Rings of Power -- all opinions and spoilers welcome thread.

[Jfdlsjfd]

This is a thread to discuss about the show, welcoming, in a nice and polite manner as befit any Internet board, opinions about the show, from any point of views, ranging from how it was if you discovered Middle Earth by watching it or how the show differed from Tolkien canon and how it is developping its own, coherent story with regard to the established limits.

It is even possible in this thread to mention that there are parts of the show you don't like, or even that you hated it all with the heat of a thousand suns, and provide discussions on how it could have been better.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

As an example, I'll state that I liked the show, but felt the attempt at linking it to Tolkien felt more fanservice-y than useful to the building of the story they wanted to tell, and using characters which are easily recognized (Galadriel, Elrond...) was bound to generate criticism, while they could have made more "Arondir-like" characters to tell the story they wanted, in the "blanks" of Tolkien tapestry.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

@Maxperson, I hope you won't mind me answering here.

That mature and wise Galadriel IS the one you are seeing, or should be. She 3422 years old as of the year the show is set in. She's not some teenage girl that needs to mature. She did that thousands of years before.

I agree with the order of magnitude, but I'd be hard pressed to say when the show is occuring. We'd need to count time from the end of the series instead of going by past events. Episode 8 is the forging of the rings (1600 SA) and Galadriel is born in 1362 during the time of the Trees. That's 148 years of the Trees (~ 1,500 solar years), the remainder of the First Age (590 years). Shouldn't she be a little closer to 3,800?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Hindsight: very pretty, enjoyed the Elrond/dwarf relationship, really frustrated with the mangling of timeline and things just made up that go against elements published in the source material. Very expensive fanfic, basically. If I try not to think of it as Tolkien, it's fine fantasy.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Hindsight: very pretty, enjoyed the Elrond/dwarf relationship,

I was perplexed by Elrond's (and Celebrimbor's) blond hair, but I liked his character. It sets him up as someone caring about people around him. I hope he'll develops a friendship with Isildur, so the scene where Isildur "betrays" him by keeping the One Ring will be more emotional will not feel forced.

If I try not to think of it as Tolkien, it's fine fantasy.

Yup.

 

[Raith5]

I did not like everything but I liked far more than I thought I would. Unlike many, I thought the show felt like it was made by people who liked Tolkien and I dont have a problem with with his world being adapted for new audience. I am glad I got to see it. Some of clunky bits and screwy development could happen in any creative endeavor involving complex storylines/contexts.

I thought the show was strongest with known characters Elrond, Celebrimbor, Galadriel etc and weakest with those characters that were new. I quite liked the stranger and Sauron reveals, even if they were way too rushed.

 

[Tonguez]

I thought the show was strongest with known characters Elrond, Celebrimbor, Galadriel etc and weakest with those characters that were new. I quite liked the stranger and Sauron reveals, even if they were way too rushed.

thats interest as my view is the opposite, I really liked the story that Arondir, Bronwyn, Theo and Adar were involved in and would have loved to spend more time learning about Adar’s back story (he was my favourite character). Nori and the Harfoots were also got a nice treatment, explaining their wandering days before the Shire and their hiding habit. The Strangers story is intriguing and I’m increasingly convinced he’s Curumo.

I did like the world building around the Dwarf culture but thought the Mithril storyline was a bit rushed, though linking it with the trees was a cute idea.

The characters I liked lease were the boring Elfs, Galadriel seemed like a DMPC who was just there to drive the metaplot forward while the other characters did the actual adventuring. Elrond being a scholar-diplomat was a nice way to showcase the dwarf culture but his own tale was lacking, so really the only interesting elfs were Celebrimbor (and Arondir).

so anyway I did like the story overall, while the Tolkien touchstones were there it was clearly not Tolkiens story and I for one would have been happy if they had just focussed it all on The people of the Southlands vs the Orcs and left the Elfs out entirely…

 

[Parmandur]

@Maxperson, I hope you won't mind me answering here.



I agree with the order of magnitude, but I'd be hard pressed to say when the show is occuring. We'd need to count time from the end of the series instead of going by past events. Episode 8 is the forging of the rings (1600 SA) and Galadriel is born in 1362 during the time of the Trees. That's 148 years of the Trees (~ 1,500 solar years), the remainder of the First Age (590 years). Shouldn't she be a little closer to 3,800?

Actually, the main date able event in the show so far is the death of King Tar-Palantir in 3255 Second Age. However, it is clear they are condensing and rearranging events considerably, but it seems theybare keeping the 32rd century time frame and moving other events into that time period.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Actually, the main date able event in the show so far is the death of King Tar-Palantir in 3255 Second Age. However, it is clear they are condensing and rearranging events considerably, but it seems theybare keeping the 32rd century time frame and moving other events into that time period.

You're right. if we count considering that Isildur need to be alive at the end of the Second Age and I think they can't deviate from that, everything must be happening within a (Numenorean) lifetime of 3441 SA. The time condensing also seem to occur, with Isildur, which was suppoed to be an adult by the time of Tar-Palantir's death while he seems to be still a young adult in the show.

Anyhow, the 3255 timemark seems right to be the coincidence of calendars between Tolkien and Amazon's Second Ages. That makes Galadriel around 5,500 years old. Sure, she'll age 3,000 more years into the Third Age, maybe changing her character (though I don't buy it as she is already wise in the Second Age) but... it makes very difficult for the writers to implement significant character change over the very short time of the series. If we're to follow Theo to the end of season 5 (I have this hunch), it will be a very short time to mature for Galadriel between millenial stasis of her character.

 

[DeviousQuail]

I liked it enough that I'm looking forward to another season. My wish list is for more attention given to the scale of things. Show me more Southlanders as they settle outside of Mordor, more Numenorean ships that can hold a vast army, more elves in their cities, etc. The time spent in Numenor was great because it looked like a city teeming with life while most everywhere else felt empty.