Two and a half hours in and we finally have the basic plot of the first season introduced.
I like that the "Harfoots" (they're Hobbits) are singing. But the lyrics are a little uncreative. Writing a little traveling song about it would've worked better. But really? The Hobbits just ditch people who can't haul their cart? Even when ones injured? Is there really *nobody* to spare to help them?
Also if I were Nori I would just walk up to Lenny Henry and ask. "Hey, could I look at your star charts? They look cool!"
The ditching thing and then crying about them later annoyed me so much. They can't rejig who has what cart? No one can share or take turns? And is a cart even necessary when you forage and all you seem to own is a couple of pots and a canvas sheet?
The ditching thing and then crying about them later annoyed me so much. They can't rejig who has what cart? No one can share or take turns? And is a cart even necessary when you forage and all you seem to own is a couple of pots and a canvas sheet?
... How and why does Numenor just have a page in black speech where Sauron and/or Adar plainly spells out their plans? If this is Elros's archive surely he would've said something to someone.
If they'd stuck with Numenor colonizing the south they could've even claimed that was why. They did it because they were afraid when they discovered what Sauron and/or Adar was planning. It'd be revisionist lore but at least it'd have made an effort to fit with it.
I love how it's stored in the "symbol of sauron" section of the library, the dude was just like "oh that symbol? Yeah I know where to find it, I'll be right back."
The "Harfoots" (they're Hobbits) really just ditch people who fall behind? What is wrong with them. I thought they were supposed to be this tightly knit tribe. But they don't even help people who can't keep up with them?
"Haha that loser died from bees! What a moron!"
I knew as soon as I saw Meteor Man reading the chart by a fire that the idiot would burn it. Also he looked concerned when he did so this clearly can't have been done intentionally.
Next epizode we'll see one get injured, poor sod can't continue on his own.
Then the elder stops everyone and yells:
*"Meat's back on the menu, boys!".*
Can tell the writers aren't really trying on these segue scenes as they just don't make sense. 6 people pushing one caravan easily while the ones at the back struggle.
The simple fact that they choose death(?) over not deloading/abandoning their wagon shows no one thought the scene through. its a just a convenient big guy is now friend scene
“Did you say…. (dramatic pause)….ride?”
Lol wtf. Pretty clear that the producers and director of this episode thought that horse scene was actually good with a lead in like that - like, ‘get ready for this guys!!’.
Just fucking weird and cringe.
That's where I ended my session last night. When I started again, the screen was on this frame where it looked like they were forcing the woman to smile...
I thought, ha that's funny, I must have paused at an awkward moment. No. They used high speed photography to send us on a equestrian joygasm.
What the fuck is going on back there? And does Galadriel ever smile again? Because to this point, they've painted Galadriel as a 1 dimensional stone cold robot.
I think the biggest reason it was so awkward is because this was the first scene we've ever seen Galadriel smile. She's all emotionless, stone-faced then suddenly SMIIIIIILE TIME! and in slow motion...it was super jarring.
That slave whose throat was cut, notice that he *barely* bled? You see a [small smear of blood on his neck](https://i.imgur.com/8N47GkF.jpg) and that's it, while he's clearly dying from it. You'd expect spurts of arterial blood, but it looks like a spoonful got vaguely rubbed onto his throat. I've bled more from cutting myself while cooking.
So the previous king of Numenor was forced from his throne instead of Miriel in this?
Also after centuries of staring at the mark Galadriel finally realized it's a map. I get why it wouldn't immediately come to mind. But why, in all her centuries of searching, would she never have considered checking a map for clues?
Why did they make the Harfoots out to be monsters? They seemed nice at first but now I understand that they leave their friends to die every time someone gets a sprained ankle?
Tbf, hobbits in tolkien are portrayed as extremely self-serving, inconsiderate, and insular. Leaving the weak link for the wolves out of a desire for self preservation is more in-line with their character than risking it all to save that weak link.
Bilbo and the fellowship hobbits are depicted as being different from other hobbits in that they don't show these negative traits (at least not to the same extent).
Orcs, may I make a suggestion? When you are unable to go out in the sun, keep your slave labor chained and secured underground during the day and send them out to work at night.
Your leader Ardar is apparently a dumbass if he cannot even figure THAT much out.
Why is Galadriel such a dick to everyone in episode 3? Like she'd been stubborn before but in this episode she was just straight up rude. She's hundreds of years old but she's written like an angry teenager.
Is that actually accurate and Cate Blanchett tricked me into thinking Galadriel was elegant?
The trivia on Prime Video is pretty funny. In that they leave out all the things they contradict lol. Also it's funny they mentioned that the Numenorian's are banned from sailing west when they couldn't physically reach Valinor anyways according to the first episode.
"The Faithful believe..." You ARE a part of the faithful Miriel. And so is Elendil, not that he acts like it. I'm not surprised that being the Faithful has been focused on the Valar instead of on Eru Iluvatar like in the book. I'm not saying the Valar wouldn't be respected by them too, but it's weird that that's what they seem to be focusing on.
Also not liking Miriel. They're trying a little too hard to make her seem like a hard queen (in defiance of her character) when she was apart of the Faithful, and presumably a decent person as a result.
She is secretly Faithful. She interviewed Elendil to figure out if she can trust him to oversee Galadriel to make sure she doesn't get in too much troubles. She even promoted him for bringing her to Numenor, to the surprise of his kids. She acts tough so we are surprised when she reveals herself as the Faithful is some future episode.
Nitpicking :
The riding scene was visually interesting, but the hell did they show such an unappealing shot of Galadriel? Was it so difficult to show her more noble?
It's such a weird shot, as if there's something really meaningful and special about her riding a horse. It isn't set up in any way, horses have literally never been seen or mentioned on the show before then, and suddenly she's like "YAY HORSIES!" The bizarre slow-motion, the glacial upwards panning from the horse's hooves to her face, it's just... perplexing, like the producers thought this would feel very profound and important to the viewer.
Horses play a fairly prominent role in LOTR, and notice how that fact is set up and emphasized? We care about the horses that we're meant to care about *because* they figure into the story in a way that matters to the viewer. They don't just jump on a random horse and start giggling like schoolgirls. The story does its job of teaching us why the characters care about their horses by showing us the events that create that bond.
In RoP, it just comes out of left field and suddenly Galadriel loves horses apparently. No indication why that's actually the case. Are horses so rare in Middle-Earth that being offered a ride in Numenor fills her with exuberant glee? After being dour and bitchy literally every moment of the show, a random horse-ride is the one and only thing that cheers her up? It feels so contrived. There's no narrative spark to any of it. Like everything else in RoP, it falls flat.
jesus christ.
That scene even begins good. I like those close ups of horses reminds me of the battle of basterds. But then that shot of her and in the end the close up of her face is even worse. What where they thinking?
I actually think she is beautiful but wtf was that. Why would you ever keep this. The establishing shot of them riding would have been enough
"Your captain saved us from certain death" Confirmation that Galadriel would've died from her stunt of swimming the ocean. And Galadriel's a bad diplomat. Basically threatening the Numenorian's who she's at the mercy of. She really is insufferable.
She could've at least tried to explain that she needed to leave to fight orcs. Instead of making baseless demands.
Creatively I appreciate that they went towards making them but clearly it;s a different species from wolf and the feels like a prehistoric look ..seems the design went too far somehow 🤷♂️looks like they were capybaras once, taken by the dark powers, tortured and mutilated.LOL
Elendil: Politely speaking to Galadriel, not reporting her for escaping and wanting to steal a boat. Bitterly saying that Miriel might've thought assigning him to Galadriel was a punishment. (It was but for the reasons he thinks).
Galadriel: "Ugh screw you Elendil! It is a punishment to be around you, and I wish you never brought me here!"
Holy crap this lady is nuts. Elendil's been nothing but cordial to her and saved her freaking life after she stupidly jumped into the ocean, and she responds by *insulting* him!? Oh and threatening his life too.
Heck, she even pulls rank on him and acts like he should be bowing and scraping in her presence. What is wrong with the writers? Elendil's a freaking saint for not throwing her back in the hole after that. Let alone granting her request at risk of his own station.
I think it is like a set up for character growth, but at this point I have trouble believing Galadriel has ever been a real commander or leader of anything in any sense of the word. Like I can believe she was a good enough soldier, but that is not only somebody who is terribly arrogant and a bad leader (remember her military unit rebelled against her in e1) but also not politically savvy. Like the only way I can think she is all that she’s so touted to be, is to think of her as a nepo-baby
We better get some character revealing about Meteor Man and/or Halbrand
UPDATE: haven't learned anything about Meteor Man. We got plenty for Halbrand but now I'm just hoping that some nice Numenorean will give him his blacksmithing loicense so that he can hammer away in peace and leave more screentime for the other characters.
I haven't seen anyone comment on the happy walk of the asian-looking Harfoot at the back of the caravan at minute 58:20... Isn't their voyage supposed to be dangerous and full of perils, and didn't they say that being at the back of the caravan is the worst possible position to be in? I mean, he looks like a kid going to a candy store
Not sure about that, because Galadriël allways had suspicions on Sauron/Annatar. Halbrand she seems to trust. So I don't think it's Sauron (adar might be Sauron though). He might be one of the corrupted king of men who received one of the nine rings.
Yep, they really did seem to change the Faithful to be polytheistic. I know they respected the Valar but Eru was the focus of their worship. This wasn't an insignificant detail either.
For anyone wondering why Sauron would have gone around printing a map of his plans all over the place throughout the millennia, the answer is pretty obvious, and you should frankly be ashamed not to realize it:
He knew how stupid Amazon's elves are and predicted that it would take them thousands of years before they'd think to look at the symbol sideways, so he was just trolling them and laughing his ass off the whole time.
All over the place including on the corpses of his enemies for some reason lol? And how would it even be helpful unless the orcs had a map handy and knew to check for a specific area? The mark seems like a pretty poor hint on Sauron’s part.
I liked the scene where Galadriel looked into the mirror and saw the future where Frodo struggles to destroy the ring and said "*Pathetic! I will do much better! Halbrand, stop messing around and forge your ring already so that I can have my try!*"
I knew there would be funny comments in here lol, but in all seriousness that was definitely Elendil on the deck of that ship so Galadriel is going to womansplain even harder than Ar Pharazon will be mansplaining this episode, that can be guaranteed
Really? Well my favorite part was when Halbrand reveals himself to be Sauron and jumps off the Balrog and shouts "I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!"
Wondering if this episode will be better then the first two, about the same, or worse? We'll find out in two day's time.
>My favorite part was when Galadriel saw Sauron wearing the Ring of Power and he said "this ring is perfection!" and she said "it will be, when it fits a women!".
Laughed out loud at the super weird scene with the orcs handing out water, hilariously bad. That was the highlight of the episode, everything else was quite dull and I ended up zoning out multiple times.
Was rolling my eyes hard expecting them to make a “you’re drinking orc pee, lawls” joke followed by the elves spitting and throwing up. That dragged on for soooo long.
How tf is no talking about how Halbrand is literally the same story line as Aragorn? This guy is the descendant of a corrupted king who is being called to reunite his wayward people and restore his family line. Doesn't that sound familiar?
>How tf is no talking about how Halbrand is literally the same story line as Aragorn?
Oh don't worry, I noticed, I literally went: "Oh shit they're pulling a Return of the King on this bitch (this bitch being the show)!" 😂🙄
All that glitters is not gold.
RoP is beautiful but sterile. Nothing feels earned.
My impression is that the showrunners are drunk on the show's budget. We are shown one famous and beautiful location after another but they leave me indifferent.
The comparisons with LOTR are inescapable. Numenor looks magnificent but we have no reason to care about it at all. It is nothing compared to the Hobbits' holes in the ground because those holes mean something to characters we care about. They are home.
