Looks like orc-origins are back on the menu, boys! Thanks a lot, Adar, “Lord-father.”
Well, these last two episodes didn’t lack for big movement and bigger drama. Battles, volcanos, tears, way more blood than expected, and even long-lost husbands! We finally have the great war for the Southlands… which, well, didn’t really seem that great, after all. I guess I was expecting a series of campaigns (even if we didn’t walk through them in great detail), not a single skirmish in a small village. Neither the Númenóreans nor the orcs were particularly numerous. Still, it could be argued that the outcome of this battle would determine the future not only of the Southlands, but all of Middle-earth.
Some new revelations have come to light, and I will tackle some of them in the spoiler-filled discussion below.
I still insist that the real challenge in watching this show is knowing too much. If you’re familiar with only The Lord of the Rings and maybe its Appendices, then you might give The Rings of Power a bit of side-eye from time to time. (Really? The Elves need mithril for their souls to not vaporize?) But if you know The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, or even more, it’s really going to test you. For book nerds, the show can still work and be enjoyable on a couple of different levels. But there’s just no getting around it: if you’re just a casual viewer with no real knowledge of the books, but still have an interest in fantasy, it probably works on even more levels, because you’re not worrying about what was done differently, what was done badly, or what was reinvented altogether from the source material. It’s so hard to remember this, but this show has a broader demographic than we think it does.
Take Morgoth, or even Sauron himself. In this is a version of Middle-earth, Sauron’s identity, his “race,” isn’t properly identified. He’s just—per Galadriel’s prologue—”a cruel and cunning sorcerer.” Heck, I don’t think they’ve even labeled him a Dark Lord yet. So for the average viewer, Sauron could just be some uncannily powerful mortal Man who’s mastered sorcery and that’s why he’s been around for so long. Hell, maybe he’s some deviant form of Elf. From what we’re given in the show so far, why wouldn’t we think he’s any different than Adar? And the idea that he could be killed, “split open,” well, why not?
But some of us, as book readers, know Sauron’s a Maia, perhaps one of the mightiest. But that never comes up. In fairness, The Lord of the Rings itself doesn’t explain that, either. Sauron is the greatest servant of Morgoth, we’re told, but what does that entail? We don’t know. Clearly he’s the inheritor of Morgoth’s legacy, but we don’t learn much more than he was the first big bad guy during the First Age. In the glossary, it literally just says:
Morgoth (Dark Power of the North, Darkness in the North, the Great Enemy) [evil Vala, prime Enemy]
But this show also doesn’t address the true nature of the Elves, either. That is, the “serial longevity” that is something different than just immortality. It doesn’t address it, I guess, because it can’t. Because rights? So when Finrod’s death lights a fire under the show’s version of Galadriel, we’re not told that he, Finrod, is alive in well in Valinor, along with all the other Elves she’s cared about and lost. Because Elves die but they’re not gone, not like mortal Men are when they die. But in The Rings of Power, Finrod is just dead. Dead and gone. And even the prospect of sailing to Valinor never seemed to prompt Galadriel to think, “At least I’ll see my brother again.”
Just as bad, though, is not mentioning that it was their envy of the Elves and their fear of death that has led the Númenóreans to their anti-Elf stance at this point. It seems important. So when will we get that? Will we get that? Or will the writers and showrunners give us a new reason for Númenor’s eventual fall, one that is simpler and more accessible to a wider audience?
Well, let’s recap first.
Episode 6, “Udûn” — Adar gives his orcs a pep talk, which is something we’ve never seen before in any book or adaptation. He clearly wishes to inspire them to go commit acts of violence and to dish out some sweet nampat—death, in the Black Speech. When they march on the watchtower of Ostirith, where they think the villagers from Tirharad have holed up, they step instead into Ardondir’s Jenga-tower trap. I have to say, it seems an inconsequential number of orcs are removed from the equation here, given how much of a threat they later remain. Lucky for the forces of evil, the crumbling tower doesn’t bury the old sculpture that later turns out to be intrinsic to the future of Mordor! Off screen, Adar surely wipes his brow with a dramatic “Whew!”
Meanwhile, on the open sea, the three Númenórean ships sight land. Isildur shares an apple with his horse, Berek, but only gives him one bite (the monster) before tossing it into the waves. The young man tells Galadriel about his desire to leave what Númenor has become (having fallen so far from the true, faithful-to-the-Elves Númenor of the past), then his father shows up and bums them both out. In Tirharad, the villagers make preparations for the coming orc hoard of indeterminate size. Arondir reappears and helps them, goes to bury the evil sword-hilt somewhere, then shares a moment with Bronwyn, speaking of their future together. Their up-until-now understated romance has a moment of conviction, and a kiss. At nightfall, the orcs attack as expected. Initially they are defeated, but then the villagers discover to their horror that many of the armored and sun-cloak-wearing invaders were actually their own people. A fresh wave of orcs pours forth in an ambush from the woods, and still more villagers are killed; Bronwyn is horribly wounded by arrows and bleeds way more than even Médhor (Arondir’s former partner) did when he had his throat slashed! Dang! Adar has people executed one by one until Theo gives up the sword-hilt to save his mother. I guess he spied on Arondir hiding it?
The Númenórean cavalry finally arrives—unexpectedly!—and saves the day. Adar flees with the bundle that the evil sword-hilt was wrapped in. Galadriel and Halbrand chase him down at Arondir’s prompting. Halbrand skewers Adar’s hand with his spear and they exchange some curious words, then the orc-daddy is made captive. While the Númenóreans ruminate on the state of things, and no one actually asks them who they are (I mean, couldn’t they show at least one curious Southlander asking where they came from?), Galadriel interrogates Adar. He is delusional but holds deep convictions when it comes to his “children,” the orcs, and she guesses that he is one of the original Elves who were twisted to make the orc race. She goes full bad cop as he draws parallels between herself and him, but Halbrand stops her from crossing the line.
After a brief post-interrogation heart-to-heart chat with Galadriel, Halbrand consents to being the king of the Southlands that the people have long awaited—though his “kingdom” seems to amount to a rabble of not so many people and scattered, wrecked villages. Then it turns out that the recaptured sword-hilt was a decoy. Old Waldreg, back at the watchtower, has the real one. He uses his blood to activate the blade, then turns the hilt-key. Thus is triggered the worst Dark Lord reveal party ever.
Except nope, we still don’t know where Sauron is, or who Sauron is. Or if Sauron is. The mystery box lid is still shut, hopefully for only a bit longer. In any case, Orodruin, aka Mount Doom, begins the land’s renovation process with fire, lava, and smoke. The Southlanders and their Númenórean saviors are swallowed by a cloud of smoke and ash, with fire raging all about.
Episode 7, “The Eye” — In the aftermath of Mount Doom’s cataclysmic eruption, the survivors (just how many people are there?) are in disarray, just trying to get by. Galadriel finds Theo and they escape independently from the rest. Isildur helps to save his friend Valandil, but loses Ontamo… before everyone loses him. Queen Regent Míriel helps to rescue some of her people, but gets a face full of fiery sparks in the process.
Far away, the Harfoots reach their destination: the Grove, the remains of an orchard long abandoned but still thriving. Well, normally. Now some of the trees are scorched as if from “fire-rock” spat by a mountain. At the Harfoots’ urging, the Stranger sets to work trying to heal one of the trees, though the fall of a branch nearly injures Nori and her sister. Sadoc, the elder, sends him on his way soon after. He points out the vast forest of Greenwood, which really tells me the Harfoots are far more north than I thought after their journey. Nori gives the Stranger an apple in parting, a final kind gesture and a token of her part in his story. Over in Khazad-dûm, Elrond’s plea for mithril is rejected by King Durin III. Disa fumes and hammers over it, Elrond says “Namárië,” but when Durin IV and Disa see one of the blighted leaves of the Lindon tree healed by close proximity to a nugget of mithril, they are determined to seek more mithril despite the orders of the king.
Now, is that leaf from Lindon or one from Durin and Disa’s home? I don’t know and I feel like that’s an important distinction!
