Hidden Nuggets we see all the time...

[YamydeAragon]

I remember that sometime ago, while walking at Brandiwine woods,i crossed my path with a living tree, i couldn't recall if it was huorn or a wood troll.

[Daeross]

In eastern Enedwaith, within the area called Thrór's Coomb, there lie locations by the name of Nár's Peak and Mafân-mudun. The road up to Nár's Peak is fenced by appropriately Dwarf-like markers, and the same can be seen in/around Mafân-mudun, overtaken by the giants.

One easily passes them by... but look closer, and you'll see this, upon each of the four sides of a marker:

Cirth, no doubt. But what makes this bit of text curious is that it's not purely Angerthas Moria nor Angerthas Erebor, but rather a mishmash of the two, transliterating more or less as:

Thrôrz kumb

Her dhe exilz ov dhe lônlê mount'n dwelt
during dhe war ov dhe dwarvz & orks

"Here the exiles of the Lonely Mountain dwelt
during the war of the Dwarves & Orcs"

A nice little addition to the history of the place, together with being named after Thrór, Thorin Oakenshield's grandfather and the one who led the dwarves from Erebor to Dunland and Nár, the last dwarf to see Thrór's son and Thorin's father, Thráin, alive.

[Leri927]

The comment referred to Tolkien's locale, not some astronomical aberration. Remember, the folks who did the sky are in America, not England. Also, the placement of the constellations in-game is based on comments in the books and extent sources, so there may even be a little variation between what's in-game and the actual sky.

There isnt much differnce between sky in england and in americe btw (also if turbine would be in south amerika, australia, or africa, then they would see a lot differnet sky than from England)

I think the sky is based on books and not the real sky.

[Daeross]

During the intro that's shared by Dwarves and Elves, one can see this above (what will be) the entrance to the Thorin's Hall Homesteads:

On it, is written in Angerthas Moria:

Which transliterates as, more or less:

Halls ov Thorin Ôkenshêld

Phonetically written, like the runes upon Balin's Tomb.
It looks weird to my eyes, though, not to even mention that the runes used should've been Angerthas Erebor, imo, since that's whence Thorin hailed from, and what was used in Ered Luin... Granted, he is part of Durin's Folk, the Longbeards, and thus, ultimately, from Khazâd-dûm.

[Arathaert]

This is my first post on this thread, and it's a fun one. It may have been posted already, but I don't have enough time atm to go through all 41 pages here!

Basically, I was wondering what the range of /say was. My character is a man and I tested it with a hobbit friend. We found that not only is there a difference between /say and /shout, but there are also racial differences!

It seems that men have a /say range of about 7m, but that hobbits only have a /say range of about 5m. It would be interesting to test this on elves and dwarves....

Oh, and /shout has a range of 40m, regardless of race.

Kudos to Turbine on this one - the attention to detail in this game continually astounds me!

[Al.]

Add to that Deorwine and Fastred, aka "Fastred the Psycho"...

This make no sense, are you talking about Fastred Reeve of sutcrofts? and Deorwine thane?

I love fastred story, I really liked the character good work on that devs whoever did the Snowbourne story arc! its a hidden nugget right there.

[Thaquill]

Hey there, this is my first post in a forum ever.... I am more sort of a listener any way I was just riding through nude melek in moria and i heard singing, i guess that is not new but try to pay attention to the words its almost as if they sing the ring rhyme in black speech, would be cool if some one could go have a listen.
also what keeps freaking me out in the foundation of stone. there i keep hearing a whispering that sounds like a 'help me'
would really appreciate if any one of you could check this out for me and put my mind at ease, thanks for reading

[Kingault]

Not sure if this is in the books or not, but when King Theoden is riding back and forth outside Minas Tirith giving that speech, as he runs down the line of soldeirs, sword out, hitting their spears, he shouts "Now for wrath, now for ruin, and a red dawn" or something like that....