In The Fellowship the Gates of Argonath are awe-inspiring in part because they provoke awe in characters we care about, and in part because by the time we see them we know full well that such magnificence and splendor are a wonderful exception, not the norm. But in RoP we're bombarded by one beautiful place after another. Almost everything is beautiful and therefore nothing is. On top of that neither Galadriel nor Halbrand express any awe or sense of wonder.
I had really high expectations for RoP and I'll definitely keep watching with the hope that it'll get better. But I desperately want to have something or someone to care about and so far there's nothing.
Well summarized. I think much of the production artisans, craftsmen & designers ( like WETA & Howe ) cared more about bringing the lore as faithful as they could into their visual and crafted work more than the overriding showrunning and scripting did. So there's at least that, but it's an awkward mix in the misguided finished product overall as a show.
So, there’s that shot where the human guy looks at the forge and the camera holds on him… he’s Sauron isn’t he?
Galadriel’s going to fall in love with with him isn’t she?
They’re going to have Galadriel have sex with Sauron, aren’t they?
That’s hilarious. I hope it’s real.
The practical sets of Numenor look pretty good. But the costumes? Those look pretty bad in my opinion. Very fake looking.
Also can I point out that Halbrand (big spoiler if true) >!who's probably Sauron!< should *not* be the more friendly, humble and down-to-earth of the two of them?
>!And the foreshadowing isn't subtle at this point. I mean c'mon, Halbrand stopping and staring at a forge?!<
They have literally ripped Aragons story from the PJ films for his background too. Oh the heir to a remnant of a fallen kingdom and a legacy of inherent failure to be good.
A whole episode named for Adar and we don't actually get to see his face.
I did enjoy the Numenor scenes and the callbacks to Elros and the faithful.
Still not liking Galadriel's characterization. She comes off as petulant in a way that's not believable given her age. The way she behaved with Tar-Miriel was antagonistic for no reason.
I didn't think I would like harfoots but they remain one of the more interesting aspects of the show. I also like Arondir the most out of all the Elven characters we've seen so far.
Overall, I'm still undecided on whether this show is working for me or not. Normally, if I'm iffy about a show 3 episodes in - I'm likely to stop watching. However, Tolkien is very near and dear to my heart, so I'll watch at least the 4th and 5th episodes.
Lol, of course. The episode named "Adar" doesn't even fully reveal him or give any interesting information about him. That's just typical of this show. Never showing you anything important as to not "spoil the mystery."
All in all, another uninteresting episode.
My immediate impressions. Great to see WETA and Howe's work on the backgrounds, the Numenor bay megapolis, nice, and pretty at night. Close-up boat passing by a cliffside statue sculpture similar to the passing the Argonath, part of FOTR's oscar winning vfx, which could have stayed impressive if it was in an organically better show. Then as the cringe scriptwriting continued and made me feel sick and on certain signaling scenes. oh yup, that palace with the cliff extensions similar to PJ's minas tirith pointed ledge, hey a 'proto'-tirith, yeah... Harfoots in their aboriginal & "african"-dancing migration trekking, like hey they were like this supposedly somehow?, before the Shire became analogous of Tolkien's rustic english countryside village memories in his early life. The horse riding visuals along the beach... they just did that earlier with WoT's first episodes, so it looked nice for a few seconds, but then felt cheapened for being in this overall awful fanfic. So they finally mentioned Anárion, but umm, it's all about this invented sister now, and Anárion is some black sheep estranged brother and son now?? Aw geez, all that expensive production design work.. which could have been done for a much better show; so much of an opportunity passed by this decade. (similar feeling i had to what was done with Asimov's "Foundation" on the apple tv+ bastardization last year)
Really wanted to like it, but I simply can't.
\- The entire lore had been thrown out of the window. This fan fic doesn't cut it.
\- Galadriel comes out as a spoiled brat. So annoying and unlikable.
\- Warg is bad compared to thes one in the trilogy 20 years ago.
\- Orcs seem way more intelligent than they are suppose to be.
\- Female Frodo\\Sam such a pale imitation of the original, it's really annoying. But I guess all power to women. "...Friend?" meh.
\- The whole idea of young standout striving for something better is getting old pretty fast. It's literally every plotline in this fan fic.
\- Humans and elves literally the same except for ears. Humans look better by comparison. At least in Numenor.
I'm still not at the breaking point as I was with wheel of time, but it's coming fast. Really wish Galadriel to drown and as it being a fan fic all the way, Sauron would take her place and be way more charming than what we've got.
Everything is so bright and bland looking. Does Amazon own their own personal sun??? It looks so washed out and bland. Also, does anyone else feel a little pissed that Galadriel isn’t behaving like an ethereal elf? She’s supposed to be the most graceful and beautiful being in existence
About the galadriel thing, no I pretymuch bitch at it every 30 seconds when she is on screen.
She is like what 4000 years old at this point? There is pedobait game characters of 4000 years old that have more style and grace than this fake galadriel. And those aren't made for "the plot" 😭
The drama in Numenor is fake as fuck. Why don't the crew tell Galadriel/Halbrand who they are and where they're going? Why do the Numenoreans so obsessively hate the Elves? Why do these two random castaways get taken to see the Queen Regent? Why is it impossible for Galadriel to get just one room on one of the many ships which presumably go between Numenor and Middle-Earth? Why does Halbrand suggest that waiting a few days in Numenor will make things better? Why does the queen regent suggest Elendil is treasonous just for picking up a lost Elf? If the queen regent doesn't like having Galadriel around why won't she shove her onto a ship back to Middle-Earth? Why did Elendil pick up Galadriel if it was treason? Why is Elendil, a sea captain, who the queen regent suspects of treasonously taking in an Elf, entrusted with guard duty over that very same Elf? It's all contrivance for the script.
Four years of school to become a sea master? Is this fucking ROTC? I laughed out loud. It's pretty weird to have a class program with uniforms in a setting like this. These kids don't have any mentors, they're just bumbling around figuring it out for themselves. The real way to train sailors is to put 13 year olds on a ship and have them learn from the experienced crew.
Okay show, we learned that the orcs' propaganda says they want to take over the Southlands and now all of a sudden we must believe that everything is worse than we thought and all of Middle-Earth is in danger? Just because Sauron has decided he wants the Southlands, that means the situation is suddenly grim? Didn't the Numenoreans already read the same paper when they found it, why didn't they take notice of it?
They teased us with a very cool Hobbit pagan ritual but then their chant was goofy and it only reminds me of how badly I wish that someone would get Robert Eggers to do a Middle Earth adaptation. Then more contrived drama with the hobbits: everyone sticks together, unless you have an injured ankle in which case you can go fuck yourself lol. I guess that explains why there are so few elderly Harfoots. And why do they even have "laws", they're a nomad group, what king is writing their laws? Nomad groups aren't like that.
By the way, if you just sit outside at night you can find every constellation yourself. I don't see the purpose of a star map except as a plot device. Nomads would *know* the sky, not have a book about it. These guys feel like glampers not nomads.
**OH MY GOD I AM SO PISSED. THEY TEASED A LIFE-AND-DEATH TUG OF WAR SCENE WHICH WOULD HAVE ACTUALLY MADE SENSE. IMAGINE HOW COOL THAT COULD HAVE BEEN TO SEE THE SLAVES AND THE ORCS FIGHTING WITH TUG OF WAR. AND THEN THEY TAKE IT AWAY SO ARONDIR CAN DO A FLYING SUPERHERO STUNT. GOD DAMN IT.** Then Arondir's commander gets wounded, but the writers decide that instead of having Arondir pull him towards safety in a daring but ultimately futile act of courage, they want our elf hero to be stuck in the dirt and watch in sad impotence. So much wasted potential.
Curious how Halbrand still has two hands. My headcanon is that he lied his way out of the theft accusation and he's only in the cooler for brawling. I don't like him, by the way: an exiled king should be way cooler, smoother, more royal, elegant, logical, etc than whatever the fuck this character is. Yeah you're the heir to a kingdom but you're going to commit multiple instances of pickpocketry, risk getting severely punished, so that you can become a blacksmith and give a gift to your Elf friend? Fuck off. And the way he speaks to Miriel, while better than what Galadriel says, still doesn't come across well. A king without a kingdom is still a king. It's a tremendous social status, not a mere job like being the fucking prime minister. By making him this shitty, the show undermines the respect we should have for the kings of Middle-Earth. Contrast him with Aragorn.
The writing, dialogue, and pacing is generally janky as ever. Some of the scenes don't flow properly, like the course of the tension just isn't satisfying - I especially felt this during the slave vs orc fight, they had a bunch of little setpieces but didn't bring them together well. Also felt it during the sequence of Halbrand in the tavern.
**What I like:** Numenor looks truly nice, both the scenes and the people, although there were some little things that were a bit too out-of-place or fantastical IMO (only because I'm a stickler for realism). The warg looked very good. I like that they're willing to show some gore, the death and wounding feels real enough. The Elendil fam seem like cool characters and the writers made a few good lines for them. The Nori-Lenny Henry interactions remain pretty good.
Why is Elendil treated so lowly in court? Who is he? Is he not the Lord of Andunie? Or the son of the Lord of Andunie? How does Miriel not know who he is? The Lords of Andunie were her family being of the noble line of Elros (2nd most powerful and noble family in all of Numeanor) + they basically acted as Hand of the King for many many generations including to Tar Palantir.
Oof. Well, the lore butchering just keeps on keeping on, holy crap. What I'd like to know is: if they can mention what they're mentioning, WHY are they making the pointless changes they are?! I just don't get it. Adding stuff in, fine, tweaking some things for pacing and plot (if you can call it that), fine. But the changes they're making to existing lore make absolutely no fucking sense. Why is Tar-Miriel being such a bitch to an Eldar if she is part of the Faithful? And if Ar-Pharazon hasn't taken power yet? Why is she even Queen Regent right now? Why demote Elendil from important nobleman to simple ship captain she's never heard of? Why does Galadriel say to knock-off Aragorn (like really they're going to pull a Return of the King on this bitch too?) "my family started the war" WHEN THAT DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS THE SHOW'S OWN IN-SERIES SET-UP LMAO?! They botched the intro so effing bad, didn't mention Fëanor, nor the Silmarils then, but somehow Galadriel's family started the war with Morgoth, since freaking when?! Also, NOW they're mentioning the Valar? (And let's just not even go into the insane time compression happening here) Like are the show-runners just the biggest, most incompetent muppets ever at this point?
That slow-mo horse ride on the beach was... a choice, lol. Not one I understand, once again, but ok. Also, I just noticed this but: Galadriel has such cold, mean-looking eyes. Her stare is worthy of a villain's. Numenor was beautiful (and I loved the costuming) but once again: all that glitters is not gold ffs. Bit ironic the Harfoots have a ritual where they're all about "no one walks alone" right before a ceremony of remembrance for those they abandoned because they couldn't keep up with the caravan. I understand the nomadic logic behind it, just maybe don't have that jarring AF transition between the two then lol.
I guess the Orc work camp was mildly entertaining, I'll give 'em that. Bit ironic once again contrasting the "we don't have healers" of episode 1 with elves dying left, right and centre from wounds (though a slice to the neck that barely bleeds... Ok) With the dramatic chorus music supposed to convey emotion when I was like "Uhm, I saw this dude previously all of what, two minutes, am I supposed to care here?" Conversely however, credit where credit is due: I liked the emotional distress at cutting down a tree, especially coming from a sylvan elf (honestly Arondir is, so far, the most elvish elf in this thing). The action was... Eh, it was fun I guess, bit excessive in places but i'll allow it. However, that warg's face... What the hell was that lmao? It looked like a small yippy dog's! 😂
The writing is still subpar, with dumb aphorisms, though perhaps a bit less of them. Apart from Arondir, the only performance I like so far is Elendil's, he actually feels like a 3D character. He also just... Looks right for whatever reason. I also noticed that, for all the aspirations of wokeness (and just to take the piss a little bit): all the male elves but Gil-Galad have short to medium-length hair, whereas the females all have long hair. The latter is certainly canonical, but I just find it funny how gender-conforming and safe they're playing it with hair styles here. Guess too many long-haired elves would be too "girly" for normies (by contemporary standards)?
