Online Series: Rings of Power season 2 (August 29)
- Thread starter beowulf
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NyQuil
Big F$&*in Q
In all seriousness, I've enjoyed this season.
They've shed light on Sauron's influence on the forging of the rings, and presented an interesting take on how the rings had impact on the physical worlds around them, both in terms of the elves and the dwarves.
They've shed light on Sauron's influence on the forging of the rings, and presented an interesting take on how the rings had impact on the physical worlds around them, both in terms of the elves and the dwarves.
Holden Caulfield
He's guilty
I've been enjoying it. Particularly the dwarf/elf storylines have been great, IMO. DIsa (Sophia Nomvete) and Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur) have great chemistry. They are standouts. Personally I've also really liked Elrond (Robert Aramayo) as well. The storylines involving them have been well done and thought out with some excellent acting, IMO. Of course Sauron/Annatar (Charlie Vickers) and Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) have the been the standouts of this season as Sauron masterfully deceives and manipulates Celebrimbor. Those storylines are working well as we lead into Siege of Eregion here.
I'm still unsure of the addition of Adar (Joseph Mawle) to the story. This whole storyline of the Orcs being against Sauron is still just meh, IMO. But we are about to see it kick off here and I'm guessing it'll come back into place soon. And unfortunately I'm just not a fan of how they are portraying Galadriel (Morfydd Clark). I'm not a Tolkien expert and have tried and failed to get through the Silmarillion a few times but Galadriel just seems off. Her being in camp with the Orcs isn't helping.
The Numenor storyline feels like it's just a little underbaked. I get that it takes a back seat to the main storyline in Eregion right now, but it needs/needed a little more time to breath, IMO. But the acting has been real solid with Trystan Gravelle's Pharazon as the standout.
My biggest problems are with The Stranger storyline. Why is this even a thing right now? Not that it's bad, but it's like the 3rd/4th storyline right now and just feels superfluous, particularly when you know in the source material the Wizards don't appear until the 3rd age. So what part do they have to play in this show that won't break canon?
And it seems like they completely don't know what to do with Arondir/Theo/Isildur right now. Obviously we know Isildur has a huge part to play later, and I think I know what they are setting up for Theo (might he be getting a ring soon to have?) but they clearly are just killing time with these characters unfortunately.
Overall though I do feel this show is starting to hit it's stride. Supposedly the last two episode really starts to hit it off so I am excited. Unfortunately the long wait between Season 1 and Season along with the lukewarm at best reception of Season 1 has likely doomed this show. Cause I still think it could be great and it is getting alot better all the time. But even if they nail the next two episodes if they wait another 2 years for Season 3...it's just too long.
Very Stable Genius
#WeLostOurKarlssons
Emperoreddy
Show Me What You Got!
Only through 3 episodes this season. Kind of eh, characters seem off and shit is moving kind of slow.
Not awful though expect for the Numenor stuff in episode 3. Thought all of that was really bad. Queen actress plays an awful blind person. Probably shouldn't have made her blind.
Not awful though expect for the Numenor stuff in episode 3. Thought all of that was really bad. Queen actress plays an awful blind person. Probably shouldn't have made her blind.
Hivemind
We're Touched
I have lots of opinions on the most recent episode and the season as a whole, but I'm going to save most of them for an overall review after next week's finale.
That being said, it was nice to see Gil-Galad finally do, well, anything at all. Even if his screen time was still far too brief.
That being said, it was nice to see Gil-Galad finally do, well, anything at all. Even if his screen time was still far too brief.
Bounces R Way
Registered User
Least that last episode resembled Jackson's Lord of the Rings. Really not a ton going on with these characters to make them likeable or even all that sympathetic save for the Disa and Durin. I do think this season is better than the 1st now that all the plotlines are in full swing, but still not hitting all its marks.
The guy playing Sauron is soft carrying this series.
The guy playing Sauron is soft carrying this series.
Double-Shift Lasse
Just post better
Gonna find out he was mistreated and misunderstood that leads to a wrong perception of him as a bad guy, just like Elphaba in Wicked.
