Do I need to know any LOTR plot to follow SoM’s plot

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So, I just bought Shadow of Mordor, but I was never into LOTR, and I don't really know anything about it.
What should I know before I start playing, if anything?

If there's anything that isn't necessary to know but could help, I'd love to know that as-well.

Best Answer

You should be able to play the game without getting too confused, as Shadow of Mordor is relatively "isolated" from the rest of the Lord of the Rings as far as the story is concerned.

One part that might be confusing to people who don't know anything about LotR revolves around the Rings of Power, specifically the One Ring.

The Rings of Power were rings which gave their bearer tremendous power. They were given to Human, Dwarven and Elven kings by Sauron, the main antagonist of the Lord of the Rings. Later, Sauron forged "the One Ring to rule them all" in secret and used it to gain control over the bearers of the Rings of Power (except for the Elves).

Shadow of Mordor explains how the Rings of Power and the One Ring were crafted, despite them being mostly irrelevant to the rest of the game's story. If you don't know what those rings are, you might wonder why they are even mentioned.

Then, there's Gollum (also known as Sméagol). His involvement in the game's story — which is related to the One Ring — can be really confusing if you don't know his story.

After Sauron was defeated, his Ring somehow ended up in Gollum's hands. Over the centuries the One Ring made him lose his mind and he eventually lost his "prrrecioussss" to a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. After having possessed the One Ring for so long, Gollum is obsessed with it and wants it back at all costs.

Finally, there are the Uruks. Luckily, you won't need any background story to know that Uruks are this game's monsters which you'll be killing a lot.

One more thing worth mentioning is the fact that Shadow of Mordor holds a lot of information about the lore of Tolkien's universe.

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