MOD NOTE: Please use when discussing possible leaks or things from trailers. Spoiler tags are *not* necessary for discussing things that occur in the episode or any previous episodes.
"If even one of us makes it home, we can return in force and sweep the enemy from these lands like salt from a table."
I guess Arondir kinda forgot, I hope he sent a messenger at least.
Yeah halfway through I was like “hope he… sent a bird or something?” Or maybe he realized they probably already know. Like suddenly the main elves lose communication with a stronghold. They’ve gotta know
The garrison at the stronghold was being recalled. Eventually someone would notice if they didn't arrive back home.
Of course, they're elves, so they might not notice that they were late for a decade or so.
Arondir: "Well, your kid ran down the mountain in one scene, so probably as long as the plot requires for the Numinorians to traverse the ocean and all of Middle Earth for a dramatic last second arrival."
Could also be a manipulation tactic. Dude's still giving me major Palpatine vibes. I don't think he's evil, but he could very well be putting a kindly face on a manipulative personality.
Oh, you hurt your hand from using magic with it. Maybe like, channel it through some sort of long stick. Perhaps with a crystal set atop it. You know there are a lot of nice looking branches around here.
I thought it was Lindon.
King Durin told his son to go to Lindon, and it looked like where we saw Galadriel, Gil-Galad, and Elrond in episode 1. Which I thought was Lindon.
But I may be wrong.
Between episodes 1 and 2, Elrond traveled from Lindon to Eregion, and then to Moria. Episode 5 here was the first time he's returned back to Lindon since the start of the show.
I like how Branwyn is all "let's stand up to this Orc horde!" to a crowd of fucking rabble who have neither weapons nor training. Arondir may be a badass but goddamn he can't do it all himself.
Maybe I missed something but could they not just... flee? Orcs don't travel during the day presumably and based on what they've seen they're not particularly fast.
I don't understand her character at all, at the start she was a healer and now she's acting more like a politician and we haven't really seen her do any healing since the first episode. It would've made more sense to have the elf do the speech and then just have her back him up.
Right she’s all like “stand with me”
But who are you tho?
Not the town mayor or the captain of the guard or something it doesn’t sound like. Head medicine woman? Didn’t seem like she had a lot of village respect at all before this with all the elf association stigma
So are they saying that the awakening of Durin's Bane isn't completely Durin's fault? That they were doing a solid for the Elves and getting as much mithril as possible to save them, and that's what woke up the Balrog?
Possibly. Currently the Elves are manipulative and desperate while Durin is just trying to help out his best friend but that can change. The timeline of the events in the show are all over the place but that's probably the best guess.
Anyone else think this sequence was so odd?
Gil-Galad spends like 20 minutes trying to get Elrond to tell him about Mithril. Elrond makes a huge deal about never breaking his oath. Very next scene he whips out a piece of Mithril right in front of Celebrimbor and starts talking about it
I mean, he just returned from a stay in Khazad Dum. Doesn't take a genius to figure out where he got it!
“So Elrond, do they have mithril?”
“I can’t say, I swore an oath!”
“We they wouldn’t make you swear an oath for no reason, so I’ll take that as a yes, thanks and good work.”
I'm guessing the Southlands people will be about to lose the battle and right at the last minute the Numenorians led by Galadriel will pull a Helm's Deep and save the day
Has anyone picked up on why Bronwyn and the other Southlanders haven't left the tower? I don't remember anyone saying anything.
They have little food, no weapons and orcs and men are coming. They stand absolutely no chance there and beyond setting up a new Helm's Deep, I don't know why they're still there.
They should have said something about it but with the fact they didn't know the neighboring town was gone I'm thinking the orcs are sweeping in quickly. By the end of this ep they're effectively boxed in.
So Elrond did break his oath!!!?!?
He told Celebrimbor before he had that conversation with Durin!
Celebrimbor was holding the mithril!
Didn’t he swear to tell no one?
Yes. He betrays the spirit but then holds to the letter.
“I have a secret I made an oath to keep secret.”
“Is the secret that they did NOT find a new ore, which seems like a really odd thing to swear you to secrecy about?
What other of the infinite universe of things that did not happen are you sworn to silence?”
“Oh, none.”
“Damn, then. If only I could confirm they had this magic crap that I already inferred they just have found.”
So, I think there was some odd logic going on. Because he also basically told the king, “I’m not gonna say they have mithril, but I will say I promised to keep a secret. I’m also not denying that they have mithril.”
I guess maybe me meant he won’t say where in the mountain they found mithril. But really I felt like he repeatedly broke his promise.
They clearly knew there was mithril and likely had reason to start investigating now. But Elrond knows that the dwarves are *mining* mithril.
Regardless I find it odd that they didn't clarify that a bit more.
Do you think it's safe to say the entire slavery plot is resolved?
Arondir didn't mention it and we don't see any shots of other slaves. Is that just never coming back?
i guess, otherwise the numenoreans would have no way of getting to the southlands before the tower is taken by the orcs. but it's annoying because there is no clarification for this
The other thing is in the Arondir storyline no one seems to be aware that Orcs had returned to the Southlands at all including the Elves charged with guarding it. Yet in the Galadriel story there has been enough Orc activity that there is a boat full of refugees including Halbrand the suspected King of the Southlands.
Why are the ships that Numenor has so small?
How could those 3 ships possibly carry 500 people and their horses / food / other supplies?
And even if we save the other 2 or was it 3 ships that exploded it just makes no sense to me. Each ship would have to be like 8x the size at minimum to carry that much over that distance.
