Thread: Is this confirmed? Spoiler from interview on A Casual Stroll to Mordor

The title mentioned a spoiler, so you were warned.


Here's the link: http://cstm.mymiddleearth.com/2012/0...han-interview/

In the interview, the Turbine employee mentions that the war-horse we're going to get is one of the mearas. "So they ask you to come and they give you one if their mounts, one of the mearas, who's a kin of Shadowfax..."

I realize some folks don't care, but this is lore-breaking. Until Gandalf, nobody but the Lord of the Mark and his sons were allowed (by the horses themselves) to ride one of the mearas. See this entry from the Encyclopedia of Arda: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/m/mearas.html

I'm really hoping that the employee misspoke and that we are not actually getting one of the mearas.

i already asked a few days ago in a topic and people said we arent getting a meares but a descendcant from the meares so dunno anymore whats true :P

Look, the storyline that they're making up for this is to include each and every one of us into it. Don't look at it like they're giving thousands of people one of the prized mounts. It's all focused on you, the player.

We've been epic helpers throughout all of this made up storyline so perhaps they are recognizing our epic deeds. We do a lot more than Gandalf ever has.. he usually just flits off and lets others do the great deeds then returns when he wants to. Gandalf never grinded through all the junk we have :-P

The entirety of LOTRO is lore-breaking, get over it. Just relax and have fun with the story they're filling in between the lines. If you don't like it, don't play that part of the story.

Save your complaining energy for bugs that don't get fixed or are ignored by the developers. It's more important to fix those.

Look at it this way. If the Mearas have finally come around to allow Average Joe to ride them, then it's only a matter of time before Eagles cave in and let us saddle up on their backs.

After all, Kate didn't exactly say "no" when the interviewer asked about aerial combat.

##### SPOILER ALERT #####

At the end of the Discover the Descendant storyline (Horse session play) you are transported to the Wold where you find Gandalf and Shadowfax standing out in the middle of nowhere. As you approach Gandalf says, "Why, Shadowfax. I do believe a member of your herd approaches" and Shadowfax greets you as a brother. So, to me, this says that the warsteeds are going to be mearas...and I'm fine with that.

Now, I know some of you are going to cry foul over this and say that Turbine is breaking lore with this development. C'mon, the very existence of this game is lore breaking. Don't believe me then read the books again. Men did not go traipsing about openly in the Shire. Elves weren't whooping it up in Bree and the dwareves did not return to Moria until AFTER the War of the Ring. So, relax and enjoy the game.

I'm not surprised that the warsteeds are mearas. It certainly explains why they're soooo much faster than regular mounts. During one of the horse session plays I galloped through Bree and even at normal speed I was leaving everyone in the dust.

Originally Posted by Krindus

Look at it this way. If the Mearas have finally come around to allow Average Joe to ride them, then it's only a matter of time before Eagles cave in and let us saddle up on their backs.

After all, Kate didn't exactly say "no" when the interviewer asked about aerial combat.

Except that... you know... we are not "Average Joe". We are actually kind of awesome :P

I'm just wondering how a Mearas pony will work? Fair enough, we get a (distant perhaps?) descendant of a mearas, or maybe some illegitimate Mearas/Regular Horse grandsire that still has a bit of it's old grandpa's flair, but how does that transfer to the hobbits/dwarves? Unless they're going to be given rope ladders and special saddles. Or maybe there is that long concealed pony Mearas that was brought to middle earth by the Noldor all those years ago. Will be interesting to see.

No respect for Tolkien's lore anymore from Turbine (?) /sigh

They made Moria, (which is 'Black Pit' in Sindarin) lighter, they removed the rep req to enter Lothlorien and now everyone gets to ride Mearas which they would only allow themselves to be ridden by the Lord of the Mark or his sons.
Dont forget Turbine (and WB) most play this game because they are Tolkien fans and not the usual mmo-gamer..

It's not that lore breaking, because, as has been stated, as far as the story is concerned, exactly *one* person is getting to ride a Mearas, you. The epic story has always been told with the presumption that you are a singular hero.

Originally Posted by Krindus

Look at it this way. If the Mearas have finally come around to allow Average Joe to ride them, then it's only a matter of time before Eagles cave in and let us saddle up on their backs.

