Lord of the Rings characters detailed

Warner Bros has detailed the characters in promising new action RPG The Lord of the Rings: War in the North.

The human character is Eradan, son of Baranor. He's a Ranger of the North, part of the Dúnedain race. Eradan, who lost his father, Baranor, while a boy, was a seasoned veteran when Aragorn gave orders for the doubling of the watch kept upon the Shire.

In the game, if you play as Eradan, you'll get a "strong sense of purpose and unshakeable camaraderie", apparently, but you'll get little else in the way of tangible rewards. Poor sod.

Farin son of Norin is a Dwarf of Durin's Folk, the Longbeards. He's an honorary Ranger, and lives as one of them. He cares deeply about the honour of his people and does not want to tarnish it in any way. He is naturally courageous, and his determination to be an exemplary ambassador for his Dwarven clan makes him all the more so. There is no task too great or foe too tough for him to challenge. Rock hard, is Farin.

And finally the Elven character, Andriel. Andriel is a Lore-master of the house of Elrond Halfelven, and is charged with keeping alive the ancient arts and knowledge of the Eldar.

She is a healer and practitioner of magic. Her teacher was Elrond (played by Hugo Weaving in the films). She most often looks to her arts when danger threatens, but she's not shy about wielding weapons. She also wears armour. Andriel is well known to Aragorn, who was fostered in Rivendell. She is also familiar with Gandalf.

In the game, Andriel is aware that Gandalf and the Rangers of the North are helping to guard an important secret, but she has no idea what it is. Guess it's time to find out.

War in the North is being built by Snowblind Studios - the team that created cherished co-op adventure Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Snowblind Studios recently told Eurogamer it considers War in the North to be a spiritual successor to Dark Alliance.

War in the North treads a different path to that of the LOTR books and films. The three adventurers - elf, dwarf, man - must head north to take out one of Sauron's deadliest allies if the Fellowship of the Ring is ever to succeed.

The game relies heavily on tactical use of co-op. You'll always fight as a trio, and how you combine ranged attacks, magic and melee to tackle varying squads of enemies will mark your success. There's character progression, loads of loot and fundamental online co-op support.