Cracked Eggs: Prostitution in Middle Earth???

I know, I know.  The Riders of Rohan expansion just came out; I took a several month hiatus away from blogging about Middle Earth lore in LOTRO.  And what do I choose to be my first topic upon return?  In my defense, it is the expansion that finally prodded me to cover this subject!

The Inn at Elthengels

No, this is obviously not a Lore-related post, hence my titling it as a "Cracked Egg" submission.  If you remember back to my early blogging days, the Cracked Eggs series are devoted to little non-Middle Earth jokes and Easter eggs.  I'm drawing a line in the sand and calling out the Dev's obsession with, yes, prostitution!  *WINK*

The impetus for this post actually came from exploring the early areas of the new Riders of Rohan expansion.  In the village of Elthengels in The Wold, they have a lovely tavern.  Being able to explore the insides of the very beautiful homes and buildings of the Rohirrim is something I particularly enjoy.  In Elthengels, we eventually get to go in and speak to some of the patrons.

The upstairs of this particular tavern is a busy place, with many men and women sitting at tables, enjoying the tavern fare.  Curiously there are two small bedrooms that open directly onto the tavern area, partitioned off only by hanging curtains.  One room has a large, full-sized bed; the other room has two small single beds.  *WINK*

"Walking the Streets" - Cosmetic LOTRO

Yes, yes I know what you are thinking:  these are the rooms of the tavern owners, or their servants.  Or the tavern also serves as an inn, and these are guest rooms.  It's Middle Earth!  These are the Rohirrim!  They wouldn't...!  They didn't...!  That seems entirely logical.  But not for me!  My first thought on seeing those rooms were that they are rooms meant to conduct business of generally fairly short duration, several times a night.  *WINK*   It isn't at all unheard of to see such rooms above taverns through history.  Of course, it is equally common to see true inns being run in taverns as well.  What can I say, sometimes the imagination runs and I have to let it.

OK, so maybe I'm be overly imaginative.  But what made me more inclined to make this leap of the imagination are the precedents set in Bree.  Yes, Bree.

In one of my first blog posts, I reference Wink the Cat *WINK* and the Cat House in Bree.  Much has already been discussed about this house, particularly in the LOTRO Forums over the years.  In one of those Forums, Turbine's Berephon is credited with stating this was an inside joke among the Devs.  Believe me, I'm not the first to speculate on exactly what that inside joke might be.  Let's think of different words for "cat."  When a number of one of those "cat" words are congregated together in one house, there could be several types of living situations possible.  And no, I'm not thinking of a sorority house.

Wink and the Other Cats in Bree

Visiting that house is of course part of Chicken Play.  Not to mention being ported there after getting stinking drunk using an Inn League keg - how often is that how most people get into a Cat House in the first place?  Or, sweetest of all, at least we used to be sent there with flowers during the spring festival (even if they really were meant for the "nice" lady next door).

So "cat" lovers *WINK* in LOTRO have always had a special place to go in Bree.  But what if a cat isn't your favorite animal?

Enter - the Turtle House! *WINK*  In the spring of 2012, a new series of quests was introduced to Bree, after teasing us for some time with what were locked doors that could presumably be opened some day.  This let us travel into the interior of a few more Bree buildings, in line with what the Great River area brought us in Stangard and beyond.

Scary little turtles!

But my little radar tells me it was more than this.  After years of having the Cat House in Bree, it was only fair that a Turtle House should open up.  After all, we are told in this quest line that "the mayor has been known to turn a blind eye to the keeping of numerous pets within homes in Bree."  We covered "cat" euphemisms earlier, now let's think about what "turtle" and "turtle shell" can be used to describe.  *WINK*  (Hey, I do try to keep my blog as family-friendly as possible, which is quite challenging with this particular subject.)  We meet the Hobbit Grobo in Staddle, who is clearly a...turtle-phobic?...Hobbit.  Just the thought of these turtles getting bigger fills him with dread.

