Introduction Instance - Elf
- Location
- Netherlands
The Lord of the Rings Online - subtitled 'Shadows of Angmar' back when it first came out - is a venerable MMORPG. That is to say, it's very old, as it was first released way back in 2007… Unlike a lot of games from that era, it's also still active and receiving updates and expansions to this day. Naturally it's set in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth during the same time period as the events of the Lord of the Rings novel-in-three-parts. Originally the game was developed by Turbine, and came with four playable races and seven classes, plus a map which covered the western regions of Eriador, ending near the Misty Mountains. Expansion would extend this first to the mines of Moria, while also adding two more classes, before moving to Mirkwood, Isengard, Rohan, and Gondor.
The game eventually went free-to-play with subscription options, and was transferred to Daybreak Game Company, mostly composed of former Turbine staff. With the addition of more races and a class or two, the game was then further expanded with a Mordor storyline to finish the original story of the book. Later content focused on other parts of Middle-Earth like Minas Morgul, outlying regions of the Shire and Rhovanion, as well as Gundabad. An upcoming expansion moves backwards to depict various events from the world's past.
I've played this game before, but it was long ago, from release to Rohan, though I also saw some of the early parts of Gondor in a brief return. I've got a certain nostalgic feeling about it - I liked a lot of what I can recall, though I also have a weird conviction that it didn't get really good until the expansion content came out. Since I have the same opinion about Final Fantasy XIV, this wouldn't be a big shocker! My strongest memories of the game center around the Mines of Moria and western Rohan, and I vaguely recall doing some 'big battle' content which frustrated me to no end, presumably towards the end of my playtime since that's Gondor-era stuff. It's all a bit of a blur. And that's the problem, isn't it?
It's high time to take another look at this game, because it's getting on there in years and with the current content mostly filling in blanks rather than completing the main story, there's no real reason to hold off any longer. LOTRO isn't just pure rehashing of canonical Lord of the Rings, either - it's got its own spin on Tolkien's legendarium, and it's one worth looking into as its own thing (even if I'll probably frequently reference the canonical lore.) It's best to consider this 'inspired by' Tolkien, and all the accurate tidbits are just gravy.
Character Creation
Our intro cinematic indicates that while this entire game is definitely set in Middle-Earth, and all this end-of-the-age Ring-business is happening, our character's focus is diverted elsewhere. Literally, as the shadows of Sauron stretch over a mostly unexplored northern area to indicate our foe… Bonus points for the map depicting the past of Eriador.
While a multi-ethnic band of legally distinct not-at-all-inspired-by-the-movies characters fight some orcs in a forest, Gandalf calls out the Witch-King of Angmar and his evil kingdom, and given that the original title of the game was Shadows of Angmar, this seems rather important. Forget the rest of this stuff, there's a spooky ghost guy with a crown to fight! At least until we get around to post-release material which goes in every other direction, which is why the subtitle was dropped and now really only applies to the first chunk of the game. Details.
Angmar, or 'Iron Home' in the elvish language of Sindarin, is canonically a cold and snowy realm established in the year 1300 of the Third Age by the aforementioned Nazgûl, the Witch-King, in the far north of Middle-Earth. We'll get into the specifics of its history later, but for now it's relevant to know that it was struck down in the year 1975 of the Third Age in the Battle of Fornost, after which the Witch-King fled over to Mordor with the rest of his ghostly homies. Angmar did not pose any threat during the War of the Ring, since it had been a dead nation for a thousand years. LOTRO takes a different spin on this, reimagining the ultimate fate of this hostile region in order to set it up as a western arm of Sauron's looming shadow. It's far from the only time that LOTRO retcons material like this based on actual stuff from Tolkien's work. It's probably preferable to just making it up without any references at all, and it beats fighting only a few goblins and wolves.
After the cinematic, we're left at character creation - and it's gotten a bit more complicated than it used to be in the old days. There used to be only four races - Men, Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits. There are ways to play enemy races too, but only in special zones, as this is mostly a 'good guys vs. the evil mobs' campaign. Later updates introduced Beornings - shapeshifting humans descended from the Hobbit's Beorn - as well as new variants of elves and dwarves in the form of High Elves and Stout-Axes. The differences of the latter two are largely cosmetic, barring one or two class-choices which are available only to the variants, and a couple early-bird quests which set up the unique starting positions of these new races. I think there's a handful of unique traits too? Those don't come up for a good while, anyway.
Classes, too, have gotten more elaborate since the early days - instead of seven classes, there are now a whole eleven to choose from, though a couple of those are premium one based on some expansion you may or may not have purchased when they came out, or through the in-game store.
Taking these icons in order, we've got the Guardian, a tank clad in heavy armor with a big shield who is all about drawing aggro and taking hits. Next there's the Captain, a melee fighter with buff abilities who summons a herald companion to fight by their side whom they can then buff. The Burglar is a knife-happy support class modeled after Bilbo Baggins, specializing in debuffing and stealth attacks. They rely on sleight-of-hand and initiating team combos.
