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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Latest: Season 2 commences filming. Set catches fire.

TwinIon

By TwinIon
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CayceG

CayceG

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50 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

 

Oh yeah - that was a pretty damned fine episode of television!

 

Definitely hit a lot of high notes for the penultimate episode for this season!

 

High notes, in a sense. In almost all of the action, the characters experience their lowest moments (or see the consequences others bear) almost entirely due to decisions they themselves previously made. 

 

Almost everyone is truly at their lowest point right now. Especially...

 

Spoiler

Durin's Bane... literally!

 

It's so compelling!

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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9 hours ago, CayceG said:

High notes, in a sense. In almost all of the action, the characters experience their lowest moments (or see the consequences others bear) almost entirely due to decisions they themselves previously made. 

 

Almost everyone is truly at their lowest point right now. 

 

Right - the main characters are unquestionably at their respective nadirs heading into the season finale and it remains to be seen whether they're able to transcend or descend even further.

 

This Polygon article that I read this morning does a pretty good job of articulating my continuing issues with the characterization of Galadriel:

 

RPAZ_S1_FG_00535602_Still979_R1.jpg

The Rings of Power is holding Galadriel back

WWW.POLYGON.COM
Amazon’s show hasn’t earned the elf warrior’s emotional journey

 

Quote

Galadriel’s constant defeats in The Rings of Power have left her mostly an embarrassment and a disgrace so far in the show’s first season. This would be a fine enough hole for a human character to dig themselves out of in a fantasy series, but it’s a profound waste to drag one of Tolkien’s greatest elves down to that level for no reason. In its quest to make Galadriel relatable as a character, The Rings of Power has left her feeling toothless, pointlessly petty, and, worst of all, inept.

 

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Mercury33

Mercury33

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Disagree with that take completely. I don’t think the point is for her to earn where she’s currently at. It’s to earn where she gets to. Other than her initial behavior in Numenor I haven’t had any issues with her character and it’s failures. To me this is the process of earning where she will wind up. 

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Chris-

Chris-

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Finished episode 5 today, not reading any posts in this thread unless I’m tagged/quoted (don’t want to read any spoilers) but so far I’m really enjoying this. The production values are phenomenal, the acting has been good, and even though it repeats a lot of the same story beats it makes sense in the context of the bigger narrative (the struggle for power! the folly of men! the power of hope!) It’s also enjoyable seeing the origin for many of the characters/places seen in the books/films. I’m not sure how faithful it is to the literature (not that I care) so I can’t comment on that, but otherwise I think it has been a great show. I hate that Amazon has done something good. 

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BloodyHell

BloodyHell

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20 hours ago, Mercury33 said:

Disagree with that take completely. I don’t think the point is for her to earn where she’s currently at. It’s to earn where she gets to. Other than her initial behavior in Numenor I haven’t had any issues with her character and it’s failures. To me this is the process of earning where she will wind up. 

I gotta disagree. You can't base a character off of future character development. That article isn't the first to talk about the "Galadriel problem". There's something missing about her, it's like the story is something that happens around her, while other characters feel like they're driving the plot. 

 

Man, the actress who plays her is distractinly beautiful. Like, when I think of a perfect elven woman, she's pretty much it. 

 

The last two episodes were a blast to watch though. I can't wait to see what happens next week. I gotta think we finally see Sauron, and please don't be Harlan. If they make Harland to be Sauron, and He and Galadriel have an affair, im gonna be pissed. Not only that, her Husband isn't dead, and we know Elves can sense each other across Middle Earth, so she'd know he isn't dead. (He leaves Middle Earth in the 4th age).

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BloodyHell

BloodyHell

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On 10/1/2022 at 6:21 PM, Greatoneshere said:

 

All the smithing he seems inherently really good at doing is also another potential giveaway given Sauron's previous occupation when he was a Maiar. It's just I always assumed Sauron's "good" appearance would be an Elf-like form, not a Man-like one.

Yeah, this seems all red herring to me. He also shares ringmail on his sword arm with Sauron from the movies, and I still think it's to throw everyone off. 

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Mercury33

Mercury33

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24 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

I gotta disagree. You can't base a character off of future character development. That article isn't the first to talk about the "Galadriel problem". There's something missing about her, it's like the story is something that happens around her, while other characters feel like they're driving the plot. 

