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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Season 1

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
Man, no matter what they do with Halbrand the logic would be stupid AF.
IMO perfectly feasible that he was always a nobody but due to fan reaction the show runners will make him Sauron starting in season 2.

Well, the problem with making him a nobody is that he managed to take down four Númenóreans single-handedly. The easier path for the writers would be just to make him the Witch King, a character that plays a pretty major part in the Second Age and one of the main antagonists for the Númenóreans. Also gives the writers a bit more leeway with the character since there wasn't that much written about the Witch King either. I dunno 🤷‍♀️
 

Ulysses 31

Gold Member
How did Sauron become trapped on the remains of a boat in the middle of the ocean with humans? His master plan involved meeting Galadriel and getting taken back to Numenor? That’s some serious spin.
How did Galadriel come across a shipwreck in the middle of the ocean and that shipwreck was later found by another ship? 🤷‍♂️
 
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Batiman

Banned
How did Theo know where the sword was hidden?

Dont know.

Why would Arondir hide the thing which must not be found right under the house they are hiding in?

Dont know.

And why would Arondir just give the "sword" afterwards to Theo, who just told him, gee, im somehow drawn to this incredibly evil artifact?

Dont know.

Btw, as for all the crazy plot armor Bronwyn seems to have....i have my own crazy theory why that is.
Theo explains how he found it in his first scene….
 

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
Single Mom five minutes ago:

hztwrV5.gif



That six inch wide broadhead arrow that went through her chest was just a flesh wound though! She's already walking around.
we're in 24's Zombie Almeida Territory now ;-)
 

QSD

Member
See, you might be right if this was a David Lynch joint where strange and inexplicable things were happening all around or were properly forecast. As it is, in the context of this show, it feels like lazy and sloppy editing, which we have AMPLE other examples of. This show is not earning forgiveness for a scene where two characters bolt off into the wilderness yet somehow get headed off by a third character starting from the same place.

It's a fantasy show, strange and inexplicable things are supposed to happen sometimes!

If they do, and I agree it would be AWESOME, they gotta A. show mountains receding down out of sight, B. some folks suddenly seeing the sun curve away as they go into dawn/twilight, and C. the moon somehow reflect that the earth is now round instead of a disc or whatever (ok, that might be a conceptual leap too far) but at least show stars racing around.

I do think this idea of a flat middle earth is interesting. Wouldn't you be able to see much much further away on clear days? Or would the atmospheric haze just keep your viewing distance roughly the same?

The series is an insult to time consumption.

Pray tell, mr Enigma, do we 'consume' time, or does time consume us?

It is an insult to my intelligence. Isn’t it odd that it’s not to yours? Hmm.. I wonder why.

Let's chill it with the decidedly not ad-hominems here. I switch off my intelligence when I watch movies and tv show, otherwise I'd be like that annoying Cinema Sins youtube channel.
 

Kimahri

Banned
It's a fantasy show, strange and inexplicable things are supposed to happen sometimes!



I do think this idea of a flat middle earth is interesting. Wouldn't you be able to see much much further away on clear days? Or would the atmospheric haze just keep your viewing distance roughly the same?



Pray tell, mr Enigma, do we 'consume' time, or does time consume us?



Let's chill it with the decidedly not ad-hominems here. I switch off my intelligence when I watch movies and tv show, otherwise I'd be like that annoying Cinema Sins youtube channel.

Oh, so it's only okay when you do it?
 

JCK75

Member
I tried to give this show a chance, but now that we finally got some action I just can't get past how absolutely stupid the writing is, it feels like they honestly are just trying to remake the Fellowship trilogy changing out the ring for a sword.. and changing out characters we will remember forever with ones we'll forget 5 minutes later.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
It's a fantasy show, strange and inexplicable things are supposed to happen sometimes!
See, this is a lazy response. A man falling from the sky like a comet is fantasy level strange and inexplicable. A man starting behind a race, chasing a lady using elven magic to NO2 her horse, and getting far in front is bad writing inexplicable. See the difference?
I do think this idea of a flat middle earth is interesting. Wouldn't you be able to see much much further away on clear days? Or would the atmospheric haze just keep your viewing distance roughly the same?
I think I read that a true flat earth would appear to curve UP at times, like you are always in a bowl, due to atmospheric effects.
 