Elendil is reunited with Míriel, but now faces the loss of his son, who the others believe is now dead (most viewers, I think, know better). Later in the episode, Míriel is revealed to be blind—the “darkness” her father warned her about. Galadriel and Theo spend some unplanned quality time together walking out of the ash-filled land. She dispenses the wisdom of her years (though she is still a far cry from her Third Age self) to the boy, and even hands him her sword—a simple gesture in the moment, but possibly symbolic for her character. We never see her demand it back. He is now a soldier, and she is beginning to set aside her sword (but ahh, not her dagger). While Galadriel and Theo hide from orcs that night, she reveals that she “lost” her husband in the war as well as her brother. She names him at last! Celeborn! She’s a wife, after all! But her account also leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
In Khazad-dûm, King Durin III discovers his son searching for more mithril and, after having Elrond thrown out of the mountain, has it out with his son and heir. In the gut-wrenching fallout, III strips IV of his princedom in the heat of the moment (whether it will actually take, or whether King Durin will have second thoughts remains to be seen). The mithril project is terminated. The next morning, the Harfoots discover that the Grove is truly healed now, but the Stranger has already departed. Later, when the three Mystics arrive at night, the Harfoots observe them from a safe distance. Nori, seeing that the big folk are apparently following the Stranger, emerges from her hiding spot and tries to misdirect them. Yet because she revealed herself, the three creepy women respond with sorcery and cruelty. The Harfoots’ wagons, and all that they own, go up in flames. The Mystics then vanish.
Berek, Isildur’s horse, is let loose to go pull a Brego, galloping off to find and rouse his master, but Elendil doesn’t know this because he hasn’t seen Peter Jackson’s The Two Towers. Galadriel and Theo reach the Númenórean encampment where he reunites with Bronwyn and Arondir amid the horrors of the wounded. Elendil regrets ever bringing “the Elf” aboard his ship, but Queen Regent Míriel vows to return to Middle-earth for vengeance, much to his misery. He just wants to be done with Middle-earth now. In the Grove, while the Harfoots pick among the scorched remains of their caravan, Nori is resolved to go after the Stranger to warn him about the weird stalker witches. After her dad, Largo Brandyfoot, gives an inspiring speech about what it is to be a Harfoot, Poppy, Marigold, and even the fatalistic Sadoc all volunteer to go along with her.
As they head out on a new journey, so too does Míriel depart the shores of Middle-earth on her ship. Bronwyn and Arondir declare that they will seek out Pelargir, “an old Númenórean colony by the mouth of the Anduin.” Galadriel is reunited with Halbrand, the so-called true king of the Southlands, who is oddly wounded in a way that doesn’t prevent him from riding countless leagues to where Galadriel insists he needs Elvish medicine. Whether that’s Eregion or Lindon, it’s unclear, but both sure are far away! In Khazad-dûm, Disa and Durin IV resolve to someday renew the delving for mithril, when they are the king and queen of “this mountain and all others”! The current Dwarf-king, meanwhile, sees the healed golden leaf but then tosses it through the opening of the mine shaft, ordering the tunnel sealed.
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But not idly does the Lindon leaf fall. It guides the camera eye deep down the mine shaft, far, far below where the mithril waits in luminous veins, and finally reveals everyone’s favorite long-awaited Balrog. Fortunately—and only if I’m reading this right—he’ll not be coming up anytime soon, despite seeming angry about the Dwarven king’s wanton littering. I’m hoping this moment was just the show’s way of saying, “Don’t worry. We’ve been messing with you. We know he’s not supposed to be unleashed until the year 1980 of the Third Age, millennia from now, and when he’s awakened at last (as we all know he will be), it’ll by the deep delvings of Durin VI, not Durin IV. Delving ‘too greedily and too deep’ and all that. We’re just letting you know that we know that, and so he’ll stay put for now. We wanted to show you the bullet that the Dwarves dodged, for drama’s sake. See? Despite our wanting you to sympathizing with Durin IV and Disa in the moment, grumpy old Durin III is actually the wise one here. The Dwarves will stay safe for now.” But maybe I’m hoping too much?
But the real end of the episode isn’t with a cranky Balrog. It’s with Adar, whose spear-inflicted hand wound doesn’t seem to be bothering him anymore. He seems to have gotten all his hit points back; clearly ancient Elves heal fast. He’s reunited with some of his orcs (just how many are there?!) and now he bids them cast away their sun-cloaks. When Waldreg—wait, that’s Waldreg, he’s still alive, too?!—calls out, “Hail Adar, Lord of the Southlands,” Adar corrects him. It’s not the Southlands anymore. “What shall we call it instead, Lord-father?” the man asks. Adar only starts to smile, just barely. He doesn’t answer. Instead, the ever-helpful location-naming software (that has been labeling each new realm whenever the map pans over to it) gives us the new name.
Now, I just want to talk about a few specifics.
Balrog: I actually don’t mind how his reveal went down, as long as this is it. (I know, it might not be all there is to it. Maybe there’ll be more.) Fans of Jackson’s films who don’t know the books will remember the Balrog well enough but they don’t know how he got there. So maybe this was a bit of film-based fan service for them. Then again, doesn’t it raise more questions if you don’t know the backstory? It’s the deeper-lore readers who know where Balrogs came from, why that one was down there, etc. So was this glimpse of Durin’s Bane just a bit of fan service for book people? Who knows? That a Balrog featured in the “Roots of Hithaeglir” myth, atop the mountain, doesn’t exactly clarify the situation.
Celeborn: While I was happy to learn that he already exists, and that they’re already married, I found myself immediately wishing we’d had some hint of this already. Galadriel hasn’t seemed like a grieving widow in the least, only a grieving sister. So, Celeborn marched off to war without her and is now “lost.” Which has to mean presumed dead. If Galadriel thought he was still alive, surely she’d more fired up to find him than she is about gunning for Sauron? It’s a little alarming that the death of her brother is the reason for her vendetta, rather than one of the reasons for her vendetta. So the question is, are Celeborn’s whereabouts meant to be the next mystery box? Either we’ll get something more about him in the season finale or he’s a mystery box for future seasons. Poor Celeborn. I liked the “silver clam” line, because of its teasing tone; it hints of real affection, of a give-and-take marriage. But on the other hand, the fact that Celeborn’s existence only came to light in this offhand manner seven episodes in feels like cheating on the part of the showrunners. I don’t know this, but I suspect Morfydd Clark herself was not made aware that the character she’d been portraying for who knows how many hours before shooting that scene was supposed to be married already. Not until they filmed this scene.
“We met in a glade of flowers. I was dancing and he saw me there.” Look, I know this is meant to be romantic, and to a bunch of people who don’t know the books who legitimately are enjoying the show, I think it works well. It’s an oh-so-brief moment where the viewer can imagine grim Galadriel in a more serene or carefree manner for once. It’s nice. But to me, it’s also another fourth-wall-breaking Easter Egg, as to book readers it’s meant to invoke Beren first spotting Lúthien as she danced “upon the unfading grass in the glades besides Esgalduin,” and in turn invoking Tolkien’s own moment with his wife, Edith, as she danced among hemlocks near Yorkshire. I like Galadriel, even this version of the character, and I still can’t wait to see her full arc in this show, but this allusion feels unearned. Very little homage is delivered by giving this same meeting setup to Galadriel and Celeborn. I would have loved, instead, something else interesting, something Tolkien hadn’t invented. I mean, he never wrote how these two lovebirds met. Wouldn’t it have been interesting to have something… new? So much about this show is delving into new territory. Why not in moments like this?
Disa’s Forge Room: Why yes, I think everyone should have a forge-room in their home, not so much about crafting metal objects as a suitable place for venting one’s anger. Brilliant. I know my wife would love one.
Durin III: I found the confrontation between father and son over mithril and the fate of the Elves satisfying. It hurts, as it should, because those are some heavy words these two stubborn Dwarf-lords are throwing at each other. We, the viewers, are with the young Dwarf prince, and we get mad at the grumpy old king. We share some of Disa’s anger as well (even if she is beginning to sound disturbingly ambitious). Sometimes our elders seem like they’re just being obstinate or unaccepting of change. But, but, there is more going on here. Durin III’s talk of his son’s birth, and his frail early days, of looking upon the “naked face” of baby Durin, I found to be riveting. I love the image of a gruff Dwarf king holding a baby by the fire in the hours of night, not because it seems counter to stereotypes but because it feels right. The bonds of family are emphasized here, and it’s as masculine for a father to hold his infant son as it is to mine for valuable minerals.