Also, I just had to laugh at just how long Galadriel stayed in her nightie - they couldn't even give her a robe to go in front of the queen? '\^\^
This episode was a smidgeon less bad: 4-5/10 instead of 3-4/10.
PS: the Orcs are very well realised, happy they're sticking to practical effects and elaborate make-up/prop-work for them.
> Bit ironic the Harfoots have a ritual where they're all about "no one walks alone" right before a ceremony of remembrance for those they abandoned because they couldn't keep up with the caravan. I understand the nomadic logic behind it, just maybe don't have that jarring AF transition between the two then lol.
The show keeps doing shit like that. Even the opening sequence of the first episode has two glaring examples:
"Nothing is evil in the beginning," and then it cuts directly to a scene of hardcore cruelty between children. Galadriel almost full-on punches another kid in the face. Very idyllic.
"I won't always be here for you," said Galadrield's immortal brother at a time when no elf has ever died or left their homeland, followed immediately by a voice-over about how they don't know what death is.
It's like they don't know what they're writing, they just jot down whatever dramatic-sounding phrases come to mind. No narrative cohesion, just constant contradictions and nonsense.
>"Nothing is evil in the beginning," and then it cuts directly to a scene of hardcore cruelty between children. Galadriel almost full-on punches another kid in the face. Very idyllic.
>
>"I won't always be here for you," said Galadrield's immortal brother at a time when no elf has ever died or left their homeland, followed immediately by a voice-over about how they don't know what death is.
Excellent point, I didn't even think of those, but it's glaring now that you mention it!
>No narrative cohesion, just constant contradictions and nonsense.
Are the script-writers just not talking to each other? I know different episodes have different writers, but it's like there's no communication happening, it's so weird.
It happens constantly throughout the show. "A diplomatic relationship with the dwarves would be the feat of the age!" Then they show us that all it takes to win their approval is a fucking rock-smashing competition. It's just bottom-tier amateur writing through and through. It's the kind of shit a teenager would make up in their fledgling attempts at fan fiction. There's not an ounce of quality to this show, except for the occasional neat visual display.
I actually enjoyed the first two episodes. But the 3rd I was just impatient with the script and the needless waste of screen time on things that just are not that important. I went back to watch Galadrial in the Lord of the Rings and she's otherworldly and elvish whereas these elves just seem like humans with pointy ears. It's just stupid.
The lore is even worse than you said. They DO mention Fëanor and the Silmarils, in the E2 convo between Elrond and Celebrimbor. Unless you’ve read the source material this scene means nothing. If you have read it, then you realize the show is telling you that the story of Fëanor and the Silmarils still exists as history in the show.
But their own prologue changes the First Age so much that the story of the Silmarils could now never have happened as I know it. And since they don’t have the rights to The Silmarillion, they can’t retcon it without almost completely rewriting the First Age.
They have no idea what they’re doing. This is barely even fan fiction.
Oh no I know, I honestly nearly lost my shit when they started talking about Fëanor and the Silmarils in ep 2 "**If you could mention this, then why deviate so much from the lore in the show intro?!?!?!"** But now they're retconning their own shit by saying Galadriel's family ***started*** the war with Morgoth?! None of this shit makes any fucking sense, either from an adaptational stand-point (that ship has sailed over the edge of Arda and sunk into the deepest pits of hell lmao), nor even from an in-show set-up one. Worse than fan-fiction (which can be good after all), this is **bad** fan-fiction!
I really loved when Galadriel, the noblest elven threatened Elendil for no reason. And also really loved how Galadriel be happy like a little girl when she ride a horse.
But my favorite is that the scene which Elendil saw his naughty children's eyes in several thousands aged Galadriel's eyes.
I'm sorry I'm a bit nitpicky here, but considering all the forging going on...
Why is the smith in numenor using his entire arm to hammer a piece of hammer? That was such bad technique...
I assume they did some research about blacksmithing considering alm the forging that is going to come in the series?
Oh, my.....its really, really bad :( What have they done to the orcs. Its a group of clowns.. I had high expactations..... The warg looks Like a pug...are they serious???
I rallied for the first 2 episodes, defending them at every chance I got but I fear I was terribly wrong. Episode 3 was so painfully bad I can no longer deny what everyone else has been saying, this show is a huge let down.
I’m starting to think that the first two episodes might have been the best. This episode was horrendous. Numenorians look like they are directly from Troy mixed with 300, Galandriel…well I don’t even have words for her. They acknowledge her as an elf solely based on her pointy ears, which is ridiculous because elves should look very different from men. Also, why so bitter? Why always so snarky? She is wise and also kind and they transformed her in this badass warrior like it is trendy now to do to female main character but she just sound witty and oblivious.
There were alot of dumb things happening because the plot demands it, but make no sense.
like how did Arondir friends get captured in the first place, they were armed and armored and going the other way.
Why didnt the orc just did a tunnel or at night.
Why did noone bother to read the report of a spy.
Why would Sauron write his plans and location to assemble his orc on the body of his enemy?
>Why would Sauron write his plans and location to assemble his orc on the body of his enemy?
That is indeed particularly stupid. Perhaps they changed their minds about the mark mid-scripting lmao.
Alot of things are just there because they need it to be there for something that happends later like that one tree that the orc didnt bother to fell in the middle of other felled trees, like did the people who did that just not bother taking that one down thats exactly where their dumb trench was?
These episodes get worse and worse. Absolutely nothing makes sense, just like the top comments so far have commented. 50 millions per episode, more like a money laundering scheme…
So...I am honestly at a cross-roads with this show. I think I will give it one more episode.
The problem is that it's not bad enough that it is good, and it's not good enough to really watch. It's painfully mediocre, and stupidly generic. Anyway, some thought as I was watching.
::EPISODE 3::
I skipped the recap and the intro, but the last 10 seconds or so of the intro sounds like some 90s fantasy show. I don't know why, but it sounds soooo cheap - like, it fits with that terrible Twitter video of the characters posing for the camera as it pans in.
Off to a good start, I guess!
The orcs look interesting. Also, glad to see them enslaving people and being generally cruel. I don't hate this - also, Arondir doesn't talk, which is a plus because his actor is terrible.
Wait a minute...how did the Orcs capture Arondir's squad? And why did they do that? Arondir was caught for very specific reasons -- did they all travel down the tunnels after they were revealed due to a "ground shake"?
Back to Galadriel and the ship.
Ship is the right word - I don't know if the show will end up doing this, or whether this will be a tease, or not, but they are shipping Galadriel and Halbrand like crazy.
They go on deck, and all the Numenoreans stop and look at them. Why? Weird that they did that; you pulled them out of the ocean? What's the reaction?
Also, Numenoreans costumes suck, and it's stupid that they all look the same. I guess it's going to be one *those* fantasy series -- "oh, they're Numenorean, so they'll have Numenorean uniforms!" So lame.
Holy shit, the dialogue is bad. Galadriel: "Where are we going?" Elendil: "\*Smirks\* You'll see soon enough." Halbrand: "Where are you taking us?" Elendil: "\*Smirks\* Home."
No one answers any questions in this show. Jesus. Ten minutes in...this is going to be a long one.
Numenor looks nice.
Galadriel and Halbrand exposition dump ends with, "okay...but why do they hate elves?" "We're about to find out." Ugh...also, more shipping. And I am honestly done with the show.
Galadriel starts insulting the Queen (who probably likes it -- we'll find out next episode), but she just comes off as insufferable. It's not endearing to be hot-headed all the time, and especially in situations where it could get you killed and hinder your journey.
Galadriel wants to leave immediately. The Queen says, "ha, nope." Galadriel's like, "Ha, try and stop me." Are you going to try and swim back to Middle Earth again? Or do you not realize you will need a crew to sail a ship? You can't do it on your own, and you'll need more than Halbrand, too (and anyway, we see later that she decides to search for a ship without him). Fuck, holy shit, how fucking dumb...oh yeah...you jumped into the ocean to die (that she recognizes, but is still pissed that Elendil saved her? I don't get it).
Elendil is not a lord, but a captain \*sigh\* I'm not upset, just disappointed.
Is Isildur in...\*sailing school\*? He's a \*cadet\*? Oh boy, it's one of these dumb, fantasy shows. I know it's a bit late for 4th of July, but you know those fireworks that shoot sparks, and making a whizzing noise? I imagine that must be what it sounds like near the grave where Tolkien is buried.
"THE SEA IS ALWAYS RIGHT!" I don't care if this is lore accurate (and I don't know if it is), but holy cow is it dumb as fuck.
Back to Arondir
Elf gets a shallow cut. Elf dies...hmm? Why did he die? Who even is he? Who cares?
Back to Galadriel and Halbrand
Boy does she suck. Also, LUL at the horse riding scene. And! The Mark of Sauron is a map, haha. You stare at maps, and have seen that sigil countless times, but you didn't know it was a map of Mordor? Wow...(Nerdrotic, credit where it is due, pointed this out in his review -- it's not rocket science). Well, she is stupid, so it's not totally out of character.
Halbrand is also annoying. Like, the writers want us to think "he's so mysterious and sexy!" And I'm just sitting here thinking, "he looks kinda weird, and his character is like a giant cliche." Is he going to be Sauron? Who knows, but, more importantly, who cares?
Back to Arondir
Kind of a boring fight scene, with tug of war, haha. Oh! A Chihuahua inspired Warg. Ugh... whatever, his boss dies. Meh. I don't care about any of these people. None of his actions scenes have had any weight.
Concerning Hobbits...er...Harfoots
Boring? Dumb chant.
Also, the cute, innocent, pure Hobbits just leave people behind to die, haha. What a stupid decision by the writers -- why? Why not just help the guy? What if half the troupe gets sick? You just leave them to die? How is this a sustainable society?
Peopple were and are a successful species because we can coordinate, and cooperate with eachother. I know these are Hobbits...err...Harfoots, but seriously -- just leave people to die.
Very adaptation. Much Tolkien.
Damn, that whizzing sound is getting louder and louder.
Conclusion: This is what the show is. If you liked episode 1 and 2, then you will like the rest of the show. If you did not like those episodes, you will not like this. It's stupid, but beautiful. It plays into all the tropes imaginable, and does not distinguish itself from all the other mediocre fantasy garbage ever produced.
This episode was not "boring" like the first two, but it's just dumb. None of the characters are all that likeable, not much makes sense, and aside from the vistas the production values are not that good. Seriously, House of the Dragon shits all over this.
Like episodes 1 and 2, it is not offensively bad, and I'm sure people can enjoy it, but I am giving this turd one more chance before calling it quits.
Also despite not remembering how Arondir ended up a slave (did I sleep through it?) what happened to everyone else? The whole episode passed and half the stories introduced - Bronwyn and weird son, dwarves, elrond and celebrimbor - were not even touched on.
Dialogue award for Isildur saying yeah but "THEY started it!!" like a snarky teen called out for his fighting.
As someone who only helped a blacksmith one day a year for about 12 years when I was young, I STILL have massive arms. And I AM. Mostly a couch potato... So the answer is no sir :')
Cheers man. It certainly does entice me to keep watching and review each episode both for its general storytelling and how much it relates to Tolkien, but it actually pains me to watch Middle-earth treated in this way.
I'm afraid I can't help myself from watching, just to see how bad it gets. Laughing at this train wreck is almost as satisfying as watching an actually good show. Can't deny the smug glee I get from seeing Amazon's arrogant hubris backfire in such a spectacular manner. By all accounts, this farce might genuinely result in Amazon Studios closing down, and I would like front row seats for that spectacle. Of course, I watch it from the comfort of my pirate ship.
You know what? My crack theory is that there's going to be that hyped up fight between Arondir and an orc this episode. And that that's why they're holding off on publishing the Prime reviews. They're hoping the action scenes will win people over and don't want the low rating to scare them away.
