Xena vs. The Lord of the Rings

Since I like both Xena and the Lord of the Rings (LOTR), I thought it would be really interesting to try to put these two together. In this story I've taken the world of Middle-Earth and dropped Xena there in the middle of the War of the Rings. I've tried to keep the happenings of LOTR as intact as possible and tell about what happened 'behind the scenes'. But I couldn't keep myself from changing the original plot in two or three places. Think of this story as something Tolkien left out of his book.

If you haven't read The Lord of the Rings, I strongly advise you to do so. Otherwise, you will still be able to enjoy this story, but you will certainly miss the fun of discovering many little details connecting this fan fiction to the book. However, if you are planning to read LOTR in the near future, I must warn you; this story contains SPOILERS to the book -- as well as to the trilogy of movies! So, do not continue if you don't want to know how the book proceeds - stop NOW!

When I started to write this story I had seen the first two seasons of the Xena: Warrior Princess series. That's why the Xena you'll meet is the second season Xena, and Gabrielle the second season Gabrielle, with a little more experience, maybe. This story may contain some references to those episodes, but otherwise this is about Xena in Middle Earth, oblivious to the details happening in the series. You may assume that the things that happened in the series have happened in this world also - but not necessarily in the same way. If you have any comments, feel free to email me.

To help the reader I've put together two timelines (see appendices A and B). Appendix A is a short version of the original timeline of LOTR. It is safe to read this BEFORE the story. Appendix B contains the combined timeline of both LOTR and XvsLOTR. Read this AFTER the story.
And moreover, to help the Finnish readers who have read The Lord of the Rings in Finnish, there is also an English-Finnish dictionary of names and places in the Middle Earth (Which is 'Keski-Maa', by the way :-) Refer to Appendix C any time you want.
To those poor souls who have never read LOTR or have forgotten most of it, Appendix D is preferable to read BEFORE the story. It explains some things important to know about the world of Middle Earth.

Then a minor warning: This story contains tragedy, violence and occasional drops of humour; nothing that you couldn't find in a good episode of Xena: Warrior Princess.

O.K. Now you're ready to start. The first chapter is here . Or use the index below.

Index

Appendix A: The original LOTR timeline
Appendix B: The XvsLOTR timeline - Beware!
Appendix C: Tolkien'ish dictionary: English - Finnish
Appendix D: Middle Earth? What Middle Earth?
Appendix E: Making Of -documentary

External links: The map of Middle Earth (556kB) in ftp.sunet.se.

DISCLAIMER:
Xena, Gabrielle and all the other characters appearing in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess are property of MCA/Universal and Renaissance Pictures.
Frodo, Aragorn and the other characters from the book The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.Tolkien are property of the estate of late J.R.R. Tolkien.
This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may be made for private use only and must include all disclaimers and copyright notices.
September 30, 2003, Man of Void (mov@iki.fi)