All I can say is - three cheers for Mayor Graeme Tenderlarch for being Equal Opportunity in permitting fans of cats, or turtles, or both, to have places to visit in Bree!  After all, in the words of Quick-wit Culver in the instance The Infiltrator's Surprise, "Are you sure you're one of us? This has been a long time coming, and I don't want some outsider spoiling it."  Long time coming, indeed!  Fortunately all the turtles in Bree have a home with Artie Root (such a name), who happens to own the nicest window view in the whole town.

The Turtle House - Nicest window in Bree!

I understand, it appears I have my mind in the gutter and there could be all sorts of Freudian interpretations made about ME.  And that I could be accused of drawing these assumptions with very little concrete evidence.  But - meh - I call 'em as I see 'em!  And I see Devs who like to be playful and about as naughty as they probably dare be while still maintaining the integrity of Middle Earth.

Plus I wanted to return to my blog in a big way.  NOW on to Rohan....

Many thanks to Hymne from Cosmetic LOTRO for letting me post one of her early outfit designs, "Walking the Streets."  It has always stuck in my memory and I was pleased to be able to link to it here.  If you have never visited her site before, you are missing so much - please stop by!

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

Cracked Eggs - Old Bloodtusk

Read more about the Cracked Eggs series here.

At a couple points now Turbine has done a send-up of itself, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

I will admit to being very sad and disappointed to discover that, after the launch of Free to Play and some content updates, Old Bloodtusk was never to be found in his tree trunk again.  Those of you who played before this time know, Bloodtusk was the temperamental boar who lived in a dead tree trunk outside Archet.  Little level 7's would have to take him on, with varying amounts of success.  It was not uncommon to have to stand there waiting in line to get him with other newbies (we were apparently either too ignorant to group up at that point in order to save time for one mob kill, or just stubbornly resistant to doing so). Inevitably some noob rock star would come in from nowhere and immediately tag him ahead of everyone else waiting to do so.  Ahhh, the old days.  I was lucky enough to take several toons through that area, and Bloodtusk was a regular part of it.  But since Free to Play, he's apparently moved on. His trunk is still there, though.

Nobody's home.

So imagine my pleasure when the Frostbluff Theatre first advertised its new play, an Ode to Old Bloodtusk, in 2010!  I sat excitedly in the theatre, waiting to see what would happen.  Only to be surprised by a change of plans and a play instead about that Mad Baggins.  I wanted to see Old Bloodtusk!  But I really enjoyed how cleverly they added that tiny nod to a popular part of their own game.  I still have high hopes that some day we really might see a Bloodtusk play.

Naturally I was even more excited when I arrived in Dunland a year later, and just outside Galtrev wandered into an area titled Bloodtusk's Den!  My heart raced as I imagined seeing Old Bloodtusk again after all this time and distance!  I eventually picked up the quest to go back to the Den, only to discover this was actually a descendant of Old Bloodtusk, that "old, grisled boar" who had wandered down from the north.  This youngster was called Big Bloodtusk.  How Big Bloodtusk came about so quickly, and grew so large in such a brief amount of time, I'm not quite sure.  But he certainly is a big boy and Old Bloodtusk must have been very proud.

I like how Turbine nested this little joke within a joke about one of their own characters.  He may have been a relatively small and insignificant mob, but for new baby toons, he was definitely a memorable one.  And it has been nice to cross paths with at least his reputation, and a descendant, on my journey south.  It also gives me hope that the now unemployed rep barter NPC's may have found jobs elsewhere in Middle Earth, and that we'll encounter them somewhere as well.

Uncandled Eggs - Ost Barandor

Read more about the Uncandled Eggs series here.

This post is dedicated to my first mystery - Ost Barandor.  I cannot connect this to any Tolkien lore.  Maybe I just have not looked in the correct places.  But it certainly seems like it SHOULD be straight from the lore somewhere!