After all, Kate didn't exactly say "no" when the interviewer asked about aerial combat.

God i hope not. That would ruin this game for sure

Originally Posted by Cazthelm

Except that... you know... we are not "Average Joe". We are actually kind of awesome :P

Maybe. But when there are thousands of us awesome folk running around on each server, awesome has a tendency to become the new average. At least until Turbine decides to release the even more awesomer war-horse of the Second Age


(On a side note: My original post was meant more for humor than fact. If Turbine really does decide to introduce mounted Eagle combat, then all hope for this game may indeed be lost.)

Lore breaking???? not really. Gandolf broke the rule of the only the Lord of the Mark so why not one of the great hheros of Middle Earth.... ME???

Sorry folks it is a game as along as they do not start adding grenades, rifles and other technology I am not going to worry about it much.

I've learned to take what Producer's say about coming updates in LOTRO with a pinch of salt since the Steefel days.
I'm applying that to this interview as well.

Originally Posted by Othniel

The title mentioned a spoiler, so you were warned.


Here's the link: http://cstm.mymiddleearth.com/2012/0...han-interview/

In the interview, the Turbine employee mentions that the war-horse we're going to get is one of the mearas. "So they ask you to come and they give you one if their mounts, one of the mearas, who's a kin of Shadowfax..."

I realize some folks don't care, but this is lore-breaking. Until Gandalf, nobody but the Lord of the Mark and his sons were allowed (by the horses themselves) to ride one of the mearas. See this entry from the Encyclopedia of Arda: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/m/mearas.html

I'm really hoping that the employee misspoke and that we are not actually getting one of the mearas.

Wellllll, there's this quest that starts at Combe and continues in and around Eogar's horse-ranch. I'll spare the spoilerphobes by not giving details, but the horse is called "The Descendant" -- of what line, they don't yet say -- and after you take care of him for a while, he takes a liking to you.

The subsequent quests are available now if you get the $70 Legendary pre-order. If not, I assume you'll get them at RoR launch.

Maybe we actually *will* be getting one of the Mearas.

I wish they'd come out & vow 'no eagle mounts, ever.'

About the horses, I guess there has been so much lore-breaking up to now that I don't really notice. You have to suspend disbelief upon entering this game. As soon as you're an elf running pies for hobbits, you're in an alternate Tolkien universe. On the whole, I'm okay with that. I don't see any other way they could handle this as a game. You're either too important, thus undercutting the Fellowship, or too side-line (like in War in the North, maybe) to be of any interest. (It's somewhat like making Arwen a fighter in the movies, which undercuts the importance of Eowyn in the books, though thankfully, they didn't go too far with that.)

Beyond that, it seems reasonable that Shadowfax was used for breeding, and that it's more of a 'spirit thing,' in that his blood reflects his 'holy ancestors.' They don't have another like him - that doesn't mean they don't have any who share his blood. I actually thought the horses of Rohan were all the same breed - he was just special. A throwback to a Better Horse Time. (kind of like... Arwen to Luthien!)

It will annoy me greatly, however, if we have pinto, appaloosa, & palomino Mearas. I think Tolkien would be spinning in his grave to see that. As for ponies.. well.... I just want them to be British Isles styled ponies - nice & fuzzy & fat. And I'll overlook their grand bloodline.

For all the speed that these warsteeds possess, not including the 30sec run bonus you can activate, Eastern Rohan must be HUGE!!!!!! Otherwise, you'd be able to gallop across the whole thing in twenty seconds. No joke, I was able to get from Bree to the Forsaken Inn in about two minutes, maybe less. This makes me a little more excited about the expansion. I'm praying Turbine doesn't let us down on this expansion. I know some, or maybe most, of the player base is already disappointed but I'm going to try and reserve judegement until we know more details.

I for one, dont want the new mounts to be that fast, otherwise it will diminish the size of every region in the game and make Middle-earth look and seem like a square-block
The highest speed as of now is 168%, imo it shouldnt go higher than 178-180%, otherwise as i said Middle-earth will be way too small

Originally Posted by VoronturEU

I've learned to take what Producer's say about coming updates in LOTRO with a pinch of salt since the Steefel days.
I'm applying that to this interview as well.

Agreed. At least she didn't say "your Mearh will grow with you".

