Athenian in Anguish

LORE-BREAKING! But then again, I created Eafrith for this particular outfit (I had it equipped on Eadyth before). Anyway, she stands ready to face whatever may threaten the acropolis of her Goddess Athena. Nothing will show such disrespect for the sacred temple while she still draws breath defending it.

Upon coming back from the war, Eafrith discovers that her home has been destroyed, with only a few pillars standing and a lot of rubble. She ventures into the desolation that once was familiar to her, only to find sorrow and the stench of death.

I drew inspiration for the outfit from the collective costume design of Lampito (of course, Lampito is Spartan, but whatever right?) by my classmates for our A Level drama course, as we are exploring Lysistrata, a comedy from Ancient Greece. It features the only pair of 'skirts' in the entire game that mimic the skirt-like armour that we agreed Greek warriors wore. 

Up at the acropolis, she removes the cruel beaks that prey on the bodies of her friends. Fending them off one by one, she treats them as mercilessly as they have treated the carcasses within the broken temple. I chose to expose her head and face, not using a helmet as soldiers of Athens would normally, mainly because it was hard finding a helm that was reminiscent of Athenian warriors (one that I felt looked good was the Helm of the Eastment, but it is green and undyeable), and also I wanted the show the face and marks of her face, which I felt emphasised a sense of anguish.

Thank you again, Halygr, for helping me take the pictures. Once again, I couldn't have achieved the angles I ended up using for this post without your help.

Head: Arrows of the West Helmet (umber);

Shoulders: Lesser Blade of the West Shoulder Guards (steel blue);

Chest: Isengard Prisoner Shirt (sienna);

Back: Worn Cloak of the Ranger (red);

Hands: Leather Bracers of the Learned Stag (crimson);

Legs: Threadbare Leggings of the Dunland Healer (walnut brown);

Feet: Anorien Battle Boots (steel blue).

Elf of the Wood

After joining the kinship Elves of the Wood, Eadyth decided that she would have to make herself fit in as much as possible. How she managed to do this was by constructing an outfit that disguised her as an elf as much as possible. It also helped that her skills with a bow was akin to her elven kin-mates. 

Unfortunately, the name doesn't use alliteration this time, but it describes the outfit perfectly, as this is what Eadyth is attempting to resemble. Her use of greens and browns and golds accurately match the trees and woods of Lothlórien, making her truly look like one of their kind. The outfit was largely based around the head-piece that I found really elegant and reminded me of the elves, especially due to the golden ear-like pieces on the sides. The helm, being pointy at the front, sides and back reminded me of the dwarves in Peter Jackson's films calling elves "pointy-eared princes/princesses."

It's safe to say that it is almost essential you use some sort of leaf motif in creating elven-themed outfits. Some outfitters choose to be subtle about it, like with this outfit, having them placed on gloves and feet, whereas other outfitters may choose to simply bombard the chest plate with a huge gold tree. I don't think I was ever a fan of that particular breastplate skin (I think you guys know what I'm talking about), but who knows, I might just use it for a male character one day.

I enjoy wearing this outfit when in a fellowship with fellow kin-mate Cantiflas simply because he wears a green ranger outfit most of the time. It gives a sense of unity between us when we both wear green, but there are also the differences in the actual pieces of the outfit that help distinguish one from the other. For example, the ranger outfit he wears uses more round shapes, such as the round shape of what I think is the Woodland Ranger's  Hood, whereas mine have more sharp edges. But I think it also helps that Eadyth is a woman and Cantiflas is a Hobbit.

I'd like to thank my friend Endoviel for once again helping me take pictures. I am truly lucky to have friends from different levels who are so willing to help me sustain this blog by taking better pictures than I could if I did it alone.

P.s. Check out that majestic horse-elk! 

Head: Ceremonial Helm of the Shield-wall (olive);

Shoulders: Shoulders of the Swift Arrow (dark green);

Chest: Ceremonial Town-saver's Jacket (olive);

Back: Sturdy Elven Quiver (sienna);

Hands: Majestic Marchwarden's Gloves (dark green);

Legs: Leggings of the Guard (olive);

Feet: Aculf's Leather Boots (dark green).

Mace and Mistress

You can tell it was hard to construct a name using alliteration when I refer to Eafrith's weapon as a mace instead of a Guardian's Great Club of the Second Age. Anyway, that's what this outfit was modeled after, and I tried to imitate the colour scheme and even shape of the weapon as much as possible. 