I like seeing Durin IV and Disa as angsty teenagers, where it’s them against the world, and all their talk of a future when king-dad is gone and they can rule. But the fact is, old Durin III is the correct one at this juncture. Granted, mining mithril will someday resume, and it is supposed to be the source of Khazad-dûm’s great wealth. It’s meant to take a long, long time to unleash the Balrog. It’s not meant to be greed that leads the Dwarves to mine mithril in the first place, only to keep mining it indefinitely. To dig ever deeper for it. I hope we see none of that in this show, though. I think the final fate of Khazad-dûm has been forecast by us seeing the Balrog. That’s enough.
Elrond & Durin IV: The friendship between these two is wonderful, and so they’re still the strongest parts of this whole show. Elrond’s diplomatic position is in such a tangle all the time, through no fault of his own. Even though his honesty is compromised, I lay the blame on RoPer Gil-galad and RoPer Celebrimbor, who are both using him. It rubs me the wrong way, so it sure better be the machinations of Sauron that’s making them dance and cavort like puppets on a string. Still, it’s Durin’s emotions, his rage and his tears, that keep this show engaging. His brotherly love for Elrond is why this show, no matter its faults, is still far and away more wholesome than its contemporaries in the world of prestige TV.
Elves and Marriage: This topic comes up in my mind not only because Galadriel outed herself as someone’s wife, but because Arondir seems to be laying groundwork for settling down with Bronwyn and Theo. I have no trouble with the idea that feelings would grow between a mortal woman and an Elf (like Andreth and Aegnor, from the First Age), as long as it is not ultimately realized (also like Andreth and Aegnor), nor even consummated. Sorrow born from love is legit, and even in Tolkien’s writings there are indications that these star-crossed pairings might have happened from time to time. But the situation is almost always a tragedy. As it would be between two people when one dies while the other lives on, and on.
This is a subject I care a lot about, but I know that not only is it book lore, it’s deep History of Middle-earth series book lore. It’s dealt with most prominently in Morgoth’s Ring, volume 10, and I’ve explored these subjects before:
- Tolkien’s Elves: How the Eldar Half Lives (and Lives and Lives)
- Tolkien’s Elves: Married with Eldar Children
But it boils down to the fact that it is in the Elves’ nature to choose one mate. Once united, it’s forever. Even if one’s spouse is slain in body, the marriage holds, and if both are in Valinor, they will be together no matter what, until the world itself is ended. If they are separated by physical death, then their separation is going to be a physical one only, long in the suffering, but it will go on. Arondir, thus, cannot simply have a human wife and then, when she inevitably dies in a few weeks (or what seems like weeks from his point of view), find another wife some other day. That’d be it for him. Now, is The Rings of Power beholden to this Elf-lore from other books? No, probably not. But if the showrunners want to respect the ideals of Tolkien’s world, they ought to tread carefully here.
There are some who theorize that Theo is somehow Arondir’s kid, too (despite his rounded ears). I don’t buy it, but even if they went there, it would be all the worse. And worst of all would be the shade that would throw on Arondir. It would reveal him to be a deadbeat dad, not acknowledging his own son, letting the boy grow up even this long without knowing the truth. That’s not very Elvish. And that would be a shame, as Arondir is still this show’s most Elvish-acting character.
Galadriel: I still accept this version of Galadriel, contextualizing the character in this Middle-earth quite apart from Tolkien’s own ideas for her. Yet I’m tired of so many people saying she’s too angry. She may not be 100% consistent with what she says and does—yes, she is fiercely hypocritical and flawed—but I honestly feel that her assertiveness and vengeful demeanor would be either applauded or overlooked if she were a male character, at least by a significant portion of these same critics. Some of her dialogue is awkward (but not only hers), and some of it’s great. “What cannot be known hollows the mind,” she tells Theo, and I can relate to that very much. Not knowing things is frustrating, and when you don’t know something you replace it with horrors often worse than reality.
In any case, this episode may have seen her beginning to soften: Giving Theo her sword, telling him that “it darkens the heart to call dark deeds ‘good,'” realizing that one shouldn’t try to find joy in the slaughter even of one’s enemies. Well, we’ll see if she follows her own advice.
Mordor’s Reveal: Some found the removal of “The Southlands” and its replacement with “Mordor” as cheesy. Some didn’t like that Adar didn’t get to say it out loud. I actually like the way they did it. First, remember that those who’ve not read the books might not have seen this coming as the rest of us did a mile away. Mordor they will remember from the Jackson films, and now the visual link has been made. But also, if Adar had answered with Mordor, like he’d already worked up the name in Sindarin (which would be odd, considering his preferred use of Uruk comes from the Black Speech), then it would just be another overdramatic set-up line.
Like, “What is this place?” “There is only one place it can be… the Land of the Star… the westernmost of all mortal realms… the island kingdom… of Númenor.” And while it was drawn out a bit much, that one wasn’t too bad. But movies and shows love doing this, sometimes too much.
I think back to The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, with Legolas and Tauriel hiding on out outcrop of rock, looking down at Gundabad. “These bats are bred for one purpose,” he says. “For what?” she asks, truly and unreasonably unsure of the answer. “For war,” he says dramatically, the camera close up. I cringe at obvious set-up lines like this, where someone asks a question for the audience’s sake, not their own. I’m glad Adar kept his mouth shut. He stays more believable.
Mystics: I have so many questions! Is their allegiance to evil Sauron-specific, or are they some remnant of the Morgoth worship of old? There have been theories about them, but most don’t make sense to me. I don’t think they’re living Horcruxes of Sauron. I don’t think they’re the three “wolves” we saw before, as werewolves in Middle-earth aren’t really shapechangers to begin with. Moreover, the trivia provided by Prime Video reads:
There are tales of those of Mankind who have learned to conjure sorceries from the Dark Power—a far cry from the enchanting arts of the elves, which are done without malice or deception.
Why point out how sometimes mortals can wield magic if these three are not three such mortals? It sets a precedent for other users of sorcery, like the Mouth of Sauron. We need more like this in this show; it stems from actual Tolkien book lore.
No matter what, they’re intriguing. I do like that they’re creepily silent. And while they’re cruel, they’re not merely devoted to dealing death. They have an agenda, and it certainly involves the Stranger. While they could have flung fireballs at the Harfoots, they didn’t. By destroying their livelihood and their homes, the Mystics demonstrate both the heartlessness of their master and the very flaw that will someday result in Sauron’s final end: overlooking the resolve and pluckiness of smaller folk. Thinking them inconsequential. Hopefully Nori and her friends will do more than merely bearing witness to events, but play some seemingly small, active part that will have a rippling effect. At the same time, I also don’t want their final actions to upstage Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry. It’s a careful line this show needs to walk.
While the name Mystics hasn’t come up in dialogue, I do wonder why the show has given them this label. The Mystics of The Dark Crystal might want a word, though.
Orcs: Adar goes from murderous would-be god to bleeding-heart philosopher when Galadriel interrogates him. Although he gets under her skin and brings out the worse in her—reminding us, maybe, of her “in place of the Dark Lord you would set up a Queen” moment in the distant future—he also tries to get us to feel bad for the orcs. He cares about them, or so he seems to suggest (despite not flinching when they are cut down or buried under rubble). Oh, he “killed” Sauron, did he? He did this, so he claims, because Sauron sacrificed too many of Adar’s “children” in his experimentations with the unseen world. Here I again must forcibly push aside The Silmarillion, where Sauron was already a master of phantoms in the First Age, and remember that this show may be reinventing who Sauron is and what he can do.