Seriously though, we’re in a very antihero era, where the “protagonist” has mixed motivations and the “antagonist” becomes almost sympathetic. It would not surprise me that this is purposeful.
Blender
Registered User
- Dec 2, 2009
- 52,653
- 46,414
Sauron is a narcissist and cruel manipulator, but he's carrying the show so hard right now and is somehow more likeable than most of the "hero" characters.
Overall a good episode, but the plot is still a mess.
The Marquis
Moderator
I think I liked that less than most but it was still good. The music at the end needs to be edited out in all future releases. It killed the finish of that otherwise good episode. What the hell was that? Let’s just throw some modern metal music in a music without anything modern otherwise. Terrible choice to end such a pivotal episode
Emperoreddy
Show Me What You Got!
Through 6 episodes and they should have stuck to the lore closer but kept it from Sauron's POV.
Him gaslighting Celebrimbor has been the best thing either season of this show has done by a country mile.
Easily could have been all of season 1.
Him gaslighting Celebrimbor has been the best thing either season of this show has done by a country mile.
Easily could have been all of season 1.
Season 1-Forging of the Rings
Prelude- Coming of Men - Numenoreans establishing Pelargir/Umbar
Primary plot- Anatar/Celebrimbor and the forging
Elves/Men/Dwarves as friends
Episode 7- Sack of Eregion and Sealing of Khazad-dum
Episode 8- Numenorean Deux ex machina, close with capture of Sauron
Season 2- Poison of the Rings
Captured Sauron poisons Pharazon against the elves, young Elendil the elf-friend fights the good fight (Isildur & Anarion as children)- keep the elves involved in this until a mid-season exile/ Sauron lives reveal)
Ring corrupts Durin III
Episode 7- the great Armament / Awakening of the Balrog
Episode 8 - Fall of Numenor / Exodus of the Faithful / Founding of Gondor
Season 3 Part 1- Rise of Gondor/ Return of the Ring
Season 3 Part 2- The Last Alliance
Last edited:
hotcabbagesoup
"I'm going to get what I deserve" -RutgerMcgroarty
Where does my favorite character, Warrior-Princess Commander Galadriel fit into this timeline? Does she fall for any bad boys? Will she kiss anyone important? And tell me, where is Celeborn, for I very much wish to see Galadriel kiss him.
Emperoreddy
Show Me What You Got!
The logistics of this battle in episode 7 are a bit weird.
Also I wonder if it would have made more sense if they just forged the rings in order and it was the three that are getting smuggled out.
Also I wonder if it would have made more sense if they just forged the rings in order and it was the three that are getting smuggled out.
Hivemind
We're Touched
My largely lore-free collection of thoughts on season 2. I'll post a more lore-centric review later on. In this post I'll only mention lore gripes where they create immediate confusion within the scope of this show's plot and established timeline.
Time & Pacing:
Pacing was a major struggle of season 1. Season 2 managed to up the pace of event significantly, sometimes too fast. As they upped the pace, they sacrificied any clarity of timing and timeline instead. I'm not one to bitch about "fast travel" (and this show definitely uses that), but it goes well beyond not showing characters travelling along established routes between events. The show is really unclear about how long passes between events, what things take time, and what is happening concurrently with one another. Characters just appear in different locations as needed by the plot, with no sense of the passage of time or how their movements impact the world around them. The other two areas that seem to have any latency of movment or communication seem to be Lindon and Eregion, and that was largely a plot contrivance to explain how Celebrimbor could be fooled by Halbrand before he took the form of Annatar.
To carry this to the extreme, the opening scenes of season 2 episode 1 largely imply that the entirety of the Second Age of Middle Earth took place in the lifespan of black goo Sauron and Halbrand. Obviously the 2nd age lasted longer than the disguised life of a mortal man, but the show does a really poor job of depitcting that (and those scenes break its own internal canon in other ways I'll get to later).
