Roleplaying is and always has been an essential part of how I get in my character's heads. In this case, I was roleplaying Amandil at his lowest point, held captive by one of the more powerful lieutenants of
Sauron, his
men prisoners, his little army shattered. The lieutenant is offering Amandil a choice: die with all his men in horrible torture, or find his family and live somewhere peaceful where Sauron will never touch him.
There's a whole line of reasoning behind this offer, so I'll explain it real quick: Amandil has, at this point, proven himself a serious threat. His men have harassed the
orcs, taken out outposts, disrupted supply lines, emptied villages and recruited more people to the cause of freedom than is really convenient for this lieutenant. Having pursued and even come face to face with Amandil a number of times by now, this being knows Amandil's driving motivation is the safety and survival of his family. So he offers that to Amandil under the condition he never tried to stand against Sauron again. Or he could die a horrible death, and his entire people could be slowly and efficiently massacred.
Why not just kill Amandil here? What better message could this lieutenant send than by carefully corrupting the Lord of Andunië to the cause of Sauron? And if he is successful at this, he can gain favor with Sauron and send Amandil out against his own people.
Amandil guesses at least some of this and is unwilling to choose either option. Peace he aches for, but he refuses to sacrifice his men. And he is clinging to the idea all of Sauron's men are liars just as he is. So no matter the provocation, Amandil has been refusing to choose. Even the torture of the youngest of his men is not drawing much from him, for Amandil knows either of his choices will leave his men's blood on the floor anyway.
Finally, as the lieutenant begins to wonder if killing isn't really the best option, Amandil remembers a hidden
item, one he recovered from Sauron's very tower, one disguised and encased in a cover of wood. And he draws the secret from his cloak. In a swift move, he shatters the wood with a loose stone, revealing a simple band of gold. He slips it on his finger before even he can blink, and is instantly invisible.
"Life or death? I choose neither! I choose mastery! I will protect them all. I will not let anyone fall to Sauron's might. I will keep them safe!"
And with the slender amount of power he can grasp at his first handling of
the Ring, Amandil commands the lieutenant to let him and his men go.
I like the scene and thought I would share. Obviously I have no idea if this scene will ever make it into the story. But it was pretty cool to me roleplaying it here.