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

[FitzTheRuke]

I think I figured out what I don't quite like about this portrayal of Galadriel - I am used to her being an introverted bad ass. Here, she seems to be an extroverted bad-ass. She also has her social abilities inverted - effectively she is an antisocial extrovert when I am used to her being a social introvert. (More my kind of people).

I get that she's significantly younger, but these are the kinds of things that are usually part of your nature, not something that changes over your lifetime (well, you can learn to battle against your nature, but it will always be a battle).

In a lot of ways Arondir "feels" more like how I'd expect a young Galadriel to be.

But I've long since reconciled myself to this show being a fun fantasy show that doesn't have to connect to Tolkien beyond some similar themes and names. Like someone's D&D campaign.

 

[Ryujin]

But how much of what people are mentioning was "missed" is from the TotR appendices, and how much is from The Silmarillion?

 

[Hriston]

Think of it like an intervention, which is also a manipulative exercise.

That was my thought too, but at least an intervention is typically a private affair among family and friends and relies on direct communication. This, on the other hand, is an exercise in political theater where Galadriel is being asked to accept an official narrative that she knows is not true.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

It's interesting how the show portrays Galadriel and Elrond as contemporaries.

In the books Galadriel is significantly older than Elrond (She's actually older than Gil Galad) and is, in fact, his mother in law.

Yeah, though how old are all of these people at this point? Sure, Galadriel is quite a bit older than Gil-Galad or Elrond, but it might not matter much once everyone is hundreds or thousands of years old.

Also no mention of Galadriel's husband (or her even having one). I wonder if the show will ignore that entirely or it'll be something that develops on the show.

Yeah, it is a tad weird that Celeborn has not even been mentioned. Canonically they should already been married for quite a while at this point.

---

As for the show in general, my initial impressions are cautiously positive. It feels like Middle-Earth to me and of course everything looks gorgeous. It is hard to say about the story at this point, but I mostly like the characters.

I used to be a Tolkien nerd, but frankly at this point I have forgotten most of what I once knew. And I didn't do a refresh course before watching the show; I'll try to treat the show as its own version, and try not to be too upset if they deviate from the canon. And it helps to remember that Tolkien had several versions of the stories of this era and changed things all the time, so what is "canon" is rather nebulous to begin with.

 

[Ryujin]

That was my thought too, but at least an intervention is typically a private affair among family and friends and relies on direct communication. This, on the other hand, is an exercise in political theater where Galadriel is being asked to accept an official narrative that she knows is not true.

I would say that comes part & parcel with being at the top of the political food chain.

 

[Hriston]

I would say that comes part & parcel with being at the top of the political food chain.

Yeah, if I'm understanding what you mean, I think I agree. I think something good about the scene is it shows that Gil-galad and Elrond are aware of how important an elf Galadriel is. Sending her across the sea, though, just seems like a self interested effort to get her out of the way, especially with regard to the subsequent scene where the king assigns Elrond to begin working with Celebrimbor as soon as they think she's gone.

 

[Dioltach]

Sending her across the sea, though, just seems like a self interested effort to get her out of the way, especially with regard to the subsequent scene where the king assigns Elrond to begin working with Celebrimbor as soon as they think she's gone.

Wasn't there a bit where Gil-Galad said that, if Sauron became trouble again, it would be because of Galadriel? In that case, and assuming that he's wise and insightful enough to make such pronouncements, they're doing the right thing in convincing her to make the voyage to Valinor - which, it must be noted, isn't just some empty honour, it's a reward that every Elf has spent thousands of years yearning for.

 

[Ryujin]

Yeah, if I'm understanding what you mean, I think I agree. I think something good about the scene is it shows that Gil-galad and Elrond are aware of how important an elf Galadriel is. Sending her across the sea, though, just seems like a self interested effort to get her out of the way, especially with regard to the subsequent scene where the king assigns Elrond to begin working with Celebrimbor as soon as they think she's gone.

There could be self-interest involved but, then again, it could be two people who know her very well both trying to reward her for the work she has already done, and trying to get her off a self destructive path. They seem to truly believe that the danger is past. Consider that when she was on a ship bound for the Undying Lands, in fact right at the 'gates', she started to swim the presumably thousands of miles back to Middle Earth. Making that journey by swimming would be impossible. That shows a self destructive obsession.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Forget the Channel, it's gotta be at least like swimming across the Atlantic!

 

[Dioltach]

Maybe she's hoping to get a lift from a whale. Do Elves speak Whale? "HELLLOOOO-OOOO! I NEE-ee-EEED A LIII-ift HOO-oo-OOME!"

Or however you say that in Quenya.