History VideoGame / TheLordOfTheRingsOnline

* TemptingFate: Bilbo reads Bingo's manuscript and hopes that Bingo's adventure continues without any of the hardships that he himself faced, "full of trolls, goblins, and dragons." Surely enough, toward the end of his journey, Bingo [[spoiler:has to confront Draigoch to save Theordore Gorse.

* ForWantOfANail: One Lone Lands side quest starts with a menial task of finding out what happened to a delivery of oatmeal. This quest chain ends with the character taking part in a city wide battle in Annúminas. To be specific, the reason why there's no oatmeal is because the hobbits that supply it are having trouble with their festival. The reason they're having trouble with their festival is because some Hobbits from the Glassblower camp up north didn't show up. When the player investigates, they find that the Hobbit camp has been ransacked by bandits. After defeating the bandits, the Hobbits ask the player to talk to the Rangers, who will then ask the player to assist them in finding out why the bandits are there. After a long line of jobs ranging across the entirety of Evendim, you eventually find out that [[spoiler:the bandits are working in allegiance with Angmar, and are raiding ruins to find the lost ring Narchuil, an important object in the main story]]. This entire series of events leads the player to Annúminas, in order to help the rangers repel the invasion.

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: An elf in Mirkwood tasks the player with retrieving a couple of alchemical ingredients, as well as a bottle of wine from a set of ruins. The ingredients will be used to make salves and potions that will aid the elves as they do battle in Mirkwood. The wine?
--> '''Barvessain''': 'It is thirsty work, the brewing of potions and the crafting of salves!'

** They were originally all the same Norse-themed dwarves as in ''The Hobbit''. The dwarves encountered later in the game are more culturally distinct, especially the Zhélruka, who put more emphasis on moustaches than beards and use a Slavic-like language.

* {{Bishonen}}: The male elves can certainly be quite pretty, but thankfully they only go to Legolas level and not further.

The ''Mordor'' expansion pack released in the Autumn of 2017 brought the game's storyline to the moment of the One Ring's destruction and beyond, launching a new story titled the Black Book of Mordor, in which the Free Peoples must deal with the remaining threat posed by Sauron's former underlings, starting by entering the Black Land itself. This expansion also introduced High Elves as a playable race. The Black Book was concluded with the release of the ''Minas Morgul'' expansion in late 2019, which also introduced Stout-axe dwarves as a playable race. In 2020, the ''War of Three Peaks'' expansion was released, followed by the ''Fate of Gundabad'' in 2021 comprising The Legacy of Durin and the Trials of the Dwarves. ''Before the Shadow'' expansion was released in 2022 and ''Corsairs of Umbar'' in 2023.

The ''Mordor'' expansion pack released in the Autumn of 2017 brought the game's storyline to the moment of the One Ring's destruction and beyond, launching a new story titled the Black Book of Mordor, in which the Free Peoples must deal with the remaining threat posed by Sauron's former underlings, starting by entering the Black Land itself. This expansion also introduced High Elves as a playable race. The Black Book was concluded with the release of the ''Minas Morgul'' expansion in late 2019, which also introduced Stout-axe dwarves as a playable race. In 2020, the ''War of Three Peaks'' expansion was released, followed by the ''Fate of Gundabad'' in 2021, ''Before the Shadow'' in 2022 and ''Corsairs of Umbar'' in 2023.

The ''Mordor'' expansion pack released in the Autumn of 2017 brought the game's storyline to the moment of the One Ring's destruction and beyond, launching a new story titled the Black Book of Mordor, in which the Free Peoples must deal with the remaining threat posed by Sauron's former underlings, starting by entering the Black Land itself. This expansion also introduced High Elves as a playable race. The Black Book was concluded with the release of the ''Minas Morgul'' expansion in late 2019, which also introduced Stout-axe dwarves as a playable race. In 2020, the ''War of Three Peaks'' expansion was released, followed by the ''Fate of Gundabad'' in 2021, "Before the Shadow" in 2022 and "Corsairs of Umbar" in 2023.

The ''Mordor'' expansion pack released in the Autumn of 2017 brought the game's storyline to the moment of the One Ring's destruction and beyond, launching a new story titled the Black Book of Mordor, in which the Free Peoples must deal with the remaining threat posed by Sauron's former underlings, starting by entering the Black Land itself. This expansion also introduced High Elves as a playable race. The Black Book was concluded with the release of the ''Minas Morgul'' expansion in late 2019, which also introduced Stout-axe dwarves as a playable race. In 2020, the ''War of Three Peaks'' expansion was released, followed by the ''Fate of Gundabad'' expansion in 2021.

