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That was a lot of stuff happening nearly all at once.

Episode 6 had some head-scratchers that kept me from enjoying it fully.

Spoiler:
  • The Numenoreans apparently galloped directly from the coast to Arondir/Bronwyn's sh*tty little hamlet. This implies that there is nowhere else in the Southlands (e.g. a capital city) worth going to, which begs the question as to what, exactly, Halbrand is supposed to be the king of.
  • The "nobody checked it was actually the sword in the wrapping" was a dumb trope that makes everyone involved look incompetent.
  • I'm no volcanologist, but I'm pretty sure that that's not how eruptions happen.

To your first point they showed on the map and stated that tower was exactly where they were going...

Math wrote:

Episode 6 had some head-scratchers that kept me from enjoying it fully.

Spoiler:
  • The Numenoreans apparently galloped directly from the coast to Arondir/Bronwyn's sh*tty little hamlet. This implies that there is nowhere else in the Southlands (e.g. a capital city) worth going to, which begs the question as to what, exactly, Halbrand is supposed to be the king of.
  • The "nobody checked it was actually the sword in the wrapping" was a dumb trope that makes everyone involved look incompetent.
  • I'm no volcanologist, but I'm pretty sure that that's not how eruptions happen.

You are correct shoving swords in the ground is not how eruptions happen.

I actually thought ep 6 was a bit of a dud. There were some cool action moments and at least you could see what was going on in the night scenes (unlike a certain other fantasy show). And, as usual, some of the dialog was fun. But...

Spoiler:

Okay, booby trap the tower, not terrible. Bad on Adar for just waltzing into it but... then, retreat to the completely indefensible village, duh. And, oh sh*t, time to make a last stand in the mostly made of wood tavern building. Yay! If not for needing the intel about the dagger, Adar and crew could have just burnt them out. And not one of Galadriel or Halbrand or Arondir think to take a peek in the package just to make sure it's the real thing. And, Arondir, assuming it's the real thing, decides the best way to help Theo with his addiction problem is to put him in charge of the package. It was pretty funny having the dufus tavern keeper being the one trusted to escape with the real dagger and bring an end to everything. So, that got a smirk.

I'd put it a little above ep 2. Ouch. If they want us to think Isildur is a dick, they've achieved that. Hopefully they can still finish out strong with the last 2 episodes. But we know that the half-foots are going to be back...

Math wrote:

Episode 6 had some head-scratchers that kept me from enjoying it fully.

Spoiler:
  • The Numenoreans apparently galloped directly from the coast to Arondir/Bronwyn's sh*tty little hamlet. This implies that there is nowhere else in the Southlands (e.g. a capital city) worth going to, which begs the question as to what, exactly, Halbrand is supposed to be the king of.
  • The "nobody checked it was actually the sword in the wrapping" was a dumb trope that makes everyone involved look incompetent.
  • I'm no volcanologist, but I'm pretty sure that that's not how eruptions happen.
Spoiler:

Yes, the distance factor really annoyed me. The episode was titled "Udûn", which is the name of the area behind those giant gates in Mordor. This is also a problem in the distance between Lindon and the west gate of Moria. Lindon is further west than the Shire. They are going to have to carry that table a REALLY long way. This was also a bit of a problem in the Peter Jackson movies though; I don't think they gave a good impression of the distances and time involved either.
I originally thought they were going to light that brazier on the tower, and the elves that had left would come back, but then they started lining things up for a last-minute rescue by Numenor. I also had a theory at one point that they were pulling a Westworld, and the events in various locations were happening in different time periods, but that's looking really unlikely now.
Even if they had unwrapped the sword immediately, I think Waldreg was long gone. But yes, the writers dove into that trope. I have more of a problem with the existence of the sword itself, who made it, and when.
There are volcanic steam eruptions, but I think it requires trapped water to superheat before changing to a vapor. Pouring water on lava wouldn't do it. Minecraft players know this just creates obsidian blocks.

Spoiler:

Pouring water into magma could cause a steam eruption if the conditions were right (like if there was no other way for the pressure from the steam to release because the only entrance was being blocked by the incoming water), but it would look nothing like the eruption of Mount Doom that we got.

