It was a ruse to get cute hedgehog pictures! I fooled you!!
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Itâs a bit of both in my interpretation. Yes, Frodo/the Ring inadvertantly placed a word of command on Gollum (as did Faramir foretell Gollumâs fate too) but it was all preordained by Eru. It was meant to happen.
Which I guess coincides more with the phrase of God working in mysterious ways â yes, Eru knew it would all play out, but itâs not like theyâre gonna square up and physically shove Gollum off the edge.
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The problem with âit was all preordained by godâ theories is that theyâre unfalsifiable, and as Newton said, âI contrive no hypothesesâ.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/653602544630628366/1194747642270453770/image.png
Iâll allow it
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lotro forgot all of my progress and put me back to the start of the high elf tutorial after my session yesterday
must have been a server rollback or something. either way thatâs killed any enthusiasm i had to keep trying.
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Well, in this case itâs because Tolkien said Eru knew everything thatâd happen, so in the case of his works thatâs just⌠âhow it isâ. But like the more modern Christian takes on fate and Godâs acts, they act through the world.
Thereâs that Futurama episode that puts it well (love Futurama great cartoon): if you do it right, people wonât be sure if youâve done anything at all.
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Did you finish that tutorial?
Also I have to say, I like the high elf tutorial. I like how they invented the Sindarin neologism âGwetherainâ (Shadow Kings) for the Nazgul, because of course elves wouldnât use the Black Speechâ wait, where are you going?
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I woke up from my coma and then had to log. So not quite out of it.
Why am I so exhausted? this sucks.
That might be it. The game reset your progress because you didnât finish it (but, frustratingly, you were very, very close).
You wake up, talk to Elrond, he gives you a personal ring from your old possessions, and after that you should end up in Celondim in Ered Luin.
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Today I realized Iâve been on this game for fourteen years now.
Oh.
OR IS IT FIFTEEN I CANNOT COUNT RN
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Seventeen years for me :3
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Which is a very pretty zone.
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Samesies! I started a little bit before TBC
though Iâve taken a couple of long hiatuses in the meanwhile
While I havenât played much LOTRO, I love Ered Luin. Its natural vistas feel familiar somehow, reminding me of the lush countryside of the homeland I left behind â with its overgrown hills, and dense forests, and dilapidated Soviet monumentalist architecture, abandoned outdoor theaters and neoclassicist rotundas. It reminds me of the times I spent wandering the fields and woods, and sometimes rowing in the small lake, and going uphill, and looking at the lands that lay beyond. All itâs missing is the power lines.
LOTRO faithfully reproduces the âbeautiful and pristine, but touched by decayâ feel of LOTRâs Middle-earth that carried with me since I read the book at age 10 or so. I think the familiarity with that particular kind of landscape and feel, and the natural expanses surrounding us, might have been one of the reasons why LOTR struck such a chord in the former Soviet Union in particular.
I enjoy LOTROâs Rivendell, too. I have a character parked on the doorstep of the Last Homely House so I can sometimes log in, go outside in-game, and enjoy the sights of peaceful nature at night when itâs too cold outside to do so in person.
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Iâm in this post and I donât like it.
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I started in 2005⌠oh no, iâve been here for almost 19 years nowâŚ
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Look, I literally cannot. Iâve tried and my ability to draw has a hard cap as my brain ceases to cooperate in putting mental image to paper. The effort was made for decades and stalled.
Thereâs a reason I stick to 3D modelsâŚ
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I have aphantasia so I donât even have cool ideas in my head to fail at pulling off
(Aphantasia is when a person is unable to conjure mental images)
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I never learned to draw, and now starting from scratch feels daunting â it would require a massive investment of time in addition to my other hobbies.
But maybe one day.