Upon arrival in Bree, weary travelers will want to make for the Prancing Pony, one of the town’s oldest and most popular inns. The distinctive sign of a rearing, fat white pony marks the large building with its inviting arched entrance and pleasant courtyard, although it is likely that the sign will not be entirely necessary –as most seasoned travelers can direct those new to town to “The Pony,” as is it commonly known. The Prancing Pony is owned and operated by Barliman Butterbur, the latest in the generations of Butterburs who have looked after the old inn with great care. Mr. Butterbur is assisted by two hobbits, Nob and Bob, who help with all matters from greeting guests, to preparing rooms and food, to looking after patrons’ horses in the inn’s stables. Although traffic along the major roads that intersect at Bree has diminished greatly over the years, The Prancing Pony remains the center of news and tales from far-distant lands, as it has for as long as anyone can remember.

The Prancing Pony provides many essentials for adventurers in The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar, from food, to lodging, to news, as well as trading and general socializing. Those familiar with The Lord of the Rings will remember the common room in The Pony as the scene of the well-known first meeting of Frodo (then known as Mr. Underhill) and Aragorn (then known as Strider). The Prancing Pony is also frequented by the powerful yet secretive Gandalf the Grey, as it is well known throughout Bree that the mysterious wizard is on friendly terms with Mr. Butterbur, the inn’s proprietor. However, travelers through Bree must even be wary when within the walls of the Prancing Pony, since not all the residents of the town are friendly to those who stand in opposition of the growing darkness in the east. Agents of shadow have been seen throughout the darkening streets of late, so even when resting comfortably at The Pony, adventurers in the land should be wary of speaking openly to strangers, and certainly should be aware not to take more ale than is good for them!

As the Great East Road leads out of Bree toward the Weather Hills in eastern Eriador, travelers will become aware of a gradual falling of the land, where rolling hills and pleasant grasslands give way to a formidable flat expanse of treacherous bogs opening away northward from the roadway. This region is known as the Midgewater Marshes, an area difficult to navigate even for the most seasoned adventurers familiar with this land. The ground here is damp and dangerous, in places giving way completely to deep pools of mud and stagnant water. Further adding to the difficulties in travel, the Midgewater Marshes are home to swarming flies, midges, and neekerbreekers. Legends tell of still darker creatures lurking amongst the deep pools and stands of moss-covered trees that crowd the landscape, and it is said that marauding bands of corrupted Men and vile goblins also frequent these lands, but on what errand none can say.

One may indeed wonder if it would not be wisest to simply stay on the Great East Road and bypass the Midgewater Marshes altogether, thus avoiding such unpleasantness. To do so, however, would be to overlook quests and treasures rich in the history of Eriador, a history dating back ten centuries and more, waiting to be uncovered. Long ago, the kingdoms of Rhudaur and Arthedain, two of the great kingdoms of Arnor, claimed as their own these lands near the Weather Hills and the great Tower of Amon Sûl (also known as Weathertop). The Witch-king of Angmar, from his dark throne in Carn Dûm, also laid claim to these lands in those days. Great battles were fought in this region, the ruins of which still stand as a testament to the Men who sacrificed all to ensure victory over the evil forces from the north.

Though exploration through the ever-shifting marshes is treacherous to say the least, the abandoned outposts of Arnor and the remains of once-great fortresses and other impressive structures can still be found amongst the fields of reeds and tall grasses, holding their long-forgotten secrets for the bravest of adventures to discover.

In the Old Forest, between Buckland and the Barrow-downs, stands a welcome sight: the home of Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, the River-maiden. Weary travellers will find this an unusually pleasant retreat amongst the ancient and often foreboding forest and the mist-shrouded downs beyond. Tom Bombadil himself is a person who defies specific explanation, though his intentions clearly favor the Free Peoples of Middle-earth. He is pleasant and affable, warm and welcoming, yet undeniably powerful and as ancient as Middle-earth itself. From the modest surroundings of well-tended gardens and delicious meals, Tom Bombadil commands the respect of all around him, from the creatures of the forest to the very land and trees themselves.