The Rings of Power is leaning into the orcs-were-made-from-Elves approach that The Silmarillion (and Jackson’s films) committed to. And that’s fine. I have written elsewhere about Tolkien’s extensive history of changing his mind about orcs and of the moral quandary he placed himself into by inventing them. I think it’s fine for the show to explore some of the questions worth asking about any race of beings intelligent enough to have their own culture. Adar insists that each of his uruks has a name and a heart, and is just as worthy as Galadriel herself “of the breath of life and just as worthy of a home.” But is murdering and enslaving other people to take that home okay? Complex questions, worth asking, but also worth remembering in what context they were said. I only hope the show remembers how The Lord of the Rings itself handles orcs in its future.
For more on this topic, I can only for now recommend three essays where I walked through orc-origins.
- Tolkien’s Orcs: Bolg, Shagrat, and the Maggot-folk of Mordor (orcs from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings)
- Tolkien’s Orcs: The Din-horde of Morgoth (orcs from The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales)
- Tolkien’s Orcs: Boldog and the Host of Tumult (orcs from The History of Middle-earth series)
***
Well, one episode left now. I am excited, and nervous. I don’t think they’re going to wrap up all the loose strings. Even Sauron’s reveal might not be quite as we want it to be. The question is, will it be a cliffhanger mystery that we can all chew on without going totally bananas? Because it’s going to be a long, long wait until season 2. If nothing else, I’m very excited to see that RoPer Celebrimbor will have a wardrobe change, based on our quick glimpse of him in the trailer.
Maybe he’s selected another item from his posh Eregion chambers to strip the upholstery from and wear.
But I admit, at the same time, part of me will be relieved when there are no more big mysteries and reveals pending in the days that follow. We who have gotten caught up in the excitement of a Tolkien adaptation in the mainstream again will be able to catch our breaths…
And then go back to the books, where all is well…
And we can endlessly mine them for their own riddles and mysteries…
And dig ever greedily and ever deeper—
Oh, crap. Right.
Jeff LaSala is responsible for The Silmarillion Primer, the more recent and much shorter Second Age Primer, the Deep Delvings series, and a few other assorted articles on this site. Tolkien nerdom aside, Jeff wrote a Scribe Award–nominated D&D novel, produced some cyberpunk stories, and works in production for Macmillan and the Tor Publishing Group. He is sometimes on Twitter.
I don’t understand how the showrunners can have the rights to show the Balrog but not explain Elvish immortality. I agree the show is written for (hopefully) millions of viewers while maybe a few hundred thousand copies of Unfinished Tales were sold (if that many), but the producers were given a fully fleshed out universe and there doesn’t seem rhyme or reason to what they’ve kept and what they’ve discarded. I wonder if “we didn’t have the rights” is going to be the all-purpose excuse to explain things that don’t add up.
My thought after the Celeborn reveal was, eventually after I ran through the possibilities, that Celeborn will replace Glorfindel as “Elf who dies in the First Age fighting Morgoth and returns to fight Sauron in the Second.”
First, Jackson (wisely for a movie where you can’t add just a gazillion characters because you just love making them up) left Glorfindel on the script cutting room floor to advance Arwen. So, as you say, while MOST watchers don’t even know of Glorfindel and while I do, candidly, if a bunch of folks want to get themselves wadded up into a furball over these kinds of changes, that’s a feature, not a bug as far as I’m concerned (as they’ve done, for both the movies and this show). Celeborn shows up in Glorfindel’s place because almost everyone watching has less than no idea…even folks who just read LotR won’t necessarily know. Why not? And there is at least one dramatic reason why.
I could see where, after more character growth for Galadriel, her husband coming back to her at the Grey Havens being one of those defining moments, perhaps the season 2 finale image, for one hell of a story beat. Romance and awesome rolled up into one reveal. That would be hard to walk away from narratively speaking. All for the cost of one character only an insanely small minority of potential watchers would even notice.
You think they’ll be content to let Chekov’s Balrog rest on the mantelpiece?
If Celeborn is “lost” or dead, what about Celebrían? She’s going to be important later. Does Galadriel also have a daughter already?
I think I commented before about the show’s disconcerting lack of “connective tissue,” where it’s unclear why or how one event is connected to another and your recap here highlights one of the problems: Where a wholly original work can leave things vague or mysterious, here we are left to wonder “Is the the reason for this Tolkienish and logical, something new and consistent with the new canon, or just a weird one-off?” Questions like, “Are there supposed to be a lot more orcs, or just these 20-ish ones left? Is Halbrand just king of the survivors of the village, or are there more people? Where is everyone?”
I can see a story emerging where, if the Elves really are all going to die within a few months if they don’t get irradiated by mithril, Gil-Galad and Celebrimbor are going to be highly motivated to create some magic rings — the sort that will that let Elrond and Galadriel maintain the refuges we see in LOTR. But that’s a tight deadline for other action to happen when it takes week or months for people to travel across Middle Earth. Or if they do get the metal, think of poor Arondir, left in the Southlands, forgotten while every elf up north gets the mithril treatment…
1) Celeborn shows up and Galadriel shouts “Teleporno!”
2) Perhaps the Balrog will emerge and help Arondir win the heart of the fair maid. He would be an awesome wing-man, after all…
@3:
Part of me knows they probably won’t leave the Balrog well enough alone. I guess I’m just seeing that what they’ve done so far hasn’t crossed that crazy line yet.
@2:
I really don’t love the Glorfindel angle at all, for this show. I hope that theory goes away. (Much as I love Glorfindel, conceptually, in his own right.) They’re already not explaining how Elven serial longevity works, or rehousing. In fact, so far the emotional investment of loss when it comes to the Elves, seen most through Galadriel, is banking on the idea that a dead Elf should be mourned over. RoPer Finrod being the poster boy for that. So if they actually killed off Celeborn then had him come back from Valinor, Glorfinde style, then they’ll just be opening a complex can of worms for casual TV viewers. I don’t think they’ll do this. I hope they don’t.
@@.-@:
I have to think, no, Celebrían hasn’t been born yet in this version. Granted, that makes her so much younger than Elrond, and that’s not great. But if she is so fixated on the death of her brother, never mentions her husband (until now), but leaves off no mention of a lost child, that would be a serious crossing of the line.
Some good questions there, jeffronicus. I definitely keep wondering where all the numbers are. Are there only like 20-50 Southlanders left? Are there less than a hundred orcs down there, too?
Was there only the one warg left from sinking Beleriand? :)
Thank you for this Jeff! Excellent!
And re: your thoughts on Galadriel/Celeborn “Beren and Luthien” “Easter Egg,” yes, yes, yes!
Thank you again! You said it All!
This is hard for me knowing just how many new viewers not familiar with Tolkien are watching. And of course you are right. It will be great for them. A much needed one-on-one moment with Galadriel and Theo.
Something to add more depth and what to many will be an awesome, endearing “meet cute,” between Galadriel and Celeborn. But it’s not original, though some may believe it to be (a cool invent. alas!)
I think it’s difficult too, because Luthien and Beren are not just lore. Their story is personal to Tolkien.
And is very much a heart of Middle Earth tales and legends.
Personally, I am not sure of grafting raven haired Luthien into blond Galadriel. Or to bring this down to a semantic level of however many elves could be dancing in middle earth at anytime. As though such things happen ALL the time. Beren could have fallen for any dancing elf were that true. And even though Luthien had skills only elvish dancers know (plural yes.) Luthien is referenced as the dancer of Doriath.
Beren watches her through seasons and mentions no other dancing elf or elves.
And back to Celeborn the “silver clam.” Since his armor did not fit (that’s odd for an elf right?)
Is it possible Roper Celeborn will be half-human?
A composite with Beren? (And Prof Tolkien??)
One other Galadriel question re: episode 6.
What in Middle Earth was happening to her, when she froze in front of Mount Doom?!! I guess I’m the only one perplexed by this. Part of me thinks I’m being too hard on her…that she’s having elvish PTSD, trauma, old memories cropping up that make her freeze.
This would be perfectly understandable!🙏
Or does Galadriel know, she’s standing on the only solid ground? There’s nothing she can do until the ash clears? Embracing fate? Touching darkness at last in order to find the Light. What is going on here?
Part of me kind of hoped she was at least doing a subtle magic to protect the few survivors.
