Faramir 4
Denethor 3
any Captain of the Outlands 2
Eomer 1
Sam 1
Thranduil 1
Ioreth 1
Halbarad 1
Eldacar 1
Merry 0
Who's the new Hero "Contest"
So here's my (un)educated thoughts about the heroes for this cycle. I don't think we'll see Denethor OR Faramir as heroes this cycle at all. And possibly no other Gondorian heroes either. My reasoning is as follows:
Shadows of Mirkwood basically mirrored Aragorn's pursuit of Gollum through the Mirkwood. Did we see Aragorn or any elves as heroes? Nope, we got a couple hobbits (Bilbo, Frodo), a Gondorian Prince and warrior (Imrahil and Boromir), an unaffiliated archer (Brand), and a Dwarf Lord.
The Dwarrodelf was kicked off by a glut of Dwarf themed goodies in the Khazad-dûm expansion. Did we see a bunch more dwarves in the following cycle? Nope… we got a gigantic human/elf love-fest… two manly hunks (Aragorn and Hama) and a elvish family reunion (Elladan, Elrohir, Glorfindel, Elrond… I know Glorfindel isn't technically family, but hey, he'd been around the fam for a couple millenia…).
So there is really POOR precedence for everyon thinking we're getting ANY Gondorian heroes out of this next cycle. The only SLIM chance of getting Denethor rests in the fact that Elrond was the "quest-giver" at the beginning of the Dwarrodelf cycle and showed up at the end as a hero. But we already know we are getting Theoden at the end of this one (possibly as a preview of the next locale to be explored??? YES PLEASE!), so I may have already defeated that possibility…
Everybody keeps talking about not seeing certain Rohan heroes or elven heroes until the cycles in their locales, but that also doesn't make sense to me since it doesn't jive with the pattern either. And as for some of the "big names" from those races, I don't think there's any reason for us to expect they are saving them for the expansions for those areas either… we got Bifur and Dwalin in KD. Hardly the dwarven names that spring to mind as premier names…
So what do we know already?
Third pack "Encounter at Amon Dîn" - Pippin (Spirit); previewed
Sixth pack "The Morgul Vale" - Théoden (Tactics) - previewed
We already have 2 of the six heroes. Neither of them Gondorian. I think we may see some "filling in" of the races/groups that are a bit light. Noteably Hobbits and NON-Noldorian Elves (at least I hope so). And we know we ARE gettin gsome good hobbit cards to support (see article for Encounter at Amon Din). I would really like to see Haldir and Thranduil soon. Merry and Sam go without saying (I get the feeling that the prevailing thought is that we will definitely see Merry because we know we are getting Pippin, but I'd prefer to get Sam if I had my druthers)… Those would be four of my top logical candidates (Thranduil, Haldir, Sam, Merry), assuming they don't go with lesser-know or created characters.
But I'm also going to mention what I think would be a cool darkhorse candidate… Celeborn. I would have said Galadriel, but I think FFG is going to sit on her for a while… don't have any specific reasons other than she is Noldorian and Celeborn is not. I think as the Lord of Lothlorien, he could provide some sort of boost to the Silvan elves (since many of them had been assimilated into that kingdom, I think it would be appropriate).
They have released 2 hobbits in a row before (Bilbo and Frodo, back to back), so I wouldn't assume they'd avoid that again, but three in a row? Possibly not… I do think they would be keen to release Pippin and Merry back to back as a nod to their comradeship, so….
First pack "The Steward's Fear" - Sam
Second pack "The Drúadan Forest" - Haldir/Thranduil
Third pack "Encounter at Amon Dîn" - Pippin (Spirit); previewed
Fourth pack "Assault on Osgiliath" - Merry
Fifth pack "The Blood of Gondor" - Haldir/Thranduil/Celeborn
Sixth pack "The Morgul Vale" - Théoden (Tactics) - previewed
Like I said. Completely uneducated guesses… but I do like to think I put a little thought into it 
Now, FFG, throw us some complete surprises!! Love this game!
