An item is always played onto a character card, which becomes its wielder. In addition to their game text, many items add combat icons to the wielder.

— An item can only be played on one of the wielders indicated on the card, and the wielder must already be in play.

— If a wielder is moved from reserve to a path or battleground, the wielder’s items move with it.

— Icons on an item card are added to the icons of its wielder. In combat, items with defense icons cannot cancel attack icons separately from the character wielding it, unless the item affects the location and not the wielder (for example, Phial of Galadriel).

— If a wielder is eliminated, any items with the wielder are also eliminated.

— If the wielder is cycled, any items with the wielder are also cycled.

— Items cannot be transferred between wielders.

The wielder might not be of the same faction as the item. In this case, the following special rules apply:

— When an item has a different faction than its wielder, it can move with its wielder to any battleground the wielder can be moved

— items are not subject to the faction restrictions of battlegrounds for armies and characters.

— An item is always cycled to its original player’s cycle pile, even if the wielder is controlled by a different player.

— An item on a wielder in reserve can only be forsaken on behalf of the player controlling the wielder, who is not necessarily the player that played the card.