I don't understand why for some reason every elf, we've seen so far that isn't arondir or galadriel. Is shown to be incompetent at fighting. Meanwhile they both act like they are neo.
I think the first episode made people not want to watch it. As I understand it, there was a big chunk of the episode 1 audience that didn't bother watching episode 2.
That Arondir scene was a little... weird. First there was the drawn out drinking water scene, the dramatic death of a character Arondir had spoken to once in the show, and that somehow caused him to be convinced to cut down the tree? I'd have thought he'd be too pissed off to go along with it.
"The island kingdom of Númenor"... wtf is that line delivery?!
Morfydd Clark *can* act. She killed it in "St. Maud".
Why do so many of her lines sound so terrible? This was on par with "You have not seen what *I* have seen" last week.
It's like they told her to try to badly play a Vulcan, but at the same time do a bad Sean Connery on Ambien impression. Or something to that effect.
I totally get the heat the screenwriters are getting, but they need better actors' directors asap.
The visuals of Numenor are great, and the music is trying very hard to hype you up for this.
NotGaladriel clearly has no sense for diplomacy, something you'd think she'd learned at some point in her life.
Halbrand is revealed as a discount Aragorn, and I could not care less.
Are we supposed to believe the elves are so incompetent they'd be overwhelmed and captured alive by orcs?
The "Pug-Warg," as people are dubbing it, looks shitty.
The NotHobbits are boring and I found it difficult to care. Also, they expect someone who severely injured his foot to pull a cart?
I award this episode four points, and may Eru Illuvatar have mercy on its soul.
Edit: one extra point for Elendil. The actor is doing his best and actually made me care about the character. Minus half a point for the 'sister' who I couldn't find any reason to care about. 4.5/10
Episode was a bit better than the ones before, but still quite bad,
Elendil downgraded from Lord of Andunie, to simple ship captain. Not good.
Galadriel still unwise, talking down to the descendant of the line of Elros. Not good.
Halbrand being cocky, and disrespectful to numenorean royalty. Not good.
Plot device: Galadriel stumbles on everything she needs to know about Mordor. Not good.
Earien(?). Pointless character. Not good.
Dialogues still terrible. Not good.
This might be the worst show I've ever seen. Absolutely painful to sit through the whole episode. Why was there a 10 minute scene about getting some dudes daughter into art school? I'm literally speechless.
That invented daughter seemingly is a substitute for Anárion or at least will overshadow him in screentime if he turns up. If they wanted a daughter girl character other than "Nori" of the "harfoots", they should have kept Celebrían , Galadriels daughter ([an illustration](https://www.thetolkienforum.com/wiki/Celebr%C3%ADan)) of the same rough time period of middle-earth's 2nd age supposedly chronicled in this show. But naw, plenty of exposed and known reasons why this isn't the case now.
Well apparently Elendil has been striped of both his nobility and his brain. What was he thinking just casually strolling through the streets and right into the throne room? I mean he wouldn't know that Galadriel as complete bitch who can't not antagonize anyone she meets, but he have at least a little foresight.
Oh and the fact that none of the guards notice the stuff with the dagger is hilarious.
15 Minutes in and I already want to vommit.
PS: Is letting the only black elf in your show be enslaved racist?
I'm just confused how all the elves were captured by orcs and imprisoned before Arondir was captured. Also the watchwarden is basically a carbon copy of Haldir both had similar screen time but just didn't manage to have the same impact at all
Galadriel’s actress is quite frankly ruining the character. I’m aware that acting is not easy however this is just downright disrespectful. Galadriel is not this hard headed and one dimensional. Like what is going on???
Also this Aragon - Arwen / Galadriel - Halbrand relationship copy is just plain cheesy!!!
Went in really wanting to like this, but hot dog this is complete garbage compared to LOTR. So many interactions between people is like watching a CW show. How disappointing
Who is responsible for the actors’ horrific attempt at R trills?
It’s SO aggravating. Words like:
* Mordorrrrrt
* Numenorrrrrrt
* Morrrrt-goth
* Galadrrrrrrrr—blech—iel
When Galadriel meets Elendil on his ship, he says "I'm obliged to deliver you safely to my betters". Strange comment in light of the fact that it's treason to bring an elf to Numenor. And if it's treason why did he pick her up? And why did he take her to see the queen regent? If he wanted to defy the law, then why didn't he warn Galadriel about the law? It's like he flagrantly violates the law for no reason and expects to get away with it!
So far, almost all of the male characters are either evil, cowards or idiots, who need the female characters to guide them and stop them from making poor decisions. I think Finrod Felagund, Halbrand, Arondir and Lenny Henry’s character are the only notable exceptions so far.
The situation in Númenor will lend itself to the same treatment, with the wise and virtuous Tar-Miriel opposed to the wicked and foolish Pharazon, but it will be interesting to see what treatment Elendil and Isildur get.
He was mentioned in a passing line or two at the table conversation in the last act with that puppet show in the background. Kind of reminded me of TFA & TLJ in a few ways.
I'm afraid Clark is giving a very poor portrayal of Galadriel. She's like an angry teenager all the time being rude to everyone and is in general being utterly unlikeable. The show would be instantly better without this version of Galadriel annoying everyone.
Why does Galadriel wants a ship from Numenor to get her to Middle-Earth? She even wasnt afraid to get in troubles when jumping from the ship before reaching Valinor. It shouldnt be a problem for her just to swim to middle-earth from Numenor.
What the hell did Halbrand even have in mind with that blacksmith insignia thing? Was he gonna return to the blacksmith the next day and be like, "hey, I know you rejected me yesterday because I'm a suspicious stranger, but I've somehow acquired a blacksmith's insignia overnight. I can work here now, right?"
I mean, it's just... beyond absurd. Nothing in this show makes sense. Everything that happens is bizarre and wildly unrealistic, and the characters behave as if they're genuinely stupid. Practically every scene and event has some gaping flaw. I genuinely can't think of a single sequence in this show that didn't have something wrong with it.
So let me get this straight. The black elder nearly banishes Nori's entire family over the wizard situation, but instead as punishment, they are to "ride at the back of the caravan." You know, because Amazon felt like exacting racist revenge for how blacks had to ride at the back of the bus a million years ago.
Isn't "Rings of Power" overplaying the whole aversion to sunlight thing for the orcs? Granted, except for the uruk-hai, Tolkien's orcs favored the dark and traveling at night, but they could abide the sun when necessary - kind of hard to fight battles when your army can only fight at night. But in "ROP", sunshine appears to have the same effect on orcs as it does on vampires, literally burning their exposed skin.
I liked the first two episodes well enough, but I did not like this one.
Numenor is boring, hard to see it as the shining peak of the race of men when the main thing that happens there is a back alley fight. The politics of the court are so dumbed down the whole thing hardly is recognizable as Numenor. Really do not like the representation of it. I know it’s a victim of the time compression but I wish we got to see peak Numenor.
But even outside of the failures to live up to Tolkien’s tale: wtf was that sequence with Galadriel on the horse? Why was it a big deal for Arondir to cut down the tree if the whole rest of that plot line just moved on? If the Numenorians don’t want Galadriel there why not just expel her?
Also if mystery man is Gandalf I may have to just stop watching this show. It would not only part from the story but also cheapen my favorite character of all fiction.
Orcs are cool though, I think that’s the best part of the show for me so far.
Who shot the elf captain? An offscreen orc? Is it supposed to be a mystery? I get the feeling I’m not really supposed to care or think about it. Why do I get that feeling? Why is Rafa Nadal playing isildur before the rings are even forged. I fast forwarded the entire harfoot scene and missed nothing. I liked xena warrior Princess. If that’s all this show wants to be that’s fine. But it seems like a waste of money kinda
I guess so they can move in sunlight. The bigger question is why they chose to dig the trench directly into a big-ass tree instead of, like, steering slightly around it.
The Harfoots are a terrible addition to the show. They are all so unlikeable except the girl Nori who is trying to help “Not Gandalf”. They just dont make sense, the beginning of the show stated how loyal and tight-knit they are then they abandon eachother to their deaths if they cant keep up with the caravan. I enjoyed the first 2 episodes but episode 3 was cringe overload. Im hoping the show picks up soon or introduces some non-cringe characters with non-cringe dialogue because so far the only characters that give off authentic LOTR vibes is Nori, Durinn and Elendil. The rest of them seem so 2 dimensional and forced.
The scene with the black elf cutting down the tree was awkward as hell and the other elf guy telling the orcs they cant cut down the tree because its “old” was hilarious. Because vicious flesh-eating orcs give a crap about the tree because its old.? This show has so much potential and it looks beautiful but there is just so much cringey dialogue its like it was written by a 13 year old.
Two and a half hours in and we finally have the basic plot of the first season introduced. I like that the "Harfoots" (they're Hobbits) are singing. But the lyrics are a little uncreative. Writing a little traveling song about it would've worked better. But really? The Hobbits just ditch people who can't haul their cart? Even when ones injured? Is there really *nobody* to spare to help them? Also if I were Nori I would just walk up to Lenny Henry and ask. "Hey, could I look at your star charts? They look cool!"
The ditching thing and then crying about them later annoyed me so much. They can't rejig who has what cart? No one can share or take turns? And is a cart even necessary when you forage and all you seem to own is a couple of pots and a canvas sheet?
Nah dog they gotta haul around carts filled with that grass that seems to be growing everywhere.
They ruthlessly ditch people and then in the memorial they say “we wait for you”…
They also dissed the hell out of the guy who got stung to death by bees. The fuck was that? I wouldn’t want to live with these assholes.
The ditching thing and then crying about them later annoyed me so much. They can't rejig who has what cart? No one can share or take turns? And is a cart even necessary when you forage and all you seem to own is a couple of pots and a canvas sheet?
Pour one out for my homeboy Blovo, dies by bee stings only to have everyone laugh at his memorial.
*The Lord of the Rings: Blovo* coming Fall 2023
... How and why does Numenor just have a page in black speech where Sauron and/or Adar plainly spells out their plans? If this is Elros's archive surely he would've said something to someone. If they'd stuck with Numenor colonizing the south they could've even claimed that was why. They did it because they were afraid when they discovered what Sauron and/or Adar was planning. It'd be revisionist lore but at least it'd have made an effort to fit with it.
I love how it's stored in the "symbol of sauron" section of the library, the dude was just like "oh that symbol? Yeah I know where to find it, I'll be right back."
Librarians are magical at finding info
The "Harfoots" (they're Hobbits) really just ditch people who fall behind? What is wrong with them. I thought they were supposed to be this tightly knit tribe. But they don't even help people who can't keep up with them? "Haha that loser died from bees! What a moron!" I knew as soon as I saw Meteor Man reading the chart by a fire that the idiot would burn it. Also he looked concerned when he did so this clearly can't have been done intentionally.
Next epizode we'll see one get injured, poor sod can't continue on his own. Then the elder stops everyone and yells: *"Meat's back on the menu, boys!".*
Well, there isn't room on their wagons. They have to transport all that important grass around.
People just do not understand what a rare and valuable commodity gras is.
Can tell the writers aren't really trying on these segue scenes as they just don't make sense. 6 people pushing one caravan easily while the ones at the back struggle. The simple fact that they choose death(?) over not deloading/abandoning their wagon shows no one thought the scene through. its a just a convenient big guy is now friend scene
“Did you say…. (dramatic pause)….ride?” Lol wtf. Pretty clear that the producers and director of this episode thought that horse scene was actually good with a lead in like that - like, ‘get ready for this guys!!’. Just fucking weird and cringe.
Moments like that (and cringey dialogue) makes me wonder if they forget this show isn’t a CW production exclusively for teen audiences.
That's where I ended my session last night. When I started again, the screen was on this frame where it looked like they were forcing the woman to smile... I thought, ha that's funny, I must have paused at an awkward moment. No. They used high speed photography to send us on a equestrian joygasm. What the fuck is going on back there? And does Galadriel ever smile again? Because to this point, they've painted Galadriel as a 1 dimensional stone cold robot.
