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

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

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

Maybe they’ll come to their senses and sell the rest of it for a quarter billion and they’ll be happy and we’ll be happy.

Like do his great grandkids even give a flying eff about the source material? Or would they rather have a new Lambo each?

[octothorp]

Even if they had come to an agreement where Silmarillion content could be mentioned but not shown, or you could have X minutes of flashbacks per season, but a few key standalone stories (Gondolin, Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien) cannot be mentioned, etc. It's hard to believe there was no solution that couldn't have given this series more freedom while protecting (if not improving) the values of rights to the full Silmarillion.

[dammage79]

Uon pondering this some more. I dont think comet man is Gandalf. It's way too early for him to show up. It's not Saruman either. Or Radagast. Can't be Bombadil he's off in the middle of nowhere sniffing flowers already.

The timeline here would suggest perhaps maybe one of the Blues. I hope it's the Blue wizards. It'd be really neat if they found a way to tell their story in this age.

[Fuzz]

It's kind of weird this comes out at 10pm.

[McG]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

It's kind of weird this comes out at 10pm.

Midnight eastern.

[nfotiu]

Right after Prime showing Thursday Night Football, I assume is the reason. They are pumping it non stop during the broadcast.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Right after Prime showing Thursday Night Football, I assume is the reason. They are pumping it non stop during the broadcast.

Really? Stupid football. Ruins everything.

It's just weird because presumably US is the biggest audience, and east coasters probably aren't staying up, yet west coasters probably watch it.

[octothorp]

Best episode yet, IMO. Since it's just out, will put thoughts in spoilers

Spoiler!

Gotta admit, while I don't dislike the Harfoots, the absence of them in this episode allowed the bigger plotlines to flow more. It helps that those plots really picked up in this episode and finally feels like it's shifting into more of a story-telling than a world-building phase.

The vision at the beginning of the episode and the use of the tree petals throughout was beauitful and haunting.

I really like what they're setting up with the Dwarves/Elves/mithril. I think that in this telling of the story, the dwarves mining too greedily and too deeply will not be entirely their fault.

[Sr. Mints]

I had timelines and locations all mixed up in my mind, and wrongly assumed it was the Arkenstone (from The Hobbit) that Durin and company were keeping from Elrond. The road The Rings of Power is going down is much more interesting.

I like the actress who plays Galadriel and think she brings a lot to the role, but the writing for the character can be really bad. She's supposed to be this ~10,000-year-old lvl 85 elf, but the show has at times portrayed her like an angsty teen. And it's not every scene she's in, which makes it even more frustrating!

It's admittedly a challenge for me not to compare characters from the movie series' to the show (so far basically Galadriel and Elrond). Those were two exceptional portrayals that have aged like whisky for two decades. The pressure of following Blanchett and Weaving must have been massive for these new actors.

[CroFlames]

Lots to like. Just gathering my thoughts and I’ll write more.

They knocked it out of the park with the portrayal of the Dwarves, but I’m not sure I can get over the Elves appearance. Also I wish they made Elendil taller. He’s 7’11” irl.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

It's admittedly a challenge for me not to compare characters from the movie series' to the show (so far basically Galadriel and Elrond). Those were two exceptional portrayals that have aged like whisky for two decades. The pressure of following Blanchett and Weaving must have been massive for these new actors.

She seems to still be the brash and impetuous elf from the beginning of the Silmarillion, a long way from the wise leader in LotR. I guess she didn't grow up much over the first 2 ages and suddenly matures after Sauron's return.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

She seems to still be the brash and impetuous elf from the beginning of the Silmarillion, a long way from the wise leader in LotR. I guess she didn't grow up much over the first 2 ages and suddenly matures after Sauron's return.

I know that when I hit 5000+ years old, I still want to be brash and impetuous too.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Lots to like. Just gathering my thoughts and I’ll write more.

They knocked it out of the park with the portrayal of the Dwarves, but I’m not sure I can get over the Elves appearance. Also I wish they made Elendil taller. He’s 7’11” irl.

The irony of this statement slays me.

[JohnnyB]

The visual of the wave was great. I imagine that was an expensive little scene, but very powerful.

Overall, a fun episode. I'm liking the dwarves and Elrond a lot. Numenor has become intriguing with the addition of a palantir and the wave - the situation with the king and the palantir is reminiscent of Theodan. The elf soldier who got captured originally seemed flat and dry as a cardboard box to me, but his storyline is at least developing in an interesting way and his character promises to bring some fun battle scenes.

I'm still not loving the Galadriel character. The character has developed a bit and the actress seems a bit less flat, but she still seems to always be trying too hard or something. I definitely don't feel like the actress embodies Galadriel naturally. Same with the kid who has the dark sword and the elf soldier who saved him. There are some very natural feeling characters, particularly among the lead humans and the dwarves, but too many actors and actresses who seem to be obviously acting rather than inhabiting their characters.

Hoping as the show progresses that we get more sweeping scenes of NZ landscape too. Loved how the natural landscape contributed to the sense of grandeur and wonder in lotr but haven't seen much of that yet in this series.

[Azure]

The actions in Numenor are interesting.

The army that is supposedly sailing West was said to be so great that Sauron and his forces basically didn't want to fight. Or is that something else?

The condensed timeline creates an issue for me, and I wonder with the money they sunk into this, would it have really pained them to add a few more episodes? It feels like we're really moving fast and certain things don't get the exact detail they should.

But still, amazing episode. 9/10 for me. I agree that the are now developing the storyline more, and doing less world building.

[Fuzz]

I didn't understand the "sailing west" bit. Isn't Numenor west of Middle Earth?

[JohnnyB]

What was the part they talked about sailing west? I only remember them talking about going to Middle Earth. Was it in the closing scenes, or earlier in the episode?

[Fuzz]

Maybe 10 minutes from the end? I just remember them saying that.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I didn't understand the "sailing west" bit. Isn't Numenor west of Middle Earth?

The utter most west is Valinor or the land of the gods. Elves may go there.

Men cannot go there since they are mortal.

Numenor is a small continent in the middle of the ocean between Valinor and Middle earth.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

What was the part they talked about sailing west? I only remember them talking about going to Middle Earth. Was it in the closing scenes, or earlier in the episode?

Crap, I meant sailing to Middle Earth to take on Sauron.

The army they sent was so big Sauron basically didn't fight. So not sure if this is supposed to be it.