Singer of the Sutcrofts

Isenbran, friend to and song-singer of the Rohirrim, travels the land of the Horse-lords in search of battle, but more importantly, in search of heroes of whom he writes epics and lays about. Armed with a hammer and shield of Rohan, along his trusty theorbo, he roams the vast green lands.

My apologies, I didn't initially want to post a Rohan-themed outfit next, but I thought that my Hobbit deserved some attention. The base of this outfit was the breastplate (yes, this is the heavy-armoured Hobbit minstrel I mentioned in my previous post) that I got a long time ago when Isenbran just reached level 75, I believe, from one of the quests I completed in my desperate rush to get my first war-steed. Also, notice how I've been using alliteration in titles so far; have a guess/personal bet how long I can keep this up!

At the time I was creating this outfit, I particularly enjoyed putting light armour on heavy-armoured classes, and vice versa. I wondered what it would look like having a fully armoured minstrel charge into the middle of the battlefield, especially during epic battles at Helm's Deep, since minstrels are such hard hitters anyway. I was satisfied with how it looked - it was different - and decided to keep the breastplate on.

The Map-maker's Travel Pack was intended for another minstrel character I made to play with a friend, but since she stopped playing I had stopped playing that minstrel as well, so I thought maybe Isenbran could use that back piece in an outfit. I was surfing through my wardrobe when I accidentally clicked on it, then suddenly I saw a battle-ready minstrel. All I needed was a helm, and thankfully I had one in the wardrobe at the time as well that fit the Rohirric theme of the breastplate. With that, my outfit was completed. I keep hands and feet exposed as to not forget his roots as a humble hobbit, but just look at how well he fits in among the big folk of Rohan!

Head: Enduring Great River Helmet of Agility (olive);

Chest: Utred's Decorated Breastplate (red);

Back: Map-maker's Travel Pack (dark green).

Roving Rohirrim

Eadyth has always dreamed of leaving her father's farm and exploring the lands of Rohan. Finally given her own horse, she takes only her trusty bow, a quiver of arrows, and her father's old helm with her on her much unexpected journey.

When the Surcoat of Nárië was released, I just had to get my hands on it. Not necessarily for outfitting at that time, but just because it looked cool and I was sure to be able to use it some time in the future. A few months passed and I had finally got into Rohan. Wandering around the beautiful greenery throughout the lands, I was still wearing the same old grey-ish lightweight outfit I used throughout the Great River. I looked through my vault and here sat a chest piece with the perfect colours when dyed crimson.

The helm, of course, was one of the many quest rewards you get in Rohan, designed specifically for the region. To be quite honest, I don't particularly love the look of some of those pieces, but I still manage to find good uses for them, such as the heavy armour chest piece on my Hobbit minstrel (yes, you read that right). Nonetheless, I think the helm compliments the outfit beautifully, not only cosmetic-wise, but to tell a story: Eadyth's story.

Green, particularly olive in LOTRO, has always been the colour that comes to mind when thinking of Rohan, but I always wanted to challenge that, just as Turbine has done; you see Rohirrim wearing all sorts of colours: blue, white, orange, red, yellow. I wanted to create an outfit that said "Rohan" without having green as the base colour. I think the subtle hints such as the horse-designed bow and the Rohirric helm helped me achieve that, and now I firmly and honestly believe that somehow we can all make those other work well in a Rohan-themed outfit.

Head: Cysthelm (red);

Shoulders: Potent Skirmish Shoulders of the Mark (sienna);

Chest: Surcoat of Nárië (crimson);

Back: Sturdy Quiver (olive);

Hands: Padded Gloves of Kingstead (olive);

Feet: Arrow of the West Boots (umber);

Bow: Legendary Hunter's Bow of the Third Age.

Woodland Wanderer

Sent from the Vales of Anduin to seek Aragorn, son of Arathorn, Eafrith gears up in her travel garments as well as a sturdy helm she bought when she arrived at the Bree Auction House. 

