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If you haven't watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy yet, please let us know how life is treating you circa 2001-2003. We gather it was a markedly more innocent time than our current state of affairs.
If you have watched the trilogy, however, then you've been privy to many elements and permutations of the LOTR fandom. Fan fiction and memorabilia are everywhere. Fan theories are wild and get wilder. And if you've paid attention at all, then it shouldn't surprise you to learn that LOTR bears similarities to a Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
Wait, what?
Yes, you read that correctly.
For those of you who don't know, Dungeons & Dragons (or D&D) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game. It's one of the most influential war games devised for the medium, producing more than $1 billion in equipment and book sales. The game marked a departure from traditional war games, allowing players to choose their own characters rather than play as a military formation.
According to College Humor cast member Brennan Lee Mulligan, LOTR is, in fact, a D&D campaign.
Hear him out:
The confusing parts of Lord of the Rings start to make a lot more sense when you realize it's actually just a trans… https://t.co/w3q48g83kq— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711899.0
1) Starts with a long, low-level adventure of just getting out of The Shire and getting the ring to Rivendell. DM o… https://t.co/BJKKWcsJyl— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711899.0
2) DM lets their friend Steve play an OP wizard character from a previous campaign because Steve is super busy IRL… https://t.co/bUz1oYQelU— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711899.0
3) Steve is clearly a touring musician IRL, because Gandalf is constantly dipping out of sessions for extremely wea… https://t.co/83QKr3LIg6— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711900.0
4) Word gets out that a fun campaign is going on. DM agrees to let Rachel play a badass ranger, she's so amped that… https://t.co/gR3UBfw3lY— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711900.0
5) Meanwhile, three other close friends find out Rachel is joining and pressure DM to let them play too. DM caves immediately.— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711900.0
Whoa. Go on...
6) DM responds to overwhelmingly large 9 person party by completely shifting the tone of the campaign and giving a… https://t.co/uViPOwj9Qv— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711900.0
7) Everyone very psyched. Boromir's player Kevin tries to stir up trouble "because that's what his character would do." Fuckin' Kevin.— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711900.0
8) DM plans the MOST badass dungeon, ends up railroading the party a bit to get there. ("Uh, you can't go over Cara… https://t.co/2Qndg7z0gb— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711900.0
9) Dungeon is awesome. Great encounters. Pippin rolls a Nat 1 on Stealth. Drums in the Deep. And right before the f… https://t.co/Ej8xTaDV5P— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711900.0
10) DM and Steve work out an awesome death scene, other PCs escape. Very sad, ends up making a great plot moment. S… https://t.co/7e8URHWaSq— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711900.0
11) Steve's death ends up being a great turning point, snaps everyone into character, RP heightens dramatically. Gi… https://t.co/JlEc91FUOp— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711901.0
Holy crap. Keep going...
12) IRL, Summer is drawing to a close, people's class/work schedules are not lining up. Tensions manifest in weird… https://t.co/gHQtZMMyRD— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711901.0
13) However, right afterwards intense combat breaks out, and Kevin makes an awesome character choice. For the 1st t… https://t.co/PciGJFpDob— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711901.0
14) Game has gotten SO INTENSE. Group agrees that 8 PCs is too hard to schedule during the school year, so Thursday… https://t.co/UFKmfDcSxM— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711901.0
15) Kevin asks if he can roll up an ACTUALLY evil character this time. DM is not really into it, offers to let Kevi… https://t.co/AOSHrLu5a1— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711901.0
16) DM now needs to do twice as much prep work per week, but running sessions is twice as easy. Gets a text on thei… https://t.co/RqfTawoYQY— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@Brennan Lee Mulligan) 1548711902.0
WHOA.
It all makes sense now.
@BrennanLM I've read everything Tolkien wrote multiple times, and taken university courses on his literature. Nothi… https://t.co/0mF3ExC4Ca— Blind Warlock (@Blind Warlock) 1548723802.0
mind=BLOWN https://t.co/5rMJZFZHoa— Fugazi Capitalist (@Fugazi Capitalist) 1548776478.0
Holy shit, where is the lie? https://t.co/ZIxwO7Jjf8— Bianca (@Bianca) 1548776884.0
A board game writ large... https://t.co/UZW1zzNKjH— Chris O'Leary (@Chris O'Leary) 1548776346.0
Thanks, Brennan. We're now incapable of watching the trilogy without these tweets in mind.