I'm just a little concerned that Ellen is going to hit a bit of a snag when she gets to the back gate of Mordor and has to get past a ruddy great spider.
Oh ya, shelob would scare her off before she gets into Mordor, Ellen would have to last medal missing until Samwise finally shows up and stabs the spider
I'm more concerned about Saruma- I mean, Sharkey's inevitable takeover of Oxtra and the hoarding all our list videos for himself. They're probably just as addictive as pipe-weed.
That's quite a clever concept for a company. They're essentially just selling trinkets, but because of the work you have to do to get them (if you're honest) the rewards feel very valuable
Surprised that they failed to mention how much you have to pay for each. I was excited and went to the site and was shocked to see what I’d have to pay, and then put the physical work in on top of that. You’re basically overpaying for LOTR merch and then having to perform physical activities on top of that. It absolutely reeks of corporate exploitation. “Pay us and then you do the work, we’ll give you something of lesser value if you can manage it!”
@@caseykraft2002For context, an official The One Ring from the movie costs almost 80 pounds. Like, the whole set is pricier than their other challenges, it's certainly not something I care to afford, so blame capitalism and corporation licensing all you want... it's just not overpriced when you compare it to other official merchandise.
I've done several Conqueror challenges over the last 2 years, and I did feel a shift from being quite "bleh" about movement to actually wanting to take walks and bike rides for the funsies. Its a great incentive for physical activity :)
This is crazy!! My wife has been into these for the last few months, and has been finding them a really fun incentive to exercise. We've just recently started binge-watching you guys, so to see you doing one of her favorite things is awesome. I'll have to show her this.
It would be cool if Oxventure can collaborate with them and create a Geth map and some of their quests to walk through while listening to the Oxventure podcast.
I suppose there are some environmental implications for doing it with this but I am rather amused by the mental image they are just watching all the bottles floating down to the ocean and checking to see if someone had done enough before they fish them out or let them go on.
BTW, is Ellen aware of the recent PC demo for "Little Kitty In The Big City"? In which you play as a small cat that has to find its way back up to its apartment in a super-wholesome little game. You can give the cat collectible hats.
Yes, she is. She gave it an honorable mention in her list of games in 2024 she's excited for. I am, too. I was interested in Stray until I saw how bloody hopeless and dour it ultimately is... Little Kitty, Big City is exactly what I want. I lived in Japan for five years, and that kitty looks exactly like mine. I'm more on board than a surfer cheating in a competition.
I can see this involving different genres of games. For example, you can have one of these based on the Legend of Zelda where you, as Link, go around smashing your neighbor's pots and cutting their grass with a sword to gain 'rupees'. I'm sure no one will be bothered by that.
They are working with copyright, that's why they "only" have GoT and LOTR right now... it's not that easy to just get the rights for a whole bunch of games.
I think that would be an integer overflow and Jane would either corrupt the ring or start hugging butterflies and giving away only mildly poisonous baking. That said, no one specified what their soul has to purely consist of and what about their nature is good. Our dark overlord has a pure (evil) soul and good (at plotting world domination) nature for sure.
Hahaha, can't believe you thought that's who I meant. You fell for it, you idiots!* *Not _actually_ calling anyone idiot, this is a Mom Can't Cook reference, to be read in Andy's voice
Giving a physical representation of basically achievements popping up in your mail is such an interesting idea! Fitbit has challenges and it's always nice to see these virtual medal notifications with facts pop up in the app. This just takes it to the next level by actually giving those medals. And the tree planting and plastic removals are such a good way to incentivize.
Cool! I'm halfway through Lands End to John o Groats. It's good motivation and through the postcards I'm learning about the areas I'm virtually walking through.
I've seen a few adverts for these and was initially skeptical, but maybe I might give it a try. I'm also listening to the audiobooks atm so it would give me something to do whilst listening to them
Just a couple of tips for anyone who's been pretty sedentary for a while but thinking of starting up a walking routine: Get good footwear and make sure you have a plan b in case the way back happens to be longer than you think you can manage. There is nothing worse than getting in-grown toenails and cracked heels because you got adventurous on the way out and had to walk ten miles home in shoes that didn't fit. I usually walk fairly close to a rail line in case I suddenly get an urge to go further than I've gone before. That way I at least know I won't get lost and will also be fairly close to a train station at all times. Also: any kind of general body cream or similar is highly useful because it can be used both to treat cracked heels and chafing, both of which can be a real damper on wanting to go out walking two days in a row.
@@caseykraft2002 If you're suggesting that I'm ripping off anyone, these were just some things I would have liked to have known before starting to walk because pain tends to be an even greater deterrent than a hurt butt. The things I mentioned don't even have to be that expensive. Cheap shoes that fit your feet are infinitely better than expensive ones that don't, and body cream doesn't need to be very expensive either and can be used to treat dry skin in winter. A tube tends to last me more than a year, too. Maybe you don't need these things and that's great, but some of us are in worse shape and that tends to cause issues when we try to get out of it; Walking for three or four hours can either be a breeze or a nightmare depending on your footwear.