Kimahri

Banned
I mean, there are a lot of passive aggressive remarks in your posts about how this show is made for idiots etc so I guess two can play? But like I said, we should probably cool it.
Are the following statements equal to you?

"This show is dumb and treats me like I'm an idiot."

"You're an idiot."
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
I think I'll watch the extended 4K edition on disc today of The Two Towers, my favorite of the trilogy, just to cleanse my palette from this.

You know for all the things the trilogy changed it was never too bad. Like leaving out characters for brevity, using different characters for some events, compressing events for the sake of pacing, etc. Meanwhile this show is changing some stuff that just can't be reconciled with the source.
 

QSD

Member
Enough with the thinly veiled insults. Discuss like an adult or you will be removed from the thread.
Are the following statements equal to you?

"This show is dumb and treats me like I'm an idiot."

"You're an idiot."

I never said you were an idiot, all I said was your intelligence is not to be found in this thread! Which implies you are in fact not an idiot, just that your thinking and posting on this particular topic to me appears not to reflect the intelligence I would commonly expect from you.

See, this is a lazy response. A man falling from the sky like a comet is fantasy level strange and inexplicable. A man starting behind a race, chasing a lady using elven magic to NO2 her horse, and getting far in front is bad writing inexplicable. See the difference?

I don't really want to belabor the point but if Halbrand is really the king of the southlands, then he would know the area, and perhaps some kind of shortcut. If he is Sauron then he has magic like Galadriel and can do Sauron magic on the horse, perhaps igniting the fires of mt Doom in its abdomen, causing it to eject an afterburner like flame from its rectum and catapulting it to superhorse speeds.

I think I read that a true flat earth would appear to curve UP at times, like you are always in a bowl, due to atmospheric effects.

This is actually really cool, so in the middle of the ocean you would seem to be in a massive bowl with walls of water reaching up all around you? Trippy...
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
I don't really want to belabor the point but if Halbrand is really the king of the southlands, then he would know the area, and perhaps some kind of shortcut. If he is Sauron then he has magic like Galadriel and can do Sauron magic on the horse, perhaps igniting the fires of mt Doom in its abdomen, causing it to eject an afterburner like flame from its rectum and catapulting it to superhorse speeds.
Well, if the theory is that Halbrand has hung out around this area enough to know trails that Adar, an IMMORTAL ELF, the guy claiming this land AS HIS OWN, and who has been plotting routes for water flow, strategically hunting for that sword hilt, and planning an attack on that self-same village, DOESN'T KNOW, that's a stretch. But even if he DID know that Adar took the 'cross creek trail' and that by taking 'moose head run' he could get ahead of him, it was very poorly depicted in the show. If, OTOH, Halbrand just teleported up there, that ALSO has not been properly foreshadowed since we have not seen any evidence Halbrand has any mojo beyond that of a normal man.

So really, no matter WAHAT theory you have, the editing, the writers intent, and the acting don't live up to it.

But it's SUCH a common thing to see, I can't really get bent out of shape about it. They just edited it down too much. I'd rather bemoan TWO sudden death stops with just a word and like TWO "knife at the throat" scenes in the same episode. WTF?
 

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
I do think this idea of a flat middle earth is interesting. Wouldn't you be able to see much much further away on clear days? Or would the atmospheric haze just keep your viewing distance roughly the same?

On clear days, Tol Eressëa, an island just off the eastern coast of Valinor, could sometimes be seen from Numenor.
 

Fbh

Member
Latest episode was dumb fun I guess. Which is basically what this show turned out to be.

The one thing I don't get is....do the Southlands have bigger towns? cities? nobility and stuff like that? Or is it literally just a bunch of peasants in a small town? Because if not how did the Numenorians know to go exactly there?
The show almost feels like a videogame at times in how they speak about armies and kingdoms but it all comes across as low scale. It's like how in RPG's they are often like "the enemy army is here" ....and it's like 10 dudes.

