Lord of the Rings Online: toe-to-toe with a Nazgul

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See that picture up there? That's me with a pick-up group. We're fighting a Nazgul. That's right. A Nazgul.

Among the usual quests in Lord of the Rings Online are quests arranged into books and chapters. They tell stories that run parallel to (and sometimes intersect with) the events from the books. That Nazgul had been washed down the Bruinen by a spell cast by Elrond (not Arwen, as any Tolkien geek will tell you, before launching into a tirade about Peter Jackson's movies and how he can't believe they cut out have Tom Bombadil).

But unlike the other Nazgul washed away by the spell, LOTRO supposes that fellow up there managed to stick around to try to get at Frodo, who'd escaped to Rivendell. At this point, the Tolkien geek will furrow his brow and wonder what the heck you're talking about. You'll have to tell him this isn't canon. It's Lord of the Rings Online. Which does have Tom Bombadil.

Book IV of the epic quests is a series of chapters looking into what happened to that Nazgul. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I have one word: dragon-wight. That was quite a mission.

The epic storyline is really a great way to move you through an MMO, giving it the narrative arc of a single-player RPG, and building into the world familiar characters from The Lord of the Rings. And it's not just Aragorn or Gandalf parked somewhere, handing out missions to bring them ten goblin ears. In many instances (quite literally), the characters fight by your side. And sometimes, they don't even fight. There's one missions that's actually a chat with Frodo as he ambles around Rivendell and discreetly wonders what he's gotten himself into.

(Read the next Lord of the Rings Online game diary.)
(Read the previous Lord of the Rings Online game diary.)

By Tom Chick

2:52 PM ON 09/02/08
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(9) Comments

Latest by doctorwinters:

so did the Nazgul win? I'm dying to

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Fidgit continues below:

Comments

By Aeon221 at 11:42 PM ON 09/02/08

Hey! I'm no Tolkien NERRRRRRRD, and I still missed Tom Bombadil. I liked him for the same reason I liked the Hobbit better than all those long stories Tolkien wrote afterward. He's just a happy go lucky guy who sings crazy things. The end. He doesn't represent Jesus or Satan or Hitler or the Kaiser or any of that crap. He's just Tom Bombadil, nothing more, plain as a dandelion. You're a tapir for hating on him.

By malkav11 at 11:59 PM ON 09/02/08

I was annoyed by Bombadil's exclusion from the movies until I played LOTRO and remembered how annoying he is.

I still want the barrow-wights. Oh well.

By Tom Chick at 12:02 AM ON 09/03/08

Whoa, you've got the wrong guy if you think I "hate" on Tom Bombadil. Heck, I was named after that dude*! My Volkswagen has a "Tom Bombadil lives" bumper sticker on it**. I think Goldberry is the hottest chick in the Old Forest***. I'm glad he's in Lord of the Rings Online, and he's pretty dang awesome kicking his way through armies of orcs in the Battle for Middle Earth RTS.

*Not really

** Also not really

*** Really

By Aeon221 at 1:05 PM ON 09/03/08

Your attempt at mollification is an utter failure! I shall boycott your Fidgit until the very next blog posting!

Oh, that already happened you say? Well then, on with the show.

Speaking of which, since you've added some sort of registration widget for your blog, could you remove the character entry field that lurks at the bottom of every comment? I've failed your little Turing test more times than I care to admit, and frankly it's become a bit disheartening.

By Justin Fletcher at 6:09 PM ON 09/03/08

Yea, verily. The character submission process always says you've failed, even when it goes through. This is often followed by a good browbeating for trying to submit too many comments in too short a time.

By Tom Chick at 9:20 PM ON 09/03/08

fixed?

By Tom Chick at 9:21 PM ON 09/03/08

Fixed.

By Fox1 at 8:55 AM ON 09/07/08

I thought Bombadil's exclusion from the film was one of Jackson's best changes. That whole segment was frickin' product placement for Tolkien's kids book. Also, ol' J.R.R. was a horrible poet/lyricist, and that chapter was quite the showcase thereof.

By doctorwinters at 2:40 PM ON 11/07/08

so did the Nazgul win? I'm dying to know!