Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

[TheSword]

My understanding is that at least among the earlier episodes this season, some content was moved from one episode to another, after the filming was complete. This might be the reason many episodes have two directors listed.

As much as I'm enjoying the show, I think it has both too many characters and too few. There are half a dozen storylines, and some of the main characters have strong connections to others, but others have almost none. Durin has Disa, his father, and Elrond. The Stranger and Nori have each other.

Celebrimbor has no one. He interacts with other characters, but has no strong bonds to any of them. He barely interacts with the smiths working under him, who mostly don't even have any lines. This is probably an intentional way to make him isolated and susceptible, but part of me wishes he had someone close to him who was affected by Sauron's abuse of him.

Celebrimbor is obsessed with his art. That’s the point. Annatar has isolated from everything else. Including ruling his city.

Celebrimbor for this season is paired with Sauron. It’s Sauron’s seduction of Celebrimbor. No third person required. Judging by next weeks snapshot he is about to realise just how isolated but it will be too late.

Not to mention that the the people close to him is Elrond and Galadriel and they are being deliberately kept away from him.

 

[ART!]

Celebrimbor is obsessed with his art. That’s the point. Annatar has isolated from everything else. Including ruling his city.

Celebrimbor for this season is paired with Sauron. It’s Sauron’s seduction of Celebrimbor. No third person required. Judging by next weeks snapshot he is about to realise just how isolated but it will be too late.

Not to mention that the the people close to him is Elrond and Galadriel and they are being deliberately kept away from him.

That all makes sense, it's just seems too pointed, and like many little things in this show has no explanation or is never referenced.

Does he have no one in his life because he's obsessed with his work? We can infer and even assume that, but it would have been nice to have a character - maybe even just Sauron - reference that. He just seems the least-developed character. He has no wife, children, best friend, or prized pupil whose relationship Sauron's interference has befouled. I get that's one of the reasons Sauron focused on him, but it's pretty convenient that the guy skilled enough to make the rings also has has no support system.

 

[Kaodi]

Celebrimbor having only two people speaking to him (and a third, the guard, last night) to me smacks of the production not wanting to pay the higher rate for actors who speak on the production. It's a trick you see in a lot of shows that are trying to trim the budget here and there.

I recently binged Moonlighting and the Blue Moon Detective Agency has more than a dozen employees (most of whom do nothing) and other than the characters you know the names of, there's one other staff member who gets to speak on a regular basis (serving as a rival to Herbert Viola), even though some of the other cast members are in nearly every episode for the show's entire run.

Sounds a bit like Discovery syndrome where across five seasons most of the bridge crew had like half an episodes worth of character development.

 

[TheSword]

That all makes sense, it's just seems too pointed, and like many little things in this show has no explanation or is never referenced.

Does he have no one in his life because he's obsessed with his work? We can infer and even assume that, but it would have been nice to have a character - maybe even just Sauron - reference that. He just seems the least-developed character. He has no wife, children, best friend, or prized pupil whose relationship Sauron's interference has befouled. I get that's one of the reasons Sauron focused on him, but it's pretty convenient that the guy skilled enough to make the rings also has has no support system.

Elrond was his pupil. They built the forge together. You see lots of episodes with his apprentices. They demonstrate concern for him.

Not sure why that is insufficient.

 

[Zaukrie]

Just read the Forbes review, and I am nearly 100% in disagreement on the best and study parts. But he's annoyed the show isn't the same as the books, and I don't care.

 

[Parmandur]

Just read the Forbes review, and I am nearly 100% in disagreement on the best and study parts. But he's annoyed the show isn't the same as the books, and I don't care.

Man, across 6 decades, the dang books aren't the same as the books (Sauron started out as a giant talking cat!). People getting more bent out of shape about canon than Simon Tolkien (who has approval on the show) need to calm the heck down.

 

[TheSword]

Man, across 6 decades, the dang books aren't the same as the books (Sauron started out as a giant talking cat!). People getting more bent out of shape about canon than Simon Tolkien (who has approval on the show) need to calm the heck down.

Thing is, if Tolkein was alive folks wouldn’t be able to get away with all the gatekeeping but because he’s dead they treat it like it’s their own work.

 

[Parmandur]

Thing is, if Tolkein was alive folks wouldn’t be able to get away with all the gatekeeping but because he’s dead they treat it like it’s their own work.

I think Tolkien would much prefer Rings of Power to Jackson's movies.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Thing is, if Tolkein was alive folks wouldn’t be able to get away with all the gatekeeping but because he’s dead they treat it like it’s their own work.

JRRT: "And another thing -- it's pronounced 'Jandalf!'"

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Thing is, if Tolkein was alive folks wouldn’t be able to get away with all the gatekeeping but because he’s dead they treat it like it’s their own work.

If Tolkien were still alive he would be vilified on social media for changing canon.

It’s remarkable how much more vitriolic people get when the source material is fiction than when it is historical. Not that historical errors don’t get called out, but in that case the internet goes “it’s entertainment! Who cares what a few boffins think!”