It’s odd the way Galadriel takes a Yoga breath/sigh when the ash comes. I suppose what unsettles me about this (unless it’s elvish PTSD) is that people are running and some presumably dying all around Galadriel while she’s communing with the volcano.
Unless that was magic to ameliorate its effects?
Galadriel finally activates when the dust settles and she calls Halbrand and Elendil. When Theo comes, she quickly takes him under her wing. Then comes the much needed one-on-one shared between them.
In the meantime Tar-Miriel acts Queen and Captain and saves many others at personal sacrifice to herself.
What are your thoughts Jeff?
I did wonder why Galadriel would be stricken and almost trancelike for so long. Given her joy at riding a horse several episodes before, I sure did want her to try and smother the flames on the one that rode by her in the dust!
I didn’t take anything she was doing as communing/meditating/using magic. I just took it as shock, as being overwhelmed. She, more than anyone, probably feels the full weight of horror about the igniting of the mountain. To the Southlanders, evil in the form of a power like Sauron was just an idea, a whispered fear. She knew it personally and fought against it before. So I think she was just processing the horror of it all. What else can she do?
The Steward of Ithilien might agree with Adar’s philosophy:
“I would not snare even an Orc with a falsehood” — Faramir of Gondor
Yes, I agree with a lot of this (except for Elrond, whom I still find to be a charming manipulator) but especially with the cheapness of cribbing Luthien’s story, about how they haven’t really delved into the metaphysical aspects of what it means to be Elvish (and how that could have implications for Arondir and Bronwyn. Then again, maybe Arondir is just willing to be with her for a short time and then be parted eternally…), throwing Celeborn in at the last minute, and the balrog. I DO find that I agree mostly with Durin the elder here.
I know the movies have also taken personal stories of Tolkien’s – Faramir’s dream – and moved them to other characters, but Beren and Luthien’s story is special. Ah well.
I do find myself intrigued by the mystics. We know sorcery/necromancy exists – the witch king, the Mouth of Sauron, etc. Wondering what their deal is.
I did really enjoy a lot of Galadriel’s musings this time around – her talk of ‘not calling dark deeds good’ and fighting a war inside was very Faramir-esque to me :) And Faramir is the best :)
I’m a book fan who is enjoying the show on its own terms, or at least trying to. Episode Five was probably the hardest to roll with, but of course we don’t even know how much of that was true. As for these last two episodes, I liked Seven more than Six, since I don’t really care for big action scenes, though I thought the battle looked fine. However, I really enjoyed the interrogation of Adar. He’s certainly the best original character the show has presented us with, and I like the way the show has decided to actually run with the implications of Tolkien choosing to make the orcs real people instead of mindless constructs, even though he never did settle upon the specifics for philosophical reasons.
I am glad I am not the only one who is enjoying Galadriel as a character. I don’t think the writers intented for her to be immediately likable, but I doubt they expected she’d get so much hate. I agree that it at least partly has to do with her being a female character behaving in a manner no one would care about were she a dude, but I’m sure a lot of it stems from people having a particular image of Galadriel from the lord of the rings books and especially the movies and being upset that the show’s version is so different. However, I’m willing to trust that the whole point is that she will grow into the character as portrayed in the books. I think she hit bottom with Adar, and now she is hopefully on the way back up.
As for why she didn’t mention her husband before now, well she did lose him over a thousand years ago. She probably doesn’t bring it up every day anymore. I think pre-eruption Galadriel wasn’t really in the headspace to think about anything other than the mission she’s been on since her brother died. Post-eruption Galadriel is finally able to reflect on what that’s cost her.
Anyway, looking forward to the finale. My biggest hope for it is that Halbrand won’t end up being Sauron, since he’s so much more interesting if he’s not, but if all the theories and leaks turn out to be right, well it won’t be any wackier than Episode Five.
I saw Galadriel freezing as her being hit by PTSD-memories from the Dagor Bragollach (Battle of Sudden Flame), because I think the initial volley of DB was a lot like Orodruin’s eruption.
@9 Yes PTSD, Galadriel’s own personal experience, the effect of Sauron, (and Memory of Melkor, Feanor’s actions, the darkness…the ensuing horror.) This all makes sense to me.
I cannot dismiss “freezing” because it can be a very real trauma related reaction, which can cause much sorrow and pain and deep, painful regret afterwards. 🙏
I felt the same as you about the burning horse. Wish Galadriel could have at least tried to put out its flames. Maybe she was absolutely exhausted and had no energy left, even spiritual or mental. She became a bystander.
Guess somehow, I had hoped Galadriel would pull through the defeat. She had to acknowledge it, when the volcano blew. But as Samwise Gamgee once said, there were still things (people) worth fighting for.
Including one other elf.
And Galadriel was too tired and desperate and in utter shock to do anything but watch events unfold.
She knew the Horror from her experiences ages ago.
But what of Tar-miriel and Bronwyn, who are now experiencing more than a little of that horror maybe for the first time?
Albeit, they do not have Galadriel’s trauma. But these women also are in the midst of devastation. It could look hopeless…doomed. But what do they do?
They are helping everyone they can EVEN knowing the circumstances.
Galadriel cannot do anything because she needs shock therapy. But the people all around her are doing something (minus missing Halbrand maybe until he’s found injured.)
I thought that HERE in the middle of defeat, surely would be the time to see Galadriel (yes accept the situation) BUT pull through and show a Spark or glimmer of who she really is or can, or will be.
Yes, I doubted she was doing magic even subtle elf magic. But it would have been nice to see at least some of Galadriel’s experience through the ages come into play. She’s been through THIS before. She knows. Maybe she “froze” before.
However, I would think her wisdom (even if it’s not yet at Lorien stage) would still be invaluable. She is a Captain of the Nothern armies. She could be a strong guide through smoke and shadow. And then the people around her would see her in a new light.
For me it would make Tar-Mariel’s agreement with Galadriel even stronger. I kind of liked Tar-Mariel’s strong stance: “I do not need your pity elf.”
But RoPer Galadriel needs shock counseling like a real life war veteran with PTSD. I was hoping that almost two millennia would show Galadriel taking command in a different way and helping those around her...rather than brooding on her mistake, while there is much she could do presently.
She did fight fiercely and bravely, but it must be the aftermath of battle that’s hard for her. The sword and her fighting words seem to be her barrier and shield.
The aftermath is the part of battle where there is NO sword and that is probably terrifying for RoP Galadriel.
But courage can still be found even in aftermath even in defeat.
BUT as you said Jeff, Galadriel is in wrenching Shock and Horror. Complete PTSD carried almost within two millennia. (She needs a Counselor! ASAP!)
I am glad she could at least reach out to Theo and give some counsel. (Even if she avoided the others until she brought Theo to them.)
My guess is in her freeze moment Galadriel lost Amdir and Estel. But maybe just maybe after her time with Theo to reflect and when she returned to camp and saw that people had survived. Maybe that lit a spark in her, which flickered again when Tar-miriel made the agreement to join and fight for Middle Earth. Then RoPer Galadriel’s voice grew strong again.
If Halbrand isn’t Sauron himself, I’m afraid he’s going to end up as king of the Men of the Mountains, who betray Isildur.
I am trying to keep the lore of Middle Earth out of my head so I can enjoy the show in its own right, and for the most part, I am succeeding. I have never insisted that movies match the book, and don’t intend to start now.
My favorite parts of the show are the harfoots (harfeet?) and the dwarves, and Elrond is OK, mostly because he is a dwarf friend (at least, I think he is). I very much liked the point brought up by @3 kaiphranos. Chekov’s Balrog, indeed!
I like Galadriel as a hardened and heartsick warrior. Long lifespans allow folks the space to be different at the various stages of those lives.
The battles in the show are small in scope, but when I think back on the past, there are small clashes that leave big shadows through history.
This show really leans into my pet historical movie peeve. Cavalry does not gallop everywhere. The Numenoreans and Galadriel were galloping across a field at what? You generally don’t gallop until you make contact with the enemy. These folks should be scouting their way into an unknown situation, not galloping hellbent for leather. And if poor Halbrand is so greviously wounded that he needs Elvish healing, why is galloping into the sunset? I have only been on a galloping horse once, and it is hard on you when you are healthy!
