Lord of the Rings Online gamers, heads up! In case you didn't know yet (how could you not?), Book 13: Doom of the Last-king is already available for download. Head over to the full article to recap on the game's new features in this update.

  

The official Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar Lore Book has just been updated with information on Gwindethrond and the Gauradain. Players would do well to familiarize themselves with the lore behind both of these as it may come useful in their daily jaunts in the MMORPG.

Gwindethrond is a grotto hidden behind a waterfall along the shores of Lake Evendim. This is the home of Gwindeth, the Blue Lady of Evendim. While very little is known about her, it is said that she possesses great power and is allied with the Kings of Arnor. Rumor has it that she may even be one of the messengers of the Valar who chose to stay in Middle-earth

In ages past, she was entrusted by the tenth king of Arnor, Amlaith of Fornost, to protect the last of the Elven crafted gems called the Silithair. She kept the gems safe and even turned away Aragorn when he requested the use of these gems to drive back the Shadow in the East. Perhaps other individuals may be able to convince the Blue Lady of Evendim to allow the forces of good to use the power of the Silithair to stop the evil that is threatening to encompass Middle Earth.

The Gauredain are a group of savage wild men which have been around since the elder days. These beings try to act like the Wolves of the North, charging into battle on all fours dressed in nothing but wolf-hides. They allied themselves with the Witch-king of Angmar during the first war against the Northern Kingdom of Arnor. When the war ended, the Gauredain withdrew their forces and established a stronghold in Annuminas where they remain up to now.

Before we go, we'd like to remind players that Turbine's The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar Book 11 will be going live today. This means you'll be able to check out some of the new content we've been talking about in the past few days including the aforementioned Gwindethrond and Gauradain.

In The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, not only can we travel the lands of Middle-earth in all of its glory, but we can also retrace the steps of the legendary heroes that also began their journey as mere adventurers. In this update about Turbine Inc.'s MMORPG about the Tolkien series, we visit the isle of Tinnudir in the region of Lake Evendim, where an encampment was established by none other than Aragorn himself.

And it's not just a mere camp - just like the other setpieces of Lord of the Rings, it has an underlying history that's rife with the stuff legends are made of. Aragorn, then Chieftain of the Dunedain, first stepped into Tinnudir to recover a lost jewel known as the Silithar. He never did find the jewel again, but he left his companion Calenglad with a small party of rangers to protect the tombs of kings strewn in the island's ruins.

To this day, Calenglad and his rangers - as well as a few upstanding townfolk - guard Tinnudir and its treasures from lowly-grave robbers and their ilk. They wait patiently for Aragorn's return, knowing that he would reclaim his birthright soon enough.

Tinnudir is but one of the many locations recreated into digital perfection by the Turbine Inc. team in The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, and where players will be led to once they step into Evendim - where elven rangers lie in waiting for their help.

We've already reported that Book 9: The Shores of Evendim will be the first update for The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar. Here's some more info on it, courtesy of Eurogamer.

One of the update's over 60 new quests focuses on Aragorn. He needs help to fix his broken sword and so players must scour the ancient city of Annuminas for the powerful relics that are needed to make his sword uber again. Aside from the whole Freudian sword thing, players will also come across an Ent searching for some missing Entwives.

"The Lord of the Rings Online has had a great launch. We're pleased to welcome the hundreds of thousands of people that have already signed up to play the game," Ed Blincoe told Eurogamer. "We have huge plans for content updates going forwards and the arrival of The Shores of Evendim just a few short weeks after launch highlights this perfectly."

 

After being poetic about Aragorn and Arwen and telling you about the early access feature of The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, we now receive word about the first update to LOTRO - Shores of Evendim. Slated to begin in June, LOTRO could start adventuring to the Shores of Evendim, which would be the first of many free updates to the game.

This lies about a 100 miles north of the Shire. This vast region is dominated by the "Lake of the Twilight" or Lake Nenuial. Aside from the vast body of water occupying Evendim, it was said that great wealth and powerful artifacts could be found on the ancient abandoned city of Annúminas. Located on the southern shore and is known as the former capital of kingdom of Arnor, Legends have said that wealth and artifacts abound the place - coupled with evil beings and the nefarious forces lurking in Angmar. Wealth and power comes at a price indeed. Key features include:

•  Discover the lands of Evendim
•  Explore over 60 new Quests
•  Raid in the Battle for Helegrod
•  Fight against 9 new monsters
•  Upgraded music system adds new instruments and lets you share your music with others
•  Equip collectible Armor Sets

Gandalf has asked for help in Aragorn's search of the ancient Evendim lands - specifically the ancient jewel that once belonged to the Sword of Elendil's hilt. Find the jewel, before Sauron finds it.

