How Shadow of War Breaks Tolkien's Middle-Earth Lore

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War

Middle - terra firma : Shadow of Waris the belated television game adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’sLegendarium , yet it breaks the writer ’s established continuity . The continuation continues the story left off from the first secret plan , Middle - Earth : Shadow of Mordor , with the ranger Talion and the Elven spirit Celebrimbor forge a Modern Ring of Power that ’s open of check an army strong enough to get the better of Sauron .

BothShadow of MordorandShadow of Wartake place between the event ofThe HobbitandThe Lord of the Ringsand are based on Tolkien ’s compose narratives . However , neither game is considered canon . The games abide by Tolkien ’s established persistence for the most part but their primary intake come from Peter Jackson ’s films , particularly with regard to the globe ’s tone and feel . It ’s an understandable creative choice view how revered Jackson’sLord of the Ringsmovies are with modern consultation .

Related:Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Review Round-up

Shadow of Waris an exceptionally well - made game , with its Nemesis system taking the patty , but that does n’t mean it ’s without flaws . For those familiar with eitherThe SilmarillionorThe Lord of the Ringsbooks may find that the bulk of the game ’s proceeds uprise from direct contradicting traditional Middle - Earth lore , begin with the canonical chronology of effect .

The Timeline

The One Ring

InThe Silmarillion , Tolkien explains that Sauron had forged the One Ring himself and taught his methods to the Elves of Eregion , who created the Seven ( for the Dwarf - lords ) and the Nine ( for the Mortal Men ) . Celebrimbor , who was one of the Elves of Eregion , studied the craft and created the Three Rings ( for the Elves ) on his own , without Sauron ’s direction . And so , the Rings were never corrupted by the Dark Lord , which meant Sauron could n’t control the Elves without first spoiling their ring . However , the Three were still bind to the fate of the One Ring , as were all the other Rings of Power . When Frodo destroy the One Ring in Return of the King , the Three Rings ' power had also diminished .

The history of the Rings of Power is full of life to Tolkien ’s stories , specifically toThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy , and the plot breaks the crux of the Rings ' creations by changing their Jehovah to Celebrimbor . In the game , Celebrimbor created the One Ring - which allowed the Dark Lord dominion over all the other Rings of Power - and thus brought into question several facets associated with the Ring . If Sauron did n’t make the One Ring , is his someone still spring to it ? what is more , it ’s illogical to think that Talion and Celebrimbor could make another Ring of Power that would be invulnerable to Sauron ’s corruption since Celebrimbor had created the original Rings as well , yet those were still all dependent on the office of the One Ring .

The Nazgûl

The Nine Rings wear upon by the Mortal Men bound them to the One Ring and , therefore , to Sauron . The Men succumbed to the Rings ' power and eventually were enslaved by Sauron as his servants the Nazgûl , or Ringwraiths . The Nazgûl comprised of nine Great Lords of Men , of which one was Khamûl the Easterling and another was the Witch - King of Angmar . Another three were the Men of Númenor , though their names were never revealed . It ’s never pin down who the eternal rest of the Nazgûl were inThe Lord of the Ringsbooks and moving-picture show - and that ’s precisely whatShadow of Warexploits .

Shadow of Warrewrites account and claims that Isildur ( Aragorn ’s root and the 2nd King of Arnor ) was saved from death - after being shot by an arrow and plunged into a river - and given one of the Nine Rings by Sauron . The ring saved his life but outright turned him into one of the Ringwraiths . That pass in neither the playscript nor the moving-picture show . What ’s more , the secret plan also falsely suggests that Helm Hammerhand ( the former King of Rohan and the inspiration for the name Helm ’s Deep ) and Suladân ( a Haradrim shortly advert inReturn of the King ) were another two Ringwraiths . Talion became the 4th unidentified Ringwraith mere decades after the issue ofShadow of War , when it should actually take one C for someone to yield to the Rings ' exponent and become part of the Nazgûl .

Do the changes matter?

Simply put : not really . Shadow of Waris meant to be an enjoyable action - adventure claim that ’s pose within the mankind of Tolkien ’s Middle - Earth , yet also permit players to pack their own tale apart from the Baggins kinsperson and their dangerous undertaking . persistence is certainly of import in all adaptations , but television biz developer and publisher should be granted some amount of tolerance so as to give players an prodigious experience , thus allowing gamers - those who are familiar with the source material and those who are not - to contract an adventure of their own .

Shadow of Wardoesn’t stringently cohere to Tolkien ’s launch persistence , but the general construct from the game may provide gamers with an illuminated perspective if they ever translate the novels or watch the movies again ( or the first sentence ) . Warner Bros. Interactive’sMiddle - Earthseries should be thought of as something akin to BioWare’sThe Old Republicgames ; existing within the established continuity but can also be weigh glorified fan - fiction - and that ’s okay .