The Return of the Other King

It has been nearly four years since I last posted in this blog. A lot happened, including a very long break from LOTRO. I had become frustrated with many things about the game that I don't need to go into here.

Most definitely some spoilers are below regarding Gondor, Minas Tirith, and Volume IV of the Epic line.

About a month or so ago, I was missing Middle Earth so decided to explore a bit. The last time I played, I was about ready to move into Wildermore. There were now many, many more chapters of the Epic questline to explore, Helm's Deep to visit (I really do hate those Big Battles, sorry), Isengard getting its just desserts, the Paths of the Dead to pass through, Gondor and Dol Amroth to visit, a new house in a new neighborhood to buy (like I needed a hole in the head), and Minas Tirith to reach. I admit I have been enjoying being back in Middle Earth.

I've now hit level cap, and am still questing and following the Epic line in Volume IV. I can't express the happy surprise when I began one of the chapters in Osgiliath. I was getting a bit tired of the area and looking forward to moving on to Minas Tirith, so was in a hurry and ready to rush through the final instance chapter of that particular book, when I saw someone who looked a bit familiar appear and then disappear in front of me. Later on it happened again, when I saw the figure of a woman from behind whose dress and hair looked very, very familiar. Is that?... Hang on. A minute later, there she was again. Amar...Narmeleth! What the? And what is she pointing at?

Then in he came, the star of one of my favorite lore-based storylines from early LOTRO - now calling himself Gothmog, otherwise known as Mordirith, otherwise known as Eärnur, the last King of Gondor. He was back!

I'm not going to spoil the various other encounters with him through the Epic line. Nor do I have any image to post as I'm really no longer in the business of maintaining this blog, so don't take screen shots as I go anymore.

But I was so happy to see him, because I had been hoping very much that once we reached Gondor, we would learn more about the Last King. It just seemed like too good an opportunity for them to not revisit his story; I mean, a former king and descendant of Elendil who was twisted and turned by Sauron and the Witch King into such an evil entity, how could you not explore that further? I was expecting something very much like what we get at one point in the Epic line, learning more about Eärnur perhaps in some old disused library in Minas Tirith. I expressed that hope in an earlier blog on Cirion and Eorl the Young a few years ago. I also explored his story in a blog on the lore behind the Captain class. So you can imagine how pleased I was to not only get to read a little more about his LOTRO story but to actually encounter him again, and see him in a far greater role than I had ever expected.

I won't go into more detail about his story - by all means, if you have not yet completed the Epic line, do so. I'm a bit sad that I won't get to encounter him in the 12-man raid, as my raiding days are long past. And I have no plans to revive this blog - too much time has passed and other things have taken my attention.

Yet this one thing was enough to make me want to log in and express how surprised and glad I was to see this, and how fantastic I think it was that someone had the foresight to include and expand this story - if it was MadeofLions or someone else, well done!

Chicken Nuggets in LOTRO

The kin I am part of does an annual Free-Range chicken event to obtain the Crosser of Roads title; we'll probably do the next event in February, so I have just now started encouraging new kin members to take care of all of the preliminary quests in preparation, which has made my mind turn to the Chicken Lore Nuggets that can be found in abundance.  (It's just a bad pun, and I'm actually vegetarian anyway.)  If you are not familiar with Chicken Session Play in LOTRO, you are missing out!  I won't reinvent the wheel and describe it in detail here, you can learn more about it on LOTRO-Wiki.

One of the neat things about Chicken Play is it takes you through various regions of Middle Earth to talk to many animals, and get the animals' perspectives on the situation in Middle Earth.  What's fun is the fact that many of these animals come directly from various works of Professor Tolkien.  If you engage in Chicken Play, you can expect to meet:

Fang, Farmer Maggot, Hammy Maggot, Grip, and Wolf patrolling in the background.

• The Fox in the Green Hill Country - Granted this fox has no name, but seeing as how we don't come across too many talking foxes in Middle Earth, I think chances are very good that this is the same fox who crossed paths with Frodo, Sam, and Pippin as they were leaving the Shire.  From the Fellowship of the Ring:  A fox passing through the wood on business of his own stopped several minutes and sniffed.  "Hobbits!" he thought.  "Well, what next?  I have heard of strange doings in this land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree.  Three of them!  There's something mighty queer behind this."  He was quite right, but he never found out any more about it.  Our Fox in LOTRO states the following:  "Now what is this? First three hobbits sleeping in the forest, and now a chicken?" 
• Grip, Fang and Wolf - These are the dogs your chicken will encounter at Farmer Maggot's mushroom farm of Bamfurlong, located in The Marish in the Southeastern portion of the Shire in LOTRO.  And of course these are the same dogs that terrorize the Hobbits as they trespass on his land in Fellowship of the Ring.
• Radagast the Brown - I don't think any explanation is needed here!  Your chicken will speak to Radagast in his room at Ost Guruth in the Lone Lands.
• Roheryn -  Your chicken will find Roheryn near the Stable Master in Rivendell.  Roheryn is Aragorn's mount, who is brought back to him by his fellow Dunedain in the Return of the King, and accompanies Aragorn through the Paths of the Dead.  I guess he's just hanging out in Rivendell, eating Elvish hay or horse lembas, until he's needed.
• Wink the Cat? - I have seen a lot of conjecturing about the cat-house in Bree, but ultimately I don't think it is a Lore nugget, just cute.  In fact, I believe I have seen a reference that LOTRO's Berephon stated the Bree cat-house was an inside joke among devs.  So are they the descendants of Queen Beruthiel's cats?  Probably not lol.  She is mentioned in the Unfinished Tales, and supposedly only had 10 cats - 9 black and 1 white.  There are way more cats than that in the cat-house, and of all colors and patterns!  We get one mention of her in the Fellowship of the Ring, by Aragorn when the company enters Moria, when he speaks of relying on Gandalf to find the way:  "He is surer of finding the way home in a blind night than the cats of Queen Beruthiel."
• The Chickens - What about the chickens themselves?  To the best of my knowledge, NOT Lore nuggets.  Pimpinella, Telltime, Moonlight, Cineraria, Bellflower - as far as I can tell, these are just creative Hobbit names, most if not all of them plant-related.  (Unless Telltime is part of the old joke, "How does a chicken tell time? one o'cluck, two o'cluck...groan!)  Then there is Bilina the Chicken - Dorothy and Oz, anyone?  And what about George the Chicken?  There are several Chicken Georges in pop-culture, but again, this seems to be some sort of inside dev joke from what I have been able to gather.  I do believe there was/is a LOTRO dev named "Chicken George."

Once you complete all of the Chicken Play quests (you earn the coveted Cloak of the Cluck for this, by the way), it the opens up a golden, Free-Range chicken who can engage in that Ultimate Chicken Adventure Royale, the Crosser of Roads deed!  This is not for the faint of Chicken heart, as it must be completed in one sitting and takes about 5-6 hours to complete (the game gives you a maximum of 8 hours, and if you log out or die, you go right back to square one).  If you would like to read more about the Crosser of Roads deed and strategy, a wonderful Community Guide was created on the LOTRO forums by Lorr, aka Nightwind.