Dumb and Cartoonish Characters:
The characters just did whatever the plot needed them to do, without very little internal logic, consistency, or character development. This applies to both individual characters, and larger groups. Elrond pretty much spelled out exactly the Sauron's plot with the rings, yet Galadriel and Gil-Galad still decided to use them anyone despite knowing they were made by Sauron. Adar learned that Halbrand was indeed Sauron, yet continued to do exactly what Halbrand had told him to do. The very elf that sees Sauron's form in the unseen realm is the one that he manages to persuade to his side most eagerly? Galadriel's plan to escape with the nine rings safely from Eriador was... to bring them to the Orcs herself? Durin III refused to send out his army to defend Eregion because of the threat of Durin II's mining, but then confronted Durin II alone (without that army he held back), before eventually sending out the army with Narvi at the helm while he stayed in Khazad-Dum. Why not just send the army out under the command of Narvi in the first place? And, perhaps worst of all, the Numeneoreans basically switched allegiances and belief structures basically every episode. I know canonically that the Numenoreans end up being kinda dumb by the end of the second age, when they literally end up building a Temple of Melkor, but this isn't so far as that event yet and the rapid back-and-forth switching of power and allegiances between Pharazon and Miriel felt so forced and ridiculous. Pharazon's scheming would have played so much better as a slow burn with more consistent scheming and ground shifts than what was essentially a continuation of the "elves took ur jerbs!" scene from season 1. It becomes exceedingly hard to care about characters when they repeatedly engage in unbelievable and cartoonish behavior.
Too Many Meaningless Sideplots:
Did you miss Theo or Isildur or the Harfoots when they would go missing for episodes at a time? Nope, neither did I. Hell, they killed off of the larger side characters from season 1 off-screen between seasons, as a further example of the bloat. Even Galadriel and Elrond ended up getting sidelined for entire episodes because there were too many plotlines to be serviced. The Numenor plotline largely fell flat, but it's essential to the tale of the second age. Jamming in Gandalf, having an Isildur death fake-out with random romance side quest, a random Shire origin story nobody asked for, and continuing with the adventures of the random invented characters from season 1 as they escaped from Mordor all are not essential - and have largely come at the detriment of the rest of the show.
The Sins of Season 1:
Much of this season suffered from the decisions made in the previous season. Sometimes it strove to correct those mistakes, occasionally veering into overcorrection territory (Galadriel literally becoming a damsel in distress as a glaring example). But having to try and salvage the inconsistent plot points and logic of the previous season often painted them into corners that resulted in dumb characters and absurd plot contrivances. The relationship between Celebrimbor and Sauron/Annatar was unquestionably the highlight of this season, but in the process it just highlighted how terrible the decision in season 1 to omit Annatar in favor of "Halbrand" was (and the showrunner's terrible explanations for it), and season 2 had to arrange a host of ridiculous plot contrivances to explain how Celebrimbor would be fooled again by Halbrand/Annatar and the Elves would use the rings (despite them being forged out of order and with Galadriel's knowledge of Sauron's involvement). There are countless other examples all around of the show trying to dig itself out of the hole season 1 created. The Numenoreans colonies are suddenly a thing again, despite season 1 making a huge deal of them sailing to Middle Earth. Entire character plotlines were jammed in because they didn't know what to do with Adar, Theo, Isildur, or Arondir after season 1. Honestly, they probably should have just Bronwyn'd a few more of them off screen.
The Absurdities of this Timeline:
So many things just don't make sense in the greater scheme of things.
Both the Dwarves and Elves have seen the power and effect of the rings, why are they going to keep using them? In particular the Dwarves.
Are the Dwarves just going to ignore the Balrog in their basement? How is it going to be a surprise that it has led to the destruction of Khazad-Dum thousands of years in the future in the Third Age? The Khazad-Dum timeline changes are just a mess.
Gandalf being around in the Second Age still doesn't make sense, particularly considering how many times he's near the One Ring during the Third Age before he realized it.
If the Dark Wizard is Saruman (and given what they did with Gandalf, it's probably Saruman), how are they going to explain Gandalf following him for essentially the entire third age?