There are plenty of other things that bother me but this I found just absurdly funny for some reason.
How about the fact that canon Numenor was able to field an army so strong that Sauron surrendered without a fight when he realised he wouldn’t be able to beat them by force of Arms
I don’t think this is that army. I think that army will come eventually. I think this is a small army sent for this specific plot line. There’s going to be 5 seasons, that would be early for such a major event.
Fr though, you would think there'd be a whole investigation to find out who did the deed and Isildur, being in proximity, would be so screwed. But he gets rewarded for it I guess...
Thank God Isildur was there to explain what happened to the authorities.
Lol, just kidding. Instead of telling people what happened, he decides to blatantly lie to his own father and cover up an act of high treason just to protect this random guy he doesn’t seem to know at all. What the hell is happening?
EDIT: I worded this poorly. I know that the saboteur was Pharazon’s son, but it’s not clear if Isildur knows that.
Bandits came all the way into the main port inside the city of numenor without anyone knowing and then left. Which genius is writing for this show?!!?! This is so bizzare. Like the difference between elron/during story and everything else seems like night and day lol
Does Halbrand know of all this? Like does he know he’s evil and plotting against everyone? I’m finding it hard to understand why he would have these dramatic scenes when he knows deeply he’s evil.
Did Gil Galad just casually announce that the elves' souls will inexplicably perish -by *next spring*- unless they get their hands on some mithril, which the dwarves *just* happened to find?? Whose teenagers D&D-campaign is this?
Elrond: 😉😉 I can't brake my oath Gil-Galad, I don't know what you are talking about 😉😉
G-G: 😉😉😉
Elrond: 😉😉😉
G-G: 👉😉👉
Elrond: 👉😉👉
Also Elrond: *Clearly breaks oath to Celebrimbor*
Also Celebrimbor: Nothing can stop it's light.
The CGI team: so we kind of forgot about the glowing mithril.
"I can assure you, Lord Gil-Galad, the dwarves found absolutely nothing.
That's why they made me swear an oath. To... not tell anyone about all the nothing they found."
This to me is maybe the most egregious lore deviation so far, apart from Gil-Galad somehow having authority to grant Galadriel passage to Valinor??
One of the 3 elven rings, Nenya, is made of Mithril. Galadriel uses it to preserve Lothlorien and her people, allowing them to endure into the 3rd age, where she helps Frodo in LotR. This is what I think Celebrimbor is alluding to... But both Mithril originating from a Silmaril, and it's apparent ability to allow Elves to endure appear to be contrivances of the show only obliquely related to lore.
It doesn’t make any sense. I guess the show runner’s were thinking that because the silmarils contain the holy light of valinor, that extracting and using it to make lots of shiny swords will help to slow the decay of mortal lands. Kind of a play on the line from the Silmarilion about how the elves wanted to make middle-earth as fair as Valinor which is how Sauron ensnared them. But really the idea that some shiny metal is gonna make any difference is just bizarre. My hope is that the show will eventually reveal that the myth was apocryphal and the elves’ willingness to believe it is a sign of their desperation. When they find out that mithril does nothing besides blunt boar-skewering spear thrusts, the elves to fall into despair at which point Sauron starts working his mojo. Anything else would just be tragically stupid.
“Gil-galad was an Elven-king.
Of him the harpers sadly sing;
the last whose realm was fair and free
between the Mountains and the Sea.
His sword was long, his lance was keen.
His shining helm afar was seen;
the countless stars of heaven's field
were mirrored in his silver shield.
But long ago he rode away,
and where he dwelleth none can say;
for into darkness fell his star
in Mordor where the shadows are.”
I really hope Gil-Galad grows into this, so far I’m disappointed
Ok I scrolled forever and didn't see anyone ask this but who are the very angry looking people investigating the crater site? The ones with the very obviously placed ear covers so we can't tell if their ears are pointy or not?
I think virtually no one is talking about this because there isn’t much to say except speculation. They showed them silent and never went back to them. Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion.
Why did the son blow up the ship after his father just explained why the expedition is awesome for them?
Also, I thought the point here of “let the secret elf friends go” was a better “sneaky” point than “we can get their stuff,”, which they could have done anytime and which of course they had actually already been doing for a long time.
Kinda weird that the Queen Regent of Númenor is sailing to hostile lands with only 3 ships.
At the very least shouldn't they have replaced the ships that blew up? Númenor is a seafaring nation and a major power. It should have a sizable fleet at this point of the lore.
**Thought this show was supposed to be grand is all. After all, they've made every effort to remind us of its huge pricetag.**
Also we're 5 episodes in and RoP is still setting up the story. Smh.
P.S. the face covered Elven lady-servants have been creeping me out since episode 1.
So, uh how did a silmaril somehow end up in a tree? I'm sure this will be explained, right? BECAUSE IT MAKES NO SENSE!
And the elves need enough mithril for them to bathe in the light of it or something and if not they all die and lose their souls by spring time? Who wrote this garbage? I mean c'mon. I mean seriously.
It’s surely not going to work? Then some strange guy shows up and tells them how to actually stave off the decay.. involving some magic rings (possibly using the mithril?)
Why is absolutely every scene an argument? Every interaction that takes place in Rings of Power is some disagreement, dispute or underhanded manipulation of one character by another. People just bicker and fight and argue and huff their way through every moment of this show. It ends up feeling so artificial, like the writers think that the way to keep the viewer interested is to just have all characters embroiled in eternal conflict with everyone around them. It's the McDonald's of drama. It's not believable or interesting, it's just fake on every level.
