Group H at Dunharrow
The road through Dunharrow, lined with the stone statues the Rohirrim called Pukel-Men was now lined with mostly Men, Orcs, and other beastlies, but also small packs of Elves and Dwarves were heading through up the narrow passage, to cheer for individual favorites like Feanor and Legolas or Gimli. And out of the Dwimorberg, through the Dimholt, came a particularly ghostly and chilling group to support the King of the Dead. Rarely before had these ghouls ventured out of their haunted mountain, but with their King playing on Minas Morgul, they felt their King's call to watch the games.
Where they were all heading? To Firienfeld where the Rohirrim have used the Firien plain as the pitch, and have carved 85,000 seats into the encircling White Mountains. Some spectators believed the seating wasn't ideal since even the closest row of seats were quite removed from the field and players benches. And there were questions of how would you get almost 90,000 people through the congested mountain pass, from Edoras (which was going to be providing all the food and lodging)?
However most were pleased with the large Firienfeld, since no matter where one was sitting, one could see the entire pitch, and the mountains encircling the plain insured the noise from the crowd would be ear-deafening. Lothlorien had the fewest fanbase, and most seemed divided more by either loving Feanor or Galadriel, not so much the 'Lothlorien' brand. Although the Rohirrim would find little difficulty cheering for not only their home team, but also for Lothlorien with Shadowfax and Gandalf, and their friends from Minas Tirith.
The one thing everyone agreed on was Minas Morgul would be the outcasts of the group. The Rohirrim would be hurt if their own team didn't make it, but as long as Minas Morgul didn't go through that would be acceptable. And that was the other problem the Rohirrim would have on their hands, because Minas Morgul had a swarming crowd hoping to get tickets to their teams' games. The Witch-King put together the best PR effort, and not a greater host leaving from Minas Morgul had been recorded in history before (and when joined by the dead men from the Dwimorburg, and the Corsairs out of Umbar, Minas Morgul's numbers swelled to nearly 40,000).
What security problems would this cause, because surely the Rohirrim (nor the Minas Tirithians) would like having to play host to this unruly crowd of their ancient enemies? And especially since such a large turnout came from Minas Morgul, the home town fans were wondering how much of a "home-field" advantage they would enjoy?
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Fenris Penguin
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