Captain of the Chasm (with Kyix of Gladden)

Again returns the captain of champions and guardians alike, Kyix, to lend her aid to the dwarves of Moria, as they scavenge what is left of their once glorious mountain behind the trail of the Fellowship of the Ring. In such a dark place, she is a beacon of hope against the many dark creatures that lurk, be they orc or beast.

With all my other toons that have passed Moria, not one of them had a Moria-themed outfit simply because I found it too difficult to make. But here is Kyix showing me that it is in fact possible to do it. I especially like the bright gold bits on her armour that really act as a reflection of light in the dark, a perfect representation of what a captain should be, although it can be hard to sometimes hide one's fear in such a dark and near-desolate place. 

Looking at her choice of pieces, I can tell she had quite a hard time finding the perfect pieces for this outfit. Like I said before, I tried a lot and didn't have any success but this seems to be the best way to put together a Moria-based outfit. I don't know, it looks really nice to me, I really like it, and I wish I came up with this!

Head: Ceremonial Helm of the Brazen Call (evendim blue);

Shoulders: Ceremonial Stone-reader's Shoulders (walnut brown);

Back: Ceremonial Singed Cloak (walnut brown);

Chest: Hall-captain's Breastplate (evendim blue);

Hands: Ceremonial High-protector's Gloves (evendim blue);

Legs: Ceremonial War-captain's Leggings (evendim blue);

Feet: Ceremonial Boots of the Gloom-bane (gold).

Lü Lingqi (with "Li" of Gladden)

Once again we welcome a new member to the My Middle-earth Mode family, who requested she only go by "Li" on here. As her debut, she chose to put on display an outfit inspired by the stylistic and colour choices on the latest Dynasty Warriors 9 design for Lü Lingqi, the daughter Lü Bu.

As a huge fan of the series, I am completely excited to share this outfit with you guys not only because it looks great, but I'm in awe at her determination to capture a similar essence using armour pieces that really do not resemble at all the style of Dynasty Warriors, being set in a completely different universe and culture. Despite all that, the outfit turned out beautiful, and I think Li did a great job with it.

When we were determining the location for the photoshoot, we really could not agree on the most suitable location for this outfit, as the inspiration behind came from I think the late Han dynasty, during the Three Kingdoms period. This is a similar problem Kyix had with her Samurai Settler outfit, which we decided to form a narrative around the outfit almost depicting a samurai getting lost in Elven lands.

I haven't seen the Helm of the Hammerhand in so long, so Li, you have been a great refresher of it! Plus, I never thought I'd see it in this kind of use (not Rohan themed) because of its very prominent horse carving. But I guess on an outfit inspired by a member of the Lü family, it makes sense as Lü Bu was famous for riding the Red Hare into battle, and the horse on Li's helmet could be a nod to that.

Also, the dragon emblem on her chest could be interpreted as a demon, which is also quite appropriate as Lü Bu is likened to a demon on the battlefield. Now I'm not sure how historically accurate that is, but I'm almost 100% certain that in the games, he has been referenced as such. Thus his daughter would believably be attempting to bear that same infamy.

Head: Helm of the Hammerhand

Shoulders: Embossed Mantle of the Abyss (red);

Chest: Breastplate of the Slayer's Raiment (white);

Hands: Supple Gloves of Bard's Honour (white);

Feet: Anorien Battle Boots (walnut brown).