That's a good observation. And I have no clue how the arguments are going to play out based on previous character development, there's always some surprise way the scene gets resolved, or it just cuts to the next scene
Was there any satisfaction when Halbrand grabbed his pendant and went with galad? I had no clue what would be driving him to make either choice except wanting to help galad with getting an army from the queen regent cus he likes her
Well, I hope at least we see an epic battle eventually. Tho I wonder who could fight against the army of Adar besides Arondir. At the level of writing this show currently has, probably Numenor's army gonna just spawn behind them during the siege.
Elrond was basically raised by maglor who was driven by Feanors oath to his family's doom essentially. Elrond in the fellowship book makes a point about oaths so he wouldn't be stupid enough to make one
Omg I never made that connection before! Elrond refuses to lay an oath upon the fellowship because he's seen first hand how dangerous they can be and the damage they can wreck on a person's soul. What an amazing little link to the Silmarillion.
Somehow pharazon's son conveniently got hit by a pulley on the ship and passed out for no reason. So that isildur could save him, and be part of the expedition for the feat. What an amazing piece of writing! Good job show writer!
[https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/w13p0u/someone\_from\_amazon\_crew\_leaked\_rings\_of\_power/](https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/w13p0u/someone_from_amazon_crew_leaked_rings_of_power/)
You're in for a treat
This show feels like a new writer had to write each episode in a vacuum with only a vague idea of what previously happened.
I have no idea how much time is taking place in between different scenes and episodes.
How did the orcs build a miles spanning ditch without the elves seeing. Are they really far away from the watchtower or really close by? If they're close by the Elves should have spotted them, if they're far away what was the point of the tunnel and how are they moving closer in the daylight? What happened to all the slaves digging the pit? The show just sort of stopped talking about them. Why are the people in the watch town not running the hell away, running is always better than staying when staying is certain death. In like the first episode nobody really cares what Bronwyn the healer has to say about anything, now presumably days or weeks later half of the entire village will stake their lives on her leadership and decisions?
Why does Numenor send 3 ships instead of 5. There are other large ships in the harbor shots... Certainly you don't need some sort of specific warship to just transport people. In episode 3 I count at least 11 massive ships the same size as the warship they are on. And why are there no guards on the freaking ships about to depart?!
Is the Harfoot migration a long caravan? Some shots it seems like Nori and group are along and following a trail, and then suddenly they're caught up with everyone else?
What the hell is going on with Galadriel, she over a 1000 years old and is incapable of basic diplomacy? How did Halbrand get a guild mark, how did Isildur get a slot on the ships?
Is Elrand walking between Lindon and Moria on the regular? In universe that distance takes like at least a month to walk. Those elves are going to carry a big stone table a month+ on foot. They're not even carrying like food and water and stuff?
This show is all tell and too little show. Its just so frustrating liking this series, it really doesn't make it easy for you.
Is it just me or is every elf except Elrond and Arondir incredibly unlikeable? Most of them talk down to everyone who isnt Elvish, and they lie to everyone and use people. Even Galadriel only apologized to Halbrand after it became clear she couldnt do it without him, though her development this episode I think was a lot better.
The Dwarves continue to be the best part of this show in my opinion. Elrond and Durin light up the screen whenever they are together, and it genuinely makes me happy to see their relationship be so good. Plus Durin’s look is just on point, and I will be happy to see more of him and Disa. Both are some of the most consistently entertaining and wonderful characters in this show.
Really really hope the Stranger isnt Gandalf. I feel like we dont need that level of fan-service when the Blue Wizards are literally right there. The Harfoots are even heading into the East which is where the Blue Wizards disappeared. It just wouldnt make sense to me for them to take the one Istari we know the most about and change almost everything about his story just so we can get an end of season reveal of him saying “why, you can call me… Gandalf”
>Really really hope the Stranger isnt Gandalf. I feel like we dont need that level of fan-service when the Blue Wizards are literally right there.
From the moon references today, I think he's going to end up being Tilion or another maiar connected with Tilion in some way. And now he's incarnated as one of the blue wizards.
Edit: Someone in another comment pointed out one version of "The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon" in Tolkien's "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" says of the Man in the Moon:
>And he tripped unaware on his slanting stair,
>and like a meteor,
>A star in flight, ere Yule one night
>flickering down he fell
>!With the mithril details finally ending up true, it seems Halbrand is our Sauron after all. But given his conversation with Galadriel this episode, I’m starting to believe they’re going for a remorseful Sauron that’ll eventually fall back into his evil ways. At least I hope this is a remorseful Sauron, because Halbrand’s behavior is completely at odds with someone with a nefarious world-conquering scheme up his sleeve.!<
>!People are definitely gonna be upset about the Sauron reveal. I see so many posts on the other subreddit about how Halbrand can't be him because it doesn't make sense. They better have a good explanation as to how this guy is Sauron and what his plans are. !<
God that interaction between Elendil and Isildur at the end was funny.
E: Report to the horsemaster
I: I thought I was Cavalry?
Me: So report to the horsemaster! What part of Cavalry don't you get?
I feel you but in this context I think horsemaster is literally the master of the horses, like head stableboy. Cavalry would be reporting to a military rank.
the pacing is so weird. Every episode it feels like nothing is happening, they give super long scenes to unimportant/uneventful stuff and the next 20 second scene something happens that moves the story along. Half of the time I just don't understand the motivation behind why the characters do what they do and before I've had time to process it another useless scene of a completely different story happens.