One of the Captain deeds is called "Now for Wrath"

And now one of the War-steed trait lines/stances is "Red Dawn".

[BelamanthDE]

And now one of the War-steed trait lines/stances is "Red Dawn".

There's also a mounted trait/skill "Shields will be splintered" or something like that.

Theoden, before the battle of Pelennor:

"Arise, riders of the Theoden!
fell deeds awake, fire and slaughter!
Let shield be shattered, spear be splintered,
a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
DEATH! DEATH! DEATH! Ride, ride for ruin
and the world's ending!"

[dferstat]

... I was just riding through nude melek in moria ...

NUDE melek? I didn't see that, and believe me, I would have noticed.

Why do I miss out on all the fun?

[Elgalandir]

Just thought I'd pop in here and add to some of the great informations. I wrote a little article on the Real life Archaeological artefacts used in some of the design in Turbines LOTRO Rohan expansion. Unfortunately its a bit unwieldy and image heavy, but If anyone would like to pop over to our blog and take a read you'd be most welcome.

http://thekhazadguard.wordpress.com/...igns-in-lotro/

[Aestivan]

Pardon if this was already addressed, but was reading the thread, came upon the question, and had my Elvish language references handy in other browser windows, so here goes.

I've gotten the ding circle on my woman hunter three times. Here are the best two, if anyone (/poke Judiah) would care to translate:

The surrounding design makes it difficult to determine whether the initial letter of the first and third word is letter "anga" or letter "ungwe", and in either case, the third word renders "Gw" oddly as G+W, but the text is Sindarin and makes sense: "galad i gwaith", "light (of) the people". Except that the scribe has failed to account for the change in initial consonant following the definite article "i", and it ought to be "galad i waith". Sindarin is pesky like that. Still gets full points for trying, in my book.

[Berephon]

Pardon if this was already addressed, but was reading the thread, came upon the question, and had my Elvish language references handy in other browser windows, so here goes.



The surrounding design makes it difficult to determine whether the initial letter of the first and third word is letter "anga" or letter "ungwe", and in either case, the third word renders "Gw" oddly as G+W, but the text is Sindarin and makes sense: "galad i gwaith", "light (of) the people". Except that the scribe has failed to account for the change in initial consonant following the definite article "i", and it ought to be "galad i waith". Sindarin is pesky like that. Still gets full points for trying, in my book.

You are correct on all counts . . . and, yes, the soft mutation of gw- to w- was in fact completely missed!

[Ioffryd]

In addition to the LotR-specific lore items in and around Meduseld, I also noticed quite a bit of decorative artwork that was clearly inspired by or taken directly from Anglo-Saxon-era art and artifacts.

The the textures on the bases of the pillars in the courtyard and in the Hall itself appeared to be taken from images of gilt and jeweled buckles or pins, and the hinges on the doors looked like the textures had been lifted from actual items.

Real-life examples of such artwork can be found in the Staffordshire Hoard and the Sutton Hoo treasure. I don't know if that's where the art team got their samples, but the style is very simliar.

Also, when looking at Anglo-Saxon artworks of this type, it becomes obvious why garnets are the gem of choice in Eastemnet crafting and Tier 9 Legendary relics.

[DwarfFriend]

I don't know if anybody has seen this already, but if you click on a link on this website (the LotRO community) that links to the OLD official website of LotRO, it opens a page on the new website with a picture of Gandalf in Moria that says: "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" in a gigantic font, and then in an extremely small font: "(and also, the page you requested could not be found!)" This cracked me up the first time I saw it

[Elgalandir]

In addition to the LotR-specific lore items in and around Meduseld, I also noticed quite a bit of decorative artwork that was clearly inspired by or taken directly from Anglo-Saxon-era art and artifacts.

The the textures on the bases of the pillars in the courtyard and in the Hall itself appeared to be taken from images of gilt and jeweled buckles or pins, and the hinges on the doors looked like the textures had been lifted from actual items.

