Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

[Micah Sweet]

Some folks just don't like dissenting opinions, and to be fair to them, there is soooo much negativity online that I can see why they might want to avoid it from time-to-time.

OTOH, I find it boring to talk to people that always agree with me. I'm fine if you (or anyone) disagrees with that!

Yeah, not interested in an echo chamber.

 

[wicked cool]

What bridge? Why was it "dumb"?


Why's that?


In what way?


Again, what did you dislike about that?


Ah. You are a Tolkien Lore Deep-Diver, are you? Yeah, I can empathize, even though it doesn't bother me. Care to elaborate on what parts are egregious and why it matters?


Really? The rings? You didn't even like the horse that back-kicked an orc off the screen? I thought that part was awesome, myself. (And not easy to film). In fact, I felt that they did a LOT with their budget in the latest episode.


Well, we know that they'll get distributed eventually. There's no reason to think that it happens right away. In fact, one of the shows' lore "problems" is a truncated timeline, and yet you... what? Want the rings to go to all the Humans right away?

I may sound like I'm dismissing your concerns, that that is the opposite of what I mean to be doing - I wouldn't reply to you if I was dismissive. I want to know why you feel the way you do, and more about your opinion than "this sux". What about it?

Ok well first a mountain doesn’t collapse like that. There’s high fantasy and then there’s high fantasy. I would have gone with magic or stone giants etc. this wasn’t done in 80’s Arnold movies or even cartoons but hey

Sure the kicking orc was ok but the entire Calvary stopping like that was just bad writing.

The troll failed and yet he’s laughing. Why. It’s not the predator moment where it’s going to blow up Arnold

So we know that he doesn’t lose the rings. It just matters! She let’s say in 10 years they redo Star Wars and let’s pretend the new writers decide to let kenobi survive the death star or he dyes but doesn’t become a ghost . Or pick any event from a fiction universe and the problem is you started a ripple and eventually you can’t get back on track

I’m not a lore buff or even a purist just looking for common sense and a plot that makes sense

I might be incorrect but in season 1 there was no wall and one of the warriors says we need to fortify the base of the wall? The storm is already upon them

 

[Maxperson]

Yeah, not interested in an echo chamber.

Yeah, not interested in an echo chamber.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Ok well first a mountain doesn’t collapse like that.

What makes you think that? I've seen avalanches. Seemed (while not particularly likely) not particularly far-fetched as these things go - I've certainly seen things in my fantasy TV that grossly outmatch that for implausibility.

There’s high fantasy and then there’s high fantasy. I would have gone with magic or stone giants etc. this wasn’t done in 80’s Arnold movies or even cartoons but hey

Meh. That world has some weird physics. It's not the first time we've seen it in LotR-type things. Gondor took an unnatural beating in RotK, for example. It tends to have to do with "Hope being lost". I'm pretty sure that it's established that despair can cause that sort of thing to happen in that setting.

Sure the kicking orc was ok but the entire Calvary stopping like that was just bad writing.

I'm not sure I agree. I mean, if I were Elrond, I'd probably keep the charge going and hope that Galadriel survived because one elf is not worth the entire battle, but elves are weird about things like Death. They try too hard to avoid it, unless it's about their enemies. Then they're okay with it.

The troll failed and yet he’s laughing. Why. It’s not the predator moment where it’s going to blow up Arnold

I loved that bit. It's the only time we got to glimpse what the troll was thinking, and the answer is: He's a maniac. Opposite to the Elves, he loves Death so much that he's like, "Haw! Ye got me!"

So we know that he doesn’t lose the rings. It just matters!

Sorry, what? We know that he'll have to get them back. We don't know the day-to-day. We're talking about things that happened over many many years, that have gaps in the story - gaps that are there on purpose. I find it stranger that Elrond is so adamantly against the Elf Rings. Doesn't he wear one by the time of tLotR?

She let’s say in 10 years they redo Star Wars and let’s pretend the new writers decide to let kenobi survive the death star or he dyes but doesn’t become a ghost . Or pick any event from a fiction universe and the problem is you started a ripple and eventually you can’t get back on track

Yeah, that happens in retconning stuff. I don't like it much either, but I don't really see what you're seeing here.

I’m not a lore buff or even a purist just looking for common sense and a plot that makes sense

I guess where we differ, because I agree with you on all that, is that the situation is happening HERE. Because, I think it happened all over the place in THIS VERY SAME SHOW last season, but I feel like they are starting to actually get good now. The same episode you hated (the latest one) I thought was the best one yet. They finally started to get somewhere, and did it well. IMO - I am fine if you don't agree.

I might be incorrect but in season 1 there was no wall and one of the warriors says we need to fortify the base of the wall? The storm is already upon them

I have no idea. I doubt that, but I suppose that it's possible that they added a wall when they decided how they wanted to film the battle. In this case I'd rather assume that I don't remember the wall, or that we just didn't see it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The troll failed and yet he’s laughing. Why. It’s not the predator moment where it’s going to blow up Arnold

Because he loves violence. It was pretty realistic, IMO. This was all a sociopathic game to him, like @FitzTheRuke said.

 

[wicked cool]

What makes you think that? I've seen avalanches. Seemed (while not particularly likely) not particularly far-fetched as these things go - I've certainly seen things in my fantasy TV that grossly outmatch that for implausibility.