Alright, boys and girls. We've met the dwarves and we've met the hobbits who dwell in Turbine's MMORPG LOTRO: Shadows of Angmar. With those two done and over with, it is about time that we finally get introduced to a race that is closer to home (and general biological structure).

Enter, the Race of Men. You know, Gondor and Arnor, Aragorn, Rohirrim, and all those lovely, normal-sized people with non-pointy ears? Yeah, them. The second race to be ever created, Men have borne many names throughout the ages of Middle-earth. Among these would be Atani (Second People), Hildor (Aftercomers), and Firimar (Mortals). Though not as hardy as the dwarves, and susceptible to disease and old age unlike the elves, Men do bear the so-called gift to their race. This gift is the ability to be released from Arda upon death, and journey to a world which even the mighty Valar have no knowledge of.

It has been whispered that the Elves secretly envy this trait, as unlike Men, their souls are bound to the world even after their bodies are destroyed, and it is their fate to wait until the world's end before they are released.

What IS known however, is that because of their affinity with mortality and the knowledge that they only have a short while to spend among the living, Men are prompted to perform great feats and acts of courage. These feats, ironically, grant them immortality as the tales of their courage and valor are passed on from generation to generation, from bard to audience, and from father to son.

Such is the fate of Men.

You take the high road, and I'll take the - well... - very low, insect-infested, and excruciatingly muddy road. Sometimes, getting to your destination will require a toss up between a lot of possible paths to take. Even though the easiest route from Bree-land to the Lone-lands is through the Great East Road, that doesn't mean it's the only way.

In LOTRO, you can go through a small section of the Midgewater Marshes - just from the northeast corner of the bogs. It's called the Midgewater Pass, and it's only known to a bunch of Rangers of the North. This path leads up and out of the swamps and beyond the hills. From the highest point of the Midgewater Pass, you'll actually be able to spy Weathertop.

It's going to be trouble passing through here, so maybe you're asking: why bother? For the Tolkien fans out there, you just might recognize this path as taken by Aragorn when he snuck the hobbits out of Bree-land and onto Rivendell. And so, once again, the toss-up: do you want to take the easy path down the Great East Road, or maybe take a much more historic trip where the Fellowship once passed?

Before The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar lands in North America, we advise the fans to take a couple of more looks over at Turbine's main site. Just who will you be when the game launches?

Will you be some grand, chivalrous Champion hacking your way through the hordes of Legolass fangirls goblins and Orcs? Or will you be a mighty guardian - the stocky, powerful dwarf who can take everything your opponent dishes out (albeit getting carried by elves)?

It's your choice, but to help you along, we're reporting that the main site's just updated the character classes with additional skills, and in the case of the Champion, it looks Aragorn's favored class be dealing more of Chuck Norris' currency - pain. See if you can spot their new moves.

Skills of the Champion

Wild Attack: A damaging attack.  This increases fervor, allowing the use of other Champion skills.

Flurry: An attack that increases the Champion's attack speed and fervor.

Blade Storm: A 360-degree area-of-effect attack.

Champion's Challenge: A taunting cry that forces the target to face and attack the Champion.

Savage Strikes: A double attack.

Blade Wall: A frontal area-of-effect attack.

Exchange of Blows: For every strike the Champion receives from her enemy, she returns the blow.

Hedge: A de-taunt that will maintain the Champion's current Fervour state.

Brutal Strikes: A triple attack.

Traits of the Champion
Here are some of the Class-specific Traits the Champion can obtain while adventuring in Middle-earth.

Call of the Wild:  The Champion's Wild Attack generates additional threat and she gains a small amount of natural armour.

At the Ready:  The Champion's base block rate is increased and she gains a small amount of natural armour.

That's just one class - imagine what they've added to the rest.

Getting an MMO to tell a story isn't easy. There are tons of MMOs out there that are supposed to provide their players rich fantasy worlds where they get to live out adventures and experience the "epic" first hand.

This is the reason why Turbine, the guys developing Lord of the Rings Online, have their work cut out for them. Lord of the Rings is arguably one of the greatest fantasy story and in fact, many fantasy conventions spawned from it.

If Turbine gets LOTR online wrong, it would be like saying that Gandalf is a rip-off of Obi-wan Kenobi.

In a rather lengthy interview over at Gamespy, several game-design and game-play related details were revealed. The details revolve around the innovations and game design decisions Turbine made regarding the game.

Get the juicy bits of the interview after the jump.