Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

[Paul Farquhar]

Frodo said the ring would hold Gollum to his oath. I think that's what did it.

Yes, in that interpretation, the Ring destroyed itself, which has a nice symmetry to it. But still an accident of sorts.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Frodo didn't save Middle-Earth. Tolkien himself pointed it out: Frodo failed. The One Ring was destroyed by accident.

Frodo got the ball to the one yard line. Without him, Middle-Earth would have been lost.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Indeed. We are never really told just how much more advanced Numenor is, so it could have looked like Wakanda without contradicting the text. But clearly the show has it's own aesthetic, and they had to remain consistent with that.

I'm sure everyone would have been completely normal if Numenor had turned out to be Wakanda in every way.

 

[Maxperson]

I'm sure everyone would have been completely normal if Numenor had turned out to be Wakanda in every way.

It didn't need to be Wakanda. The rest of mankind in the show has been depicted as rural farmer/nomad types. If they had just made Numenor out to be like Rome, with it's aquaducts, massive and advanced(we still can't make concrete like they did) constructions, better arms and armor, etc., and had every citizen from the highest to lowest clean and educated, Numenor would have seemed incredibly far advanced over the rest of mankind.

 

[Scribe]

we still can't make concrete like they did

And why is that? Its something that pops into my head every now and again and I've never looked lol

 

[Morrus]

And why is that? Its something that pops into my head every now and again and I've never looked lol

As I recall, I listened to a podcast episode on this. It's not that we can't it's that we got the ingredients wrong when trying to follow the instructions. I can't remember what it was, but it was a term for a common thing--maybe even water?--but to the Romans that meant something slightly different. Like salt water or something? I'm not sure. I'm probably misremembering it completely.

 

[Parmandur]

As I recall, I listened to a podcast episode on this. It's not that we can't it's that we got the ingredients wrong when trying to follow the instructions. I can't remember what it was, but it was a term for a common thing--maybe even water?--but to the Romans that meant something slightly different. Like salt water or something? I'm not sure. I'm probably misremembering it completely.

To my understanding, there is also an issue that while Rpman concrete would be very good for some applications, and long lasting, it doesn’t have the same load bearing power of modern concrete...so wouldn't work for skyscrapers or anything with mutli-ton steel vehicles at high speeds.

 

[Squared]

As I recall, I listened to a podcast episode on this. It's not that we can't it's that we got the ingredients wrong when trying to follow the instructions. I can't remember what it was, but it was a term for a common thing--maybe even water?--but to the Romans that meant something slightly different. Like salt water or something? I'm not sure. I'm probably misremembering it completely.

Yes, I remember that one. It wasn’t that the formula was wrong or misunderstood. It was that the specific source of ash that they used had large nodules of a calcium mineral, I think, that dissolved in water, rain or sea, and filled in any cracks that had formed.

The issue was that modern concrete was too pure and processed, which does add strength. Roman style concrete is only useful for stuff exposed to water frequently, and lower compression solutions. It is not necessary better than modern concrete, but it is a “new” type of concrete with different applications.

Not to say that it isn’t an impressive achievement for an ancient civilization. But the hype train around Roman tech can get a little overblown.

^2

 

[Zardnaar]

And why is that? Its something that pops into my head every now and again and I've never looked lol

Roman instructions said add water. They meant salt water.

We can make the concrete but can't mass produce it as it requires specific ingredients unavailable in industrial quantities.

A handful of volcanos cant supply the world's demand. And it would be stupidly expensive.

Iirc.

We can easily make the pyramids but I think 5 billion is a conservative estimate of the cost.

 

[TheSword]

I was thinking about the Sauron re-animation scenes with the black blob and it minded me of the re-animation of another great necromancer - Nagash of Warhammer fame.

His body had been burned in the furnaces of Nagashizzar and all that remained of it were particles of black sooty dust drifting on the wind. One by one these particles were drawn to each other. Down the long centuries clumps of them slowly coalesced in the Desolation of Nagash, forming black putrescent blobs that flowed inch by inch across the country to the Black Pyramid of Nagash in Khemri. At the rate of one drop a year the sarcophagus slowly filled with the vile black fluid, becoming a dark chrysalis within which an evil being was being re-born.

I thought it was a pretty cool concept - Sauron’s evil congealing back into corporeal form in the dank, lightless places of the world.