Published: April 20, 2008 10:32 pm            

Lay on!

Area students and other community members find a new form of recreation

FAIRMONT — You step out onto the field and the sounds of battle surround you. Swords are slashing, arrows are flying by, while people dressed in medieval clothing enjoy the fight

Is it a dream? No, it’s a Dagorhir event, an organization that allows its participants to combine both history and fantasy.

What exactly is Dagorhir? Dagorhir, or “Dag,” as it is sometimes called, according to the official Web site, www.dagorhir.com, combines “fast-paced full contact combat simulation with elements of live action role-playing.”

Founded in 1977, it was originally based on the popular series by J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Lord of the Rings,” with the title translating from Tolkien’s Sindarin Elven language into “Battle Lords.”

Before the participants can begin their activities, they have to first check in with the proper paperwork, then wait in line for a weapons check. As the official Web site says, Dagorhir puts an emphasis on safety. At weapons check, the weapons are tested on a volunteer one light hit, one medium, one hard. Whether or not the volunteer weapons tester is caused pain by this action determines whether the weapon can be used, needs to be repaired, or needs to be taken back to the owner’s car. During the battle itself, participants use a variety of weapons, and may “slam, wrestle, and even kill their opponents, which the Web site totes as stress relief.

FSU sophomore Jacob Smith, co-founder of the Fairmont Dagorhir unit, said, “I heard about it back in high school,” though he did not start actively until college. Smith soon spread the word among his friends, and at the beginning of the semester, he and Robert Goldsmith started I Lauré Narí, the Fairmont unit, before which they just practiced with the Black Tower group that operates out of Clarksburg.

Though many may participate in Dagorhir for stress or anger release, as the Web site says, participants also may join for the people that they get the chance to interact with.

Stephanie Cain, a sophomore at FSU, explains, “I love watching (Dagorhir) because it helps me to get outside and enjoy nature yet at the same time I am making new friends and hanging out with old ones.”

Craig Vincent, 19, also said, when asked his favorite part of Dagorhir, “Definitely, the people. It’s so many different people, but they’re all awesome. They all come together for the same thing, and it’s incredible.”

Participants often travel for hours in order to attend events. Smith’s longest journey was to the battle of Malvorin, during which he traveled three hours to Fairmont where he stayed the night at Goldsmith’s home, then traveled the remaining two hours to Pennsylvania. Cain has also traveled to different states, saying that, “The longest I have traveled for would either have to be to the Lothlorien Season Opener in Cambridge, Ohio, or to the Battle of Badon Hill in Somerset, Pa.,” with Vincent expressing a similar sentiment in saying that the longest he has traveled for an event was a “couple of hours to Pennsylvania.”

Recently, Smith found a glass rose on the Internet and it gave him an idea. “(I) found the rose and thought it might be good for something, and it morphed into the battle,” Smith said. The unit needed a nearby place for this battle, aptly titled the “Battle of the Bloody Rose,” and Valley Falls seemed to be the place to go as they wanted to host a woods battle. At the end of the battle, the participant with the “best death” will win the glass rose. As Smith explains it, death is subjective. He says “A lot of times when people die. They put their weapons on top of their heads and walk off the field. We’re trying to get them to act out their deaths more.”

There you have it. A fast-paced, exciting way to get exercise, coming at you since 1977 as a way to enjoy the outdoors, participate in battles as varied as “capture the flag” or “zombie,” and as Vincent and Cain said, build camaraderie.

Want to get involved? You can find the local chapter, the Black Tower, online at http://www.geocities.com/blacktowerdagorhir/, or look at the complete set of rules at www.dagorhir.com/dagorhir/Rules.htm.

Until then, as they say in Dagorhir — lay on!

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.