~Linhalaith's The Lord of the Rings Online Picture Diary~
The Lord of the Rings Online is a well-established MMORPG set in Middle-earth, the richly detailed European fantasy world immortalised in J.R.R. Tolkien's literary works. I decided to make an SSLP in it.
What you're about to read is the picture diary of Linhalaith, a kind and courageous Elvish warrior with a camera and a very full scrapbook. I aim to cover everything from the tutorial lands of Thorin's Gate, to the unknown place where I'll probably get bored of The Lord of the Rings Online in a few months.
Chapter 1: Everyone Say "Sod You, Skorgrim"
Linhalaith had made her way to Thorin's Gate, a valley long settled by Durin's Folk. Elrond, who was something of a community leader among Elves, had asked Linhalaith to track down his sons Elladan and Elrohir, who'd forgotten their packed lunch.
Linhalaith, admiring the statuary
The valley was a beautiful place, with a cold wind that made Linhalaith glad she'd worn a jumper under her armour. Yet the splendour of the mountains was tarnished of late, with foul mounds of mud piled up next to the lake, machines belching smoke into the sky, and sickly bears shivering under blankets.
Soon, Linhalaith found Elladan.
"GOSH, you're tall." --Linhalaith
Linhalaith listened in growing concern while she passed Elladan his Chicken BLT sandwich and cereal bar. Elladan spoke of the Dourhands, a dwarven clan of ill-repute who all but worshipped their king, Skorgrim Dourhand.
Even though Skorgrim had been dead for six hundred years, he commanded great respect among his people. Now it seemed a strange poison was seeping into the valley, making the bears ill and the mud discomfortingly gloopy in spite of its firmness. Could the Dourhands, and their new industrial district on the far side of the valley, have been up to something?
Linhalaith could feel it as well, the growing danger in Thorin's Gate. She bid her tall friend goodbye and went off to investigate.
Along the way, Linhalaith killed many, many wolves. Do not blame her, gentle reader, for behind every fight was a wolf that started it, and Linhalaith decided to save their pelts to make blankets for the bears.
Linhalaith checked the piles of mud, which smelled like copper sulphate and evil, and at length found a trail of flowers. Small, dark bushes sprouting angry red blooms. She'd stood next to one in the first picture without even noticing. Kicking herself a little, Linhalaith followed the flowers to an abandoned mine.
"Yah boo and sucks to you, Skorgrim, with an extra serving of yah boo! Bitch." --Linhalaith
Skorgrim's followers had erected a shrine in the mine, and a short way's past sat Elrohir, checking for footprints. Linhalaith handed him the other packed lunch, and described to him all that she'd seen. The sickly bears, the piles of mud, the new mining operation and the flowers, she spared no detail.
Elrohir listened patiently, then broke the news to Linhalaith that he'd seen all that stuff already.
Apparently, a necromancer had found his way into Skorgrim's tomb, where he later called a fell spirit into Skorgrim's body and raised him as a wight. It was a calamitous incident, where the tomb nearly collapsed and dozens of lives were lost, but Linhalaith saw none of it because she'd gone to bed.
To Linhalaith's immense surprise, Galadriel showed up in her dreams.
"Beware, o sleepyhead, who dwelt long ago in my realm," said Galadriel. "Middle-earth soon shall have need of your strength. Elrohir was wounded this night, and his brother will have need of you, to help carry him at least as far as Celondim. And furthermore, the Forces of Evil need their metaphorical arse kicked."
"My strength? When I used it long ago, I brought pain and fear into the world," Linhalaith said in a small voice. "Am I truly the one needed in this age of... whatever you and your mirror have forseen?"
"Although your accident was a grave one, it is only of the past. The future has not yet been shaped, and you would do well to shape it better." Galadriel smiled, even though she was talking complete rubbish and they both knew it.
"My lady," said Linhalaith, "before you go--"
"No, I will not do the 'stronger than the foundations of the earth' speech again!" Galadriel said severely.
Linhalaith flinched. "Forgive me. I merely thought..."
"It was a good speech," sighed Galadriel. "But I could tell Cate Blanchett had more fun with it than me. She even argued for how she should do the voice again in the Hobbit trilogy. Oh, poor Cait..."
"Alas for Cait!" Linhalaith's eyes filled up with tears. "That poor actress. Will she ever smile again, after that Borderlands disaster?!"
"I do not know, Linhalaith. I do not know. But now, I must leave you," said Galadriel, leaving her.
Though my lust for glory is long since spent, I do still have reason to fight. Linhalaith's determination grew in her heart. The laughter and smiles of free and honest people. Children playing in the fields. Artists, cooks, farmers, fishermen and long-suffering actresses... I would never abandon them to cruel fate! Thus, for the world's sake, do I fight.
Linhalaith also met a woman wearing the exact same suit of armour! If Marpowen of Mirkwood happens to be reading this page, it looks good on you. I hope you're still doing well.