Meh. That world has some weird physics. It's not the first time we've seen it in LotR-type things. Gondor took an unnatural beating in RotK, for example. It tends to have to do with "Hope being lost". I'm pretty sure that it's established that despair can cause that sort of thing to happen in that setting.


I'm not sure I agree. I mean, if I were Elrond, I'd probably keep the charge going and hope that Galadriel survived because one elf is not worth the entire battle, but elves are weird about things like Death. They try too hard to avoid it, unless it's about their enemies. Then they're okay with it.


I loved that bit. It's the only time we got to glimpse what the troll was thinking, and the answer is: He's a maniac. Opposite to the Elves, he loves Death so much that he's like, "Haw! Ye got me!"


Sorry, what? We know that he'll have to get them back. We don't know the day-to-day. We're talking about things that happened over many many years, that have gaps in the story - gaps that are there on purpose. I find it stranger that Elrond is so adamantly against the Elf Rings. Doesn't he wear one by the time of tLotR?


Yeah, that happens in retconning stuff. I don't like it much either, but I don't really see what you're seeing here.


I guess where we differ, because I agree with you on all that, is that the situation is happening HERE. Because, I think it happened all over the place in THIS VERY SAME SHOW last season, but I feel like they are starting to actually get good now. The same episode you hated (the latest one) I thought was the best one yet. They finally started to get somewhere, and did it well. IMO - I am fine if you don't agree.


I have no idea. I doubt that, but I suppose that it's possible that they added a wall when they decided how they wanted to film the battle. In this case I'd rather assume that I don't remember the wall, or that we just didn't see it.

No we actually know that he has the rings at that moment. It’s not grey it’s definitive

A avalanche is snow not mountains. Those mountains falling perfectly to form a land bridge it’s just dumb

Let me turn the table. Do you think they could do better? Shouldn’t this be a lot better than the plot of an a team episode (dating myself)

 

[Sepulchrave II]

Some thoughts:

1. I think that characterizing the mountain-knocked-down-by-catapults as anything other than a contrived spectacle used to propel the episode forward is a bit hard to swallow.

• Handily, the river is narrower than in S1
• How is this remotely plausible?
• Why didn't they use this strategy at the outset of the battle?
• Where did the water go?
• Why was the riverbed easily crossable in the aftermath? With siege engines?
• How was it achieved so quickly?
  • If it took a long time (days, weeks) why isn't this passage of time adequately represented?

2. What was Arondir doing for the bulk of the episode, other than just turning up to save Galadriel?
3. What was Gil-Galad doing for the bulk of the episode? Why wasn't he in command?
4. How did Elrond get to Khazad-Dum and back in this time? What exactly was this time?
5. How did the elves arrest their massed charge so quickly?

• You know what would have been cool? Establishing with wide shots that Elven cavalry move like an organic mass on the battlefield - like a murmuration of starlings. But it wasn't.

6. The symbolic chiaroscuro of the elves facing off against the orcs was poorly executed. It would have worked better in an arthouse movie.
7. Why didn't the elves just charge the orcs around Galadriel and bust her out of her cage?
8. What was happening while Elrond and Adar were parleying? Was there a ceasefire or did the battle rage on? It seems like the siege just kept going.
9. Why didn't Adar (or other orcs) just kill Elrond?
10. Why did the pin-cushion elf archer have to be inserted as a Boromir memberberry?
11. Why did Prince Durin turn his whole army round instead of just sending a contingent back to deal with his father, or leading a contingent?
12. Eregion's walls, as noted above
13. Efforts to subvert the symbolism of Gandalf relieving Helm's Deep at dawn by having the Dwarves not turn up were ham-fisted
14. No clear sense of scale of the battle
15. Don't deploy your cavalry into woods, you rookie elf commander
16. What was that stupid siege engine that pulled rocks out of the wall supposed to be? Some kind of sow or boar?

I mean, I could go on...

But.., did you know that Damrod the troll was modelled after Mike from Breaking Bad? I think that's pretty cool.

 

[Stalker0]

I find it stranger that Elrond is so adamantly against the Elf Rings. Doesn't he wear one by the time of tLotR?

Well that's the entire point! How does Elrond go from so against the rings to actually become a ring bearer in the 3rd age? Tune in to find out!!!


I see this complaint a lot....how come Galadriel isn't like I saw her in LOTR? How come Elrond is so different?

And I mean....those characters have literally aged well....an entire age!!! And they have possessed a ring of power for possibly that entire time. People do change over time....I have friends now in their 40s that I knew in their 20s, and none of them act exactly the same.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well that's the entire point! How does Elrond go from so against the rings to actually become a ring bearer in the 3rd age? Tune in to find out!!!

I see this complaint a lot....how come Galadriel isn't like I saw her in LOTR? How come Elrond is so different?

And I mean....those characters have literally aged well....an entire age!!! And they have possessed a ring of power for possibly that entire time. People do change over time....I have friends now in their 40s that I knew in their 20s, and none of them act exactly the same.

Heck, when I was in my 20s, none of my friends wore rings of power.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

Heck, when I was in my 20s, none of my friends wore rings of power.

When I was in my 8000s I was pretty much the same as when I was in my 5000s.