Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

[Sepulchrave II]

That’s normal - check up on your vulcanology.

Really, it’s ridiculous how wrong people get the science in an attempt to pick holes in shows they hate-watch.

It’s certainly not possible to set off a volcano like that - using science, but clearly dark sorcery was involved. That what makes it a fantasy show.

It was a full on eruption, with pyroclastic flow, tremors, ash ejections and raining lava bombs.

Why is it so important to you that you understand that only people who are "hate-watching" it in order to "pick holes" have any criticism of the show, and therefore such criticism is invalid?

"Clearly dark sorcery" seems like a very convenient brush-off for pretty much any phenomenon which is otherwise illogical or lacks justification. How is it "clear," in-universe? If it is the magic sword hilt, why is this giant mechanical watercourse necessary?

Who is responsible for this "dark sorcery?"

Why can't you accept that the mechanical process which gave rise to the eruption is simply implausible, and - when compounded with the plethora of other implausible causative mechanisms which the show exhibits - disrupts any verisimilitude to such an extent that a momentary "suspension of disbelief" or a "charitable reading of phenomenon X" is insufficient?

 

[TheSword]

I startled a [+] thread. Want to discuss the series without the hate.

Rings of Power is Back [+] Appreciation

Hey folks. A thread for those that want to discuss Rings of Power in a positive way. As the other thread has been overwhelmed with negativity this is a thread for those happy to suspend disbelief and just talk about the story, characters, plot etc of Rings of Power, I appreciate that people...

www.enworld.org

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I'm watching at this point out of morbid curiosity. My spouse -- not a Tolkien fan who last saw LotR 20 years ago -- seems to enjoy it as generic fantasy.

We just finished Episode 4, and the number of 'member berries caused me to realize that I think I know how the script was written: they fed LotR into Chat GPT and told it to write a Tolkien story. It's like the book was put into a blender, elements extracted, and laid down in random combinations.

 

[Morrus]

I startled a [+] thread. Want to discuss the series without the hate.

Rings of Power is Back [+] Appreciation

Hey folks. A thread for those that want to discuss Rings of Power in a positive way. As the other thread has been overwhelmed with negativity this is a thread for those happy to suspend disbelief and just talk about the story, characters, plot etc of Rings of Power, I appreciate that people...

www.enworld.org

Thank you. I should have done that, like I did for s1. It's just tiresome.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It was a full on eruption, with pyroclastic flow, tremors, ash ejections and raining lava bombs.

Sure, so was Vesuvius in 79CE. Some people were killed by pyroclastic flows (there was more than one, but they are directional), some people were asphyxiated and buried under ashfall, some people escaped or were rescued (it's in Pliny's account). Probably some killed by lava bombs too, but there is no evidence for that.

"Clearly dark sorcery" seems like a very convenient brush-off for pretty much any phenomenon which is otherwise illogical or lacks justification. How is it "clear," in-universe? If it is the magic sword hilt, why is this giant mechanical watercourse necessary?

Sure, that's what we call MAGIC. It's something you have in FANTASY. It's not LOGICAL.

As for why it works that way in this show, that's down to Tolkien. In Tolkien's world magic is subtle, its not clear where the magic begins and the natural ends. We see this in both how the Elven ring protects Lorien (and Galadriel explains it) and in Saruman's explosives.

And the show showed us the sword hilt was magical long before it is used, when it proved more effective against the orcs than regular, non-broken weapons, and when it is seen absorbing blood.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Sure, so was Vesuvius in 79CE. Some people were killed by pyroclastic flows (there was more than one, but they are directional), some people were asphyxiated and buried under ashfall, some people escaped or were rescued (it's in Pliny's account). Probably some killed by lava bombs too, but there is no evidence for that.

Sure, that's what we call MAGIC. It's something you have in FANTASY. It's not LOGICAL.

As for why it works that way in this show, that's down to Tolkien. In Tolkien's world magic is subtle, its not clear where the magic begins and the natural ends. We see this in both how the Elven ring protects Lorien (and Galadriel explains it) and in Saruman's explosives.

And the show showed us the sword hilt was magical long before it is used, when it proved more effective against the orcs than regular, non-broken weapons, and when it is seen absorbing blood.

The sword is definitely magical, but it started a clearly-shown mechanical process that simply wouldn't do what we see it doing. But it looked awesome, and apparently that's the priority in the writer's room.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The sword is definitely magical, but it started a clearly-shown mechanical process that simply wouldn't do what we see it doing. But it looked awesome, and apparently that's the priority in the writer's room.

Why is it so hard to understand that the “mechanical process” is magic? The same way as Saruman blows up the deaping wall without saltpetre and sulphur.

 

[MarkB]

Why is it so hard to understand that the “mechanical process” is magic? The same way as Saruman blows up the deaping wall without saltpetre and sulphur.

Also, rivers themselves in Middle Earth are magical, and have their own spirits. It's part of why the Ring lay undiscovered for so long after Isildur lost it.

 

[Alzrius]

Also, rivers themselves in Middle Earth are magical, and have their own spirits. It's part of why the Ring lay undiscovered for so long after Isildur lost it.

Citation please, for Middle Earth's rivers having spirits in general and the Anduin hiding the One Ring in particular.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Citation please, for Middle Earth's rivers having spirits in general and the Anduin hiding the One Ring in particular.

Well the Withywindle does, just ask Old Tom!

There is more on this in the Tom Bombadil book.

Mountains have spirits too.