@@rasmusn.e.m1064 at no point do I indicate that you were personally ripping anyone off. I believe that the company producing this LOTR program is using fitness to pull money from people indefinitely. I agree with everything you said about proper footwear and exercising responsibly. It seems irresponsible to lend a word to this money grabbing company.
I read somewhere that in an interview, Tolkien said that Tom is actually a reference to a character from a something he wrote before LOTR. And that's why he says he was there before and he'll be there after because he was literally there before LOTR
I started this challenge earlier this year and am over halfway to Bree now. The area I'm living in isn't great for walking around, but the challenge includes a conversion chart that translates any sort of physical activity into miles.
Ooh, that would be useful for me as well. My town isn't the best for walking either, but my current job has me on my feet around 4 hours a day (upwards of 6-7 one day a week, usually) and I'm in constant motion doing stuff for those 4-6 hours when I work. With no sort of smartwatch or fitness device I'd have to guess at how many miles I did though, and I'm not sure how accurate I'd be.
I signed up for this within minutes of watching the video. The last time I was motivated to get out and do a lot of walking was the summer of 2016 when Pokémon Go first released. Thank you SO much for bringing this challenge to my attention, if I stick to my schedule with in the next month I’ll have arrived at The Prancing Pony.
I've certainly found them useful in terms of incentivising activity and getting me out of the house - I think it does depend a little bit on the challenges you pick, because when I've done the longer ones of around 100 miles, it has been occasionally easy to fall into a bit of a lull around the mid part and not push on, but it's certainly worth trying. The medals are genuinely great, they've evidently put some money into the design of them, and it's a nice way to gently incentivise and change habits, be it just giving that push to go to the shops rather than ordering a delivery or of getting off a stop earlier when I take public transport. I have combined them with Pokemon Go as a good way to get me out and about, and it's had an effect - they also have conversion charts for people doing different types of sport to the equivalent in miles so you can more generally convert what you're doing into progress along the track.
After a combination of lockdown, having a kid and working from home, I needed a bit of exercise and to get out of the house. I signed up to this last year and have just finished part 3 with my son two days ago. Having paid in advance has provided a lot of motivation for me to keep going. Also, the company sells wall mounts so you can display your medals, not just put the boxes on the shelf.
This is the first I'm hearing of this, but just the idea of getting shiny medals for completing these walks, and especially with them being so high quality... Oh, I'm so tempted, you have no idea.
Thanks for telling us about this. I was dubious about this when I saw the promos all over Instagram, but now I think it’s exactly the motivation I need after a year and a half of being mostly immobile with a smashed foot. I’ll be much more motivated by a (slow) walk through Middle Earth than by most of the real world locations they have. And the trophy ring is, of course, cool.
I'm on the Fellowship walk at the moment as well! So cool to see that you're doing this. I chose the long route; I plan to be done by the end of the year!
But guys! Old Tom Bombadil is a merry old fellow! Bright blue is his jacket and his boots are yellow! XD But for real, I've heard a theory that Bombadil was there to help Frodo et all retain a sense of jollity and light in their travels, no matter how hard things get, similar to how Ox/Box/Tra have been shining beacons of jollity and mirth throughout all these hard times. ^^
If Ellen liked that I think she’d also like Zombies Run it’s a great running motivator. Or if you just want to walk they made another game The Walk. Both tell pretty good stories that progress as you move
I did the first chapter of Zombie Run, then hurt my knee, fell out of habit, and never got back in. For those not familiar, load the app, your GPS tracks how fast you're going. There are now zombies. Run faster, or get caught and lose supplies getting away.
I _loved_ “The Walk”. Found it when I was living somewhere where I had to do a lot of walking, partly because I had no car and US public transit sucks. The app entertained me during my necessary walking and sometimes I kept going just to find out how that segment of story would turn out. Wish the company would do more in that area, I’ve never been interested in the zombie angle.
Congrats Ellen! Good luck getting to Rivendale!! I also kept getting these adverts and they're so gorgeous but the only thing that's stopped me from doing it too is it is quite expensive - especially as a non-excersier
The price is quite steep but I guess it's part of the motivation. If I put that kind of money down it'll motivate me to really get out there and achieve the goals.
The price is a bit breathtaking, but i mean your also getting the swag (which is costly) and planting trees (which is rewarding in its own way) so i mean the individual parts do bear out the cost. But there should be an option where you just do the journey but don’t want the extra frippery.
@@caseykraft2002 you act like you hate it but yet you're in multiple comments crying about it, seems more like you are bitter that you can't buy it. Nobody is forced to buy them, get over it and let others enjoy it.
I get so many Instagram ads for these challenges and honestly assumed they were a scam 🙊 So happy to see the medals are actually high quality and Ellen found it so motivating!
Oh man, I remember walking to Mordor. It was recommended to me as a way to stay engaged with walking as a cardio-workout. You log your distance, focus on perfect posture and collect 1800 miles of logged distance. Boom. Mordor.
@@danielsimmich1858 Offsets are a bogus buzzword, nothing offsets carbon release safe for burying the oil products back under the shale, which is prohibitively expensive and nobody does that.
