TV The Rings of Power

[Faust]

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Showrunners: J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay

Starring:

Morfydd Clark as Galadriel
Robert Aramayo as Elrond
Markella Kavenagh as Eleanor "Nori" Brandyfoot
Joseph Male as Oren
Benjamin Walker as Gil-galad
Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows
Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir
Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn
Tyroe Muhafidin as Theo
Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Míriel
Maxim Baldry as Isildur
Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor
Daniel Weyman as '?'
Megan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow
Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva
Sara Zwangobani as Marigold Brandyfoot
Dylan Smith as Largo Brandyfoot
Sophia Nomvete as Disa
Owain Arthur as Durin IV
Peter Mullan as Durin III

​

 

[kkck]

So I saw the first episode so far... all I can say is... boring. As far as I can tell, though my memory on this might not be great, nothing is strictly out of canon but their choices seem like weird choices. Seeing galadriel as xena the warrior angsty princess is not strictly out of character with the vague characterization in silmarilion but it's a bit like trying to fit a puzzle piece into the wrong space. When seeing elron speak to her my reaction was... "dude, isn't she unknowably older than you AND also your mother in law?". Maybe celebrian's marriage to elrond is late second age or early third? In any case, this badass galadriel is just not a good fit with how she eventually gets characterized as ambiguously immensely powerful.

Outside of that, I do reluctantly have to give some props on the elrond casting... I wasn't that much of a fan at first (in part because in my head elrond remains hugo weaving) but I was watching the episode with someone who surprisingly has absolutely no LoTRs context. And her comment on elrond was something like "I can't tell if he is supposed to be old or young". Which, you know, is kinda exactly how elrond is described in the books. So take your win amazon.

The scene with the cow milking will haunt me for years to come.

Otherwise... boring.

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 7, 2022, Original Post Date: Sep 5, 2022 ---

Ok, saw the second episode. Mostly... les boring I suppose? Read the wiki a bit about the second age and a few weird changes to canon become obvious.

Spoiler

First of all is the path to valinor. The earth at this point in time was flat and valinor could be accessed by simply sailing there. Valinor being inaccessible is almost an age away. Which makes the almost cool scene of the elves going to valinor definitely absurd.

And then the stranger... sauron probably? Evil vibes at the end. But as far as I know there's no reason for sauron to fall from the sky. AFAIK he was never vanished from middle earth. I suppose the alternative would be this being some other maiar but to my knowledge there isn't another that has relevance at this point in time.

 

[z.5]

I'm expecting they'll try to force it into being Gandalf (though I thought he only arrived in the 3rd age [maybe wrong about this]?!?)

they would then try to claim this as his discovery and love for the Hobbits - rather than him just discovering them during his travels...


tbh I'm far more interested in knowing what's in the dwarven box

Like, as far as my memory of the books goes (or, where I assume the series should be in the timeline)

Spoiler: possible spoiler

Sauron and Celebrimbor shouldn't have met yet

So, I ask again...

 

[xi0]

I saw a clip of the Valinor stuff and it kind of took me by surprise.

Like, I know Valinor itself is sort of Heaven-like in an allegorical sense for Frodo/Bilbo and everything, but I wasn't expecting it to look like that necessarily...

 

[z.5]

Yeah, was a little much

That said, I did like how they depicted the dwarven hold - actually looked like a place someone would actually want to live

I saw a clip...

So you are not planning on watching it [episodes, not just clips] at all?

 

[xi0]

So you are not planning on watching it [episodes, not just clips] at all?

Nah, I might. Have a 6-7 hour long car trip ahead of me on Saturday so I might actually use my Kindle and put episodes on it.

 

[kkck]

I'm expecting they'll try to force it into being Gandalf (though I thought he only arrived in the 3rd age [maybe wrong about this]?!?)

they would then try to claim this as his discovery and love for the Hobbits - rather than him just discovering them during his travels...


tbh I'm far more interested in knowing what's in the dwarven box

Like, as far as my memory of the books goes (or, where I assume the series should be in the timeline)

Spoiler: possible spoiler

Sauron and Celebrimbor shouldn't have met yet

So, I ask again...