 

Man, the actress who plays her is distractinly beautiful. Like, when I think of a perfect elven woman, she's pretty much it. 


Oh I know I’m in the minority haha. I don’t see why you can’t if the story you’re telling is a prequel though. If you’re taking her Arc from A to B and you already know B but there’s no established information about A. I don’t see why you couldn’t take creative license with A. To me, I feel like a lot of this is based off her reaction to Frodo offering her the ring and what she says. We know there’s some level of darkness there already. So to start her off as a kind of one note, revenge driven character doesn’t seem to crazy to me. Is it original or particularly interesting? No not really. But I don’t find anything wrong with it like others do. I think as long as we start to see some better development soon it’s fine. But that’s just me :)

 

Yes 1000% I feel like I find her more and more attractive with each episode. 

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BloodyHell

BloodyHell

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41 minutes ago, Mercury33 said:


Oh I know I’m in the minority haha. I don’t see why you can’t if the story you’re telling is a prequel though. If you’re taking her Arc from A to B and you already know B but there’s no established information about A. I don’t see why you couldn’t take creative license with A. To me, I feel like a lot of this is based off her reaction to Frodo offering her the ring and what she says. We know there’s some level of darkness there already. So to start her off as a kind of one note, revenge driven character doesn’t seem to crazy to me. Is it original or particularly interesting? No not really. But I don’t find anything wrong with it like others do. I think as long as we start to see some better development soon it’s fine. But that’s just me :)

 

Yes 1000% I feel like I find her more and more attractive with each episode. 

Its certainly not bad, just bad storytelling. Otherwise I'm enjoying the shit out of it, it's my favorite new show by far, which is saying alot, I wasn't that impressed with the first few episodes.

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legend

legend

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Posted
2 hours ago, BloodyHell said:
lord-of-the-rings.jpg

Rings Of Power Showrunner Reveals Season 2 Will Take A Couple Of Years To Finish - FandomWire

FANDOMWIRE.COM
Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power may take a year or two before the second season arrives, according to showrunner Patrick McKay.

not the best news. Too long between seasons might really hurt interest.

 

 

 

 

nooooo GIF

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Spork3245

Spork3245

Posted
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2 hours ago, BloodyHell said:
lord-of-the-rings.jpg

Rings Of Power Showrunner Reveals Season 2 Will Take A Couple Of Years To Finish - FandomWire

FANDOMWIRE.COM
Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power may take a year or two before the second season arrives, according to showrunner Patrick McKay.

not the best news. Too long between seasons might really hurt interest.

 

 

 

LotR:RoP is now Venture Bros :( 

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ort

ort

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I just hope they don't stop after 3 season or something. I can easily see Amazon losing interest if the public reacts to the series with a collective shrug (which seems to be happening) and it just becomes a giant money hole that isn't gaining them any prestige or new subscribers.

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Greatoneshere

Greatoneshere

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1 hour ago, ort said:

I just hope they don't stop after 3 season or something. I can easily see Amazon losing interest if the public reacts to the series with a collective shrug (which seems to be happening) and it just becomes a giant money hole that isn't gaining them any prestige or new subscribers.

 

The show has been "pre-planned" by the showrunners and Amazon to run 5 seasons. Amazon is not necessarily committed to all 5, but it sounds like they are. Also, season 2 already has begun shooting, so I think they are being conservative in their estimate. 

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Brick

Brick

Posted
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1 hour ago, Spork3245 said:

Okay, I've been thinking about this... And, regarding Sauron... 

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I hope it's actually Adar. I don't care that it makes zero sense, I just want the internet LotR chud-community to lose their minds.

 

 

Why would they lose their minds? 

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TwinIon

TwinIon

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I really liked most of Ep 7, but I really feel like a few things severely undercut the moral arc of the primary characters.

 

You've got Elrond fighting for the future of his people, desperately trying to convince the Durins to mine the mithril. He gets the younger Durin on board, the king says no, it's too dangerous, and he does it anyways. Great. Everything in the show indicates that Durin the younger is doing the right thing and his father is being needlessly cautious and essentially sacrificing an entire race for no good reason. We have every reason to believe the prince and distrust the king, until that last shot with the Balrog where it turns out the king was right and mining for the mithril is actually going too deep into the dark. Now, it's unclear if the king's apprehensions were actually surrounding waking up a great evil or if he was concerned more about falling rocks, but it really felt like cutting prince Durin off at the knees to make his plan to help the Elves seem like maybe the wrong thing to do.