Also no one checked on the super important hilt that the whole thing was about? Really?
Also Galadriel is like Ralph Macchio in Cobra Kai, I just can't buy her being "badass". Every time they try to make her look cool it looks ridiculous. Her horse parkour got a few laughts from the group I watched this with.
 
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Alex11

Member
Latest episode was dumb fun I guess. Which is basically what this show turned out to be.

The one thing I don't get is....do the Southlands have bigger towns? cities? nobility and stuff like that? Or is it literally just a bunch of peasants in a small town? Because if not how did the Numenorians know to go exactly there?
The show almost feels like a videogame at times in how they speak about armies and kingdoms but it all comes across as low scale. It's like how in RPG's they are often like "the enemy army is here" ....and it's like 10 dudes.

Also no one checked on the super important hilt that the whole thing was about? Really?
Also Galadriel is like Ralph Macchio in Cobra Kai, I just can't buy her being "badass". Every time they try to make her look cool it looks ridiculous. Her horse parkour got a few laughts from the group I watched this with.
Well I don't want to make excuses for the show, because there are some jarring gouge my eyes out moments, but Halbrand did tell them where the orcs were moving, where did he know that? A mystery, either he was there and fled or he is really Sauron, both seemed ok-ish so to say.

Yeah, for the town part, it felt strange to me as well, maybe they said it in an earlier episode that there are no more towns in Southlands, they did show a town that was burned down, but yeah, don't know.

But, I don't know, it's strange, idiotic moments and logic aside, it felt an improved episode for me, the story had a bit of sense for one, and the conversation between Galadriel and Adar was a bit interesting.
 

NecrosaroIII

Ultimate DQ Fan
Latest episode was dumb fun I guess. Which is basically what this show turned out to be.

The one thing I don't get is....do the Southlands have bigger towns? cities? nobility and stuff like that? Or is it literally just a bunch of peasants in a small town? Because if not how did the Numenorians know to go exactly there?
The show almost feels like a videogame at times in how they speak about armies and kingdoms but it all comes across as low scale. It's like how in RPG's they are often like "the enemy army is here" ....and it's like 10 dudes.

Also no one checked on the super important hilt that the whole thing was about? Really?
Also Galadriel is like Ralph Macchio in Cobra Kai, I just can't buy her being "badass". Every time they try to make her look cool it looks ridiculous. Her horse parkour got a few laughts from the group I watched this with.
Tolkien describes non-Numenorean societies at this time as pretty bumpkin-y. Having the southland be a collection of rural settlements would check out with the lore
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Also Galadriel is like Ralph Macchio in Cobra Kai, I just can't buy her being "badass". Every time they try to make her look cool it looks ridiculous. Her horse parkour got a few laughts from the group I watched this with.
Le me introduce you to a show called Iron Fist. Watch that and then get back to us about dodgy fight choreography and an actor not pulling their weight :p
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Well I don't want to make excuses for the show, because there are some jarring gouge my eyes out moments, but Halbrand did tell them where the orcs were moving, where did he know that? A mystery, either he was there and fled or he is really Sauron, both seemed ok-ish so to say.

Yeah, for the town part, it felt strange to me as well, maybe they said it in an earlier episode that there are no more towns in Southlands, they did show a town that was burned down, but yeah, don't know.
When the Numenorean queen lady is looking over her map, you can see there are two towns/hamlets just to the east of a tower and a bit south from (now) Mt. Doom. So that part of Mordor/Southlands apparently has just those two settlements. One is presumably where Bronwyn is from, the other where she settled with her son. Arondir (and his entire missing company) seems to have spent a century patrolling this one area.

Now we are gonna get nitpicky. This show is telling me that Galadriel can see stuff so far away it takes AN HOUR of sailing to get close enough for a human. Yet these elves waaaaaay up on the highest tower of the mountain range couldn't see those MASSIVE FUCKING TRENCHES getting made? Get da fuck outta here!
 

