Weapon Damage and the Lore with it
by Skypp_BSS
Overview
In LOTRO you might see some strange damage types that you are not used to seeing. While in some games they have the stuff like "+3 to orc Kind", LOTRO has some that are sort of a combination of types and given a cultural name. Currently in game the cultural names are Westernesse, Ancient Dwarf-make, and Beleriand. The other two you will see is Light and Fire, which are more elemental and I would think would be attributed to the current culture, too new to be given a category. That's speculation though.
So where do these cultures come from? What's the lore behind what the weapons do? Well using what I've researched, I'll try to explain it to those that are interested in knowing. Where to start? Well lets start with the oldest, because we can't tell about the youngest culture without knowing the oldest.
Beleriand
After the wakening of the Elves, before the first age, there was a land near the Bay of Balar. This land was populated by the elves that were persuaded by a great water spirit to stay. Among them was Cirdan the Shipwright, the oldest living elf in Middle Earth at the time of the War of the Ring. By the First Age, the land became diverse. From Moria(Khazad-dum) came dwarves that settled in the southern areas, creating Belegost and Nogrod. Later men came to settle with these elves as well, and in the wars that came the race of men would prove their worth.
The wars against Morgoth, of which Sauron was only an officer in his army, took place in this land. It was during this time that weapons of Beleriand were forged. Many millennium old by the time they make it to your hands, these are the most ancient weapons found in LOTRO currently. They were forged to fight the strongest demons of the world. In these battles, beings many times more powerful than Gandalf, or even Sauron participated. Because of their age, and their specific crafting, these weapons are the strongest against Ancient Evils. In the hands of men, dwarves, elves, these weapons pierced into balrogs, mighty orcs, and maybe even Morgoth himself.
Famous Weapons:
Ancient Dwarf-make
Ok, I have to speculate a little here. Now, we know that Belegost and Nogrod had great forges. We know this because Narsil was forged in Telchar's workshop in Nogrod during the first age. Telchar made many weapons, including Angrist. During the Wars against Morgoth, dwarves had to have fought many dragons. These wars sparked the hatred between the 2 races. Telchar even forged a helm specifically to fight against the lead dragon of Morgoth. So Ancient Dwarf-make is the best for fighting dragon kind in game. Narsil was probably the most famous by the 3rd age, though when it was reforged into Anduril, it probably lost the Ancient Dwarf-make status since it was forged by elves. These weapons are somewhat strong against ancient evil, Angrist was the knife that cut a silmaril from Morgoth's crown. It broke during the attempt and cut Morgoth himself.
Famous weapons: Narsil, Angrist,
Westernesse
Literally meaning the western lands, this culture is that of the Numinorians. After Beleriand was destroyed and sunk under the Great Sea, the Valar raised an island there. They gave that island to the men that fought bravely during the wars against Morgoth. Eventually the corruption of Sauron lead to the sinking of Numenor as punishment for seeking to conquer Valinor, the land of the elves. Aragorn's ancestors foresaw this happening, and sailed to the main land of middle-Earth establishing Arnor and Gondor.
So are Westernesse weapons from Numenor? I do not think that was the intention of the developers. The reason I say this is that Westernesse weapons are strong versus Undead. The biggest wars against undead happened during the 3rd age, when the Witch King ruled Angmar. Also, as said before, Westernesse can be made today by players in the 3rd age. So I think if they meant the weapons to be Numenorean, it would probably be named as such. So its my theory that Westernesse weapons are a more modern era of weaponry. Forged by descendants of the Numenoreans during Armor and after the 3 North Kingdoms of Arthedain, Cardolan, and Rhudaur to fight specifically the Witch King of Angmar.
The final straw comes in the use of the Barrow Blades by the Hobbits. The barrow blades are given to them by Tom Bombardil. It is told to us that they were forged in Arnor to defend against Angmar. Merry's blade pierces the Witch King in Return of the King, showing that it is well used against the undead. Finally Pippin slays a troll with his, and calls it a Troll-bane. Tests have shown that Westernesse weaponry are strong versus trolls, but not any other orc types.
Famous weapons: Troll-Bane(Pippin's sword), Merry's Blade
Where They Can Go
This is where I speculate about weapon damage to come.
Numenor: since I do not believe Westernesse is the true weapons of the Numenoreans, then they can have their own type, the strange thing about this damage type would be that it might have been created to fight Elves, yes there are dark elves in Tolkien's lore, maybe this will come into play
Godolin: not to be confused with Gondorian, Gondolin was a secret land of the elves that existed north and at the same time as Beleriand, these weapons would be extremely powerful against orcs with a minor ability against spiders. the weapons of Gondolin include Sting, Gandalf's Glamdring, and Thorin's Orcrist. They all glowed blue around orcs, and all orcs were filled with fear at the sight of them
Noldor/Feanor: of the Noldor, Feanor was the most famous, these would be the greatest weapons of Middle Earth, the Noldor learned their craft from Aule himself, and Feanor's teacher learned directly from Aule, Fingolfin fought Morgoth cleaving his right foot with a icy bladed sword called Ringil, Gil-Galad had a spear called "Snow Point" so I assume all Noldorean weapons have an icy look and a biting chill.
