Maybe The Horse Will Learn To Sing

[LancyIain]

Clearly, you take "ASB" rather literally. That gave me a nice chuckle when I saw where you were going with it.

And then you succeeded in making a 90-year-old grandma scary. Genius.

I have to say, though; I'm very much judging Mandy for not getting Her Majesty's accidental Inklings joke.

Be fair; non-ASB Mandy already missed such puns in the timeline. ASB Mandy is unlikely to suddenly start spotting them,

 

[Meadow]

I really hope this does well in the New Modern category of the Turtledoves. It certainly deserves to - it's become an AH.com 'brand' in my experience this year.

 

[LancyIain]

I really hope this does well in the New Modern category of the Turtledoves. It certainly deserves to - it's become an AH.com 'brand' in my experience this year.

I hope that some who would be put off by the subject matter give it a try as a result of the nominations. I suspect more than a few would be pleasantly surprised by it.

Hammond was appointed Transport OTL and was interested in it in opposition - I organised a speech he gave on the railway franchising system. I think Cameron would give Clarke Environment as part of his detoxification strategy; everyone thinks of him as a very wet Tory, although on environmental issues he isn't really. Pickles and DCLG are a natural fit, though it's one the Lib Dems would quite like I expect.

IDS really wants DWP; apparently Cameron tried to offer him Shadow Defence and he declined. He'll stay there if he can.

May at Justice is an odd one, though - remember that Grayling is the first ever non-lawyer to hold that office; I can see that in a situation with lots of constitutional issues in the public eye you'd want someone not totally ignorant of law as Lord Chancellor. I agree she's got to have a job, and a senior one at that. Maybe she'd get Environment and Clarke MWP.

I'm glad that my attempt to decipher the Conservative portion of the Cabinet isn't totally unreasonable. I know that Hammond was Transport Secretary OTL and that he was interested in the job once he got it, but was he before hand? I don't know about that. If so then I definitely agree he would probably be given that role. I went with May at Justice solely because I couldn't come up with another job that couldn't really be seen to be a demotion when IDS takes over the role she's been shadowing. And of course Cameron obviously felt she could do the job of Home Secretary, so I thought he might think the same about Justice with the two roles not being completely dissimilar. I don't think it's impossible that she could end up at Environment though. I thought Grieve would still get Attorney General ITTL, so that would open up Justice. Possibly for Clarke as OTL initially, or is there somebody else who would be likelier than May?

 

[Whanztastic]

I really hope this does well in the New Modern category of the Turtledoves. It certainly deserves to - it's become an AH.com 'brand' in my experience this year.

I'm glad The Biden Express was nominated for New Cold War because I expect this to do well in New Modern. I'm going to vote for it.

 

[Plumber]

Oh, that was brilliant. Now I want a full ASB sequel...

 

[Thoresby]

To be honest I think the ASB ending is better than the "real" one, though it was great.

 

[AndyC]

Many thanks to everyone!

I was genuinely concerned that the huge shift in tone might not be to people's tastes, but it looks like my fears were ungrounded.

And yes, I also judged MandyC for not picking up on the Inklings pun as well

Questions that I maybe can answer:

So, how long will the immortal Queen-Empress reign over the Earth? And can she use the Ring to restore her youth?

The Ring will, if held, prevent her from ageing too far, although it will not grant new life. She should remain hale, as an elderly but fit member of her race ... until she fades ...

When she fades, and evidence suggests that this can take 300-500 years+ of bearing it, for a mortal, dependant on innate resistance and amount of use, she would exist in mental anguish, unable to relinquish her hold on life and unwilling to give up her Ring. She would be an invisible Wraith-Queen.

The big danger for her, when she gets to that stage, is that Sauron isn't dead. Assuming that the stories are true, of course - Sauron was reduced to an impotent shade, unable to take physical form again. But as an accomplished Necromancer, he could possess mortals - if he had the right pathway. Wielding a Greater Ring and outliving your lifespan ... well.

And yes, I've put far too much thought into this. Even to the point of working out names for the Nine Rings and what they were made from.
(Elizabeth's Ring, by the way, is Araya, the Ring of Nobility. Third made of the Nine. Keen Tolkien scholars can guess where I got the idea for the first Three to be made if I say that the First of the Nine was (in my mind) Curuya (The Ring of Skill), and the second was Noloya (The Ring of Lore).)

Bonus Tolkien points for anyone who can get the meaning of the title of the ASB piece

 

[Thande]

You know, this is actually how Turtledove started

Well, sort of. He started writing his Videssos books in the Sixties where the plot was based on a Roman Legion being ISOTed to Fourth Age Gondor and having to face intrigues by a mysterious villain who would turn out to be the Witch-king of Angmar reborn. (Those who have read the Videssos books can still see traces of that idea in what eventually resulted after Turtledove made his own fantasy setting based off the Byzantine Empire).