Well done Ellen, that's a massive achievement. I saw a lot of the adverts for this but also thought it would be something I wouldn't stick with. I used to walking regularly before lockdown - I had also done a few 100km ultra challenges - but fell out of the habit. This year though, my friend and I are doing the London LOOP (London Outer Orbital Pathway): 24 walking sections making up a 150 mile / 242km ring around London. Starting in the South East and doing 1-2 walks a month, we've done just under half so far. Seeing lots of different parts of London, particularly lots of green spaces, has been really motivating.
Well done Ellen! I've been struggling to build an exercise / get outside routine since covid and this is genuinely inspiring. Fitbit is charging, gonna head out today. Thanks for sharing your story! Onward, to Mordor!
A long long time ago (probably 15 years ago), I had a friend who found some way to relatively easily calculate the route and would use it as motivation at the gym when he was using a treadmill or step climber. Cool idea for an app.
Yes these are great! I used to be a semi-professional swimmer and after I stopped that, I was finding it difficult to get back in the pool after years of not swimming. So I took up the English Channel challenge to allow me to work towards something and it worked wonders. Smashed it in a month and got my medal and I've been swimming regularly every since
Ahhhhhhhh one of my favorite TH-camrs doing the same challenge!!! I finished the first three, am currently on the long version of Eye of Sauron. Good luck, Ellen!!! ❤
Luke deadpanning the camera and exasperatedly sighing "Tom Bombadil" embodies the energy of anyone who has ever tried to re read the books only to fizzle out when they arrive at Tom "I might be God" Bombadil's chapter.
The sad thing is that if Ellen understood the role of Tom Bombadil in LOTR and the aspects of nature etc that he represents she'd LOVE him. (Plus his role in the story of giving them the means of killing the witch king and showing them the scale of the world beyond the shire and saving them etc makes sense, but Luke would still hate him regardless lol)
I’ve done over a dozen of the challenges now and got absolutely hooked with the first round of LOTR challenges. I’ll do the ROTK trio soon. Happy walking Ellen!
I am also doing them and yes they do motivate me to go out. also you can do more then walking. many do cycling, swimming and rowing. the community is very supportive as a lot of elderly use it to keep active
This is quite timely. I've been getting a lot of these advertisements on Facebook myself and found them tempting since I'm also trying to find ways to get steps in that are fun, but I wasn't sure how legit it was. Thanks for the review.
Interesting to find out about this! I don't really have a big investment or interest in TLoTR but big into my fitness. I work doing Warehouse Nightshift 5 days a week picking for grocery stores and probably cover the guts of 10-15 mile a night (I walk into work sometimes). This seems like an awesome and inventive way to get people up and going, definitely going to mention it to the one in work as they already have weekly and monthly leaderboards in the break room. Cheers for making this known to more people! Love you Guys, Girls and Others! 💗😸💗
I've only seen two of the prequels, the desolation of smaug and the battle of the five armies, but I do know some of the lore behind the Lord of the Rings. The world was created by Eru the supreme deity of the setting and his angels with a song and that one of these angels called Melkor went rogue and renamed himself Morgath. One of Morgath's followers was named Mairon but he changed his name to Sauron. Morgath was eventually defeated, but Sauron saw it coming and chose to escape. Eventually making his return later. Sauron is also responsible for corrupting the nation of Numenor which prompted Eru to sink the island with Sauron still on it which didn't stop him. Sauron just used the one ring to build himself a new body.
I already had one of these challanges apps where you walked around in a post apocalyptic would with a story. So I'll give this one a try as well. And with a little bit of luck I can send the bill to my employer as a health benefit bonus.
I like stuff like this. One of the reason i play Pokemon Go. My gf and i hardly ever exercised. We started to play Pokémon go and we try to go on a walk at least once or twice a week. It is very nice and it gives us something to do together.
I recently listened to the audiobooks narrated by Andy Serkis and it was such a joy! But I absolutely loved hearing you both trash Tom Bombadil in this video. I've had almost word-for-word the same conversation you have about him here many many times in my life -- basically, every time I re-read FOTR. :)
Not wanting to defend Tom Bombadill - who I believe was based on one of his children's toys - but he's basically immune to the Ring's influence for the same reasons he would have been no good for carrying it to Mordor, vis, he's a hippy slacker who would get high and leave it in a box under a tree somewhere.
I'm currently 40% through the final Mordor stage. Does Ellen know about the 3 additional LOTR challenges they've done? Rphan, Helms Deep, and... another one? Just got to the end of the video. She does
I'm literally doing this right now (virtually) for Mt Fuji before *literally* climbing the real mountain at the end of the month!! I've got two of the other medals for other virtual marathons, they're good quality! Highly recommend. Destroy the ring, Ellen!
I've been seeing ads for these for a couple years and I've been wondering for a while whether it's worth it or not. Honestly great to see someone actually do them to see if it's worth it haha
I've also just completed the first one, and recieved my medal. Now I'm half way through the second. The medal is awesome, and I have the one ring. Onward to Mordor!!!
I started this just over four weeks ago and am almost 80% through the Shire challenge that Ellen has the medal for. While sceptical at first, my LOTR fanaticism got the best of me and to be fair shes 100% correct, it is surprisingly motivational. I have found myself finding excuses to go to the shops to buy milk or bread, just to get in a few extra kilometers.