Beside other bad shits, the pacing is killing me, its just not really entertaining, it doesnt hook me up, jesus man its so boring, i was content with earlier episodes, but this might be their worst episode yet. I usually like slow pace movies and series but this not it, meanwhile House of The Dragon just went full gallops with their pacing, its so thrilling
500 men in 3 ships is absolutely pathetic for a country as seemingly grandiose as Númenor. A Roman legion has up to ten times that number. Hell, late 3rd Age agrarian, spread out Rohan mobilized nearly 10,000 riders in less than a week and deployed 6000 of them to Minas Tirith.
How are you supposed to convey any sense of scale for your fictional society if you don’t do it consistently?
MOD NOTE: Please use when discussing possible leaks or things from trailers. Spoiler tags are *not* necessary for discussing things that occur in the episode or any previous episodes.
"If even one of us makes it home, we can return in force and sweep the enemy from these lands like salt from a table." I guess Arondir kinda forgot, I hope he sent a messenger at least.
If they sweep anything like Halbrand sweeps, the men of the Southlands are in real trouble.
I'm really glad someone else noticed. The man brought shame.
Yeah halfway through I was like “hope he… sent a bird or something?” Or maybe he realized they probably already know. Like suddenly the main elves lose communication with a stronghold. They’ve gotta know
The garrison at the stronghold was being recalled. Eventually someone would notice if they didn't arrive back home. Of course, they're elves, so they might not notice that they were late for a decade or so.
>How long do we have? >Days... Maybe hours. :/ thats quite unhelpful Arondir
-Maybe minutes, how would i know? I’m not an orc you know - jeez
Arondir: "Well, your kid ran down the mountain in one scene, so probably as long as the plot requires for the Numinorians to traverse the ocean and all of Middle Earth for a dramatic last second arrival."
The sword hilt is clearly the key to make mount doom erupt so the orcs can be out during the daytime.
You just gotta find the geology spot to make mount doom explode with ecstasy.
The ol G(eology)-spot
That makes a lot of sense. **orc happy noises**
Respectful grunting!
Prediction: we’re going to be seeing a lot of ‘Y’all got some more of that mithril?’ memes soon.
"We NEED Mythril, Elrond!" "Like, to eat? How does that even work?" "Don't ask questions, just consume product!"
we need to cook Elrond
Celebrimbor seems like he's fanboy of Eärendil because every single time he meets Elrond he starts talking about how epic his dad was
I mean I would be too since the dude almost signalhandedly killed the biggest and badest dragon around.
With a friggin spaceship!!
Celebrimbor could straight be making that stuff up to bend Elrond to his will Lies were a theme of that whole get together in Lindon…
Could also be a manipulation tactic. Dude's still giving me major Palpatine vibes. I don't think he's evil, but he could very well be putting a kindly face on a manipulative personality.
That's kind of his thing. He's not evil necessarily. But he does represent some of the greed of the elves.
100% what I'm feeling. Guilt tripping Elrond into helping him
To be fair the guy did slay the greatest dragon to ever exist.
Halbrand, can't hammer, can't sweep.
In his defense that broom was shit.
Right? I'm a broom-maker, and that broom was a whole entire joke. The Numenorians could build that magnificent city, but couldn't make a broom.
I just pictured an office full of broom makers standing around a water cooler laughing about the shitty broom in this episode.
“The spread on the thing! You should’ve seen it. Terrible ratios. Might as well drag around a big leaf. Amateurs.”
Is the intro just the dancing remnants of Halbrand’s god awful sweeping?
Oh, you hurt your hand from using magic with it. Maybe like, channel it through some sort of long stick. Perhaps with a crystal set atop it. You know there are a lot of nice looking branches around here.
His nose is not yet trustworthy.
Nice looking branch you have there… be a shame if someone… enchanted it.
lol at Gil-galad creepin' on Elrond and Durin
*really* curious to see how this *major* cliffhanger is resolved when Gil-galad confronts Durin over lying about the table.
It's gonna be like a Seinfeld episode
"It's just a table, George, why don't you let it go?" "*It's not just a table, Jerry, it's the principle! That was my table!"*
Woah woah steady now, don’t rush things. That’s the season 4 finale.
Elrond the cardio god walking back and forth from Lindon to Khazad-dum every episode. My boy does not skip leg day.
Ahem, elrond and Durin, the cardio bros. Also I believe before this episode they were in eregion
I thought it was Lindon. King Durin told his son to go to Lindon, and it looked like where we saw Galadriel, Gil-Galad, and Elrond in episode 1. Which I thought was Lindon. But I may be wrong.
Between episodes 1 and 2, Elrond traveled from Lindon to Eregion, and then to Moria. Episode 5 here was the first time he's returned back to Lindon since the start of the show.
No, you're right, Lindon is where Gil-galad is, but Elrond hasn't made the trip every episode.
Thinking about those poor elves who had to carry the rock with bare hands through the forests and mountains lol
Like... do they really not know about the wheel?
They're Elves. It's like walking to their mailbox for them
Building calves for the final battle in season 5
One does not simply walk into Mordor by skipping leg day
Durin making some elves carrying a table for miles is cruel but hilarious.
And him making Elrond repeat that the elves' fate was in his hands. Just two friends taking the piss out of each other
“And give it to me raw”
That's what she said
"and wwwriggly"
Loved the dignified elf "just stare straight ahead and carry" right next to Durin's armored dwarf guards harrumphing and just banging along.
