Bert, Tom, and Bill

[I just discovered that an article I had published long ago has apparently been sitting in draft form for a very long time!  I must have put it back into draft form somehow without realizing it, so keeping with the theme of The Hobbit movie release in the U.S., I guess the timing is good!]

Almost every player who has made it as far as the Trollshaws has come across Bilbo's Trolls - Bert, Tom, and Bill - at some point.  And most of us can remember how wonderful it was to discover such an iconic part of the Lore that ties us to both the Fellowship of the Ring and The Hobbit.  Right down to Bill still stooping over where the dawn caught him, to the bird's nest behind the ear of one of the others, they were such a treat to encounter.

One point of Lore that you don't often hear people mention, however, is the cave that the three trolls were using.  For it is indeed there, back up the path that heads northwest away from the three (and in the direction that the big boy, Dhit, paths for the bounty runs).

"They followed the tracks up the hill, until hidden by bushes they came on a big door of stone leading to a cave.  But they could not open it, not though they all pushed while Gandalf tried various incantations.  'Would this be any good?' asked Bilbo, when they were getting tired and angry.  'I found it on the ground where the trolls had their fight.'  He held out a largish key, though no doubt William had thought it very small and secret.  It must have fallen out of his pocket, very luckily, before he was turned to stone.

'Why on earth didn't you mention it before?' they cried.  Gandalf grabbed it and fitted it into the key-hole.  Then the stone door swung back with one big push, and they all went inside.  There were bones on the floor and a nasty smell was in the air; but there was a good deal of food jumbled carelessly on shelves and on the ground, among an untidy litter of plunder, of all sorts from brass buttons to pots full of gold coins standing in a corner."

The troll cave is locked.

Among the treasure in this locked cave were various swords of all sizes and makes.  "Two caught their eyes particularly, because of their beautiful scabbards and jewelled hilts.  Gandalf and Thorin each took one of these; and Bilbo took a knife in a leather sheath."  Hello Glamdring, Orcrist, and Sting.

The cave in LOTRO is unfortunately once again locked.  There does, however, remain one more bit of Lore attached to the three trolls which I have been unable to locate in the game, if it does even exist.  That is the spot where the company hid the treasure they took from the cave.

"Then they brought up their ponies, and carried away the pots of gold, and buried them very secretly not far from the rock by the river, putting a great many spells over them, just in case they ever had the chance to come back and recover them."

Late in The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn and the Hobbits pass this spot after finding the trolls.  "After a few miles they came out on the top of a high bank above the Road.  At this point the Road had left the Hoarwell far behind in its narrow valley, and now clung close to the feet of the hills, rolling and winding eastward among woods and heather-covered slopes towards the Ford and the Mountains.  Not far down the bank Strider pointed out a stone in the grass.  On it roughly cut and now much weathered could still be seen dwarf-runes and secret marks."

The terrain in the Trollshaws of LOTRO does of course differ from how it appears in the books - the place where the trolls were camped seems as if it should have been much closer to the River Hoarwell - so it is difficult to guess precisely where the treasure could potentially have been placed by the company.  With so many other wonderful Lore nuggets, I would be surprised if that bit was left out, but perhaps it was.  If anyone has ever come across the place where the company left their treasure, please let me know!

Sources:  The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring

Gollum's Nassssty Diet

Our first chance to cross paths with Gollum (and most definitely this, as much of my blog, will be a spoiler for those who have not done this yet, so read at your own risk!) comes in the Trollshaws, at a lonely cottage on the shore of the Bruinen.  A fisherman, Garbert, and his wife Afanen live here with a new baby.  The night before you meet them, they experience something that would horrify any parent.  It is part of the questline "The Skulking Creature," and even the title of this particular quest is creepy and full of foreboding:  "The Open Window."

Thank you to LOTRO-Wiki for the dialogue, as I don't currently have a toon at the right level who has not already done this questline.  Afanen tells us:

Inspecting the window Gollum snuck through.

