Lord of the Rings characters detailed

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 12 October, 2011

Elven, Dwarven and Human backgrounds.

Warner Bros has detailed the characters in promising new action RPG The Lord of the Rings: War in the North.

The human character is Eradan, son of Baranor. He's a Ranger of the North, part of the Dúnedain race. Eradan, who lost his father, Baranor, while a boy, was a seasoned veteran when Aragorn gave orders for the doubling of the watch kept upon the Shire.

In the game, if you play as Eradan, you'll get a "strong sense of purpose and unshakeable camaraderie", apparently, but you'll get little else in the way of tangible rewards. Poor sod.

Farin son of Norin is a Dwarf of Durin's Folk, the Longbeards. He's an honorary Ranger, and lives as one of them. He cares deeply about the honour of his people and does not want to tarnish it in any way. He is naturally courageous, and his determination to be an exemplary ambassador for his Dwarven clan makes him all the more so. There is no task too great or foe too tough for him to challenge. Rock hard, is Farin.

And finally the Elven character, Andriel. Andriel is a Lore-master of the house of Elrond Halfelven, and is charged with keeping alive the ancient arts and knowledge of the Eldar.

She is a healer and practitioner of magic. Her teacher was Elrond (played by Hugo Weaving in the films). She most often looks to her arts when danger threatens, but she's not shy about wielding weapons. She also wears armour. Andriel is well known to Aragorn, who was fostered in Rivendell. She is also familiar with Gandalf.

In the game, Andriel is aware that Gandalf and the Rangers of the North are helping to guard an important secret, but she has no idea what it is. Guess it's time to find out.

War in the North is being built by Snowblind Studios - the team that created cherished co-op adventure Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Snowblind Studios recently told Eurogamer it considers War in the North to be a spiritual successor to Dark Alliance.

War in the North treads a different path to that of the LOTR books and films. The three adventurers - elf, dwarf, man - must head north to take out one of Sauron's deadliest allies if the Fellowship of the Ring is ever to succeed.

The game relies heavily on tactical use of co-op. You'll always fight as a trio, and how you combine ranged attacks, magic and melee to tackle varying squads of enemies will mark your success. There's character progression, loads of loot and fundamental online co-op support.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • geeza2020 #1 8 months ago

    I forgot this game was even in development. The question is, can anybody stand to go through middle earth again for about the tenth time since the film trilogy came out? I'm struggling to get excited....

  • Desheep #2 8 months ago

    I saw the words "dark alliance" and stopped reading. WANT.

  • ukuleleimport #3 8 months ago

    Farin? Sounds sweet. Though he is listed elsewhere as the son of Borin, not of Norin. Typo?

  • darleysam #4 8 months ago

    So Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas, then?

  • DoctorZoidberg #5 8 months ago

    I think you misread the article darleysam.

    Its Eradan, Farin and Andriel ;-)

  • Spook #6 8 months ago

    Dark... Alliance... SOLD! ;)

  • darleysam #7 8 months ago

    I say again
    'The human character is Eradan.. He's a Ranger of the North': Aragorn
    'Farin son of Norin is a Dwarf of Durin's Folk, the Longbeards': Gimli
    'Andriel is a Lore-master of the house of Elrond Halfelven.. She is a healer and practitioner of magic': Legolas

  • Tiberius_Gracchus #8 8 months ago

    I definitely want to got through the world again - on a game that gets it right! Every game with LOTR on the box has been shite so far!

  • Dr.Mott #9 8 months ago

    The problem with this is that the Fellowship was the only time men, elves and dwarves actually fought alongside each other.

  • Apaar #10 8 months ago

    LOTR is decidedly the wrong IP for this sort of game. In fact, I think it is the wrong IP for most sorts of games.

  • r4z0rbl4d3 #11 8 months ago

    Except LOTRO.

  • Steizgr8 #12 8 months ago

    Have you read the Hobbit, Dr Mott?

  • Ptarmigandalf #13 8 months ago

    So, basically, Golden Axe in Middle Earth?

  • JayKwon #14 8 months ago

    I do want. I'm actually really back into Lotr again. And although this game is never gonna be perfect, it looks like it's going to be one of the best, if not the best Lotr h&s rpg game ever made. (I'm aware of the differen genre games a.k.a. third age, online and bfme, these were all pretty good).

  • geox30 #15 8 months ago

    The Middle Earth mythology offers a great setting for games,especially RPGs.Up till now no game got it right.It's like Batman in a way,dozens of games passed and then Arkham Asylum came along..

  • Harmonica #16 7 months ago

    Someone do something with the Silmarillion already.

  • ShovelyJoe #17 7 months ago

    Co op hack and slash through middle earth. How is that not going to be enjoyable? Hope their is a bit more customisation than shown in the videos, like weapons and armour, but still gonna get this for a giggle.

    I suppose the more important question is when the hell I am going to play it: Gears, Dark Souls, Skyrim, MW3......this year has murdered my wallet. And I promised I'd buy Space Marine. Gosh darn it!!!

  • Murton #18 7 months ago

    "The problem with this is that the Fellowship was the only time men, elves and dwarves actually fought alongside each other."

    Hmmm, there's the War of the Last Alliance at the end of The Second Age when Sauron was defeated and The One Ring taken, it's in the first ten minutes of the first movie, then the Fellowship at the end of The Third Age. If you o beyond the movies then there's thins like the Battle of Five Armies in the Hobbit and a few skirmishes in some of Tolkien's unfinished works.

    The only thing here that really goes against lore is the mage character and the idea that a Dwarf has been allowed to join the secretive order of the Rangers which is usually open only to those of Dúnedain descent.

    Lore aside, I'm seriously looking forward to this, a friend played at Eurogamer and said that the gameplay is lacking but as a huge LOTR fan I need to have this game so I'll be getting it regardless.

  • geeza2020 #19 7 months ago

    Looks like you're not allowed to be critical of one of the most overused and stale IP's around at the moment.

  • ShovelyJoe #20 7 months ago

    @geeza - you can't please everyone. Sometimes I find it hard to even keep myself happy : )

  • Murton #21 7 months ago

    @geeza - a good IP can't be over-used, only mis-used. Star Wars and LOTR are two IPs that will always be welcome, as long as the games are good.

    I believe LOTR has a great batting average with many more good games than bad, Star Wars on the other hand has a load of shit games with a handful of absolute top drawer gems. It's not which IP you use, it's how good your game is, and looks like it could be the best LOTR game since Return of the King.

  • geeza2020 #22 7 months ago

    I guess I've just played too many fantasy games then :-\

  • rob_of_the_robots #23 7 months ago

    "'Andriel is a Lore-master of the house of Elrond Halfelven.. She is a healer and practitioner of magic': Legolas"

    Dude, Legolas was from Mirkwood, tut.

    /rolls eyes