War in the North Legacy Edition Complete Story Walkthrough

Before you leave Bree

This is the completion-safe route for the campaign. It is based on the original quest order and objective lists, then annotated for Legacy Edition testing. It is not a copied 2011 walkthrough: whenever an old guide describes an exact save trigger, exploit, damage value, or achievement pop, treat that detail as a historical reference until you reproduce it in the current build.

Talk to every named NPC in a hub before touching the travel checkpoint. Bree, Sarn Ford, Rivendell, Nordinbad, and the later Mirkwood staging areas are your safe return points. Sell surplus gear only after checking whether Otto, a smith, or a collection quest can use it. Keep one spare healing item on every hero, because a co-op guest may not receive the same progression or inventory state as the host in current launch reports.

1. Fornost: open the road north

The opening quest starts when Aragorn sends the party to distract the forces at Fornost. Move through the ruined city until the first blue checkpoint, then clear the underground route rather than sprinting past enemies: break crates and barrels, and check the side alcoves for class-specific secrets.

The reliable objective order is:

1. Disrupt the enemy staging force and escape the tunnels.
2. Free the captive Eagle, Beleram. His later strike is a route tool, not just a damage button; save it for gates, war machines, or a dense spawn.
3. Clear the courtyard, climb the battlements, and destroy the war machines.
4. Find Elladan and Elrohir, summon Beleram to open the gate, and survive the defense sequence around the brothers.
5. Push through the citadel, defeat Tharzog and his guard, then take the route to Sarn Ford.

Before the final checkpoint, sweep the Outer Wards for the aged tome and the first Sorcerer’s Scroll lead. If you accepted Rowlie’s Gift, Forewarned is Forearmed, or Otto’s Arsenal in Bree, finish their conversations before the travel screen. The old route also places Tedder Hedgerow’s riddle wager in the Prancing Pony; it is a money activity rather than a quest-log objective.

2. The Barrow-downs: do not rush the tombs

At Sarn Ford, speak with Halbarad and Silanna before travelling. The main quest asks you to search for the missing Rangers, while Athelas asks for the herb that can help Elaran. The two routes overlap, so take the left and right edges of each clearing before entering the blue-lit tomb door.

The region’s stone pillars and tomb urns function like the breakables in Fornost. Destroy them all on the first pass. Westernesse Artifacts are reported as random drops, so the correct completion habit is break everything, record the counter, and only then decide whether a replay is needed.

Inside the tomb, clear the first room, unlock the gate, and follow the signs of Luin and Kilaran. The Last Sons of Cardolan starts when you enter a tomb; clear its three undead chambers before leaving. For the main quest, locate Kilaran, defeat the Barrow-wight Lord, speak with Luin, and continue to Rivendell.

3. Rivendell and the Ettenmoors

Rivendell is a quest hub, not a cosmetic stop. Speak with Elrond, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Gloin, Frodo, Arwen, Bilbo, and Angmir. The historical route specifically associates speaking with Frodo about the Ring with the Friend to the Ring-bearer achievement route; verify the trigger on Legacy before relying on it.

Accept Elf-stones from Angmir, The Poet from Bilbo, and Miruvor from Arwen. Use the smith dialogue to decide whether the current run needs equipment now or whether you are saving artifacts for a later forge. The Ettenmoors itself is a loop of Coldfells, High Moors, and Stone Chasm spaces. Gather the Miruvor ingredients while you are already exploring, then find Bargrisar and attack his arms and head during his exposed states. Do not stand under the Stone-giant: his slow swings are easy to read, but the hit damage is severe.

Return to Rivendell after the fight. Hand in Poet, Miruvor, Elf-stones, and any Westernesse collection before accepting Mount Gundabad. This avoids carrying a full inventory into the mountain.

4. Mount Gundabad: protect the activation sequence

The Gundabad route is a pressure test for party roles. Climb the Alpine Pass, find the Dwarves who infiltrated the stronghold, and disable the lever that controls the Orc machinery. Keep the frontline hero near the objective while the ranger and lore-master remove archers and interrupt casters.

The critical section is Nordri’s ancient-weapon activation. Clear a safe ring around him before triggering the interaction, then save crowd-control skills for the waves that arrive during the channel. A wipe here costs more time than spending potions early. Once the weapon fires, the Eagle rescue sends the party to Nordinbad; use the new hub to repair, sell, and re-equip rather than starting Mirkwood under-geared.

5. Nordinbad, Mirkwood, and Radagast

At Nordinbad, speak with Bruni, Gorin, Nordri, Galar, and Buri. Gorin’s Gratitude begins after the main conversation; Buri’s black-pearl request is a random-find collection quest, so keep it active even if the first run produces nothing. If you still have Westernesse pieces, choose the smith based on the role you are building rather than handing them in automatically.

Mirkwood begins with Wulfrun and then turns into a rescue route. Defeat the first defenders, follow Beleram, push through the spider woods, recover Radagast’s staff, and search the branching paths before the final arena. The Captive side quest is easy to miss because its Orc camp is off the obvious road: look for the hidden camp, clear it, free the Elf, and speak with Glorhirin. Saenathra’s fight rewards patience; remove webbed adds first, then punish the opening after her committed attack.

6. Grey Mountains and the Siege of Nordinbad

Radagast gives the location of Urgost’s lair in the Grey Mountains. Travel there with a balanced party, keep one character on ranged interruption duty, and use the blue checkpoints as deliberate resupply breaks. The historical quest list calls this “The Grey Mountains,” while some older guide indexes treat the next return as a separate final chapter. The site keeps both names visible to match searches.

When the party returns to Nordinbad, finish outstanding scroll and smith quests before entering the siege. The final defense is a sequence of waves, not one normal arena: position near the objective, reserve Beleram or equivalent burst for gate pressure, and do not chase stragglers away from the defense radius. After the siege, follow the Agandaur route and keep the Eagle decision in mind if you are testing the historical Eagle Savior achievement condition.

Legacy Edition checkpoint protocol

The current release is reported to add autosave and modern interface changes. After every hub hand-in and before a boss, pause until the save indicator clears, then confirm the quest log and one item on each hero. In co-op, have the guest rejoin only after the host sees the new checkpoint. This is a practical safety routine, not a claim that it fixes the reported progression bug.

The chapter and objective order is cross-checked against the GameFAQs quest list, the GameFAQs walkthrough index, and the Gamepressure chapter guide. The current-edition boundary is documented in the Legacy vs original comparison.