Coventry Moot, The Rangers of Mordor Minor
By Dominic Russell
Today, I went to the Coventry Moot of The Rangers of Mordor Minor. This is, of course, a Tolkien thing. In the Tolkien Society, local groups are called Smials after the dwellings of the Hobbits in Middle Earth. The Rangers of Mordor Minor are the Coventry Smial.
We are called the Rangers of Mordor Minor because a few years ago I was a bit down on Coventry (because it is run by orcs) and took to calling it Mordor Minor. The Rangers in Lord of the Rings are men, usually of Dúnedain origin, who spend their time in Orc controlled territories causing chaos. When I was a bit down about Coventry, I wanted something that would be a resistance to what I saw as the mismanagement of our cultural affairs, so the name ‘The Rangers of Mordor Minor’ was born.
The group was quite active before Covid but fell into decline during and after Covid, to the point where we had not met for some years. This month I got a little push from a member to start up again and it took me a week to put the event together. That’s not a boast because it was a meet-up in a pub and a week is not enough time for the adverts to drum up lots of interest, but we got three other members – which, including myself, made a good four attendees.
The event was held in the Old Windmill pub in Coventry, which is rapidly becoming a cultural hotspot for the city. It is the oldest pub in the city and a lovely venue. I was able to snag a room at the back where I laid out my Gondorian flag and tastefully arranged two Lord of the Rings books. Being a fan of Guinness, in particular the new 0% version, I grabbed a pint and waited for people to arrive. When we had all arrived and the cheese board came (I made a mistake, ordered the big one and everyone was able to share – seriously, it was huge) we started discussing the Smial, when we would meet and most importantly what we would read. Since we were all at various points of Lord of the Rings, we came to the conclusion that we would all start our favourite epic again and begin The Hobbit. I was moved by our self sacrifice in re-reading our favourite text.
Our next meet up is 19th October at 5pm on Discord and if you would like to attend, please find The Rangers of Mordor Minor group on Facebook or drop me a comment and I will link you in.