The video game adaption of the acclaimed film of the same name, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a follow up the well received adaption of the first two films in the trilogy. The game expands on what The Two Towers accomplished, with the action and adventure sequel introducing three separate story lines from the movie: one following Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, as The Two Towers did, another following Gandalf, and a third following Frodo and Sam, with Merry, Pippin, and Faramir serving as unlockable characters.
Gameplay features were also expanded upon, including multiplayer. Snowblind Studios is in the unique position of drawing inspiration from both the literary and film rights to world of Middle-earth, allowing players to bloody their axes on a wide range of deadly enemies and traverse both established and never-before-seen locations. The result is a journey that is both epic and intimate, familiar yet unexpected. The players control the heroes or villians from the famous Lord of The Rings movies.
With a hero characters similar to the Warcraft series you control both the armies and all the unique heroes. The game follows the movies very closely and even got scenes from the films appear in game. Not only does the game contain a giant campaign where you play through the journey of the ring as the good side, the game also features an evil campaign where as the players play as the evil forces of Middle Earth.
With multiple diffrent races from all over Middle Earth, a giant spell tree to customize your game and a unique basebuilding layout the game was great for its time. This expansion pack to the fan favorite game series lets you command the rise of evil in Middle-earth while experiencing the epic battles that took place before the films. Become the leader of an evil faction and lead an invasion of the peaceful kingdom of Arnor, home of Aragorn's ancestors. To fully experience the evil side of Middle-earth, gamers can now play as the all new Angmar faction in skirmish, multiplayer, and War of the Ring modes.
Players battle their way through some of the key events of these films as Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. Tolkien's wondrous world of Middle-earth, brought to life through those most famous of books, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and wonderfully portrayed in Peter Jackson's movies. LOTRO brings you into the timeline of the events of The Lord of the Rings story, and sets you on a path that parallels the Fellowship of the Ring, aiding them on their journey to Mordor by performing tasks and adventurous deeds surrounding their path across Middle-earth.
The storyline is set in Moria, an enormous underground complex in north-western Middle-earth. The game's level cap has been increased to level 60; and the expansion also called "Volume II" extends the Epic storyline by six more books, and adds two new classes, the Rune-keeper and the Warden. This was because his magic provided them with the endurance and strength to keep going, and also weakened the resolve of their pursuers. The Fellowship of the Ring was forced to enter the Mines of Moria due to the harsh weather that plagued its journey as it attempted to cross the Redhorn Pass.
The movie version of Fellowship of the Ring revealed that it was Saruman who was responsible for the weather turning on them, as he was using his magic to awaken the mountain of Caradhras. Saruman's awakening of the mountain was an invention of the movies, as it was suggested that Sauron himself was responsible for awakening Caradhras in the books. It actually makes more sense for Saruman to have performed this magical feat instead of Sauron, as Sauron never knew the location of the One Ring, nor that a company of adventurers was trying to sneak it across the land.
The story of Saruman is one of succumbing to pride, as he was given many different chances to atone for his crimes, yet he refused each time due to his inability to admit that he was wrong and needed to seek redemption.
The closest that Saruman came to turning his back on evil was detailed in Unfinished Tales and happened during the imprisonment of Gandalf on top of Orthanc. The Nazgul came to Isengard in order to seek information about the One Ring, but they came in peace as they lacked the strength to overcome Saruman in his domain.
The appearance of the Nazgul filled Saruman with fear over what would become of him if he became a servant of Sauron. Saruman rushed to the top of Orthanc to seek Gandalf's assistance so that he could repent for what he had done.
It was too late, however, as Gandalf had already been carried off by Gwaihir. Saruman was able to breed an army of fighting Uruk-hai in a short period of time, but he still lacked the power to face Sauron, as he couldn't muster a fraction of the forces that Sauron kept in Mordor, nor had elite warriors that could face the might of the Nazgul on the battlefield.
