Talion May Not Be Lord of the Rings Canon, But He Should Be
Monolith Productions and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment's Middle-earth games helped to take Lord of the Rings in a new direction. There had been plenty of LotR games before, but Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: Shadow of War introduced new characters, new regions, and an incredible new mechanic called the Nemesis System, which innovated NPC AI design. The games were praised for their distinctive characters and the direction of their stories, even if the events of both titles deviated from established LotR lore. Middle-earth: Shadow of War in particular also provided a fresh lens on canon characters that could potentially change LotR in fundamental ways.
While Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War feature canon and non-canon characters, the stories of both games are original tales weaved around the known history of Middle-earth. Talion, the former Captain of the rangers of Gondor, is the protagonist at the heart of each of the games. His importance in not only the events of Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War, but in the fate of the whole land as well, cements his status as an integral LotR character. He may technically be non-canon, but many fans feel that he deserves to be recognized as a canon character.
Why a Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Threequel Has to Happen
With an intellectual property as vast as the world of Lord of the Rings, there is so much narrative depth and rich lore to dive into. Some players may only be familiar with Peter Jackson's film adaptations of J. R. R. Tolkien's work, or the original high fantasy novels they were based on, but there is a whole selection of posthumous work from the prolific author that added layer upon layer to the world he'd created; like The Silmarillion and
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