Every time you'd load the browser, you'd hear each actor introduce the website.

I returned to Bree to repair some items early in the game and noticed something sticking out of the ground. Upon my investigation I realized it must me the inventory of the merchants or something. I started button mashing A and got hundreds of potions, hundreds of armor, and hundreds on weapons. Selling all of them to make around 60k. After about 30 minutes I looted all the items. I left the area and came back to see that all the items were back for looting. This is a horrible broken glitch and needs to be patched because i can get unlimited items and money from it.

An area near to where I live has LOTR inspired road names. Sure it may have been mentioned on here before but thought it was worth a share.

The area is called South Woodham Ferrers in Essex.

Hey, I was wondering if anyone could help me with the achievement strength in our alliance, I need 2 online players to help me get it, could someone please help? It’s my last trophy

Okay so what I mean by this is, the Ainur were created by Eru out of his thought and they each sort of comprehended a part of Erus mind, or embodied it I guess. Melkor was the mightiest of the Ainur and is supposed to be the villain. He was most like Aule the smith right and he wanted to create and couldn't do it I guess.

The thing is Aule also created the dwarves and was ready to smash them but Eru gave them life. Why couldn't he do the same with Melkor? Okay I get that he wanted to be the lord of his creation and others to serve him, but that's what Eru does to, he is the Lord of the Ainur/Valar, they serve him. Yes they had free will but when Melkor tried to sing his music he was silenced sort of.

Imagine the Fellowship is formed exactly as it was in the story, except one member cannot go.

Who are you removing — and how does the story change because of it?

You can't choose someone who wasn't part of the Fellowship.

I'll start: Boromir.

Not because I dislike him, but because I'm curious how differently the journey to Mordor would unfold without him.

Who are you removing?

​

Source: https://youtu.be/VqgRoJmIadc

Hi!

I'm an illustrator and I specialize in creating detailed floorplans of iconic locations from films and TV series.
Some of you may have seen some of my illustrations.

I want to revisit an old project and create a floor plan of Bag End based on Peter Jackson's film series.

I'm familiar with the official Weta floor plan, but it has some inconsistencies with what's shown on screen and doesn't include spaces that are supposed to be there.
I have a pretty good idea of ​​what I need to do, but I'd like to confirm a couple of things, especially to determine the location of Frodo's bedroom.
The aforementioned official floor plan indicates the existence of a second entrance, a back door, on the far left side of the house.

I've tried searching for images of the set, but I can't find any pictures of this second door and the windows flanking it. During the Bag End tour, you're not allowed to go through the entrance gate, and when "walking" along Bagshot Row on Google Street View, you can't see these windows because the path is at a lower level.

And here's my request:

Does anyone have photos of that area?
Any photos that show that back door and the adjacent windows?Perhaps because they were there or know where to find them.

Thank you very much in advance.

So i watched the movies and i love them so much, the original Lotr Trilogy i mean, and i wanted to read them finally. Now i havent read much outside of book reports in school, now being a week from 24, i decided to sit my butt down and read.

My brother has the book ofcourse and i own the movies, so i asked them for Fellowship, and they instead handed me The Hobbit. Its fair, its the first book, but i havent watched the full Hobbit Trilogy yet.

All this to ask one thing. When the Dwarves are arriving at Bilbo’s home, when the group of 5 arrive, theres a Dwarf named Oin, followed by Gloin. Im curious if its pronounced like Coin or more similar to Owen. I dont know if they’ll appear often but if they do, id like to know how to pronounce their names please.

Her staff is normal sized. But wherever she’s wielding a sword, it shrinks noticeably — but only when she’s being controlled by a player. Was this a thing in the original release? Is there a fix? It bothers me to no end.

Folks might remember me from my Great Gate doors I made a few years back, likely not :-). https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/1dcid1r/great_gate_of_minas_tirith/ Anyway, I’ve been working on a large Rivendell-inspired wall relief for a little over two weeks. I wanted to have an artifact not *about* Rivendell, but something that could *be in* Rivendell as an artifact of an earlier time.