Yeah, wizards arrived into middle earth early in the third age iirc. The bit with the dead insects specially does not fit into this being gandalf given the kinda evil vibes it gives. As for the box... probably a soul. Or diamonds. But probably a soul. Unless its diamonds.

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 7, 2022, Original Post Date: Sep 7, 2022 ---

I saw a clip of the Valinor stuff and it kind of took me by surprise.

Like, I know Valinor itself is sort of Heaven-like in an allegorical sense for Frodo/Bilbo and everything, but I wasn't expecting it to look like that necessarily...

Canonically it's wrong. It is a heaven like place but at this point in time they should be able to simply sail there. How this should actually have played out is something like:

Galadriel: *jumps off boat*
Boat: *does not teleport*
Galadriel: *swims away*
Elves: Middle earth is a tad far away to swim to.
Galadriel: I don't care.
Elves: Do you at least want a float?
Galadriel: No.
Elves: Ok, we'll just follow you until you get tired.

 

[xi0]

Galadriel: *jumps off boat*
Boat: *does not teleport*
Galadriel: *swims away*
Elves: Middle earth is a tad far away to swim to.
Galadriel: I don't care.
Elves: Do you at least want a float?
Galadriel: No.
Elves: Ok, we'll just follow you until you get tired.

Elves weigh nothing, so she could have unironically floated back to it

Theoretically you could even go further and say since Elves can kind of ignore gravity to some degree, she could walk back.

 

[kkck]

Elves weigh nothing, so she could have unironically floated back to it

Theoretically you could even go further and say since Elves can kind of ignore gravity to some degree, she could walk back.

huh? since when do elves weight nothing?

i suppose some more powerful elves can basically ignore gravity. and distances and physics at their convenience. which makes warrior princess galadriel somewhat more... meh?

 

[xi0]

huh? since when do elves weight nothing?

i suppose some more powerful elves can basically ignore gravity. and distances and physics at their convenience. which makes warrior princess galadriel somewhat more... meh?

It was meant as a joke really but Elves aren't attached to Arda the way others are, so they're shown appearing to weigh a fraction of what others do. The most known example of this is Legolas walking on top of snow while the others sank into it. Which is also why they appear to be stupidly acrobatic as well etc.

 

[kkck]

It was meant as a joke really but Elves aren't attached to Arda the way others are, so they're shown appearing to weigh a fraction of what others do. The most known example of this is Legolas walking on top of snow while the others sank into it. Which is also why they appear to be stupidly acrobatic as well etc.

Ah ok, I remember most of that. Not specifically legolas walking on top of snow but rather elves being lightfooted. I usually attributed that to elves being absurdly dexterous along with a tad of their "magic". Iirc hobbits were also described as lightfooted, though not quite as much as elves.

 

[Faust]

I'm expecting they'll try to force it into being Gandalf (though I thought he only arrived in the 3rd age [maybe wrong about this]?!?)

or Saruman, maybe?

 

[kkck]

Wizards canonically arrived to middle earth some time into the third age. It's one of the few things we know with some certainty. Introducing gandalf at this point is a huge departure from canon that serves nothing. Not even fan service. While it makes no sense at all that sauron would fall from the sky it's the one thing that actually makes sense with the time period. As this is the time period over which sauron rises to power, builds armies, forges the 7 and 9 rings (and perhaps other lesser duds) and ultimately influences numenor into it's fall. This is by all intents and purposes sauron's age.

 

[Valhalla]

I found the two episodes enjoyable for the most part. Its still just setup which is a bit boring but i hope it pays off later. There is some pretty good stuff to look for in the second age.

As for the box... probably a soul. Or diamonds. But probably a soul. Unless its diamonds.

Its mithril.