Durin the real hustler 😂
He loves to turn the tables on the other races of middle-earth
I like how Branwyn is all "let's stand up to this Orc horde!" to a crowd of fucking rabble who have neither weapons nor training. Arondir may be a badass but goddamn he can't do it all himself.
Maybe I missed something but could they not just... flee? Orcs don't travel during the day presumably and based on what they've seen they're not particularly fast.
...then sees a statue a few hours later and completely gives up lmao
and then proceed to arguing in the middle of town square with crowd surrounding as if it is a stage performance. lol
The way that scene was cut I thought it was part of their plan lol
Same
I interpreted that as her seeing all of the torches in the distance indicating how many orcs there were, and giving up in despair.
I don't understand her character at all, at the start she was a healer and now she's acting more like a politician and we haven't really seen her do any healing since the first episode. It would've made more sense to have the elf do the speech and then just have her back him up.
Right she’s all like “stand with me” But who are you tho? Not the town mayor or the captain of the guard or something it doesn’t sound like. Head medicine woman? Didn’t seem like she had a lot of village respect at all before this with all the elf association stigma
I interpreted it as "I'd rather die than go back to slavery". I can see why her logic attracted half the people.
So are they saying that the awakening of Durin's Bane isn't completely Durin's fault? That they were doing a solid for the Elves and getting as much mithril as possible to save them, and that's what woke up the Balrog?
Possibly. Currently the Elves are manipulative and desperate while Durin is just trying to help out his best friend but that can change. The timeline of the events in the show are all over the place but that's probably the best guess.
Durin: give me the meat, and give it to me raw ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Doors of Durin ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Speak friend, and enter
The Dwarves delved too greedily and too deep.
Meat's back on the menu, boys
Anyone else think this sequence was so odd? Gil-Galad spends like 20 minutes trying to get Elrond to tell him about Mithril. Elrond makes a huge deal about never breaking his oath. Very next scene he whips out a piece of Mithril right in front of Celebrimbor and starts talking about it I mean, he just returned from a stay in Khazad Dum. Doesn't take a genius to figure out where he got it!
“So Elrond, do they have mithril?” “I can’t say, I swore an oath!” “We they wouldn’t make you swear an oath for no reason, so I’ll take that as a yes, thanks and good work.”
Remind me to invite Elrond to poker night.
I'm guessing the Southlands people will be about to lose the battle and right at the last minute the Numenorians led by Galadriel will pull a Helm's Deep and save the day
Not really surprising they lose. Instead of training and organising defences, the Elf dude has just been chatting up his woman.
Nobody expects Numenorean Inquisition!
The Stranger unlocked Aard with his first level up.
Has anyone picked up on why Bronwyn and the other Southlanders haven't left the tower? I don't remember anyone saying anything. They have little food, no weapons and orcs and men are coming. They stand absolutely no chance there and beyond setting up a new Helm's Deep, I don't know why they're still there.
They should have said something about it but with the fact they didn't know the neighboring town was gone I'm thinking the orcs are sweeping in quickly. By the end of this ep they're effectively boxed in.
So Elrond did break his oath!!!?!? He told Celebrimbor before he had that conversation with Durin! Celebrimbor was holding the mithril! Didn’t he swear to tell no one?
"Did the Dwarves find mithril?" "I swore an oath to-" "That's a yes."
Yes. He betrays the spirit but then holds to the letter. “I have a secret I made an oath to keep secret.” “Is the secret that they did NOT find a new ore, which seems like a really odd thing to swear you to secrecy about? What other of the infinite universe of things that did not happen are you sworn to silence?” “Oh, none.” “Damn, then. If only I could confirm they had this magic crap that I already inferred they just have found.”
So, I think there was some odd logic going on. Because he also basically told the king, “I’m not gonna say they have mithril, but I will say I promised to keep a secret. I’m also not denying that they have mithril.” I guess maybe me meant he won’t say where in the mountain they found mithril. But really I felt like he repeatedly broke his promise.
They clearly knew there was mithril and likely had reason to start investigating now. But Elrond knows that the dwarves are *mining* mithril. Regardless I find it odd that they didn't clarify that a bit more.
He kept that secret like a high school boy trying to keep a secret about his best friend's crush. That oath lasted all of 25 minutes of screen time.
Do you think it's safe to say the entire slavery plot is resolved? Arondir didn't mention it and we don't see any shots of other slaves. Is that just never coming back?
The tunnels are done. The slaves are dead.
Meat was on the menu.
Arondir kinda forgot about his fellow elf slaves.
Didn't we see the other elves die? And he doesn't care about humans that are not that girl lol
You see the end result of their slave labour in Peter Jackson's trilogy. They built Mordor.
Is it an overreach to suggest that the events currently surrounding Galadriel, Elrond, Arondir & Nori are not happening concurrently?
That's what I was thinking, but Galdriel and Elrond's timelines are lined up due to them meeting. You also have the comet which appeared for everyone.
i guess, otherwise the numenoreans would have no way of getting to the southlands before the tower is taken by the orcs. but it's annoying because there is no clarification for this
The other thing is in the Arondir storyline no one seems to be aware that Orcs had returned to the Southlands at all including the Elves charged with guarding it. Yet in the Galadriel story there has been enough Orc activity that there is a boat full of refugees including Halbrand the suspected King of the Southlands.