"Last night, just after dark, we had snuffed out the candles, locked the door, and we were just getting into bed, when I thought I heard something moving around in little Whelan's room. Whelan is just a baby, so you can understand my worry: I thought a bird might have flown into his room through the window, which we always leave open a crack so the breeze can come in, and I did not want him to be frightened. But when I went into his room to check on him, I saw that it was not a bird at all, but a monster: a terrible creeping thing hunched over bony legs! It was moving towards Whelan's cradle, and making a terrible noise from his throat.  Its intent was clear -- it meant to harm my baby! I let forth a cry such as you have never heard, and sprang towards it; I do not know what I thought to do, but the thing sprang out the window through which it had crawled, vanishing into the night. Little Whelan is fine, but what if that thing comes back? That is why Garbert has not collected his catch, and that is why we will not leave the house! Speak to my husband if you like, but you will not change his mind!" 

This isn't just Turbine being sensationalistically and darkly suggestive.  It too is straight from the Lore.  Way back at the start of The Fellowship of the Ring, when Gandalf is telling Frodo the latest news of Gollum in the chapter, "The Shadow of the Past," he talks of the search of the Elves of Mirkwood to locate him:

"The wood was full of the rumour of him, dreadful tales even among beasts and birds.  The Woodmen said that there was some new terror abroad, a ghost that drank blood.  It climbed trees to find nests; it crept into holes to find the young; it slipped through windows to find cradles."

Not to put too fine a point on it, Gollum was planning to make a dinner snack of Garbert and Afanen's young baby, but thanks to the fast attentions of this NPC mom, he was foiled.  This time.

To be fair, we also need to note that in the timeline in Appendix B, in August of 3018 it is stated that, "All trace of Gollum is lost.  It is thought that at about this time, being hunted by both the Elves and Sauron's servants, he took refuge in Moria; but when he had at last discovered the way to the West-gate he could not get out."  Since this leaves room for some uncertainty about the whereabouts of Gollum that fall, this gives Turbine the wiggle-room needed to place him skulking around the Trollshaws.  And very, very hungry.

Sources:  The Fellowship of the Ring, Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings

The Ninth Horse of the Nazgûl

Volume I, Book 4 of the Epic storyline deals with Rivendell trying to figure out what happened to the Nazgûl following the flood of waters as Frodo was pursued at the Ford of Bruinen.  As I can't say often enough, if you are the sort to skip your Epic books, please go back and do them all!

Book 4 provides a nice creative opportunity for Tubrine to conjecture what became of one particular Nazgûl and his mount.  While the fate is never discovered in the trilogy, the entirety of Book 4 is built on a very real excerpt from The Fellowship of the Ring.

Following the arrival of Aragorn and the Hobbits in Rivendell, as well as guests from other realms such as Legolas from Mirkwood, Glóin and Gimli from the Lonely Mountain, Galdor from the Grey Havens sent by Círdan the Shipwright, and Boromir from Gondor, the Council of Elrond is held so that all key players can share their stories - regarding the Ring, regarding Gollum, regarding Saruman and what is happening in the other realms.  Many stories are told, and much discussion is held, until at the end Frodo offers to carry the Ring, although he does not know the way.

Elrond then sends scouts out to various parts of Middle Earth, some to contact friends in other places, others to scour the land and gather what information they can before the party of the Ring sets forth.  One piece of intelligence that is brought back has to do with the fate of the Nazgûl and their mounts:

"Three of the black horses had been found at once drowned in the flooded Ford.  On the rocks of the rapids below it searchers discovered the bodies of five more, and also a long black cloak, slashed and tattered.  Of the Black Riders no other trace was to be seen, and nowhere was their presence to be felt.  It seemed that they had vanished from the North.  'Eight out of the Nine are accounted for at least,' said Gandlaf.  'It is rash to be too sure, yet I think that we may hope now that the Ringwraiths were scattered, and have been obliged to return as best they could to their Master in Mordor, empty and shapeless.' "

From this bit of Lore mystery - one missing mount, one found cloak - Turbine is able to weave a story about what just might have happened to that Nazgûl and his mount.  Poor horsey. To learn that story, be sure to do Volume I, Book 4 or revisit it in a Reflecting Pool if it has been a long time.

Sources:  The Fellowship of the Ring