Even within the show's own itnernal timeline - season 1's intro established that Sauron "spread Orcs to every corner of Middle Earth" after the fall of Morgoth, and used Sauron's reign over the Orcs as the establishing rationale for Galadriel's hatred of Sauron as she wanted vengeance for Finrod. Yet in season 2, we see the Orcs immediately kill Sauron as he tries to claim power over them after Morgoth's defeat. The show is already retconning itself, and in ways that make little sense.
Other Random Thoughts:
So many shitty one liners that just don't connect. S1 had the "I'm good!" and now we get "Heal Yourself"
So many deliberate references to the Jackson trilogy, and each time they feel so jarring and out of place. Either live on your own merits or live on the merits of Tolkein's original craft - don't try and live on the merits of a better adaptation.
In something that highlights both of the previous points together - I was really enjoying Celebrimbor's final moments.... until he literally said "you are the Lord... of the Rings." What a way to shit all over what should have been a highlight. A scene that went from being terrific to utterly horrid in an instant.
Why is Sauron so horny? His affections for Galadriel in both S1 and S2 were already non-sense, but then we got him lusting after some random other elf just because she looked like her.
The random romances in this show pretty much all fall flat. Durin and Disa is the only one that works. They really are the beating heart of the show.
We had that big troll show up and get an intro scene, and then he only showed up again for one brief moment to do nothing of actual consequence.
At least it was usually pretty to look at.
The first instance of Tom Bombadil was pretty great, but it's largely because they were cribbing his dialogue straight from Fellowship of the Ring. Then they turned him into Yoda from Empire Strikes Back, and it was beyond cringe.
How convenient that the Orcs strapped something flammable to their one and only siege weapon capable of taking down the walls so the Elves could shoot fire arrows at it.
Cirdan really captured the spirit of Tolkein's Elvish dialogue so well. I wish we had seen more of him.
How did Arondir survive being stabbed at the siege of Eregion?
Most of the combat was fairly entertaining to watch. But the repeated dudes getting kicked into trees/rocks/etc. always looked cheesy. It kinda worked when Berek the horse did it, because it's supposed to be a bit goofy. But Galadriel and others doing it was really painful to watch.
Aside of a select few moments, the show felt "small." The gatherings in Numenor, Eregion, etc. always felt like it was a couple dozen random extras. You can count the crowds gathered by hand.
The moments that did feel grand stood out and felt meaningful. Durin's speech in Khazad Dum is the highlight of these.
Why did they use CGI shots of Adar's face for his biggest dialogue moments in episode 7? Felt out of place in a show that has largely used prosthetics and costumes.
I'm going to miss Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor. He really made the role his own and played it well.
The Rhun mercenary dudes were mostly wasted, but the wardrobe department really nailed their costume design.
They also brought back the random Sauron-worshipping "Nazgals" were brought back as servants of the Dark Wizard... and did a whole lot of nothing.
Gil-Galad might finally do something in season 3? Hopefully?
Time & Pacing:
Pacing was a major struggle of season 1. Season 2 managed to up the pace of event significantly, sometimes too fast. As they upped the pace, they sacrificied any clarity of timing and timeline instead. I'm not one to bitch about "fast travel" (and this show definitely uses that), but it goes well beyond not showing characters travelling along established routes between events. The show is really unclear about how long passes between events, what things take time, and what is happening concurrently with one another. Characters just appear in different locations as needed by the plot, with no sense of the passage of time or how their movements impact the world around them. The other two areas that seem to have any latency of movment or communication seem to be Lindon and Eregion, and that was largely a plot contrivance to explain how Celebrimbor could be fooled by Halbrand before he took the form of Annatar.
To carry this to the extreme, the opening scenes of season 2 episode 1 largely imply that the entirety of the Second Age of Middle Earth took place in the lifespan of black goo Sauron and Halbrand. Obviously the 2nd age lasted longer than the disguised life of a mortal man, but the show does a really poor job of depitcting that (and those scenes break its own internal canon in other ways I'll get to later).