Real-life examples of such artwork can be found in the Staffordshire Hoard and the Sutton Hoo treasure. I don't know if that's where the art team got their samples, but the style is very simliar.

Also, when looking at Anglo-Saxon artworks of this type, it becomes obvious why garnets are the gem of choice in Eastemnet crafting and Tier 9 Legendary relics.

Yep, In my post above if you follow the link to our blog, I give details the exact objects they are from actually. Namely the Sutton Hoo belt buckle, and a Petersen P51 oval brooch. The textures are literally tweaked photographs of the originals. There are also a few other archaeological treats from early medieval england and norway.

http://thekhazadguard.wordpress.com/...igns-in-lotro/

[Draugturg]

About orks growling "Saruman". I think... it was at the time of the epic storyline when the characters was't awared of the white wizard betrayal yet. Gave me thrills ^_^

And... is not exactly hidden, but the Radagast dialogues with the frogs and squirrels in the swamp are hilarious. Me, scared my socks off, killing darkwaters, and Raddie goes to the frog: "yes, I agree, there are some good puddles here" (or something like that)

[Spectus]

Getting caught up on this thread, after quite some time away from LOTRO, visiting a galaxy far, far away....

I've always considered this game to be one giant collection of Tolkien-Lore "nuggets" big and small, from one end of its swath of Middle-Earth to the other. And as a confirmed Tolkien junkie from the mid-1970s, I revel in every one I see.

A few of my favorites (all too few, considering the vast array of ones I could mention...
- The old shield-crest in Bree, showing the village dates back FAR into a past the current residents only dimly understand...
- The various bits of physical evidence of the Fellowship's journey, from the ashes of the bonfire along the Great Road Aragorn and Glorfindel kindled to help them flush the Nazgul into the raging Bruinen, to their campsites in Eregion...
- The ancient holly-trees in northern Eregion, and the mosaics of Sauron in Tham Mirdain...
- The ancient well in Moria's Chamber of the Crossroads, into which you really can jump, if you really want to, and which (spoiler alert) earns you bestows a real groaner of a pun as a new title, and which reveals the source of the "sound of ancient water-wheels churning in the depths" Pippin notices in Fellowship of the Ring rising up from a wide crack in the floor of a passage ....
- The hidden village of Stoors in Enedwaith...

...and on, and on.

If you kill the killer bunny and look at him up close he actually has a bloody mouth- I aggro him to see if hed one shot me......nope, I memorized the second book of armaments and was equipped to conquer the foe!!!!!!......he has only 1 hp....

That WOULD be hilarious if he was a Nemesis-difficulty flake-dropper.

Is Beorn in the game? One of my favorite parts in The Hobbit was when Gandalf so cleverly arranged for the dwarves to arrive two at a time to his house.

And since I have not made it to Mirkwood yet, please tell me the spiders there are called Tomnoddys and Attercops

The Upper Anduin Vales are not (yet) in-game, so we don't run into the Beornings, nor do we get to determine for ourselves whether lembas really IS better than their honey-cakes. Nor do we have any "attercops" or "tomnoddies." There is a "Tomnoddy Corner" in the northern edge of the Old Forest, but no "attercops" or "tomnoddies" as yet for spider mob-names.

I just completed the Wild Hunt quest chain. It seemed to me to have lots of little references to the sort of stories Tolkien might've heard as part of English myths. Like the Horned Huntsman, the Wild Hunt itself, little things like that adapted to fit Middle-earth. I also noted that the Huntsman's handmaidens' names seemed to relate to their Ancient Spirits. (Bear in mind, these are internet-aided translations, I'm no scholar of Elvish.) Arassiel sends you to meet a stag. Aras = Deer (in Sindarin). Lavaneth sends you to fight a boar (possibly the most maligned animal in Lotro ). Lavan = Animal. Munfaeril sends you to protect an ox. Mund = Bull. The only one I couldn't fit correctly was Gwenaewen; she sends you to race a falcon. The closest I could find on my little list were Gwael (Gull) and Gwaun (Goose). I'd guess my list is incomplete/inaccurate.