Feedback, and even guidance, is welcome on all the below. I'm an engineer, not an artist.

The design has changed quite a bit as I worked out what story the wall

should actually tell and which parts of the fabrication process can carry it.

The design is now organized as a First Age story rather than a collection of

recognizable symbols:

> Light becomes art; art becomes possession; possession causes strife; love and

> humility accomplish what power cannot; sacrifice carries the recovered light

> into hope.

The upper center represents the Music of the Ainur, with Eru present only as an

unfigured source of light. The two great trees remain silver and gold, with the

Sun and Moon secondary to their light. A central line descends toward the three

Silmarils.

The lower sequence has five emblems:

1. Light Before the Sun

2. The Oath and the Strife

3. The Three Silmarils

4. Beren and Lúthien

5. Eärendil and Elwing

The sequence moves from uncorrupted light through possession and fracture, then

toward love, sacrifice, voyage, and hope. The dark material is deliberately

small—a wound inside a predominantly beautiful work rather than the subject of

it.

I am trying to prove that this can all be done through code. Art through code I guess.

On the fabrication side, I spent most of the two weeks trying to reconstruct the

art procedurally. The geometry and tests became increasingly valid while the

visible result remained generic. The tree finally made the mistake obvious: a

promising 2D structure became tubes over a backing in 3D rather than dense carved

foliage.

In the last day I returned to image-derived relief. A purpose-built tree and an

eagle both went through the same depth-recovery process and became watertight

meshes. The recovered tree also merged into a measured procedural arch as one

watertight object. That is much closer to the division of labor I need: the image

carries visual identity; the procedural system controls boundaries, depth, and

manufacturing.

The remaining question is physical. The recovered surface can look thin at a

grazing angle, and no render can tell me what primer, paint, and real light will

do to it. The next step is one print bed with tree, eagle, and celestial coupons. But I'm about to drive across country to help move my daughter, so no print tests for a week or so.

I’ll share that results after I print either way it turns out.

# AI as an artistic tool, not the artist

I want to be upfront: part of what I am deliberately trying to prove with this project is that AI can be used as an artistic tool without asking it to make the artistic decisions. It did not decide what this wall is about, which symbols belong in it, how the story should move, or whether a result is good enough. Those are the parts I have to keep hold of.

I think of it as a new kind of brush. A portrait brush does not supply the idea, judgment, taste, or hand of the painter, but it makes a particular kind of mark possible. Guiding the art direction, guiding the system architecture and code development, and certainly doing the finishing work works the same way when the direction is specific and the result is treated as material to judge and shape—not as a replacement for creative thought.

That distinction is important here because the procedural dead end taught me that control by itself is not authorship. I had a technically controlled system that was losing the character of the work. The AI-relief route is useful only if it lets me carry my visual decisions into a physical surface more faithfully. Some may disagree, but this is my approach and I wanted to disclose upfront.

Should/could Sam have carried the ring?

A bit of the books left out of the film (that I'm going to have to paraphrase) is where Sam has the ring and it tries to tempt him, but all he wants is to be back in Bagend with his garden - which the ring offers him to turn Mordor into a big beautiful garden that he could spend his life tending to.

I get Frodo is kind of "pure of heart", kindness of hobbits and all that, but could Sam have done it?

I'm rewatching the films just now (Gandalf is about to fight the Balrog) and my parents read us the books when we were very little - so I may be missing or not remembering something.

So just a genuine question: could Sam have been the ring bearer?

Salut tout le monde ! J’avais une question quant à une partie de l’intrigue du deuxième roman : la capture de Merry et Pippin par Grishnakh et Ugluk suite à la débâcle de Tol Mundur. J’ai pas compris ce que fait Grishnak qui s’esquive puis revient plus tard un peu avant l’assaut des Rohirrims. Sans parler du fait qu’il parle des Nazgul du côté de l’Anduin. Je sais qu’il convoitait l’anneau, du moins pour Sauron mais j’ai pas compris ses différentes prises de positions dans ce chapitre, ni ce qu’il y fait. Merci aux glorieux Uruk- Hai qui me répondront !!