You seemed to talk about everything but the price, which I think you should have cos it ain’t cheap! I had a look at the GOT challenge and it’s £47 per medal, with postage. You spent five minutes saying how nice the medal was but left out that you’d effectively paid 50 quid for it lol
The council of Elrond is another section which will take forever, been a few years but I remember it taking 3 chapters (and they weren’t short chapters either.)
5:28 Because he's not all powerful, if he took the ring, it'd have ultimately fell into the hands of Sauron as the corruption around his little domain spreads he would become weaker and eventually fall.
I think it was even mentioned in the book wasn't it (or maybe it was one of InDeepGeek's essays?) that Tom Bombadil is just not invested in this world, he's not _of_ this world, and that's why the Ring has no power over him. But it also means he doesn't care about neither the Ring nor this world, and wouldn't be a good guardian. He'd basically just pop the thing in a cupboard and forget about it until a Nazgul comes to fetch it (and some tee with honey).
@@sourcererseven3858If I remember right, the book said something like he'd just put it in a pocket and forget about it. Eventually it'd fall out somewhere and end up getting found by someone else.
I love the idea of receiving postcards from Mordor. Hey, Frodo and Sam here! Just drank sludge water and we're freezing to death. See you next time! I'm interested in doing this, but the pricetag is a little steep. We'll see....maybe one day.
Been doing the same challenges, only cycling, The Mines of Moria was quite quick cycling, as it's only 62km, also done Route 66 and the Apalachian Trial! Go Ellen!
Well, that's one good way to get yourself motivated. It would even be more awesome if they include other themes aside from LoTR to further widen their reach on those with varying interests. Also, glad to hear that I'm not the only one that felt that way, when it comes to Tom Bombadil's lack of involvement in the saga.
I'm just a little concerned that Ellen is going to hit a bit of a snag when she gets to the back gate of Mordor and has to get past a ruddy great spider.
But she's been trained in Lordran by the best!
Oh ya, shelob would scare her off before she gets into Mordor, Ellen would have to last medal missing until Samwise finally shows up and stabs the spider
Don't worry. I'll go seduce Shelob for her.
I'm more concerned about Saruma- I mean, Sharkey's inevitable takeover of Oxtra and the hoarding all our list videos for himself.
They're probably just as addictive as pipe-weed.
Funny, my mother and I are re-reading the Hobbit and the Dwarves have just been captured by some ruddy great spiders.
That's quite a clever concept for a company. They're essentially just selling trinkets, but because of the work you have to do to get them (if you're honest) the rewards feel very valuable
so it's a Battle Pass :P
I did the Mt. Fuji one because the medal is beautiful. It's surprisingly high quality!
Well they're personally valuable as mementoes of accomplishing something that you may think impossible or insurmountable.
Surprised that they failed to mention how much you have to pay for each. I was excited and went to the site and was shocked to see what I’d have to pay, and then put the physical work in on top of that. You’re basically overpaying for LOTR merch and then having to perform physical activities on top of that. It absolutely reeks of corporate exploitation. “Pay us and then you do the work, we’ll give you something of lesser value if you can manage it!”
@@caseykraft2002For context, an official The One Ring from the movie costs almost 80 pounds.
Like, the whole set is pricier than their other challenges, it's certainly not something I care to afford, so blame capitalism and corporation licensing all you want... it's just not overpriced when you compare it to other official merchandise.
I've done several Conqueror challenges over the last 2 years, and I did feel a shift from being quite "bleh" about movement to actually wanting to take walks and bike rides for the funsies. Its a great incentive for physical activity :)
This is crazy!! My wife has been into these for the last few months, and has been finding them a really fun incentive to exercise. We've just recently started binge-watching you guys, so to see you doing one of her favorite things is awesome. I'll have to show her this.
It would be cool if Oxventure can collaborate with them and create a Geth map and some of their quests to walk through while listening to the Oxventure podcast.
That moment Ellen said she got ahead of the book and Luke knew exactly why 🤣
Was tempted to do one of these kind of things.. but I live in NZ so it's easier to just visit the actual locations
A fellow Hobbit I see
I suppose there are some environmental implications for doing it with this but I am rather amused by the mental image they are just watching all the bottles floating down to the ocean and checking to see if someone had done enough before they fish them out or let them go on.
So much quicker to drive from Matamata to Mt Ngauruhoe
As brags go, that's pretty solid.
that's such a flex dude oml
BTW, is Ellen aware of the recent PC demo for "Little Kitty In The Big City"? In which you play as a small cat that has to find its way back up to its apartment in a super-wholesome little game. You can give the cat collectible hats.
omg thank you for that tip, i just looked it up and kitty looks exactly like mine T_T
Yes, she is. She gave it an honorable mention in her list of games in 2024 she's excited for. I am, too. I was interested in Stray until I saw how bloody hopeless and dour it ultimately is... Little Kitty, Big City is exactly what I want. I lived in Japan for five years, and that kitty looks exactly like mine. I'm more on board than a surfer cheating in a competition.
