The Lord of the Rings: War in the North that co-operation amongst traditionally antagonistic races is such a major theme in the novels, they wanted to replicate it in the game. Having experimented with two, three and four-player co-op, they ultimately decided to go with three-player, thus mirroring the classic triptych in the novels; Man (Aragorn), Elf (Legolas) and Dwarf (Gimli). Lead designer Andre Maguire explained that "how" players experienced co-op mode was equally as important as them simply playing it; However, according to Tomandl, the focus on co-op gameplay did not mean single-player mode was neglected; "War in the North" is the first "Lord of the Rings" game
The Lord of the Rings in "Misty Mountain Hop", and Ringwraiths in "The Battle of Evermore". In 1970, the Swedish musician Bo Hansson released an instrumental concept album based on the book titled "Sagan om ringen" (translated as "The Saga of the Ring", which was the title of the Swedish translation of "The Lord of the Rings" at the time). The album was subsequently released internationally as "Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings" in 1972. The songs "Rivendell" and "The Necromancer" by the progressive rock band Rush were inspired by Tolkien. Styx also paid homage to Tolkien on their album "Pieces of Eight" with