The sad thing is if Galadriel is having PTSD, (very likely) then it seems that for the audience’s sake there needs to be more of a flash back or more than one to show why? Because of rights they cannot delve into the First Age. But I wonder if they would even consider a creative “event scene” that would connect to the present in a riveting way?
The sad thing about the brief flashes of Finrod…I am not sure it’s enough to show Galadriel’s high passion and devastation over the loss of her brother. It’s nice he’s a kind big brother. He held up a sword and fought bravely. Then was killed tragically in battle by Sauron.
We can empathize with her. But we do not know Finrod like she does. And because of rights unless he’s given a different back history that’s all that will be ever be known about him.
The audience probably has no investment in him because he is only a memory. But he is not just a memory to her. If this were NCIS or another modern show, you would have deeper flashbacks.
But they cannot show the Dagor Bragollach?? Or another volcano going off…
Even as a show on its own feet…if they are bringing up PTSD as a theme but giving no backing rhyme or reason beyond what some Tolkien readers might guess?
Or maybe it works better as an “in general theme,” what warriors in battle go through. But PTSD is serious. And it seems to me that at some point this should be addressed…because it was obviously eating her alive. Even if she has to eventually talk about it (without specifics) since they cannot really show it. Or invent some creative way to show us why…she froze.
Before going back to business as usual.
I think we need to accept that part of this show’s “time compression” is going to be the Balrog devastating Khazad-dûm sometime during these five seasons, and that its title of “Durin’s Bane” is going to refer to its killing Durin III or IV, not Durin VI. Really, this is no more drastic a change than the Rings being forged in the lifetime of Elendil, Isildur and their contemporaries, which we’ve all accepted already because we knew about it months before the show debuted.
Somehow, it didn’t strike me at all, as it apparently did many other people, that Celeborn and Galadriel’s meeting was inspired by that of Beren and Lúthien. In fact, I thought it was a reference to Sam’s description of Galadriel to Faramir: “Proud and far-off as a snow-mountain, and as merry as any lass I ever saw with daisies in her hair in springtime.” See also Smith of Wootton Major, which has never been one of my favorite Tolkien stories because too much of it consists of reworked concepts from his earlier works, including characters who are obvious expies of Aragorn, Lúthien and Galadriel — but it has an interesting twist when the “Lúthien” and “Galadriel” characters turn out to be the same person. It’s also interesting to note that Smith of Wootton Major was Tolkien’s only work in the composition of which Edith Tolkien was deeply involved, reading successive drafts as he wrote it.
Jeff doesn’t say much about Míriel losing her eyesight, although fans elsewhere on the Internet have already speculated that this will render her more vulnerable to Pharazôn usurping the rulership. I suspect that there is a strong relationship between Míriel’s blindness and the limitations of Amazon’s rights.
Even before the series began, I was aware that the LotR Appendices never state that Pharazôn wedded Míriel by force, because Tolkien himself considered the possibility that their marriage was not by force at a time after LotR’s publication. (See The Peoples of Middle-earth, pp. 159-163. Christopher Tolkien found parts of his father’s notes on this subject illegible, but the alternate story Tolkien sketched was that Míriel had another fiancé, Elendil’s uncle Elentir, but made the mistake of falling in love with and marrying Pharazôn instead.) After watching Episode 7, however, I consulted the LotR Appendices again and was shocked to realize that, not only do they not say Pharazôn married Míriel by force, but they also never say he married her at all. All that the Appendices say about Míriel is that she should have been the Ruler after Tar-Palantir’s death, but that Tar-Palantir’s nephew Pharazôn usurped the Sceptre.
Amazon cannot, therefore, depict Pharazôn marrying Míriel unless they request specific permission from the Tolkien Estate to do so. And I can imagine that they might not want to include this element, anyway, since they are attempting to distinguish RoP from HotD and make an epic fantasy series suitable for viewing by older children as well as adults. A “forced marriage” carries an inevitable implication of rape (and incest in the case of Pharazôn and Míriel, already established on RoP to be cousins), and Amazon might not want to include such a plot element in the series.
Thus, I predict that Míriel’s blindness will prove to be the sole pretext for Pharazôn to usurp the Sceptre. This also means that we will have no idea whatsoever what will happen to Míriel for the rest of the series after her father’s death. Pharazôn might have her assassinated, thus making himself the “legitimate heir”. She might become a Nazgûl, perhaps taking a Ring in a moment of weakness to compensate for her blindness. (One of the Nine Ringwraiths in the old Middle-earth Role Playing game was blind, although he was male.) She might survive the Downfall of Númenor and sail to Middle-earth with the Faithful but abdicate the Rulership to Elendil. She might become a costumed superhero like Daredevil. We don’t know!
I also hope very much that Celeborn is simply lost or held captive somewhere in Middle-earth, rather than actually having died in the war and coming back from Valinor at some point. Even with all of the show’s other departures from canon, the latter storyline would seem to me like too radical a change.
Another great article, thanks Jeff! as a very casual book fan without knowledge of or emotional attachment to the lore, I do think you’re right that those of us without awareness of Tolkein are probably having an easier time enjoying the show. (Tolkein fans complaining about disrespect or possible disrespect to The Sacred Timeline is one of the bits of criticism I find most hard to relate to.)
The thing with Celeborn is another place where I see myself having a different reaction to the Tolkein brigade— I loved seeing Galadriel remember happiness; it fit her conversation with Theo in a way that wouldn’t have worked in the tone and pace of her conversation with Halbrand. Who I really, REALLY hope is not Sauron—he’s been at his most interesting as a morally ambiguous human character.
@12, like you, I’m enjoying Galadriel as a character; and thought that episode 7 had some really great moments for her, especially the interactions with Theo.
my final reflection is that, it’s been challenging to find online spaces to share enjoyment this show (and I feel like other people have complained about the reverse, that’s it’s been difficult to find spaces to be critical of it). I feel like the Tor.com articles about RoP have done a pretty good job of making space for a variety of responses to the show —well done.
Very astute observations, Anthony! I share your prediction that Pharazôn and Míriel will probably not marry. I think he’s already got the popular vote in Númenor, so I don’t think marriage or necessariy even the scepter will be a requirement here to take control.
For me, the Balrog being released soon isn’t so much a matter of simply breaking Tolkien’s timeline, but in undercutting the long success of Khazad-dûm. Mithril is meant to be foundational to that, so they shouldn’t be punished for acquiring and profiting from it . . . only from persisting to acquire wit when it starts to run dry. In any case, this is a show, not the book, so I’m staying open-minded about it.
@20, Hope, that’s good to hear. A show like this is a tricky thing for book-lore fans. And as you’ve no doubt seen, lots of Tolkien communities lately aren’t very welcoming right now, but I would argue that the ones making them this way are not welcoming people in general and it’s not a statement about Tolkien that they’ve infected these circles. In any case, if you’ve not seen Corey Olsen’s Rings & Realms YouTube show, and the community that has formed around it, you might find it more welcoming as well. It’s both scholarly and open-minded. Exceptions always abound, though.
When The Dweller so deliberately set fire to the Harfoots’ homes, I immediately thought of Saruman and his utter disdain for Hobbits. If these three witches were not being played as female, by females, I would have thought that the show was presenting them as early manifestations of Saruman, Aratar, and Pallando—just as we suspect The Stranger of being an early form of Gandalf. They’re even apparently heading off into the East now.
There have been a number of incidental acting choices that make the show look inept. Throwing away a perfectly good apple that the horse would’ve appreciated is one of them. A couple of earlier one shad to do with Galadriel’s disappearing dagger, both in the water and in Numenor. It’s almost like no one in the production took whatever class teaches acting with props.
One bit of business you didn’t mention is Adar’s fakeout, getting chased while carrying the false bundle. The fact that both Arondir and Galadriel handle it afterwards and don’t feel that the balance is all wrong for a sword hilt is unintentionally hilarious. These are seasoned warriors and Arondir has actually handled the hilt. It takes Theo to realize that an ax doesn’t feel like a hilt.
