In SOI3, inevitably we run across prejudice in the world. Just an certain stereotypes and assumptions are rife in every culture in the world, so it is in Gondor and other realms. Wherever races exist, conflict for supremacy seems to follow. Over millenia since the Song of Creation there has been conflict, instilled you might surmise by the Creator who let it happen. Indeed, conflict is held by many to be a necessary part of life, for without it how can anything change and how can the mettle of heroes be tested? Why, without conflict and challenge, there is not even a need for heroes and that would be a dull world. So, to offer the beings of Middle-earth a chance to prove their worth, the Creator kindly ensured that at least one of his Choir was of dubious integrity; Melkor fell from grace to the material world. From these beginnings of the First Age come endless tales of endless wars, tragedy and heroism, extinction and creation. With these the Creator has been content and so watches the proceedings with a keen interest. Some might say that it is only the humans and elves who can improve themselves and learn from the lessons of life, but He would argue that even the Valar have much left to learn.

In this endless war, the great and arcane magics of the First Age diminished as countless Ageless Ones died and the Valar rolled up Middle-earth like a bulging carpet and stamped it into new shapes, thinking that those they fought with and against had some meaning in the greater plan and their Song. As the Second Age proceeded the Valar took their errant brother Melkor in chains back to the Choir and seemed to have oathed to no longer directly interfere, as even the Eagles were forbidden to aid the races of Men, Elves and Dwarves - they left them to decide what to do with the threat of the Necromancer Sauron. It would not be until the Wizards fought and Sauron was thrown down that they would allow intervention. Until then the veils of might unravelled and the Powers diminished and the ancient beings of might sank to sleep under dwarven halls and in deep caves in the Mountains of Shadows. When Gondolin fell, hundreds of drakes and scores of balrogs fought against the Elves and fell in heaps before their bright blades. 

Now, in the Third Age, a single balrog is the measure of any mortal and drakes hide in the northern mountains, their fathers slain. This is an Age in which Man's rise to rid the world of magic and mystery faces the final challenge of Sauron and the remnants of the once-mighty beings that Morgoth infused with his hate. Even these dwindling Powers are more than a match for those who have no imagination or bloodline - for them the Third Age is a time of farming, hunting, soldiering and superstitions. Few indeed remember the dread shapes of horror that once were commonplace and fewer still remember the heroes who faced them. And so we are left with those who will stand up to the darkness and hate with nothing more than the stubborness borne of generations of stubborn humans. Much to the irritation of those who stand against them, the humans refuse to understand that they cannot possibly win against hatred and the evil races arraigned against them. It is called arrogance by some, yet this same stubbornness can be seen in the halfling race and nobody would accuse them of arrogance. 

From the chronicles of Froissart to accounts of the World Wars, historians and poets alike bemoan the loss of the Rose of England in their final charges against the forces of the Shadow; yet each generation seems to breed fresh roses. it is what we ask of the soldiers of Shadows of Isildur - to stand firm in the knowledge that they will fall before Evil, yet perhaps they will do enough to hold the line for long enough that the Sun will rise.

Bolstering the forces of Man are of course those who dwindle such as the elf and dwarf. Within the race of Man however there still stand the Royal lines of Kings and Chieftains and those who have yet to interbreed and dilute their blood. Some humans, such as the Eotheod, maintain the purity of their Edain blood. The Dunedain are of course the most numerous survivors of previous Ages, yet unlike the Rose that blooms again and again every death of a Dunadan is mourned - for the pureblooded fall faster than they are born. Still, the Gondorians rely on the common blooded to stem dark tides, but it is to the Royals and the Pure-bloods that they look when champions of darkness ride from that ocean of filth and look to cast hope asunder. Champions fight champions - it has always been this way. When the bridge needs to be held against the black demon with fire in its eyes, when a warg chief threatens to toss aside the rearguard, when the nazgul takes form and pushes dark terror into the minds of all who face it, why that is when the champions will stand and face them. The Royals, the purebloods, those with the surging power inside them, they will face that which no other can endure. And, inevitably, the will fall as the years go by and they will not be replaced, just as the dark champions they slay are not replaced.

Or so it is said. Of course, when the night is at its most pitiless and all hope is lost, it is not always the King or the Chieftain who stands alone facing the final Enemy. Look then to the maiden, the halfling, or the last bodyguard who refuses to give up the body of his prince. All in all, what Sauron never ever conquered and never will is Love. Love burns bright and it is love for each other that keeps humans above the disaster of extinction. Love and stubborness - these two Powers are as potent as any blade wielded by a Champion of the First Age. Just ask Sauron, who has been denied seeing his spite and hatred triumph again and again. We can endure loss and we can even endure losing magic from this world if we have Love still. A farmer is a hero to his family. A Fellowship Journeyman is a hero to her apprentices. A mother is a hero to her children and husband. The bond of Gondor is one not of kingship or bloodline but of the everyday Gondorian choosing to put love in front of fear, of stubbornly refusing to give in to dread or hate or the breaking of Oaths.

So, bloodlines and prejudice - yes of course they exist as they do whenever a people are threatened. Yet, do not think that these are mundane times in a mundane world. Instead, remember that we live in a time that gifts us greatly - we have been gifted the opportunity to make a stand and to make a difference. We have the challenge of choosing to draw a line against the darkness, or flee before it. What will you do when it comes time to choose?