Benhanses: the one point I differ with you on in regards as to why we won't see any more Gondor heroes is your comparison with the dwarves and the Darrowdelf cycle. At the start of Darrowdelf there were already 6 unique dwarves while there are currently only 5 unique Gondor heroes. It also stands likely that FFG was aware that they were planning on he hobbit boxes and wanted to save more dwarves for those saga expansions. If FFG really wants to flesh out the Gondor trait, I feel they need to include at least 1 or 2 more heroes just to have more options for deck building. Still hope ur right on Haldir although…
Benhanses, you raise great points. I would LOVE to see any of the Haldir/Celeborn/Thranduil possibilities. Personally, I think that it would be cool if Celeborn had some boost to all elves, not just Silvan, and act as a kind of Elf Dain. But maybe that would be too powerful… Although I definitely agree that I think we'll see at least one more hobbit besides Pippin in the cycle, if not two.
legolas18 said:
Benhanses, you raise great points. I would LOVE to see any of the Haldir/Celeborn/Thranduil possibilities. Personally, I think that it would be cool if Celeborn had some boost to all elves, not just Silvan, and act as a kind of Elf Dain. But maybe that would be too powerful… Although I definitely agree that I think we'll see at least one more hobbit besides Pippin in the cycle, if not two.
Well, I think it goes without saying that
1) we all agree that Dain is a dwarven beast, and
2) that he is probably a bit too strong (unless you're Glaurung, in which case of course Dain is the single most broken hero in the game 
), and that
3) we will more than likely see some sort of "booster" hero for each of the main races or keywords/traits.
It's easy enough to do a overall racial boost like Dain. I'd much rather prefer it be based around another keyword/element, such as a kingdom (Gondor/Rohan) or trait (Ranger/Dunedain… I'd really LOVE to see some cohesion for these!). That keeps it a bit more specific and not so over-powerful. I think Celeborn (or Galadriel) would be a natural choice for a boost if it was supposed to involve BOTH Noldor and Silvan… but I think it would be AMAZING if they could eventually develop very separate identities for these two branches in the game, as they were very different sort of folk in Middle-Earth (that's a generalization I kno.. there were cross-over exceptions)…
The Elves are my favourite race…so I would love to see them developed a bit further (even because in order to play a decent solo elven deck one must necessarily use Elrond, Legolas and Glorfindel (spirit) ). Therefore I'd really love to see Haldir as a Hero…or Galadriel, or even Celeborn (not to mention Gil-Galad XD…I know they won't unless we get a Silmarillion Saga Expansion)…that said I really think this time we'll se at least a couple Gondor/Dunedain/Outlands Heroes…
On the topic of Elves, I think they could take two different approaches to Noldor and Silvan, making Noldor strong more by individuals and Silvan as a team (I know it sounds terrible but it is early in the morning here). I believe there might not be many global cards for Noldor but great specific ones like there are already: Elrond's Counsel, Arwen, Glorfindel, I hope there shall be many more; of course they need support too like weapons and allies. But I feel it will be Silvan who get more of being united as Silvan Tracker suggests - though it is not very strong at the moment, obviously. Either way I am very much looking forward to it.
lleimmoen said:
On the topic of Elves, I think they could take two different approaches to Noldor and Silvan, making Noldor strong more by individuals and Silvan as a team (I know it sounds terrible but it is early in the morning here). I believe there might not be many global cards for Noldor but great specific ones like there are already: Elrond's Counsel, Arwen, Glorfindel, I hope there shall be many more; of course they need support too like weapons and allies. But I feel it will be Silvan who get more of being united as Silvan Tracker suggests - though it is not very strong at the moment, obviously. Either way I am very much looking forward to it.
Perhaps this is me being too specific in my "wish list" for this game, but I agree with the basic idea you have, but a littel different twist… It would be difficult to say the Noldor were more stand-offish than the Silvan so should be more solitary figures while the Silvan are more team related… I always kind of think of them in the generic fantasy terms of "high elves" (Noldor) and "low or wood elves" (Sindarin, Silvan)… I think the Silvan have already had a few built-in mini-boosts for them, but I think it would be great to have the Noldor be the "bigger, stronger" characters (similar to your thoughts), and then have the Silvan elves start fitting into the Secrecy theme… It would kill two birds with one stone! Some people have been wanting more Silvan love, and we have ALL been wondering when they are going to make Secrecy more viable… The characters that have been Silvan so far already lend themselves to this well… Mirkwood runner is a good attacker for Secrecy decks, etc…. I think it would be great if FFG could enhance both of these areas all at once! That'll be my new motto/slogan:
"SILVAN FOR SECRECY!!!"
… (cue thunderous applause) …
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/973501/card-info
What do I win ? 
Yeah, seriously. I am on a winning side for a change.
ps: As for the Elves, yeah, secrecy needs further developing if it is not to be just forgotten, which would certainly be a shame having a dozen or so cards with little to do with them. And yes, Hobbits and Elves seem a natural application for secrecy.
To AjiTae…You're the man ! XD This was an amazing guess ! I have to say, Bravo !