If you haven’t heard, apparently some other kind of “March Madness” has started up, and yesterday was crazy with lots of close games, upsets, and the like.*
But the real wackiness came yesterday at 5:00 pm EST, when the polls closed on Round 2 of the Gryffindor and Dragon Army divisions. The results might shock you.
- In what I’d call a rather astounding upset (considering the popularity of the character), Aragorn went down to Ged in a closely contested match-up of magic versus steel. In the end, the Wizard of Earthsea took down the Warrior of Middle-Earth with 51% of the over 13,000 votes. While Ged was certainly the higher seed, the prevailing thought here was that, at the end of the day, more people are going to know (and vote) for Aragorn than Ged.
It was cool to be proven wrong.
- Keeping with the “I-can’t-believe-a-Lord-of-the-Rings-character-went-down” theme of the day, Roland Deschain–aka, the Gunslinger–popped a narrow cap in Gandalf’s hind-quarters, pulling off what has to be one of the bigger upsets in Cage Match history. Winning by mere percentage points, Roland took home a 50% of the 13,900 votes to Gandalf’s 49%**
And that means Mr. Tolkein has now exited the arena (but not–ever–our hearts!).
- On the other end of the spectrum, Rand Al’Thor easily defeated Conan the Barbarian, garnering 76% of the 14,300 votes to move into the next round.
Finally, the see-saw battle.
- Drizzt fans came out in full-force when the polls opened, only to see their rather substantial lead get reversed when they opened up the Internet the next morning–the Shrike had taken a devastating 70% to 29% lead! But, like the wily drow himself, the fans didn’t give up, and they slowly whittled away at the Shrike until, at the last minute, eked out a 50% to 49% squeaker over the time-traveling machine of death. Almost 18,000 fans voted for this match, making it the second leading vote-getter after Jaime vs. Hermione from Round 1.
And that’s it! The polls are still open for the Nightwatch and Fellowship divisions, but they close at 5:00 pm EST this Sunday, so make sure to vote!
*Curse you, Georgetown!
**Again, for those who are new to the polling system, fractions are eliminated to allow for a clear winner and loser in each match.
I’d like to request more “mutton-on-a-stick” vendors next time we do this. The rabble-rousers are getting fairly peckish by this point.
are you going to make more recap videos on youtube? i really enjoyed the first!
Yes there will be. It’s in post-production now, and should be up by tomorrow. Make sure to keep an eye out for it!