The Brown Lands

Despite every expectation that the name might convey, it was a joy to be able to enter and quest in this area.  As is the case with my entire blog, Here Be Spoilers.  If you haven't ventured this far in your questing and don't wish to be disappointed, read at your peril!

The Brown Lands feature on various maps of Middle Earth created by Professor Tolkien, and certainly served as the locale for certain points of Lore.  When I first learned the term "scorched earth policy" in a history class long ago, I carried that image into every reading of LotR ever after.  This region personifies that - this isn't the healthy, earthy brown hues of living things; this is the brown of death.  Even the air is tinted brown.

The Desolation of the Gardens

Our main ally post in the Brown Lands is Etheburg.  This makes me think of a passage from Unfinished Tales, where Eorl the Young talks about returning after Cirion had granted to him the lands that would become Rohan, leaving some men behind to keep order while others returned home to gather their families and belongings.  "....the main force shall remain in the North-east to guard above all the place where the Balchoth made a crossing of the Anduin out of the Brown Lands; for there is still the greatest danger, and there also is my chief hope, if I return, of leading my people into their new land with as little grief and loss as may be."  For he planned to bring his people back down the east side of the Anduin (choosing this side despite having to travel in the shadow of Dol Guldur, avoiding travel down the western side of Anduin in part due to it not being easily traveled by horses/wagons but also because it would take them near the "Dwimordene where dwells the White Lady and weaves nets that no mortal can pass" - such a reputation Galadriel built up for herself!).

The Brown Lands have been so for 3000 years - Treebeard references traveling here during the time of the "war between Sauron and the Men of the Sea" to find "a desert:  it was all burned and uprooted, for war had passed over it." 

Nice blind shot, Legolas!

This is also the place Turbine has chosen to have the Company  encounter the Nazgûl and shoot down him and his mount on their trip down the Anduin, not knowing what manner of foe it was (though Frodo of course had his suspicions).  "Suddenly the great bow of Lorien sang.  Shrill went the arrow from the elven-string.  Frodo looked up.  Almost above him the winged shape swerved.  There was a harsh croaking scream, as it fell out of the air, vanishing down into the gloom of the eastern shore.  The sky was clean again.  There was a tumult of many voices far away, cursing and wailing in the darkness, and then silence.  Neither shaft nor cry came again from the east that night."  Too bad it hadn't fallen just a littttttle more to the west.

But of course the big draw for me to the Brown Lands was the chance of hearing more about the Entwives, and this did not disappoint at all.

As Treebeard tells Merry and Pippin, when the world was young the Ents and Entwives walked together and housed together, but their "hearts did not go on growing in the same way" - what a wonderful way to put it!  The Entwives became most concerned with growing things that produced seeds and berries and nuts that could be harvested, things that could be cultivated and trained.  The Entwives sought "order, and plenty, and peace (by which they meant that things should remain where they had set them)."  Another wonderful description!  At the time when the Darkness came in the North, the Entwives crossed the Anduin to plant gardens and fields, and taught their knowledge and skills to Men.  But the Ents and Entwives saw less and less of each other as the years passed, until the visit Treebeard made to discover they were gone.

As far as the Ents were concerned, they were gone, not dead.  He makes this very clear to Pippin and Merry.  As he states, songs were made of the search of the Ents for the Entwives.  Some people said they saw them heading west, or east; others said south.  Some never saw them at all.  Nowhere could the Ents find any trace of them, however, and they eventually returned to their forests.  Ent legend holds that the two will meet again some day in a new land where both can be happy, but that it cannot happen until both have lost everything dear to them.

This is why Treebeard is particularly interested in learning more about the Shire; based on the description he gets from Merry and Pippin, it naturally sounds like a place the Entwives would have dearly loved.

In my post on the Old Forest, I talk about how Turbine cleverly found a semi-resting place for these highly sought Entwives.  Truly, do the Flowers of the Old Forest quest - use a map if it makes you crazy, several good ones exist! - and most importantly hover over each flower's deed once you complete it.  I had always noted that a flower for one famous name was missing, and I wondered why - until now.  I won't spoil this, and will instead leave it for you to find in the Brown Lands.

