I'm a novice, amateur writer. I started writing this book because, when I watched the six Rings of Power films, I felt that Thorin and his two nephews didn't deserve to die, that Beorn's fate was too cruel, and that the ordinary people of Lake-town hadn't done anything wrong. Balin, the old gentleman from the expedition, died in Dimrill Dale while trying to reclaim Moria—what a bitter irony. Why did Boromir have to die? Even Gandalf's rebirth felt so steeped in predestination. I didn't want to accept those endings, and that was what gave me the idea to write this book.
That brings us to another problem: the so-called free peoples of Middle-earth were in that kind of shape. The humans in the north were hopelessly ineffectual, the Dwarves had only just recovered, the woodland Elves had their own hands full, Lady Galadriel faced a formidable enemy in Dol Guldur, Rohan stood directly against Isengard, Gondor had it worst of all, and the Elves of Rivendell were getting ready to leave. How could you save them? All I could do was design a cheat of my own, one that wouldn't throw the power balance out of whack or feel too unfamiliar.
What I knew best was Mount & Blade and its various mods. Within that sphere, I had some confidence that I could give the protagonist steady, plausible growth in strength. That was why I chose this niche subject: for my seven years as a Mount & Blade video creator, and for the friends who came over from video sites to Qidian to support me.
Many readers have said that the simulation sections are tedious and long-winded. If they're only a way to make the protagonist stronger, why write them in such detail? All I want to say is that I put far, far more thought into writing the simulations than I do into the Rings of Power world. My idea is to portray the Mount & Blade world I envision through the protagonist's eyes, rather than simply write [You took part in a battle. You gained the allegiance of thirty soldiers.] and then have Allen wave his hand and summon them. If I wrote it that way, I couldn't keep writing at all. What the hell would that even be?!
Maybe you came for the Rings of Power setting, but please don't overlook the words "Mount & Blade Simulator" that follow it. Or maybe you really just don't enjoy reading a blow-by-blow account. That's understandable. I can understand all of it.
As a novice amateur writing part-time, how could anything I write possibly appeal to everyone? Readers offer criticism because they hope I'll improve, or because they hope to see a better work. I understand that, and I'm grateful for it. But this is how this book is written. If I changed the way I wrote the simulations, I might make them more complex, adding more narration and descriptions of inner thoughts so they felt less like a running log.
My hope is that, if you don't like those sections, you'll skip them. Or, if you're willing to support me, you can scroll to the end and help support the book's read-through numbers. If that doesn't work for you, let the chapters build up for a while. I think my update pace is decent, anyway. I can still guarantee 4,500 characters a day.
It won't take that long to write. There's only so much to cover in the Rings of Power, and even less in the north. Once that's done, the book will be finished.
Before you continue