Adventurers in Middle-earth will no doubt want to seek out the home of Tom Bombadil in the Old Forest, as it is a very memorable chapter in The Lord of the Rings. It also represents a critical place to stop and rest, since the areas just outside its welcoming glow contain all manner of dark and uncertain paths. When creating the home itself for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, it was important to capture the warmth that signals a safe retreat, yet also maintain an air of otherworldliness to the home and a physical connection to the land and surrounding forest.

Tom Bombadil has been the focus of much debate over the decades, since he is so uniquely connected to Middle-earth, yet mysterious and powerful beneath his bright clothing and light-hearted manner. He was clearly one of Professor Tolkien’s favorite characters, sharing a connection with nature and a need to protect the ancient living things of the natural world against the encroaching darkness.

The Barrow-downs is a name of dread, but it was not always so. The barrows were originally raised by the Edain, Men of ancient days, and later kept and revered by the Dúnedain of Cardolan. In the Third Age, a great plague swept across Middle-earth, out of Mordor, and the last vestiges of the Men of Cardolan perished. The Witch-king of Angmar sent evil spirits out of Angmar and Rhudaur to stir the bones of the dead and make the Barrow-downs the place of dread and evil it has become.

As Frodo Baggins and his companions made their way through the Barrow-downs from the house of Tom Bombadil, they stopped to rest beside a great stone marker, the Dead Spire. Here they were overcome by the spells of the barrow-wights and taken to a barrow to be sacrificed – the barrow, it is believed, of the last prince of Cardolan: a final insult by the Witch-king of Angmar to the memory of Cardolan. The barrow was, however, reclaimed; and the barrow-wight who dwelt there was destroyed by Tom Bombadil when he came to the rescue of the hobbits.

When players of The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar see the Dead Spire, they will know the barrow of the last prince is not far away. In LOTRO, the Barrow-downs play an important role in the story of the rise of Angmar, drawing on some surprising and little-known lore from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

At the intersection of the Great East Road and the North Road, the town of Bree has long stood as a gathering place for Men, Hobbits, and other travelers from the far-off lands of Middle-earth. Long ago, Bree was a thriving town, set against a large, sloping hill within the vibrant lands of Arnor. Although Arnor has long-since faded into distant memories, the remains of those glorious days can still be found throughout the town’s varied streets and winding ways. Travelers along the Great East Road, which joins the Shire to the west with Rivendell and the Misty Mountains to the east, still stop at The Prancing Pony Inn to share tales of adventure or news of distant lands. Bree is home to both Men and Hobbits, though adventurers must now be wary of the motivations of many of Bree’s residents. As the shadow of evil creeps across the lands and the corruptible spirits of Men weaken, many of Bree’s citizens, who were once open and friendly to travelers, may now have been lured into service by agents of darkness.

Bree-town contains a wide variety of neighborhoods, some purely residential, some catering to the needs of trade guilds and village government. At the eastern edge of Bree can be found the marketplace, where proud and venerable merchants clash with an older, prouder class of farmers. South from the West-gate, blacksmiths ply their trade, though resentful of their reliance upon trade with Dwarves for the raw materials they need. At the south end of town is the Stone Quarter, a small community of Dwarf-merchants trying to earn a living trading in imports from the Blue Mountains, North Downs, and the Lonely Mountain. In the southwest, the grey and mournful abodes of the towns poor lay, a slum where little hope dwells. Just within the South-gate, the woodworkers of Bree are busy about their trade. At the center of all lies the Upper Way, where the few who have obtained a modicum of wealth and lore dwell, putting themselves above all others.

For the players in LOTRO, Bree is an excellent travelers’ destination just east of the Shire, and is a center for news, commerce, and social interaction within the game. In designing the town of Bree, which is itself likely over 3,000 years old, the artistic decisions made by the Turbine design team had to incorporate varied architectural styles and period influences. Bree buildings are a mix of large dwellings for Men, smaller holes for Hobbits, the familiar Prancing Pony, and a wide variety of shops and buildings one would expect to see in an area settled by such varied peoples. Bree is designed to feel like a living town, albeit a town in its declining years. It is an important social center of the game, as well, so there are a number of common areas throughout which players of many different races and skill levels can spend time sharing tales, trading goods, crafting objects, and preparing for adventure into the barren Lone-lands or the mysterious North Downs not far from the gates and the protective hedge which surrounds the town.

