Recurring Epic Book Characters | Inhabitants of Middle-Earth | Antagonists | Historical Characters
Historical Characters
This page lists characters within The Lord of the Rings Online who appear in flashbacks or belong to the game's canon history of Middle-earth.Be warned of Spoilers below!
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Elves
Amroth, Lord of Lothlórien
Gil-galad, High King of the Noldor
Magoldir
Men
Anárion
Arvedui, the Last King of Arthedain
Isildur
Tárandil/Várangi the Wanderer/Adûnzagar
The foster-son of Isildur. Adopted by him shortly after the sinking of Númenor, Tárandil came to Middle-earth with his adoptive father and brothers and joined the Great Alliance to fight against Sauron, accompanying his father on his many battles and skirmishes after the war. Unbeknownst to his foster family, he secretly fell in love with one of the Men of the Mountain, Bravantel, and married her in secret, resulting in the birth of a son named Héol. When Bravantel's father, King Rioc, found out the truth, he broke his oath to Isildur and refused his summons, causing Isildur to levy a curse against the Men of the Mountain, Tárandil's child and wife included. Unwilling to reveal the truth to his foster father, he nonetheless attempted to get him to renounce the curse and came under the sway of one of Sauron's Nazgûl, who promised death to him and his cursed family. In exchange for releasing the curse, all Tárandil had to do was bring his father's corpse and the One Ring to the Dark Lord.Unfortunately for Tárandil, what would become the Disaster at the Gladden Fields would also ultimately take his own life: Desperate to deliver his father's ring, Tárandil attempted to follow him across the river Anduin to take it from him, but found that it had slipped away during the swim. Distraught, his scream of anguish drew the attention of the Orcs, who then killed Isildur with their arrows, and Tárandil decided to end his life then and there, dooming himself to eternal torment as a shade.
- Black Sheep: Though he loved his foster family, he was distant to them and kept them at arm's length. This trope becomes more pronounced when it's later revealed he was originally the son of a King's Man who worshipped Sauron, and when his love for his secret family begins to take him down a darker path.
- Driven to Suicide: He kills himself with a dagger after Isildur dies and the Ring is lost.
- Foreshadowing: His foster brothers make fun of his apparent disinterest in women during the Great Alliance campaign against Sauron. It later turns out that he was actually already married with a son by then.
- I Am Not My Father: He desperately sought to distance himself from his biological father, who was one of Ar-Phârazon's loyal captains and sailed with his doomed armada to Valinor.
- Love Ruins the Realm: It was his love for and desperation to free his family from Isildur's curse that directly set the Disaster of the Gladden Fields in motion and ultimately lead to Isildur and his sons' deaths, splitting the Númenorian exile-realms permanently.
- Madness Mantra: As Várangi the Wanderer, he's first encountered repeatedly yelling "Son-of-no-blood" to himself before disappearing.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Much like Horn and Nona three millennia later, Tárandil found love with a woman who came from a tribe with strained relations to the exiled Númenorians. Finding out that his grandson was half-Dúnadan enraged and insulted Rioc to the point where he willingly broke his oath to Gondor.
- Regretful Traitor: He comes to regret his actions and his hand in Isildur's death, approaching the player and his father's shade to confess his guilt and tell his story during the epilogue to the Black Book of Mordor. Isildur does not forgive him for his misdeeds, however, and tells him that he might have been more understanding if Tárandil had just come out with the truth.
- Self-Punishment Over Failure: After relaying the full truth of his story, Tárandil resolves to do this by searching for the spirits of his wife and child, regardless of whether it would bring him to endless oblivion or pain.
- Tragic Hero: Tárandil's love for his secret family ends up being his downfall as it causes him to turn to Sauron in a moment of desperation.
Dwarves
Durin the Sixth, King of Khazad-dûm
The King of Khazad-dûm when the Balrog that would later be called Durin's Bane was awoken. He was the second to last King of Khazad-dûm and the last to bear the name of Durin until the Fourth Age or later.- Dying Moment of Awesome: Goes up against the Balrog that would end up being the doom of Moria.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He appears to be fully aware that the Balrog is beyond him, but fights it so that his son can escape and become King.Durin VI: Nafni, protect my son! He must rule in Khazad-dûm now!
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: He doesn't send his guard to fight the Balrog to give himself a chance to survive; He fights the Balrog himself.
Vóin
A Zhélruka Dwarf from the Iron Hills who lived around a thousand years before the War of the Ring and became an adventuring companion of none other than Eärnur, the last king of Gondor. He dreamt of finding Thafar-gathol and claiming it for the Zhélruka. Vóin is later revealed to be the author of the Black Book of Mordor, having penned it while in Minas Morgul on his long mission to free Eärnur from the Witch-King's captivity. After it became clear that Eärnur could not be saved from his prison, Vóin agreed to smuggle his sword Orthadel out of the dread city and built a secret room in his home to hide the book in. Years later, with all of his former friends dead, gone, or transformed into wraiths, he decided to say goodbye to his wife and son and set out on a final adventure to try and find Thafar-gathol; He was never seen again.He is the ancestor of Khîl Tale-spinner, whom the player first encounters in Erebor.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Or rather, walking out on none other than Mordirith himself. When it became clear that Eärnur would never remember his old life, Vóin just confidently declared his intent to leave Minas Morgul in the wraith's face. And Mordirith let him, with the implication that a part of Eärnur still remembered him, even after all those years.
- The Infiltration: He infiltrated Minas Morgul by pretending to be one of the many wicked dwarves that worked there. He was not proud of the things he had to do to get into a position to even directly be allowed to come into contact with Eärnur.
- Refuge in Audacity: He was brazen enough to tell Mordirith he was leaving and marched out of Minas Morgul like a king. He succeeded and lived.
- Shoot the Dog: How he got Orthadel smuggled out of Minas Morgul; He conspired with Eärnur to free one of his imprisoned cohort of knights and send them away with the sword, using a distraction to mask their escape. In the flashback depicting the escape, the player is given the impression that Vóin had picked Orolang for this task — but when Vóin calls in the guards, it rapidly becomes clear that Orolang was merely the distraction. It's Macilnis who gets sent away with the sword, and the narration emphasizes that sacrificing Orolang would weigh heavily on Vóin for the rest of his life.
