The New Mordor Times

**ANOUNCEMENT**: EVERYONE WHO HAS EMAIL RECORDS OF THEIR CONVERSATIONS WITH Lord of the Rings: Rise to War customer service, PLEASE LOOK THROUGH THEM AND SEND WHAT YOU CAN TO EMBRACER GROUP. I have already sent my email records below to the Embracer Group. Look for emails where it's ESPECIALLY clear NetEase was saying one thing in private (approving player ideas, admitting 1.0 fixes were better, etc. . .) than what was being said in public on their social media pages, and make SURE Embracer Group gets these emails. You can contact the Embracer Group at licensing@embracer.com

*AN EMAIL TEMPLATE IS ALSO HERE: (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qt8lR8eaOzU1ZoyuD0QK8XvtaVCwpXin3S9CDZQGIpA/edit?tab=t.0) TO CONTACT EMBRACER GROUP

**THIS LINK IS FOR SHARING THE SIX-DAY LEAKS (Six-Day Leaks) which can be downloaded as a pdf or read as google doc (they are 42 pages long)

This site is the new home of Tactician, from Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, and will be continuously updated as I come out with new content. It is home to my newsletter, The New Mordor Times, which is the Uruk response to biased news outlets such as The Daily Gondor, as well as all other media, art, or writing I and others from the Rise to War community create. 

This site is also dedicated not just to preserving our Rise to War content, but actively leading the movement to restore Rise to War. Currently, our best hope at the movement appears to be signing the petition made by Pleby (https://c.org/HzVD5G9Dz9) and the petition made by Zach Vigoren (https://www.change.org/p/revoke-netease-s-license-for-lord-of-the-rings-rise-to-war) in case NetEase refuses to negotiate. I understand this may seem difficult, but I have observed the strength of our community; I have seen how one Facebook group alone has 300,000 people. If everyone in that group (called Lord of the Rings: Rise to War) were to sign these petitions, we would get massive support within days. Furthermore, I think we can all agree- since Rise to War ended, we have struggled to find a new home. Yes, there is War of Nova, but it is not the same. Rise to War was unique; what other game could you play as the Witch-King on? The game as a whole was amazing, especially version 1.0. However, we were plagued with bad leadership, but the game itself was good. If we all sign these petitions, I truly believe we can exert enough pressure on NetEase. To strike home, however, we must be targeting NetEase on numerous fronts; whether that be leaving negative reviews on their new pet project Destiny: Rising (a weak, sloppy gacha game which Rise to War was sacrificed for), refusing to purchase/download their apps in a boycott, or spamming their customer service and leadership teams endlessly with the #RestoreRiseToWar, we need to crank up the pressure on them so they cave. We are not asking for much: we just want the servers back open, and we want more honesty and fair treatment from them. 

Remember this: everything seemed impossible until it was done. NetEase was petitioned before, having players demand they transfer content progress from a Harry Potter game to NetEase which took it over; they ceded before (https://www.change.org/p/netease-games-please-pick-up-wb-games-harry-potter-magic-awakened-servers - which was achieved in only 2 years and ended up giving players full acess to all their old accounts, as progress sucessfully was transferred). We have far more people who love Lord of the Rings. We can achieve this too. 

In Solidarity, 

Tactician

A MAP OF WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO RESTORE THE GAME (In terms of petition count): 

• 1,989 signatures for Keep Severs Online petition; 11 more needed to 2,000 (minimum 4,011 signatures more to tie with the number of signatures for Harry Potter: Magic Awakening)

• Roughly 5000 more signatures for the Zach Vigoren petition, targeting Embracer Group which now holds rights to Rise to War through the LOTR licensing

• 11% of reviews of NetEase's new game Destiny Rising are 1-star reviews- need to reach at least 75% to weaken sales, use #RestoreRiseToWar in review titles

A SERIES OF MESSAGES BETWEEN ME AND SOMEONE CLAIMING TO BE A "LAWYER" OF NETEASE (On Facebook) AFTER I PUBLISHED THE FOLLOWING LEAKS BELOW:

THEM: 

I’m one of the many lawyers at NetEase. We are preparing a lawsuit to file against you for your defamatory rhetoric you’re spewing on this group. We will see you in court.

ME:

Anonymous member 350 That's fine with me, I have nothing to lose anyways. You know what your company does have to lose, however? It’s last shred of credibility. Feel free to read what your customer service staff wrote. I think you'll find it really interesting- I bet you never had any idea they told me Version 1.0 factions like Isengard were "fantastic" because you were too busy coming up with legal defenses for version 2.0. It must be a shame for you to have put in so much work, all for it to be meaningless anyways because The New Mordor Times isn't under your jurisdiction anyways. But, I'd love to see how you defend your company writing, "Regarding the issue you raised, we have not received any relevant notification and therefore cannot confirm whether the game will be resold to another company or whether financial compensation will be provided." after taking Blizzard to court for $43.5 MILLION on behalf of your players in China a few years ago.

THEM:

Anonymous member Your response confirms exactly why our legal team is reviewing your conduct. Publishing selectively presented private correspondence while making public accusations that our client “abused its license” and “deliberately misled players” exposes you to serious liability for defamation and misrepresentation. The fact that you claim to have “nothing to lose” does not change the legal standards that apply when individuals publicly make damaging claims about a company without full context or authorization.

You should also be aware that jurisdiction is not determined by a website name or where you believe it operates from. Courts regularly assert jurisdiction where reputational harm occurs and where the affected business operates. We are currently preserving records of your statements, the materials you claim to have leaked, and your efforts to encourage others to disseminate additional internal communications.

