Where Does Our Path Lead?
Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 by Veneration in General
This afternoon I was sitting down watching The Two Towers Extended DVD, drinking a soda and munching on an Oreo and something hit me. It hit me with such force and interest that I stopped the movie and started to draw. I pulled up a map of Middle Earth and started to trace out the path where the fellowship moved. And there, in front of me was the blinding truth of our situation that until now was only a murmur in my mind.
Starting in low level areas we find ourselves following The Ringbearer complete his task of getting to Rivendell. Once we do this, we continue by following the fight through Moria and down into Lothlorien. But here things start to change…
At this point we see that the land opens up. We have more choices at this point in the game than we have ever had! The fellowship will soon come to a crossroads where we know a pivotal moment in the story of The Lord of the Rings tears the fellowship apart. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas will find themselves fighting on Amon Hen only to find Boromir dead in an attempt to save the Hobbit’s lives. This is where everything will change…
We no longer find ourselves going in one direction, following behind the fellowship. We find 3 paths before us! Follow Frodo and Sam down into the Brown Lands, through the Dead Marsh and to the Black Gate where he then turns south to Cirith Ungol? Follow Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli in their pursuit of the Uruk-Hai into Rohan to save Merry and Pippin?
Or a path not entirely talked about in the books… backtrack toward Moria and find a certain White Wizard alive and on his way down to Lothlorien, where he then turns south into Rohan to meet with Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas amongst the trees of Fangorn. And again, even at that point we find that Merry, Pippin and Treebeard have gone off their own way, only to start the split up again! Once this option of paths was evident I then realized the logistical challenge it holds. The amount of content needed for this would be massive! It leaves so much to be done in such a short amount of time.
So it begs the question:
How should Turbine handle the move from following single fellowship to following multiple members through their own individual adventures and challenges?
Tell us what you think in a comment or email me directly at Veneration@CasualStrolltoMordor.com!
16 Responses to “Where Does Our Path Lead?”
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Docholiday
08. Feb, 2010
Interesting thoughts, based on the Volume 3 news it appears initially we’re heading with Aragorn. Which I do think makes sense as Frodo/Sam are off on their own, and Gandalf really doesn’t need any help from us
But really, it appears that we’re more following the events of the general war not so much the individual journeys of the fellowship. So this point doesn’t seem to me as much of a tricky split for Turbine, as we’re gathering the rangers to help Aragorn in the war in the south. From a story/lore perspective, the other 2 forks you mention don’t seem to make as much sense on how we’d be a part of that story.
Now, I think the REAL interesting split for Turbine comes quite a bit down the road when we get to the RotK timeline as there are all sorts of different things going on there at the same time – Rohan, Gondor, army of the dead, etc.
Fionnuala
08. Feb, 2010
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=316495
From the evidence in the thread above it seems that Turbine is going down the road not taken in the books. It seems that from this point, we will no longer be following the path of the Fellowship at all. We’re coming into the lands where the struggle against Sauron isn’t so remote and secret. There are many places where we can go and join in the fight. I think Turbine is going to take us into corners that were little discussed in the books and I applaud them for it.
Joe
08. Feb, 2010
Great link! Very interesting….
Harperella
08. Feb, 2010
I think that Turbine is going south to the Gap of Rohan via Enedhwaith(sp?). Basically we will get landmass south of Eregion as the Rangers march south through the gap of Rohan. At that point there will be a Rohan expansion.
–Harp
Veneration
08. Feb, 2010
Well, I think that we would all like the ability to just flat out say “This is going to happen this way” but sadly our sneak peaks into the Lorebook maps isn’t a sure fire way to know whats going on in the dev’s heads.
I have to agree with Harperella that things look to be moving south toward the Gap of Rohan. The Isengard testing being done privately really gives us alot of insight into how things will progress. But the timeline and the option for Turbine to add to existing area before moving to new landmass’ begs the question “When will Isengard news become more available?”
Dreadhed
08. Feb, 2010
Other than the occaisionally encounter with fellowship in Rivendell or Loth, we have primarily been only shadowing their path. I feel that we will likely shadow the path of Aragorn, legolas, and gimli. But I also agree with Harp and Ven above that we will spend more time a bit off book on associated background tasks of rallying forces and people in the defense of ME. We will help ready Rohan, we may help the Roharrim to battle the wildmen (Dunlandlings), etc.
One thing that I am fairly certain of is that we will not follow the ring anymore. The ring needs annonymity to escape Saruons gaze. The next time we may see Frodo and the ring would be in Osgiliath after Faramir captures the ring bearer.
Heiko
09. Feb, 2010
Frodo does not go to Osgiliath in the Books, that only happens in the movie. However he is captured by Faramir and brought to the secret hide-out, from there Frodo is free to go wherever he wants. The secret hide-out of the rangers might be a meeting point. I expect that this place will be a quest hub with many quests that let us clear the area and thereby make sure the way is free for Frodo, Sam and Gollem.
