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

[Hriston]

How familiar are you with a West Midlands accent?

Apparently, not very. I watched a few youtube videos purporting to be examples of West Midlands and/or Black Country accents, and it's not quite like I imagined. It actually reminded me a bit of recordings of Tolkien I've heard though.

The "Harfoot accent" is an intentionally artificial mixture. It's what Tolkien would have referred to as a "working class" accent, back in the days when it was acceptable to use the term.

I had a copy of the Nicol Williamson reading of The Hobbit when I was growing up, and I've always imagined Bilbo and other hobbits using the same accent he uses for the character. It's similar to the one used by Sean Astin for Sam in the Peter Jackson movie (although I'm sure it was butchered pretty badly by him). It's not quite what I heard in those videos, though, as a West Midlands or Black Country accent. I read that Williamson spent a lot of time in Birmingham growing up, though, so it might not be that far off.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Just rewatched the first episode to make sure of my premise. I don't recall reading anyone here commenting on this. They seem to be going to rather great lengths to have the audience connect the dots of Theo (the kid who found the sundered sword) being the son of Bronwyn (the healer) and Arondir (the Elven watchman). They never show the kid's ears. Arondir is the only Elf in the garrison who doesn't instinctively distrust humans. Bronwyn's is the "only friendly touch" that Arondir has known during his watch. Between this, and the sword hilt, it would seem that something rather big was being set up.

If you go back to before the first trailer came out and we just had interviews with people involved with the show and a few stills released, I am pretty sure I read in one of them that those two do get together as a couple, and yes, she has a son, but from before meeting him, I think I also remember.

 

[Nikosandros]

My wife and I thought the same, but then we watched the two of them set out on their journey. They don't look like a couple who have been intimate enough to have a child.

I agree. My impression is that they haven't even explicitly declared to each other, much less become intimate.

 

[Ryujin]

My wife and I thought the same, but then we watched the two of them set out on their journey. They don't look like a couple who have been intimate enough to have a child.

A couple who have spent years trying to not look like a couple, because both of their races consider it to be a taboo, might behave that way even when no one seems to be around, just to be safe.

 

[Ryujin]

If you go back to before the first trailer came out and we just had interviews with people involved with the show and a few stills released, I am pretty sure I read in one of them that those two do get together as a couple, and yes, she has a son, but from before meeting him, I think I also remember.

I have just started rewatching those, to see if there's any hint.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I have just started rewatching those, to see if there's any hint.

Of course, the problem with trailers is they so often include stuff that end up cut from the final version, or heavily reworked, like with Rogue One. I still want the original ending from the trailer where the two leads survive.

Anyway, what I am remembering was definitely in a written article, maybe the one Vanity Fair did with all the first looks at several of the characters, including those two?

 

[OneRedRook]

I've enjoyed the current two episodes for the most part. I do kind of wish that the elves were a bit more fey; I quite like Galadriel's high-mindedness, and would have liked to see a bit more of that from the rest of the elven side of the story (Elrond gets a pass here as I feel like being even-tempered is probably one of his fundamental character traits). Ultimately the show went for a more human-accessible take, which is fine, but if they are going to do that I'd have preferred they keep a closer focus on the human stories.

In particular, the Arondir/Bronwyn story feels heavy-handed so far, and I just can't see this Gil-Galad wielding Aeglos on the slopes of Mount Doom. Maybe they'll turn it around.

The harfoots have been fun to watch. I don't understand the link the story was trying to draw between then Stranger's broken twig and the dad's broken ankle, though. Was he trying to warn Nori? Is he accidentally prophetic? I don't get it.

I'm also not really sure what they're doing with Galadriel-adrift-at-sea; the sea-monster bit in particular felt like a bit of unresolved "and-then-this-happened" storytelling.

All that said, apart from the visuals, I've really enjoyed the orcs-and-dark-magic scene, most of the Galadriel and Elrond scenes, and Bronwyn and Theo taking on the orc. The scenes with the Stranger I feel I can't judge until we see the payoff, but they have the potential to be good as well.

I have a bet with myself that Galadriel will somehow be responsible for Sauron fully taking on 'The Eye' as his identity. Like, I know his sigil currently looks like an eye so maybe we'll find out he's already taken that on, but I'm expecting her to cause him to lose one of his eyes, or something similar.

having a Valinorean elf, daughter of Finarfin, being bossed around by one of her lesser cousins (because that's what Gil-Galad is),

I mean, he is High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth. The problem here is that Galadriel is the youngest child of the youngest child of Finwe; a lot of systems of organising succession would place her as one of the last choices for the crown (I spent the last hour or so looking over the relevant family trees trying to tease out what their system is, a process which isn't helped by the fact that Gil-Galad's placement in the Silmarillion seems to be regarded as questionable if not actually incorrect, including by Christopher Tolkien apparently)

You could argue that "High King of the Noldor" didn't actually carry that much weight in the books, but I think by the Second Age everyone's calmed down a bit and generally acknowledges Gil-Galad's rule.

I realise this is the finickiest of tangential points; I'm mostly making it to try justifying the time I just spent looking at fictional family trees.

and making her travel to Valinor against the ban of the Valar DOES "offensively contradict" things they don't have the rights to, as far as I'm concerned.

I think it's hard to say things like this contradict other works they don't have the rights to, when, like Tolkien's elves, those sources say both 'yes' and 'no'. At least one version of the story has her refusing the pardon of the Valar out of pride (as opposed to an edict banning her return). Maybe that was part of the appeal of choosing Galadriel as one of the main through-lines of the new story - her story in the sources is all over the shop, giving the writers cover whilst still staying within the rights of what they do have.

[Edited for clarity]

 

[Ryujin]

Of course, the problem with trailers is they so often include stuff that end up cut from the final version, or heavily reworked, like with Rogue One. I still want the original ending from the trailer where the two leads survive.

Anyway, what I am remembering was definitely in a written article, maybe the one Vanity Fair did with all the first looks at several of the characters, including those two?

Turns out that if you rewatch the original trailers, with some context from the first two episodes, they become really spoileriffic.

 

[TheSword]

While I agree that most of the RT reviews are bots, I think some critique is valid.
As for your assessment that this is "why there is so little good fantasy stuff", that's simple: either do a FAITHFUL adaption of existing stuff, or have writers, you know, come up with quality original stuff.

What’s wrong with being inspired by something? Nobody minds when somebody reimagines Shakespeare… well some people do, they’re just not worth worrying about. It’s a good thing to take a novel and adapt it to the screen. Most people understand things won’t translate directly.

The fragments this series is based on are snippets, pieced together from appendixes, off shoots and ramblings. Never turned into a coherent story. Maybe it would have more had Tolkein had time, but he didn’t and so it wasn’t. What makes Tolkien’s work sacrosanct when other IP is fair game.

 

[Morrus]

What’s wrong with being inspired by something? Nobody minds when somebody reimagines Shakespeare… well some people do, they’re just not worth worrying about. It’s a good thing to take a novel and adapt it to the screen. Most people understand things won’t translate directly.

The fragments this series is based on are snippets, pieced together from appendixes, off shoots and ramblings. What makes Tolkien’s work sacrosanct when everything else is fair game?

Like Marvel movies aren't panel-accurate versions of the comics. Usually a literal translation from page to screen would be awful.