Translating the designers’ vision for the Woodland buildings is a bit less straightforward than the units could/would be, as it isn't plausible/possible/practical to render the Woodland camps / fortresses as giant underground caverns. How to interpret the film designers' vision in another way? The outcome all depends on which route you take through their art: it was written by Tolkien that before Sauron came to Greenwood and made his stronghold of Dol Guldur, that place was called Amon Lanc [lit. “naked hill”, as no trees grew atop it] by the Elves and it had been their capital under Oropher [the then-king of the Woodland Realm, which at that time encompassed the whole of Greenwood] until he decided they abandon it and move north. The Hobbit Trilogy gives us “the abandoned old fortress” [paraphrased] upon Amon Lanc – which is turned into Dol Guldur – which brings me to option 1: according to John Howe – one of the leading concept artists / designers on the Middle-earth films – there isn’t really anything known about the origins of the fortress, but his thoughts are that it could have been of Numenorean origin. I do not believe that it is – in Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, the following statements are made to it:
Long before the War of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Oropher – King of the Silvan Elves east of Anduin – being disturbed by rumours of the rising power of Sauron, had left their ancient dwellings about Amon Lanc, across the river from their kin in Lórien. [Author’s note on Oropher – see Appendix B to ‘The History of Galadriel and Celeborn’: in one of the passages there cited Oropher’s retreat northwards within the Greenwood is ascribed to his desire to move out of range of the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm and of Celeborn and Galadriel in Lórien.]
As far as I know no mention is made of any Numenorean presence ever being had or made in Greenwood. One might however conclude loosely from the above that a Silvan/Sindarin presence was had upon Amon Lanc, and that the “ancient dwellings” do in fact include the basis for the fortress that is later erected by the Necromancer (a.k.a. Sauron). If so, then one could/should decide to combine the carven stone design elements from Thranduil’s Halls (in the Hobbit Trilogy) with the concept of ancient Silvan/Sindarin dwellings that might have been about/upon Amon Lanc to create a Citadel Fortress and Citadel Camps that reflect the inside of Thranduil's Halls. That decision will lead to an interesting array of elegant building designs that are renderable within The Battle for Middle-earth, as opposed to the inside of a cavern – which is not.
Option 2 is more straightforward than its counterpart, but equally exciting as far as I'm concerned. The differences in approach of design for this option are simple, for this version simply shows Thranduil's Halls - the Citadel - as a great mound of rock: it shows the outside of the 'building', as it does with every other building in the game/mod. Leading off of this you would have the Elven Sluice leading to the River Gate, and the Woodland Outlook (both pictured below / further down in this article), and surrounding it you would have a few of the buildings listed below. More on this option to come, however - stay tuned.
Whichever one you prefer, they both present an interesting alternative to Imladris and Lothlórien, as they did in the books and films.
Buildings:
- Guards
- Outlooks
- Stone Walls
- Throne Room
- Wine Cellars
Of the Guards:
My idea for this is not fully formed, however it does have multiple functions and a solid base: the idea is inspired by the multiple potential points of guarding and actual points of guarding seen in the Hobbit films. The first one we see is “the Elven gate” on the edge of Mirkwood – to me it looks like this may have functioned as something at some point, apart from simply being a point of recognition (so you know where the Elven path into / through Mirkwood begins): it could have been populated by a guard or watch at some point. See the gate below.
This could be a ground-level guarding building.
It could have multiple levels, which have to be purchased separately:
1.) The building emanates security, it boosts armour by a certain percentage
2.) The building emanates wellbeing, it boosts health by a certain percentage
3.) The building is armed with Woodland Guards that react to enemies within a certain radius
The second point we see is the Front Gate of Thranduil’s Halls, which is openly guarded. See below.
This could be a gate option for the earlier (and later) mentioned Stone Walls.
It would could come with guards automatically, or it could be upgraded with them.
The third point we see is the River Gate of Thranduil’s Halls, which is also openly guarded. See below.
The implementation of this point could take various forms, among them:
1.) We see the Palace Guards standing on top of the River Gate in the film, this form could be changed into another option for the aforementioned Stone Walls: the Parapet – a part of the wall modelled on the top part of the River Gate which sits on top of the wall along which Palace Guards are stationed (like they are in the image below, but facing outwards) / patrol. This function could increase the line of sight, and protect the walls from sieges
2.) An actual River Gate, not quite sure yet how this would be implemented but it could be
3.) This building could form the basis for a general purpose Woodland Barracks – the place where you’d recruit your units (apart from the Palace Guards), and possibly get upgrades [more on this will follow.]
The Woodland Barracks could be derived from the River Gate - it could be a solid stone building with the top being modelled after the parapet atop the River Gate, and the entrance being modelled after the River Gate itself (or rather the archway within which the gate is set). Also there could be big trees surrounding it, that are somehow part of or in support of the structure, as is seen in the picture above.
The Woodland Scouts, Woodland Guards / Hunters and Woodland Warriors / Soldiers, as well as Thranduil's Guard are recruited at the Woodland Barracks. As stated above/below/later, the Palace Guards are not.