I also think there might be room for a quest to Shelob’s lair after Frodo and Sam have passed her already. Of course we do not know whether they have taken that path, but there are at least a couple of main characters who seem to know, or have the feeling Frodo and Sam will be taking that way. There might be a quest that lets us check up on them… see if we can find any evidence of the hobbits being eaten or captured by Shelob.
Earlier I expect we will follow the rangers who are aiding Aragorn. I believe in the book the rangers meet with Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Gandalf, Merry and Pippin in Isengard. I expect we will see them there again.
All in all, I cannot wait to see the rest of middle earth. The design of Mirkwood scenery is truly amazing and I’m very curious what else Turbine will give us.
Dreadhed
09. Feb, 2010
good point Heiko. starting to blend my memories of what is in the books versus what was in the movie. guess its time to re-read em…
Heiko
10. Feb, 2010
I’m currently re-reading the books, that is why the info is so fresh in my memory. Actually I was surprised about the differences between the books and the movie when re-reading the books. The differences are bigger than I remember them to be.
One piece from the movie that I do not particularly like is for example that Gollem sets Frodo and Sam up to each other when climbing the stairs towards Shelob’s lair (and Frodo deciding he should continue on his own). I was surprised reading the books and discovered that it never happened (which fits the intense friendship of Sam and Frodo much better!).
Dreadhed
11. Feb, 2010
Yes, my memory has been warped. I read all the books first, even the silmarillion. The saw the movies. When I first saw them I was surprised at some of the differences. But now I have seen the movies a couple dozen times that the real story is warped in my mind.
A couple of the key points that I remember, the whole scene where Aragon falls off the cliff on the warg, never happened in the book. The movie builds the love story with Aragorn and Arwen, a story line addition that I am still not sure they needed to add. The movies were long enough without adding unneeded scenes…C’mon they dropped Bombadil from the movie and added a love story? That said the movies were amazing and on the whole stayed true to books.
Stormwaltz
09. Feb, 2010
I find it fascinating that the debate about where LotRO is going reflects the debate in the books on what path the fellowship should take. Down the Anduin? The Gap of Rohan? And the debate is often as impassioned. Very meta.
I’m going to guess that from now on we’ll see very little of Frodo. Maybe at the Argonath, right before things go pear-shaped — or from a distance, as he and Sam walk off into Emyn Muil. Maybe again when he meets Faramir. Frodo’s quest is a personal one. We can’t help him directly, but we can distract the Eye away from him.
@Fionnuala: interesting link.
While perusing Middle-Earth geography and thinking about the topic, I found this entry at the Strange Maps blog. It overlays ME locations on a skewed map of Europe. Pretty neat. Apologies if you’ve seen it before.
http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/06/03/121-where-on-earth-was-middle-earth/
Veneration
09. Feb, 2010
Well, Im tickled pink to see so many players so interested in this article. I’ll make note of it and try to write about some other fun topics like this.
@Heiko
I have to agree with you that the secret “Ranger’s Hide-Out” will be a great quest hub location. I also think a raid into Cirith Ungol would be amazing! Gandalf was aware of the pass and feared Frodo’s movements there after Faramir’s news at Minas Tirith. It would be questionable though that Gandalf would choose to bring attention to that location knowing the risk it would entail for Frodo and Sam.
Another thing to think about in the more recent future is the path that Halbarad and the Grey Company will take to reach Theodin and Aragorn as they ride for Dunharrow. Will we be riding down through the Pass of Rohan behind them to meet them in Dunharrow, or will we ride south along Fangorn’s edge…. or maybe something else!
And will we be blessed with the possibility of meeting the Púkel-men!
All questions and comments are welcome and appreciated!
Heiko
10. Feb, 2010
I totally agree that Gandalf probably would not bring attention to the path Frodo and Sam have taken. It might be more likely that he would order missions that would focus attention at other places.
However, I’m sure Turbine will be looking for ways to let us climb that stair and see Shelob’s lair.
Harperella
09. Feb, 2010
To me, the best way to guess the next step is foreshadowing in the epic story. I saw many references to Lothlorien, then Mirkwood in the Volume 2 epic quest line. It seems like we already have some foreshadowing of Rohan in the next volume.
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Veneration
10. Feb, 2010
I’ll go with Harperella on this one %100! Turbine is always looking 2 to 20 steps ahead it seems. If you remember the V1B10 update, it was more of a “Here’s what’s commin” than an actual update. By the time our book updates go live they are more than finished with the story for the next 2 books I would imagine. Rohan is the most sensible move from where we are now I think, not to mention the references to it left and right.