the black book of mordor - chapter 06

Описание: The Black Book of Mordor
The Legacy of Vóin

Chapter 6 - Wood, Lake, Mountain, and Stone
Chapter 6.1: The Halls of the Elvenking
Chapter 6.2: Spies in the Forest
Chapter 6.3: Hidden in the Hoard
Chapter 6.4: The Dragon's Bones
Instance monologue:
"Follow me, friend. Kólfith will not be long."
Chapter 6.5: Decline and Decay
Chapter 6.6: The Keeper of Raven-hill
Chapter 6.7: Wood, Lake, Mountain, and Stone
Instance monologue:
"This is Mazal Akrâz, the Chamber of Glory. My brother and my sons lie within. Let us go now to them."

Eryn Lasgalen and the Dale-lands is a great area! The forest has that spooky atmosphere, dark, foggy and those flickering eyes at distance really make you feel what Bilbo described in his book. Felegoth looks amazing, albeit a bit wet and cold, and Loeglond, a riverside version of Caras Galadhon, doesn't fall behind, and the new Lake-town and the Lonely Mountain are great as well! The soundtrack is amazing too. I enjoy going back in time and listen to the old tracks from the Dwarves in Ered Luin and the Elven tunes of the Trollshaws. Even the reworked version for Felegoth sounds great. The outside tunes sound good as well and are a pleasant change from the epic-like tracks from Mordor. The Lórien track in the Erebor throne room was a bit out of place, though.
The story, though, is more of a slow burn. We've been chasing this MacGuffin since the last chapter, but now it turns out it might not be a real MacGuffin at all, and this Karazgar guy is so widely known and active here in the North, but we haven't heard anything about him until now...

Lore discussion:
The craft of the Dwarves is in decline now, and it might be related to the loss of the rings, but the Dwarves were already great craftsmen before the rings and they continued to be so after the rings were taken from them (by the year 2850, Thráin had already lost his ring to Sauron). I think the decline of the Dwarves during the Fourth Age that Tolkien described is due to the fact that they become too reclusive and the number of Dwarf-women keeps decreasing dramatically through the years.
So far I'm not a fan of the plot, to be honest.