I can see this involving different genres of games. For example, you can have one of these based on the Legend of Zelda where you, as Link, go around smashing your neighbor's pots and cutting their grass with a sword to gain 'rupees'. I'm sure no one will be bothered by that.
Why not the world of Geth itself? Do a walk of one of their quests. We already have the map thanks to Jane.
Sign me up for the last of us challenge, then. I even live relatively close to Boston, so I'd almost be at the same starting point
They are working with copyright, that's why they "only" have GoT and LOTR right now... it's not that easy to just get the rights for a whole bunch of games.
If there was one person in all the realms that couldn't be corrupted because of their pure soul and good nature its Jane. Hahaha gotcha.
I think that would be an integer overflow and Jane would either corrupt the ring or start hugging butterflies and giving away only mildly poisonous baking. That said, no one specified what their soul has to purely consist of and what about their nature is good. Our dark overlord has a pure (evil) soul and good (at plotting world domination) nature for sure.
We all know that Jane would corrupt the one ring. That's not even out of the question, for her power is immense, untamable, and unchallenged.
Pure evil is still pure and uncorruptible. ^^
Nothing can corrupt Jane because Jane will be doing the corrupting
Hahaha, can't believe you thought that's who I meant. You fell for it, you idiots!*
*Not _actually_ calling anyone idiot, this is a Mom Can't Cook reference, to be read in Andy's voice
Giving a physical representation of basically achievements popping up in your mail is such an interesting idea! Fitbit has challenges and it's always nice to see these virtual medal notifications with facts pop up in the app. This just takes it to the next level by actually giving those medals. And the tree planting and plastic removals are such a good way to incentivize.
Especially in the apps that are monetizing you geolocation and covering the cost of buying the stuff they send you!
I get medals from a website for the years I've had type 1 diabetes. Really helps keep me motivated. I have a 5 year and 15 year I believe.
I've done about 3 of these, one was a Lands End to John o Groats that took me a whole year; The medal is a pretty incentive to be healthy.
Cool! I'm halfway through Lands End to John o Groats. It's good motivation and through the postcards I'm learning about the areas I'm virtually walking through.
I have the first 4 on my shelf and am 60% through Mordor. It's been great fun and really helped me increase my general activity levels.
I've seen a few adverts for these and was initially skeptical, but maybe I might give it a try. I'm also listening to the audiobooks atm so it would give me something to do whilst listening to them
They’re a nice idea, but £40 for each one is a little too pricey imo.
It’s actually 47 including postage lol
Just a couple of tips for anyone who's been pretty sedentary for a while but thinking of starting up a walking routine: Get good footwear and make sure you have a plan b in case the way back happens to be longer than you think you can manage. There is nothing worse than getting in-grown toenails and cracked heels because you got adventurous on the way out and had to walk ten miles home in shoes that didn't fit.
I usually walk fairly close to a rail line in case I suddenly get an urge to go further than I've gone before. That way I at least know I won't get lost and will also be fairly close to a train station at all times.
Also: any kind of general body cream or similar is highly useful because it can be used both to treat cracked heels and chafing, both of which can be a real damper on wanting to go out walking two days in a row.
Also, it’s quite helpful to not pay for what you can do for free. Getting ripped off tends to lower one’s inclination to continue an activity
@@caseykraft2002 If you're suggesting that I'm ripping off anyone, these were just some things I would have liked to have known before starting to walk because pain tends to be an even greater deterrent than a hurt butt.
The things I mentioned don't even have to be that expensive. Cheap shoes that fit your feet are infinitely better than expensive ones that don't, and body cream doesn't need to be very expensive either and can be used to treat dry skin in winter. A tube tends to last me more than a year, too.
Maybe you don't need these things and that's great, but some of us are in worse shape and that tends to cause issues when we try to get out of it; Walking for three or four hours can either be a breeze or a nightmare depending on your footwear.
@@rasmusn.e.m1064 at no point do I indicate that you were personally ripping anyone off. I believe that the company producing this LOTR program is using fitness to pull money from people indefinitely. I agree with everything you said about proper footwear and exercising responsibly. It seems irresponsible to lend a word to this money grabbing company.
Ellen isn't worried about the ring letting Sauron see her because she knows he is already a big fan of the channel.
I wouldn’t say he’s a fan… maybe infatuated with taking over it and destroying whoever owns it now
I read somewhere that in an interview, Tolkien said that Tom is actually a reference to a character from a something he wrote before LOTR. And that's why he says he was there before and he'll be there after because he was literally there before LOTR
Came for the fantastic duo that is Luke and Ellen, stayed for the "One does not simply walk into Mordor." Meme references.😂
'One does not simply... do that.' Goddamn I laughed hard.
I’ve had the adverts for these as well and was sceptical. But this has sold me. Gonna be doing this over the summer.
I started this challenge earlier this year and am over halfway to Bree now. The area I'm living in isn't great for walking around, but the challenge includes a conversion chart that translates any sort of physical activity into miles.
Ooh, that would be useful for me as well. My town isn't the best for walking either, but my current job has me on my feet around 4 hours a day (upwards of 6-7 one day a week, usually) and I'm in constant motion doing stuff for those 4-6 hours when I work. With no sort of smartwatch or fitness device I'd have to guess at how many miles I did though, and I'm not sure how accurate I'd be.