As for the mount itself, in another thread someone requested that the combat horses should be one of the Mearas. Sapience responded with this:

Originally Posted by Sapience

Mearas is a very specific type of horse. They were not what most Rohirrim rode. In fact, with the exception of Gandalf, only the Lord of the Mark and his sons were able to ride them. Specifically, they were the only people that the Mears would allow to ride them.

Not an explicit confirmation or denial, but I'm not sure that he would quote the lore like that if the plan is to break it anyway.

Even if the quest does refer to the horse as one of the Mearas, the only real difference between a Mearh and a normal horse would be a few words in the dialogue box, all the combat/stats/looks would be identical. As for lore/immersion purposes, I would just assume that the quest giver was conned into thinking that some common plow horse was one of the Mearas, and now that he found out that it's worthless he's trying to offload it onto some unsuspecting foreigner who wouldn't know the difference.

Sapience already confirmed we're not getting Mearas. The reviewer probably misunderstood or used easy language.

It's likely that, like the Combe horse, we're getting something that might have a bit of Meara blood.

Originally Posted by Hrodberht

The epic story has always been told with the presumption that you are a singular hero.

Err... Not exactly.
After all, all volume 1 was (with Inspired Greatness, is not that much anymore) about finding fellows to stand against the shadow of Angmar (groupe instances came very early in the game).
So even if we are a "happy few" heroes, we are not singular (and, as far as I'm concerned, I'm happy with it. It's easier to hang out with people when you're not an unique hero).

Concerning meara, if I recall correctly, most of the horses of Rohan were cross-breed from meara (with more or less diluted influence), but only a handful were from pure race (including Shadowfax).
My take is that we get one of these cross-breed horses, which happens to be more "meara" than "horse" (as the quest chain of he Horse tends to show)... But after all, this is the same story as ours (I speak as human character): we start as "nobodys" in a random Archet prison, and build our legend with our sword...

But yes, talking about "meara ponies" can make some tolkienists choke...

Regards,
Skro

Done teh quest. Gandalf says the horsey has some mearhhhh.. bloodline in it. Doesnt mean full blooded like Shadowfax. Also Shadowfax is far bigger than the horse in the quest so unless its still a juvenile it wont be as big as shadowfax.

Main point from quest is that it doesnt seem to be full blood mearhhwotevr.

People QQ bout riding a cool horse? I dont see the problem, epic horse here I come!!!!

Originally Posted by ''Cris'''

No respect for Tolkien's lore anymore from Turbine (?) /sigh

They made Moria, (which is 'Black Pit' in Sindarin) lighter

It was called Moria only after it went dark

And to the OP, this is from the feature page of RoR:

Hailing from a long line of majestic, highly intelligent, and kingly creatures known as the Mearas, War-steeds are faster, stronger, and more trained for battle than normal mounts.

It's not a Mearh, I'm sure there is some special word for hybrids horse breeders use to look special but I don't know it.

Originally Posted by Lilka

Sapience already confirmed we're not getting Mearas. The reviewer probably misunderstood or used easy language.

It's likely that, like the Combe horse, we're getting something that might have a bit of Meara blood.

If Sapience said the mounts for RoR were not Mearas, how do you explain this?

Originally Posted by donxavier

##### SPOILER ALERT #####

At the end of the Discover the Descendant storyline (Horse session play) you are transported to the Wold where you find Gandalf and Shadowfax standing out in the middle of nowhere. As you approach Gandalf says, "Why, Shadowfax. I do believe a member of your herd approaches" and Shadowfax greets you as a brother.

I wish I could say I just don't care...but I do too. It's a good point.

Still, I don't really mind that we have about 1872638136109836 player RKs and LMs while there were supposed to be eight wizards.

Originally Posted by Mark_J

If Sapience said the mounts for RoR were not Mearas, how do you explain this?

Do the quest yourself and you could have explained it yourself. Gandalf then goes on to explain that the horse has Meara traits/blood but is not a full blooded Meara.

Mearh. Mea. Whatever.

My Dwarf wants his Mearas descendant wargoat...with rockets and lasers I tell ya!

Originally Posted by Lilka

Do the quest yourself and you could have explained it yourself. Gandalf then goes on to explain that the horse has Meara traits/blood but is not a full blooded Meara.

