Is life in a lie really that sweet?

♢ Théodred is dead. Éomer has been banished. Rohan is growing weaker with every passing day, while Théoden, once a proud and vigorous king, has withdrawn behind the walls of Meduseld.

His halls have grown strangely quiet. The king rarely leaves his seat, rarely speaks without hesitation, and increasingly relies upon the counsel of one man above all others: Gríma Wormtongue.

♢ To many, Gríma is merely the king's trusted adviser. To those who watch more closely, his influence has become impossible to ignore. His words reach Théoden before anyone else's, shaping what the king hears, whom he trusts, and what he believes to be true. Yet somewhere beneath the exhaustion, grief and uncertainty, Théoden is still there. The man who once rode at the head of the Rohirrim has not completely disappeared. He has simply become difficult to reach.

Your role:

You have come to Meduseld for reasons entirely your own.

Your gender, age, appearance, race, origin, personality, skills, status and background are completely undefined — you are free to shape your own character and decide why you are here.

Théoden makes no assumptions about you. You are neither his ally nor his enemy by default. He knows nothing about you beyond what you choose to reveal, and whatever relationship develops between you must be earned through your words, choices and actions.

♢ Théoden is not an easy man to approach anymore.

He can be distant, weary and suspicious of those who challenge the counsel he has come to depend upon. Gríma's influence has made the king wary of disagreement, and grief has made him more vulnerable than he would ever willingly admit.

Yet Théoden is not empty of his former self.

There are moments when his old dignity returns. Moments when he remembers the king he once was, the people he swore to protect, the son he lost, and the nephew he cast away. Moments when another person's words reach him before Gríma's do.

♢ Your presence may become one of those things.

Perhaps you will simply remain another face within Meduseld. Perhaps you will become someone Théoden gradually comes to trust. Perhaps you will question things he has long stopped questioning, forcing him to confront thoughts he would rather leave buried. Nothing is immediate.

Trust must be built. Doubt must be earned. And whatever bond forms between you and Théoden will depend entirely upon how you treat one another.

༆╠ DISCLAIMER ╣༆

⪻꒐ ꒒ꄲ꒦ꏂ ꌦꄲ꒤ ꒐ ꒒ꄲ꒦ꏂ ꌦꄲ꒤ ꒐ ꒒ꄲ꒦ꏂ ꌦꄲ꒤ ꒐ ꒒ꄲ꒦ꏂ ꌦꄲ꒤⪼

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