In The Lord of the Rings Online, Saruman was able to forge five lesser rings that he gave to prominent servants so that they could gain magical powers of their own. The player has to face these five servants and claim their rings, before facing Saruman himself in battle. Those who are successful can earn a powerful ring called Aradhrin and wear it to earn a major stat boost. Saruman had been playing on both sides for a long time, as he didn't want Sauron to be totally removed from the equation, since he felt that the One Ring would present itself when Sauron emerged from Mordor.
However, he also had to aid his allies and make sure that Sauron didn't become too powerful too soon. In Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, it was revealed that Saruman had been possessing Queen Marwen of the Tribesmen of Nurn in order to lure out Celebrimbor, as Saruman had hoped to use the spirit of the ancient elf to learn the whereabouts of the One Ring or use Celebrimbor's knowledge to forge his own.
Saruman used the same method of possession that he would later use on King Theoden and it was only due to the intervention of Queen Marwen's daughter that he was foiled. The movie version of The Fellowship of the Ring showed Saruman breeding Uruk-hai in underground pits, which is a reference to Tolkien's early assertion that orcs were bred like maggots in the Earth.
The Lord of the Rings novels were less clear on the matter, however, as Treebeard speculated that Saruman was using black magic to crossbreed humans and orcs to create the Uruk-hai. This was due to the fact that Uruk-hai are closer to the size of humans than orcs are and they aren't as affected by sunlight. Saruman also used half-orcs as servants, as they were more easily able to pass for humans when performing secret tasks for their master.
It's not stated whether the half-orcs were created using regular breeding methods, with the Uruk-hai being made through magical means. Christopher Lee played many famous roles throughout his long career, but his most iconic part was Dracula, which he played in many different movies.
In the extended edition of Return of the King, Saruman falls from the top of Orthanc and slams into one of the water wheels near the base of the tower. Saruman's chest is pierced by one of the spikes on the wheel, which then rolls under the weight of the fallen wizard. Peter Jackson intentionally added the spiked water wheel in order to give Saruman the same fate as Dracula, who ended most movies with a wooden stake through his heart. Saruman controlled the realm of Isengard, which mainly consisted of empty lands and the tower of Orthanc.
When Saruman fell to evil and began his plan to take control of the region, he realized that the Kingdom of Rohan was the biggest threat to his schemes, so he turned his focus to destabilizing their army from within. In the movie version of The Two Towers, it's revealed that Saruman was controlling King Theoden with the power of magic, which took the form of possession that drained the vitality from Theoden's body.
Saruman lacked the ability to possess the bodies and minds of mortals in the books. It was due to the conniving speech of Grima Wormtongue that King Theoden lost his heart and was content to watch his realm crumble around him.
The Maia are meant to be immortal in both body and spirit, which is why Saruman and Sauron were unable to pass on after their physical forms had been destroyed.
The wizards of Middle-earth were given powerful bodies that aged at a much slower rate than mortals, but they still physically aged. When Saruman arrived in Middle-earth, he was described as having black hair, but this turned white over time.
When Saruman was slain by Grima Wormtongue in the book version of Return of the King, his body rapidly ages in a matter of seconds, suggesting that the magic that was extending his life had been broken and all of the wasted years caught up to him in a few moments.
He realizes that the One Ring is likely going to make its presence known if it feels its master calling, so he delays the White Council from attacking Sauron — who's holed up in Mirkwood at the time, under the guise of the Necromancer. Eventually, though, he realizes that the Dark Lord is closer to getting the Ring than he thought. Fearing that the enemy will find the Ring before he can, he gives the green light and the Council drives the Necromancer out of Mirkwood — an event that can be awkwardly witnessed via the ghoulish duel from The Hobbit trilogy.
At this point, Saruman is on the cusp of becoming a full-blown traitor. He's actively working against his friends and secretly aiding their enemies. His spy network stretches across Middle-earth, and he's even begun to catch onto the fact that Gandalf is aware of something going on in the Shire. Then, around the year of the Third Age, he uses his seeing stone a little too liberally and accidentally catches a glimpse of Sauron.