Dumb and Cartoonish Characters:
The characters just did whatever the plot needed them to do, without very little internal logic, consistency, or character development. This applies to both individual characters, and larger groups. Elrond pretty much spelled out exactly the Sauron's plot with the rings, yet Galadriel and Gil-Galad still decided to use them anyone despite knowing they were made by Sauron. Adar learned that Halbrand was indeed Sauron, yet continued to do exactly what Halbrand had told him to do. The very elf that sees Sauron's form in the unseen realm is the one that he manages to persuade to his side most eagerly? Galadriel's plan to escape with the nine rings safely from Eriador was... to bring them to the Orcs herself? Durin III refused to send out his army to defend Eregion because of the threat of Durin II's mining, but then confronted Durin II alone (without that army he held back), before eventually sending out the army with Narvi at the helm while he stayed in Khazad-Dum. Why not just send the army out under the command of Narvi in the first place? And, perhaps worst of all, the Numeneoreans basically switched allegiances and belief structures basically every episode. I know canonically that the Numenoreans end up being kinda dumb by the end of the second age, when they literally end up building a Temple of Melkor, but this isn't so far as that event yet and the rapid back-and-forth switching of power and allegiances between Pharazon and Miriel felt so forced and ridiculous. Pharazon's scheming would have played so much better as a slow burn with more consistent scheming and ground shifts than what was essentially a continuation of the "elves took ur jerbs!" scene from season 1. It becomes exceedingly hard to care about characters when they repeatedly engage in unbelievable and cartoonish behavior.
Too Many Meaningless Sideplots:
Did you miss Theo or Isildur or the Harfoots when they would go missing for episodes at a time? Nope, neither did I. Hell, they killed off of the larger side characters from season 1 off-screen between seasons, as a further example of the bloat. Even Galadriel and Elrond ended up getting sidelined for entire episodes because there were too many plotlines to be serviced. The Numenor plotline largely fell flat, but it's essential to the tale of the second age. Jamming in Gandalf, having an Isildur death fake-out with random romance side quest, a random Shire origin story nobody asked for, and continuing with the adventures of the random invented characters from season 1 as they escaped from Mordor all are not essential - and have largely come at the detriment of the rest of the show.
The Sins of Season 1:
Much of this season suffered from the decisions made in the previous season. Sometimes it strove to correct those mistakes, occasionally veering into overcorrection territory (Galadriel literally becoming a damsel in distress as a glaring example). But having to try and salvage the inconsistent plot points and logic of the previous season often painted them into corners that resulted in dumb characters and absurd plot contrivances. The relationship between Celebrimbor and Sauron/Annatar was unquestionably the highlight of this season, but in the process it just highlighted how terrible the decision in season 1 to omit Annatar in favor of "Halbrand" was (and the showrunner's terrible explanations for it), and season 2 had to arrange a host of ridiculous plot contrivances to explain how Celebrimbor would be fooled again by Halbrand/Annatar and the Elves would use the rings (despite them being forged out of order and with Galadriel's knowledge of Sauron's involvement). There are countless other examples all around of the show trying to dig itself out of the hole season 1 created. The Numenoreans colonies are suddenly a thing again, despite season 1 making a huge deal of them sailing to Middle Earth. Entire character plotlines were jammed in because they didn't know what to do with Adar, Theo, Isildur, or Arondir after season 1. Honestly, they probably should have just Bronwyn'd a few more of them off screen.
The Absurdities of this Timeline:
So many things just don't make sense in the greater scheme of things.
Both the Dwarves and Elves have seen the power and effect of the rings, why are they going to keep using them? In particular the Dwarves.
Are the Dwarves just going to ignore the Balrog in their basement? How is it going to be a surprise that it has led to the destruction of Khazad-Dum thousands of years in the future in the Third Age? The Khazad-Dum timeline changes are just a mess.
Gandalf being around in the Second Age still doesn't make sense, particularly considering how many times he's near the One Ring during the Third Age before he realized it.
If the Dark Wizard is Saruman (and given what they did with Gandalf, it's probably Saruman), how are they going to explain Gandalf following him for essentially the entire third age?
Even within the show's own itnernal timeline - season 1's intro established that Sauron "spread Orcs to every corner of Middle Earth" after the fall of Morgoth, and used Sauron's reign over the Orcs as the establishing rationale for Galadriel's hatred of Sauron as she wanted vengeance for Finrod. Yet in season 2, we see the Orcs immediately kill Sauron as he tries to claim power over them after Morgoth's defeat. The show is already retconning itself, and in ways that make little sense.
