so Celeborn is out Sam in):



Frodo (5) vs. The Gaffer (1)
Beleg Strongbow (5) vs. Farmer Maggot (4)
Peregrin Took (2) vs. Mim the Petty Dwarf (5)
Sauron (5) vs. Tuor (5)

Bilbo (5) vs. Maedhros (6)
Glaurung (6) vs. Thorin Oakenshield (5)
Boromir (9) vs. Beren (3)
Saruman (9) vs. Gollum (4)

Gandalf (10) vs. Tom Bombadil (8)
Elrond (7) vs. Eowyn (7)
Meriadoc Brandybuck (6) vs. Luthien (7)
Fëanor (5) vs. Galadriel (9)

Aragorn (6) vs. Thingol (2)
Legolas (3) vs. Samwise (9)
Gimli (8) vs. Turin (8)
Faramir (6) vs. Beorn (8)

The winner of each tie will be decided by voting. The first character of each match-up to receive five votes from five different users advances to the next round, where he or she will face off against the winner of the tie below.

You don't have to motivate your choices but it would be nice

Voting rules revised:
The voting will now be allowed to continue for approx. 24 hours until a deadline set at 12.00 AM board time. This means the voting will not be stopped if a character reaches 5 before the deadline. If none of the characters has reached 5 when the deadline expires the voting will continue until one does. If the score is tied at 5 or higher when the deadline passes (this is new!) anyone may vote again and the first to do so decides the contest in sudden death fashion

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Match 1 of round 1.

Frodo Baggins vs. Gaffer Gamgee

These wonderful characters are short only in stature. Ringbearer and main protagonist Frodo comes into this tie as the favourite, but the Gaffer's armed with a bag of memorable quotes and could cause an upset. Who will prevail? Vote for your favourite now!

First to five wins.

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Almost 40 views and no votes?

C'mon, it's easy and only takes seconds of your life!

Just like this:

++Frodo.

Never cared for how the Gaffer always tells his son how useless he is. Frodo, although a bit boring perhaps, did after all save everyone by destroying the ring.

See, now it's 1-0 to Frodo. First to 5 votes advances to the next round.

[Nerwen]

Well, just to be contrary–

++The Gaffer.

Someone who manages to get quoted so much when he was hardly in the story deserves a vote.

Besides, technically speaking Frodo didn't destroy the Ring.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Well, for me this is a hard choice. But I will go for

++Frodo

First, his posts seem fishy. Second, his reaction to my suspicion proved... eh, sorry, wrong thread.

I like Gaffer for lots of things, but I also like Frodo and maybe it is just a question of current mood: I feel right now like being closer to Frodo than to Gaffer. Frodo is... classic, we all know much about his character, so maybe this is it. And I like his character.

[Nerwen]

Oh, I really like Frodo better too, but I didn't want the contest to be too one-way.

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

Well, for me this is a hard choice. But I will go for

++Frodo

First, his posts seem fishy. Second, his reaction to my suspicion proved... eh, sorry, wrong thread.

Legate, if I could rep you for this I would. Thanks for the laugh, anyway.

[Aganzir]

++Frodo

I like to compare him to Siddharta Gautama; having lived a happy youth, he went through a lot of suffering to achieve wisdom.
In the beginning he was a simple, ordinary hobbit - just like the Gaffer - but on returning home he had learnt forgiveness, mercy, and peace. When I was little, I found him a bit boring, not a proper hero, when he refused to bear weapons in the end, but now that's one of the most important things why I like him.

Frodo-3
Gaffer-1

edit: xed with Legate