Why didn't Gandalf have his giant eagle friends drop the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom and be done with it?

There once was a small hobbit that left the Shire on a grand adventure, performing brave deeds and overcoming impossible odds for the sake of all Middle-Earth. This is not his story.

Just when we thought we'd seen all there is to see in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saga, Snowblind Studios goes and writes an entirely new adventure, chronicling the goings on in the North while Sauron's eye was focused on Frodo and friends. Should you lend it your bow, or give it the axe?

With Skyrim-lust whipping fantasy role-playing game fans into a frothy puddle, perhaps November 1 is the best possible time for Warner Bros. to release The Lord of the Rings: War in the North.

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North developer Snowblind Studios takes its weapon creating seriously in this behind-the-scenes video, and an innocent lunchtime treat gives its life for the greater good.

One would assume that cutting your way through countless orcs would leave your clothes rather messy. Snowblind Studios, the developer of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North makes that happen in what looks to be the most violent game the fantasy series has ever seen.

There is another great war in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saga, a bloody battle set in the northern regions of Middle Earth. This front is the setting of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, the fantasy world's equivalent of the Allied invasion of Normandy, says developer Snowblind Studios.

In this behind-the-scenes trailer for The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, developer Snowblind Studios tackles the daunting task of filling out areas and stories of Middle-Earth that J. R. R. Tolkien only hinted at.

While the Fellowship of the Ring is slowly realizing that everything would have gone much smoother had Gandalf called the eagles in the first place, a great evil stirs in Middle Earth's Northern Reaches.

Ryan Geithman, founder and president of Champions of Norrath and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance developer Snowblind Studios, has left the Seattle-based studio after 13 years with the company and in the midst of developing the studio's current game.