As a Fan of J.R.R. Tolkien, I Despise Shadow of Mordor

Last week I wrote about the game-play elements of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, and how I appreciated their ancestor, the Assassin's Creed series. I thought that Shadow added interesting options to the open-word action adventure genre, but that it also contained mechanics that fell flat.

This week I want to discuss the story. That means spoilers.

Before I begin, I would like to say that I consider myself a fan of all the works of Middle-earth by Tolkien, but I know there are people out there that are more serious fans than I. They know the lore better, and I hope they forgive and correct me as I discuss where Shadow of Mordor butchers the mythos of Tolkien.

Shadow occurs somewhere in the sixty year period between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but many flashbacks are included. These flashbacks are events that occur between The Silmarillion and The Hobbit, or roughly 4,700 years before Bilbo takes the Ring from Gollum.

The protagonist of the game is Talion, a ranger of Gondor, deployed to defend the Black

Gate of Mordor. Sauron, the Lord of the Rings, has not yet rebuild the fortress of Barad-dur, but the orcs have begun to multiply in Mordor. After a brief introduction of Talion's family, the orcs make a surprise assault on the rangers, and take captive Talion, his son, and his wife. The leaders, three Black Númenóreans (The Hammer, The Tower, and The Black Hand of Sauron) sacrifice the wife and son to a blood ritual, before slitting Talion's throat. Yet, Talion doesn't die. In deathless slumber he dreams of a wraith-like elf lord (the shadow of the title), who claims that 1) They are bound together by a curse that can only be broken by slaying The Black Hand and 2) The elf doesn't remember who he is. The two as one, set out, chained together by a mission of vengeance.

In the first half of the game, Talion runs across a lowly Uruk named Ratbag the Coward. Unlike the other orcs that try to kill Talion on sight, Ratbag offers to work together. Ratbag promises to spy and betray other orcs, if Talion will help him ascend the hierarchy of Mordor. Ratbag acts as a humorous foil to Talion's dark brooding hero (which is fortunate, because this game could use a bit of hope and light as Tolkien would want). Unfortunately, this concept goes against one of Tolkien's crucial ideas. Orcs and Uruks are inherently evil and irredeemable. One can not make deals with them, or worse humanize them. Orcs are not humorous, as murder is not humorous. They can not be redeemed, because they can not desire goodness, only evil. The slap stick humor of Ratbag does not fit.

Eventually, Talion begins to discover his companion's story. The elf-lord is Celebrimbor, the creator of the Rings of Power.

There are a number of problems with the story, powers, and histories incorporated into the game.

Celebrimbor, is an ancient Elf, born shortly after the Nuldor left the Undying lands of Valinor. Many years after the quest for the Silmarils, he was deceived by Sauron and created the Rings of Power. His kingdom was destroyed by Sauron and he was slain for refusing to turn over the rings, but that is where the original mythos ends. Shadow implies that he stole the One Ring from Sauron, destroyed Sauron's army and dueled the Dark Lord. As Celebrimbor, wielding the power of the Ring dueled Sauron as an equal, the ring slipped purposefully from his elvish finger onto Sauron's. Though this story is possible and can not be refuted, it has no support in the canonical literature. The thought of Sauron being deceived and the One Ring falling into the hands of the enemy is laughable. Ok, so it happened that one time, but still. There is no support for this story.

According to Shadow, Celebrimbor, after his death at the hands of Sauron, became a wraith. People can become wraiths in Middle-earth, but only through powerful magic, such as a morgul blade or the wearing of the human rings of power. Admittedly, there is no reason that Celebrimbor can't have become a wraith, but there is no support for the idea either. Even if there was, Celebrimbor is given a significant number of powers for which there is no support in the canon. The most crucial of these is something I mentioned in the previous article. He gains the ability to brand orcs and Uruks. Branding allows him to dominate and enslave them to his will. It sounds like Sauron using the One Ring to dominate others. There is no reason why a wraith should have this power, nor would Tolkien have supported the idea of good dominating anyone.

