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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    I wanted to pick up on this, because I’d be interested if you could point me in the direction of something which supports this assertion. As far as I was aware, the principal influence is rooted in the idea of the skjaldmaer from Norse myth, placing it very much in line with his “medieval...
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    I’m not really sure what point you’re trying to make, but I don’t disagree with many of your observations.
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    The original text deals with mythemes rooted in medieval sensibilities; the movies begin a move toward modernity which the TV series runs with even further. But I can’t say that I think the Fellowship movie is better than the book based on a single casting choice, no. My frame of reference...
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    There aren't many cases I can think of where a cinematic adaptation really surpasses the literature - The Godfather springs to mind. Maybe Blade Runner? Shawshank Redemption? I think that the more egregious departures from Tolkien's history - say, the balrog, Gandalf, the order in which the...
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    Sorry for any excessive negativity, everyone. I’ve been spending too much time on the biblical history forums, and need to tone down my rhetoric.
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    I mean, everyone needs to make a paycheck. And Olsen certainly isn't the first academic to act as an apologist for, and as the "expert face" of corporate interest. But some of his commentary on S1 of RoP is painfully obsequious, as he speaks about the "deep meaning and symbolism" which is...
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    It’s almost as if the Die Hard franchise constantly and comedically riffs on the idea of its hero being absurdly difficult to kill.
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    Do you think Prime Video compensated Olsen for his time and work? I think it’s also worth pointing out that it was Olsen who dubbed Olsen “The Tolkien Professor” - it’s not like it was somehow acquired through popular accolade. A couple of thoughts: 1. I think it's worth drawing a distinction...
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    In many cases, this could have been eased by the showrunners inserting a single, brief scene which aided continuity, e.g.: Miriel’s Numenorians arrive in the Southlands. They begin a cavalry charge. Where? Why? Insert: Brief scene describing/demonstrating/alluding to an orc attack on a nearby...
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    This show requires the viewer to make an awful lot of assumptions in order to maintain a strained sense of continuity.
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    Maybe, I guess. But I think they would have already put it out there, if that were the case.
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    Why would you think that a fidelity to lore applies in this case in particular, when it has been ignored in so many others? In the Alatar/Pallando iteration of the Blue Wizards, it is Oromë who chooses Alatar, and he brings Pallando as a friend. This is the version that places Curunir as a Maia...
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    So, Episode 8 The Good: Music Adar Family orc meets a grisly end Charlie Vickers and Charles Edwards putting on good performances despite the challenge of dealing with awful writing and dialogue The Bad: Badly choreographed fight scene between Sauron and Galadriel Galadriel falling 500ft...
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    I think it’s a mistake to view the show in terms of lore - period. Nothing which it has presented comports closely with anything established by Tolkien. It has diverged from the timeline, from what we know about established characters, and in terms of Middle-Earth history. It has introduced a...
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    If no-one, anywhere ever makes a rational decision, I think the problem is rather worse. Every character in this show seems to be a moron.
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    When I was in my 8000s I was pretty much the same as when I was in my 5000s.
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    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...
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    There sre more than a few continuity issues in this episode. One of the more outrageous is the sudden appearance of walls around Eregion: It seems like a fairly obvious retcon when Gil-Galad mentions the dwarven defensive wall early in S2, because the showrunners didn't really plan anything...
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    Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

    The "blasting fire" from Isengard seems very gunpowdery, as do Gandalf's fireworks - albeit with a magical flourish. And we know from The Hobbit: With obvious WWI overtones. As to the larger question: yes we can invent all kinds of contorted, apophenic reasons to explain and justify why some...
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