Hidden Wonders of the Digital World: Lord of The Rings Online | Atlas Obscura

Hidden Wonders of the Digital World: Lord of The Rings Online | Atlas Obscura

"So when a game company called Turbine, Inc. released The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO), an open-world game that set out to create a living Middle Earth, it was no small task. They also had to do so without rights to the films or other media based on, or related to J.R.R. Tolkien's seminal works of fantasy--no visions of Frodo's hobbit house from the movies, or a Gandalf that looked like Ian McKellen. Their source material had to be the text of the the novels and their own designs.

"Somehow, though, those limitations have made LOTRO one of the most faithful visions of Tolkien's world."