The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Prime)

[dammage79]

I'm sold. The first 3 hours were rock solid world building. With some gorgeous visuals of long dead realms (before the war of the ring) like Numenor and the southlands.

One question though, I need clarification on the human with Galadrial , Rohans king?

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by dammage79

One question though, I need clarification on the human with Galadrial , Rohans king?

I think he is a new creation though I could see a tie to Rohan. At first I was wondering if he was actually Sauron with the sweet talk making friends with everyone, but then things turned around for him.

[JohnnyB]

They were quite conspicuous about his interest/skill in being a smith and working with metal. I wonder how that will be worked in later. Something with the dwarves? Reforging that broken sword for Sauron?

[Dentoman]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

They were quite conspicuous about his interest/skill in being a smith and working with metal. I wonder how that will be worked in later. Something with the dwarves? Reforging that broken sword for Sauron?

Internet sites think most likely Witch King of Angmar. Also possibly Sauron or the King of the Dead (the dead guys under the mountain in ROTK). His interest in metal work does lean toward Sauron.

I’m really enjoying the series so far. The visuals and music are awesome.

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by Dentoman

Internet sites think most likely Witch King of Angmar. Also possibly Sauron or the King of the Dead (the dead guys under the mountain in ROTK). His interest in metal work does lean toward Sauron.

I’m really enjoying the series so far. The visuals and music are awesome.

I was also thinking he'd be the Witch King because his kingdom is in the Southlands, which is Mordor by the time of LOTR, and the Witch King has his castle there. King of the Dead would make sense too given his character and desire to flee. Neither of those have much connection to metal work as far as I know, so I'm still guessing his role with forging will be more to do with the broken sword.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Dentoman

Internet sites think most likely Witch King of Angmar. Also possibly Sauron or the King of the Dead (the dead guys under the mountain in ROTK). His interest in metal work does lean toward Sauron.

I’m really enjoying the series so far. The visuals and music are awesome.

Wouldn't Sauron be the fogged out elf at the end of Ep.3?.or that could be Amgmar.

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Wouldn't Sauron be the fogged out elf at the end of Ep.3?.or that could be Amgmar.

I was thinking that too. The orcs seem to be chanting the name Adar, which is different from Annatar that Sauron was called as an elf, but it's pretty close.

I'm also starting to see how just having bought the rights to so little of the Tolkien IP can still work out for Amazon as fans have so much access to the lore on their own that little hints in the show will still fuel people speculating and discussing possibilities using the IP that the show doesn't have the rights to touch.

[N-E-B]

Finished episode 3. Had low expectations going in, and while the show isn’t 100% true to Tolkien’s lore I find myself enjoying it nonetheless. The show is visually stunning and the acting is pretty good so far.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Wouldn't Sauron be the fogged out elf at the end of Ep.3?.or that could be Amgmar.

I really want an witch king origin story, I think it’s absolutely one of the most interesting, totally undeveloped 2nd age plots you could do. I’d be a little disappointed if the witch king is already working for Sauron and we don’t get to see that whole corruption of the rings unfold.

Also, there are little touches referencing the Silmarillion that I really love in this show, like the Harfoot leader referencing the story of Earendil when he says something like ‘never known a star to become a man before, only a man becoming a star’ or something like that. Even if there are serious limitations to what they can tell, and serious challenges with adapting it to TV, I definitely feel the love for the source material.

[Wastedyouth]

What a grind. The whole Comet Man plot is so boring, I pretty much tune out as soon as the Harfoots show up.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

What a grind. The whole Comet Man plot is so boring, I pretty much tune out as soon as the Harfoots show up.

I'm 2 episodes in and feeling the same.
No way I'd continue on with any other show, but really hoping for more since it's LOTR.
Just a giant turd so far, I couldn't even get through the episodes without grabbing my phone to check CP or Instagram or anything more interesting than the show.
Maybe the greatest waste of $1Billion in human history?

[djsFlames]

Most of us had roughly the same take after eps 1&2.

Episode 3 is where the show finally starts to show some potential IMO.

[blankall]

Will admit the third episode was kind of dull. That whole storyline with the island Kingdom is just very dull. Doesn't really feel like LOTR. More like a lifeless GoT.

The episode did pick up with the elf slave camp though. Although it felt like the elves were overly hapless. 3 elves with digging weapons should be able to break their bonds and wreak havoc on a relatively small group of orcs fairly easily.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by blankall

Will admit the third episode was kind of dull. That whole storyline with the island Kingdom is just very dull. Doesn't really feel like LOTR. More like a lifeless GoT.

