Spoilers Rings of Power is back!

[Paul Farquhar]

Welcome to Rhun. DM’s note: this part of the world is currently under construction and may be lacking in content.

 

[Lidgar]

This series depowers Sauron a lot, but with the intention of having him win by smarts. Which from the point of view of telling an interesting story is better.

Just need to let go of the idea of being faithful to Tolkien’s vision. He never set out to write an entertaining TV show.

I agree. I like that they are highlighting his ability to trick and manipulate mortals versus just exercising raw power.

 

[MarkB]

I'll be interested to see what they do with the dwarven rings. From what I can recall from LotR, they supposedly never fully corrupted the dwarves because Sauron didn't truly grasp the dwarves' nature.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'll be interested to see what they do with the dwarven rings. From what I can recall from LotR, they supposedly never fully corrupted the dwarves because Sauron didn't truly grasp the dwarves' nature.

As per the text the rings drove the dwarves mad with lust for gold, but did not bring them under Sauron's control.

 

[OB1]

I enjoyed S1 and am loving S2 so far. My only real gripe is that they need to resolve who the Stranger is sooner rather than later. The Sauron twist last season worked well because it was important to show Sauron the deceiver, so the reveal worked with the characterization (and boy oh boy a rewatch of S1 knowing who Sauron is makes every one of his scenes super creepy). But with the Stranger, the reveal is really only going to mean things to the audience who knows who the character is. It won't change how the in world characters see him, so at this point, it's just pointless dragging out of the reveal to generate water cooler speculation.

And call me crazy, but I like this idea of Elves as super heroes, swimming across oceans, jumping off waterfalls, and taking on 10 Thugs (CR 1/2) like it's nothing. And in many ways that continues what Jackson did in the two movie trilogies.

 

[Parmandur]

I enjoyed S1 and am loving S2 so far. My only real gripe is that they need to resolve who the Stranger is sooner rather than later. The Sauron twist last season worked well because it was important to show Sauron the deceiver, so the reveal worked with the characterization (and boy oh boy a rewatch of S1 knowing who Sauron is makes every one of his scenes super creepy). But with the Stranger, the reveal is really only going to mean things to the audience who knows who the character is. It won't change how the in world characters see him, so at this point, it's just pointless dragging out of the reveal to generate water cooler speculation.

And call me crazy, but I like this idea of Elves as super heroes, swimming across oceans, jumping off waterfalls, and taking on 10 Thugs (CR 1/2) like it's nothing. And in many ways that continues what Jackson did in the two movie trilogies.

I agree that they should resolve it. If he is fully and definitely Gandalf by the end of this Season, we'll and good: pairing the making of Gandalf with the making of Sauron as thenatic opposites actually is quite appealing to me.

 

[NotAYakk]

I agree. I like that they are highlighting his ability to trick and manipulate mortals versus just exercising raw power.

In the "betrayal" scene, Sauron (and the enemy together) had just been cast down. He's at his weakest, they are fleeing.

And an elf stabs him with a magical artifact (the crown).

This doesn't defeat Sauron - it just wounds him seriously (kills the body Sauron is in, not the spirit), and it takes him many years to recover.

He's shape changing, but not "I can change my shape at will", but rather "I can change my shape with effort". And throughout this story he's been next to death - one time after the fall of the great enemy, the other time barely recovered from being slain. Despite this he's stronger than elves, better at crafting, etc, and is able to hide from their supernatural senses.

This 2nd season story seems to be about gathering power; the rings aren't just trinkets of corruption and manipulation, they actually matter to Sauron's own plans to regain power. With the corrupted humans, dwarves and elves, together with the one ring, he should be more powerful - and we have the limits of his power in LotR shown (within this cinematic universe). So he has to be substantially weaker for that to make sense.

The seduction of the elves by the rings of power was well done. One managed to resist; the rest made excuses (with a solid foundation!). The sea beast nudging the boat, and the crafter falling in love with the artistry. The rings falling from the king's hand and landing at Galadriel's feet. All hark back to how the one ring would manipulate chance and fate and tempt people with its power.

It even makes the turning down the temptation of the one ring better - she remembers failing at this task before.

 

[TheSword]

I’m loving it. Very enjoyable series - though I also liked the first one.

I was sad that Adar was recast. I like the original actor. Not that there is anything wrong with his replacement. He seemed to have a larger part in the first series.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Not that there is anything wrong with his replacement.

They cloned Sean Bean. Who knew Boromir was a half orc?

 

[Dire Bare]

I agree. It wasn't like the orcs were voting for Sauron to lead them: he was the right hand of Morgoth, a Maiar in his own right. He was not reduced to bug eating goo because the orcs voted him off the island. So dumb.

The orcs are being portrayed as free-willed creatures with a barbaric and evil society. In the previous wars, the orcs feel Sauron betrayed them and they are angry. It's not about "voting". Any king who abuses their subjects risks their subjects rising up and destroying them.

Unfortunately for Adar and the orcs, Sauron is hard to kill . . . and we know in the somewhat near future he dominates them again.

It's an interesting dynamic, portraying the orcs story as tragic, yet they are just as creepy and evil as they were in the LotR movies.