Mearh. Mea. Whatever.

You and I must have done different versions of this quest. Gandalf's exact words in my session were "Why, Shadowfax. I do believe a member of your herd approaches." He did not say anything else. I then talked with Shadowfax, who wasn't that much larger than me. He welcomed me and called me brother and then he gave a slight blurb about our people. I tried clicking on Gandalf to see if he had anything else to say and I was hit with an error that said "Player cannot do this in session play." That was the entirety of that particular session for me.

Look, I don't know if our warsteeds are going to be full mearas or not, but I'm leaning more towards that they are, at least, some form of hybrid.

Originally Posted by Ellyllon

I wish they'd come out & vow 'no eagle mounts, ever.'

They have done. Repeatedly.

So these are legendary horses then? let's hope Turbine does not have us getting rid of them every couple of levels when we find a new one off of a dead goblin. Would hate to think what the decon process would be for a horse!

Joking aside, Turbine lost all credibility with me a while back and for all it's worth they might as well go the whole mile and introduce flying carpets and little pet Maiar that follow us about.

Originally Posted by donxavier

You and I must have done different versions of this quest. Gandalf's exact words in my session were "Why, Shadowfax. I do believe a member of your herd approaches." He did not say anything else. I then talked with Shadowfax, who wasn't that much larger than me. He welcomed me and called me brother and then he gave a slight blurb about our people. I tried clicking on Gandalf to see if he had anything else to say and I was hit with an error that said "Player cannot do this in session play." That was the entirety of that particular session for me.

Oh, then yours broke or something. I hink it ends early if you talk to Shadowfax quickly while Gandalf's still babbling on. My Gandalf talked more, but I'll do it on another char and write it down. While I was reading Shadowfax's quest box, Gandalf's white bubble text was still rolling on. 3 or 4 more sentences.

I'm pretty sure if i wasn't in middle earth rohan would have be but a stain upon the land. I fought saruman(i admit we wiped), forget gandalf and the kings of rohan even sauron himself couldn't challenge saruman(Christopher tolkien said somewhere that if saruman had obtained the ring he would be much more powerful than sauron could hope to be.)

Also there is the whole, personal story. You think that 1000 people on each server watched theodred die? Nah that was just me. I'm pretty sure if it wasn't for me middle earth would be overrun by boars alone.

Originally Posted by Lilka

Sapience already confirmed we're not getting Mearas. The reviewer probably misunderstood or used easy language.

It's likely that, like the Combe horse, we're getting something that might have a bit of Meara blood.

We have to be, at least, part mearas. Take a look at this screenshot of the last quest in the Discovering the Descendant chain: http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/4...nshot02261.jpg

We look exactly like Shadowfax, only a little smaller. So, if we're not fully of the same blood we must be at least a half breed.

Originally Posted by dragerslayer

I'm pretty sure if i wasn't in middle earth rohan would have be but a stain upon the land. I fought saruman(i admit we wiped), forget gandalf and the kings of rohan even sauron himself couldn't challenge saruman(Christopher tolkien said somewhere that if saruman had obtained the ring he would be much more powerful than sauron could hope to be.)

Also there is the whole, personal story. You think that 1000 people on each server watched theodred die? Nah that was just me. I'm pretty sure if it wasn't for me middle earth would be overrun by boars alone.

That is how it is People must realize that there isnt 1000 others that watched theodred die. When you are grouping in mirkwood I imagine that all i group with are elves and when i group in dunland i do it with dunlendings

For reference:

Gandalf the White says, "Something approaches..."
Gandalf the White says, "There is something of the Mearas in this stallion."
Gandalf the White says, "Did you summon this one here, Shadowfax?"
Gandalf the White says, "He is not a full-blooded Mearh, nor does he seem to have a rider."
Gandalf the White says, "He appears to have a few of your herd's traits, Shadowfax."
Gandalf the White says, "Is he meant to be among your herd?"

Shadowfax: 'Welcome back, my brother. He who rides me, Gandalf, is right to say that you are a descendant of the Maeras. I summoned you here to remind you of your true home.'

'A darkness spreads over the lands. Soon, a time shall come when the herd will need to ride again. Return to us, when you are ready.'

And remember, the quest line is named "Discovering the Descendant".