You may wish to reconsider continuing to publish or distribute these allegations until you have obtained qualified legal advice of your own. Once litigation begins, the consequences—financial and otherwise—can become very real very quickly.

ME:

Anonymous member 350 Dear lawyer who somehow has chosen to remain anonymous; I appreciate your advice. I am also not blind to what you are writing. I see you talk about litigation and various consequences outside of financial- kindly educate me on what other consequences you are implying, and whether or not they are legally allowed, because I'd really like to speak to a lawyer whose idea of consequences is not so vague it could include many things that could range from everything between a bad reputation and sending a goon squad after people as "consequences." As for defamation and misrepresentation- your legal team will have to do a heck of a lot of reviewing. Just think of this as a mind game, my friend. Whose will is the mightier? Also, I don't need "authorization" from you to leak emails that expose your company decieving players to scam them.

My recorded conversations with NetEase Games, proving they were aware of player concerns prior to shutdown- and therefore, why they OWE us the right to have our servers back- and why Embracer Group MUST step in on our behalf: 

TACTICIAN

SENT 9/18/2025

Dear customer support at NetEase Games,

I hope you are doing well. Regarding faction choice in your game Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, as a player since the game came out, I was very disappointed to see how good factions are recently outnumbering evil factions in campaigns. To balance this out, I have attached some faction ideas below for you to consider adding:

1. Rivendell and Woodland Realm (break up Lothlorien faction)

2. Harad (with Umbar, or separate from an Umbar faction)

3. Isengard

4. Gundabad

5. Variags

6. Dunland

7. Khazad-Dum (can be split into Moria for Moria-Orcs and Khazad-Dum for Dwarves)

8. Eastern Elf (Avari) faction (maybe in Rhun?)

9. Numenor (in a special campaign map)

10. Valinor (any campaign map)

Many players, including myself, wish to see new factions added or restored to the game, and while I cannot speak for everyone, I urge you to consider my idea and listen to the ideas of my fellow players who have similar ideas about factions.

Best Regards,

******(ANONYMOUS)****

RESPONSE 9/18/2025

Dear tactician,

Thanks for contacting us here.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and suggestions! We're delighted to hear that you're a dedicated player and have such deep insights into the faction selection process.

We understand your concerns about the imbalanced faction representation in the game, especially with the recent significant outnumbering of the good factions in the campaign. This can indeed impact the overall experience and enjoyment of the game. The ideas you've provided for new factions are fantastic, especially those for Rivendell, Harad, and Isengard, which offer excellent direction for the richness and diversity of the game.

We will share your suggestions with the development team, and they will seriously consider adding or reinstating new factions. We value player feedback, and your and other players' opinions are crucial to our efforts in optimizing the game.

We hope to see these changes in future updates, providing players with more choices and a more balanced experience. Thank you again for your continued support and patience. If you have further ideas or suggestions, please feel free to contact us; we'd love to hear from you.

We wish you all the best in the game and look forward to seeing you again!

We appreciate your time and kind support. Have a nice day. We will be much appreciated it if you can evaluate our service. Thank you.

Best Regards,

Support Team

MESSAGE 10/4/2025

Dear NetEase Games customer support team,

I hope you are doing well. Could you please make sure your CEO Ding Lei receives this message below in full? I sent it to what I believed was his email, but am now unsure is his real email address (apologies for any confusion; I was trying to forward an earlier email but I don’t believe it went through correctly).

Best,

******(ANONYMOUS)**** 

(Here is my message below for Mr. Lei):

Dear CEO of NetEase Games, Ding Lei, 

I hope you are doing well. Given the current success of your company’s new game Destiny Rising, I am certain you and your development team are undoubtedly very busy, but hope that you will listen to the concerns not only I, but many other faithful players of your game Lord of the Rings: Rise to War who have been playing since the game was released and have invested time and money into this game share. Many of us have contacted your customer support team, but this was unfortunately unsuccessful as our concerns were not met, prompting players like myself to directly contact you instead in hopes that you will listen to us. Below is a list of concerns. 

1. In the game, we have Saruman, Lurtz, Ugthak, and Ugluk commanders but no Isengard faction

2. We have Azog and Oglurg, as well as special Orcish units from Gundabad, but no Gundabad faction

3. We have the Dunland chieftain Zegrid as a commander, but no Dunland faction

4. We have Sunnind and Black Serpent, as well as ads directly showing the Haradrim leading charges in battle, but no Harad faction

5. We have Corsairs but no Umbar faction

6. We have Thranduil and Legolas but no Woodland Realm faction; both these characters have been deemed part of Lothlorien, which breaks lore. 

7. We have Elrond but no Rivendell faction, as he has also been made part of the Lothlorien 

8. We see many cinematic ads on your official website (https://www.lotr-risetowar.com) but no real gameplay like this exists

9. We see that the 4-commander formation system has turned into a pay to win system, as players must invest in getting more commanders and have started using real money

10. We see your social media pages having many updates weekly- none of which address our concerns, despite many players having voiced their opinions to your customer support team

11. We see your daily rewards and mathom chests turning into things players must pay money to open

12. We see more and more people quitting the game and telling us the game is being dominated by pay to win players

13. We see that players cannot report false advertising from your pages, even when it is clearly false (for instance, the Mathom House Peddler page is showing ads depicting Lurtz choking out an Orc, which does not happen in game since your game has different gameplay and Isengard no longer exists as a faction, but this cannot be reported as false advertising).