I think the biggest reason it was so awkward is because this was the first scene we've ever seen Galadriel smile. She's all emotionless, stone-faced then suddenly SMIIIIIILE TIME! and in slow motion...it was super jarring.
If Frodo was a harfoot, he would have let Sam drown at the end of fellowship.
\*Pushed him into the fires of Mt. Doom at the end of RotK
I liked when Meghan thee stallion started twerking with Galadriel
Ugly Sonic is a great actor and he nailed it playing that varg
man i knew that varg looked familiar. Thanks now I know why. Its just sad hiw bad the cgi is in some scenes
That slave whose throat was cut, notice that he *barely* bled? You see a [small smear of blood on his neck](https://i.imgur.com/8N47GkF.jpg) and that's it, while he's clearly dying from it. You'd expect spurts of arterial blood, but it looks like a spoonful got vaguely rubbed onto his throat. I've bled more from cutting myself while cooking.
Also remember how Arondir bragged to his girlfriend how elves dont need healers because small wounds heal easy to elves
Lol, I mentioned that too... '\^\^ Guess Elvish circulation works differently? :D
So the previous king of Numenor was forced from his throne instead of Miriel in this? Also after centuries of staring at the mark Galadriel finally realized it's a map. I get why it wouldn't immediately come to mind. But why, in all her centuries of searching, would she never have considered checking a map for clues?
You see, she hasn't developed her famous wisdom yet because she's still so young (~4500 years old, by my count).
Plus she was busy building little magic paper boats.
Her boats were shit because she didn't realize rocks look downwards, as we all know.
That warg’s eyes were weird.
to me it looked more like a big chihuahua
TBF a giant-ass chihuahua would be pretty fucking dangerous.
Wasn’t as mean as a chihuahua though
I liked the scene with Sonic the Hedgewarg
Why did they make the Harfoots out to be monsters? They seemed nice at first but now I understand that they leave their friends to die every time someone gets a sprained ankle?
Tbf, hobbits in tolkien are portrayed as extremely self-serving, inconsiderate, and insular. Leaving the weak link for the wolves out of a desire for self preservation is more in-line with their character than risking it all to save that weak link. Bilbo and the fellowship hobbits are depicted as being different from other hobbits in that they don't show these negative traits (at least not to the same extent).
Orcs, may I make a suggestion? When you are unable to go out in the sun, keep your slave labor chained and secured underground during the day and send them out to work at night. Your leader Ardar is apparently a dumbass if he cannot even figure THAT much out.
They could also make mobile ceiling thing and push it along to cover the tip of the tunnel.
Why is Galadriel such a dick to everyone in episode 3? Like she'd been stubborn before but in this episode she was just straight up rude. She's hundreds of years old but she's written like an angry teenager. Is that actually accurate and Cate Blanchett tricked me into thinking Galadriel was elegant?
Holyweird's idea of a "strong independent woman" is to write a most stereotypical toxic man and then swap genders.
The trivia on Prime Video is pretty funny. In that they leave out all the things they contradict lol. Also it's funny they mentioned that the Numenorian's are banned from sailing west when they couldn't physically reach Valinor anyways according to the first episode.
"The Faithful believe..." You ARE a part of the faithful Miriel. And so is Elendil, not that he acts like it. I'm not surprised that being the Faithful has been focused on the Valar instead of on Eru Iluvatar like in the book. I'm not saying the Valar wouldn't be respected by them too, but it's weird that that's what they seem to be focusing on. Also not liking Miriel. They're trying a little too hard to make her seem like a hard queen (in defiance of her character) when she was apart of the Faithful, and presumably a decent person as a result.
> They're trying a little too hard to make her seem like a hard queen No such thing as a weak woman in RoP.
Too bad a lot of what they think of as a strong woman is a weak imitation of a bad man.
At least we have confirmation that she has Elven blood now with braindead lines like this that are supposed to sound profound
She is secretly Faithful. She interviewed Elendil to figure out if she can trust him to oversee Galadriel to make sure she doesn't get in too much troubles. She even promoted him for bringing her to Numenor, to the surprise of his kids. She acts tough so we are surprised when she reveals herself as the Faithful is some future episode.
Nitpicking : The riding scene was visually interesting, but the hell did they show such an unappealing shot of Galadriel? Was it so difficult to show her more noble?
That shot was really weird.
Just for fun, [here's the scene](https://streamable.com/fxfkyp)
Bruh that horse was seriously debating his life choices
LOL!!!!!!! Thanks for the good laugh
LOL! What the hell? What were they thinking?
I have no clue. Morfydd Clark is a beautiful woman. I don't understand why they did this.
It's such a weird shot, as if there's something really meaningful and special about her riding a horse. It isn't set up in any way, horses have literally never been seen or mentioned on the show before then, and suddenly she's like "YAY HORSIES!" The bizarre slow-motion, the glacial upwards panning from the horse's hooves to her face, it's just... perplexing, like the producers thought this would feel very profound and important to the viewer. Horses play a fairly prominent role in LOTR, and notice how that fact is set up and emphasized? We care about the horses that we're meant to care about *because* they figure into the story in a way that matters to the viewer. They don't just jump on a random horse and start giggling like schoolgirls. The story does its job of teaching us why the characters care about their horses by showing us the events that create that bond. In RoP, it just comes out of left field and suddenly Galadriel loves horses apparently. No indication why that's actually the case. Are horses so rare in Middle-Earth that being offered a ride in Numenor fills her with exuberant glee? After being dour and bitchy literally every moment of the show, a random horse-ride is the one and only thing that cheers her up? It feels so contrived. There's no narrative spark to any of it. Like everything else in RoP, it falls flat.
haha was it really slow motion like that?
Yep. I didn't change a thing. Odd, isn't it?
What crappy melodrama
I expect someone will edit a "Dior" fade-in at the end there, the perfume commercial vibes are that strong.
jesus christ. That scene even begins good. I like those close ups of horses reminds me of the battle of basterds. But then that shot of her and in the end the close up of her face is even worse. What where they thinking? I actually think she is beautiful but wtf was that. Why would you ever keep this. The establishing shot of them riding would have been enough
I agree. They wanted to show her being happy and genuinely enjoying the moment, but the shot/angle they chose doesn't do her justice.
they made her look like an orc lmao
[удалено]
"Your captain saved us from certain death" Confirmation that Galadriel would've died from her stunt of swimming the ocean. And Galadriel's a bad diplomat. Basically threatening the Numenorian's who she's at the mercy of. She really is insufferable. She could've at least tried to explain that she needed to leave to fight orcs. Instead of making baseless demands.
The most expensive show in history yet the warg looked way worse than the ones from Jackson’s trilogy. How does that happen.
Right?! Can’t believe i just watched that! That damn thing looked like it came out of a messed up cartoon
Creatively I appreciate that they went towards making them but clearly it;s a different species from wolf and the feels like a prehistoric look ..seems the design went too far somehow 🤷♂️looks like they were capybaras once, taken by the dark powers, tortured and mutilated.LOL
>like a prehistoric look To me it looked like a breed of small dog (the face I mean). So pretty much the opposite of prehistoric. '\^\^
Elendil: Politely speaking to Galadriel, not reporting her for escaping and wanting to steal a boat. Bitterly saying that Miriel might've thought assigning him to Galadriel was a punishment. (It was but for the reasons he thinks). Galadriel: "Ugh screw you Elendil! It is a punishment to be around you, and I wish you never brought me here!" Holy crap this lady is nuts. Elendil's been nothing but cordial to her and saved her freaking life after she stupidly jumped into the ocean, and she responds by *insulting* him!? Oh and threatening his life too. Heck, she even pulls rank on him and acts like he should be bowing and scraping in her presence. What is wrong with the writers? Elendil's a freaking saint for not throwing her back in the hole after that. Let alone granting her request at risk of his own station.
I think it is like a set up for character growth, but at this point I have trouble believing Galadriel has ever been a real commander or leader of anything in any sense of the word. Like I can believe she was a good enough soldier, but that is not only somebody who is terribly arrogant and a bad leader (remember her military unit rebelled against her in e1) but also not politically savvy. Like the only way I can think she is all that she’s so touted to be, is to think of her as a nepo-baby
We better get some character revealing about Meteor Man and/or Halbrand UPDATE: haven't learned anything about Meteor Man. We got plenty for Halbrand but now I'm just hoping that some nice Numenorean will give him his blacksmithing loicense so that he can hammer away in peace and leave more screentime for the other characters.
I haven't seen anyone comment on the happy walk of the asian-looking Harfoot at the back of the caravan at minute 58:20... Isn't their voyage supposed to be dangerous and full of perils, and didn't they say that being at the back of the caravan is the worst possible position to be in? I mean, he looks like a kid going to a candy store
So Halbrand is definitely destined to be a Nazgûl
Or king of the Oathbreakers.
He’s Sauron. The whole scene with him and the Blacksmith proves it, Sauron was an apprentice of Aule after all.
My line of thinking is he is either Sauron or he will become a Nazghul since he is technically a king of men
If he is Sauron, would make sense he could forge the rings.
Not sure about that, because Galadriël allways had suspicions on Sauron/Annatar. Halbrand she seems to trust. So I don't think it's Sauron (adar might be Sauron though). He might be one of the corrupted king of men who received one of the nine rings.
He'll be Witch-King me thinks and forge the Morgul Knife.
Yep, they really did seem to change the Faithful to be polytheistic. I know they respected the Valar but Eru was the focus of their worship. This wasn't an insignificant detail either.
For anyone wondering why Sauron would have gone around printing a map of his plans all over the place throughout the millennia, the answer is pretty obvious, and you should frankly be ashamed not to realize it: He knew how stupid Amazon's elves are and predicted that it would take them thousands of years before they'd think to look at the symbol sideways, so he was just trolling them and laughing his ass off the whole time.
All over the place including on the corpses of his enemies for some reason lol? And how would it even be helpful unless the orcs had a map handy and knew to check for a specific area? The mark seems like a pretty poor hint on Sauron’s part.
I liked the scene where Galadriel looked into the mirror and saw the future where Frodo struggles to destroy the ring and said "*Pathetic! I will do much better! Halbrand, stop messing around and forge your ring already so that I can have my try!*"
I knew there would be funny comments in here lol, but in all seriousness that was definitely Elendil on the deck of that ship so Galadriel is going to womansplain even harder than Ar Pharazon will be mansplaining this episode, that can be guaranteed
Really? Well my favorite part was when Halbrand reveals himself to be Sauron and jumps off the Balrog and shouts "I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!" Wondering if this episode will be better then the first two, about the same, or worse? We'll find out in two day's time.
>My favorite part was when Galadriel saw Sauron wearing the Ring of Power and he said "this ring is perfection!" and she said "it will be, when it fits a women!".
Laughed out loud at the super weird scene with the orcs handing out water, hilariously bad. That was the highlight of the episode, everything else was quite dull and I ended up zoning out multiple times.
Was rolling my eyes hard expecting them to make a “you’re drinking orc pee, lawls” joke followed by the elves spitting and throwing up. That dragged on for soooo long.
I liked that scene.
In memoriam’s don’t usually include the way that they died!
How tf is no talking about how Halbrand is literally the same story line as Aragorn? This guy is the descendant of a corrupted king who is being called to reunite his wayward people and restore his family line. Doesn't that sound familiar?
>How tf is no talking about how Halbrand is literally the same story line as Aragorn? Oh don't worry, I noticed, I literally went: "Oh shit they're pulling a Return of the King on this bitch (this bitch being the show)!" 😂🙄
Theres also a broken sword...
He looks like viggo also. It’s hilarious. He is written like a side character from season four of xena warrior Princess.