Next is the Warden, a javelin-wielding melee combatant who can also do ranged damage and has a fighting game's combo-style flow to their battles. The Champion is a melee fighter specializing in pure damage-dealing, especially against groups. The Hunter is a bow-wielding ranged attacker with back-up dual-wielding melee attacks. The Beorning is the sole class available to the Beorning race - they can do heavy damage after transforming and take a lot of hits, but also have skills in healing while in human form. They're werebears.
The Rune-Keeper is a more varied class who can fill a bunch of roles with various magical runes - damage, healing, support. The Lore-Master is a master of crowd-control who calls animal companions to fight by their side, and even calls on some elemental forces to damage foes. Minstrels are bard-style healers who can also deal some damage, but mostly focus on keeping everyone in the fight. Finally, the newest class is the Brawler, not yet included in this image, and they're an aggressive melee fighter who shines in one-on-one unarmed combat.
So, who am I? I used to play mostly Champion and Guardian, heavily armored melee machines - so I'm consciously going another direction. Some of the newly introduced classes seem interesting, but I haven't shilled out cash for the Brawler and I'd prefer a class which will allow for a fair amount of solo play. Also, since I'm definitely going to be an insufferable know-it-all who harasses people, I'm inclined towards playing an Elf, and that makes the choice easier. Let's go with a classic, and pick up an elven bowman in the spirit of Legolas. Hunters get a bunch of quality of life skills too like a variety of convenient travel options and buffs to their running speed. Can't complain there!
Say hello to Brulindir - pay no attention to the shorter name in the top there! Stupid MMOs and their stupid quota on how many people can have the same name, grumble grumble… Brulindir is a wood-elf who hails from Lothlórien, the golden woods where Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel hold sway. The various origin options there mostly determine which sets of colors are available on the sliders to the right - I've no idea if they impact any gameplay beyond that. Maybe I'll find out when I get to Lórien…
Let's just jump right in, shall we?
Introduction Instance - The Refuge of Edhelion
"While visiting the Refuge of Edhelion under the care of your master, you find yourself in the midst of a brutal attack by greedy dwarves of the Dourhand family. Their king, Skorgrím, thirsts for power with an unnatural lust, and you are in the eye of the storm."
No sooner do I open my eyes to a fancily-decorated room full of wall-hangings, expensive pots, chests, and poorly maintained bookcases, that a rude elf yells at me to get a move on already. Tarry not, and all that? Whatever, I'm going to have a look around. While the elf-dude in the corner beckons me over, I inspect the environs, noting a fancy harp, purple rugs with wavy lines across them, and a smattering of very meaningful wall-hangings.
The seven stars are a pretty ubiquitous symbol in Middle-Earth - it's a specific constellation in the north skies that the elves call Valacirca and which symbolizes the downfall of the original big bad Morgoth. To us it's just known as the Big Dipper. According to dwarvish legend a crown of seven stars appeared above Durin's head when he looked into Mirrormere, symbolizing his kingship. To top it off, Aragorn's ancestor Elendril also used the symbol, denoting the seven Palantíri taken across the ocean to Middle-Earth after the downfall of Númenor.
As for the other pictures, the ship and dragon could represent various entities and events to the elves - Smaug and Eärendil come to mind. The last picture shows a white tree along with nine stars - likely this references the seedling of Númenor's white tree that Isildur stole, and which later symbolizes Gondor, along with the nine ships which escaped the ruin of that island as it sank beneath the seas. Of note is that the four hangings seem to also conform to the classical four elements, with the stars as air, the ship as water, the tree as earth, and the dragon as fire.
Okay, let's get back to shouty elf-guy… oh, hi there Elrond Half-Elven. Fancy meeting you here.
Awkward.
If you're worried that Elrond here is a particularly angry angel now, that ring icon is basically the exclamation mark from games like World of Warcraft, an indicator of quest NPCs. The normal golden ring is for regular quests, a blue one with a feather indicates an active quest and the quest provider usually gives you hints as to what you're supposed to be doing, and the flaming ring here is Very Important. The central narrative of the game is the so-called 'Epic Quest' which connects everything together, and is depicted with this symbol, while smaller stories play out in separate quest chains with normal icons. Odds are if you're not sure where you should be going, the epic quests will lead you there pretty quickly. Some progress is also gated behind these quests, so it's a good idea to make sure you don't leave it to the wayside.
Elrond tells me that I can't tarry any longer in here - for Skorgrím's forces are upon us, and they're probably making their way straight to this library! Sorry, man, but have you looked around lately? This whole building has like five bookcases, and all of them are barely even a quarter full. This is supposed to be a library? Ol' L-Ron must still be with his head in Rivendell's study corner, eh? Elrond explains that this evil dwarf-lord seeks the relics of Edhelion, the commune we're currently in, though he's got no idea what the dwarf wants with them. He then immediately explains that these relics were once coveted by an ancient Gaunt-Lord, whatever that is, and conjectures that Skorgrím thinks he can become immortal if he can get his hands on them. Way to answer your own question there, Bat-elf!
