Rings of Power -- all opinions and spoilers welcome thread.

[Maxperson]

In terms of communicating and developing the themes, no, not really. It's different t front he book, because it's a different story inspired by, not an adaptation. The important thing is hitting the Tolkienian notes and personal themes. And even more the details that would matter to reinforce those are things like different registers for characters (Galadriel is walking around talking like the Book of Common Prayer, while the Harfoots are earthy and simple), or people singing songs for their friends. Not calander dates.

The harfoots could be the first halflings. The dwarves were done well. That's it. The elves fall flat on their collective faces and are not Tolkien elves at all. The numenoreans are even worse. The humans also not so much. Gandalf(or whoever it was) also a no.

 

[Parmandur]

The harfoots could be the first halflings. The dwarves were done well. That's it. The elves fall flat on their collective faces and are not Tolkien elves at all. The numenoreans are even worse. The humans also not so much. Gandalf(or whoever it was) also a no.

The Noldor as depicted here have all of the faults of the Eldar in Tolkien, as do the Numenoreans. All of this was also handed masterfully.

I've been diving into the RotK Appendices again now, and I am increasingly impressed with how well they managed to nail the material in it's essence, and honestly increasingly confused why so many don't see that.

 

[Maxperson]

The Noldor as depicted here have all of the faults of the Eldar in Tolkien, as do the Numenoreans. All of this was also handed masterfully.

No. Not even close. Watch LotR again. Take note of Elrond and the elves of Rivendell, and Galadriel and the elves of Lothlorien. One of these two shows followed the spirit of Tolkien's elves and the other is Rings of Power.

 

[MarkB]

No. Not even close. Watch LotR again. Take note of Elrond and the elves of Rivendell, and Galadriel and the elves of Lothlorien. One of these two shows followed the spirit of Tolkien's elves and the other is Rings of Power.

Tolkien's elves can be flawed, petty, cruel and covetous. Take a look at the elves of Mirkwood in The Hobbit, pulling tricks on starving dwarves, imprisoning them, marching an army into other peoples' territory in hope of a share of treasure. That's from the novel, not the movies.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Other than the dwarves and hobbits, there's nothing Tolkien about the series other than the name. The Numenoreans had some nice architecture, but were depicted more as low men than high men. The elves aren't even close to be Tolkien's elves.

The Numenoreans are close to their fall: wasn't their lifespan reducing as they removed themselves from Eru? So, having the "lower class", mostly King's Men, behaving like regular humans didn't shock me: they are supposed to be, well, Sodome and Gomorrha-level of evil to deserve genocide... But perhaps I missed what you were referring to.

 

[Janx]

We finished it last week. never read the sillymarilly thing. don't care.

Ork homeland plan seems contradictory. A) there's someplace else the evil elves have that they wanted to take NotSauron to. B. Volcanotizing the land is unsustainable. One reason you can't just walk into Mordors is because nothing's on the menu, they have to bring it in. and that clearly takes a reservation weeks in advance.

Mystery guy 1 and 2 are the opposite of what they implied. Well, the one was obviously too fond of the halfings' weed to be anything but. And the other, well, I guess they fooled me.

C: His plan sure seems like a convoluted series of lucky guesses on where Galadriel will go, along with himself trying on varying career options until he just happens to end up in the right place to advance his plan. Maybe that's his power.

Overall, a nice stroll through the days of yore when Isildur made some bad life choices.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

We finished it last week. never read the sillymarilly thing. don't care.

Ork homeland plan seems contradictory. A) there's someplace else the evil elves have that they wanted to take NotSauron to. B. Volcanotizing the land is unsustainable. One reason you can't just walk into Mordors is because nothing's on the menu, they have to bring it in. and that clearly takes a reservation weeks in advance.

Well, if the place in East, near Rhûn, might be suitable, it's obviously populated with fire-breathing nuns who worship Sauron... not a good place to be if you actually backstabed Sauron because of his unfair treatment of orcs. And possibly a bad place to be for orcs as well. With regard to the unsustainable plan, well... If it's within the world's physics that bringing water to Mt Doom will make it erupt and cover the land in eternal darkness, sure it will damage the ecosystem but I am not even sure of what the orcs eat. Either they counted on the tribute from the Southlanders (after all, they promised peace to them if they bowed, but that might include paying taxes) or maybe fungi could grow?

 

[Parmandur]

No. Not even close. Watch LotR again. Take note of Elrond and the elves of Rivendell, and Galadriel and the elves of Lothlorien. One of these two shows followed the spirit of Tolkien's elves and the other is Rings of Power.

Actually, Jackson's films botched the Elves.

 

[Rabulias]

As an aside, a friend sent this to me today:

 

[trappedslider]

After reading this thread and knowing some info about S. M. Stirling's Emberverse series I feel confident enough to say that @Maxperson would totally fit in with the Dúnedain Rangers