14. We see that players have been reported for making hateful comments- yet have been allowed back on after a brief suspension that doesn’t address the real reasons why they said what they did

15. We see that players are losing everything they worked for in Seasonal Resets- and start from the bottom again every two months, creating a repetitive gameplay style that is not what we were promised

16. We see developers and customer support teams of NetEase Games routinely ignoring us.
    
    

Be honest with us, Mr. Lei- why should we continue playing this game? How is your game appealing to players- is it engaging, does it allow equal opportunity for all, does it allow for players to have fun? 

We urge you to- if you wish to respond to our email- please make your case as to why LOTR: Rise to War should continue to be played by us, and- if you do want to accept our concerns- please explain specifically in your reply how you plan to address the concerns we have raised.

Best Regards,

The fans of Lord of the Rings and faithful players of your game

RESPONSE 10/8/2025

Dear tactician,

We sincerely apologize for the delayed response and appreciate your continued patience.

I hope this message finds you well! Thank you very much for your attention and support for our game. We greatly value the opinions and feedback of every player, and the concerns you mentioned will be communicated to the relevant development team.

We understand that the player experience in the game is of utmost importance, and we take your suggestions and concerns seriously. Our team will work hard to improve the game to provide a better experience for you and all players. We hope that you will see relevant changes in future updates.

If you have any other questions or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to us. We truly appreciate your feedback as a player and look forward to continually enhancing the quality of the game.

We appreciate your time and kind support. Have a nice day. We will be much appreciated it if you can evaluate our service. Thank you.

Best Regards,

Support Team

MESSAGE 10/8/2025

Thank you very much for your response- so your CEO Ding Lei will get this message and reply to me at this same email when he gets a chance?

RESPONSE 10/9/2025

Dear tactician,

We sincerely apologize for the delayed response and appreciate your continued patience.

Thank you very much for your suggestions and feedback! We will pass your information along to the relevant teams, including senior management. Rest assured, we take every player's feedback seriously.

If you'd like to learn more about game updates, please follow our official Discord forum for the latest news and updates. Thank you again for your support and enthusiasm. If you have any additional ideas or suggestions, please feel free to share them with us!

We appreciate your time and kind support. Have a nice day. We would greatly appreciate it if you could evaluate our service. Thank you.

Best Regards,
Support Team

MESSAGE 10/9/2025

Dear Support Team,

Thank you very much for your response. So, just to confirm the following:

1. You’ll help relay the exact message I have for your CEO Ding Lei to him, in full (and include all appropriate groups such as senior management teams for LOTR: Rise to War)?

2. You will make certain that appropriate parties, including Mr. Lei himself, know my email address (******(ANONYMOUS)****@gmail.com) so they can directly reach out to me regarding my message to Mr. Lei?

3. You will make certain that Mr. Lei and other senior management, as well as all relevant teams on this issue, are fully aware of our concerns?

4. You will work diligently to meet our concerns, as best as possible, in a way that will take player voices into account- and to the best of your ability, have Mr. Lei and other senior management, if they are able to do so, be directly involved and be directly communicating with players, so they can receive player input clearly from us?

5. You will grant us the opportunity to hear directly from Mr. Lei and other senior management, if they so choose, and have them present their views to us in an email to my email address, here?

Regarding your discord page, I appreciate your suggestion, and will follow it along with LOTR: Rise to War’s Facebook page, X/Twitter page, Instagram page, as well as info posted on the game’s tavern system by officials, all of which I am currently following and have checked regularly.

If you, Mr. Lei, the senior management teams, and other relevant teams are prepared to confirm my questions above, I will work with you all fully in whatever way I can, on the basis of mutual trust and respect, so together we can improve the game for all players.

Thank you again for your response, and I hope to hear from you along with Mr. Lei and other relevant individuals or teams as soon as it is convenient for them.

Best Regards,

******(ANONYMOUS)**** and fellow players

RESPONSE 10/10/2025

Dear players,

Thank you very much for your continued attention and follow-up on this issue! Your feedback is very important to us, and we have passed your feedback on to the relevant team for further review. We are always striving to improve the gaming experience, and your feedback is crucial for our improvement efforts.

If you have any further inquiries, please feel free to contact us. We appreciate your support and your valuable feedback on our service. Don't worry, closing this thread will not affect your future follow-up. Have a nice day!

Best Regards,
Support Team

GAME SHUTDOWN ANNOUNCEMENT ON 10/15/2025 (as posted on NetEase's website):

"To the Tacticians of The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War,        

After years of epic battles and forged alliances across the realms of legend, we announce with heavy hearts that The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War will close its operations on December 31, 2025.    

We are deeply grateful for your loyalty. As this adventure comes to a close, below are key dates to keep in mind.       

Key Dates   

October 15, 2025: As of today, you will not be able to make new purchases in the game. You can continue to use the existing in-game currency.

October 15 to December 31, 2025: The game remains online and fully playable until December 31, 2025 UTC 06:59 AM and you may use all remaining in-game currency and we encourage you to do so before the game ceases operation.      

Dec 31, 2025 UTC 07:00 AM: Servers shut down permanently, and all game access ends. The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War will no longer be playable after the servers go offline.   

It has been an honor to build this world with you. We thank you for your fellowship and passion. For questions, please contact lotr@global.netease.com."

Forwarded Conversation

Subject: Petition to your company

------------------------

From: tactician XXXXXXX <tacticianXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>

Date: Thu, Oct 23, 2025 at 9:14 AM

To: <lotr@global.netease.com>, <wding@neteasecorps.com>

Dear NetEase Games, 

I hope you are doing well. Regarding your decision to end the game Lord of the Rings (LOTR): Rise to War, myself and many players are very disappointed in your company for doing so. We strongly wish that you please consider your players, who have built communities and invested much time and money into the game, as you plan to shut this game down. We players have created a petition to keep this game open, and hope that you will look at our petition and think about at least providing us some alternative platform on which to play the game, given that many of us are rallying around the game to keep it alive. We have also contacted the Embracer Group (the rights holders to your LOTR license) in hopes of being able to potentially negotiate out something with your company or them, and make our voices heard to your team. 

