Revisiting the Weird Legacy of Lord of the Rings: The Third Age

The Lord of the Rings films got here out at arguably the peak of online game film tie-ins. The sequence obtained every part from traditional hack-and-slash action games to strategy titles, however one of many weirdest and most fascinating of all of them was 2004’s The Third Age. Part Final Fantasy knock-off, half film retelling, it requested a bizarre query: How do you inform the story of the Fellowship of the Ring, with out the Fellowship really being there?

The reply: you make your individual Fellowship with the serial numbers filed off.

Although there are no Hobbits to be discovered in The Third Age’s retinue, its motley get together primarily follows within the shadow of the Fellowship in Lord of the Rings from the get-go with an nearly comical closeness. There are two Gondorians, a Knight named Berethor and a Ranger named Elegost, two Rohirrim, a member of Theoden’s guard (Éoaden) and a villager (Morwen), an Elf (Idrial), and a Dwarf (Hadhod). Opening with Berethor being ambushed on the best way to Rivendell to accompany Bormir’s get together to the council of Elrond in Fellowship of the Ring. From there it’s a 30-hour re-imagining of the Lord of the Rings films with RPG mechanics that may solely be diplomatically described as stolen out of the again of a truck labeled “The Kids Like That Final Fantasy X, Right?”

It’s comical how shut behind the common Fellowship—a factor you may apparently simply turn out to be by gathering a number of random individuals about, as a substitute of it being some sort of formal title just like the one Elrond grants Frodo and his retinue—is to the precise one all through the occasions of The Third Age. Guided by psychic communication from Gandalf—within the type of unlockable clip reels from the movies and new Sir Ian McKellen narration (why didn’t he consider doing that with Frodo after the Fellowship obtained separated? His dying and rebirth doesn’t cease him chatting to Berethor!)—Berethor and his associates race from the forests round Rivendell to Moria. Then from there to the villages of Rohan and Helm’s Deep, and ultimately Osgiliath, Minas Tirith, and even actually the highest of Barad-dûr to go take turns poking at Sauron’s large eyeball to finish the sport.

Aside from uncommon moments the get together is definitely alongside major LotR characters—serving to Gandalf combat the Balrog in Moria and the Witch King at Minas Tirith, or serving to Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli maintain Helm’s Deep—they’re explicitly within the main Fellowship’s shadow, simply off-screen or mere moments behind them. At one level in Moria it’s your get together that will get to observe the Dwarven skeleton Pippin knocks unfastened plummet by means of the ceiling to land proper in entrance of you. At one other, as you ascend Minas Tirith’s ranges through the siege to assist Gandalf, you actually attain the highest as Denethor runs screaming previous you in flames, turning his dying into one thing that undoubtedly wants the Benny Hill theme taking part in within the background:

But for all of the fully uncommented-upon absurdity of getting a LotR recreation play so near the characters and occasions of the movies (however with authentic protagonists), it’s the moments the story of The Third Age steps distinctly away from the premise of the movies that it’s maybe the strangest. Early on in Gandalf’s film-reel communique with Berethor, you study that the wizard has tapped you for some sort of greatness that Berethor can not keep in mind within the slightest (presumably it’s “we’ll let you go poke Sauron’s eye with a stick in 40 hours while Frodo does the actual work”). In reality, Berethor can’t actually keep in mind a lot of something firstly of the sport, apart from {that a}) he abandoned the prior battle for Osgiliath between the Gondorian forces underneath Boromir and Faramir’s command and Sauron’s orcs, and b) he’s meant to meet up with Boromir’s get together on the Council of Elrond. And but, all through early elements of The Third Age, Berethor is plagued with these visions—each the warnings of his import from Gandalf and ultimately darker threats from Saruman (a returning Christopher Lee).

It’s ultimately revealed that Berethor is outwardly probably the most put upon human in Middle-Earth. Prior to the occasions of the sport, he was sinisterly ensorcelled by Saruman who believed Boromir would succumb to the Ring’s energy and declare it for Gondor on the Council of Elrond (or wrest it from Frodo). With Berethor as Saruman’s unknowing confederate on the assembly, he would awaken as The Gondorian Candidate and take the ring for Saruman. But he didn’t! And Berethor was nice, as a result of…causes. Because he stood subsequent to Aragorn for a bit at Helm’s Deep? It’s left unclear. But that’s not all! He pulls what can solely be described as a “Reverse Aragor.” First, there’s a totally lifeless romance subplot the place first Berethor falls for Idrial after she rescues him firstly of the sport, just for her to go “wait, we’re introducing a Rohan lady so that you can really find yourself with as a substitute. In addition, through the second battle for Osgiliath it’s revealed the rationale Berethor fled the primary time round was attributable to the truth that, like Frodo, he was stabbed with the Witch King’s Morgul blade. Unlike Frodo nevertheless, this didn’t slowly poison Berethor and switch him right into a Wraith, it simply…did nothing till he needed to pry the Morgul blade’s tip out of his chest mid-fight in order that he might do hurt to the Ringwraith.

It’s… bananas. Made all of the extra bananas that this absurdist Middle-Earth fanfic is wrapped round a perfunctory knockoff of the fight mechanics of Final Fantasy X which, on the time, was one of the crucial beloved console RPGs round. It makes revisiting The Third Age like taking part in a bizarre mixture of fairly nice turn-based Fantasy RPG in between moments of Ian McKellen lore-dumping Lord of the Rings to you. And but there’s a allure in its unintended zaniness that few different LotR video games have captured since. There have been higher taking part in video games—the Shadow of Mordor/Shadow of War duology, for instance—however none have fairly so captured the themes on the coronary heart of the flicks and J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels. It’s all there, in its personal bizarre means: the thought of perseverance within the face of darkness, that probably the most unlikely amongst us can rise to the event and turn out to be heroes, that future may be challenged and brought into your individual fingers. It simply occurs to throw one hell of a Middle-Earth-shaped kitchen sink at you within the course of.

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