Ost Barandor is a ruined fortress in the far northwest corner of Bree-land.  High above the rolling Brandy Hills, it isn't far from the spot where you find the giant Svalfang.  Don't confuse it with Ost Baranor, another ruins in the Chetwood near the Yellow Tree.

It is far from most quest lines and seldom visited except by node farmers and those curious enough to wonder about the high ruins they often see in the distance.  Nearby is Starmere Lake, another seemingly "actionless" area that is quite beautiful and tranquil.

The view from Ost Barandor stretches for miles around.  My favorite, as shown in the accompanying illustration, looks to the southeast.  To the right of the photo you can see the edge of the Old Forest, and the land slowly climbing up to the high hills surrounding the Barrow Downs.  You can also spot the farm overrun by brigands to the north of Adso's Camp.  A view of the northeast would look out over Starmere Lake toward the northern Bree-fields.  To the west of Ost Barandor, the view of the Brandywine Bridge is unfortunately obscured by hills and trees, but you can see stretches of the brown Brandywine River and The Shire on the other side.

Berephon of Turbine confirms that Ost Barandor translates as "Fortress of the Brown Land."  Baranduin is of course Sindarin for "golden-brown river," and the brown-toned water is most definitely rendered so in LOTRO.  The Hobbits had a bit of fun with the name at several points, calling it Branda-nîn, the "border water" in their Westron terms, and later Bralda-hîm, the "heady ale."

I can't help but wonder when this fortress was built, and by whom.  This region was once part of the Kingdom of Arnor long ago.  When Arnor was broken into smaller kingdoms, I believe this place would have been on the borderline of Arthedain and Cardolan.

In 1636, the Great Plague killed the King in Gondor and spread north and west, devastating much of the population.  The kingdom of Cardolan was particularly decimated with very few surviving.  One can't help but wonder if Ost Barandor was struck by that plague, leaving it deserted to fall into ruins.  Possibly the barrows of some of its inhabitants can be found inside those Downs to the southeast.

I'm more than happy to be proved wrong.  If anyone can provide references for Ost Barandor appearing anywhere in Tolkien lore, by all means please post here!  At any rate, if you have never bothered to explore this very quiet corner of Bree-land, the view is not to be missed.

Sources:  The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F

The House at Crickhollow

When Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry set off into the Old Forest on their journey east, Fatty Bolger remained behind.  The unsung "fifth Hobbit" feared to go toward the peril that the other four were heading into.  But he was a faithful friend of Frodo's nonetheless, and his often overlooked role was to stay back at the house Frodo had purchased in Crickhollow, carrying on the facade that Frodo was living there and simply keeping to himself.  He even kept some of Frodo's old clothes to help maintain the illusion.

On the night that the other Hobbits arrived in Bree, a "brooding threat" permeated the darkness of Buckland and around the house at Crickhollow.  In the hour just before dawn, three Black Riders descended on the house.  They were even polite enough to knock:

"Open, in the name of Mordor!" said a voice thin and menacing.


At a second blow the door yielded and fell back, with timbers burst and lock broken.  The black figures passed swiftly in.

Fortunately Fatty knew something was up, had the wisdom to leave the house before the Black Riders arrived, and at that moment was able to muster help through the Horn-call of Buckland.  Hearing the horns and the ensuing clamor of Hobbits gathering, the Black Riders fled, dropping a Hobbit-cloak as they retreated.  But they had already learned what they wished to know - Frodo was not at the house at Crickhollow.

If you visit Crickhollow, and you certainly will if you do Chapter 7 of Volume 1, Book 1, you can see the broken door and the dropped Hobbit-cloak, and have a chance to chat with Fatty Bolger as well.



Sources:  The Fellowship of the Ring

An Unexpected Journey

Welcome to the first post of my blog!  How did I get here in the first place?