Other Random Thoughts:
So many shitty one liners that just don't connect. S1 had the "I'm good!" and now we get "Heal Yourself"
So many deliberate references to the Jackson trilogy, and each time they feel so jarring and out of place. Either live on your own merits or live on the merits of Tolkein's original craft - don't try and live on the merits of a better adaptation.
In something that highlights both of the previous points together - I was really enjoying Celebrimbor's final moments.... until he literally said "you are the Lord... of the Rings." What a way to shit all over what should have been a highlight. A scene that went from being terrific to utterly horrid in an instant.
Why is Sauron so horny? His affections for Galadriel in both S1 and S2 were already non-sense, but then we got him lusting after some random other elf just because she looked like her.
The random romances in this show pretty much all fall flat. Durin and Disa is the only one that works. They really are the beating heart of the show.
We had that big troll show up and get an intro scene, and then he only showed up again for one brief moment to do nothing of actual consequence.
At least it was usually pretty to look at.
The first instance of Tom Bombadil was pretty great, but it's largely because they were cribbing his dialogue straight from Fellowship of the Ring. Then they turned him into Yoda from Empire Strikes Back, and it was beyond cringe.
How convenient that the Orcs strapped something flammable to their one and only siege weapon capable of taking down the walls so the Elves could shoot fire arrows at it.
Cirdan really captured the spirit of Tolkein's Elvish dialogue so well. I wish we had seen more of him.
How did Arondir survive being stabbed at the siege of Eregion?
Most of the combat was fairly entertaining to watch. But the repeated dudes getting kicked into trees/rocks/etc. always looked cheesy. It kinda worked when Berek the horse did it, because it's supposed to be a bit goofy. But Galadriel and others doing it was really painful to watch.
Aside of a select few moments, the show felt "small." The gatherings in Numenor, Eregion, etc. always felt like it was a couple dozen random extras. You can count the crowds gathered by hand.
The moments that did feel grand stood out and felt meaningful. Durin's speech in Khazad Dum is the highlight of these.
Why did they use CGI shots of Adar's face for his biggest dialogue moments in episode 7? Felt out of place in a show that has largely used prosthetics and costumes.
I'm going to miss Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor. He really made the role his own and played it well.
The Rhun mercenary dudes were mostly wasted, but the wardrobe department really nailed their costume design.
They also brought back the random Sauron-worshipping "Nazgals" were brought back as servants of the Dark Wizard... and did a whole lot of nothing.
Gil-Galad might finally do something in season 3? Hopefully?
The Marquis
Moderator
Emperoreddy
Show Me What You Got!
Yeah I would say the biggest issue is largely really weird editing and scripting choices. It wasn't just teleporting. It was extremely hard to keep track of the passage of time.
Was that siege one night long? A week long? I'm not 100% sure.
It made a lot of scenes inside individual plot lines extremely jarring. You can cover stuff like that up if something really intense and suspenseful is happening. PJ does this with Fellowship between Gandalf leaving the Shire, learning about the ring, then racing back with the Nine on his trail. It doesn't quite make sense if you stop and think about it...but the music and everything creates so much drama and suspense you are too caught up to notice.
You don't get that in the show at all, so the continuity flaws are noticeable.
Everything else has been said. It doesn't feel like Sauron even needs the One ring at the moment? Why would the dwarves use the ring again, or go back into the mines knowing a f***ing Balrog is down there and killed the king? The lore demands all that happens but it seems disconnected from.
The hobbit storyline seemed massively pointless. After all that, Nori and everyone just leaves? She doesn't even learn Gandalf's name or sees him find his staff. They tried to give Poppy a Samwise speech, but they haven't done nearly enough leg work to make you care for her giving said speech.
Also Narsil showed up out of no where. No explanation, but we did get a near shot for shot recreation of Aragoen unsheating it for the first time.
Was that siege one night long? A week long? I'm not 100% sure.