While browsing through the Auction House (what I've spent my last week doing) I found a chest piece I immediately thought was beautiful. It had been a long time since I created a medium-armoured outfit such as this (my last being on my dwarf champion I no longer play). I've always liked how the armour, especially medium armour, had such interesting colour combinations, and I made it a point to utilise as many of the natural undyeable colours as possible.

I initially wanted to keep Eafrith's head visible as much as possible because of the tattoo around her right eye and her hairstyle which I thought is cool, although probably not very lore-abiding. Unfortunately, there are just so many head pieces that aren't crowns or circlets that show off the hair, and I wanted to use some metal in the outfit (similarly on my dwarf as well). 

Head: Steadfast Westfold Assult Helm (olive);

Shoulders: Grimbeorn's Shoulders (umber);

Chest: Short-sleeved Shirt of Vigour (gold);

Hands: Gleaming Westernesse Leather Gauntlets (olive);

Legs: Garthraw (navy);

Feet: Ceremonial Pathfinder's Boots (olive).

Royal Rune-keeper

The Royal Rune-keeper, Calonice Aristophaniell, overlooking the city of Annúminas. Clad in shining silver armour adorned with touches of gold, this elf-maid is cosmetically worthy of basking in the glory of the old capital city of Arnor.

I threw this outfit together beginning with the Ceremonial Wandering Bard's Shoulders that I purchased intended to be used in another outfit. It didn't work as well as I had hoped, so it sat in my vault for a long time. One day I decided to take it out and go cosmetic hunting. I realised how much brighter it looked with the gold lining and thought maybe it would work better with a metallic silver scheme.

Turquoise in the game has had me in love with it for some time as it is one of the colours not often used in LOTRO outfitting (that I have seen so far). It's somewhat bright and stands out, as well as going very nicely with the gold and silver. This outfit has touches of brown from the undyeable parts of the leg piece and boots, which at first bothered me but seemed to go quite nicely with the rest of the outfit.

I would like to thank my friend Endoviel for helping me take these wonderful screenshots. I have never been able to take nice screenshots of my own character due to my lack of practice in this area, so having a camera-man helped a lot.

Head: Ceremonial Hat of the Written Word (turquoise);

Shoulders: Ceremonial Wandering Bard's Shoulders (gold);

Chest: Jacket of the Shadow-walker (turquoise);

Back: Golden Tree Summer Cloak (white);

Hands: Ceremonial Thrill-seeker's Gloves (gold);

Legs: Blademaster's Leggings (turquoise);

Feet: Ceremonial Boots of the Aurochs (turquoise).

Battle-ready Archer

This is my first post on this blog...

What do you get when you cross an everyday hunter with a history of having your village pillaged and family slaughtered by orcs and evil hill-men? Why, you get the Battle-ready Archer! The battle-ready archer is your average ever-prepared-for-war woman with a sad history filled with pain and loss. Her agony shaped her into becoming one of those who you can always count on for you to fight alongside in skirmishes to great battles. But, as she has no wars to fight right now, she wanders the lands of Nanduhirion in service to Haldir and the Wardens of Lothlórien.

I decided to outfit Eadyth this way to make a statement that battle garments are supposed to look bulky (thanks to all that extra padding and mail) and soldiers should not be waltzing down the battlefield looking like they came out of a Barbie Goes To War film (there is none, sadly). I found the chest piece and thought "this would be perfect to take away all her femininity!" Okay, I'm not being sexist here, but armour that makes one look like a seductive female wouldn't be a good piece of armour.

I personally think it's the look of the emphasised arms and waist; the arms, especially, make her look like she's wearing a t-shirt one size too big. I guess that gives the bulky effect?

On a non-outfit-related note: Eadyth's weapons are a spear and a dagger, considering her role as a hunter before (spear for hunting boars, dagger for any necessary cutting).

Head: Ornate Helmet of the Dunland Swordsman (umber)

Shoulder: Ceremonial Storyteller's Fur-lined Mantle (white)

Back: Fine Elven Quiver (walnut brown)

Chest: Burnished Dunlending Chestpiece (umber)

Hands: Defensive Eastment Combat Gauntlets (walnut brown)

Feet: Fine Westernesse Protector's Boots (walnut brown)