Tale

Tales are unloaded keywords appearing only on Free Peoples cards. It primarily appears on conditions, also it also appears on artifacts, events, and possessions, but never characters or followers. Tale chiefly appears cards in Fellowship Block, although it does occasionally appear in later sets. Many tale cards are named after songs or poems from Lord of the Rings, or named after chapters or books of that trilogy.

While Tales appear in multiple Free Peoples cultures -- Dwarven, Elven, Gondor, and Shire -- the keyword is particularly important to Shire culture. Bilbo, Well-spoken Gentlehobbit (2U96) and Red Book of Westmarch (2R113) are common Shire tools in every format where they are available.

List of Cards with the Tale Keyword

Portrait	Card Name	Culture	Card Type	Game Text
	Greatest Kingdom of My People (1R16)	Dwarven	Condition	Tale. Exert a Dwarf to play this condition. Each time your opponent plays an Orc, that player discards the top card of his or her draw deck.
	Stairs of Khazad-dûm (1C24)	Dwarven	Condition	Tale. While a Dwarf skirmishes a minion, that Dwarf is strength +1.
	Beneath the Mountains (2R1)	Dwarven	Condition	Tale. Plays to your support area. Fellowship: Discard the top 3 cards from your draw deck to play a weapon from your discard pile.
	Great Works Begun There (2C9)	Dwarven	Condition	Tale. Plays to your support area. Each time you play a Dwarf, you may discard the top 2 cards from your draw deck to take a event into hand from your discard pile.
	Till Durin Wakes Again (2C14)	Dwarven	Condition	Tale. Plays to your support area. Each time a Dwarf companion moves from an underground site, you may heal that Dwarf.
	Book of Mazarbul (3R1)	Dwarven	Possession	Tale. Bearer must be a Dwarf. At the start of each fellowship phase when the fellowship is at site 4 or higher, you may draw a card for each Dwarf companion.
	Song of Durin (3U5)	Dwarven	Condition	Tale. To play, exert a Dwarf. The twilight cost of each weapon is +2. Fellowship: Discard this condition to discard up to 2 conditions.
	Ever My Heart Rises (4R46)	Dwarven	Condition	Tale. Plays to your support area. When you play this condition, reveal the top 6 cards of your draw deck and stack them here. Fellowship: Spot a Dwarf and discard the top card of your draw deck to take a Free Peoples card stacked here into hand.
	Here Is Good Rock (4C50)	Dwarven	Condition	Tale. Plays to your support area. Skirmish: Stack a Free Peoples card from hand here to make a Dwarf damage +1.
	Thorin's Harp (18C3)	Dwarven	Condition • Support Area	Tale. Maneuver: Exert a companion to make the fellowship's current site gain mountain until the regroup phase.
	The Last Alliance of Elves and Men (1R49)	Elven	Condition	Tale. Bearer must be a Man. Limit 1 per bearer. Bearer is strength +1 for each Elf you can spot (limit +3).
	The Splendor of Their Banners (1R62)	Elven	Condition	Tale. Bearer must be an Elf companion. Archery: If bearer is an archer, exert bearer to make the fellowship archery total +1.
	The Tale of Gil-galad (1R66)	Elven	Condition	Tale. Bearer must be an Elf. Skirmish: Discard this condition to make bearer strength +2.
	The White Arrows of Lórien (1C68)	Elven	Condition	Tale. Bearer must be an Elf companion. Archery: If bearer is an archer, exert bearer to make an opponent discard 2 cards at random from hand.
	Hosts of the Last Alliance (2U18)	Elven	Condition	Tale. Plays to your support area. While you can spot an Elf companion, the minion archery total is -1. Response: If an Elf is about to take a wound, discard this condition to prevent that wound.
	Beren and Lúthien (3U9)	Elven	Condition	Tale. Skirmish: Exert an ally to discard the bottom card of your draw deck. If that card is an card, make a minion skirmishing an Elf strength -1.
	Voice of Nimrodel (3C28)	Elven	Event	Tale. Skirmish: Exert an Elf at a river or forest to cancel a skirmish involving that Elf.
	Alliance Reforged (4R58)	Elven	Event	Tale. Fellowship: Draw a card for each Elf companion you spot.
	I Was There (V1_7)	Elven	Event • Skirmish	Tale. Spot a minion skirmishing an Elf and discard your tale to wound that minion.
	Let Fly the Darts of Lindon (V1_10)	Elven	Condition	Tale. Bearer must be a unique companion. Archery: Exert bearer to make all Free Peoples archers lose archer and gain damage +1 until the regroup phase.
	Three for the Elven-Kings (V1_12)	Elven	Condition • Support Area	Tale. Each time the fellowship moves, you may spot an or ring to place a card from hand beneath your draw deck and draw a card (and heal a companion if you can spot 3 or rings).
	The Choice of Lúthien (1R100)	Gondor	Condition	Tale. Maneuver: Exert Aragorn to heal Arwen, or exert Arwen to heal Aragorn.
	The Saga of Elendil (1R114)	Gondor	Condition	Tale. Bearer must be a companion. Skirmish: Discard this condition to make bearer strength +2.
	Banner of the White Tree (3R39)	Gondor	Event	Tale. Maneuver: Exert a companion to make that companion strength +3 and defender +1 until the regroup phase.
	Gondor Bowmen (3R41)	Gondor	Condition	Tale. Archery: Exert a companion and discard this condition to make the fellowship archery total +2.
	Might of Númenor (3C43)	Gondor	Event	Tale. Maneuver: Spot a companion to reveal a card at random from an opponent’s hand. Heal X companions, where X is the twilight cost of the card revealed.
	Some Who Resisted (3U45)	Gondor	Event	Tale. Maneuver: Spot a companion to make the twilight cost of each maneuver event +2.
	Scroll of Isildur (9R36)	Gondor	Artifact • Support Area	Tale. To play, spot a Man. The Ring-bearer is resistance +1 for each artifact you can spot (limit +3). Fellowship: Discard this artifact to play a ring from your discard pile.
	The Faithful Stone (18R50)	Gondor	Condition • Support Area	Tale. Each time a non- minion is played, you may spot a Man to put a token here. Maneuver: Remove 3 tokens from here to spot a minion. That minion cannot be assigned to a skirmish until the regroup phase.
	Stone Trolls (1R314)	Shire	Condition	Tale. To play, spot Bilbo. Plays on any character. Limit 1 per character. Each time bearer skirmishes a Troll or Uruk-hai, bearer is strength +3.
	There and Back Again (1C317)	Shire	Condition	Tale. Bearer must be a Hobbit companion. Maneuver: Discard this condition to make each Hobbit companion strength +2 until the regroup phase.
	Consorting With Wizards (2R97)	Shire	Condition	Tale. Bearer must be Bilbo. Bilbo may not take wounds (except during the archery phase). Fellowship or Regroup: Exert Bilbo or discard this condition to remove .
	O Elbereth! Gilthoniel! (2R108)	Shire	Condition	Tale. Bearer must be the Ring-bearer. Skirmish: Discard this condition to take off The One Ring or to cancel a skirmish involving the Ring-bearer and a Nazgûl.
	Red Book of Westmarch (2R113)	Shire	Possession	Tale. Each time you play a tale, you may spot Bilbo to draw a card.
	Three Monstrous Trolls (3C114)	Shire	Condition	Tale. Response: If a Shadow card is about to add any number of twilight tokens, exert a Hobbit ally to prevent this.
	Everyone Knows (9R50)	Shire	Condition • Support Area	Tale. Each unbound Hobbit is strength +1 for each vitality over 3 he or she has. Skirmish: Prevent an unbound Hobbit from being overwhelmed unless his or her strength is tripled. Discard this condition.
	Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom (10C112)	Shire	Event • Skirmish	Tale. Exert a character to remove a burden or 2 threats.
	The Tale of the Great Ring (10U116)	Shire	Condition • Support Area	Tale. Skirmish: Prevent a Hobbit from being overwhelmed unless a Shadow event is (or was) played during this skirmish. Discard this condition.
	A Dragon's Tale (18C106)	Shire	Condition • Support Area	Tale. To play, spot a Hobbit. Maneuver: Discard a tale from play to choose a Shadow player who must exert one of his or her minions.
	Scouring of the Shire (18R112)	Shire	Condition • Support Area	Tale. When there are 4 tokens here, discard this condition from play. Response: If a condition or possession is about to be discarded from play by a Shadow card, add a token here to prevent that.​