We also see more mention of the Entwives in the dialogue that appears in the green haven, Limlight Glade, you eventually reach when visiting the Limlight Gorge to knock out the quests in that region.  If you stay to listen, you also encounter some very neat dialogue between one of the Ents here and an Elf, Ordhrien (who reveals himself to be over 3000 years old), including the following:

Ordhrien says, ''Have you considered the Lady's offer yet Thickbark?''
Ordhrien says, ''Such an alliance could protect both our forests.''
Thickbark says, ''Oh? Indeed. Hrrm...''
Thickbark says, ''Then tell me, where were the Galadhrim when our Gardens were despoiled by the enemy?''
Ordhrien says, ''What?''
Ordhrien says, ''We were fighting... *I* was fighting - on the very slopes of Mount Doom!''
Thickbark says, ''Haroom... No doubt. No doubt. You are a great warrior. That much I can see.''
Thickbark says, ''But Mount Doom was a long way away from the Gardens... a long way indeed.''
Thickbark says, ''Too far and too late, I am afraid, to be of any help to us.''
Ordhrien says, ''Nothing I say can change what happened then. But we can still help each other now.''
Thickbark says, ''Hrrmm... I suppose we could help you, yes. We are still strong. Strong enough for orcs.''
Thickbark says, ''But I do not think you can help us. Hrrumm... It has been too late for that for a long time now.''

The real Lore about the Entwives is less encouraging.  Fortunately this isn't mentioned in the Lord of the Rings, so it leaves the ability to conjecture in the LOTRO storyline.  Yet Professor Tolkien was frequently asked about the fate of the Entwives.  In a letter (Letter 144) the fate of the Entwives does not sound promising:  "What happened to them is not resolved in this book. ... I think that in fact the Entwives had disappeared for good, being destroyed with their gardens in the War of the Last Alliance (Second Age 3429-3441) when Sauron pursued a scorched earth policy and burned their land against the advance of the Allies down the Anduin. They survived only in the 'agriculture' transmitted to Men (and Hobbits). Some, of course, may have fled east, or even have become enslaved: tyrants even in such tales must have an economic and agricultural background to their soldiers and metal-workers. If any survived so, they would indeed be far estranged from the Ents, and any rapprochement would be difficult -- unless experience of industrialised and militarised agriculture had made them a little more anarchic. I hope so. I don't know."  Readers can and do still debate what this all means, but in the end, I myself am left with little hope that they survived.

That's why I'm so glad Turbine is able to give us a way to experience a happier ending for this great story.

Sources:  Unfinished Tales, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

The Old Forest

There is so much Lore to be found in the Old Forest, the subject could be broken up into several smaller posts.  But I like the flow of including everything in a single post, it feels as if we are immersing ourselves in the Old Forest right along with Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin as they entered through the west gate.

The entrance itself is almost perfectly true to the story.  Entering from Buckland, we see the well-tended Hedge stretching from north to south, protecting the settlements from any encroachment from the Forest.  "A cutting had been made, at some distance from the Hedge, and went sloping gently down into the ground.  It had walls of brick at the sides, which rose steadily, until suddenly they arched over and formed a tunnel that dived deep under the Hedge and came out in the hollow on the other side."  As we pass through that tunnel and gate, the whole atmosphere becomes dark, brooding, and oppressive.

Once inside, we see that the trees do not crowd the Hedge, and find a long strip of bare land between it and the edge of the Forest, much as Merry described when telling of how the trees once attacked the Hedge long ago, when the Bucklanders then cut down and burned that strip to drive them back.  A path leads deeper in to a nearby clearing - the Bonfire Glade, the "wide bare space not far inside where the bonfire was made."

Traveling east and a little north beyond the Bonfire Glade, the ground begins to rise gradually in the direction the Hobbits were heading as they tried to find a way through the forest.  In The Fellowship of the Ring, the Hobbits work through the twisting and seemingly shifting paths and spot higher ground in the distance:  "Before them, but some distance off, there stood a green hill-top, treeless, rising like a bald head out of the encircling wood."  From this hill, they can see the edge of the Forest and the start of the Barrow Downs farther to the east.  In the game, I don't think it is unreasonable to assume this is Bald Hill, just beyond the Bonfire Glade. 

As the Hobbits try to continue forward, they are driven against their will to the east and south, toward the valley of the River Withywindle, which they had hoped to avoid.  Avoiding it was a great if hopeless idea, as it is here they encounter Old Man Willow.  Turbine represents him well, from his mouth-like crack to the effects of Drowsiness, Lethargy, and Sap Power, which reduces your movement speed and drains you of all power when in his vicinity.  Level 75's are not immune to this!  But woe unto the lower level toons who must battle with Old Man Willow's roots - no power means no dps, and the slower movement means you have a very good chance of falling victim to his crafty wooden wiles.