The stranger could be either Alatar or Pallando, one of the two blue wizards who came to Middle-Earth in the second age i think. Then again if i remember the two wizards should come to Middle-Earth together with freaking Glorfindel. If he turns out to be one of the blue wizards then i guess we are once again not getting Glorfindel. Another theory is that its a random fallen Maiar.
If its not a random then it could very well be Gandalf, but as Olorin and not as an Istari. Im really lost with the stranger lol Im seeing even experts drawing at straws with him

 

[kkck]

Welp, four episodes in and... it was still a mistake to have cast galadriel as the story's heroine. I just can't stomach galadriel the warrior princess. It's just wrong.

And the bit with isildur's sister.... Feels weird? Flirting in LoTRs is usually actual very old school very medieval courting. This whole thing has no place in LoTRs. This looks more like crappy D&D fanfiction than LoTRs.

Also not a fan of dwarfs singing into rocks. That's just dumb hippy bullshit and whoever came up with this idiocy needs to feel ashamed and stop doing shrooms. Dwarfs aren't god damn tree huggers. They are miners. They are rough and built like rocks. Which suits them to smash rocks with fucking hammers.

I like how numenor is designed. For all of the series' flaws this they nailed. It's a bit of a shame that most of the numenor stuff revolves around galadriel, the series most egregious mistake (after the nonsensical singing into rocks).

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 19, 2022, Original Post Date: Sep 16, 2022 ---

Another thing which kinda bothers me about galadriel... Even if I could stomach this badass galadriel... it'd have to be one that was more elvish. So far this version of galadriel has not even tried using a bow. Even though that's pretty much elves' signature. LoTRs is not a series that ever ignored women and men being different however archery is an area where it'd be conceivable for them to be competitive (though in real life of course archery is an sport where males outperform females). Galadriel's behavior seems not only out of place but even distinctly un-elven just in general.

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 23, 2022 ---

So now galadriel is getting.. anime fights? And her grand advise to kill orcs was... to stab them? Is this show serious lol? I'll grant elves, an in some ways specially galadriel, should be capable of some bullshit in fights but this is.... just bad. Orcs have literally never been difficult to kill, if anything they are a threat due to numbers mostly.

 

[z.5]

Dunno - worst thing, for me, about the last episode is how they've handled mithril

That whole creation mythos, elven fading without it, elves already knowing that the dwarves have discovered, etc. etc. etc...

It's all a bit much

 

[kkck]

Yeah, that definitely irked me as well. From a lore point of view mythril having the light of the trees is a gigantic deal. I could make sense of elves needing dwarven hands to build the forges for the rings of power since this is an area where their kind excels at. Mythril being the optimal material for rings of power also makes sense. But using it to supercharge elves? Big uff.

 

[z.5]

Seems like a definite [and blunt/pointless] retcon to me - don't recall this at all (in fact, as far as I remember, the elves main love for mithril was because of how it looked, not because it was linked to silmarils...)

 

[kkck]

It's definitely a retcon, no such thing is ever said anywhere. In LoTRs anything that has the light of the trees/lamps is beyond absurdly valuable. The silmarils contained some of that and elves almost ruined themselves for them. And while rare, mithril eventually becomes available enough that they make massive doors and god knows what else out of it. Including very relevant weapons...

 

[Valhalla]

The mithril legend does not make sense since Numenor has it as well, unless that same elf and balrog fought once again lol.
The supposed Silmaril tree story is nonsense as well since all three have very specific places where they ended up and where they have been through history.

I hope all this legend and mithril need and elven soul deal is either just bs legends or Sauron's play baiting the elves with power and whispering into Celebrimbor's and Gil's ear. Since they condensed so much from the Second Age, Sauron slowly deceiving everyone should already be underway and the plan for the Rings of Power should be in motion which is why they needed the forge. As for the need for mithril, its what the rings are made off, well at least Galadriel's ring is.
The story about preserving the souls and stopping their being and lands from Middle-Earth's decay is more or less what the elven Rings of Power did (minus the soul thing, thats "kinda" (emphasis on kinda) a third age thing with Sauron's darkness more and more growing and their hold on Middle Earth getting weaker).