List of Cards that Interact with the Tale Keyword

Portrait	Card Name	Culture	Card Type	Game Text
	Glóin, Friend to Thorin (2R7)	Dwarven	Companion • Dwarf	For each tale you can spot, Glóin is strength +1 (limit +4).
	Mines of Khazad-Dûm (3R3)	Dwarven	Condition	Each time you play a tale, you may heal a Dwarf companion.
	The Council of Elrond (1R35)	Elven	Event	Fellowship: Spot an Elf to play a tale from your draw deck.
	Songs of the Blessed Realm (1C61)	Elven	Condition	Plays to your support area. Each time you play an tale, you may remove a burden.
	Library of Rivendell (V1_11)	Elven	Artifact • Support Area	Fellowship: Stack your tale or artifact from play or from hand here to draw a card. Regroup: Exert an ally to draw X cards, exert X minions, and remove up to X wounds from companions, where X is the number of Free Peoples cultures on cards stacked here. Discard this artifact.
	Answering the Cries (3C37)	Gondor	Condition	Skirmish: Discard a tale from hand to make a companion strength +2.
	Bilbo's Pipe (1U285)	Shire	Possession • Pipe	Bearer must be a Hobbit. Fellowship: Discard a pipeweed possession and spot X pipes to shuffle X tales from your discard pile into your draw deck.
	Pippin, Friend to Frodo (1C306)	Shire	Companion • Hobbit	Your opponent may not discard your tales from play.
	Bilbo, Well-spoken Gentlehobbit (2U96)	Shire	Ally • Home 1 • Hobbit	Fellowship: Exert Bilbo and discard a tale to discard a Shadow condition from an opponent’s support area.
	Frodo, Reluctant Adventurer (2C102)	Shire	Companion • Hobbit	Ring-bound. Ring-bearer (resistance 10). The cost of each artifact, possession, and tale played on Frodo is -1.
	Pippin, Steadfast Friend (19P30)	Shire	Companion • Hobbit	Fellowship. Pippin is strength +1 for each tale you can spot.
	Frodo, Mr. Underhill (0P67)	Shire	Companion • Hobbit	Ring-bound. Ring-bearer (resistance 10). The cost of each artifact, possession, and tale played on Frodo is -1.
	Stricken Dumb (2R80)	Ringwraith	Event	Maneuver: Exert The Witch-king to discard a tale or weapon.
	Balin's Tomb (1U343)	Site	Site	Underground. Maneuver: Discard a tale from play or from hand to heal your companion.​

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