@@SolaScientia if you can have your phone with you, you can probably get a free step tracker app
It's Mordor on the OX floor. 🎵
I signed up for this within minutes of watching the video. The last time I was motivated to get out and do a lot of walking was the summer of 2016 when Pokémon Go first released. Thank you SO much for bringing this challenge to my attention, if I stick to my schedule with in the next month I’ll have arrived at The Prancing Pony.
I've certainly found them useful in terms of incentivising activity and getting me out of the house - I think it does depend a little bit on the challenges you pick, because when I've done the longer ones of around 100 miles, it has been occasionally easy to fall into a bit of a lull around the mid part and not push on, but it's certainly worth trying.
The medals are genuinely great, they've evidently put some money into the design of them, and it's a nice way to gently incentivise and change habits, be it just giving that push to go to the shops rather than ordering a delivery or of getting off a stop earlier when I take public transport. I have combined them with Pokemon Go as a good way to get me out and about, and it's had an effect - they also have conversion charts for people doing different types of sport to the equivalent in miles so you can more generally convert what you're doing into progress along the track.
After a combination of lockdown, having a kid and working from home, I needed a bit of exercise and to get out of the house. I signed up to this last year and have just finished part 3 with my son two days ago.
Having paid in advance has provided a lot of motivation for me to keep going.
Also, the company sells wall mounts so you can display your medals, not just put the boxes on the shelf.
"If I don't walk in a day I don't notice. If I do notice I think: 'Nice!'" 🤣🤣🤣
"I can't pedal for you, but you can ride in my slipstream, Mr Frodo."
"One does not simply pop a rad wheelie into Mordor..."
‘One does not simply walk into Mordor’ Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam on bicycles
This is the first I'm hearing of this, but just the idea of getting shiny medals for completing these walks, and especially with them being so high quality... Oh, I'm so tempted, you have no idea.
I did the London marathon virtually when the pandemic hit and that was a great experience. I also love the Zombies Run app
I had not heard of any of these, seems like a walk in the park...
HAHAHAHAHA 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Thanks for telling us about this. I was dubious about this when I saw the promos all over Instagram, but now I think it’s exactly the motivation I need after a year and a half of being mostly immobile with a smashed foot. I’ll be much more motivated by a (slow) walk through Middle Earth than by most of the real world locations they have. And the trophy ring is, of course, cool.
I'm on the Fellowship walk at the moment as well! So cool to see that you're doing this. I chose the long route; I plan to be done by the end of the year!
With Luke so skeptical of rowing to mordor, I realized Eomer's men were not called the Riders of Row-han.
But guys! Old Tom Bombadil is a merry old fellow! Bright blue is his jacket and his boots are yellow! XD
But for real, I've heard a theory that Bombadil was there to help Frodo et all retain a sense of jollity and light in their travels, no matter how hard things get, similar to how Ox/Box/Tra have been shining beacons of jollity and mirth throughout all these hard times. ^^
If Ellen liked that I think she’d also like Zombies Run it’s a great running motivator. Or if you just want to walk they made another game The Walk. Both tell pretty good stories that progress as you move
Zombies run is really fun unless you tend to treadmill at night 😅😅😅
I did the first chapter of Zombie Run, then hurt my knee, fell out of habit, and never got back in.
For those not familiar, load the app, your GPS tracks how fast you're going. There are now zombies. Run faster, or get caught and lose supplies getting away.
@@ecchikitty1395you can turn off zombie chases and just listen to the story at your own pace
I _loved_ “The Walk”. Found it when I was living somewhere where I had to do a lot of walking, partly because I had no car and US public transit sucks. The app entertained me during my necessary walking and sometimes I kept going just to find out how that segment of story would turn out. Wish the company would do more in that area, I’ve never been interested in the zombie angle.
Congrats Ellen! Good luck getting to Rivendale!!
I also kept getting these adverts and they're so gorgeous but the only thing that's stopped me from doing it too is it is quite expensive - especially as a non-excersier
The price is quite steep but I guess it's part of the motivation. If I put that kind of money down it'll motivate me to really get out there and achieve the goals.
The price is a bit breathtaking, but i mean your also getting the swag (which is costly) and planting trees (which is rewarding in its own way) so i mean the individual parts do bear out the cost. But there should be an option where you just do the journey but don’t want the extra frippery.
Do you have to pay upfront first or do you pay when you've done the achievement and want your medal?
@@thejason755 you could get a free step tracker app on your phone and figure out the number of steps required
@@thejason755it does smell a bit of corporate exploitation
@@caseykraft2002 you act like you hate it but yet you're in multiple comments crying about it, seems more like you are bitter that you can't buy it.
Nobody is forced to buy them, get over it and let others enjoy it.
12:19 "I am on my way - I can go the distance!" 🎶
I've heard that Tom Bombadil was fan service for his kids, because he used to make up stories about Tom for their bedtimes.
I always love sotw's editing, the bed drop on Luke saying "nice." was perfect given how subtle the backing music was already
You missed a pun there. Hobbits on bikes? Tour de Frodo!