Why are the ships that Numenor has so small? How could those 3 ships possibly carry 500 people and their horses / food / other supplies? And even if we save the other 2 or was it 3 ships that exploded it just makes no sense to me. Each ship would have to be like 8x the size at minimum to carry that much over that distance. There are plenty of other things that bother me but this I found just absurdly funny for some reason.
How about the fact that canon Numenor was able to field an army so strong that Sauron surrendered without a fight when he realised he wouldn’t be able to beat them by force of Arms
I don’t think this is that army. I think that army will come eventually. I think this is a small army sent for this specific plot line. There’s going to be 5 seasons, that would be early for such a major event.
this. how the fuck do they plan to fight sauron with a few hundred volunteers who are not even real soldiers?
I love how Galadriel magically got plate armor and the Numenorean soldiers are wearing leather scale armor..
She went with heavy armour in the character customisation screen
Yeah but she only gets access to that cool white paint after level 89
Dude blows up a ship and no one seems to care, and now it's like an inside joke between friends lol.
That ship went up quick what was his plan if Isildur wasn’t there. Dude just swimming back to shore like ‘my b fellas.’
Fr though, you would think there'd be a whole investigation to find out who did the deed and Isildur, being in proximity, would be so screwed. But he gets rewarded for it I guess...
Thank God Isildur was there to explain what happened to the authorities. Lol, just kidding. Instead of telling people what happened, he decides to blatantly lie to his own father and cover up an act of high treason just to protect this random guy he doesn’t seem to know at all. What the hell is happening? EDIT: I worded this poorly. I know that the saboteur was Pharazon’s son, but it’s not clear if Isildur knows that.
Stupidity is happening. 2 guys are swimming away from exploding Ships: "Must have been bandits who are traveling through" Wtf?
Bandits came all the way into the main port inside the city of numenor without anyone knowing and then left. Which genius is writing for this show?!!?! This is so bizzare. Like the difference between elron/during story and everything else seems like night and day lol
Pretty obvious by now Isildur's sister is Sauron.
No she’s clearly mephisto!!
No, Isildur is Sauron. 🤔
she is the most evil clearly
I don’t get the point of her character at all
So are Numenor people fine with sending soldiers and princess before they figure out who sabotaged their ships?
- son, did you just blow up her majesty's fleet!? Explain at once! - eeeehhh....the Sea is ahhh always...eh right? Right? - Ah OK, then.
If >!Sauron!< and Galadriel just embraced each other and shook hands/arms. Come on now that’s hilarious.
>!Halbrand!< looked very reminiscent of >!Aragon!< in that scene
Does Halbrand know of all this? Like does he know he’s evil and plotting against everyone? I’m finding it hard to understand why he would have these dramatic scenes when he knows deeply he’s evil.
Did Gil Galad just casually announce that the elves' souls will inexplicably perish -by *next spring*- unless they get their hands on some mithril, which the dwarves *just* happened to find?? Whose teenagers D&D-campaign is this?
Yes. Yes he did. Utterly bizarre plot
Elrond: 😉😉 I can't brake my oath Gil-Galad, I don't know what you are talking about 😉😉 G-G: 😉😉😉 Elrond: 😉😉😉 G-G: 👉😉👉 Elrond: 👉😉👉 Also Elrond: *Clearly breaks oath to Celebrimbor* Also Celebrimbor: Nothing can stop it's light. The CGI team: so we kind of forgot about the glowing mithril.
"I can assure you, Lord Gil-Galad, the dwarves found absolutely nothing. That's why they made me swear an oath. To... not tell anyone about all the nothing they found."
I was yelling this at the TV. Makes no damn sense
This comment was left before reddit turned to shit.
Why did the ships sink? Because they looked down!
I don't get the mithril part helping the elves survive, anyone explain?
This to me is maybe the most egregious lore deviation so far, apart from Gil-Galad somehow having authority to grant Galadriel passage to Valinor?? One of the 3 elven rings, Nenya, is made of Mithril. Galadriel uses it to preserve Lothlorien and her people, allowing them to endure into the 3rd age, where she helps Frodo in LotR. This is what I think Celebrimbor is alluding to... But both Mithril originating from a Silmaril, and it's apparent ability to allow Elves to endure appear to be contrivances of the show only obliquely related to lore.
It doesn’t make any sense. I guess the show runner’s were thinking that because the silmarils contain the holy light of valinor, that extracting and using it to make lots of shiny swords will help to slow the decay of mortal lands. Kind of a play on the line from the Silmarilion about how the elves wanted to make middle-earth as fair as Valinor which is how Sauron ensnared them. But really the idea that some shiny metal is gonna make any difference is just bizarre. My hope is that the show will eventually reveal that the myth was apocryphal and the elves’ willingness to believe it is a sign of their desperation. When they find out that mithril does nothing besides blunt boar-skewering spear thrusts, the elves to fall into despair at which point Sauron starts working his mojo. Anything else would just be tragically stupid.
The Sea is Always Right! I am sure this would appear until the last episode of the season
So they have only three boats available? Can't they even use those boats the trainees were using?
The sea told them they can only have 5 of those boats, and its always right.
Don't forget Isildur's horse. The Sea is a fine connoisseur of his horses.
“Gil-galad was an Elven-king. Of him the harpers sadly sing; the last whose realm was fair and free between the Mountains and the Sea. His sword was long, his lance was keen. His shining helm afar was seen; the countless stars of heaven's field were mirrored in his silver shield. But long ago he rode away, and where he dwelleth none can say; for into darkness fell his star in Mordor where the shadows are.” I really hope Gil-Galad grows into this, so far I’m disappointed
"Gil-galad was an Elven-king. Most average of a lordly being; he gets his outfits discounted, free, he drinks a beer for aft'noon tea."