These are minor issues that hopefully get ironed out in future seasons. Have a seminar for the writers and propmasters, maybe.
This bit may not be strictly true: “a pep talk, which is something we’ve never seen before in any book or adaptation.”
Here’s a couple of candidates. Theoden’s speech to the army of Rohan:
“Arise! Arise, riders of Theoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword-day, a red day… ere the Sun rises! Ride now! Ride now! Ride! Ride to ruin… and the world’s ending! Death! Death! DEATH! FORTH EORLINGAS!”
And Arogorn’s speech to the combined armies of Rohan and Gondor:
“Hold your ground! Hold your ground! Sons of Gondor… of Rohan… my brothers! I see in your eyes, the same fear that would take the heart of me! A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship… but it is not this day! An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the age of Men comes crashing down… but it is not this day! This day we fight!”
@@@@@ Sunspear: I don’t think Jeff was talking about these, he was referring to a pep talk for Orcs, in particular.
Theo: short for Theoden?
Quite right:
Obviously, the good guys care about morale and inspiration and share that in abundance. But the Dark Lords, Morgoth and Sauron both, govern through fear. Their own orcs hate them. That’s been consistent. So it’s interesting to see Adar foster respect from his particular batch of orc followers. Though I think his affection for them is still overstated. He seems sad when one is dying, but doesn’t even flinch when they fall in battle.
And yeah, I mention the decoy. I do think it would have been smart for Arondir or Galadriel to check the darn bundle, yes. But to say they should just have known based on its heft and balance feels like splitting hairs to me, or looking for flaws. Adar is the one who did the swapping, and I think he chose the best item to do it with.
Alright then…
Saruman to his Uruk hunters: “Hunt them down! Do not stop until they are found! You do not know pain, you do not know fear. You will taste man-flesh!”
Or Saruman to the army of orcs going to attack Helm’s Deep: “A new power is rising… its victory is at hand! This night, the land will be stained with the blood of Rohan! March to Helm’s Deep! Leave none alive! TO WAR!”
@20 I do not like the vitriol either. It is Ironic since such things feed the Ring itself. (Vitriol not passion)
And I do not disagree with you about Galadriel having a moment of happiness to recollect and share with Theo. Think it just took me by surprise “Ohhh so a composite with Luthien…” I was not ready for he saw me dancing in the woods.
I think because this moment between Galadriel and Theo was very much needed…that the “meet cute” was referenced by reviewers like a new cool “invent,”
In the moment, however, I thought of it more as something borrowed.
But I do believe the writers were trying to give a nod to that story and Tolkien and Edith’s story as well.
I did imagine different invented “meet cutes in my head.” Laugh.
And @19 has some interesting information.
Perhaps I should have read The Smith of Wooton Major in depth.
I love Tolkien’s writings but am not a complete Lore head. Read LOTR and Hobbit and later read The Lays of Beleriand but have not done the Silmarillion thoroughly even if I’ve read summaries similar to the ones Jeff has provided. And have not read all the extra works Christopher Tolkien put out. Though some books await me somewhere.
I do love Tolkien but I’m not going to bite anyone’s head. @20
I believe in kindness and Sam Gamgee (;-)
Even if my opinions may vary from others. And even if I become carried away…laugh…hopefully can catch myself!!
When I discovered the Beren and Luthien story and connection with Tolkien and Edith, it blew my mind. I had never known that. And it was beyond cool. Loved the poetry of it and the whole story. It was just on some other level for me…I never forgot it. And it felt like a strong silver thread woven through the ages of middle earth. A soul thread. A heart beat. That led straight back to Tolkien (and Edith) So that might explain some of my reactions Alas!
But Back to your information @19…if I understand you correctly I think you are picking up the idea of a composite Galadriel-Luthien was hinted in The Smith of Wooton Major or you are giving me the idea of Galadriel and Luthien both being aspects of Edith?
Now that would make sense to me! Or that Tolkien intended that?
Tolkien himself talks through more than one character in LOTR…Faramir’s dream is Tolkien’s.
As much as I love mythology and philosophy should have thought of this.
Perhaps a lot of us have that image of Beren and Luthien on Tolkien’s tombstone firmly imprinted in our minds. And when seen there, it does not feel like Lore but Life and memory.
But no direct reference can be given because of rights.
Maybe some are sad because they know the Beren and Luthien story so well and know some newcomers will only associate the story with Galadriel now. Then Beren and Luthien will fade into myth and mist.
But I love Galadriel and who is to say she did not dance somewhere, some place.
I would love to see her sing and play harp or another instrument. We know she can dance with sword but maybe she will share a dance with Celeborn when he returns?
She needs the happiness @20 you are so right!
And I do agree with others that her line to Theo about not calling “dark deeds good,” rang very true both to her character and Tolkien. I could almost imagine it coming through from but the spirit was there. That is good.
And as for adaptations: I loved the LOTR movies even knowing the changes from the books (okay so I was very aware of those changes *laugh* and frustrated by some but somehow when I came back to the books they seemed even brighter…) then I could fill in the missing places in my head as I watched the movie.
It was so easy to dream in the landscape of middle earth!
Perhaps I’ve just never seen so much changed and invented for any show before like RoP!
(it’s probably common today and I’m behind the times)
I just was not used to it. But I still wanted to watch because John Howe (Numenor awesome)
Because Khazadum thriving (Disa’s song was a lovely invent! It fit!)
Nori’s journey and all.
Arondir and Sylvan nature kindred.
So I am enjoying it and can appreciate it as it’s own thing. Even if I still feel passionate about various nuances *wry grin.*
I am sure it is easier to approach this show fresh if one doesn’t have all the stories of Tolkien too deep in mind.
But I’m glad to have those stories in mind and heart and the memories that brought them there: Tolkien’s poetry spoken to me when I was a child…it’s good to remember THAT will never go away.
(See Jeff’s wonderful essay referencing the River Anduin.)
Just wish some of the other reviewers outside of Tor would stop praising the show by suggesting it’s improving or correcting Tolkien’s stories.
I think that really drives a wedge between people, where there shouldn’t be one and sets the old ring aglow. Rather than simply praising the show on its own merits. Very sad.
Of course people have a right to enjoy this show!
And who wouldn’t want to return to Middle Earth?
I understand. Just as I understand the passions of those invested deeply in Tolkien’s tales.
That’s why I agree with whoever said that Tor reviewers do a balanced critique. And they do it without tearing down anyone.
For me more than Lore…when I think of Tolkien’s writings, it reminds me of timeless energy/Spirit…but I’ll leave that to another time or place. The River Anduin is the closest metaphor. But alas even when I posted those thoughts elsewhere, I ran into the same as @20
random harharhar. Because I was not joining the broken record remarks. Sigh.
Well tomorrow will bring a new day and we will all have different opinions upon it, which makes the world interesting. :-)
Alas, cannot promise I will not have another “Whaaa?!!” moment. Or have passionate thoughts about some other unexpected twist. Really?? Okay…oh my goodness! Oh boy!! Why?? Come on!
😏😅 And know I won’t be the only one. Grin.
But who knows maybe there will be another moment or surprise like Disa’s song or Galadriel will pull out her harp and I will just start crying…Or Celeborn will arrive. She does need some joy! (That Merry Lass!) As do we.
To remind us all later of that light in dark places.
Joy and kindness.
And in the end when I think of Tolkien’s stories the L word that comes to mind the most is not Lore but Love.
Still strong in ALL the lands.
Go towards goodness.
Peace.
Jeff, I am not as sure about serial longevity concerning the elves. Think I came to that concept later while reading more Tolkien and summaries.
I did remember Glorfindel’s return brought back to Middle Earth. But if the elves are re-incarnated back in Valinor or set to wait it out (do I have this right? In the halls of the moon? Awaiting Mandos’s decree…) Then
is it possible the show writers thought there would be less empathy for the elves from Tolkien newcomers or casual readers if the serial longevity is explained in detail? (ie they don’t even really die in battle so what’s all the fuss?)