The link to our petition is here: https://c.org/HzVD5G9Dz9

Best Regards, 

tactician

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Thu, Oct 23, 2025 at 9:23 AM

To: <tacticianXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>

[Auto Reply] Dear player, Thank you for contacting us here! We have received your inquiry and would like to respond to you as soon as possible! Please allow us to explain that due to the current high volume of inquiries, we are working at an accelerated pace to address your issue. Our staff will usually respond to you within 12~48 hours. Please be patient and thank you for your understanding. Best Regards, Support Team

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Thu, Oct 23, 2025 at 9:31 PM

To: <tacticianXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>

Dear players:

First and foremost, I want to sincerely thank you for all the time and effort you've put into this game. We understand how much this means to many of you, and we're deeply disappointed and saddened by its end. We also deeply appreciate your feedback.

Thank you so much for your continued support! We deeply cherish the time we've spent with you.

We know this game holds a special place in your hearts, and we hope you'll cherish these memories in your future adventures. We wish you all the best in the future! We also appreciate your sincere feedback and suggestions.

Thank you again for your support and enthusiasm!

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us. Rest assured, closing this thread will not affect your future follow-up. Have a wonderful day. We would be grateful if you could leave a review of our service. Thank you!

Best Regards,
Support Team

----------

From: tactician XXXXXXX <tacticianXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>

Date: Thu, Oct 23, 2025 at 10:05 PM

To: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Cc: <info@embracer.com>, <press@embracer.com>

Dear Support Team, 

Thank you for your email, but I am afraid you seem to have misunderstood its message. This was not a message in support of your company. It was a message to inform you that we are opposed to your company's decision- this was not feedback, this is our legitimate demand to you and your company. I appreciate your good wishes for us, but to be clear, we are NOT here to provide continued support, we are here to show you that many of us feel your decision to shut down this game is wrong. You have a player base with thousands of people across the world, and to just end it all in 2 months is considered by many of us as proof of your company utterly disregarding the connections built through this game and solely trying to drain players for profit. Thus, we strongly urge you to keep the servers open, even if they must be in a reduced form. If that is not possible however, and you have no option to avoid closing the game, then we urge you to be honest with us- if you had to shut down the game because of licensing issues, then say so openly and we will present our case to whoever runs your licensing instead, but if it was for another reason, then tell us why you are planning to shut down a game that is loved by thousands of people. Many of us have been a part of this game since Version 1.0 and some, even during beta testing; we have earned the right to know why you plan to shut down this game, and the right to demand that this game be kept open in some form. Had it not been for our support after the 2.0 update, your game would have ceased to exist because so many players left. Yet, we stayed and kept investing and kept contributing- many of us even posted and shared game plans with you in hopes of improving the game because your development team, in our opinion, was not making updates that best suited players and we felt the game would improve with more player feedback. To shut down all the servers like this is unjust; we have been a part of this game since the beginning, and even if the game cannot be updated or cannot be at the same level as it was before, it must not be shut down as many of us truly wish to keep playing it- the fact we have nearly 2,000 signatures on our petition in only a week should be proof of this to you and your CEO. Already, people are invoking your shutdown of this game in negative reviews of Destiny: Rising to claim you are a scam company, and are vowing to boycott every game produced by your company; keep the servers open, and we will be able to reestablish trust and understanding again like what we had during the early days of the game. 

Best, 

tactician

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Thu, Oct 23, 2025 at 10:13 PM

To: <tacticianXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Fri, Oct 24, 2025 at 3:49 AM

To: <tacticianXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>

Dear Players,

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and feelings with us. We deeply value player feedback and understand your disappointment and dissatisfaction with the decision to discontinue the game.

We recognize that for many players, this game is more than just entertainment; it holds countless fond memories and emotional bonds. We respect your passion and support for the game and appreciate your contributions over the years.

Regarding the decision to discontinue the game, we understand this is difficult news for you and other players. Thank you for your feedback. If you have any further questions or would like to express more of your thoughts, please feel free to contact us.

We look forward to your feedback on our service and thank you for your continued support!

Best Regards,
Support Team

----------

From: tactician XXXXXXX <tacticianXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>

Date: Fri, Oct 24, 2025 at 9:11 AM

To: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Dear Support Team, 

I appreciate your concern and understanding of our feelings on this matter. However, since you have now confirmed that the decision to shut down the game appears to have been made by senior management and not your support team division, we would like to communicate directly with your CEO Ding Lei and anyone else responsible for this decision so we can better communicate our concerns to them, without any intermediaries. We would strongly appreciate you providing us with Mr. Lei's email address or to confirm that the email address we have found for him (wding@corp.netease.com) is the email we can most easily reach him at, so he can be made directly aware of our concern and we can make certain he is understanding our concerns as our messages are not being transmitted through intermediaries. 

We hope that you will either provide us with his email or confirm that this email is the most convenient way for us to communicate with him. While we will communicate with you on other issues if needed, we would much prefer that on an issue like this, we communicate with those directly responsible to better advance our goals. 

Best Regards, 

tactician

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Fri, Oct 24, 2025 at 9:14 AM

To: <tacticianXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Fri, Oct 24, 2025 at 10:54 AM

To: <tacticianXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>

Dear player,

Thank you for contacting us here!