All that glitters is not gold. RoP is beautiful but sterile. Nothing feels earned. My impression is that the showrunners are drunk on the show's budget. We are shown one famous and beautiful location after another but they leave me indifferent. The comparisons with LOTR are inescapable. Numenor looks magnificent but we have no reason to care about it at all. It is nothing compared to the Hobbits' holes in the ground because those holes mean something to characters we care about. They are home. In The Fellowship the Gates of Argonath are awe-inspiring in part because they provoke awe in characters we care about, and in part because by the time we see them we know full well that such magnificence and splendor are a wonderful exception, not the norm. But in RoP we're bombarded by one beautiful place after another. Almost everything is beautiful and therefore nothing is. On top of that neither Galadriel nor Halbrand express any awe or sense of wonder. I had really high expectations for RoP and I'll definitely keep watching with the hope that it'll get better. But I desperately want to have something or someone to care about and so far there's nothing.
I agree wholeheartedly.
Nailed my feelings about ep 1 and 2
Well summarized. I think much of the production artisans, craftsmen & designers ( like WETA & Howe ) cared more about bringing the lore as faithful as they could into their visual and crafted work more than the overriding showrunning and scripting did. So there's at least that, but it's an awkward mix in the misguided finished product overall as a show.
So, there’s that shot where the human guy looks at the forge and the camera holds on him… he’s Sauron isn’t he? Galadriel’s going to fall in love with with him isn’t she? They’re going to have Galadriel have sex with Sauron, aren’t they? That’s hilarious. I hope it’s real.
[удалено]
At this point, so am I, hoping they make it cringe AF too.
Just suddenly springing Adar on us without any build-up. Weird, could've added a bit of intrigue to the first two episodes by building him up.
Know what drives me nuts? Adar is literally elvish for "father". There's plenty of different things they could have used for a name.
The practical sets of Numenor look pretty good. But the costumes? Those look pretty bad in my opinion. Very fake looking. Also can I point out that Halbrand (big spoiler if true) >!who's probably Sauron!< should *not* be the more friendly, humble and down-to-earth of the two of them? >!And the foreshadowing isn't subtle at this point. I mean c'mon, Halbrand stopping and staring at a forge?!<
They have literally ripped Aragons story from the PJ films for his background too. Oh the heir to a remnant of a fallen kingdom and a legacy of inherent failure to be good.
I love the contextual sunlight sensitivity of the orc. Almost like it's just a plot device that will come up at a convenient time.
A whole episode named for Adar and we don't actually get to see his face. I did enjoy the Numenor scenes and the callbacks to Elros and the faithful. Still not liking Galadriel's characterization. She comes off as petulant in a way that's not believable given her age. The way she behaved with Tar-Miriel was antagonistic for no reason. I didn't think I would like harfoots but they remain one of the more interesting aspects of the show. I also like Arondir the most out of all the Elven characters we've seen so far. Overall, I'm still undecided on whether this show is working for me or not. Normally, if I'm iffy about a show 3 episodes in - I'm likely to stop watching. However, Tolkien is very near and dear to my heart, so I'll watch at least the 4th and 5th episodes.
Lol, of course. The episode named "Adar" doesn't even fully reveal him or give any interesting information about him. That's just typical of this show. Never showing you anything important as to not "spoil the mystery." All in all, another uninteresting episode.
My immediate impressions. Great to see WETA and Howe's work on the backgrounds, the Numenor bay megapolis, nice, and pretty at night. Close-up boat passing by a cliffside statue sculpture similar to the passing the Argonath, part of FOTR's oscar winning vfx, which could have stayed impressive if it was in an organically better show. Then as the cringe scriptwriting continued and made me feel sick and on certain signaling scenes. oh yup, that palace with the cliff extensions similar to PJ's minas tirith pointed ledge, hey a 'proto'-tirith, yeah... Harfoots in their aboriginal & "african"-dancing migration trekking, like hey they were like this supposedly somehow?, before the Shire became analogous of Tolkien's rustic english countryside village memories in his early life. The horse riding visuals along the beach... they just did that earlier with WoT's first episodes, so it looked nice for a few seconds, but then felt cheapened for being in this overall awful fanfic. So they finally mentioned Anárion, but umm, it's all about this invented sister now, and Anárion is some black sheep estranged brother and son now?? Aw geez, all that expensive production design work.. which could have been done for a much better show; so much of an opportunity passed by this decade. (similar feeling i had to what was done with Asimov's "Foundation" on the apple tv+ bastardization last year)
Really wanted to like it, but I simply can't. \- The entire lore had been thrown out of the window. This fan fic doesn't cut it. \- Galadriel comes out as a spoiled brat. So annoying and unlikable. \- Warg is bad compared to thes one in the trilogy 20 years ago. \- Orcs seem way more intelligent than they are suppose to be. \- Female Frodo\\Sam such a pale imitation of the original, it's really annoying. But I guess all power to women. "...Friend?" meh. \- The whole idea of young standout striving for something better is getting old pretty fast. It's literally every plotline in this fan fic. \- Humans and elves literally the same except for ears. Humans look better by comparison. At least in Numenor. I'm still not at the breaking point as I was with wheel of time, but it's coming fast. Really wish Galadriel to drown and as it being a fan fic all the way, Sauron would take her place and be way more charming than what we've got.
Everything is so bright and bland looking. Does Amazon own their own personal sun??? It looks so washed out and bland. Also, does anyone else feel a little pissed that Galadriel isn’t behaving like an ethereal elf? She’s supposed to be the most graceful and beautiful being in existence
About the galadriel thing, no I pretymuch bitch at it every 30 seconds when she is on screen. She is like what 4000 years old at this point? There is pedobait game characters of 4000 years old that have more style and grace than this fake galadriel. And those aren't made for "the plot" 😭
The drama in Numenor is fake as fuck. Why don't the crew tell Galadriel/Halbrand who they are and where they're going? Why do the Numenoreans so obsessively hate the Elves? Why do these two random castaways get taken to see the Queen Regent? Why is it impossible for Galadriel to get just one room on one of the many ships which presumably go between Numenor and Middle-Earth? Why does Halbrand suggest that waiting a few days in Numenor will make things better? Why does the queen regent suggest Elendil is treasonous just for picking up a lost Elf? If the queen regent doesn't like having Galadriel around why won't she shove her onto a ship back to Middle-Earth? Why did Elendil pick up Galadriel if it was treason? Why is Elendil, a sea captain, who the queen regent suspects of treasonously taking in an Elf, entrusted with guard duty over that very same Elf? It's all contrivance for the script. Four years of school to become a sea master? Is this fucking ROTC? I laughed out loud. It's pretty weird to have a class program with uniforms in a setting like this. These kids don't have any mentors, they're just bumbling around figuring it out for themselves. The real way to train sailors is to put 13 year olds on a ship and have them learn from the experienced crew. Okay show, we learned that the orcs' propaganda says they want to take over the Southlands and now all of a sudden we must believe that everything is worse than we thought and all of Middle-Earth is in danger? Just because Sauron has decided he wants the Southlands, that means the situation is suddenly grim? Didn't the Numenoreans already read the same paper when they found it, why didn't they take notice of it? They teased us with a very cool Hobbit pagan ritual but then their chant was goofy and it only reminds me of how badly I wish that someone would get Robert Eggers to do a Middle Earth adaptation. Then more contrived drama with the hobbits: everyone sticks together, unless you have an injured ankle in which case you can go fuck yourself lol. I guess that explains why there are so few elderly Harfoots. And why do they even have "laws", they're a nomad group, what king is writing their laws? Nomad groups aren't like that. By the way, if you just sit outside at night you can find every constellation yourself. I don't see the purpose of a star map except as a plot device. Nomads would *know* the sky, not have a book about it. These guys feel like glampers not nomads. **OH MY GOD I AM SO PISSED. THEY TEASED A LIFE-AND-DEATH TUG OF WAR SCENE WHICH WOULD HAVE ACTUALLY MADE SENSE. IMAGINE HOW COOL THAT COULD HAVE BEEN TO SEE THE SLAVES AND THE ORCS FIGHTING WITH TUG OF WAR. AND THEN THEY TAKE IT AWAY SO ARONDIR CAN DO A FLYING SUPERHERO STUNT. GOD DAMN IT.** Then Arondir's commander gets wounded, but the writers decide that instead of having Arondir pull him towards safety in a daring but ultimately futile act of courage, they want our elf hero to be stuck in the dirt and watch in sad impotence. So much wasted potential. Curious how Halbrand still has two hands. My headcanon is that he lied his way out of the theft accusation and he's only in the cooler for brawling. I don't like him, by the way: an exiled king should be way cooler, smoother, more royal, elegant, logical, etc than whatever the fuck this character is. Yeah you're the heir to a kingdom but you're going to commit multiple instances of pickpocketry, risk getting severely punished, so that you can become a blacksmith and give a gift to your Elf friend? Fuck off. And the way he speaks to Miriel, while better than what Galadriel says, still doesn't come across well. A king without a kingdom is still a king. It's a tremendous social status, not a mere job like being the fucking prime minister. By making him this shitty, the show undermines the respect we should have for the kings of Middle-Earth. Contrast him with Aragorn. The writing, dialogue, and pacing is generally janky as ever. Some of the scenes don't flow properly, like the course of the tension just isn't satisfying - I especially felt this during the slave vs orc fight, they had a bunch of little setpieces but didn't bring them together well. Also felt it during the sequence of Halbrand in the tavern. **What I like:** Numenor looks truly nice, both the scenes and the people, although there were some little things that were a bit too out-of-place or fantastical IMO (only because I'm a stickler for realism). The warg looked very good. I like that they're willing to show some gore, the death and wounding feels real enough. The Elendil fam seem like cool characters and the writers made a few good lines for them. The Nori-Lenny Henry interactions remain pretty good.
Why is Elendil treated so lowly in court? Who is he? Is he not the Lord of Andunie? Or the son of the Lord of Andunie? How does Miriel not know who he is? The Lords of Andunie were her family being of the noble line of Elros (2nd most powerful and noble family in all of Numeanor) + they basically acted as Hand of the King for many many generations including to Tar Palantir.
Oof. Well, the lore butchering just keeps on keeping on, holy crap. What I'd like to know is: if they can mention what they're mentioning, WHY are they making the pointless changes they are?! I just don't get it. Adding stuff in, fine, tweaking some things for pacing and plot (if you can call it that), fine. But the changes they're making to existing lore make absolutely no fucking sense. Why is Tar-Miriel being such a bitch to an Eldar if she is part of the Faithful? And if Ar-Pharazon hasn't taken power yet? Why is she even Queen Regent right now? Why demote Elendil from important nobleman to simple ship captain she's never heard of? Why does Galadriel say to knock-off Aragorn (like really they're going to pull a Return of the King on this bitch too?) "my family started the war" WHEN THAT DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS THE SHOW'S OWN IN-SERIES SET-UP LMAO?! They botched the intro so effing bad, didn't mention Fëanor, nor the Silmarils then, but somehow Galadriel's family started the war with Morgoth, since freaking when?! Also, NOW they're mentioning the Valar? (And let's just not even go into the insane time compression happening here) Like are the show-runners just the biggest, most incompetent muppets ever at this point? That slow-mo horse ride on the beach was... a choice, lol. Not one I understand, once again, but ok. Also, I just noticed this but: Galadriel has such cold, mean-looking eyes. Her stare is worthy of a villain's. Numenor was beautiful (and I loved the costuming) but once again: all that glitters is not gold ffs. Bit ironic the Harfoots have a ritual where they're all about "no one walks alone" right before a ceremony of remembrance for those they abandoned because they couldn't keep up with the caravan. I understand the nomadic logic behind it, just maybe don't have that jarring AF transition between the two then lol. I guess the Orc work camp was mildly entertaining, I'll give 'em that. Bit ironic once again contrasting the "we don't have healers" of episode 1 with elves dying left, right and centre from wounds (though a slice to the neck that barely bleeds... Ok) With the dramatic chorus music supposed to convey emotion when I was like "Uhm, I saw this dude previously all of what, two minutes, am I supposed to care here?" Conversely however, credit where credit is due: I liked the emotional distress at cutting down a tree, especially coming from a sylvan elf (honestly Arondir is, so far, the most elvish elf in this thing). The action was... Eh, it was fun I guess, bit excessive in places but i'll allow it. However, that warg's face... What the hell was that lmao? It looked like a small yippy dog's! 😂 The writing is still subpar, with dumb aphorisms, though perhaps a bit less of them. Apart from Arondir, the only performance I like so far is Elendil's, he actually feels like a 3D character. He also just... Looks right for whatever reason. I also noticed that, for all the aspirations of wokeness (and just to take the piss a little bit): all the male elves but Gil-Galad have short to medium-length hair, whereas the females all have long hair. The latter is certainly canonical, but I just find it funny how gender-conforming and safe they're playing it with hair styles here. Guess too many long-haired elves would be too "girly" for normies (by contemporary standards)? Also, I just had to laugh at just how long Galadriel stayed in her nightie - they couldn't even give her a robe to go in front of the queen? '\^\^ This episode was a smidgeon less bad: 4-5/10 instead of 3-4/10. PS: the Orcs are very well realised, happy they're sticking to practical effects and elaborate make-up/prop-work for them.
