Perilous Realms is the name of Morwen Edhelwen's Urban Fantasy novel, which she describes as A Phaery Named Phredde by Jackie French, with a dash of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien, which is in its draft stage. Frodo is a hobbit who was named after a Dwarven chieftain. But he lives in a futuristic city called Silverlode, in an outer neighbourhood called the Westmarch, filled with elves, orcs and other refugees from another dimension.
Thorin Eikinscialdi, son of Draupnir, is a Dwarf, a distant relative of Nar, the current chieftain of the tribe of Eikinskjaldi. He's also raised Frodo and his brother Meriadoc and cousin Cynbel.Thorin used to be a mercenary and blacksmith, but has issues coping with the modern world where his sword is regarded as hopelessly outdated in fights against threats. Plus, the different races barely get along.
Tensions increase with the discovery that the dark lord, disguised as a human, may have come to the district and that some evil Orcs, working for the hidden dark lord, may be attempting to conquer it out of revenge and desire to destroy fragments of a magical protective bracelet, inscribed with runes, that was originally a talisman of a noble house and get hold a of a treasure hoard. They are chasing an ordinary human girl, Emily, who has no idea that her family is a branch of the family that originally was given the ring, and that she is a noblewoman from a hilltop kingdom.
Trope examples include:
- Berserk Button: Being called "Thorin Oakenshield" for Thorin
- Celtic Mythology: Some of the elves
- Changeling Fantasy: Emily discovers that her family has otherworldly heritage and that she is nobility.
- Dark Is Not Always Evil: There are some good orcs. In a more straightforward version, Dvergar (dwarves) are often thought to be evil because they are associated with death.
- Dead Guy Junior: Thorin, Frodo, and Andvari, named after ancestors.
- Direct Line to the Author Tolkien is said to have visited the other world and used it as inspiration.
- Elves vs. Dwarves: Based on each race's perception of each other's qualities and failings (lack of honour included) and years of fighting.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The dwarves of the ancient Norse.
- Homage: To LOTR and the Andvaranaut legend.
- Luke Nounverber: Thorin and Andvari's ancestor, Dwalin Runebringer.
- Norse Mythology: The mythology and culture of the characters' home world is dominated by Norse Mythology and culture. Also, Veror is Old Norse for world. Thorin and his ancestor Eikinscialdi are obscure characters from Norse myths, while his relatives Andvari and Dvalin are slightly better-known.
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Averted. Most dwarves are dark-skinned and black-haired as well as talented blacksmiths and craftsmen and miners (going by the myths), while the traditional dwarf is almost never dark-skinned. The women are thought of as ugly by other races.
- Ragtag Bunchof Misfits: Emily and Frodo are members of the Role-Playing Games Club, which consists of mostly 21st century humans, Middeleardian/Verorian humans, halflings, orcs, dwarves, and elves.
- Shout-Out: Thorin's last name, Eikinscialdi, is a reference to Norse Mythology and Thorin Oakenshield. Frodo's name is a reference to The Lord of the Rings, as is his brother's. The name of the city was the name of a river in LOTR.
- Ultimate Blacksmith:The two Andvaris. The second one, Andvari, son of Hornbori, who's forged a new magical ring for himself, is the most obvious one. To a certain extent, Thorin himself is also one.