 

Then you have the Harfoots, who have shunned outsiders and refused to venture out into the greater world. Time and time again it's seemed like as the viewers we're to take Nori's side and want her to help the mysterious big fellow. He got them into scrapes, but he also saved them. First, we see all of them, Nori included, refuse to stand up for the guy that saved their lives because he couldn't instantly fix a burnt up tree (that he was not responsible for burning). When it becomes clear that his magic did work overnight, suddenly everyone is willing to stand up for him again, only for all their the homes and food to get burned for the slightest provocation, essentially vindicating the whole notion of hiding and staying out of others' business.

 

Far more than most shows, I know this one is well planned. There remains a good deal of mystery in both of these plot lines, I think there's a good chance that the overall arcs will be well thought out and consistent. This is Lord of the Rings after all. I feel confident that this will be a show about doing the right thing. I just think the structure of this particular episode undercut the virtues we're rooting for.

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Spork3245

Spork3245

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39 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

You've got Elrond fighting for the future of his people, desperately trying to convince the Durins to mine the mithril. He gets the younger Durin on board, the king says no, it's too dangerous, and he does it anyways. Great. Everything in the show indicates that Durin the younger is doing the right thing and his father is being needlessly cautious and essentially sacrificing an entire race for no good reason. We have every reason to believe the prince and distrust the king, until that last shot with the Balrog where it turns out the king was right and mining for the mithril is actually going too deep into the dark. Now, it's unclear if the king's apprehensions were actually surrounding waking up a great evil or if he was concerned more about falling rocks, but it really felt like cutting prince Durin off at the knees to make his plan to help the Elves seem like maybe the wrong thing to do.

 

FWIW, it's the Balrog Gandalf fights in Fellowship, it was kinda "known" that it would be the inevitable conclusion to mining "too deep". Did King Durin know of the Balrog? Doubtful. His concerns likely had more to do with cave-ins and also being a stubborn Dwarf who doesn't care about anything beyond his people/kingdom/mine. I don't think we'll see the Balrog again for a bit, though. In the official history it's Durin VI who unearths the Balrog, but I'll assume that this show will "speed that up" and either King Durin (III) or Prince Durin (IV) will wind up with a ring of power that intensifies their greed so they mine, and mine too deep.

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ort

ort

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I thought that this show was supposed to be a whole separate thing, and not technically take place in the same version of the LotR universe that the films take place in... so I was kinda surprised to see the Balrog from the films.

 

I guess that's not the case and it is a proper prequel to the films?

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Spork3245

Spork3245

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1 hour ago, ort said:

I thought that this show was supposed to be a whole separate thing, and not technically take place in the same version of the LotR universe that the films take place in... so I was kinda surprised to see the Balrog from the films.

 

I guess that's not the case and it is a proper prequel to the films?


I don’t think that was a thing. It’s the same world/history, however it’s taking place during the second age, LotR and The Hobbit take place at the end of the third age (Rings of Power is thousands of years before the events of LotR). You may be correct that it’s not the “film universe”, though, as I’d imagine that it’s more-so the book universe :p 

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Greatoneshere

Greatoneshere

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1 hour ago, ort said:

I thought that this show was supposed to be a whole separate thing, and not technically take place in the same version of the LotR universe that the films take place in... so I was kinda surprised to see the Balrog from the films.

 

I guess that's not the case and it is a proper prequel to the films?

 

Basically it's a prequel taking place thousands of years earlier. It's adapting and making up material from prequel "books" so the show is technically a prequel to the films. The events of the Second Age (Rings of Power) heavily influence what happens in the Third Age (The Hobbt/LOTR) so pretty directly a prequel. The show isn't trying to function as a prequel to The Hobbit/LOTR films, but by adapting material from the same universe by Tolkien, it's by default a prequel in many ways.

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Brick

Brick

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10 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

 

SomethingsomethingTolkienbasedhisworkonNorthernEuropeanmythologysomethingsomethingNorthernEuropeansarewhitesomethingsomethingnon-whiteelvesarewokesomethingsomething

 

I get that part, and why the idiots are mad about Black elves and dwarves, but Adar is white, so I don't get why they'd be mad if he turned out to be Sauron after all. 

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