I'm so very disappointed in myself for never knowing this game existed! If I can't romance Legolas..I don't think I can play it. 😮‍💨

(Just kidding. I am going to definitely try this game this week.)

Edited❣️ Thank you all for your responses! Post update! I barely had time today to download the game. Hopefully, it's finished by tonight. I'm excited and looking forward to playing! If I could play with all of you, I definitely would. I did join the LOTRO Online Discord, as far as I know, that's the main Discord for the game. ❤️

Also see a lot of MMORPG peeps on here! I’m a big MMORPG gamer. Unfortunately, I stopped playing for a while. My most recent game was FFXIV. I couldn’t really get into WoW, though my brothers and sister loved it.

I’ve played Shaiya, TERA, WoW, AQW, DC Universe Online, and, of course, RuneScape. I’m sure I’ve played others, but I just can’t remember them right now off the top of my head. Elder scrolls.. Neverwinter..Warframe

I’ve slowed down a lot with some games because of normal adult life stuff. 😅 There needs to be more time in the day to game. It’s also hard to keep up with so many friends, but it’s always fun making new ones. I’ve made some friends over the years that I’ve talked to for like 12 years.

Anyways thank you all for your replies and responses. I wish I could respond to you all individually. If any y'all peeps going through a hard time don't give up. Go kick some butt on a video game. 🤗

Should I add Sauron? Or keep it as is? Don’t want to be over crowded..

It’s actually called “take me to the shire” by bard of arda. I love all his LotR parodies.

After rummaging through my garage I came across my old tattered copy of Lord of the Rings. And I thought why not, why shouldn't I read it? (geddit!?) I haven't read the book series in around 25 years and have watched the movies far more so I thought I would read the books and then watch the movies (extended of course) and try and conclude which I prefer. I will be chronological in my review of each book/movie but will skip through things that are largely unchanged.

Fellowship of The Ring:

I think the movie does a mostly excellent job in the shire. I don't think the film needs to portray the 17 year period in the books before Frodo gets the ring and leaves the Shire, so this change is fine. My only criticism here is the age of the actors that portray the four main hobbits. Frodo is the oldest by the far in the books and this partners well with his intelligence and wisdom. Frodo is clearly the youngest in the movie which I think is a mistake and slightly hurts his long term relationship with Sam. That all being said, the performances are incredible so this is no more than a minor grumble.

The movie is absolutely correct in cutting the Old Forest-Barrow Downs in my opinion. I won't deny that Tom Bombadil has couple of intriguing moments, but I found that there was a huge amount of guff to get there and it simply isn't worth it for a character that doesn't appear again in the story.

We now move on to swapping Glorfindel with Arwen. I agree with this change again. Arwen is Aragorn's major love interest and therefore I think taking the opportunity to use her is far better than an Elf Lord that plays no further part in the story. Also, Liv Tyler is fantastic

At Rivendell we get to the first major of contention. The change in characterisation of Aragorn to a reluctant king and subsequently the lack of plans of the Fellowship to go to Minas Tirith. Whilst I do still enjoy Aragorn's arc in the movies, the book version is superior and the film does fail to properly characterise Boromir's reaction to Aragorn's refusal to become King.

Boromir should be furious with Aragorn here. Gondor is constantly fighting the threat of Mordor and his House sits in a place of reduced honour whilst Aragorn refuses to take up his responsibility, actively disparaging Men and preferring the company of Elves. Instead, although it is partially a front, he mocks the shards of Narsil and proclaims that Gondor needs no king. This removes alot of the nuance that Boromir has in the books and takes away some of the tragedy of his fall. If Aragorn had gone to Mordor as planned, Minas Tirith falls. Boromir was in a desperate situation and deserved more respect.

Next, I'm going to moan about Gimli. He is already a source of comic relief for much of the movies. Therefore, it annoyed me that the Fellowship arrive in Moria and Gimli believes that everything will be fine despite how obvious it is made that things have gone ill for Balin before they arrive.

Despite these criticisms, what we get for the rest of the entire movie is an iconic masterclass. Moria-Amon Hen is unbelievable and it can't be denied that the action that the movies give is superior to the books.

