volume 3 - book 12 - war in the westemnet

Volume III - Allies of the King
The Battle of Helm's Deep

Book 12: War in the Westemnet
Chapter 1: Message for Harrowdale
Chapter 2: Too Near to Dunharrow
Chapter 3: In Éomer's Absence
Chapter 4: The Missing
Instance:
"We have tracked the Orcs to the cave of Burg-shápol, but will we find the captive craftsmen in time?"
Chapter 5: Eyes of Edoras
Instance:
'We have returned to Edoras and should see how Éowyn fares with her duties.'
Chapter 6: Through the Net
Chapter 7: Burning Secrets
Chapter 8: Hill Tribes and Horse-lords
Chapter 9: The Soothsayer
Instance:
"Rubbish and nonsense. Herubrand may believe the words of this soothsayer, but I will not fall for her trickery."
Chapter 10: Rumours of Battle

Book 12 offers us a snippet of the conflict in Rohan: the immediate threat that are the Orcs and Wargs, but also the hidden threats carried by spies and traitors bought by Saruman. Although I was rushing a bit by the end, it feels too short. Like the Epic Quest line in Dunland, we're supposed to take the side quests to better understand the situation. These are awesome and expand all the plot lines hinted by the Epic. When the expansion came out and I was levelling up my characters to reach the 95 cap as fast as possible, I thought it extremely boring. Expecially at Broadacres and Stonedeans, where it was a whole lot of talking and not much fighting. But last year (or was it two years ago already?!), when I came here and read all the quests, well, my mind changed a lot about these areas and the whole expansion. It's some sort of Game of Thrones Middle-earth style and I love it!

Lore discussion:
At the end of the last Book, Théoden left to face Isengard in battle. That was the 2nd of March. Now, after riding all around West Rohan, we reached Helm's Deep and the Battle of the Hornburg is about to begin. Today is the 3rd of March and the Uruk-hai of Saruman will arrive during the night.