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I think it might be rather too early to make that judgement, as - for me, at least - the fudamental themes of Tolkien are about providence and surrender to the will of God/Eru. That said, I agree that some of the deeper motifs have been articulated well, namely: Sauron's role as deceiver, and...

Canonicity is a funny thing, and - aside from "canonical" itself being a rather fuzzy word - different people will regard different works as belonging to canon. Not to belabour the biblical parallels, but the Catholic, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian etc. etc. churches all have different canons. I...

I think this is true on many levels. Tolkien was quite cognizant of the way that stories are transmitted, and how tales tend to morph with time. There are many layers of "unreliable narration," both within (our) primary world - Christopher and JRR both having a moving set of goalposts in this...

If these three Are the same as these three Then it would be cool, given Sauron's previous association with werewolves.

That's fair. I suspect that this ambiguity from Tolkien is also intentional; he emphasizes the supernatural aspects of Sauron: his ability to act at a great distance; dominate minds; control the snows of Caradhras (possibly); cause Orodruin to erupt; blanket the lands with darkness etc. In that...

It's my understanding that the Eye is only a kind of metaphysical manifestation of Sauron, which is perceived by the Wise, or those who wear rings in the right circumstances (on Amon Hen, in Mordor etc.), or when facilitated by some other magic - such as a palantir, the Mirror of Galadriel etc...

The Man in the Moon is Tilion, a Maia.

The idea of Gil-galad believing Sauron "dead" stretches plausibility somewhat - being aware of Sauron's nature, and of his (albeit temporary) submission to Eonwe at the end of the First Age. Maybe it's more of a "fled" or "no longer a threat" - nothing to see here, move along, good for morale...

I agree that the nomenclature for the "divine" group is problematic, as you can't use divine as it refers to a power source, and that priest, cleric and mystic seem too narrowly defined for one reason or another. That said, I'm not sure of the utility of grouping things into four superclasses...

I think that Meteor Man is an Ithron Luin - a Blue Wizard. At least, as far as the rights will permit this for Amazon. I think that Sauron has yet to be revealed; we haven't seen the actor yet. That said, often, I'm wrong.

In Unfinished Tales Tolkien places the two Blue Wizards in the Third Age along with Gandalf, Saruman and Radagast. They are named Alatar and Pallando. In The Peoples of Middle-Earth, Tolkien places the two Blue Wizards in the Second Age. This is from a later period of the evolution of the...

Fair enough, although if you're trying to find a non-anachronistic equivalent, you might be hard-pressed. Form follows function, as they say, and there's a reason the shamshir, paramerion etc. are 3-4 feet long, as they're designed to be used with a downward slashing motion from horseback. If...

There are plenty of 16th-17th century Ottoman weapons which could plausibly do. See the sword of Shah Abbas I (middle panel, far right). Same swords but from a different angle; one-handed swords with straight edges on the far right should give a good sense of the size of the central scimitars:

Per episode. GoT cost around 100m per season, on average. Given that Amazon had to pay - what, 250m? - just for the rights, the shows are in the same ballpark.

I agree completely. And that review sums up my feelings pretty well: With all of the toxicity and negativity that was being generated around TROP before its release, I was determined to let the show stand or fall on its own merits, regardless of how far it deviated from "lore" - a pretty...

Heralds absolutely prefigured ambassadors; historically, they were generally given a good deal of room to negotiate - especially considering the speed of communication. Also, in the kind of feudal (or quasi-feudal) system to which Tolkien alludes, the political class (or ruling class) are the...