32 Comments
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Antonio Castellaneta's avatar

You really captured the ritual, haunted cadence of Tolkien’s world here without making it feel like simple imitation. The repetition and sound structure carry that sense of obsession and corrosion beautifully.

“But the gold began to hunger” especially stood out to me. That’s where the Ring stops feeling like an object and becomes a living will again.

There’s something genuinely tragic in the way Sméagol’s voice keeps collapsing into devotion and ruin at the same time.

Ilias Shepherd Marrow's avatar

Stefan!!!! Brilliant writing!!!! Oh my goodness!!!!

Mack!!! Wow! Phenomenal voice over!!!! What the heck n’ stuff guys!!!!!

I listened ta Smeagol first … gonna go fer the Hero Version next!!!

Kathy Dirickson's avatar

Is that your voice? Storyline is great, I am going to listen to the next one.

Stefan Pasek's avatar

No that wasnt me. The audio was by Mack Devlin

AsukaHotaru's avatar

The velvet-in-the-palm bit... I hate that something can be soft and still eat you alive, all shiny and horrible like it knows exactly what it’s doing.

Stefan Pasek's avatar

I think its all to common that the soft and nice things are what actually cause the most harm. Probably in part because the thorny and sharp things of this world cause hesitation and caution, while the soft does not.

Hai Dang's avatar

Smegol's evil laughs... Chef kiss. Thank you both for this masterpiece. 🖤 🙏

Stefan Pasek's avatar

Hehe that was Mack’s idea and yeah I agree it was great. Thank you for the kind words. 😊

Becky Hayward's avatar

Looooove this!!!

Stefan Pasek's avatar

Glad you like it Becky!

Soso's World's avatar

Just... WOW. 👏👏

Hina Gondal's avatar

What a brilliance

The stranger's avatar

AMAZING! you captured the story in a melodic entertaining way. Beside the beauty of the visuals of the poem, I was also striked by the structure of the verses and the rhymes (as always of course). The two versions of the audio by Mack are amazing especially Sméagol one, made me laugh real hard.

Bravo both of you <3

The Secret Ingredient's avatar

How the yellow light would glimmer, making every shadow shimmer” lyrically transformational . This poem leans much more fully into gothic lament and doom. It stays inside the decay., I love ❤️ it excellent piece~

The Quantum Quill's avatar

Such a brilliant idea. A joy to witness this.

Jacqueline's avatar

I absolutely love this. I knew it would be brilliant but wow!

Roger Browne's avatar

precious!

Gary L Taylor's avatar

Fantastic work. My Dad is a big LOTR fan but isn't on here. I'll show him this next time I see him. I think he'll like it too.

Cory's avatar

Oh gosh, you guys are awesome!!! ❤️

Emmett Tatter's avatar

You’re right. This is awesome :)) ✨🫡🌹