Sorry for keeping you waiting. Due to the large number of requests, your request is still in the queue. Please don't worry, we will reply to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience!

Best Regards,
Support Team

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Fri, Oct 24, 2025 at 11:16 AM

To: <tacticianXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>

Dear Tactician,

We sincerely apologize for the delay in responding and thank you for your continued patience.

Thank you for your understanding and support of our work. We deeply value your concerns and feedback regarding the game suspension. We have noted your concerns and will convey them to the relevant management.

However, due to company policy, we are unable to provide individual contact information or confirm specific email addresses for requests to contact senior management directly. We encourage you to continue to provide your feedback through official channels, and we will ensure your feedback is passed on to higher-level management.

Thank you again for your understanding and support of our work. If you have additional questions or need further assistance, please feel free to contact us.Thank you for your evaluation of our service and wish you happy gaming!

Best Regards,
Support Team

FROM TACTICIAN (October 26th): 

Dear NetEase Games, 

I hope you are doing well. As a player who has played your game Lord of the Rings: Rise to War since it was released, I was very disappointed by the game shutting down and the lack of company transparency regarding the shutdown, particularly as I was told otherwise repeatedly. 

Let us speak plainly to each other; I and many players do not want the game shut down. You have made the decision to shut down this game, and in response, I feel you should know that I have information on your company. You might recall this statement on October 9th, six days before announcing the game shutdown, when you wrote, "We will pass your information along to the relevant teams, including senior management. Rest assured, we take every player's feedback seriously" and many other statements, before shutting down the game. 

Let's make a deal: you keep the servers of Lord of the Rings: Rise to War open, or sell the game to another developer who will keep them open if you no longer can do this, and I won't leak all the information I have against your company to the Apple App Store, the Embracer Group, the Google Play Store, and your new partner Bungle who I'm sure would be very disappointed to learn the truth about the company distributing their game. Both of us will win if you fulfill your end of the deal and reverse the decision to shut down the game, or if you decide to place the game under a new developer. 

(Follow-Up email same day):

Please note, ideally, I would prefer that you listen to this petition (https://www.change.org/p/keep-servers-online-lotr-war) to determine your decision, and do not want you to choose to cancel or restore the game based on what I wrote; I just wanted to inform you that I, personally, am prepared to share negative information about your company and want to make sure you understand that I have no problem with your company, it's just that I want to get the game I like back, and that if you continue to ignore the concerns of players, I will be forced to go public with the information I have. 

(FROM NETEASE lotr@global.netease.com, on October 27th): 

Dear players:

First and foremost, I want to sincerely thank you for your time and effort in playing this game. We understand how much this means to many of you, and we are deeply disappointed and saddened by its end. We also deeply appreciate your feedback.

Thank you so much for your continued support! We cherish the wonderful time we've shared with you.

We know this game holds a special place in your hearts, and we hope you'll cherish these memories in your future adventures. We wish you all the best in the future! Thank you also for your sincere feedback and suggestions.

We also appreciate your thoughtful feedback and requests for our game. We have taken note of them and will pass them on to higher-level staff. Thank you again for your support and enthusiasm!

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us. Rest assured, closing this thread will not affect your future follow-up. Have a wonderful day. We would be grateful if you could leave a review of our service. Thank you!

Best Regards,
Support Team

Forwarded Conversation

Subject: Lord of the Rings: Rise to War- funding support?

------------------------

From: Tactician (XXXXX) <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Date: Tue, Nov 11, 2025 at 2:31 PM

To: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Dear NetEase Games, 

I hope you are doing well. I read recently on Yahoo News that your CEO Ding Lei is focused on trying to restore the profits made by your company, and is thus choosing to divest in games and overseas studios in order to reduce expenses. As an avid player of Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, which was announced to be closing by December 31st this year, I and many other players are very disappointed by the news that this game is being shut down. 

Can you please let us know if the reason Rise to War is being shut down is because of funding issues? If so, many players, myself included, would be more than willing to contribute towards keeping this game alive; we have all built lasting connections, and do not want to see the game be shut down just because there is a lack of funding available to maintain it. As you will see in our petition (https://c.org/HzVD5G9Dz9), many of us want to keep this game alive and have made financial contributions to help raise awareness about our cause; which, speaking as someone who has relatives working in finance, would be better for you if this money was being spent on your product. I understand your CEO has his own plans, but we strongly encourage him to at least look at our petition and really hear from the player base, which has been loyal to your company since the day this game was released.  

Also, if you are interested in using this, I have created a Google Form for you to use or modify as a potential survey of the player base (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScRA7_VRHDGMMNLLOS08Cd95aS7skKJw27zWw24nsrrsSm2aw/viewform?usp=publish-editor). 

Best, 

Tactician

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Tue, Nov 11, 2025 at 2:43 PM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

[Auto Reply] Dear player, Thank you for contacting us here! We have received your inquiry and would like to respond to you as soon as possible! Please allow us to explain that due to the current high volume of inquiries, we are working at an accelerated pace to address your issue. Our staff will usually respond to you within 12~48 hours. Please be patient and thank you for your understanding. Best Regards, Support Team

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From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 1:08 AM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Dear Tactician:

We sincerely apologize for the delay in our response and thank you for your patience.

After careful consideration of the game's operational needs and other internal factors, we have made the difficult decision to cease operations of the game. This decision is unrelated to external factors. Please note that there will be no further content updates to the game, and it will be taken offline on December 31, 2025.

Thank you for your enthusiastic support of the game and for your past contributions and dedication. We also appreciate your positive suggestions and feedback. We are sorry we cannot fulfill your current request and once again express our sincere apologies.

