A CONVERSATION WITH EALENDRIL
Greetings to all, gentle souls of the Edain Community. Today I would like you to accept this sort of late gift/surprise of mine; something I had been pondering for quite a time and that is a concrete reality now: the former leader and, above all else, founder of the Edain Mod has kindly agreed to be interviewed!
Contrary to the usual questions one might think about, I wanted this to be a more personal conversation about the very burden of modding, its meaning according to a known modder and, particularly, some insights into the renowned past of the Mod, which may be obscure for many more recent fans of the English forum. Because this is indeed an exclusive initiative for the English community as a whole. Events had unfortunately made it so that Ealendril departed from the forum (as an active team member) quite suddenly and very much unexpectedly, and even though he left a farewell message in the German, we never had the precious opportunity to have him address English fans directly and tell more about the celebrated history (tracing back to 2005/2006) of his own project. Knowing well how much busy he is, may I thank him on behalf of the community for this notable chance that he granted us. Wir alle danken dir!
If you don't know yet, Ealendril has recently embarked on multiple literary endeavours, publishing his own fantasy series of novels: Arakkur (https://modding-union.com/index.php/topic,34532.msg455097.html#msg455097).
Were anyone to be willing to give feedback on this brief interview or to address Ealendril, feel free to post your comments here.
(https://pre00.deviantart.net/9a57/th/pre/f/2013/029/5/a/gandalf_the_grey_by_kitao_chan-d5t4w3i.jpg)
Walküre: As a first question: now that you're not an active member of the Edain Team anymore, what do you miss the most in regards to your activity as team leader?
Ealendril: The answer is simple: the cooperation with my team and the community. It was a lot of fun to exchange information and to dive into the world of the Lord of the Rings. Of course, I also miss modding itself, but, if I should decide, then it is clearly cooperation.
W: Something that is surely of interest for many people: speaking about the past, could you briefly tell us how the Edain Mod was initially born? How did the project manage to rise above all the other modifications, just to eventually become the prime Mod of the BFME series? In simple terms, the history of success.
E: Well, it's not an easy question to answer. How do you define success? Based on the downloads? The prizes won? Or, rather, how well the cooperation within a team works? For me, personally, the cooperation of the team is of crucial importance and I would therefore describe this as the greatest of all successes.
The history of the Edain Mod goes back a long way - it was originally called Caras Galadhon Mod. This was at the time when the Elvenstar Mod just had some personal difficulties. We merged on request and worked together for a while, but it turned out relatively quickly that we had different ideas and so we broke up.
I founded the Edain Mod with a small circle of people: Aragorn999, Elessar Telcontar, Alien aka Infiltrator, Thorongil and, if I remember correctly, Gnomi.
How did the great success of the Edain Mod come about? We have brought talented people on board, engaged in a lively exchange with the community and – of course – we are awesome :)
W: Was the early BFME modding community much different from the current one? Was it larger or smaller? Were there more or fewer active members, back at the time?
E: In the beginning, the community wasn't really that big. Only in the course of time and with the release of the add-on Rise of the Witch-king has the community grown more and more. There are some fans who have remained with us since the beginning. But, as it is in life, we all grew up at some point and had to turn to other things in life.
The community was much easier to impress, at the time. ''A Gondorian with an axe? Wow, just incredible!'' Today models and concepts need to be very sophisticated, so that the fans of the Edain Mod may be really satisfied. This isn't meant as criticism, but it instead illustrates how the demand for quality from the team has risen - and that's a good thing! Otherwise, we probably would not have become ModDB's Mod of the Year.
W: I know that the history of the Mod started before the founding of Modding Union. Prior to the very Edain Mod, were there other interesting modifications worthy of note, within the horizon of the BFME series?
E: Yes, definitely! First and foremost, of course, the mother of all BFME Mods: Elvenstar. I myself was a team member of this great project, yet, over time - as mentioned above - I have dedicated myself to my own projects, such as the Caras Galadhon Mod.
Then, of course, there were also other modifications that had quality; I remember the SKME Mod, the Eldar Mod and the Last Alliance Mod.
W: We know that you have been one of the few people among the modding community who could boast a wide-ranging knowledge of the many fields of modding activities: coding, 3D-modelling, textures, special effects and the managing of the AI. How did your skills progress in time? What was your favourite field to work on?
E: I have actually dedicated myself only to a small area concerning the AI; the greatest praise (and thus most of the work) is due to Reshef. I started working in the 3D area many years ago and, soon afterwards, I became acquainted with coding.
Coding itself was always my favourite field to work in, because I could show a certain talent there. It may sound strange to say this, but I don't think there has ever been any modder, in the entire community, who has had as much knowledge about coding as I have :D
My knowledge has grown with me facing challenges. But this will probably be the case for any other modder.
W: Was it difficult to aggregate the proper individuals and then come up with a team? Was it necessary, sometimes, to give motivation to the other members of your team? Did you prefer to work individually or to shape an idea with the suggestions of the others?
E: Working with so many different people (from different nations) was extremely difficult. But I don't want to keep my opinion behind the scenes: we have been shredding each other a lot. But that was also a good thing, because it was the only way to always achieve the best result.
Very often I have called myself a 'motivation trainer', because the work as a team leader reminded me of that very much. When there was someone slacking, it was up to me to wake my team up and focus on certain goals. Like I always said: communication is the most important thing in such a matter. Only if you address problems and express your opinion freely can you tackle this problem together.
Finally, I have repeatedly explained to my team what it means to work in a team. We laughed, we cried sometimes and, in the end, we were in each other's arms again. In short, we were like a small family.
W: In all your time as chief, which have been for you the all-time best and worst moments of your modding career?
E: Our own real-life/team meeting a few years ago. Getting to know all these crazy people personally was an unforgettable moment. Of course, the appointment as Mod of the Year on ModDB was also a very nice moment, but our team meeting is a bit ahead of the rest.
W: Which is the concept of which you are proud the most? One that you have worked on very much and whose implementation has really satisfied you a good deal. Furthermore, how did the cinematographic trilogies influence your vision (the recent Hobbit, in particular)?
E: There are so many things I'm proud of, I can't make up my mind. It is probably the Ring mechanism, because it cost me a lot of nerves and work. In this sense, then: I can't commit myself.
The Hobbit has made many beautiful designs possible, such as the Dwarves, the Orcs or, especially, the Great Goblin. In this respect, the Hobbit trilogy has personally motivated and influenced me very much in my way of working (apart from the fact that I wasn't so enthusiastic about some things).
W: Which proposal from the community has surprised you the most? What would you like to say to the passionate fans of the English forum?
E: Well, first and foremost, of course, the very impulsive desire of some fans for a Hobbit-based design for the Iron Hills. I was surprised by how harshly changes were demanded. We have responded to this urge, even though there have been some delays as we have been busy with many other things.
I can only recommend to the fans of the English forum that they never give up hope and patience. The Edain Mod is a team that consists primarily of German people, which is why translations always take some time. However, as you can see, we've been working on it and I'm sure that this is now visible. The Edain Team is also capable of learning ;)
W: The concluding question: in your personal opinion, now that your departure marked the end of a modding era, what kind of future do you envisage for the Edain Mod?
E: The future is unwritten. It will be a slower progress, but it will continue - I am sure of that. Of course, the community will become smaller at some point, because of the game. But I am sure that we will have many more great years ahead of us with the Edain Mod. Unfortunately, this is to be without Ealendril the Dark. He has moved on...