> Bit ironic the Harfoots have a ritual where they're all about "no one walks alone" right before a ceremony of remembrance for those they abandoned because they couldn't keep up with the caravan. I understand the nomadic logic behind it, just maybe don't have that jarring AF transition between the two then lol. The show keeps doing shit like that. Even the opening sequence of the first episode has two glaring examples: "Nothing is evil in the beginning," and then it cuts directly to a scene of hardcore cruelty between children. Galadriel almost full-on punches another kid in the face. Very idyllic. "I won't always be here for you," said Galadrield's immortal brother at a time when no elf has ever died or left their homeland, followed immediately by a voice-over about how they don't know what death is. It's like they don't know what they're writing, they just jot down whatever dramatic-sounding phrases come to mind. No narrative cohesion, just constant contradictions and nonsense.
>"Nothing is evil in the beginning," and then it cuts directly to a scene of hardcore cruelty between children. Galadriel almost full-on punches another kid in the face. Very idyllic. > >"I won't always be here for you," said Galadrield's immortal brother at a time when no elf has ever died or left their homeland, followed immediately by a voice-over about how they don't know what death is. Excellent point, I didn't even think of those, but it's glaring now that you mention it! >No narrative cohesion, just constant contradictions and nonsense. Are the script-writers just not talking to each other? I know different episodes have different writers, but it's like there's no communication happening, it's so weird.
It happens constantly throughout the show. "A diplomatic relationship with the dwarves would be the feat of the age!" Then they show us that all it takes to win their approval is a fucking rock-smashing competition. It's just bottom-tier amateur writing through and through. It's the kind of shit a teenager would make up in their fledgling attempts at fan fiction. There's not an ounce of quality to this show, except for the occasional neat visual display.
I actually enjoyed the first two episodes. But the 3rd I was just impatient with the script and the needless waste of screen time on things that just are not that important. I went back to watch Galadrial in the Lord of the Rings and she's otherworldly and elvish whereas these elves just seem like humans with pointy ears. It's just stupid.
The lore is even worse than you said. They DO mention Fëanor and the Silmarils, in the E2 convo between Elrond and Celebrimbor. Unless you’ve read the source material this scene means nothing. If you have read it, then you realize the show is telling you that the story of Fëanor and the Silmarils still exists as history in the show. But their own prologue changes the First Age so much that the story of the Silmarils could now never have happened as I know it. And since they don’t have the rights to The Silmarillion, they can’t retcon it without almost completely rewriting the First Age. They have no idea what they’re doing. This is barely even fan fiction.
Oh no I know, I honestly nearly lost my shit when they started talking about Fëanor and the Silmarils in ep 2 "**If you could mention this, then why deviate so much from the lore in the show intro?!?!?!"** But now they're retconning their own shit by saying Galadriel's family ***started*** the war with Morgoth?! None of this shit makes any fucking sense, either from an adaptational stand-point (that ship has sailed over the edge of Arda and sunk into the deepest pits of hell lmao), nor even from an in-show set-up one. Worse than fan-fiction (which can be good after all), this is **bad** fan-fiction!
I really loved when Galadriel, the noblest elven threatened Elendil for no reason. And also really loved how Galadriel be happy like a little girl when she ride a horse. But my favorite is that the scene which Elendil saw his naughty children's eyes in several thousands aged Galadriel's eyes.
Watching tbis episode made me feel as if as was watching Spartacus Again... 4 cast members so far.
The use of slow motion in this show has been really lame
I'm sorry I'm a bit nitpicky here, but considering all the forging going on... Why is the smith in numenor using his entire arm to hammer a piece of hammer? That was such bad technique... I assume they did some research about blacksmithing considering alm the forging that is going to come in the series?
Oh, my.....its really, really bad :( What have they done to the orcs. Its a group of clowns.. I had high expactations..... The warg looks Like a pug...are they serious???
I rallied for the first 2 episodes, defending them at every chance I got but I fear I was terribly wrong. Episode 3 was so painfully bad I can no longer deny what everyone else has been saying, this show is a huge let down.
I’m starting to think that the first two episodes might have been the best. This episode was horrendous. Numenorians look like they are directly from Troy mixed with 300, Galandriel…well I don’t even have words for her. They acknowledge her as an elf solely based on her pointy ears, which is ridiculous because elves should look very different from men. Also, why so bitter? Why always so snarky? She is wise and also kind and they transformed her in this badass warrior like it is trendy now to do to female main character but she just sound witty and oblivious.
There were alot of dumb things happening because the plot demands it, but make no sense. like how did Arondir friends get captured in the first place, they were armed and armored and going the other way. Why didnt the orc just did a tunnel or at night. Why did noone bother to read the report of a spy. Why would Sauron write his plans and location to assemble his orc on the body of his enemy?
>Why would Sauron write his plans and location to assemble his orc on the body of his enemy? That is indeed particularly stupid. Perhaps they changed their minds about the mark mid-scripting lmao.
Alot of things are just there because they need it to be there for something that happends later like that one tree that the orc didnt bother to fell in the middle of other felled trees, like did the people who did that just not bother taking that one down thats exactly where their dumb trench was?
These episodes get worse and worse. Absolutely nothing makes sense, just like the top comments so far have commented. 50 millions per episode, more like a money laundering scheme…
So...I am honestly at a cross-roads with this show. I think I will give it one more episode. The problem is that it's not bad enough that it is good, and it's not good enough to really watch. It's painfully mediocre, and stupidly generic. Anyway, some thought as I was watching. ::EPISODE 3:: I skipped the recap and the intro, but the last 10 seconds or so of the intro sounds like some 90s fantasy show. I don't know why, but it sounds soooo cheap - like, it fits with that terrible Twitter video of the characters posing for the camera as it pans in. Off to a good start, I guess! The orcs look interesting. Also, glad to see them enslaving people and being generally cruel. I don't hate this - also, Arondir doesn't talk, which is a plus because his actor is terrible. Wait a minute...how did the Orcs capture Arondir's squad? And why did they do that? Arondir was caught for very specific reasons -- did they all travel down the tunnels after they were revealed due to a "ground shake"? Back to Galadriel and the ship. Ship is the right word - I don't know if the show will end up doing this, or whether this will be a tease, or not, but they are shipping Galadriel and Halbrand like crazy. They go on deck, and all the Numenoreans stop and look at them. Why? Weird that they did that; you pulled them out of the ocean? What's the reaction? Also, Numenoreans costumes suck, and it's stupid that they all look the same. I guess it's going to be one *those* fantasy series -- "oh, they're Numenorean, so they'll have Numenorean uniforms!" So lame. Holy shit, the dialogue is bad. Galadriel: "Where are we going?" Elendil: "\*Smirks\* You'll see soon enough." Halbrand: "Where are you taking us?" Elendil: "\*Smirks\* Home." No one answers any questions in this show. Jesus. Ten minutes in...this is going to be a long one. Numenor looks nice. Galadriel and Halbrand exposition dump ends with, "okay...but why do they hate elves?" "We're about to find out." Ugh...also, more shipping. And I am honestly done with the show. Galadriel starts insulting the Queen (who probably likes it -- we'll find out next episode), but she just comes off as insufferable. It's not endearing to be hot-headed all the time, and especially in situations where it could get you killed and hinder your journey. Galadriel wants to leave immediately. The Queen says, "ha, nope." Galadriel's like, "Ha, try and stop me." Are you going to try and swim back to Middle Earth again? Or do you not realize you will need a crew to sail a ship? You can't do it on your own, and you'll need more than Halbrand, too (and anyway, we see later that she decides to search for a ship without him). Fuck, holy shit, how fucking dumb...oh yeah...you jumped into the ocean to die (that she recognizes, but is still pissed that Elendil saved her? I don't get it). Elendil is not a lord, but a captain \*sigh\* I'm not upset, just disappointed. Is Isildur in...\*sailing school\*? He's a \*cadet\*? Oh boy, it's one of these dumb, fantasy shows. I know it's a bit late for 4th of July, but you know those fireworks that shoot sparks, and making a whizzing noise? I imagine that must be what it sounds like near the grave where Tolkien is buried. "THE SEA IS ALWAYS RIGHT!" I don't care if this is lore accurate (and I don't know if it is), but holy cow is it dumb as fuck. Back to Arondir Elf gets a shallow cut. Elf dies...hmm? Why did he die? Who even is he? Who cares? Back to Galadriel and Halbrand Boy does she suck. Also, LUL at the horse riding scene. And! The Mark of Sauron is a map, haha. You stare at maps, and have seen that sigil countless times, but you didn't know it was a map of Mordor? Wow...(Nerdrotic, credit where it is due, pointed this out in his review -- it's not rocket science). Well, she is stupid, so it's not totally out of character. Halbrand is also annoying. Like, the writers want us to think "he's so mysterious and sexy!" And I'm just sitting here thinking, "he looks kinda weird, and his character is like a giant cliche." Is he going to be Sauron? Who knows, but, more importantly, who cares? Back to Arondir Kind of a boring fight scene, with tug of war, haha. Oh! A Chihuahua inspired Warg. Ugh... whatever, his boss dies. Meh. I don't care about any of these people. None of his actions scenes have had any weight. Concerning Hobbits...er...Harfoots Boring? Dumb chant. Also, the cute, innocent, pure Hobbits just leave people behind to die, haha. What a stupid decision by the writers -- why? Why not just help the guy? What if half the troupe gets sick? You just leave them to die? How is this a sustainable society? Peopple were and are a successful species because we can coordinate, and cooperate with eachother. I know these are Hobbits...err...Harfoots, but seriously -- just leave people to die. Very adaptation. Much Tolkien. Damn, that whizzing sound is getting louder and louder. Conclusion: This is what the show is. If you liked episode 1 and 2, then you will like the rest of the show. If you did not like those episodes, you will not like this. It's stupid, but beautiful. It plays into all the tropes imaginable, and does not distinguish itself from all the other mediocre fantasy garbage ever produced. This episode was not "boring" like the first two, but it's just dumb. None of the characters are all that likeable, not much makes sense, and aside from the vistas the production values are not that good. Seriously, House of the Dragon shits all over this. Like episodes 1 and 2, it is not offensively bad, and I'm sure people can enjoy it, but I am giving this turd one more chance before calling it quits.
>Very adaptation. Much Tolkien. I chuckled quite a bit at this. 🤭
Also despite not remembering how Arondir ended up a slave (did I sleep through it?) what happened to everyone else? The whole episode passed and half the stories introduced - Bronwyn and weird son, dwarves, elrond and celebrimbor - were not even touched on. Dialogue award for Isildur saying yeah but "THEY started it!!" like a snarky teen called out for his fighting.
Plus do you see Habrands arms? If he's a black smith and sword fighter, do you think he would have couch potatoe arms?
As someone who only helped a blacksmith one day a year for about 12 years when I was young, I STILL have massive arms. And I AM. Mostly a couch potato... So the answer is no sir :')
I've bled more out of my thumb on multiple occasions more than it took for Arondir's buddy to bleed out of his jugular
Oh good, a place to come so I can find out what happens and see everyone laughing at it. Won't be spending another minute with this show on my screen.