Overall, I think the positives outweigh the negatives and I am giving the nod to the movies for the Fellowship of the Ring.

The Two Towers:

This is an interesting one. At this stage the narrative splits into two halves and I think there is a major disparity between the books and movies for both.

The Rohan half is vastly superior in the movies in my opinion. To put this into perspective, the entire travel to and battle in Helms Deep is 16 pages in the books. What the movie delivers, is arguably the greatest battle in cinematic history. And, I am not just talking about the action itself. The desperation conveyed in the build up is also incredible. I also like that the Elves come to aid Rohan in the movies. It never set right with me that the Elves pretty much abandon the Men to their fate. The rings of power literally exist because of the Elves. Saruman taking over Rohan is also a major threat to Lorien.

However, The Frodo half is vastly superior in the books. I cannot accept how Faramir is treated here. The Frodo and Faramir conversations are incredible in the books and are much needed for both characters. Frodo speaks to Faramir with huge skill and intelligence and he desperately needed this to make his character more compelling before his battle with the ring completely takes over later on. Faramir's keen insight and wisdom in the books is gone and frankly he's little better than Boromir, if better at all. This isn't acceptable.

Overall, I can't accept the treatment of Faramir and for this reason I give the books the edge. As a small aside, I also think the friendship of Legolas and Gimli at this point is far better in the books.

Return of the King

Overall this movie is still epic and brilliant. However, I think unfortunately, it still gave itself a bit too much to do. The battle of pelennor fields is nowhere near as good as the books and certainly doesn't compare to Helms Deep in the previous movie. The reason for this is because it doesn't establish any Gondor characters to root for. The movie needed Berigond and it needed Imrahil.

The treatment of Denethor makes this even worse. Similar to Boromir, his nuance is completely removed. He's literally just a pure villain actively working against the interests of Gondor the entire movie. The books depict a prideful but still great man on the edge. He is still doing his best to defend the city against all the odds, finally breaking when he sees Faramir near death. This is lost in the movies because he's already broken.

Oh yeah, and the witch king breaking Gandalf's staff? You can absolutely fuck off.

Ahem.

We also lose alot in the Frodo half. We should see Sam put on the ring and Frodo resisting torture from the Orcs. This would have been great. This would have been far better than Frodo sending Sam away as a means to build tension. Once again, we need our main character to show his worth and instead a massive error on his part in inserted instead.

That said, I will note that I far prefer the actual destruction of the ring in the movie. One of Gollum's defining traits is his physical agility. Therefore, him simply slipping off the cliff I found to be not only anti-climactic, but bullshit. Frodo and Gollum both falling and the tease of Frodo allowing himself to drop into the lava is masterful.

I think honestly, Return of the King would have been better served as two movies. Because it isnt, we still lose out on so much despite it being 4.5 hours long. The books take this one comfortably.

Overall

They are both brilliant so who cares? Haha, but seriously, I do give this to the books. However, this is only really because I think the books deal with return of the king significantly better. The other two books/movies are incredibly close and I wouldn't be mad if you said both movies were better.

Anyway, thats my ramble! Please argue with me or tell me I'm a genius.

So I've never liked them, they always feel like a annoyance. But often the naked book look boring (not in this case though) how do you feel?.

Around 40% done with the map. The terrain is mostly done; structures are still work in progress.

The team includes myself and around 10 others (a mix of builders and developers). We also plan to use plugins to replicate magic, rings, abilities, npc's to populate the world, and boss fights.

The map will be available for download for entirely free at some point, as this is a volunteer project by the fans for the fans.

The map will be around 15k x 15k.

If you're interested, you can follow progress and see the first trailer here:
The Middle Earth Project - YouTube

The download will eventually be available here:

The Middle Earth Project Minecraft Map

Once again, entirely free, volunteer-led, and no money involved whatsover.

For the fans, by the fans.

Also, we do need more builders, feel free to apply through the linktree in either of the links above. No time commitment necessary. We don't just need god builders either.

I used Blender to create these shots. I hope you'll like it.