A new Middle-earth: Shadow of War expansion called The Blade of Galadriel went live today, giving players the opportunity to switch things up as Eltariel, an elite Elven assassin who's been sent by Galadriel to hang a job on the Nazgul. The new character comes complete with new Nemesis characters including Flint, Tinder, and the Slayer of the Dead, plus eight unique Legendary Orcs who will join your army in the main campaign.
It also appears that she has a beef with Talion, the lead character from Shadow of War, who—and this is all quite spoiler-ish, so stop here if you're still trying to avoid such things—took Isildur's ring after killing him in Shadow of War. He eventually took to wearing the ring after being abandoned by Celebrimbor, which has him on a slow ride to becoming a Nazgul himself—an unfortunate metamorphosis that's put him in Galadriel's, and therefore Eltariel's, sights.
It's a pretty dramatic retcon of the existing Tolkien mythos, but also relatively harmless as these things go—and let's be honest, it's not as though Shadow of War itself has demonstrated an iron-clad commitment to Middle-earth canon. After sexy Shelob and Orc bling run amok, I don't think a Nazgul name change is too much to stress about.
Also out today is an update to the game that brings new traits to Orc Captains, upgrades the Photo Mode with new filters, frames, and styles, adds an Eltariel skin for the main campaign, enables Training Orders for garrisoned Orc followers, and incorporates a new Player Stats menu with information on kills, dominations, betrayals, conquests, and more. That update is free for all players, with or without the Blade of Galadriel update. It also makes the usual array of fixes and balance, a full rundown of which is available on Steam.
