Howdy. I'm Jason Tondro. You can find a lot about me at my home page: Tondropolis
I participate in the LotRO community in several ways: I play a few characters (one more than the others), I run an RP kinship called the Red_Arrows, I write some columns for the LotRO RP Haven, I keep a blog, and more.
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Characters and Kinships
I have three characters at the moment, though the requirements of running an active kinship mean that I do not get to play most of them as much as I would like.
Imraheth of Dol Amroth
Imraheth is my main character. She began as a Guardian in Closed Beta under the name Imrahis, a name I used before in an article I wrote for the MERP Fanzine Other Hands. But research suggested Imraheth as a more proper Adunaic name, and I also took the plunge into Captain status with Open Beta. (I had always wanted to play her as a Captain, but the Turbine forums were and are filled with endless threads by people complaining about Captains, which initially deterred me from the class. They no longer do.)
Imraheth is a daughter of the House of Imrahil, the Prince of Dol Amroth. This character appears in a supporting role in Return of the King, where he leads a troop of several hundred "swan knights" into Minas Tirith and participates in the various battles against Sauron's forces there. He becomes one of the "Captains of the West" and although he has several heroic deeds he may be best known for spotting Eowyn on the field of battle and realizing she was still alive. Through Imrahil's quick action, the White Lady of Rohan was saved. Imrahil later went on to display great wisdom in his relations with Aragorn, and his daughter ended up marrying Eomer. He does not appear in the Peter Jackson films.
The Prince is Imraheth's cousin (technically they are first cousins once removed: Imrahil's grandfather Angelmir was Imraheth's great grand-father). The only child of her parents, she was indulged as a girl while also taught to ride, to hunt, and to wield a blade. She spent much of her time playing on the cliffs of her home in Belfalas, learning to sail, and exploring. (It was on one of her wanderings that she found the abandoned Elf haven of Edhellond, about 50 miles north of Dol Amroth along the Belfalas coast.) In her late twenties she came under pressure to marry, but she resisted, until by the age of 37 the scrutiny of her parents and the Prince became too much to bear.
She was sent to Minas Tirith for the express purpose of finding a husband, and she spent the winter of 3017 there. This proved to be an important time for Imraheth; she learned much about herself and came under the tutelage of a Gondorian aristocrat by the name of Margoliante. No husband was found, though for a time it seemed Imraheth might wed her second cousin Boromir simply to put an end to the matter. Boromir himself gently put and end to that notion and Imraheth returned to her family unengaged. However, she was not unchanged. Her time in Minas Tirith had impressed upon her the severity of the crisis with Mordor, and she had resolved to take what action a woman could.
Soon upon returning home, Imraheth took supplies and fled. She returned briefly for a quick trip to Minas Tirith to gather lorebooks and information, then she took ship from Pelargir on a merchant vessel bound for Eriador. The ship encountered fierce storms and sank; Imraheth was lucky to wash up at Tharbad, barely alive. Promptly captured by bandits who decided to hold her for ransom, she managed to persuade a small group of them of the nobility of her cause, and she was allowed to escape. She fled east and took brief refuge with the Wizard Saruman the White, who at that time treated her well. It was only an accidental glimpse of the palantir in Orthanc that prompted Imraheth (who knew of the stones from her research, and had seen a similar light from the study of Lord Denethor) to flee, this time pursued by Orcs of the White Hand. She took the road north to Bree, and relative safety.
Since that time, the lady Imraheth has devoted most of her time and effort to the Company of the Red Arrows, a group named after the legendary symbol of alliance in war. Imraheth believes that Denethor should have sent the Red Arrow already, and not just to Rohan but to all the Free Peoples of the West. Since he will not do so, she has decided to become like unto a Red Arrow herself -- a living messenger to every corner of Middle-earth. As her message spreads, her army grows, and her ultimate aim is to ride south with this army and lend crucial aid to the forces of Gondor.
However, now that she has reached Eriador, Imraheth has discovered something she did not expect: Sauron is already here, in the form of his minion the Witch-king and a renewed realm of Angmar. In her view, leading an army away from the Shire and Bree at this time would be the act of a craven coward; the homes of the Shirefolk are no less worth defending, even if they are not hers. Therefore she has decided to remain in the northland long enough to blunt the Witch-king's assault, though she expects the entire existence of Angmar is a massive feint intended to accomplish exactly this purpose. In the back of her mind, she knows that if Sauron can be defeated, the Witch-king will cease to be a threat, so it is only a matter of time before she moves south.
Away from the concerns of the Arrows, Imraheth is a private person plagued with grave doubts and inner conflict. Although she has some dear friends and even some family who have followed her to Eriador, her love-life is a trail of abandoned ruins.
The Captain-General of the Red Arrows is a tall, broad-shouldered, long-limbed woman who, though thirty eight, is blessed with the Numenorean blood of her royal house and can easily be mistaken for a woman half that age. Her hair is straight and black, her eyes grey, and her complexion light.
Imraheth's Family Tree
* = Prince of Dol Amroth (brackets) = non-canon character
Angelmir*
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Adrahil* (Imraheth's Grandfather)
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Ivriniel Finduilas(D) = Denethor II Imrahil* (Imraheth's father)
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(Balariond) Boromir Faramir Elphir Erchirion Amrothos Lothiriel (Imraheth)
Idis of Rohan
Idis is my tribute to Eowyn, my favorite character in Tolkien's novel. Formerly a member of the RP Kinship the Undamarth, she was not able to remain active enough for that group and is currently "between engagements." She's a Guardian in the low twenties.
Her name is simply Anglo-saxon for "lady." Lorehounds may recognize her as a Tolkien reference; in early drafts of LotR, Tolkien actually gave Theoden a daughter named Idis. She only survived for about half a chapter and had no dialogue before Tolkien cut her out and gave her role to Eowyn, who had shared scenes with Idis up to that point.
My Idis was raised by her mother on a horse ranch in western Rohan and was told that she was Theoden's daughter. She wants very much to believe this, but is terrified that the story is false. When her mother died, she sold the ranch and went west rather than try to confront Theoden on the truth of the matter.
Eldiriel the Wise
I love the loremaster class and I have a great desire to play an Elven jeweler so that I can get my Silmarillion on. Eldiriel lets me do that, though not very often. She's a founding member of the all-loremaster kinship known as the Heren Istarion.
The Red Arrows
I am the founder and leader of the Red_Arrows Roleplaying Kinship on Landroval server. You can read a lot about us here in the lorebook or on our website, so I won't repeat it all here.
Running the Red Arrows has had its share of disappointments and frustrations. However, I have very much enjoyed embracing Tolkien's setting and making a group which interacts with it. We have some wonderful people in the kinship, and I have made some nice friends there. I think the most rewarding thing about the kinship for me personally was that it got me to write a short story, "The Blessing of Fionwe," which I rather like.
Websites and Forums
Turbine's Official LotRO Forums
I am fairly active on the official LotRO Forums, where you can find me as jtondro. In particular, I have made the Lore Q & A thread in the Roleplaying forum my special home.
The Long Defeat
The Long Defeat is my LotRO Blog. I use it as a place to make pithy comments on the game. Expect a lot of "what I would do if I were a dev" entries. Sometimes I write essays, which other people have the temerity to call "rants."
A Stone Doomed To Rolling
This is the column I write for the LotRO RP Haven. The first essay explored how we can roleplay love and sex in Middle-earth and still remain true to Tolkien. The second discussed three "Heresies", story and plot elements which would get most Tolkien purists pretty steamed but which I think are pretty well supported by "the lore" and which would make great stories.
