Author's Notes

Chapter 1

In writing this, I had to work out a general timeline, included below for the curious, so that buildings, furniture, and tableware weren't finished too quickly. As it is, I suspect the Men of Dale still end up veritable prodigies in construction and manufacturing given the materials and level of ornamentation I describe, but whatever! Artistic license! Just handwave it as the townspeople collectively giving it their all—the craftsmen Bard dismisses volunteering to help the ones whose designs are selected, for example—to pay homage to their beloved king the only way he'll allow.

— III 2941 —

21-22 June, Midsummer's Day: Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield, and company depart Rivendell on the Quest of Erebor. (The Hobbit, Chapter III, "A Short Rest")

22 September: The Company arrives in Laketown.

[Bilbo:] It is also, if I may be allowed to refer to ancient history, the anniversary of my arrival by barrel at Esgaroth on the Long Lake; though the fact that it was my birthday slipped my memory on that occasion. (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter I, "A Long-Expected Party")

October: Durin's Day. Smaug attacks Laketown and is slain by Bard the Bowman.

November: The Battle of Five Armies.

— III 2942 —

January: Bard sends to King Thranduil for a tutor on behalf of his children.

March: Gilvagor makes the first of his bimonthly visits to Dale. The Men of Dale begin planning a royal palace. Bard is voted a provisional privy chamber without his knowledge.

May: Construction on the study extension to Bard's house completed. Bard writes King Dáin asking permission, which is granted, for Bain to take day trips to Erebor.

June: Findegil and son depart to inspect every quarry within reach of Dale.

July: Bard commissions Léofwine to build him a desk and five chairs. The Men of Dale show enthusiasm in offering their services to furnish Bard with all that he requires and much that he does not. Bard refuses them all, except for two sets of silverware and fine china.

September: Four place settings of Bard's new china finished and presented to him. Bard realizes he's unschooled in court protocol and begins etiquette lessons with his children.

October: Léofwine delivers to Bard his new desk and two chairs. Bard orders a set of suitably royal clothes with his children's advice.

November: Dale hosts the Elvenking and the King Under the Mountain on the one-year anniversary of the Battle of Five Armies in renewal of the friendship between Men, Elves, and Dwarves forged then.

— III 2944 —

Bard rebuilds Dale and becomes King. (The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years)

Presumably the completion of Dale's reconstruction and Bard's official coronation, seeing as the survivors of Laketown were already proclaiming Bard king before the Battle of Five Armies and could hardly have waited years to begin work on Dale if they were to have any place to live.

Addendum: I've since come around to the idea that Bard actually returns to Laketown to help with the rebuilding there before setting out to reclaim Dale, in line with his earlier sentiments expressed on the shores of Long Lake after Smaug's demise. Dale's reconstruction then begins in the above year and finishes sometime in the following five prior to Gandalf and Balin's III 2949 visit with Bilbo in the Shire bearing news of their friends. This scenario makes more sense, IMO, the Desolation having lain fallow for centuries whereas Laketown's fields and pastures are untorched and is in itself quite interesting. For the Master is not overfond of Bard but cannot afford to antagonize him, Erebor's gold only available to the Lakemen on the strength of his two personal claims, as a dragonslayer and Girion's heir.

Chapter 2

Since I'm no fashion designer, in dressing Bard, his children, and his young guards, I relied on real historical and traditional costumes. In keeping with the film's Venice on the Volga concept, the people of Laketown wear clothing that's either perfectly fit for a Renaissance Faire or vaguely Russian but, to my eye, with additional Himalayan and Mongolian influences. So, I thought, why not have Bard et al. adopt the styles of the Far East?

There could conceivably be an analog to the Far East in Tolkien's world past Rhûn, Khand, and Harad, on the shores of the eastern sea perhaps, where Men first awoke. Far Eastern costumes and those of southeast Asia, as well, would strike the inhabitants of Middle-earth's western lands, whose tastes are generally medieval, as bizarre enough to fill the prompt without stretching credibility too much by being absurdly impractical. Thus, Marcus Pokeberry is intended as an expy of Marco Polo, whose account of his travels in central Asia and China so inspired the early European explorers, Columbus among them. (Headcanon: The Edain never developed a similar interest for fear of Mordor and Sauron's dominion over the eastern peoples.)

Bard's hat is one famously worn by the Emperors of China,¹ chosen for the fiddly dangling bits that I figure would drive Thranduil, with his sharper senses, mad as Bard hasn't the training in court etiquette to keep his head still. Bard's pants and coat are inspired by the clothing of the Japanese samurai: split hakama, skirt-like trousers, and jinbaori, usually hip- or thigh-length kimono jackets worn over armor that I've done in western fabrics and extended for Bard to wear as robes. The overabundance of bling fastening Bard's short cape is a nod to the Indian Maharajas' fondness of bedecking themselves with garlands of jewels for photographs.

Bard's lacy collar is called a ruff,² popular in Europe sometime in the 16th and 17th centuries. His shirt, vest, and cape are likewise western in style. As for the embroidery on Bard's vest and cape, think Rococo. My basic idea's that none of Bard's garments alone is really all that unfashionable, but it's the mélange of clashing sensibilities that makes his outfit as a whole a bit of an eyesore.

The ensembles of Bard's children and his honor escort don't have this problem of cohesion, being drawn primarily from a single culture each. Sigrid and Bain's clothing is Indian, notably her sari and his turban. Tilda is in traditional Korean dress, called hanbok, but her headpiece is Mongolian in origin. Dreng, Ingvar, and friends are in hanbok, too, specifically the modernized look most often featured in South Korean television serials.³ Their hats, I believe, would've marked them as soldiers in the feudal Korean army.

Nor is anybody else's color scheme quite as unfortunate as Bard's, though together the group spans the entire rainbow. I chose purple and yellow for Bard's clothes because both have been favored by emperors—Roman and Chinese, respectively. Just not in combination, though I don't think these colors look bad together per se, so much as being too overwhelming for Elven senses with the multiple layers and elaborate needlework I describe.

Finally, I've modified all the clothing to accommodate Dale's colder climate. Sigrid, for one, is not baring her midriff, as is common among the sari-clad young women of India and southeast Asia. Long sleeves and heavier fabrics are preferred, and some of the outerwear is lined and trimmed in fur, everything layered atop woolen undergarments. Also, boots, not sandals. Hopefully, these mismatched costumes come across as humorously and/or horrifyingly eccentric, especially to Elven eyes, but still plausibly fashionable and suitable as court attire to the Bard(l)ings.