Oddly enough, it took me a while to find the names because, since these are Ancient Spirits (and presumably ancient handmaidens), the first place I looked was Quenya translations. Still, it was fun to find the names. (I'll also say, I'm not at all surprised that they had meanings related to the quests, that's a very Lotro thing. )

The Great Huntsman (Rhi Helverach) quest arc is one of my favorite parts of the Enedwaith!

The Great Huntsman is mentioned in The Silmarillion as a Maia who shows up in the history of Beleriand, prior to the alteration of the world. He traveled the eastern forests, and was revered by the residents in the region. Nice nugget, to learn that he and his companions escaped the breaking of the world, and show up again in Enedwaith. And a nice in-game "hook" to entice players to maybe investigate that book.

Not sure if this is in the books or not, but when King Theoden is riding back and forth outside Minas Tirith giving that speech, as he runs down the line of soldeirs, sword out, hitting their spears, he shouts "Now for wrath, now for ruin, and a red dawn" or something like that....

One of the Captain deeds is called "Now for Wrath"

In the book, this speech is actually given by Eomer, as he rallies the Rohirrim for one last stand before the docks of the Harlond on the Pelennor Fields, as he sees the black fleet sailing up the Anduin from Pelargir, not knowing yet that Aragorn and thousands of Gondorian soldiers have captured the fleet. Just as he recites the final line ("Now for wrath, now for ruin, and a red nightfall!"), he sees Arwen's standard unfurled on the lead ship.

[Spectus]

Unfortunately, I ran out of room for my favorite "nugget" of all...

[Berephon]

The Great Huntsman is mentioned in The Silmarillion as a Maia who shows up in the history of Beleriand, prior to the alteration of the world. He traveled the eastern forests, and was revered by the residents in the region. Nice nugget, to learn that he and his companions escaped the breaking of the world, and show up again in Enedwaith. And a nice in-game "hook" to entice players to maybe investigate that book.

Correction: The Wild Huntsman (Rhi Helvarch) in our game is our own invention very loosely inspired by a character from Welsh folklore. In our lore, he is a Maia of Oromë the Hunter (who fills the role you mention above.) The Wild Huntsman stayed behind when the West was sundered from Middle-earth.

[raychmo]

Toys coming to life in Bree Town Hall!

http://i.imgur.com/36mHYUH.png
http://i.imgur.com/dmLAMRU.png

[Spectus]

Correction: The Wild Huntsman (Rhi Helvarch) in our game is our own invention very loosely inspired by a character from Welsh folklore. In our lore, he is a Maia of Oromë the Hunter (who fills the role you mention above.) The Wild Huntsman stayed behind when the West was sundered from Middle-earth.

Ahhh... okay. Well, I was close, kinda-sort-of. I'll take one demerit on my "Master of Lore" title. Or did I get close enough to shave a half-point off?

[Aideani]

This was a strange thing I found in Bree-Town before it was updated. In Beggar's-Alley, there's 2 level 12 brigands that you could fight. I was actually a bit shocked when I discovered it on my level 7 Mini.

[Aideani]

Unfortunately, I ran out of room for my favorite "nugget" of all...

Was that actually the sword's name?!?! UGHHHHHH I watched the movie not 2 weeks ago yet I can't recall if that was actually it or not...................

[Berephon]

Was that actually the sword's name?!?! UGHHHHHH I watched the movie not 2 weeks ago yet I can't recall if that was actually it or not...................

Whatever the movie called it is irrelevant, as the movie cannot be quoted as a reliable source for LotR lore; however, even there Elrond does indeed (very, very quickly, undramatically, and under his breath) name it thus when he presents it to Aragorn.

However, I'm not sure what the UGHHHHH is for. That's one of the coolest names in the IP....