Ulysses 31

Gold Member
Yet these elves waaaaaay up on the highest tower of the mountain range couldn't see those MASSIVE FUCKING TRENCHES getting made? Get da fuck outta here!
And they don't check up on the soldiers that were called back but never arrived... 👀
 
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Alex11

Member
Now we are gonna get nitpicky. This show is telling me that Galadriel can see stuff so far away it takes AN HOUR of sailing to get close enough for a human. Yet these elves waaaaaay up on the highest tower of the mountain range couldn't see those MASSIVE FUCKING TRENCHES getting made? Get da fuck outta here!
Yeah that's the problem in every fantasy movie no? Nobody seems to know how to handle their own characters with powers, magic or whatever or when are they can or can't manifest them.
This inconsistency with magic and powered characters it's all over the place in movies, it bugs me sometimes. I mean, yeah we can hide like always with the "it's a movie" or "it's fantasy" cliches. Like I don't expect a bar of stamina on top of anyone like in a game, but like a bit of continuity would be nice.
 

Batiman

Banned
Yeah that's the problem in every fantasy movie no? Nobody seems to know how to handle their own characters with powers, magic or whatever or when are they can or can't manifest them.
This inconsistency with magic and powered characters it's all over the place in movies, it bugs me sometimes. I mean, yeah we can hide like always with the "it's a movie" or "it's fantasy" cliches. Like I don't expect a bar of stamina on top of anyone like in a game, but like a bit of continuity would be nice.
Ya Gandalf is so inconsistent IMO. Like he pulls great shit out of his ass when the time comes but will run away from a some orcs the next moment. We’re never able to know how much he could help or what he’s able to do. Even in the hobbit movies the dwarves seem to think he would do the whole mission by himself at the beginning then they just leave without him. Can he hold back smaug if he had to? He killed a Balrog? So many questions when it comes to Gandalf but I guess that’s what they intended with him.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Ya Gandalf is so inconsistent IMO. Like he pulls great shit out of his ass when the time comes but will run away from a some orcs the next moment. We’re never able to know how much he could help or what he’s able to do. Even in the hobbit movies the dwarves seem to think he would do the whole mission by himself at the beginning then they just leave without him. Can he hold back smaug if he had to? He killed a Balrog? So many questions when it comes to Gandalf but I guess that’s what they intended with him.
This is a good explanation...
Olorin was a Maia, trained by the Vala Nienna, who was constantly grieving for Arda, and was a character of compassion, misery, and woe. Olorin/Gandalf tries to take the same path as the Valar do, and stay out of the Free Folks way and let history play itself out but he is very frequently needed to nudge them along. He often hides his real power because he doesn’t want to become a crutch for the Fellowship, as this is THEIR journey, not Gandalf's. He could have easily killed thousands but he often chooses non-lethal methods, especially with non-Sauron forces, because of his training with Nienna. He still thinks of life as a sacred thing, so he typically only brings brutal power to the forces of Morgoth and evil.
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Ya Gandalf is so inconsistent IMO. Like he pulls great shit out of his ass when the time comes but will run away from a some orcs the next moment. We’re never able to know how much he could help or what he’s able to do. Even in the hobbit movies the dwarves seem to think he would do the whole mission by himself at the beginning then they just leave without him. Can he hold back smaug if he had to? He killed a Balrog? So many questions when it comes to Gandalf but I guess that’s what they intended with him.

Gandalf operates within a set of rules laid down by Iluvatar and the Valar, in which he cannot wield his immense power to awe the Free Peoples into following him like some kind of false idol. Amongst other things. One excerpt from Unfinished Tales:

... their emissaries were forbidden to reveal themselves in forms of majesty, or to seek to rule the wills of Men and Elves by open display of power, but coming in shapes weak and humble were bidden to advise and persuade Men and Elves to god, and to seek to unite in love and understanding all those whom Sauron, should he come again, would endeavour to dominate and corrupt....
 

Batiman

Banned
Gandalf operates within a set of rules laid down by Iluvatar and the Valar, in which he cannot wield his immense power to awe the Free Peoples into following him like some kind of false idol. Amongst other things. One excerpt from Unfinished Tales:
Pretty cool answer ngl. I have to admit I don’t remember those details at all.

But even besides Gandalf that poster is usually right when it comes to fantasy and magic. Brandon Sanderson is the king in this situation though. Amazing rules for his magic in his books that never feel like they’re breaking rules to fit the plot.
 
