The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a 2011 action role-playing game developed by Snowblind Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows.

[8][9] She can also create potions from alchemy ingredients collected in the field, and her special ability allows her to find secret passages marked with hidden elven glyphs.

Playing through harder difficulties takes the form of a New Game Plus; the characters keep equipment, money, updated stats and unlocked skills from all previous playthroughs.

At the dawn of the Second Age, after the defeat of the Dark Lord, Morgoth, the elves of Eregion forged the nineteen Rings of Power to help themselves, the dwarves and men rule Middle-earth.

Thus began the Dark Years, when Sauron took possession of the remaining sixteen Rings, giving seven to the dwarves and nine to men in an effort to corrupt them.

The dwarves proved relatively immune to the powers of the Rings, acquiring only a greed for gold, and becoming unconcerned with events in the wider world.

In his ongoing efforts to conquer Middle-earth, Sauron regained the allegiance of many of Morgoth's servants from the First Age, and successfully corrupted Númenor.

Around the same time, the One Ring was found by a Hobbit named Sméagol, who became utterly corrupted by it, living in the caves of the Misty Mountains, and physically transforming into a creature known as Gollum.

Just prior to Sauron's departure, the Ring passed to another hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who used it to assist in the victory of elves, men and dwarves at the Battle of the Five Armies.

Sixty years later, Gollum was captured by orcs, and taken to Mordor, where he was tortured into revealing the owner and location of the Ring; Bilbo Baggins of the Shire.

[20] In the meantime, Bilbo had left the Shire to live in Rivendell, and upon the advice of Gandalf had (very reluctantly) given the Ring to his nephew, Frodo Baggins.

Frodo, and his friends, Samwise Gamgee, Peregrin "Pippin" Took and Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck managed to escape the Shire and head towards Bree.

Yet Sauron's grasp stretched much further than the lands of Gondor and Rohan alone, and his forces might have done great evil in the North of Middle-earth had a handful of heroes not stood in his path.

The game begins with Eradan (voiced by Nolan North), Andriel (Laura Bailey) and Farin (Fred Tatasciore) arriving at the Prancing Pony in Bree,[21] where they meet Aragorn (Chris Edgerly), informing him that three days previously the Dúnedain guard at Sarn Ford was attacked by the Nazgûl, who passed into the Shire.

Aragorn explains that a Hobbit with a "great burden" is on his way to Bree, and if the enemy take the object from him, it will mean certain doom for the Free peoples of Middle-earth.

Revealing his name is Beleram (John Patrick Lowrie), an eagle from the Misty Mountains in the service of Gwaihir, they tell him of Agandaûr, and he offers to help.

In the citadel at the center of the ruins, the group fight their way to the top, where they face Agandaûr, who leaps from the roof onto a waiting Fell-beast.

Unable to predict Agandaûr's next move, each of the group elects to return to their respective superiors; Beleram to Gwaihir in the Misty Mountains, Elladan and Elrohir to Elrond in Rivendell,[26] and the trio to their captain, Halbarad, at Sarn Ford.

Halbarad (Peter Jessop) tells them Aragorn left Bree in the company of four hobbits, heading towards Rivendell, and he advises them to follow.

After passing through the Barrow-downs,[27][28] they reach Rivendell, where they are welcomed by Elrond (Jim Piddock), Gandalf (Tom Kane) and Aragorn, who explain the Hobbit Frodo Baggins (Yuri Lowenthal), is in possession of the One Ring, which must be destroyed by casting it into fires of Mount Doom.

[33] Nordri introduces the trio to his father, Gorin (Ike Amadi), Lord of Nordinbad, who tell them he fears Agandaûr may be attempting to ally himself with Úrgost, a Dragon who lives nearby.

[37] With Warner holding the rights to both intellectual properties, it meant New Line Cinema and Middle-earth Enterprises were both involved in the game.

However, whereas in Mass Effect, there was a moral dimension in choosing a given response, that would affect the development of the character, there is no such aspect in War in the North.

[43] Snowblind had initially planned to give players the option to choose rude responses and thus develop their character in different moral directions.

[42] Having experimented with two, three and four-player co-op, they ultimately decided to go with three-player, thus mirroring the classic triptych in the novels; Man (Aragorn), Elf (Legolas) and Dwarf (Gimli).

[6] Lead designer Andre Maguire explained that how players experienced co-op mode was equally as important as them simply playing it; The tendency is to be competitive with your allies, but we really wanted to team to feel like they were constantly working together, so incentivizing that through the XP system, and making sure that as you’re upgrading your character, it’s complimentary [sic] with what’s going on with the other characters.

The Collector's Edition comes in a Ranger quiver case and includes a concept art-book, and a "behind-the-score" DVD featuring interviews with Inon Zur and footage of the score being recorded at Abbey Road Studios, as well as a concert event from E3 2011, plus three complete tracks.

Although he was critical of the lack of differentiation between the three protagonists, the shallow pool of enemies and the linear nature of the gameplay, he concluded "War in the North is hardly the most memorable adventure through Middle-earth, but you won't regret any of the time you spend fighting across its grim battlegrounds.

He was critical of the bland characters and the "inconsequential conversation system," and concluded "while it's admirable that the team had opted to create an original story set alongside the events in the books, you'll wish that they had attempted to take more risks with the project.

He felt the game was unlikely to be a success due to the timing of its release; amidst such highly anticipated title as Dark Souls, Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, Batman: Arkham City, Uncharted 3 and Skyrim.