Reading these posts makes me feel silly for actually enjoying the show. I'm not a lore junkie and I refuse to use science to explain fiction. Yes the volcanic eruption makes no sense unless you keep to the fiction and remember that there is magic in the world. I am actually enjoying this more than Wheel of Time which I found boring. I like the story they are trying to tell, tropes and all.

I'm still enjoying the show a lot, even the har-foot parts. My thought on the volcano is that it's not a natural eruption from just the steam hitting the magma, it was enhanced by Sauron's dark magic that had started to corrupt the land.

Spoiler:

While Adar may truly have resented Sauron for killing his uruks in his experiments, I don't think he killed him. I still think this is all Sauron's plan and Adar is acting on his orders.

LTTP I know, but I've been watching The Expanse (just finished season 3). Holy smokes, this is the best show I've watched in a long time, and every season keeps getting better.

It really does

I gotta say, Elrond and Durin are my favorite part of Rings of Power. The rest is good too, even the harfoots (which is clearly going to connect with everything else going on, it's just being agonizingly slow about it. I mean, how many times does Nori need to decide to not give up on her big friend?), but I would watch an entire series of just those two together. The actors and writers have done an amazing job with showing how deep their friendship is.

100%.
I actually thought ep 7 was a nice pick up from the previous episode, and, when I wondered what about it I liked so much, I realized it was Elrond and Durin. I did love the call back by Galadriel to ep 2 (the raft ep), not sure if I laughed for the reason the writers intended but I laughed all the same. Most of the internet apparently loved ep 6 more (due to the battle scenes I suppose), but, like I mentioned previously, I had problems with it.

If they manage to have another good episode for ep 8 with some decent hooks into season 2, I'll be able to confidently recommend the show to others.

I too liked Episode 7 quite a bit. The Elrond and Durin part of the story is a definite highlight.

I'm continually confused about the Harfoots, though. The early episodes repeatedly talked about them "leaving people behind" and indeed present this as a real possible punishment for Nori's actions. But then in this episode we get a old-fashioned motivational speech about how "Harfoots stick together and look out for each other." So are they a heartless tribe of survivalists or a goofy bunch of lovable singing hobbits?

I rolled my eyes at the "reveal" that the Southlands is Mordor. Who didn't see that coming long ago? I did like, though, the lore-reason for why Adar blew up Mt. Doom.

That reveal is for us filthy casuals :). And, the Harfoots are just a bunch of hypocrites.

LOTR: The Rings of Power

I know it's kind of baked into this show that the bad things happened and for the bad things to happen, the good people pretty much have to fail, but...

Spoiler:

... Maybe don't make the things Sauron thinks is a good idea to make?

Yeah, the reveal is definitely for people who didn't pick up on "the southlands" being Mordor already. One of the characters mentions nearby Orodruin, which is the Sindarin name for Mount Doom.

Rat Boy wrote:

LOTR: The Rings of Power

I know it's kind of baked into this show that the bad things happened and for the bad things to happen, the good people pretty much have to fail, but...

Spoiler:

... Maybe don't make the things Sauron thinks is a good idea to make?

The way they chose to do this in the show is strange to me, because...

Spoiler:

the remaining sixteen still need to be made, and they already had one extremely talented smith show up and give Celebrimbor a "gift," and Sauron is supposed to hang out with the elves of Eregion for a while (like several hundred years) teaching them the craft of ringmaking. The sixteen are supposed to be "practice," even though Sauron binds them to himself. This whole fakeout with Halbrand is weird because he has to come back again to get them to forge more rings. If you don't know why the "gift" portion is significant, it's because Sauron shows up as a "fair being" (Tolkien's descriptor) named Annatar, who calls himself the lord of gifts.

As a result, when Halbrand said "Call it a gift," all the LOTR lore nerds did this:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/luEIiSa.png)

On top of that, the impetus for making the rings in this case is to preserve the Elven realms in Middle Earth. These three rings are supposed to do exactly that, so... why make more?

NSMike wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

LOTR: The Rings of Power

I know it's kind of baked into this show that the bad things happened and for the bad things to happen, the good people pretty much have to fail, but...

Spoiler:

... Maybe don't make the things Sauron thinks is a good idea to make?

