Jonathan Rudder, an associate designer at Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine, has posted a sort of travel guide to Enedwaith, the upcoming newest region in the game. Among the fauna, you'll see some re-purposed Dunlendings, wargs, wraiths, drakes, and giants, as well as a few strange new additions, like evil black goats and a reindeer boss. Don't ask me. It's apparently stuff from Welsh folklore. Rudder explains it pretty well, but the reindeer still looks more like something from Evil Dead more than Middle Earth.

Lord of the Rings Online has its share of weird tangents -- all that snow barbarian stuff in Forochel sure looked cool, but I kept forgetting I was in Middle Earth -- but I really like how the creative direction here seems clear: we're on our way to Rohan.

Also, I can't believe the names Mornshaws and Gloomglens weren't already taken. Those are wonderful. And, as usual, it all looks fantastic. That picture up there is a village called Lhanuch. I want to go there.



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