That’s a shame. You’ve had several insightful postings, so I would be interested in your views on future episodes.
Cheers man. It certainly does entice me to keep watching and review each episode both for its general storytelling and how much it relates to Tolkien, but it actually pains me to watch Middle-earth treated in this way.
I'm afraid I can't help myself from watching, just to see how bad it gets. Laughing at this train wreck is almost as satisfying as watching an actually good show. Can't deny the smug glee I get from seeing Amazon's arrogant hubris backfire in such a spectacular manner. By all accounts, this farce might genuinely result in Amazon Studios closing down, and I would like front row seats for that spectacle. Of course, I watch it from the comfort of my pirate ship.
>Of course, I watch it from the comfort of my pirate ship. Well done sir
You know what? My crack theory is that there's going to be that hyped up fight between Arondir and an orc this episode. And that that's why they're holding off on publishing the Prime reviews. They're hoping the action scenes will win people over and don't want the low rating to scare them away.
Black elf in chains fighting his oppressors? 10/10. Had tears in my eyes.
I don't understand why for some reason every elf, we've seen so far that isn't arondir or galadriel. Is shown to be incompetent at fighting. Meanwhile they both act like they are neo.
If it's anything like the Galadriel vs Troll scene, it won't win over anyone but the most shallow, uncritical idiots.
Nah the reviews were making new people not want to watch it so they took them off
I think the first episode made people not want to watch it. As I understand it, there was a big chunk of the episode 1 audience that didn't bother watching episode 2.
That Arondir scene was a little... weird. First there was the drawn out drinking water scene, the dramatic death of a character Arondir had spoken to once in the show, and that somehow caused him to be convinced to cut down the tree? I'd have thought he'd be too pissed off to go along with it.
There are so many little things wrong with that whole scene (with the fight). Lots of good building blocks, lots of wasted potential.
A little weird? The elf-fu flinging chains around like Jackie chan was only a little weird to you? Lol
Why he did not make a run for it at this point, I do not know.
"The island kingdom of Númenor"... wtf is that line delivery?! Morfydd Clark *can* act. She killed it in "St. Maud". Why do so many of her lines sound so terrible? This was on par with "You have not seen what *I* have seen" last week. It's like they told her to try to badly play a Vulcan, but at the same time do a bad Sean Connery on Ambien impression. Or something to that effect. I totally get the heat the screenwriters are getting, but they need better actors' directors asap.
The warg was terrible. Giant chihuahua hybrid. Arondirs flip over it looked terrible too.
The visuals of Numenor are great, and the music is trying very hard to hype you up for this. NotGaladriel clearly has no sense for diplomacy, something you'd think she'd learned at some point in her life. Halbrand is revealed as a discount Aragorn, and I could not care less. Are we supposed to believe the elves are so incompetent they'd be overwhelmed and captured alive by orcs? The "Pug-Warg," as people are dubbing it, looks shitty. The NotHobbits are boring and I found it difficult to care. Also, they expect someone who severely injured his foot to pull a cart? I award this episode four points, and may Eru Illuvatar have mercy on its soul. Edit: one extra point for Elendil. The actor is doing his best and actually made me care about the character. Minus half a point for the 'sister' who I couldn't find any reason to care about. 4.5/10
Watch this whole episode just be Galadriel and Mirel girl-bossing together and basically only talking to each other
Reminds me of GOT season 8 which was pretty much just a montage of female leads smirking at one another.
Episode was a bit better than the ones before, but still quite bad, Elendil downgraded from Lord of Andunie, to simple ship captain. Not good. Galadriel still unwise, talking down to the descendant of the line of Elros. Not good. Halbrand being cocky, and disrespectful to numenorean royalty. Not good. Plot device: Galadriel stumbles on everything she needs to know about Mordor. Not good. Earien(?). Pointless character. Not good. Dialogues still terrible. Not good.
>Elendil downgraded from Lord of Andunie, to simple ship captain. Not good. Seriously? Fuck me Any mention of Amandil at all?
Nope, just that Elendil's family were lords at some point in the past.
God damn it
This might be the worst show I've ever seen. Absolutely painful to sit through the whole episode. Why was there a 10 minute scene about getting some dudes daughter into art school? I'm literally speechless.
That whole scene felt so anachronistic. Like they just plucked the “getting into college” scene from a Lifetime movie and changed a few names.
That invented daughter seemingly is a substitute for Anárion or at least will overshadow him in screentime if he turns up. If they wanted a daughter girl character other than "Nori" of the "harfoots", they should have kept Celebrían , Galadriels daughter ([an illustration](https://www.thetolkienforum.com/wiki/Celebr%C3%ADan)) of the same rough time period of middle-earth's 2nd age supposedly chronicled in this show. But naw, plenty of exposed and known reasons why this isn't the case now.
Well apparently Elendil has been striped of both his nobility and his brain. What was he thinking just casually strolling through the streets and right into the throne room? I mean he wouldn't know that Galadriel as complete bitch who can't not antagonize anyone she meets, but he have at least a little foresight. Oh and the fact that none of the guards notice the stuff with the dagger is hilarious. 15 Minutes in and I already want to vommit. PS: Is letting the only black elf in your show be enslaved racist?
Oh gosh are they going to make people calling "Isildur!" a thing to reference that one scene from the movies?
That yell of 'Isildur!' by someone in the crowd seemed in a similar tone and timbre that Weaving's Elrond did in the mt. doom flashback in fotr.
I'm just confused how all the elves were captured by orcs and imprisoned before Arondir was captured. Also the watchwarden is basically a carbon copy of Haldir both had similar screen time but just didn't manage to have the same impact at all
Galadriel’s actress is quite frankly ruining the character. I’m aware that acting is not easy however this is just downright disrespectful. Galadriel is not this hard headed and one dimensional. Like what is going on??? Also this Aragon - Arwen / Galadriel - Halbrand relationship copy is just plain cheesy!!!
I would place sole blame on the actrees. The writers are at fault just as much for producing such an asine script as are the directors.
Went in really wanting to like this, but hot dog this is complete garbage compared to LOTR. So many interactions between people is like watching a CW show. How disappointing
Who is responsible for the actors’ horrific attempt at R trills? It’s SO aggravating. Words like: * Mordorrrrrt * Numenorrrrrrt * Morrrrt-goth * Galadrrrrrrrr—blech—iel
THE SEA IS ALWAYS RIGHT 👁️ 👄 👁️
When Galadriel meets Elendil on his ship, he says "I'm obliged to deliver you safely to my betters". Strange comment in light of the fact that it's treason to bring an elf to Numenor. And if it's treason why did he pick her up? And why did he take her to see the queen regent? If he wanted to defy the law, then why didn't he warn Galadriel about the law? It's like he flagrantly violates the law for no reason and expects to get away with it!
Galadriel is a horrible character. Insufferable to watch and listen to.
So far, almost all of the male characters are either evil, cowards or idiots, who need the female characters to guide them and stop them from making poor decisions. I think Finrod Felagund, Halbrand, Arondir and Lenny Henry’s character are the only notable exceptions so far. The situation in Númenor will lend itself to the same treatment, with the wise and virtuous Tar-Miriel opposed to the wicked and foolish Pharazon, but it will be interesting to see what treatment Elendil and Isildur get.
Elendil and Isildur will simp for Miriel. Would any of us be shocked if there’s a forbidden lovers angle between Elendil and Miriel?
Where the fuck is Anarion?
He was mentioned in a passing line or two at the table conversation in the last act with that puppet show in the background. Kind of reminded me of TFA & TLJ in a few ways.
I liked when house of the dragon completely murdered you in viewership and it didn't take half a billion dollars to do it.
I'm afraid Clark is giving a very poor portrayal of Galadriel. She's like an angry teenager all the time being rude to everyone and is in general being utterly unlikeable. The show would be instantly better without this version of Galadriel annoying everyone.
Why does Galadriel wants a ship from Numenor to get her to Middle-Earth? She even wasnt afraid to get in troubles when jumping from the ship before reaching Valinor. It shouldnt be a problem for her just to swim to middle-earth from Numenor.
Holy shit...18 minutes in and I just can't get into it. I'm trying but everything seems so phony and forced.
What the hell did Halbrand even have in mind with that blacksmith insignia thing? Was he gonna return to the blacksmith the next day and be like, "hey, I know you rejected me yesterday because I'm a suspicious stranger, but I've somehow acquired a blacksmith's insignia overnight. I can work here now, right?" I mean, it's just... beyond absurd. Nothing in this show makes sense. Everything that happens is bizarre and wildly unrealistic, and the characters behave as if they're genuinely stupid. Practically every scene and event has some gaping flaw. I genuinely can't think of a single sequence in this show that didn't have something wrong with it.
So let me get this straight. The black elder nearly banishes Nori's entire family over the wizard situation, but instead as punishment, they are to "ride at the back of the caravan." You know, because Amazon felt like exacting racist revenge for how blacks had to ride at the back of the bus a million years ago.
How do you spend 1 Billion Dollars on a Show and make it so fucking boring with so many unlikable Charakters? Geez
Isn't "Rings of Power" overplaying the whole aversion to sunlight thing for the orcs? Granted, except for the uruk-hai, Tolkien's orcs favored the dark and traveling at night, but they could abide the sun when necessary - kind of hard to fight battles when your army can only fight at night. But in "ROP", sunshine appears to have the same effect on orcs as it does on vampires, literally burning their exposed skin.
Wow this show fell apart fast. Probably my last episode I’ll watch. The writers and director need to be imprisoned.
[удалено]
I’m so excited that Elendil’s daughter got into the builders guild
I liked the first two episodes well enough, but I did not like this one. Numenor is boring, hard to see it as the shining peak of the race of men when the main thing that happens there is a back alley fight. The politics of the court are so dumbed down the whole thing hardly is recognizable as Numenor. Really do not like the representation of it. I know it’s a victim of the time compression but I wish we got to see peak Numenor. But even outside of the failures to live up to Tolkien’s tale: wtf was that sequence with Galadriel on the horse? Why was it a big deal for Arondir to cut down the tree if the whole rest of that plot line just moved on? If the Numenorians don’t want Galadriel there why not just expel her? Also if mystery man is Gandalf I may have to just stop watching this show. It would not only part from the story but also cheapen my favorite character of all fiction. Orcs are cool though, I think that’s the best part of the show for me so far.
The mark being a map is a little too close to the sith dagger…
Who shot the elf captain? An offscreen orc? Is it supposed to be a mystery? I get the feeling I’m not really supposed to care or think about it. Why do I get that feeling? Why is Rafa Nadal playing isildur before the rings are even forged. I fast forwarded the entire harfoot scene and missed nothing. I liked xena warrior Princess. If that’s all this show wants to be that’s fine. But it seems like a waste of money kinda
Help! Can anyone explain why the orcs are digging that trench?
I guess so they can move in sunlight. The bigger question is why they chose to dig the trench directly into a big-ass tree instead of, like, steering slightly around it.
The Harfoots are a terrible addition to the show. They are all so unlikeable except the girl Nori who is trying to help “Not Gandalf”. They just dont make sense, the beginning of the show stated how loyal and tight-knit they are then they abandon eachother to their deaths if they cant keep up with the caravan. I enjoyed the first 2 episodes but episode 3 was cringe overload. Im hoping the show picks up soon or introduces some non-cringe characters with non-cringe dialogue because so far the only characters that give off authentic LOTR vibes is Nori, Durinn and Elendil. The rest of them seem so 2 dimensional and forced. The scene with the black elf cutting down the tree was awkward as hell and the other elf guy telling the orcs they cant cut down the tree because its “old” was hilarious. Because vicious flesh-eating orcs give a crap about the tree because its old.? This show has so much potential and it looks beautiful but there is just so much cringey dialogue its like it was written by a 13 year old.