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I see the AI wisely chose to ignore around half of the rules in the DMG.

My palate leans dry and astringent rather than sweet. So... Two shots of The Botanist gin (from freezer) Two shots Campari Stirred over ice, and garnished with a slice of grapefruit.

I agree that the score is very solid, as are the designs of the locations - in terms of their aesthetic (especially architectural) consistency. Unfortunately, the result (for me) when the score is juxtaposed with poor writing, characterization and acting is a kind of cognitive dissonance which...

Miriel originally intended to send 500 men on 5 ships, before 2 were burned, so 300 would make sense. It's a shame the showrunners didn't exhibit, enormous, breathtaking ships (missing an opportunity for a visual spectacle and emphasizing Numenor's technology); or have a larger number of smaller...

Tolkien gives the impression that the Numenorean fleet was huge, even before the Great Armament, and made up of enormous ships; so large, that the havens of Lindon were unable to accommodate their draft. The deforestation of Eriador was largely due to the needs of Numenor's fleet. Pharazon's...

I feel a subplot which leans into the possibility that Sauron - at least, at one time - genuinely sought some kind of forgiveness from the Valar might be intelligently leveraged. But we're way past that point in the current timeline (whenever that's supposed to be); out of pride, and a desire to...

"Because Peter Jackson inserted a kind-of similar scene for the sake of drama" doesn't really amount to a very robust defense of the characterization choices for Gil-galad and Galadriel. I think that, fundamentally, making any Elf a POV character is going to be problematic. As soon as you...

The show is set an indefinite length of time after Morgoth's defeat, because the show has played fast-and-loose with Tolkien's timeline, meaning you can't really assert anything categorical about it. Sauron starts building Barad-Dur in SA 1000; the rings are forged in 1500-1600; Elendil is born...

She gets rescued by Sauron, who happens to be floating by on a raft. They are attacked by a sea monster, but survive. Fortunately, Elendil is sailing by and rescues both of them. Let's just let that sink in again. And it's not a "chance meeting" (as we say in Middle-Earth) or "providence,"...

I don't necessarily object to the arrival of the Istar via meteor, nor to his frailty and amnesia; this is somewhat consistent with the way the wizards are portrayed in the Third Age, where they are Maiar embodied in flesh, diminished, and have a faint memory of Valinor as "distant." While we...

I just watched the first half hour of this video, and I admit I'm baffled; it seemed to me that Mr Olsen was making tenuous connections, framing the pedestrian as profound, and treating - what seems to me - a rather crass and mediocre production as though it were high art, replete with nuance...

Chiasmal, chiasmic and chiasmatic are all valid variants; chiastic now tends most to apply to the literary construction of religious texts - hence I added the (!). The Gospel of Mark and the Quran both have many examples. Chiasm is not simple parallelism or echoing; it follows an...

I think you're reading an awful lot into something which isn't apparent. I see no chiasmal (chiasmic/chiasmatic [or chiastic!]) structure to the way the narrative has been contrived. Nor do I see any parallels between the Flight of the Noldor and their war with Morgoth, and the forging of the...

We don't have a clear picture of the actual reception of RoP because of 1) Coordinated review bombing 2) The fact that Amazon suspended reviews in early September and didn't resume until later. On September 9, Amazon deleted almost all 1-star reviews to "weed out trolls." We are asked to trust...

I liked the specific verbal interaction where Halbrand nudged Celebrimbor, but found that the circumstances which led to its coming about to be rather contrived or implausible. Given what we can glean of Celebrimbor's prideful character in the books, even had he deigned to interact with...

I don't think we have a single perspective on the Elves. In The Hobbit, they are very much presented as "airy-fairy" - whimsical, treacherous (in the case of the Silvan elves), and scant on any description of their actual appearance. In the LotR we still only see them through the lens of the...

I agree with this, and I don't really understand why it's elicited any pushback, as it seems to me you are saying: 1) Seek reputable, licensed medical attention if you're sick, and follow medical direction generally 2) If you want to supplement your allopathic program with prayer, going to...

I have had a number of experiences - some shared, some alone - which are are inexplicable to me, but I am reluctant to characterize them (or anything else) as supernatural, as I believe all phenomena are inherently natural. Some are just beyond our comprehension, either currently or foreseeably...

Sure. My suggestions were in response to "perhaps more." General question - do people consider the seven and the nine basically of the same type in the books? It seems to me that were allocated to Men and Dwarves by Sauron after he seized them from Celebrimbor, but I can't seem to find any...

Fire seeds against the wargs before the Fellowship attempt the Redhorn pass - albeit with pine cones, rather than acorns. Either searing light, sunbeam or sunburst during the retreat from Osgiliath to drive the Nazgul away, depending on how high you'd like to turn the volume. The are all Sun...