Even if being reborn in Valinor is a celebration, that still apparently did not stop the elves from calling some battles in middle earth unnumbered tears or Tolkien from referencing the tears of men and weeping of elves. All that poetry…through the ages betwixt sorrow and joy.
That sundering still hurts and is heart wrenching for those elves living on in Middle Earth.
It is still a parting.
@27: I . . . guess? I wouldn’t call those pep talks, but I can see an argument for it. Film Saruman is telling his Uruk-hai to go be monsters. To go kill and do what he made them to do. He’s not telling them anything to “inspire” in the Tolkien way. He’s just commanding them; he’s their boss. It’s not even to manipulate them, like he does with the Dunlendings, where he had to convince them to get them to fight. They’re Men. A better argument can be made for his giving the Dunlendings a pep talk (and he does a lot of lying to them, especially in the book), because at least with them he’s trying to convince them to go and win back their lands with the Rohirrim allegedly took from them.
But the Uruk-hai?No, just go kill. Go do what you already want to do.
@JLaSala: pep talk = inspirational speech. If we’re arguing anything more, it would be “splitting hairs.” :)
Then I definitely wouldn’t call Film Saruman’s commands to his orcs a pep talk
Good stuff Jeff, as always. I can feel how hard you’re trying to resist the lore nerd impulse to hate the changes (I say this with affection, as something of a lore nerd too)!
I really hope they do bring in the Balrog. If they don’t, that super-dramatic event will probably never be seen on screen. What’s lost bringing it from the Third Age to here, where there are characters we care about who’ll have to deal with it? Especially given how awesome Khazad-Dum looks and how good a job they’ve done with showing dwarf culture. Definitely a case where being true to the Tolkien timeline would be a lost opportunity.
There was some spectacular stuff in these two episodes, from the Arondir fights, to the eruption to everything being covered in ash. But the best parts were, for me, the gripping conversations between Adar and Galadriel, and the Durins. They gave us wonderful insights into the world and the characters. And some of the best dialogue in what’s been a very uneven show for it.
@JLaSala: I guess we’re talking past each other then. You say I’m “looking for flaws” and this review sounded like it was doing just that to me.
I do like the show, btw. I’ve defended it elsewhere, especially against the ones who insist on comparing it to HotD (which they also overpraise). They are completely different shows to me and it doesn’t make sense that commenters and reviewers continue to pit them against each other just because they are in the same genre. Well, they were released around the same time, so maybe the studio marketing invited such venting of mental noise.
I’m not sure why this author spends so much time comparing the show to The Silmarillion, since we know the show doesn’t have the rights to that text.
It also occurs to me that beyond The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, nothing should be considered “canon” when it comes to Tolkien. Everything published after his death, including The Silmarillion, was edited, mediated, and adapted by other hands. Christopher Tolkien and Guy Gavriel Kay had to fill in the gaps in some of the material in The Silmarillion.
And one could find support for much of what we see in The Rings of Power throughout Tolkien’s writings.
Sunspear, yeah, we probably are. Truth is, I’ve also been defending the show a lot. It’s got some massive missteps that I’ll be vocal about, but as this is merely one adaptation that inevitably ropes in new readers, even my complaints are temporal ones.
I can’t stand the comparisons between this is and HotD, either. In part because I don’t care for that one at all, but mostly because they’re practically different genres in my mind.
@JLaSala: In total agreement there. It’s such a facile comparison, especially the supremely smug ones claiming one is infinitely better than the other, or that RoP is the worst show in the history of the world. Hyperbole and irony are legit critical tools, but some of these people have gone batshit.
I agree with the “massive missteps” also. For the amount of money spent on this, there are many amateurish elements. Then I found out that JJ Abrams was involved and that the two showrunners are proteges, it clicked into place. They superimposed storytelling strategies of the “Master,” like using mystery boxes, rather than do an honorable adaptation. Reminded me of the Abrams interview after he landed the first Trek movie, saying he’d never been a fan and it was just a vehicle to get to Star Wars.
Maybe they will retool the production for season 2. The same two guys saying it will be the story of Sauron breaking bad like Walter White shows the same tendency to overlay an alien sensibility on the material. I definitely don’t want to join the naysayers, but I want a more thought out, polished, and professional result. There’s a bit too much community theater stuff in season one.
@Sunspear. To each their own, but I thought it was very thought out, polished and professional. That doesn’t mean that I agree with all the choices they made – and there was lots of bad dialogue. But amateurish? No.
I like having some mystery boxes, as I think it’s a tool that works well for serials like TV. Maybe they overused them a bit this season, but I found the resolutions of the Halbrand and Stranger stories satisfying.
@38 – was JJ Abrams ACTUALLY involved? Because damn that explains SO much. I have been joking about things like mystery boxes and what not, but wow, this now makes 2 franchises of mine he’s mucked up (3 if I talk on my husband’s behalf as he wasn’t a fan of his Star Trek movies).
To me the amateurish stuff reminds me very much of the Wheel of Time adaptation (which incidentally also relied a little too heavily on a mystery box), especially the finale which used a bunch of tropes I can’t stand, and also had the air of being worked on by people who didn’t really love the source material but just saw something they could improve/spruce up and use to tell their own story with an already-built world and fanbase.
(Both this and WoT are fine, enjoyable, and I’ll tune in for future seasons and neither of the original works are beyond reproach either but even taking into account the differences in medium for an adaptation, both just struck me as lesser attempts.)
@Greyshade: one small example to add detail to what I said earlier: the disappearing dagger. Galadriel drops her armor before jumping in the sea, but she cinches on her dagger. When she’s pulled from the sea on to the raft, there’s nothing around her waist. Then it reappears when she threatens NotSauron. Later, Elendil pulls her on to his ship off the raft. Again, just G in her flimsy underclothes, no dagger visible at all. Where does it go? Later in the council chamber in Numenor it disappears and reappears a couple more times.
Lots of staging, continuity, and editing issues like that. As I said, the show is nowhere near as bad as some make out, but for the amount of money spent, it is undercooked. If I was on the side of the naysayers, I’d say Amazon was taken for a ride, just as Netflix overpaid for the absolutely atrocious Cloverfield movie that was going to bomb at the box office.
Speaking of which:
@Lisamarie: yes, Bad Robot was involved in the production.
As always, thanks to Jeff for a cogent and thought provoking essay/summary of this show, I look forward to reading these when they come out…
As a solid book reader, and someone who has read through the History of Middle Earth books (all of them!) at least once (I know that’s not much, compared to some), I am liking this show for being “close enough” to what we know of the Second Age, while giving details and fleshing out what “could have been,” based on where the history ends up.
Yes, I’m curious also why the re-housing of the Elves isn’t really mentioned. I remember in Jackson’s Helm’s Deep, when some of the Elves die in that battle, thinking “Well, at least they’re off to Valinor now!,” but that’s not something the film can really delve into. I do think that this show could have had Galadriel be happy about seeing her brother again in Valinor, perhaps telling Halbrand about it, which leads to her telling how elves are re-housed (of course, we know now that Halbrand would know all about that!), but it would have been a short “catch up” for the audience about how elven spirits are tied to the world.
My main thing with this show, is that I do think that if it was planned for 5 seasons, they could have stretched out the timeline of the plot a bit, to maybe having 100 years of show time between each season, so that the elves are consistent, but the humans are different each season. I know for character building, the audience might balk at that, but it would have been something else that really set this show apart from those other fantasy shows…
Overall, I like this show. My quibbles are minor, but do exist.
I can’t believe I didn’t realize JLaSala was reviewing this show until now. I enjoyed reading Silas’ perspective, but reviews from an expert round out the experience for me.
I didn’t realize JJ was involved in RoP either. That’s so disappointing and explains so much. SIGH.
I DID notice the extremely amateur aspects mentioned above and thought to myself… Why did amazon give the most expensive show in history to people who don’t know what they’re doing? I still don’t understand. There are so many talented people out there, people who have experience making tv shows and/or films. There is absolutely no way every single person with talent and experience was unavailable to work on RoPer. It boggles the mind
Thanks, Michael, thanks, Yonni. My thoughts on the season finale episode, “Alloyed,” should be going up tomorrow! I’ve not wanted to go discussing it here. :)