Now, I know that this outfit is very similar to Nathrien's Captain's Arm outfit, and that we both created our outfits based on the look of the weapon. In my defense, I hadn't yet seen her outfit by the time I finished making this. It's no surprise that we would do this though as cosmetic weapons are a fairly new addition to the cosmetic system in LOTRO, and I guess we're just outfit-holics trying to make use of the system as much as possible. But as I've told all my friends (in real life, anyway) Nathrien is a huge inspiration to me in the fashion of LOTRO and I have the utmost respect for her and her work. So please, if for some strange reason you know of my blog but not hers, go on and follow her, keep yourself updated, because her outfits are extraordinary! 

I love the detail on the different pieces of armour, especially how there is chainmail in almost every piece, and how it all matches in design and colour despite being from completely different sets (we all know how chainmail can differ from each other). I especially find it amazing how well the foot-piece fits with the entirety of the outfit, despite coming from an armour set that I wouldn't normally associate with the rest of the pieces. I remember trying out countless numbers of boots with more interesting designs, but in the end I realised that perhaps what I needed was something simple to fill the gaps, and that's when I turned to the 'heavy armour' filter in the Auction House. 

As you can see, I tried to recreate the star-like shape of the weapon using the shoulder and head pieces. I also deliberately used red on the gloves to imitate the small red gem-like ornaments on the handle of the club. Also, to compliment the star-like design, I used a leg piece that included an insignia of a sun also in gold. 

The location is Duillond as I love how the blue and gold stand out from the beautiful purple and green of the scenery. Aside from that, the outfit is what I thought a really high-ranked elf warrior would wear. The spiked edges are reminiscent of the sharp edges that the elves wear in Jackson's Middle-earth adaptations, but overall this outfit is more fantastical than the more realistic Lord of the Rings trilogy (well, I thought it was pretty realistic for a fantasy). Even in the darkness of the night does this outfit look beautiful against the purple sky. 

Again, let me thank my good friend Halygr for helping me take these amazing shots. I admit, this outfit has some of my favourite screenshots ever, and those could not be achieved without help from another player.

Head: Ceremonial Dragon-scale Helm (sea blue);

Shoulders: Ceremonial High-protector's Shoulders (sea blue);

Chest: Ceremonial War-captain's Breastplate (sea blue);

Hands: Sermaib (red);

Legs: Ceremonial Thunderstruck Trousers (sea blue);

Feet: Enduring Scale Shoes of Fleetness (walnut brown).

Bree-town Burglar

Another day, another dollar! or at least that's how it is for Brina. Unfortunately, a burglar is only as rich as the people she burgles from. This mischievous young thief roams Bree-town as she normally does looking for her next victims.

Ooh! Looks like she's found two unsuspecting men. "Well, they should be on the lookout since I've been at it for such a long time," she thinks. With her long coat ready to store all the new loot she'll be picking out of people's pockets, she puts on her hat and begins the hunt.

Slowly, carefully, hoping her soft green boots will keep her footsteps quiet, she sneaks behind the unwilling victim of her next rob. But, always looking to cause more a bit more trouble and have a lot more fun, she runs around pouncing on anyone she comes across.

I honestly forgot what made me give Brina a colour scheme such as this, although I know the brown and burgundy came from one of my Lore-master's outfits. The green however seemed like I cool idea, I guess, and I'm pleased with the way it fits. Her shoulder-piece is one of my favourites as it is versatile and fits most combinations of armour or cloth. They also can be used to simply add colour as they aren't big and bulky as other shoulder-pieces that cover that amount of surface area.

Thankfully for the inhabitants, Second Watcher Heathstraw is always around to tell Brina off. But what is a Bree-land burglar who stops burgling? At least, that's Brina's philosophy. That's why until this day, no matter how many times she gets caught, you will still see her making mischief, robbing the rich of their money and giving to who she thinks is poor - herself - despite carrying a pouch of gold whenever her coat can't hold any more loot.

A shout out to my friend Halygr who helped me take these pictures! Without his help, I wouldn't have been able to capture the entirety of Brina without sacrificing clarity and detail as zooming in would only distort the image on my laptop.

Head: Adventurer's Hat (burgundy);

Shoulders: Fine Mathom-hunter's Mantle (olive);

Chest: Tattered Robe of the Dunland Sage (umber);

Back: Treasure Hunter's Satchel (burgundy);

Feet: Ceremonial Boots of the Learned (olive).

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).