He promptly dumps a satchel of weapons on the ground for me, though they're inexplicably inferior to the gear I receive as a newly generated character, so whatever. I've barely even strapped on my trusty bow and knife when Elrond shuffles me over to the next room, where Talagan awaits - apparently he's my master/mentor figure. May you rest in peace, dude, I've heard this refrain before. Talagan greets me by challenging me to a fight - apparently he's worried I won't survive the battle outside, so he hopes to ease his heart by ensuring I'm ready. Sure, old elf, I'll beat you up to make you feel better.
As I finish teaching my teacher a lesson, thunder suddenly shakes the library, and Elrond figures that he has to hide the relics before Skorgrím appears to claim them. He tells me to go outside with Talagan to see what we can do about the Dourhands - Skorgrím's dwarven clan. He'll catch back up with us as soon as possible. Before I leave, though, I spy more wall-hangings in this room - one depicting the moon, while another is a map of Eriador. More specifically, this is a map from the early days of LOTRO, when the game first came out, though it's long since been updated half a dozen times. Neat!
Talagan and I make our way outside to find the refuge on fire - even some of the stone bits, somehow. Various elves are lamenting their fate nearby, or nursing their wounds, while the corpses of Dourhand dwarves litter the stairs. They're getting pretty close! Talagan tells me that the library is where the storm will converge, so I should get away and meet with Edhelben down below, who should allow me through the gates to protect what's left of the refuge. He urges me to return in one piece when this is all over. You know, I'll promise that if you do the same, kay? Nothing? Thought so.
I descend the staircase and pass through the gate with Edhelben, only to discover a mostly deserted courtyard - with the gate that leads eastwards out of the refuge under siege. Not only is there a host of Dourhands there, smashing into a pretty flimsy-looking gate which appears to be more about form than function, but there's also something much, much bigger. Is that a freaking troll? Yikes.
Edhelben tells me not to tarry - come on you elves, aren't you supposed to be the chill race that lives forever? What's with all this haste? He concludes that the gate won't last long - no shit - and that we have to bolster the defenses behind a nearby gate. In order to do that he leads me to a staircase at the west end and tells me to go up until I reach the other side of that gate. Uh, okay? I guess I'm shooting some Dourhands along the way, though, so it's not entirely giving me the runaround. Edhelben figures I should just hold out hope that someone will open that gate afterwards so I can make my way back to the main courtyard…
The Dourhands don't pose much of a threat, given that they're tutorial enemies - I let loose a couple shots and most of them drop before they even reach me, and those that do smack me ineffectually. Eventually I make my way around the perimeter - while I appreciate the fancy architecture along the way. Get away form there, you damn dirty dwarf!
I reach the other side of the long runaround and get let into a locked section by Dorongúr Whitethorn, who recognizes me as Talagan's young charge. I guess this establishes that I am quite young - for an elf. That could still mean a couple centuries, probably. He's glad that I survived this massacre, but admits that it's not over yet. Skorgrím himself hasn't shown his face yet, but they've already lost much in the battle with the Dourhands… He asks me what news I bring, before commenting that he fears for Edhelion - how much more could they withstand?
That's about when a guard rushes up and shouts that the Dourhands have broken through. Dorongúr steels himself and tells me that the final battle is at hand - I should prepare myself, for the gate will not hold long! I'm dazed by the sudden impact of the giant troll against the gate, moments away from death, when there's a sudden Elrond Interrupt.
'A Elbereth! Edhellen crist! Fall, beast!'
Elrond solos the snow-troll and then calls out to Dorongúr - Talagan now defends the library alone, since he sent Elrond over to save his student. Dorongúr calls for me to follow as we all dash back through the courtyard and back up the stairs I originally descended from. Skorgrím and a party of his dwarves have gotten there ahead of us, though. As we arrive halfway up it turns out part of the bridge has collapsed, and we can see Talagan facing off with Skórgrim and friends at the entrance to the library.
Skorgrím snarls that Talagan should stand aside, that the relics are his, only for Talagan to cry out 'Never!' before channeling some unknown power. Elrond seems to understand what's going on, but Skorgrím doesn't and tells his minions to stop him - Dorongúr cries out in panic. Then, in a truly 2007 bit of animation, the entire library collapses on top of the entire group, crushing both Talagan and the dwarves. I did not see this coming at all!
Elrond, moments after the dust settles, hopes that Talagan is at peace. Agh, if only he'd returned but a few moments earlier! Still, Talagan's dearest wish was to see his student safe, and he also saved the relics - they're buried with him in the collapsed library. Wait, Elrond hid the library's secret relics inside the library? What, did he shove them under the carpet? Real impressive, my man.
Elrond reflects on what has happened here and tells me that I can blame him for my beloved master's death, for he could have saved him if only he'd forgone going to help me instead. Talagan was brave to spare my young life, he proclaims. Edhelion lies in ruins, and Talagan was not the only elf to die here today. While Skorgrím will be no more trouble, and the relics are safely gone, it was still such a needless battle! Edhelion, he surmises, will fade away after this…
This is where we leave the introductory instance, and move to the next segment… which takes place a whopping six-hundred years later. Talk about time-skips!
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