This afternoon, on April 16th 2023, as I am writing this, I’ve decided to uncover a mystery I’ve left under my nose for years. On the corner of West End and Elmington Avenue (in front of West End Middle School) I’ve driven past people donning boar masks, viking helmets, and large foam swords on Sunday afternoons for years without the faintest clue of what was up. And today, I finally decided to end the mystique; I asked the masked park patrons what they were up to.
Blue, a 5’4 college student with pixie cut teal hair and gold piercings, fills me in. “Dur Demarion is more of a sport than a live DnD session. The game is focused on combat and being the best fighter you can be. I’ve been playing Dur Demarion weekly for eight years now. We’ve been a Nashville institution for the past 30 years, which surprises a lot of people. We are pretty old and people tend to stay with the community for years.” For decades, the Dur Demarion communities brought fantasy fiends together in comradery and kinship in Music City. Lying on a cot next to Blue and me observing the live match (pictured above), an archer chimes in. Scott Marquart, another Dur Demarion regular muses, “There is a certain magic that takes place the first time you pick up a sword, but it does take some getting used to” (Marquart).
Online at durdemarion.com, I found the list of rules. Sweet Baby Jesus. When put into a Google doc, it's more than 30 pages of minutia. Dur Demarion is a whole world unto its own. In fact, the president of the game says, “Dur Demarion is a part of Belegarth (BEL-la-garth, which means "Great Realms" in J.R.R. Tolkien's Sindarin language),” while it is loosely based on the Lord of the Rings novels. However, after talking for a while on Sunday in the park, I discovered that just like any other activity (whether it be ice skating, quilting, or rock climbing), role playing is often about building community and finding people to build bonds with over a common interest. Before leaving, Blue offered me a lance and asked me if I wanted to join in. It didn’t look like my personal cup of tea, so I declined the offer and left. However, that day, I gained a new respect for an event that held mystique in my mind for a decade and inspired my appreciation of the creative community spaces in the nashville area. Again, if Dur Demarion sounds right up your alley, join in on Elmington Avenue at 12:00 on Sundays.
- Parker Stack, Editor
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