Mudd March Madness: Potter, Baggins, Holmes, and Salander Advance to Final Four

Thanks again to Andrew McSorley for providing this guest post, and for his excellent reporting on our Mudd March Madness event.

The Mudd March Madness event pits fictional characters from all across literary history against one another. By the end of next week, a champion will be crowned, taking control of the Seeley G. Mudd Library’s bragging rights for the next year.

And then there were four.

Harry Potter and Bilbo Baggins continued their impressive dominance in this tournament, with Baggins out-dueling number one seed Darth Vader 51 – 30, and Potter once again putting up the round’s largest margin of victory with a 53 – 29 bouncing of Winnie the Pooh. “It’s really a dream come true” Potter said after cutting down the proverbial nets. “Ten points for Gryffindor! On to the Final Four! Hey, that rhymes!” Potter’s brimming smile and exuberance was matched in its intensity by Bilbo Baggins’s stoicism. “When you go up against someone like Vader you really learn a lot about yourself.” Baggins nervously shifted something over and over in his pocket as he leaned into the microphone, “I have seen dragons, the magician Potter does not frighten me.” Harry Potter has emerged as the only number one seed to advance to the final four. He is also the scoring leader for this tournament, but fans have begun to describe Bilbo as a character of “destiny.” They will go head to head in these semifinals in a fantasy bout for the ages.

In both the Classics and Contemporary Fiction regions, the matches were much tighter. Sherlock Holmes and Lisbeth Salander escaped as champions of their regions, each with six point margins of victory. Lisbeth remains one of the most intriguing storylines in the tournament as many pundits believed her inexperience and tough region would keep her out of the final four. “She’s acting like she’s been here before, like she knows what’s coming next” said long-time tournament analyst Mikael Blomkvist, “I don’t know how she keeps doing it, but she finds things out about people, exploits their weaknesses. She knows how to cut someone down to size, that’s for sure.” Sherlock Holmes was not available for interviews following the news that Jack Torrance had been reported missing. Torrance was last seen wandering into a long abandoned corn maze following his first round upset loss. Holmes is investigating his disappearance.

Voting for the Final Four matchups will be open through tomorrow, when the final pairing will be announced. Vote for your favorites in both of these matchups and check in soon to see who has advanced to the championship final!