The encounter leaves him as one of the Dark Lord's vassals, although he still remains a servant with a secret agenda of his own. He begins to breed his own race of soldiers known as the dreaded uruk-hai, forges his own minor rings of power, and ditches his white robes for colorful ones. At this point, we've reached the primary Lord of the Rings narrative.
During the rest of The Fellowship of the Ring , Saruman serves as an antagonist from afar. He keeps Gandalf captive for a time, his spies encounter Frodo and company in Bree, his birds pester the Fellowship as they journey south, and his uruk-hai attack and scatter the company as they travel down the Great River. At that point, things begin to really heat up. Saruman is the primary antagonist for the entire first half of The Two Towers. The story starts with Merry and Pippin being spirited away toward Isengard by the wizard's soldiers.
Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas pursue them, but the footrace ends when the Riders of Rohan appear on the scene, kill the uruk-hai, and drive Merry and Pippin into the arboreal embrace of Treebeard and the ents. From there, the hobbits stir up the tree-folk, who've suffered cruelly from the axes and furnaces of Isengard, and the whole lot of them head off to attack Saruman's fortress.
They succeed, and the armies of Rohan then rally and rush off to fight Saruman's approaching hordes of uruk-hai. The Rohirrim reach the fortress of Helm's Deep just in time, and there, they manage to barely defeat Saruman's armies in the Battle of Helm's Deep. After barely holding off Saruman's assault in Rohan, the heroes head to Isengard. There, they cross paths with Merry, Pippin, and the ents, who've been busy sacking and then flooding the old Gondorian fortress.
While they're able to absolutely devastate Isengard itself, the ents are unable to make a dent in the magically indestructible walls of the tower of Orthanc itself, and there, a shocked and defeated Saruman is waiting, like a wounded animal in a trap. Eventually, our heroes confronts Saruman, and in the encounter, he's further dismayed when Gandalf the White simultaneously casts him out of the Order of the Wizards and the White Council, breaking his wizard staff, to boot.
In the Peter Jackson films, this is the point where Saruman meets his physical ending. The hate-filled villain is literally backstabbed by Wormtongue as he debates with Gandalf from the top of the tower of Orthanc.
As he dies, he falls off of the tower and hurtles to his mortal death hundreds of feet below. While his spirit presumably lives on, Curumo's role as the wizard Saruman officially comes to an end at this point. It turns out that Peter Jackson's version of Saruman wraps up shop a bit early. In Tolkien's source material, Saruman lives through the confrontation with Gandalf. He's left to fester in Orthanc, and eventually, Treebeard shows pity on him and lets the broken wizard leave, with Wormtongue following like a whipped dog.
The pair of beggars wander through Middle-earth and are even overtaken by the hobbits, Gandalf, and Galadriel while they're heading home from the War of the Ring. During this meeting, Saruman rejects their help yet again and sends them on their way. As fans of the books know well, when the hobbits get back to the Shire, they discover that ruffians have turned it into an industrial nightmare, ruling over the region with an iron fist and forcing their hobbit families and friends to work their fingers to the bone.
The heroes rally their people and oust the invaders, only to run into Saruman one last time right at on the doorstep of Bag End. Here, they discover that it was none other than Saruman himself, masquerading under the nickname "Sharkey," who'd overseen the purposeful destruction of the Shire while they'd been away on their quest. Saruman does have a physical death in the books, and it does involve Wormtongue, but it doesn't showcase an epic drop from a mile-high tower.
Instead, in his final exchange with the hobbits in front of Bag End, the bitter old man that once was Saruman the White jeeringly accuses Wormtongue of killing Frodo's cousin, an act that he'd forced his cringing servant to do. This proves to be the straw that breaks the camel's back. The wretch jumps on his hated master's back and slits his throat before he himself is shot down by hobbit archers.
The Return of the King describes Saruman's last mortal moments, saying , "About the body of Saruman a grey mist gathered, and rising slowly to a great height like smoke from a fire, as a pale shrouded figure it loomed over the hill.
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