The way they chose to do this in the show is strange to me, because...

Spoiler:

the remaining sixteen still need to be made, and they already had one extremely talented smith show up and give Celebrimbor a "gift," and Sauron is supposed to hang out with the elves of Eregion for a while (like several hundred years) teaching them the craft of ringmaking. The sixteen are supposed to be "practice," even though Sauron binds them to himself. This whole fakeout with Halbrand is weird because he has to come back again to get them to forge more rings. If you don't know why the "gift" portion is significant, it's because Sauron shows up as a "fair being" (Tolkien's descriptor) named Annatar, who calls himself the lord of gifts.

As a result, when Halbrand said "Call it a gift," all the LOTR lore nerds did this:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/luEIiSa.png)

On top of that, the impetus for making the rings in this case is to preserve the Elven realms in Middle Earth. These three rings are supposed to do exactly that, so... why make more?

Spoiler:

They've already greatly condensed and rearranged things, this is just one more example. Halbrand was the one who suggested using an alloy, and that the mithril must be coaxed to bond with it rather than forced, so he just taught them how to forge the Rings in a few weeks rather than centuries. As for the other rings, I imagine Halbrand might show up again when Elrond or Galadrial aren't around and manage to convince Celebrimbor to make them for one reason or another, they don't *have* to have been made as practice ones.

Rings of Power

I really quite enjoyed it over all to be honest. For sure the messing with the timelines was a little troublsome in places, but considering this is an 8 episode series arch, I can see why they made the choices they did there.

As I also mentioned earlier, I'm quite impressed - mostly - with the subject matter they've actually gone for. I'm a little worried that

Spoiler:

the Halbrand / Sauron storyline humanises a very unhuman monster a little too much

but it's a minor quibble over all.

As others have noted the Elrond / Durin friendship is by far the best thing in the series, both actors doing a terrific job of showing genuine warmth in that relationship. Everything else felt a little tacked on. The Harfoots were never given enough to do but be backdrop for "The Stranger"

Spoiler:

We're all settled he's actually Gandalf right?

but maybe now that's going to be the two of them it'll work a little better for the next season.

The Stranger speculation

Spoiler:

Nerd of the Rings guy thinks he's one of the Blue Wizards who went East. There's essentially no canon on them and apparently Gandalf once explicitly said he never went East. Then again Gandalf has the affinity for moth critters and following your nose.

They have given such explicit hints that it's Gandalf that I'd believe 2 things: They want it to be Gandalf and are exploring fan reaction to that before deciding, or they want everyone to talk about how its Gandalf right now, so they can pull the gotcha later and get a bunch of headlines and explore a new character like Radagast or one of the Blue-zards

No, he’s very likely…

Spoiler:

Gandalf. I’ve been watching In Deep Geek and it seems pretty obvious he’s Gandalf. There are some lines he speaks that are right out of the movies such as “follow your nose.”

My speculation for upcoming seasons is

Spoiler:

we’ll get to see how Sauron will fool the dwarves and men into forging their rings and we won’t see The One ring until season four at the earliest.

I'm kinda cynically with Tom here.

Spoiler:

Gandalf makes more sense for the particular reasons that people have already outlined here, and for the extremely cynical marketing reasons. It doesn't really matter that Gandalf avoided the east, nor that he's not supposed to be there in the second age, nor that the Blue Wizards are the only Istari who did arrive in the second age. Gandalf is a fan favorite character, and that's why he's Gandalf.

I really hope not, because the Blue Wizards are a blank page, and it's as close to writing new lore for Arda as we'll ever get. But I doubt it.

NSMike wrote:

I'm kinda cynically with Tom here.

Spoiler:

Gandalf makes more sense for the particular reasons that people have already outlined here, and for the extremely cynical marketing reasons. It doesn't really matter that Gandalf avoided the east, nor that he's not supposed to be there in the second age, nor that the Blue Wizards are the only Istari who did arrive in the second age. Gandalf is a fan favorite character, and that's why he's Gandalf.

I really hope not, because the Blue Wizards are a blank page, and it's as close to writing new lore for Arda as we'll ever get. But I doubt it.

Same.

Spoiler:

While he and Nori may head off that way, they can very easily get distracted by other events before they go too far in that direction.