 

[Meadow]

You know, this is actually how Turtledove started

Well, sort of. He started writing his Videssos books in the Sixties where the plot was based on a Roman Legion being ISOTed to Fourth Age Gondor and having to face intrigues by a mysterious villain who would turn out to be the Witch-king of Angmar reborn. (Those who have read the Videssos books can still see traces of that idea in what eventually resulted after Turtledove made his own fantasy setting based off the Byzantine Empire).

Interesting that the first big ISOT movie since The Final Countdown is about a modern US infantry [something] going back in time to the Roman Empire. Clearly there's a theme here.

 

[Julius Vogel]

You know, this is actually how Turtledove started

Well, sort of. He started writing his Videssos books in the Sixties where the plot was based on a Roman Legion being ISOTed to Fourth Age Gondor and having to face intrigues by a mysterious villain who would turn out to be the Witch-king of Angmar reborn. (Those who have read the Videssos books can still see traces of that idea in what eventually resulted after Turtledove made his own fantasy setting based off the Byzantine Empire).

Really? How interesting. I should find these books

 

[Thande]

Really? How interesting. I should find these books

The first four Videssos Cycle books (The Misplaced Legion, An Emperor for the Legion, The Legion of Videssos, Swords of the Legion) make a pretty good series. They used to be really hard to find outside the USA but they've been released as a megatome single volume now and I believe they're in eBook format too now as well.

 

[Jonathan Edelstein]

The first four Videssos Cycle books (The Misplaced Legion, An Emperor for the Legion, The Legion of Videssos, Swords of the Legion) make a pretty good series. They used to be really hard to find outside the USA but they've been released as a megatome single volume now and I believe they're in eBook format too now as well.

The two prequel series are also pretty good, although the last, stand-alone book that attempts to explain the origin of the Big Bad isn't up to the others' standard.

And QE2 will become a Ringwraith? I'm both appalled and awed - I'll join the chorus of praise.

 

[Thande]

And QE2 will become a Ringwraith? I'm both appalled and awed - I'll join the chorus of praise.

Of course, Boris will then turn out to be Tom Bombadil.

(Realises his reference is too obscure because the bit in the earlier drafts where Bombadil stops the Ringwraiths was cut from the final version except for one mention at the Fords of Bruinen scene which was left in by accident)

 

[Julius Vogel]

Haha oh dear. Somehow I'd missed THE update and was a tad confused. I now have rectified that and join in the general praise.

I would note however, if anyone has seen Andy's contributions to some of the LOTR related threads on this forum, it perhaps should not be such a surprise that he could be the author of such a wonderful crossover.

 

[NCW8]

Of course, Boris will then turn out to be Tom Bombadil.

"Boris Johnson is a merry fellow! Bright Blue his rosette is, and his hair is yellow!"

I'd like to add my praise as well. Love the Ninja Queen Mum!


Cheers,
Nigel.

 

[OwenM]

And yes, I've put far too much thought into this. Even to the point of working out names for the Nine Rings and what they were made from.
(Elizabeth's Ring, by the way, is Araya, the Ring of Nobility. Third made of the Nine. Keen Tolkien scholars can guess where I got the idea for the first Three to be made if I say that the First of the Nine was (in my mind) Curuya (The Ring of Skill), and the second was Noloya (The Ring of Lore).)

Bonus Tolkien points for anyone who can get the meaning of the title of the ASB piece

Fantastic to the first, no idea to the second.
I'm guessing it's meant to be a deliberate homage by Celebrimbor?

 

[NCW8]

Bonus Tolkien points for anyone who can get the meaning of the title of the ASB piece

Would that be Galadriel's Lament ?

"For now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the Stars,
from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds,
and all paths are drowned deep in shadow;
and out of a grey country darkness lies on the foaming waves between us,
and mist covers the jewels of Calacirya for ever.
Now lost, lost to those from the East is Valimar!"


Cheers,
Nigel.

 

[Chris S]

Brilliant. I don't think anyone's ever done a crossover before between David Icke and J.R.R. Tolkien

At first with the mention of five rings I thought you were going for the even more obscure reference of the fact that in an earlier draft it mentions Five Rings in the poem...

Were you thinking of this map by any chance? Although that one does not place Mordor in the Med., as Tolkien himself said it was.

I always thought in that map that the Black Sea should have been labelled as the Sea of Núrnen and that land-locked White Sea should have been labelled as the Sea of Rhûn.

 

[AndyC]

Would that be Galadriel's Lament ?

"For now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the Stars,
from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds,
and all paths are drowned deep in shadow;
and out of a grey country darkness lies on the foaming waves between us,
and mist covers the jewels of Calacirya for ever.
Now lost, lost to those from the East is Valimar!"


Cheers,
Nigel.

Bingo! 10 Tolkien points to Nigel.

 

[Thoresby]

Interesting that the first big ISOT movie since The Final Countdown is about a modern US infantry [something] going back in time to the Roman Empire. Clearly there's a theme here.

What movie is that?