Fortunately you can still move, if you're still alive, and the river leads you back in the north easterly direction.  If you were so unfortunate to be defeated and have to release, there's a handy rez circle not far away which takes you to one of the most wonderful places in Middle Earth.  Near the rez circle, toward the eastern side of the Old Forest, sits the house of Tom Bombadil.  The Hobbits were fortunate to be rescued by Tom and taken back to his house - in the game, we must either travel there of our own accord, or be rezzed there. Ultimately, getting there is all that matters.

Tom Bombadil - he's merry, his jacket is bright blue, his boots yellow.  Check, check, and check.  Take note of your stats when you stand next to him, if you can get him to stand still long enough.  +8 Hope from being in Tom's aura.  And he is still very good at saving hapless noobs.  If you are one of those people who don't like running the Epic Book series, please go do Othrongroth if you've never done so.  Please.

The first thing that struck me upon entering the house of Tom Bombadil was the tableau opposite the door.  "In a chair, at the far side of the room facing the outer door, sat a woman....  About her feet in wide vessels of green and brown earthenware, white water-lilies were floating, so that she seemed to be enthroned in the midst of a pool."  Of course what we also notice on entering is - no Goldberry.  But her chair and bowls are there, awaiting her return, exactly as described.

Unfortunately we do not get to meet Goldberry in the house she shares with Tom, because in the game she is off in another part of the forest.  There may be slight liberty taken here with the Lore of Goldberry.  In The Fellowship of the Ring, it is stated by Tom that the Hobbits were fortunate to cross paths with him, as after that day he would not be venturing far out again until spring:

"And that proved well for you - for now I shall no longer
go down deep again along the forest-water,
not while the year is old.  Nor shall I be passing
Old Man Willow's house this side of spring-time,
not till the merry spring, when the River-daughter
dances down the withy-path to bathe in the water."

His song could conceivably be interpreted to mean that Goldberry would normally be staying in as well; during the Hobbit's stay, she is undergoing her washing day and autumn cleaning, which seems to indicate settling in to rest through the coming winter.  At the time the Hobbits visited Tom and Goldberry, it was late September, and we pass through the Old Forest in the game shortly after that time.  However, in the game we find her off in the far northwest corner of the Forest by Goldberry's Spring.  A little creative license?  Maybe, maybe not, and who cares - because Goldberry is out and about, she introduces us to a wonderful deed full of Lore about none other than the Entwives.

Technically the Lore extends only as far as giving a nod to the Entwives.  We ultimately do not know what happened to the mates of the Ents that we meet much farther along in the game.  In the trilogy, their fate is left uncertain.  Even Professor Tolkien himself purported to be uncertain of their fate, speculating in Letter 144:  

"I think that in fact the Entwives had disappeared for good, being destroyed with their gardens in the War of the Last Alliance (Second Age 3429 – 3441) when Sauron pursued a scorched earth policy and burned their land against the advance of the Allies down the Anduin..."

But that bit of uncertainty gives Turbine room to imagine perhaps a slightly brighter fate for eight of the Entwives.  Goldberry explains the deed titled "Flowers of the Old Forest:"

"Greetings, McFarlane. You have seen an unusual breed of flower that grows within the depths of the Old Forest? Their origins are most unusual.
 
As the old tale goes, eight Entwives came into this forest from the distant south many years ago and took shelter here beneath the boughs of the Old Forest. But darkness was everywhere in the lands in those times, and Tom thought it wise that the sisters should pass into the heart of the forest where no evil might reach.
 
The flowers I speak of mark the places where each of the Entwives disappeared into the weave of the forest, and it is possible to understand their nature in those places.
 
Only Tom knows when or if they will ever awaken from their slumber, and he will not tell even me!"

If you pursue this deed, once you locate a flower, you will be able to open your Deed Log and hover over the description for that flower.  You will find that each of the flowers is named after an Entwife, each with special qualities of her own, and often a glimpse of her fate.  I won't spoil these by posting the text - instead I strongly encourage you to complete the deed or, if you have already done it, to enter your Deed Log and read the description for each flower if you have never done so before.  It is a touching and creative way in which Turbine could provide some hope for one of the great mysteries of Middle Earth.


Clearly the Old Forest does not lack in Lore, from the smallest details such as Goldberry's chair and bowls to the many twisting paths, moving trees and grasping roots, and the characters that we absolutely expect to meet such as Old Man Willow and Tom Bombadil.  Many people dislike questing in the Old Forest - it certainly isn't easy at-level, it's dark and gloomy, and a bit of a maze though easy enough to maneuver once you get the hang of it, and good maps exist! - but it is so worth the time and such an important part of the Lore of Middle Earth.  Don't miss out!


Sources:  The Fellowship of the Ring