Some are thinking that

Spoiler:

they are putting the hints out there without explicitly calling him Gandalf to see what the fans think of the idea. Gandalf wasn't supposed to be on Middle Earth at this time and some blue wizards are mentioned as being in the east. If an uprising of complaints occur, they have the opportunity to say "gotcha, it really is so and so".

kazar wrote:

Some are thinking that

Spoiler:

they are putting the hints out there without explicitly calling him Gandalf to see what the fans think of the idea. Gandalf wasn't supposed to be on Middle Earth at this time and some blue wizards are mentioned as being in the east. If an uprising of complaints occur, they have the opportunity to say "gotcha, it really is so and so".

Spoiler:

Sounds like overly obsessed super-fans thinking they have more of an impact on where the show goes than they actually do. I can't see them leaving such an impactful decision to the whims of angry internet trolls, and I'd be very disappointed if they did. It'd show a major lack of faith in the story they're telling.

Spoiler:

this happens all the time in tv shows. When they do it, you usually don't even know it happened.

Clumber wrote:

LTTP I know, but I've been watching The Expanse (just finished season 3). Holy smokes, this is the best show I've watched in a long time, and every season keeps getting better.

I guess I just don't get it, then. I thought it was a pretty interesting show when I started it, but I've abandoned it on Season 3 out of sheer boredom as it started to feel like it wasn't going anywhere. It even has a storyline that rapidly wraps up with a bow halfway through the season so it can start an even more convoluted one - one that takes the show away from "political intrigue in space" into generic sci-fi gobbedlygook.

kuddles wrote:
Clumber wrote:

LTTP I know, but I've been watching The Expanse (just finished season 3). Holy smokes, this is the best show I've watched in a long time, and every season keeps getting better.

I guess I just don't get it, then. I thought it was a pretty interesting show when I started it, but I've abandoned it on Season 3 out of sheer boredom as it started to feel like it wasn't going anywhere. It even has a storyline that rapidly wraps up with a bow halfway through the season so it can start an even more convoluted one - one that takes the show away from "political intrigue in space" into generic sci-fi gobbedlygook.

I also stopped after season 3, not because I actively disliked it, but because it just wasn't holding my attention. The funny thing is, I usually actively dislike political intrigue stories*, and like generic sci-fi.

* This is probably also why I don't care for ST:DS9 or Babylon 5.

I enjoyed the Rings of Power season finale and thought it wrapped things up nicely.

Lots of People wrote:

Spoilery stuff

Spoiler:

I think the Halbrand reveal was done well, though the Elves keeping detailed genealogical records of humans seems... farfetched. Nearly as much so as riding on horseback from Mordor to Eregion in 6 days.

It was kinda fun how they played with expectations around the Stranger, first "revealing" him to be Sauron but then turning it around. I agree with everyone reasonable that he has to be Gandalf. Having them travel to Rhun is a good choice, since it's a total blank slate and allows them to explore LotR-ish themes without being slaves to the canon. Not that they seem overly bothered by this as-is.

My expectation for future seasons is that we'll see Sauron corrupting Numenor and the Dwarves, teaching them to forge their own Rings. Yes this isn't canonical, but I think it would fit with the story they're telling.

merphle wrote:
kuddles wrote:
Clumber wrote:

LTTP I know, but I've been watching The Expanse (just finished season 3). Holy smokes, this is the best show I've watched in a long time, and every season keeps getting better.

I guess I just don't get it, then. I thought it was a pretty interesting show when I started it, but I've abandoned it on Season 3 out of sheer boredom as it started to feel like it wasn't going anywhere. It even has a storyline that rapidly wraps up with a bow halfway through the season so it can start an even more convoluted one - one that takes the show away from "political intrigue in space" into generic sci-fi gobbedlygook.

I also stopped after season 3, not because I actively disliked it, but because it just wasn't holding my attention. The funny thing is, I usually actively dislike political intrigue stories*, and like generic sci-fi.

* This is probably also why I don't care for ST:DS9 or Babylon 5.

As much as I love B5, it is difficult for me to recommend it to anyone unless I know they can get past the low budget feel. Here's hoping the remake goes to HBO instead of the CW.