Any story, poem or picture is born as an idea first. Even the whole Arda was first an idea in the minds of the Ainur and Ilúvatar, given shape. The same is true for any plan or battle strategy: everything begins with an idea. Getting the right idea may be a difference between life and death when you are, for example, captured by Orcs and need to escape, trying to gain some food and water in a barren country, or trying to survive in any hostile environment.
Ideas are also thoughts or opinions, something abstract that takes shape in your mind. Some of these thoughts can be silly, but some are so powerful that they can change the world, especially if they challenge the old views. It could be, for example, the idea of equal rights for everyone or the idea of freedom of speech. You can think of a Middle-earth equivalent of such ideas and their impact on the people there.
This is going to be a bit of an inception since you first need an idea for a story or picture about ideas, so good luck with that!
The deadline for this challenge is July 25th, but can be extended until the end of the month. If you need an extension to finish your story or picture, just write to the email below!
For writers: send your stories to teitho.contest@gmail.com. The contest is anonymous and the story can't be posted publicly until the results of the challenge are announced. Aragorn or Legolas don't have to be main characters, but at least one of them must be mentioned in the story.
For artists: Submit your picture into the Teitho gallery folder of Arda-Inspired at deviantArt. The picture should be new, drawn specifically for the challenge. State that you are submitting it to the contest in the artist's comments.
Happy writing and drawing!
Your Teitho-moderator,
Mirach