Happy to help, I‘ll see myself out…
I get so many Instagram ads for these challenges and honestly assumed they were a scam 🙊 So happy to see the medals are actually high quality and Ellen found it so motivating!
Oh man, I remember walking to Mordor. It was recommended to me as a way to stay engaged with walking as a cardio-workout. You log your distance, focus on perfect posture and collect 1800 miles of logged distance. Boom. Mordor.
Yes, would definitely like little updates when you hit the goals! Fun nerdy ways to do things are cool.
This is so environmentally friendly, the elves would love it!
Would love to know if they also offset the manufacturing and distribution of the medals
@@danielsimmich1858 Offsets are a bogus buzzword, nothing offsets carbon release safe for burying the oil products back under the shale, which is prohibitively expensive and nobody does that.
Well done Ellen, that's a massive achievement. I saw a lot of the adverts for this but also thought it would be something I wouldn't stick with. I used to walking regularly before lockdown - I had also done a few 100km ultra challenges - but fell out of the habit.
This year though, my friend and I are doing the London LOOP (London Outer Orbital Pathway): 24 walking sections making up a 150 mile / 242km ring around London. Starting in the South East and doing 1-2 walks a month, we've done just under half so far. Seeing lots of different parts of London, particularly lots of green spaces, has been really motivating.
Well done Ellen! I've been struggling to build an exercise / get outside routine since covid and this is genuinely inspiring. Fitbit is charging, gonna head out today. Thanks for sharing your story! Onward, to Mordor!
A long long time ago (probably 15 years ago), I had a friend who found some way to relatively easily calculate the route and would use it as motivation at the gym when he was using a treadmill or step climber. Cool idea for an app.
I think a treadmill with screens to show your journey walking through fantasy worlds would be extra cool. Kinda like those cycling videos.
Luke: " Quick cheese it!"
Ellen: "where to?"
Luke: " Towards Bree."
Yes these are great! I used to be a semi-professional swimmer and after I stopped that, I was finding it difficult to get back in the pool after years of not swimming. So I took up the English Channel challenge to allow me to work towards something and it worked wonders. Smashed it in a month and got my medal and I've been swimming regularly every since
You can really feel all their love for the Lord of the Rings which is delightfully wholesome.
Ahhhhhhhh one of my favorite TH-camrs doing the same challenge!!! I finished the first three, am currently on the long version of Eye of Sauron. Good luck, Ellen!!! ❤
Luke deadpanning the camera and exasperatedly sighing "Tom Bombadil" embodies the energy of anyone who has ever tried to re read the books only to fizzle out when they arrive at Tom "I might be God" Bombadil's chapter.
The sad thing is that if Ellen understood the role of Tom Bombadil in LOTR and the aspects of nature etc that he represents she'd LOVE him.
(Plus his role in the story of giving them the means of killing the witch king and showing them the scale of the world beyond the shire and saving them etc makes sense, but Luke would still hate him regardless lol)
I’ve done over a dozen of the challenges now and got absolutely hooked with the first round of LOTR challenges. I’ll do the ROTK trio soon. Happy walking Ellen!
Love the conqueror challenges, I've done 4 of them, and they are a great idea to get out and get exercise
I love the silent princess on Luke's shirt!
Ellen wants to start walking daily. She wants to make it a…Hobbit.
I am also doing them and yes they do motivate me to go out. also you can do more then walking. many do cycling, swimming and rowing. the community is very supportive as a lot of elderly use it to keep active
This is quite timely. I've been getting a lot of these advertisements on Facebook myself and found them tempting since I'm also trying to find ways to get steps in that are fun, but I wasn't sure how legit it was. Thanks for the review.
Interesting to find out about this! I don't really have a big investment or interest in TLoTR but big into my fitness. I work doing Warehouse Nightshift 5 days a week picking for grocery stores and probably cover the guts of 10-15 mile a night (I walk into work sometimes). This seems like an awesome and inventive way to get people up and going, definitely going to mention it to the one in work as they already have weekly and monthly leaderboards in the break room.
Cheers for making this known to more people! Love you Guys, Girls and Others! 💗😸💗
Now all I can see is Sam & Frodo desperately trying to reach the pedals, without catching their hairy toes in the spokes😂
Love the idea of lord of the rings on bikes. Sam and frodo in tandem, gollum on a unicycle, gandalf on one of those old big wheel ones etc
I just started mine an hour ago and started out with 2.18km walk at midnight. I'm going on an adventure!
I pictured the orcs cycling in a pack and Legolas yelling ”they’re taking the hobbits to Isengard!” 😂
I've only seen two of the prequels, the desolation of smaug and the battle of the five armies, but I do know some of the lore behind the Lord of the Rings. The world was created by Eru the supreme deity of the setting and his angels with a song and that one of these angels called Melkor went rogue and renamed himself Morgath. One of Morgath's followers was named Mairon but he changed his name to Sauron.
Morgath was eventually defeated, but Sauron saw it coming and chose to escape. Eventually making his return later. Sauron is also responsible for corrupting the nation of Numenor which prompted Eru to sink the island with Sauron still on it which didn't stop him. Sauron just used the one ring to build himself a new body.