One of the largest concerns that some have with the game is the theme of vengeance. Both Talion and Celebrimbor are motivated by the stain of their families' blood upon the swords of Sauron. The visual effects of the game enhance this theme with a dark and gritty style, combined with gruesome combat. Orcs are regularly beheaded or repeatedly brutalized by Talion, and once slain, have their heads placed on spikes. The Lord of the Rings has none of this, for it is not a worldview that Tolkien supported. Although there is combat, and the orcs are evil incarnate, the forces of good do not revel in blood and brutality. But there is a long trail of revenge that does need to be explored.

Nearly 7,000 years before Bilbo riddled in the dark with Gollum, the elves lived in the undying lands of Valinor. They lived with the Valar, and among the elves there was no better smith than Feanor of the Nuldor. He created the Silmarils, three jewels that were more beautiful than anything ever created before or since. Yet, one of the gods, Melkor, was jealous of Feanor's skill and he stole the Silmarils and fled to Middle-earth. Feanor blamed the other gods, and marshaled the Nuldor (1/3 of the elves) to chase Melkor to Middle-earth and retrieve the Silmarils. Feanor and his seven sons vowed to slay any being that withheld the Silmarils from them. Unfortunately, to travel to Middle-earth they needed ships, and only the Teleri (a different 1/3 of the elves) had any. When the Teleri refused to part with them the Nuldor, in the first slaying of elf by elf, took the boats by force and made their way to Middle-earth. The vengeance of Feanor and his kin led them to many further evils against elf, dwarf, and man, but failed to retrieve the Silmarils. Though Tolkein did believe that Feanor had some right to the creation of his hands, the vengeance which Feanor indulges (also called the Wrath of Feanor), leads to terrible evil.

In the same way, Celebrimbor, the creator of the Rings, which are taken from him unjustly by Sauron, pursues his vengeance and fails in his lifetime. It is an interesting connection, that Celebrimbor is one of the grandchildren of Feanon, and replays a smaller quest for vengeance. While Tolkien provided characters for who desire revenge, these characters cause greater evil and always fail in their quest. Yet, Talion and the wraith of Celebrimbor indulge in every form of brutality with extraordinary success. This is a perversion of the themes of Tolkien.

Throughout the three tales (Silmarillion, Hobbit, and LOTR), Tolkien demonstrates the belief that evil is real. Evil can only cause more evil, it can never be turned to good. That is why Frodo must destroy the Ring, and why Boromir (who Talion is clearly based on – they even got the inspiration wrong) can not wield it. If Gandalf, Elrond, Gladriel, or any good person, no matter how powerful, tried to wield the power of the Ring for good it would turn to evil.

And the worst mistake, beyond all that, is that at the very end of the game, after defeating the Black Hand of Sauron, Talion says that maybe he and Celebrimbor, instead of taking their well deserved rest of death, ought to create another powerful ring to rival Sauron. The idea expressed here, is that increased power is necessary to defeat the powerful. Yet, Tolkien rejected this idea as well. In the two greatest quests of Middle-earth, good wins by stealth and the pride of the evil forces. Beren and Luthien are able to steal the Silmarils back, while Frodo and Sam destroy the Ring, not by force but through stealth and sacrifice.

In final analysis; the humanizing of one orc, the altering of Celebrimbor's past, and the wraith-like powers given to him are not as serious as the slaughtering of the themes of Tolkien. For the use of evil to enact good, the dominion of others, and the idea that all one needs is a little more power to overcome evil, are the complete reversal of the author's worldview. The grittiness and bloodshed, which are so popular today, distort the tone so much, it is unclear whether Tolkien would have recognized anything redeemable in Shadow.

Play the game if you're looking for an innovative copy of Assassin's Creed and the Batman Arkham series. Don't play it if you're hoping to experience an authentic version of Middle-earth.

It can't be found beneath the Shadow of Mordor.

Shadow of Mordor Series:

As a Fan of J.R.R. Tolkien, I Despise Shadow of Mordor

As a Fan of Assassin's Creed I Enjoy Shadow of Mordor