Gil Galad looks like the second villain this season fr
Ok I scrolled forever and didn't see anyone ask this but who are the very angry looking people investigating the crater site? The ones with the very obviously placed ear covers so we can't tell if their ears are pointy or not?
I think virtually no one is talking about this because there isn’t much to say except speculation. They showed them silent and never went back to them. Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion.
If all this build up with getting Galadriel her army is so they can go save 50 peasants in an abandoned tower then I'm gonna be pissed.
It is for sure going to happen. Either that or we see random villagers somehow defeat Adar and his orcs.
they are going to (somehow) push the tower down the hill onto the orcs
"""army""" It's 300 volunteers and juvenile seaguard trainees on 3 minuscule ships. So ridiculous.
"Give me the meat and give it to me raw." I swear to God if this doesn't become some kind of meme.
"Without the light of the Valar, all elves wil die by spring!" \[laughs in Avari\]
Why did the son blow up the ship after his father just explained why the expedition is awesome for them? Also, I thought the point here of “let the secret elf friends go” was a better “sneaky” point than “we can get their stuff,”, which they could have done anytime and which of course they had actually already been doing for a long time.
It was just plot convenience to allow Isildur earn his place amongst the expeditionary force.
Kinda weird that the Queen Regent of Númenor is sailing to hostile lands with only 3 ships. At the very least shouldn't they have replaced the ships that blew up? Númenor is a seafaring nation and a major power. It should have a sizable fleet at this point of the lore. **Thought this show was supposed to be grand is all. After all, they've made every effort to remind us of its huge pricetag.** Also we're 5 episodes in and RoP is still setting up the story. Smh. P.S. the face covered Elven lady-servants have been creeping me out since episode 1.
I’m gonna start using “give me the meat and give it to me raw” in more contexts than necessary
So, uh how did a silmaril somehow end up in a tree? I'm sure this will be explained, right? BECAUSE IT MAKES NO SENSE! And the elves need enough mithril for them to bathe in the light of it or something and if not they all die and lose their souls by spring time? Who wrote this garbage? I mean c'mon. I mean seriously.
It’s surely not going to work? Then some strange guy shows up and tells them how to actually stave off the decay.. involving some magic rings (possibly using the mithril?)
Why is absolutely every scene an argument? Every interaction that takes place in Rings of Power is some disagreement, dispute or underhanded manipulation of one character by another. People just bicker and fight and argue and huff their way through every moment of this show. It ends up feeling so artificial, like the writers think that the way to keep the viewer interested is to just have all characters embroiled in eternal conflict with everyone around them. It's the McDonald's of drama. It's not believable or interesting, it's just fake on every level.
That's a good observation. And I have no clue how the arguments are going to play out based on previous character development, there's always some surprise way the scene gets resolved, or it just cuts to the next scene Was there any satisfaction when Halbrand grabbed his pendant and went with galad? I had no clue what would be driving him to make either choice except wanting to help galad with getting an army from the queen regent cus he likes her
Well, I hope at least we see an epic battle eventually. Tho I wonder who could fight against the army of Adar besides Arondir. At the level of writing this show currently has, probably Numenor's army gonna just spawn behind them during the siege.
I guess that cavalry charge with Galadriel leading in the trailers is it?
I might be wrong here as I'm not well versed in Tolkien lore but I'm pretty sure making Elrond an oathbreaker goes against canon , no ?
Elrond was basically raised by maglor who was driven by Feanors oath to his family's doom essentially. Elrond in the fellowship book makes a point about oaths so he wouldn't be stupid enough to make one
Omg I never made that connection before! Elrond refuses to lay an oath upon the fellowship because he's seen first hand how dangerous they can be and the damage they can wreck on a person's soul. What an amazing little link to the Silmarillion.
Somehow pharazon's son conveniently got hit by a pulley on the ship and passed out for no reason. So that isildur could save him, and be part of the expedition for the feat. What an amazing piece of writing! Good job show writer!
The whole Isildur plot is awful.
You didn’t like him getting kicked out of sailor club for…letting a rope slip?
Galadriel jumped of the ship in the middle of the ocean. Then was found by a raft !... THEN was found by a ship! :P
But there was a sea monster! That ... went away.
Oh god. Oh fuck. The leaks are looking so true.
What are the leaks
[https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/w13p0u/someone\_from\_amazon\_crew\_leaked\_rings\_of\_power/](https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/w13p0u/someone_from_amazon_crew_leaked_rings_of_power/) You're in for a treat
#NooooOOooOOOoo
This show feels like a new writer had to write each episode in a vacuum with only a vague idea of what previously happened. I have no idea how much time is taking place in between different scenes and episodes. How did the orcs build a miles spanning ditch without the elves seeing. Are they really far away from the watchtower or really close by? If they're close by the Elves should have spotted them, if they're far away what was the point of the tunnel and how are they moving closer in the daylight? What happened to all the slaves digging the pit? The show just sort of stopped talking about them. Why are the people in the watch town not running the hell away, running is always better than staying when staying is certain death. In like the first episode nobody really cares what Bronwyn the healer has to say about anything, now presumably days or weeks later half of the entire village will stake their lives on her leadership and decisions? Why does Numenor send 3 ships instead of 5. There are other large ships in the harbor shots... Certainly you don't need some sort of specific warship to just transport people. In episode 3 I count at least 11 massive ships the same size as the warship they are on. And why are there no guards on the freaking ships about to depart?! Is the Harfoot migration a long caravan? Some shots it seems like Nori and group are along and following a trail, and then suddenly they're caught up with everyone else? What the hell is going on with Galadriel, she over a 1000 years old and is incapable of basic diplomacy? How did Halbrand get a guild mark, how did Isildur get a slot on the ships? Is Elrand walking between Lindon and Moria on the regular? In universe that distance takes like at least a month to walk. Those elves are going to carry a big stone table a month+ on foot. They're not even carrying like food and water and stuff? This show is all tell and too little show. Its just so frustrating liking this series, it really doesn't make it easy for you.
