Editing Culture

'''Cultures''' are a core component of [[The Lord of the Rings TCG]]. Excluding [[site]]s and [[The One Ring]], every card in the game belongs to one of sixteen distinct cultures. A culture's function is to easily distinguish cards that are likely to be related to one another (usually by a thematic element, such as [[race]] or locale). There are plenty of cross-culture strategies to be had, but for the most part cards of one culture play best with other cards of that culture. Each culture naturally has its own strengths and vulnerabilities; for instance, the {{C|Elven}} culture excels during the [[Archery Phase]], but the {{C|Shire}} culture—having no access to bows or bowmen—struggles in that phase but makes up for this in other areas.

==Cultures==<!--This could use a one-sentence long bit on what each culture is good at in this game, I'm just not going to get around to it atm.-->

Except for {{C|Gollum}} culture, all cultures are exclusively Free Peoples or Shadow cards. As such, {{C|Gollum}} culture gets its own section, below.

===Free Peoples===

* {{C|Gandalf}} culture chiefly consists of [[Gandalf]] and his various schemes and accoutrements. It started off with Gandalf as the only [[companion]] in the faction, but over time it added his friends like {{Card|Radagast, The Brown}}. It also became home to a number of subfactions or characters that don't fit into any other faction. The [[Ent]]s of Fangorn, chiefly [[Treebeard]], fit in here, as do the men of far-flung kingdoms (particularly Dale) that sent dignitaries to Elrond's council. It also includes oddballs like {{Card|Ghan-buri-Ghan, Chieftain of the Woses}} and {{Card|Grimbeorn, Beorning Chieftain}}.

* {{C|Gondor}} culture consists of the [[Man|men]] of Minas Tirith, their allies in Dol Amroth, and the rangers of the Dúnedain. It also includes their Númenorean ancestors, like {{Card|Elendil, the Tall}} and {{Card|Isildur, Bearer of Heirlooms}}, and the [[wraith]]s bound by those ancestors, like {{Card|King of the Dead, Oathbreaker}}. The main characters of this faction are [[Aragorn]], [[Boromir]], and [[Faramir]].

* {{C|Shire}} culture consists of the [[hobbit]]s of the Shire, and until [[Reflections]] there was at least one {{C|Shire}} card in every single game. Hobbits tend to be homebodies rather than going on foolish adventures, so many of them are [[Ally|allies]] instead of companions in early sets, and many more characters only appear as allies or [[follower]]s. The main characters of this faction are [[Frodo]], [[Sam]], [[Merry]], [[Pippin]], and [[Bilbo]].

Fellowship Shadow cultures:

* {{C|Moria}} culture includes the teeming [[Orc|goblin]]s that infest the former dwarven underground city of Khazad-dûm. As Boromir points out, they have the {{Card|Cave Troll of Moria, Scourge of the Black Pit}}. It also includes the huge monsters that dwell there, such as the [[Balrog]] and [[Creature|the Watcher in the Water]]. This is one of the smaller cultures, since all of the characters in it appear in the Moria portion of ''Fellowship of the Ring''.

* {{C|Ringwraith}} culture is chiefly the nine unique [[Nazgul]], led by [[The Witch-King]] as well as a suspicious man from Bree, {{Card|Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow}}. Later it also includes [[Morgul Orcs|the orc armies of Minas Morgul]] that invade Osgiliath and a handful of miscellaneous [[wraith]]s not directly affiliated with the Nazgûl themselves. {{C|Ringwraith}} culture would later be renamed {{C|Wraith}} culture.

Towers Shadow cultures:

* {{C|Raider}} culture is another culture of [[Man|men]], this time the ones in service to Sauron. It's siloed into three separate [[subculture]]s. The first two were introduced in Towers Block: the heavily-armed and disciplined [[Easterling]]s and the oliphaunt-riding archer [[Southron]]s. Later, [[Siege of Gondor]] in [[King Block]] introduced the larcenous sea-going [[Corsair]] pirates, led by an infamous Peter Jackson cameo card: {{Card|Castamir of Umbar}}.

The {{C|Gollum}} culture is unique in being the only cross-alignment culture, having both [[Free Peoples]] and [[Shadow Alignment|Shadow]] cards. Free Peoples cards from this culture represent [[Smeagol|Sméagol]] as he serves Frodo and Sam as a simpering guide and scout, while the Shadow culture cards represent treacherous [[Gollum]], as he schemes to betray them to [[Shelob]] and steal the One Ring for himself. Those three characters are the only ones in this culture. (While Sméagol and Gollum are the same person in ''The Lord of the Rings'', they are considered separate characters for the purpose of this game, representing Gollum's tendency to act at cross-purposes with himself.)

===Post-Shadows Shadow cultures===

{{C|Dunland}} and {{C|Raider}} cultures were entirely retired. {{C|Isengard}}, {{C|Moria}}, and {{C|Sauron}} cultures occasionally appeared in post-Shadows sets, but only on unique characters that didn't fit neatly into the new cultures, like [[Maia|Sauron]], the [[Balrog]], and [[Saruman]]. These cards mostly weren't decks unto themselves, but rather meant to be [[splash]]ed into a deck that was primarily a different culture.

Following the [[Shadows]] reorganization, no further cultures were added to the game.

==See Also==

* [[subculture]]

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