It has been an honor to build this world with you. Thank you for your companionship and enthusiasm. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again. Thank you for your feedback on our service, and we wish you a pleasant gaming experience!

Sincerely,
The Game Team

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From: Tactician (XXXXX) <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 6:49 AM

To: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Dear Game Team,

I understand you have made decisions already and appreciate you directly reaching out to me. However, are you certain you cannot fulfill these requests? All many of us players want to know was whether or not the closure of the game was because of financial issues, if we as a community could chip in to support the game, or just why this game was shut down. As for my second request- could you please explain to me why it is not possible for you to take a survey of your player base? It’s not a long process, it is literally just asking players how they feel about the game and it potentially being closed down this year; it’s meant for you to actually hear your player base, so you can make a more informed decision by hearing from real people instead of looking at numbers to see whether or not the game is profitable.

Best,

Tactician 

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 6:53 AM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

[Auto Reply] Dear player, Thank you for contacting us here! We have received your inquiry and would like to respond to you as soon as possible! Please allow us to explain that due to the current high volume of inquiries, we are working at an accelerated pace to address your issue. Our staff will usually respond to you within 12~48 hours. Please be patient and thank you for your understanding. Best Regards, Support Team

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 1:09 PM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Dear Tactician,

Thank you for contacting us.

Due to current regulations, we regret that we cannot provide your personal email address.At the same time, after careful consideration of the game's operational requirements and other internal factors, we have made the difficult decision to cease operations of this game. This decision is not related to external factors. Thank you for your continued passion and support.

Regarding your question about whether you can contribute funds to support the game, our team has not yet received any relevant notification. However, we will carefully consider the feedback from each player and incorporate it into future decisions.

Furthermore, regarding your suggestion to conduct a survey of the player base, we greatly appreciate your suggestion and will forward it to the relevant departments for consideration.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused and appreciate your understanding.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again. Thank you for your evaluation of our service and wish you happy gaming!

Best Regards,
Support Team

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From: Tactician (XXXXX) <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 1:35 PM

To: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Dear support team, 

Thank you very much for this clarification. I appreciate you considering conducting a survey of the player base; however, the only request I have for you now is that, given that I provided you with a template of a potential survey, if you decide to conduct a survey, please share your survey form with me so this way, I can also view the results of this survey and keep a record of the player responses, so just in case- for whatever reason- the google form on your end doesn't work, if I am included on the survey I can see how my fellow players are responding to the questions and later share those results with you, or discuss their results and together we can determine where to go from there. 

If you wish to contact me again, you can do so at Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX) or Tactician(XXXXX)@gmail.com

Best, 

Tactician 

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 1:43 PM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 6:18 PM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Dear Tactician,

Thank you very much for your request and suggestion! We understand your concerns. We regret that we cannot fulfill your request at this time, but please rest assured that our team will carefully consider every player's feedback and incorporate it into future decisions.

The team is constantly striving to improve all aspects of the game to ensure it meets the needs of different players. However, we also recognize that there may be areas where we haven't done well enough. We sincerely apologize for any disappointment this may have caused.

We are very grateful for your trust and support as a player. We also hope to have the opportunity to present you with a better game world in the future, so that you and other players can enjoy it.

We will strive to make the final days filled with joy and nostalgia.We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused and appreciate your understanding.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again. Thank you for your evaluation of our service and wish you happy gaming!

Best Regards,
Support Team

----------

From: Tactician (XXXXX) <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 6:57 PM

To: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Dear Support Team, 

while I appreciate your message, in all honesty, you do not understand the ramifications of your decision. Literally every remaining player on LOTR: Rise to War is either insulting you, cursing your company, and vowing to never buy or even download a single game you come out with in the future. You have players from all over the world who are united in hatred of your company, and have even gone to share this news to other players who are downloading your new games. There are petitions calling for your license of the game to be revoked, which at this point are almost as many people who want you to keep the game open.

Can your team just either release an offline version of this game so we don't lose all our progress, or just sell the game to another company? 

Best,

Tactician 

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 7:03 PM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 10:25 PM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Dear Players,

First of all, we sincerely thank all players for the time and effort they have invested in the game. I am deeply aware of your disappointment and anger over the server discontinuation. We understand what this means to many players, but due to changes in our operational strategy, we have made the difficult decision to officially cease operations of the servers. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and wish you all the best. Thank you for your valuable suggestions!

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us. Rest assured, closing this topic will not affect your future follow-up.

Have a nice day. We would greatly appreciate it if you could leave an evaluation of our service. Thank you!

Best Regards,
Support Team

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From: Tactician (XXXXX) <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 11:05 PM

To: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Cc: <licensing@embracer.com>, <wding@neteasecorps.com>

Dear Support Team, 

Again, in full honesty- if you seriously think that closing the game without even engaging with your player base as to why this game was shut down and just giving a generic explanation as to why, you do not understand the meaning this game had and continues to have for thousands of players. People invested THOUSANDS of dollars into this game based on what your development team was telling them- you cannot seriously expect that this is being received well by players, who now have no compensation for their purchases, or for players who built lasting communities from this game. 

Given that you are making changes to your operational strategy, I am fine with you choosing to not update this game- but we do want you to keep it alive. Therefore, I have a proposal; you can either sell this game to another company (we players have some developers in mind who we feel would be best-suited to take over), or, if you really want to get rid of this game and focus on new games, just let me run the servers; I can get my own team of people who share a passion for Lord of the Rings, or run it solo, and I can keep the servers maintained. You will not have to pay me anything, I don't want any money- I will seriously run this entire game FOR FREE if you decide to let me run this game. 