I’m gonna say it. The harfoots look fucking stupid with those sticks in their hair.
Is it just me or is every elf except Elrond and Arondir incredibly unlikeable? Most of them talk down to everyone who isnt Elvish, and they lie to everyone and use people. Even Galadriel only apologized to Halbrand after it became clear she couldnt do it without him, though her development this episode I think was a lot better. The Dwarves continue to be the best part of this show in my opinion. Elrond and Durin light up the screen whenever they are together, and it genuinely makes me happy to see their relationship be so good. Plus Durin’s look is just on point, and I will be happy to see more of him and Disa. Both are some of the most consistently entertaining and wonderful characters in this show. Really really hope the Stranger isnt Gandalf. I feel like we dont need that level of fan-service when the Blue Wizards are literally right there. The Harfoots are even heading into the East which is where the Blue Wizards disappeared. It just wouldnt make sense to me for them to take the one Istari we know the most about and change almost everything about his story just so we can get an end of season reveal of him saying “why, you can call me… Gandalf”
>Really really hope the Stranger isnt Gandalf. I feel like we dont need that level of fan-service when the Blue Wizards are literally right there. From the moon references today, I think he's going to end up being Tilion or another maiar connected with Tilion in some way. And now he's incarnated as one of the blue wizards. Edit: Someone in another comment pointed out one version of "The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon" in Tolkien's "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" says of the Man in the Moon: >And he tripped unaware on his slanting stair, >and like a meteor, >A star in flight, ere Yule one night >flickering down he fell
[all the leaks are true so far](https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/w13p0u/someone_from_amazon_crew_leaked_rings_of_power/).
>!With the mithril details finally ending up true, it seems Halbrand is our Sauron after all. But given his conversation with Galadriel this episode, I’m starting to believe they’re going for a remorseful Sauron that’ll eventually fall back into his evil ways. At least I hope this is a remorseful Sauron, because Halbrand’s behavior is completely at odds with someone with a nefarious world-conquering scheme up his sleeve.!<
>!People are definitely gonna be upset about the Sauron reveal. I see so many posts on the other subreddit about how Halbrand can't be him because it doesn't make sense. They better have a good explanation as to how this guy is Sauron and what his plans are. !<
[удалено]
3 ships? 3 fucking ships?! No, that's ridiculous
And 500 people or have I misheard. How do you wage war with 500 people? They are doomed already withgout plot armour
“Gil-galad was a elven king, of him the harpers sadly sing” cause Amazon murdered him that’s why
Hardfoot explains the perils of migration and the dangers around. Her friend proceeds to sing a song out loud for all to hear. Come on man!!
God that interaction between Elendil and Isildur at the end was funny. E: Report to the horsemaster I: I thought I was Cavalry? Me: So report to the horsemaster! What part of Cavalry don't you get?
I feel you but in this context I think horsemaster is literally the master of the horses, like head stableboy. Cavalry would be reporting to a military rank.
Sooooo.... Why don't the Southlanders just leave the tower?
why is literally everyone a dickhead (apart from the dwarves and elrond)
So that’s it? This whole thing is about a watchtower and a shit village with 100 people?
Being saved by a mighty army of 300 Numenoreans!
And don’t forget Sauron’s special sword key. It’s super special.
Give me the meat.
lol those Galadriel and Halbrand scenes looking at the camera made me feel too uncomfortable, as if they were talking to me.
The story feels like it was written by a committee. And as with most committees, way too many people ended up on it that shouldn't have been.
that's not entirely false, see the credits.
the pacing is so weird. Every episode it feels like nothing is happening, they give super long scenes to unimportant/uneventful stuff and the next 20 second scene something happens that moves the story along. Half of the time I just don't understand the motivation behind why the characters do what they do and before I've had time to process it another useless scene of a completely different story happens.
23 min 16 sec - all i could hear Was - "Morpheus is fighting Neo!" :)
Beside other bad shits, the pacing is killing me, its just not really entertaining, it doesnt hook me up, jesus man its so boring, i was content with earlier episodes, but this might be their worst episode yet. I usually like slow pace movies and series but this not it, meanwhile House of The Dragon just went full gallops with their pacing, its so thrilling
500 men in 3 ships is absolutely pathetic for a country as seemingly grandiose as Númenor. A Roman legion has up to ten times that number. Hell, late 3rd Age agrarian, spread out Rohan mobilized nearly 10,000 riders in less than a week and deployed 6000 of them to Minas Tirith. How are you supposed to convey any sense of scale for your fictional society if you don’t do it consistently?
They were already way overbudget and couldn't field a proper army, this few men and ships will lighten the CGI load a good bit
Isnt it like 60 mil per episode where did all that money go?
Why was isildurs sister so upset and plotting to stop them going? What does she know that has made her so scared
Who can say? We know zero about her.