[+] The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - SPOILERS ALLOWED

[TheSword]

Having the Fëanorians land in Eriador instead of Beleriand, having a Valinorean elf, daughter of Finarfin, being bossed around by one of her lesser cousins (because that's what Gil-Galad is), and making her travel to Valinor against the ban of the Valar DOES "offensively contradict" things they don't have the rights to, as far as I'm concerned.

Offensive? How can this be offensive? Who is insulted by this, in what way, and how is it offensive to you?

 

[Davies]

The harfoots have been fun to watch. I don't understand the link the story was trying to draw between then Stranger's broken twig and the dad's broken ankle, though. Was he trying to warn Nori? Is he accidentally prophetic? I don't get it.

If you believe that the Stranger is benevolent, then he may have been trying to warn her. If you believe him to be malevolent, it is possible that he caused the accident so that the harfoots don't go their way before they help him.

Or, possibly, there is no causal connection.

 

[MarkB]

I'm also not really sure what they're doing with Galadriel-adrift-at-sea; the sea-monster bit in particular felt like a bit of unresolved "and-then-this-happened" storytelling.

Yeah, there's definitely something unresolved with that. My best guess is that they've been picked up by a Corsair ship, and that the wyrm will be their unintentional rescuer from that situation.

 

[Ryujin]

Yeah, there's definitely something unresolved with that. My best guess is that they've been picked up by a Corsair ship, and that the wyrm will be their unintentional rescuer from that situation.

I'm voting Numenor, based on the little bit of sail we can see.

 

[John R Davis]

It’s just a tv show. It’s all inconsequential. Making it slavishly follow some existing text won’t make it any less inconsequential.

I'm fine with them tweaking as they need, as you say, despite the wording you have used.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Yeah, there's definitely something unresolved with that. My best guess is that they've been picked up by a Corsair ship, and that the wyrm will be their unintentional rescuer from that situation.

I think the DM just rolled a wandering monster.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I feel quite fortunate in that regard, although I'm a big fan of the novels and I definitely read through The Silmarillion and The Book of Lost Tales during my teens, at this point when it comes to anything specific from those sources, I'm
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Same. I have, at times in the past, been obsessed with the Legendarium. I knew all about Faenor, Gil-Galad, and have read everything published before about the early 2000’s.

Luckily, ADHD robs me of details pretty relentlessly, so I’ve learned to not care about the sorts of changes they’ve made.

Though I do and will always hate the exclusion of Tom Bombadil and the Scouring of The Shire from the movies.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Or possibly "the Secret Fire ... the flame of Anor".

Doesn’t that refer to the ring he wouldn’t have yet?

Having the Fëanorians land in Eriador instead of Beleriand, having a Valinorean elf, daughter of Finarfin, being bossed around by one of her lesser cousins (because that's what Gil-Galad is), and making her travel to Valinor against the ban of the Valar DOES "offensively contradict" things they don't have the rights to, as far as I'm concerned.

Those are fairly “in the weeds” details, to be fair.

 

[Hriston]

One last observation is the fundamental change this show presents to the departure of the elves from Middle-earth to the Undying Lands. In the source material, individual elves make this decision for themselves, and when they do, they either build a boat or they take ship from the Grey Havens. As long as they aren't under the Ban, they don't need anyone's permission. They just go.

The reason many elves, including Galadriel, haven't left Middle-earth in the Second Age is because they don't want to leave. Many of them were born in Middle-earth. It's their home where they've labored and fought. They have friends and families there. Some of them, including Galadriel, have ambitions of ruling lands of their own in the wide spaces of Middle-earth. That's why Galadriel left Aman and why she is unwilling to heed the summons to return at the end of the First Age.

The alternative concept the show presents is completely bizarre. It depicts every elf as eager to give up the life they've known as soon as the High King deems to reward them for services rendered. It's unthinkable that Galadriel might not accept his bounty. The corollary, of course, is that if Gil-galad doesn't pick you as one of the lucky winners, you're imprisoned in Middle-earth where you absolutely don't want to be. It's distopian. The scene on the boat reminded me of Logan's Run.

 

[Davies]

Doesn’t that refer to the ring he wouldn’t have yet?

There are two schools of thought on that; one of them, as you say, says that he's talking about Narya, where the other notes that "Anor" is the Sindarin for "sun" and concludes that he's referring to the fruit of Laurelin and thus the light of Valinor in general.