* RewardFromNowhere: Skirmish marks, a type of currency gained from skirmishes. You will gain some marks from looting enemies or chests, but many of them comes out of nowhere upon capturing flags (offensive skirmishes), surviving repeated enemy attacks (defensive skirmishes), or [[BonusBoss optional encounters]].

** Even though Khazad-dûm was eventually re-settled, it didn't happen until a few years after the War of the Ring, a fact confirmed to be known to the game writers. Which means the Iron Garrison expedition is doomed to fail.

** The Blue Wizards (the last two of the group of five Wizards to which Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast belongs) are only ever referred to as "The Blue Wizards" in the Literature/TheUnfinishedTales, which is not part of SSG's license. The game, however, features sorcerers of a "Blue Caste", and makes reference to a "Yirokhsar the Blue, a sorcerer of no small power", who bade the Easterlings not to serve Sauron, which does bring to mind Tolkien's speculations that the Blue Wizards might have tried to disrupt some of Sauron's efforts in the East. Players have speculated that this Blue Caste, and this Yirokhsar the Blue, are intended to be "coincidental" references to the Blue Wizards, made by the developers in the hope that [[ViewersAreGeniuses players familiar with Tolkien's works would be able to connect the dots and figure it out]]. In the Bells of Dale instance, the leader among the Easterlings mentions a "Yetkeyin the Violet".

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lotro.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The Shire]]

''The Lord of the Rings Online'' (aka ''[=LotRO=]'') is yet another MMO on the market. While nowhere near as popular as ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', it has a healthy player base that has been growing. Often compared against ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' (and which MMO isn't, these days) it holds up well enough. Its emphasis is less on [[PlayerVersusPlayer PVP]] and Raiding and more on Roleplaying, Crafting, and Socializing (though [[PlayerVersusPlayer PVP]] and Raid elements are present and Raiding is an important part of the game). With a low emphasis on [[PlayerVersusPlayer PVP]] and a high emphasis on RP and social aspects, [=LotRO=] has managed to attract one of the nicer and more mature MMO communities around. Being that both were created by Creator/{{Turbine}}, it has many features in common with ''VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragonsOnline'', though the play style differs significantly. Turbine has now moved on, Creator/StandingStoneGames now developes ''[=LotRO=]'', and several of the original developers are now part of SSG.

Aside from some introductory quests, the game's storyline begins in Eriador around the time Frodo Baggins begins his journey, and focuses on combating the rise of Angmar, the long-fallen realm of the Witch-King. In the 12+ years since the game launched, many updates and expansions have introduced additional regions, features, and quests. Each piece of new content takes place later in the timeline of the books. The main StoryArc of the game consists of the [[AllegedlyFreeGame mostly-free]][[note]]Volume III, Books 11-14 require purchase of the Helm's Deep expansion[[/note]] Epic questline, supplemented by smaller storylines and {{Sidequest}}s available in each region.

The ''Mordor'' expansion pack released in the Autumn of 2017 brought the game's latest storyline to the moment of the One Ring's destruction and beyond, launching a new story titled the Black Book of Mordor, in which the Free Peoples must deal with the remaining threat posed by Sauron's former underlings, starting by entering the Black Land itself. This expansion also introduced High Elves as a playable race. The Black Book was concluded with the release of the ''Minas Morgul'' expansion in late 2019, which also introduced Stout-axe dwarves as a playable race.

Beginning life as ''Middle-earth Online'' in 1998, the license to develop the game bounced through several developers (including Vivendi Games) before landing with Turbine in 2004. The game launched in 2007, with the smoothest MMO launch in history. The game boasts several semi-unique features, such as the Music system, which allows players to form bands and play music in-game, either by playing manually, or by playing .abc files via in-game commands. The Outfit system also allows for much more character customization than some rivals allow.

** You won't see any exposed [[SexyBacklessOutfit back]] or [[BareYourMidriff midriff exposure]], but some gear does have noticeable cleavage.

* {{Druid}}: In the Mournshaws, some Dunlendings have come to the forest to become Derudhs on behalf of their tribes and to worship the Rhi Helvarch, the Huntsman.