For nearly 700 years, the warm light from the many windows of Brandy Hall has welcomed visitors crossing the Brandywine River from the west into Buckland. Originally delved and built by Gorhendad Oldbuck, the first Master of the Hall (as the head of the Brandybuck family is called), and greatly expanded over generations, the ancestral home of the Brandybuck family is now formed of many tunnels and rooms occupying the entirety of Buck Hill on the eastern banks of the Brandywine. Brandy Hall has no less than three main entrance doors and over a hundred windows, making it one of the grandest mansions in the entire Shire. Long before the forming of the Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo Baggins, orphaned as a young Hobbit, called Brandy Hall home for many years, before he went to live with Old Bilbo Baggins at Bag End in Hobbiton. Merry Brandybuck, Frodo’s cousin and also one of the Nine who set off with the One Ring toward Mordor, also once called this great mansion his home.

But not only is Brandy Hall the home of many generations of Brandybucks, along with cousins, and indeed hundreds of relatives, the halls also house a significant number of books recording the history of the Shire. This library would expand significantly after Merry Brandybuck returned to Brandy Hall and became Master of the Buckland himself… but these are tales for another telling.

Although the majority of Brandy Hall is built underground, a significant amount of building in and around Buck Hill is visible from a great distance. Indeed, the entirety of the village of Bucklebury has been built along the hills and banks surrounding the hall. At Brandy Hall in the village center, many generations of expansion have converted the large, low hill into an impressive dwelling and important social center for Buckland. Travelers to the region will no doubt want to take a moment to share a tale and trade wares with the good Hobbits of Buckland before venturing into the mysterious darkness of the Old Forest, just beyond the village’s protective hedge, the High Hay, to the east.

Known in the Elvish language as Tyrn Gorthad (“Hills of Tombs”), the Barrow-downs, located east of the Old Forest in the Bree-land region of Eriador, is a place of mystery best avoided by unwary adventurers. By day, the area seems harmless enough – a quiet region of gently rolling plains and grassy mounds topped by ancient standing stones, marking the final resting place of great warriors from ages past. But the spells which lay across the Barrow-downs are deceiving, and the mists that roll in as the day wanes can disorient and entrap even the bravest souls, turning the once-pleasant hills into dark shapes crowned with sharp teeth of stone. In the dreadful gloom, evil spirits from Angmar dwell amongst the standing stones and within the burial mounds, inhabiting the bodies of the long-dead warriors and raising them as terrifying Wights driven to collect the living and bring them forever into this land of the dead.

In The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, the Barrow-downs are a place of great adventure, and great peril. The barrows, for which the area is named, are ancient burial mounds found throughout the area. They contain hidden chambers, delved by ancient hands, that conceal finely crafted treasures. However, these dark, mysterious places also contain evil spirits that have haunted this region for over a thousand years – spirits that jealously protect the treasures of this land, and also seek to waylay adventurers and take them from the living world into their own dark realm.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Tom Bombadil tells of the history of the Barrow-downs to the Hobbits:

‘They heard of the Great Barrows, and the green mounds, and the stone-rings upon the hills and in the hollows among the hills. Sheep were bleating in flocks. Green walls and white walls rose. There were fortresses on the heights. Kings of little kingdoms fought together, and the young Sun shone like fire on the red metal of their new and greedy swords. There was victory and defeat; and towers fell, fortresses were burned, and flames went up into the sky. Gold was piled on the biers of dead kings and queens; and mounds covered them, and the stone doors were shut; and the grass grew over all. Sheep walked for a while biting the grass, but soon the hills were empty again. A shadow came out of dark places far away, and the bones were stirred in the mounds. Barrow-wights walked in the hollow places with a clink of rings on cold fingers, and gold chains in the wind. Stone rings grinned out of the ground like broken teeth in the moonlight.

‘The hobbits shuddered. Even in the Shire the rumour of the Barrow-wights of the Barrow-downs beyond the Forest had been heard. But it was not a tale that any hobbit liked to listen to, even by a comfortable fireside far away.’

Archet is a small hamlet in Bree-land lying to the northeast of Bree-town, nestled at the edge of the Chetwood. The town and its outlying lands are inhabited by farmers and other rustic folk, who have little use for the bustle of big town life. A few hobbits dwell here, but the inhabitants are predominantly Big Folk.