Conqueror should create the biggest virtual walking challenge possible and have it be death stranded themed
😮 That would be ridiculous and amazing.
I wasn't working over Xmas. Now that I have a new job, I'll be getting these for people as late presents. Thanks!
I already had one of these challanges apps where you walked around in a post apocalyptic would with a story. So I'll give this one a try as well. And with a little bit of luck I can send the bill to my employer as a health benefit bonus.
What a fantastic idea! Positive reinforcement in the form of rewards like that is such a good tool for encouraging healthy behaviour.
I love Luke. I love Ellen. I love Lord of the Rings. This is like the perfect video
Man, I don't know if I'm down for all this Tom Bombadil sass.
I like stuff like this. One of the reason i play Pokemon Go. My gf and i hardly ever exercised. We started to play Pokémon go and we try to go on a walk at least once or twice a week. It is very nice and it gives us something to do together.
I recently listened to the audiobooks narrated by Andy Serkis and it was such a joy! But I absolutely loved hearing you both trash Tom Bombadil in this video. I've had almost word-for-word the same conversation you have about him here many many times in my life -- basically, every time I re-read FOTR. :)
Not wanting to defend Tom Bombadill - who I believe was based on one of his children's toys - but he's basically immune to the Ring's influence for the same reasons he would have been no good for carrying it to Mordor, vis, he's a hippy slacker who would get high and leave it in a box under a tree somewhere.
I'm currently 40% through the final Mordor stage.
Does Ellen know about the 3 additional LOTR challenges they've done? Rphan, Helms Deep, and... another one? Just got to the end of the video. She does
I'm literally doing this right now (virtually) for Mt Fuji before *literally* climbing the real mountain at the end of the month!!
I've got two of the other medals for other virtual marathons, they're good quality! Highly recommend. Destroy the ring, Ellen!
I've been seeing ads for these for a couple years and I've been wondering for a while whether it's worth it or not. Honestly great to see someone actually do them to see if it's worth it haha
I've also just completed the first one, and recieved my medal. Now I'm half way through the second. The medal is awesome, and I have the one ring. Onward to Mordor!!!
I started this just over four weeks ago and am almost 80% through the Shire challenge that Ellen has the medal for. While sceptical at first, my LOTR fanaticism got the best of me and to be fair shes 100% correct, it is surprisingly motivational. I have found myself finding excuses to go to the shops to buy milk or bread, just to get in a few extra kilometers.
I’m doing the Scooby-Doo one at the moment. It’s good fun.
Wait, producer Jon is Sauron? he could still see Ellen...
You seemed to talk about everything but the price, which I think you should have cos it ain’t cheap! I had a look at the GOT challenge and it’s £47 per medal, with postage. You spent five minutes saying how nice the medal was but left out that you’d effectively paid 50 quid for it lol
Luke: Everyone, give Ellen the clap!
Archer: Jesus, Luke! Phrasing!
Awesome Ellen! Going through them myself after doing a few of the others! Got the first four and got a spot, waiting for the fifth medal 😂
My wife has recently started her journey, very excited to see her medals.
The council of Elrond is another section which will take forever, been a few years but I remember it taking 3 chapters (and they weren’t short chapters either.)
As a massive LOTR fan myself, this made me smile this morning from ear to ear. Thanks guys ❤.
5:28 Because he's not all powerful, if he took the ring, it'd have ultimately fell into the hands of Sauron as the corruption around his little domain spreads he would become weaker and eventually fall.
I think it was even mentioned in the book wasn't it (or maybe it was one of InDeepGeek's essays?) that Tom Bombadil is just not invested in this world, he's not _of_ this world, and that's why the Ring has no power over him. But it also means he doesn't care about neither the Ring nor this world, and wouldn't be a good guardian. He'd basically just pop the thing in a cupboard and forget about it until a Nazgul comes to fetch it (and some tee with honey).
@@sourcererseven3858If I remember right, the book said something like he'd just put it in a pocket and forget about it. Eventually it'd fall out somewhere and end up getting found by someone else.
I love the idea of receiving postcards from Mordor. Hey, Frodo and Sam here! Just drank sludge water and we're freezing to death. See you next time!
I'm interested in doing this, but the pricetag is a little steep. We'll see....maybe one day.
Been doing the same challenges, only cycling, The Mines of Moria was quite quick cycling, as it's only 62km, also done Route 66 and the Apalachian Trial! Go Ellen!
this is the best show on TH-cam. It really cheers me up. Thanks guys! :)
My sister and I are doing these! We’re trying to run to Mt Doom, just finished the fourth one - good luck Ellen!
Best channel on youtube
Amen
I've been watching the ads for these and debating getting them for awhile now, thus night have just pushed me into doing it.
I love everything about this episode. My favorite people geeking out over my favorite fantasy series just makes me so happy.
Well, that's one good way to get yourself motivated. It would even be more awesome if they include other themes aside from LoTR to further widen their reach on those with varying interests.
Also, glad to hear that I'm not the only one that felt that way, when it comes to Tom Bombadil's lack of involvement in the saga.
Love Luke's Zelda flower shirt. Just wanted to point out the cool t-shirt. :D
Tom is the best character in the fellowship lol