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The Middle-earth series (Shadow of Mordor, Shadow of War) showcases a more somber side of the Lord of the Rings universe, exposing the cruelty of war and the dehumanization of adversaries. This morbid narrative rarely fits in family-friendly cinema adaptations, which makes developer Monolith's freedom to adapt the original story to games even more special.
"All of us in the studio are really, really big Lord of the Rings fans, frankly; it's something where [we take these new creations] very seriously ourselves," says Andy Salisbury, a community manager at Monolith who went to Brazil to promote the new Middle-earth: Shadow of War. "We even have a Tolkien scholar working with us, Janet Croft, who helps us vet everything before just to make sure that we make the best possible game that's also true to this universe.
"When you have a story like this where so much happens in between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, there's a lot that's known about that universe; there's a lot that we understand about the villains and heroes, but there's also so much that's unknown," he says, adding, "There's so many opportunities."
People who watched the trailer for Shadow of War may not have noticed an important new element of the game: A black character among a sea of orcs and white men.
Although Baranor is the first significant character who isn't white in the Lord of the Rings, Monolith didn't release a lot of information on himuntil now. "He will have his own story DLC in The Desolation of Mordor, where you'll learn all about his story." Until now, the only publicly known fact was that an expansion would be included in the game's season pass.
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