The lack of any real authority and the peaceful nature of Archet’s people have recently drawn the attentions of a band of brigands known as the Blackwolds, though rumour has it that the Blackwolds have much darker goals than terrifying common folk and farmers. To counter this threat, a retired sellsword by the name of Captain Brackenbrook has begun organizing the townsfolk into a makeshift garrison to repel the advances of the brigands.

Little is said of Archet in The Lord of the Rings, other than a brief description of its locations, allowing the developers at Turbine some room to expand on its personality. Building upon Professor Tolkien’s allusion to troubles with ‘robbers’ in the region, Archet became the starting location for Men and the threshold from which both Men and Hobbits begin their journey in The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢.

Located in the Eastfarthing of the Shire, the village of Stock can be found in a region of swampy, yet fertile, farmland known as the Marish near the convergence of the Stockbrook and Brandywine rivers. Relatively large for a Hobbit village, dwellings in Stock are a bit unusual; many of those who dwell in this region prefer above-ground houses to the traditional Hobbit-holes. There are exceptions, of course, and adventurers here will find a pleasant mixture of Hobbit-holes, as well. Two main roads that meet in Stock, one heading west to Tuckborough through the Hill Country of the Shire and the other heading north to the Brandywine Bridge (the Bridge of Stonebows) or south through the Marish, bring a unique mix of travelers and locals to the village’s taverns.

The village of Stock does not figure prominently into the tales of Frodo and the quest to destroy the One Ring, which opens up an interesting challenge to the LOTRO team. When re-creating the entirety of Middle-earth, it is important to design many locations in the game beyond those familiar to the readers, to give the game world the feeling of breadth and endless possibilities. Even though some regions are only casually discussed in the The Lord of Rings, often this is enough to allow the designers at Turbine to get a glimpse of Professor Tolkien’s vision of an area and begin to breathe life into these corners of Middle-earth not yet explored. This is an excellent starting point from which to create a rich and bustling village true to the books from which the entire game draws its inspiration. Understanding that many of LOTRO’s players will themselves be life-long fans of Professor Tolkien’s work, there is little doubt that these regions and villages, which went largely unexplored in the books, will be amongst the first places visited by the seasoned fans of Middle-earth.

The village of Stock does not figure prominently into the tales of Frodo and the quest to destroy the One Ring, which opens up an interesting challenge to the LOTRO team. When re-creating the entirety of Middle-earth, it is important to design many locations in the game beyond those familiar to the readers, to give the game world the feeling of breadth and endless possibilities. Even though some regions are only casually discussed in the The Lord of Rings, often this is enough to allow the designers at Turbine to get a glimpse of Professor Tolkien’s vision of an area and begin to breathe life into these corners of Middle-earth not yet explored. This is an excellent starting point from which to create a rich and bustling village true to the books from which the entire game draws its inspiration. Understanding that many of LOTRO’s players will themselves be life-long fans of Professor Tolkien’s work, there is little doubt that these regions and villages, which went largely unexplored in the books, will be amongst the first places visited by the seasoned fans of Middle-earth.

It cannot be said that Mr. Sandyman, the old and always opinionated miller, is the most liked Hobbit in all the Shire, but the mill in Hobbiton run by generations of the Sandyman family, including Sandyman’s son Ted, is nonetheless an important part of the tightly-knit community. Located on the north banks of the Water, the meandering river running its way through Hobbiton, “the Mill” as it is commonly (and simply) known, provides ground corn for the local Hobbits, as well as a pleasant place to sit along the gentle banks to enjoy a relaxing hour or three at the Water’s edge.

It is commonly known that Professor Tolkien based much of the tranquil Shire on his childhood memories of the Birmingham countryside of his youth. Old Sandyman’s Mill in Hobbiton was no doubt inspired by the Sarehole Mill in this region of England, a simple brick and wood structure, still located to this day on the banks of a tranquil pool. While the Mill found in the Shire is much more centrally located in Hobbiton than the country mill that inspired it, Professor Tolkien’s reverence for the place, along with its sense of peace and tranquility, was a feeling the Turbine team felt compelled to capture when creating the Mill for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. The gently turning wheel is, naturally, its most prominent feature, and the Mill also includes an ample yard for players to meet and converse, as described in the pages of The Fellowship of the Ring.