[+] The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - SPOILERS ALLOWED

[Parmandur]

I the nine were given to the kings and queens of mortal men. I could see the boy of the southrons being a leader to get one, and perhaps Miriel being tempted into accepting one to restore her sight.

The only really canon info we have is that 3 were Numenoreans, and one was an Easterling. Pharazon was one of the Nazgûl in ICE MERP canon, and seems a plausible candidate, as do his son, Elendil's daughter, Miriel, Valendil and Theo.

 

[Ibrandul]

I really enjoy tgatchiastic structure, myself. I'm really curious to see what the show does with the unknown Ringbearers: we have Elrond, Galadriel, Gil-Galad, and Durin, but that leaves 15 largely unknown characters to introduce in some fashion (though I think we may have already met a fair number of the Nazgûl).

I think it's likely that several of the dwarf-lords will remain relatively indistinguishable from one another (dwarves distinguishable only by their names being a long-entrenched Tolkienian tradition; only a few of the dwarves in "The Hobbit" have personalities).

But the nine humans, I think, will all have to be bona fide individuals. Some will not have appeared yet—for instance the Istar and Nori will surely meet Khamûl in Rhûn next season (unless the estate is feeling especially greedy-cranky and refuses the rights to that name, which I doubt).

And I agree: at this point almost any human we have met could wind up wraithy before all is done. I can't see these showrunners tying themselves to the notion that they must be monarchs per se. The Witch-king in particular is almost certainly a Numenorean we have seen this season, and there are really only a few possibilities. I do hope they don't wraithify Pharazon, to whom The Silmarillion assigns a more appropriate fate.

 

[Maxperson]

Aure there is...to get them on screen in q coherent fashion.

It would have been perfectly coherent to split the major events. We've seen it with the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings being done separately, yet coherently(not the same as quality as the Hobbit was horrible). The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are two separate major events that happened at distinctly different times and were coherent portrayed.

 

[RuinousPowers]

But................that's the point. There's no reason to have those major events together. Have one major event, the forging of the rings and all the drama and action around that happen. Then another series about the downfall of Numenor and the establishment of Gondor and Arnor and the battle to take the ring from Sauron.

Well, they didn't want to make 2 series, and a whole series where there is some suspicion aimed at Sauron, but nothing proven, during a 400 year period of peace and craftsmanship seems awfully slow.

 

[Maxperson]

Well, they didn't want to make 2 series, and a whole series where there is some suspicion aimed at Sauron, but nothing proven, during a 400 year period of peace and craftsmanship seems awfully slow.

Well, again, they could have condensed that 400 year period without much disruption to how events played out. And why wouldn't they want to make two successful series? Money talks!

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

The only really canon info we have is that 3 were Numenoreans, and one was an Easterling. Pharazon was one of the Nazgûl in ICE MERP canon, and seems a plausible candidate, as do his son, Elendil's daughter, Miriel, Valendil and Theo.

I am not a Tolkien scholar but I seem to remember that Ar-Pharazôn is trapped with his army in a cave created by the reshaping of Arda until the end of time. While it is conceivable that some Numenorean could have escaped, he's the one I think deserves most to stay trapped there...

The show as it is has so little in common with the timeline that it would have been a great standalone fantasy show and Amazon could have saved millions in licensing. I fail to identify elements that couldn't be replaced/renamed in the story they wanted to tell.

 

[Ibrandul]

Pharazon was one of the Nazgûl in ICE MERP canon

Do you know which MERP source contained this? Most of the ringwraiths were given more than one name in MERP, but I haven't seen Ar-Pharazôn identified with any of them. To my knowledge the three Númenorean ringwraiths in MERP lore are Tindamul/Êr-Mûrazôr (the Witch-king), Herundil/Akhôrahil, and Númeniel/Adûnaphel. Is one of them identified with Ar-Pharazôn in a MERP sourcebook?

 

[John R Davis]

Season 2 could be the dwarf rings ( jealous of the elven shinies). More dwarves, less Harfoots.
Internal Mordor conflict ( maybe Sauron grabs a palantir early??).
Not sure what wizard and Nori get up too?
Fall Numenor at its end. Cool opportunity for more of the daughter/palantir ( blind queen could use it too?).

I really liked it and 5 or 6 really interesting characters.

 

[RuinousPowers]

Well, again, they could have condensed that 400 year period without much disruption to how events played out. And why wouldn't they want to make two successful series? Money talks!

Money does talk, and a Tolkien show that is only bookended by actual Tolkien events wouldn't appeal to many people.

 

[Parmandur]

Do you know which MERP source contained this? Most of the ringwraiths were given more than one name in MERP, but I haven't seen Ar-Pharazôn identified with any of them. To my knowledge the three Númenorean ringwraiths in MERP lore are Tindamul/Êr-Mûrazôr (the Witch-king), Herundil/Akhôrahil, and Númeniel/Adûnaphel. Is one of them identified with Ar-Pharazôn in a MERP sourcebook?

I read it on a Wiki, so it may have been something else, bit I'm pretty sure it was a MERP lore wiki: MERP really developed a huge body of alternate extended canon.