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jason10mm

Gold Member
Pretty cool answer ngl. I have to admit I don’t remember those details at all.

But even besides Gandalf that poster is usually right when it comes to fantasy and magic. Brandon Sanderson is the king in this situation though. Amazing rules for his magic in his books that never feel like they’re breaking rules to fit the plot.
My problem with sanderson is that the magic system is TOO rigid. His character can jump 10 feet on a gram of iron and never an inch more or less. There is no mystery or flexibility, you can extrapolate the rules from reading the text too much IMHO. I'd prefer the system to still have rules, but hide the left/right boundaries a little more or account for effort/having a good day/being mad so you can't figure out EXACTLY where the end of the leash is and stand there safely each and every time.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
My problem with sanderson is that the magic system is TOO rigid. His character can jump 10 feet on a gram of iron and never an inch more or less. There is no mystery or flexibility, you can extrapolate the rules from reading the text too much IMHO. I'd prefer the system to still have rules, but hide the left/right boundaries a little more or account for effort/having a good day/being mad so you can't figure out EXACTLY where the end of the leash is and stand there safely each and every time.
And Sanderson will give you a 10 page refresh on the rules of the magic system every time a character uses magic, which is every other page. Miserable.
 
Ya Gandalf is so inconsistent IMO. Like he pulls great shit out of his ass when the time comes but will run away from a some orcs the next moment. We’re never able to know how much he could help or what he’s able to do. Even in the hobbit movies the dwarves seem to think he would do the whole mission by himself at the beginning then they just leave without him. Can he hold back smaug if he had to? He killed a Balrog? So many questions when it comes to Gandalf but I guess that’s what they intended with him.
Gandalf isn’t inconsistent at all.

And they don't check up on the soldiers that were called back but never arrived... 👀
I was thinking of that yesterday. 4 or 5, at least, of their soldiers disappeared and the elves never bother to come and check.

Le me introduce you to a show called Iron Fist. Watch that and then get back to us about dodgy fight choreography and an actor not pulling their weight :p
Iron Fist is leagues better than RoP in terms of choreography, I think. Especially since it is a smaller show.
 

Batiman

Banned
Gandalf isn’t inconsistent at all.
Well if your not taking into account his lore it would seem. Others pointed out good explanations as to why he works the way he does. But to be fair going into the Hobbit for example wouldn’t give you the full reasoning itself
 
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pramod

Banned
Sorry, because this show is so dumb, I keep thinking of dumb questions like:

Even if Halbrand tells Galadriel "I'm Sauron", how does he prove it?

I can imagine a conversation like:

"I have something to tell you, I'm actually who you are seeking. I am Sauron".
"I do not find your pathetic attempts at humor amusing."
"But I am really Sauron!"
"Let's go, we're wasting time."
"...."

Or will his eyes glow red? Will he suddenly grow 10 feet tall and breathe fire? Will that convince Galadriel he's Sauron?
 
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DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
Sorry, because this show is so dumb, I keep thinking of dumb questions like:

Even if Halbrand tells Galadriel "I'm Sauron", how does he prove it?

I can imagine a conversation like:

"I have something to tell you, I'm actually who you are seeking. I am Sauron".
"I do not find your pathetic attempts at humor amusing."
"But I am really Sauron!"
"Let's go, we're wasting time."
"...."

Or will his eyes glow red? Will he suddenly grow 10 feet tall and breathe fire? Will that convince Galadriel he's Sauron?

He's not Sauron.
 

NecrosaroIII

Ultimate DQ Fan
Sorry, because this show is so dumb, I keep thinking of dumb questions like:

Even if Halbrand tells Galadriel "I'm Sauron", how does he prove it?

I can imagine a conversation like:

"I have something to tell you, I'm actually who you are seeking. I am Sauron".
"I do not find your pathetic attempts at humor amusing."
"But I am really Sauron!"
"Let's go, we're wasting time."
"...."

Or will his eyes glow red? Will he suddenly grow 10 feet tall and breathe fire? Will that convince Galadriel he's Sauron?
At this time, Sauron can change form.
 
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