The Woodland Barracks double as an Armoury (which is basically inherent). There are / would be two buttons - one to open up the menu for the Armoury and one for recruitment. The Armoury will function as a forge (which is, again, basically kind of inherent): it will offer various upgrades at various levels - the levels can be purchased or attained through purchase of upgrades. The upgrades would be the following:
- Ranking: All units that level up to 2 auto-heal, up to 10 gain a Captain
- Armouring: Allows Woodland Guards to purchase their armour
- Equip Shields: Allows Woodland Warriors to purchase their shields
- Forged Blades: Allows Woodland Units to purchase their blade upgrades
Thranduil's Guard has an elite status, which is reflected in their recruitment and use: every time a unit levels up to 10 they gain a Captain. If said unit is one of the Woodland Warriors, said Captain is one of Thranduil's Guards. These Captains will then become available at the Woodland Barracks. [More to follow.]
Of the Outlook:
The outlook is seen briefly in the sequence in which the Dwarven Company of Thorin Oakenshield are barrelling down the Elven Sluice towards the River Gate – we see Legolas and Feren (the horn-blower) run out onto it to sound the alarm and thereby alert the Guards.
My idea for the Outlooks are basically a variation upon a watchtower: this clearly is the highest point we see the Elves of the Woodland Realm (in the film) use as a form of building – there is a bridge to it that leads out from a doorway which is reached by a flight of stairs coming down from somewhere within Thranduil’s Halls. I think it is a no-brainer to use this as their watchtower. The form it should take is a lone mound with a tree atop it, possibly with the connecting bridge onto it coming from some form of structure within which shelter can be taken and stairs can be climbed to get up onto the Outlook. It could also be an option for an extension to the main building (the citadel), more on that later/below (under the header “Of the Throne Room”).
Of the Stone Walls:
As the Elves of the Woodland Realm (of the film) live in Thranduil’s Halls, it goes without saying that they live behind stone walls – why not bring some form of those into the game? The walls would resemble the craftsmanship of the River Gate and the aforementioned doorway to the Outlook: they’d be made of bluish / dark grey stone that would segue into the aforementioned gate (in the wall; not the River Gate) smoothly if/when necessary. It should be partially roughly hewn, to resemble certain parts surrounding the River Gate and the aforementioned doorway as well as the areas of rock surrounding the Front Gate (of the film) but should also show off the fact that they’re Elven after and before all - a combination of their refined nature and their wild nature: striking the right balance between them to really distinguish them as Elves of the Woodland Realm.
Of the Throne Room:
This will function as the citadel. It will be raised, as it is in the film. Various extensions to it will be available, which will also be raised – at various levels (as in the film). The heroes come down from here [are recruited here], the Realm is surveyed from here: this is the position of power. Palace Guards are stationed permanently at the bottom of this building, they can be recruited from one of the extensions – the Palace Guard Barracks – nowhere else.
The Palace Guard Barracks could be below the Throne Room, where the Palace Guards are.
It would be one of the extensions of the Throne Room. As said there’d be various extensions:
1.) The Palace Barracks: this is the barracks especially equipped for the Palace Guards
2.) The Palace Chamber: this is the private room of the king, its presence is healing to heroes
3.) The Palace Outlooks: these are the watchtowers of the faction, they come with Hunters
4.) The Palace Parlour: this is the reception room of the king, its presence boosts resources
5.) The Palace Staffroom: this is the room especially equipped for the king’s staff, its presence is healing to units within a certain radius and it is required for the construction of the Wine Cellars
Of the Wine Cellars:
The wine cellars would be an open plan building, like the others – the spires seen in above and below images will remain, reminding us of both the original spires in the film and the huge trees they (could/might) represent but there’ll be no walls around the Cellars: they are like general purpose storage areas and will be treated so - areas with barrels and benches. The effect that they’re lower down in the halls of the Elves of the Woodland Realm will be created by the fact that so many other buildings will be at varying but higher heights than this area/building which will be at ground-level. The purpose of this place will be creating resources, on the basis that they are also general storage cellars that store goods to be traded between the Elves and the Men of Lake-Town (in theory) as well as the Elves of Dorwinion. Also this place will be like a public house, in that the Elves can get a drink there [see all the benches and tables, that’s what they’re for – among other things]. This will show in the area/building as there will be a calm but constant coming and going of Woodland Elves there to have a bite and a drink, or a chat with their fellows, which will give off the nice sensation of the Woodland Camps and Fortresses being an actual society – something which sometimes wasn’t stressed enough in the various former mods / versions.
It is necessary [to me] to mention that the Edain team of the Edain mod have already implemented a version of this rendition by taking the interior of Thranduil’s Halls and rendering it as the exterior – initially I was not happy with this at all, beautifully done as it was, however I have come around to the idea (especially since I thought about it utilizing the aforementioned direction) and would like to see something similar being created for a full faction, if this is the direction one wants to go in (the direction of the Hobbit-film-designers' vision). See below for a look at what I mentioned before - the Edain's rendition of a Woodland citadel in line with the films' design. Be aware that they have currently decided not to implement the Woodland Realm as a full faction - this rendition is part of the Woodland Realm sub-faction in support of Lothlórien. More on that to come in the future. I will dedicate one separate blog on this issue.
[Like Part 1, this article will continue to be updated bit by bit - this is the initial draft.]