It made a lot of scenes inside individual plot lines extremely jarring. You can cover stuff like that up if something really intense and suspenseful is happening. PJ does this with Fellowship between Gandalf leaving the Shire, learning about the ring, then racing back with the Nine on his trail. It doesn't quite make sense if you stop and think about it...but the music and everything creates so much drama and suspense you are too caught up to notice.
You don't get that in the show at all, so the continuity flaws are noticeable.
Everything else has been said. It doesn't feel like Sauron even needs the One ring at the moment? Why would the dwarves use the ring again, or go back into the mines knowing a f***ing Balrog is down there and killed the king? The lore demands all that happens but it seems disconnected from.
The hobbit storyline seemed massively pointless. After all that, Nori and everyone just leaves? She doesn't even learn Gandalf's name or sees him find his staff. They tried to give Poppy a Samwise speech, but they haven't done nearly enough leg work to make you care for her giving said speech.
Also Narsil showed up out of no where. No explanation, but we did get a near shot for shot recreation of Aragoen unsheating it for the first time.
Emperoreddy
Show Me What You Got!
The two wizards being the Blue Wizards. One fallen, other still good, having adventures and trying to thwart each other while fleshing out Rhun could have made an interesting story.
Would have been a lot more lore friendly as well since all that is mostly blank space. Doesn't create a situation where Gandalf is too early and needs a reason to go all the way to the Havens to eventually get his ring
Would have been a lot more lore friendly as well since all that is mostly blank space. Doesn't create a situation where Gandalf is too early and needs a reason to go all the way to the Havens to eventually get his ring
Hivemind
We're Touched
I was gonna touch on this in my lore bitching post, but the war in Eregion takes place over two whole years in the books. Obviously they weren't going to do that in the show, but it really does serve as yet another example of how poorly they depicted the passage of time. I think it happened basically over the course of 2 days in the show, with the Dwarves supposed to arrive at dawn (we'll ignore how they were supposed to travel 60ish leagues in one day for the time being) and instead arriving many hours later. But who really knows.
Emperoreddy
Show Me What You Got!
It's why you need to at least sort of sense of distance. Elrond seemingly getting back to Lindon, then to Moria, then back to the front for a calvary charge while the orcs are basically at the river that entire period is jarring.
Same with Aronoir cutting across so much country seemingly so quickly (him seemingly dying via Adar in episode 7 to just be fine in episode 8 is a whole other kettle of fish)
It feels like something with missing with the dwarves. They just end up on the walls? How did they stealth that? Felt like we were missing a shot of them marching down a hill or something.
Season 4 of GoT did a lot better job with Mance's Wildling army when doing the encroaching army trope. We hear the army is marching on the wall all season, it's constantly hammered home but since they don't arrive until the end of the season the passage of time feels to make sense.
Ben Grimm
Pts: Gretzky 2857 OV 1575 🔥
- Dec 10, 2007
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I saw the finale. Here's the thing. All knowledgeable Tolkien fans read the trilogy before Peter Jackson got the rights to film and have been debating certain issues for decades. This project is not canon. It's not even a LotR prequel. It's a new different separate story with mostly new characters written by people born after Tolkien died in 1973. Who cares though? It's good entertainment.
TCTC
Registered User
- Mar 25, 2013
- 13,360
- 9,778
Haven't watched the show, so I can't say if it actually is entertaining. But if you adapt such a popular work, isn't it kind of shameless to just do your own thing without regard to the original lore? Basically admitting that the only reason they chose to adapt Tolkien's books in the first place is name recognition?
In my opinion writers with integrity either respect the original lore, or they just create something new completely without relying on someone else's work.
The Marquis
Moderator
Pretty much this. It's got its problems as a TV show for sure, but having not read ANY of the books, the passage of time issue didn't matter at all to me, except that there were a few important characters that suddenly appeared in places they were most definitely not without there being any context for why they were there. That said, it didn't matter to me that the books had that battle at years long or if it appeared in the show as being days long. The show has massive issues with context and motivation, but all of those things sort of cleared up at the end, so as a TV show it's a good entertaining watch, and there are hundreds of worse things to watch on TV these days.