The episode did pick up with the elf slave camp though. Although it felt like the elves were overly hapless. 3 elves with digging weapons should be able to break their bonds and wreak havoc on a relatively small group of orcs fairly easily.

If fans are going to start the "who would win" nitpicking, the show doesn't even stand a chance no matter what it does. Each person is going to have a different take on that.

I do think the elves went down a little bit easy, but I think it was to accomplish the narrative that shows us that erendir? has taken losses and is trapped there.

I don't think the island kingdom matters so much as the humans there who are going to drive the story going forward and the setting up that is going on there. I find the core group of characters pretty engaging. Making the political affairs of every location they pass through interesting would be an impossibility so I'm not expecting that of the show and I don't think anybody should

It's not the best cluster of plot lines and some are stronger than others, but I'd say overall it's trending in a good direction.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

I'm 2 episodes in and feeling the same.
No way I'd continue on with any other show, but really hoping for more since it's LOTR.
Just a giant turd so far, I couldn't even get through the episodes without grabbing my phone to check CP or Instagram or anything more interesting than the show.
Maybe the greatest waste of $1Billion in human history?

Whoa man....wait until the Elon Musk/Twitter fiasco has at least been given a chance to breathe!!

[GreenLantern]

For me this show really pulled ahead of HOTD in episode 3, thought it was great.

I have thoroughly enjoyed every episode so far.

Isildur showing up was really neat.

The visuals in this show are just amazing as well, they've really done a great job. The tunnels make sense now as well, not sure why I didn't think of that aspect before..

[CroFlames]

At face value I think the show is great. Visually, storylines, acting, characters, etc. All awesome.

I just find myself continually questioning whether or not they are following the source material or deviating. There's just so much source material that it's hard to know on the fly, and I get distracted thinking about it. I wish I could just sit back and enjoy the show.

But that leads me to my other point that Cecil brought up. The stupid estate only sold a tiny portion of the material to Amazon to work with, so they are handcuffed with how they proceed. That is just dumb, and that's also constantly on my mind as I watch, further diminishing my enjoyment.

I'm super buzzed about how awesome they made Numenor. Tolkien went to great lenghts to make it seem like Numenor was the greatest of all (non-elf) kingdoms and the show did a fantastic job. The sets looked so real and lived in, like the back alley scene where Halbrand is fighting the blacksmiths.

I think if I was a person who just watched the LOTR movies, this show would be amazing so far.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by octothorp

I really want an witch king origin story, I think it’s absolutely one of the most interesting, totally undeveloped 2nd age plots you could do. I’d be a little disappointed if the witch king is already working for Sauron and we don’t get to see that whole corruption of the rings unfold.

Also, there are little touches referencing the Silmarillion that I really love in this show, like the Harfoot leader referencing the story of Earendil when he says something like ‘never known a star to become a man before, only a man becoming a star’ or something like that. Even if there are serious limitations to what they can tell, and serious challenges with adapting it to TV, I definitely feel the love for the source material.

Yeah I am noticing that as well. They can't directly make reference, but there are definitely making connections that are pretty neat.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by Azure

Yeah I am noticing that as well. They can't directly make reference, but there are definitely making connections that are pretty neat.

It's some of the little absences I notice. Such as "this guy is Galadriel's brother, and now he's dead" instead of "this is the legendary Fingol, who went toe-to-toe with Sauron in a battle of magic before dying."

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

At face value I think the show is great. Visually, storylines, acting, characters, etc. All awesome.

I just find myself continually questioning whether or not they are following the source material or deviating. There's just so much source material that it's hard to know on the fly, and I get distracted thinking about it. I wish I could just sit back and enjoy the show.

But that leads me to my other point that Cecil brought up. The stupid estate only sold a tiny portion of the material to Amazon to work with, so they are handcuffed with how they proceed. That is just dumb, and that's also constantly on my mind as I watch, further diminishing my enjoyment.

I'm super buzzed about how awesome they made Numenor. Tolkien went to great lenghts to make it seem like Numenor was the greatest of all (non-elf) kingdoms and the show did a fantastic job. The sets looked so real and lived in, like the back alley scene where Halbrand is fighting the blacksmiths.

I think if I was a person who just watched the LOTR movies, this show would be amazing so far.

Yeah, the Tolkien estate is notoriously frustrating. They aren't free of blame here either.