Lord Of The Rings Online Players Gather To Celebrate Ian Holm's Life

If there's one place to hold a memorial for the esteemed Sir Ian Holm, it's in Middle-earth itself--albeit the online version. Lord Of The Rings Online players across multiple servers celebrated the life of an actor most known within the fandom as playing Bilbo Baggins in the LOTR films, but who also lent his voice to Frodo in the 1981 BBC radio play of the same story.

After the news that Holm had passed away on June 19 at the age of 88, around 300 players on the Evernight server marched to Rivendell to visit the Bilbo Baggins NPC in the Last Homely House in Rivendell, while the song Far Over The Misty Mountains Cold played as an homage to his first ever adventure.

The roleplay server Laurelin had players gather at Bilbo's home, Bag End, where a dwarven minstrel played music for the crowd of mourners.

Reddit user RoadrageWorker said that the Belegaer server also gathered at Bag End, where "to Lobelia's dislike, [they] had a big firework. There was music and mourning, and we all wished Ian godspeed on this last of journeys."

Yet more events are planned, such as a march on the French server Sirannon to the Celondim docks, where Bilbo takes the White Ship to the Undying Lands at the end of the Lord of the Rings saga.

The game's developers are marking Holm's passing too, by bringing back the Bilbo's Birthday event through to June 23.