Best, 

Tactician 

----------

From: Mail Delivery Subsystem <mailer-daemon@googlemail.com>

Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 11:05 PM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Address not found

Your message wasn't delivered to wding@neteasecorps.com because the domain neteasecorps.com couldn't be found. Check for typos or unnecessary spaces and try again.

LEARN MORE

The response was:

DNS Error: DNS type 'mx' lookup of neteasecorps.com responded with code NXDOMAIN Domain name not found: neteasecorps.com For more information, go to https://support.google.com/mail/?p=BadRcptDomain

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 11:12 PM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Thu, Nov 13, 2025 at 6:04 AM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Dear Player,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and suggestions so frankly. We fully understand your disappointment with the game's shutdown and your deep affection for the game and its player community. We also recognize that many players have invested time and money in this game, so we take your concerns very seriously.

We will listen carefully to and record your suggestions. While we understand your desire to continue operating the game, we are unable to meet your request under the current circumstances. This is due to internal company policies and operational strategies.

We greatly appreciate your passion for the game and your contributions to the community.

Thank you for your support! If you have further questions or need further assistance, please feel free to contact us. We would also appreciate your evaluation of our service. Happy gaming!

Best Regards,
Support Team

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From: Tactician (XXXXX) <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Date: Thu, Nov 13, 2025 at 9:15 AM

To: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Dear Support Team, 

I understand you personally cannot keep this game operating, but can you not either sell the game to another company or let me run the game separately instead?

Best, 

Tactician

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Thu, Nov 13, 2025 at 9:23 AM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

----------

From: Tactician (XXXXX) <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Date: Thu, Nov 13, 2025 at 9:23 AM

To: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Again, as I previously noted, a lot of players are furious with your company right now- many of us would be less upset if we knew you had a plan to transfer ownership of the game to another company, as we want the game to continue and in all honesty, most people right now do not understand your motivations for closing the game- they just think you are deliberately shutting the game down to take all our money. If you could just let another company take over the game, that would really help both us players as we'd get to keep our progress, and it would also reduce the backlash your company has received. 

Best,  

Tactician

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 3:58 AM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Dear player,

Thank you for sharing your feelings and opinions again. We understand that many players are angry and disappointed with our company's decision, and this sentiment is understandable, especially when a game is important to everyone.

We value your suggestions very much and have recorded them again. We know how much many players value their personal accounts.

We are also very grateful for your enthusiasm for the game and your understanding of our team.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us. Rest assured, closing this topic will not affect your future follow-up. Have a nice day. We would greatly appreciate it if you could leave an evaluation of our service. Thank you!

Best Regards,
Support Team

----------

From: Tactician (XXXXX) <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Date: Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 12:12 PM

To: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Dear Support Team, 

Thank you- so are you going to sell this game to another company so they can take over? We'd like to keep playing the game, and do not want to lose everything if this whole situation can be resolved if you sell the game to another company and let them run it instead. 

Best, 

Tactician

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 12:23 PM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Sat, Nov 15, 2025 at 2:54 AM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Dear Tactician,

We sincerely apologize for the delay in our response and thank you for your patience.

Thank you for your enthusiastic support of the game and for your past contributions and dedication. Regarding your question about reselling the game, we have not received any notification at this time.We will record every player's feedback and incorporate it into future decision-making.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us. We are always here to help. Thank you for your support. We hope you will leave a review of our service. Happy gaming!

Best Regards,
Support Team

----------

From: Tactician (XXXXX) <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Date: Sat, Nov 15, 2025 at 12:31 PM

To: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Dear Support Team, 

Thank you for your response- so, just to confirm, would you be willing to resell the game to another company, if your company is unable to maintain the game? Or, in the event that you are unable to maintain the game and it is forced to close, will you provide financial compensation for all the players who spent money on this game?

Also, would it be possible for the Rise to War community to directly connect with your company's CEO, Mr. Ding Lei, regarding these matters so he can hear directly from the community as well? 

Best, 

Tactician

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Sat, Nov 15, 2025 at 12:42 PM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Sun, Nov 16, 2025 at 2:58 AM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Dear player,

Thank you for your inquiry! Regarding the issue you raised, we have not received any relevant notification and therefore cannot confirm whether the game will be resold to another company or whether financial compensation will be provided.

We value players' concerns very much and will record your feedback to ensure that relevant information is conveyed to our team. As for the request to communicate directly with our CEO, Mr. Ding Lei, we cannot provide his personal contact information at this time, but please rest assured that we will do our best to convey the community's voice internally.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused and appreciate your understanding.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again. Thank you for your evaluation of our service and wish you happy gaming!

Best Regards,
Support Team

----------

From: Tactician (XXXXX) <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Date: Mon, Nov 17, 2025 at 5:57 PM

To: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Dear support team, 

Thank you for your email- regarding the reselling of the game and financial compensation, please know we will continue to be holding strong on these issues, and expect a clear response when you can confirm this. As for contacting your CEO, we appreciate your offer to convey the voice of our community, but we would much prefer to either directly contact him or any other member of your development team, so they can be fully aware of our concerns. 

Best, 

Tactician

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Mon, Nov 17, 2025 at 6:03 PM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

----------

From: Tactician (XXXXX) <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

Date: Mon, Nov 17, 2025 at 6:16 PM

To: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Again, while I know you do have company policy for Mr. Ding Lei, we would like to at least be able to directly engage with senior management of some kind; most specifically, the management who made the decision to end Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, as Mr. Lei is undoubtedly a very busy man and - please correct me if I'm wrong - he most likely does not have the time to personally oversee every single game created by your company, and has to probably delegate this responsibility to various teams such as the team that was overseeing Lord of the Rings: Rise to War. 