I have been playing LOTRO for almost 3 years, and have leveled up 4 characters, with many other "babies" in a spectrum of levels 8-75.  I'm part of a vibrant kin, I like to raid, I like to quest.  I love to collect outfits - my wardrobe and shared storage are filled to the brim, and I even won an outfit contest on Cosmetic LOTRO recently (yes, this is my Farmer Girl!).  I also love to collect houses - that's right, houses.  I own a Deluxe house in each of the four neighborhoods, plus three kinhouses of my own or that I share with a couple friends/family.  It costs me over 9 gold/month just for upkeep!

Yet even with all these special interests in the game, I was recently bitten by the completionist bug.  What is this bug, you may ask?  It compels me to take my main, a Captain named Leeowyn, through all aspects of the game.  This means completing all quests, deeds, hidden deeds, raids, instances - you name it.  I have a few friends in my kin who are completionists, and I always thought they were a bit mad.  Nevertheless, I now find myself in the same state.  It is made all the more challenging due to the fact that I switched mains one year ago, and since she was the fourth toon I chose to take to the level cap, I admit skipping large swaths of quests all over the place.  This means I have a lot to go back over.

Since the Yule Festival is currently underway, much of my time has been devoted to running consecutive Inn League and Ale Association quests to get both to Kindred, while also earning enough Yule tokens to get 300 each of the 5 consumables available (oh yes, I must complete all those deeds, and have finished one already!), complete all the Frostbluff deeds that were not finished last year (all but one, handing out coins to the poor, are finished), and earn enough other Yule tokens to get the nice cosmetics and other items that I want.  This has meant lots, and lots, and LOTS of Yule festival grinding, but I'm pleased to say I have both beer-drinking factions in the middle of Ally, I'm making good progress on obtaining the consumables, and have obtained all other barterable items that I wanted, including the horse, snowglobes, and wallpapers.

So - all this grinding has also meant I have needed a break here and there.  If not running Tier 2 of the Foundry with my kin, what better time to take Leeowyn back to the beginning, and start wiping out quests and deeds in Bree-land.  I am almost done there, except for wrapping up a few kill deeds in Haudh Iarchith.

A giant on the borders of The Shire.

In the midst of my completionist activities, I came across a quest to go retrieve a backpack from the giant Svalfang.  I had done this quest on other toons, albeit a long time ago, and had forgotten all about this small but very neat quest arc that takes you into a rarely visited section of Bree-land.  As it so happens, I also recently started my annual re-reading of the trilogy, and was just going over the part where Sam and some other Hobbits are sitting in the Green Dragon in Bywater, discussing the strange folk who have been passing through The Shire lately.  Sam states his cousin Halfast claims to have seen a giant on the borders of The Shire!

Now, based on the description, we could interpret that also as an actual Ent, or possibly a Huorn, as Sam's description of what Halfast saw could be taken to actually resemble a tree, specifically an elm, and not just being "bigger" than a tree.  And there is indeed another quest bestowed by Gammer Boffin in Overhill, to go rescue a "walking tree" caught in the spider's lair in the Northfarthing.  At any rate, the description of giants on the borders of The Shire jumped out at me this time around.

Despite having read the trilogy countless times, and run through the Svalfang quests in the past, I never made the connection between that small account in the FoTR and this giant in the far Northwest of Bree-land.  And as any Tolkien fan who plays LOTRO understands, that warm fuzzy "ah-ha!" glow of recognition you get when once again Turbine has managed to weave a tiny bit of canon into the game, is truly a pleasure to experience.  Hence this blog is my own attempt to collect those warm, fuzzy Lore bits for everyone to enjoy.

Much of this will not be new news.  In fact, many readers will know or have encountered or heard about things I will discuss here.  My intent is to create a sort of Mathom House of lore nuggets collected by myself and others as well.  Comments will be welcome, particularly if you think I have made an error or missed some vital information.  Herein may certainly be spoilers, so fair warning!  But my hope is that folks who don't mind a spoiler may enjoy the growing compilation, possibly even learn of something new and how to find it in-game, and get that warm, fuzzy Lore glow just like I do!

So thanks for joining me.  I look forward to the company along the way.