Best, 

Tactician and fellow players 

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Sun, Nov 23, 2025 at 4:21 AM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

----------

From: lotr <lotr@global.netease.com>

Date: Mon, Nov 24, 2025 at 9:02 PM

To: <Tactician(XXXXX)(XXXXX)>

**A MESSAGE FOR EVERYONE REGARDING RECENT POLITICAL CONTENT HERE:***

To all readers of the New Mordor Times, and my fellow members of the Rise to War community: 

Many of you will have noticed I feature political content on this site, and have been doing so for a while now. You will also have noticed I've put up petitions calling for an end to the US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began on February 28th. Some of you may wonder why I am doing this, if I claim to have created this site for Middle-Earth content only. So, let me clarify a few things: I have always cared deeply about helping other people. I believe that if one has a platform, it should be used to offer support to those in need. That is why I often feature petitions tackling issues like deforestation, illegal child porn on Twitter, and democratic movements in other nations, and why I have uploaded various articles tackling issues like the Rohingya Genocide. 

I am also a citizen of the United States, and a young person. For these reasons, I feel that given the actions of my country, I should offer my fellow Americans and all those who love peace the chance to demand our president legally follow the Constitution and get permission from Congress to declare war. I do not support the regime of the ayatollahs in Iran, but I do not believe bombing a whole country just to kill a few people in power is the morally right path. That is why I have also uploaded petitions calling for the evacuation of Palestinian children and other civilians from Gaza, as I do not believe the actions of Israel - while it has a right to defend itself from the attacks of Hamas and the Iranian regime - constitute self-defense under international law, unless one believes a nation of nearly 10 million people has to bomb children in order to maintain security. I also believe in the sovereignty of all nations, and thus have promoted petitions created by my fellow Americans which voice our opposition to a US conquest of Greenland. I do not support imperialism, whether it be Russian imperialism in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, Chinese imperialism in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet & Inner Mongolia, American imperialism in Greenland, Venezuela, Gaza ("Trump Riviera) & the Caribbean, or Israeli imperialism in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, & the wider Middle East. That is why, as a human being, I cannot support wars focused on imperialistic conquest. All people are equal in the eyes of God and international law.

I will continue to upload political content on this site, just as I will continue to upload Lord of the Rings content. Being an advocate and creator are not separate roles, and I will not sacrifice one to continue being another. If you remember nothing else from this message, remember this: we are all human beings, and no matter what our religion, wealth level, nationality, or race is, we will all ultimately bleed red the same way, no matter how many differences there may seem to be between us. 

Best Regards, 

Tactician

*IF ANYONE WANTS TO SEND ME THEIR WORK: I would GLADLY help publish the pieces of others, if they want support in marketing their art. However, please do NOT use AI in ANY WAY- this website values REAL creativity.  This will include anybody's art, writing, or other content they wish to share here.  Please fill out this google form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1VE-oRuafly82Okyzdh3blUyHCWFZp7mc46vyJD15fPU41g/viewform?usp=publish-editor) to submit your work and I will attach it here.

*FOR FEEDBACK: please use this to offer feedback: OFFICIAL COMMENTS PAGE) 

REGARDING ALL PETITIONS: All Lord of the Rings-related, NetEase-related, and Rise to War-related petitions will be posted HERE, on the home page, which contains LORD OF THE RINGS content. All OTHER petitions addressing issues such as environmental damage, Gaza, political issues, racism, sexism, etc will be on the PETITIONS page.  

(IN THIS ONE CASE, I AM MAKING AN EXCEPTION BECAUSE THIS IS REALLY SCREWED UP WITH THE GROK AI AND WHAT IT DOES- PLEASE, if you have ANY human decency or compassion and are a human being, SIGN THIS PETITION because Grok is MENTAL and is allowing minors and women to be made into nudes with AI: https://c.org/JYzCBKbQpw) and also this petition targeting child marriage in the United States (https://c.org/pMs8B7B8Pt) which I really do hope you, if you are a human with a heart, will sign.

*FOR THE PETITION TO GOOGLE AND APPLE REGARDING NETEASE BEING BANNED FROM THEIR RESPECTIVE STORES FOR CENSORSHIP, VIOLATING IP's LIKE DESTINY AND LORD OF THE RINGS, ALLOWING HATE SPEECH, AND PROMOTING SEXISM AND PEDOPHILIA ON THEIR NEW GAME WHERE WINDS MEET: the link is here (https://c.org/JPtrMvFxNz). Please make sure to share this link after signing. 

*FOR THE PETITION TO REOPEN RISE TO WAR: Here is the link, please sign and share (https://c.org/HzVD5G9Dz9)

ALL RULES REGARDING THIS SITE: 

1. NO AI content can be submitted, and no AI tool can be used to generate content you are uploading

2. ALL people must be respectful of others, and therefore, no racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or any other hate speech will be tolerated. 

3. All comments on this site should be posted in a respectful manner, and should offer constructive criticism 

My Links Below: 

Newsletter Issue 1- written by Tactician

Newsletter Issue 2- written by Tactician

A Breakdown of the Military Tactics used by Adar and Sauron during The Rings of Power’s Siege of Eregion- written by Tactician (*CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE RINGS OF POWER SEASON 2!*) 

To remember for Rings of Power Season 3- written by Tactician (HAS MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE RINGS OF POWER SHOW) 

Best Quotes from Rings of Power 2 x 07- By Tactician 

The Tale of the Red One- written by Tactician (UPDATE: FINALLY COMPLETE!)

Adar and the Uruk (HAS SPOILERS)- Written by Tactician