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So is it true, JJ Abrams got the show runners this job?
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Sep 23, 2022 20:59
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 06:04 |
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Looks like the harfoots are wandering in the area of the future deadmarshes, right near mordor. The camera panning east might mean they are headed for where the black gate will be and closer to mount doom. Also possible that they might be headed to mordor by way of the future minas ithil pass. Makes me wonder if the elf watchtower will end up being minas ithil or cirith ungol in the future.
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Sep 23, 2022 21:00
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Them showing the map animation with no north arrow was triggering me.
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Sep 23, 2022 21:02
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withak posted:Them showing the map animation with no north arrow was triggering me. Isn't the world still flat during this show? How will things like north and south work? What does the magnetic field look like? Edit: I guess you could determine north from the movement of the sun.
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Sep 23, 2022 21:10
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North is the top of the sheet on a printed map.
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Sep 23, 2022 21:13
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This show makes my head hurt. Why cant people just be who they say they are 
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Sep 23, 2022 21:14
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Hexel posted:Why cant people just be who they say they are The irony is that they probably are.
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Sep 23, 2022 21:19
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Hexel posted:This show makes my head hurt. This is a problem in real life too  I'm still enjoying this as a solid 80% show but I do wish it were better, feels like there's just so much potential that isn't quite being realized. It's not bad, but just about every criticism I've seen in this thread is valid to one degree or another. I don't care if they break from canon here and there, I just wish they'd get things moving along a bit, and resolve some of the mystery characters. Also, I don't care, I just cannot stop thinking "Vulcans" every time the non-Galadriel, non-Arondel elves are on screen. They are too ordinary-looking to feel like elves. We joke about it, like "haha the elves aren't making me horny enough" but it's a legitimate complaint -- the defining characteristic of elves, at least to the eye, is that they're beautiful and graceful. It's not like The Expanse, where half the cast was supposed to be weirdly tall and skinny and they just couldn't realistically find that many actors who looked the part. Elves just need to be hot. It cannot be that much of a constraint on casting to narrow it down to only using hot actors and actresses, practically everyone in Hollywood is hot. It just feels like a lack of effort.
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Sep 23, 2022 21:37
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Something needs to happen in the last 3 episodes aside from: dramatic speech *cue epic symphony track* or I’ll have a hard time mustering any interest in a season 2 
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Sep 23, 2022 21:51
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they should have wondered "what would a person who's lived over 5000 years actually be like and act like" and written characters like that. elves aren't "ethereal" whatever the hell that means, they're just immortal people whose lives are about keeping things static. it's a weird condition to imagine and could make for interesting characters (for example: gildor and legolas from the books) but instead they always go with mumbly people in robes
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Sep 23, 2022 21:55
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Phenotype posted:Elves just need to be hot. Sexiest man alive Hugo Weaving
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Sep 23, 2022 21:57
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Hexel posted:Something needs to happen in the last 3 episodes aside from: dramatic speech *cue epic symphony track* or I’ll have a hard time mustering any interest in a season 2
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Sep 23, 2022 22:02
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niethan posted:Sexiest man alive Hugo Weaving
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Sep 23, 2022 22:04
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What's the deal with the meteor man cultists? Is there any book/lore precedent or is this an amazon invention?
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Sep 23, 2022 22:20
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Sheng-Ji Yang posted:thinking the stranger might not be gandalf now. Gandalf is always affiliated with fire (wielder of the flame of arnor, has the ring of fire, made cool fireworks, set pinecones on fire to fight wolves lol) not cold/ice. Who knows though, probably just reading too much into it. Cold is usually affiliated with evil in Tolkien, it was Morgoth who made the artic regions (Forodwaith) cold basically. circling back on this to make a dumbass prediction - gandalf (stranger) has never hurt himself before the wolf fight. he stuck his arm in water and found it relieved the pain, so he tried to cast a cold spell to relieve it more. he's a dumbass who doesn't know his own strength and went way too far. by next episode this incident will be swept away in a pithy one-liner, maybe with gandalf (stranger) learning how to say "sorry"
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Sep 23, 2022 22:30
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I gotta say, I like the Harfoots not being uniformly nice/cheery. That was always the case with Hobbits too. For every heroic Baggins/Took, there were plenty of greedy, small-minded Sackville-Bagginses and the like. Frightened, selfish Harfoots immediately going "gently caress it, leave them behind!" seems well in line with the "Hobbits are rural Englanders (or Irish now)" Durin/Elrond scenes continues to rock, elf+dwarf remains a great two-man comedy pairing.
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Sep 23, 2022 22:41
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Yeah the stranger seems like he’s learning what it’s like to be in a physical body, which tracks with wizard. There’s a lot of things in this show that someone clearly put a ton of thought into, like harfoot culture migrating to eat snails, or Numenor’s vaguely pre-bronze-age-collapse-mythic design. Which makes the weaknesses (and they’re there) more frustrating.
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Sep 23, 2022 22:45
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I like the part where the bad people complain about the elves occupying them and keeping them under surveillance and elf guy is like “And from keeping you under surveillance we learned how strong and cool you are” and then the boring lady was like “You were right to do it”
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Sep 23, 2022 22:51
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Loved that final ominous shot of Gil-Galad watching Durin and Elrond strut away like bros and going "motherfucker stole my table  "
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Sep 23, 2022 22:57
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Hexel posted:What's the deal with the meteor man cultists? Is there any book/lore precedent or is this an amazon invention? I wish we'd gotten at least one more scene with them, as was it was barely more than was in the trailer and that was a long episode last night. They're from Rhun (Easterlings) per one of the producers back when everyone was calling her Slim Shady Sauron. I forget what's on the front of the shield one was looking at but the back had the Stranger's constellation on it. For what it's worth Reddit posted this about the blue wizards, emphasis mine: Tolkien himself posted:
Also worth noting that Khamul the Easterling will be one of the ringwraiths so if they are gonna introduce all nine as pre-Nazgul characters those cultists may report to him or he may be one of them.
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Sep 23, 2022 22:58
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"give me the meat and give it to me raw" lol
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Sep 23, 2022 23:05
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Robotnik Nudes posted:I like the part where the bad people complain about the elves occupying them and keeping them under surveillance and elf guy is like “And from keeping you under surveillance we learned how strong and cool you are” and then the boring lady was like “You were right to do it” How long has the occupation supposed to have been at this point? At least 1000 years? The elves probably should have invested a little more in infrastructure if they didn't want continual resentment for all this time. 2nd level spells posted:"give me the meat and give it to me raw" lol Couldn't believe this line lol. Gonna be a pretty versatile screengrab going forwards.
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Sep 23, 2022 23:06
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BoldFace posted:I think you're selling his smithing skills a bit short. The old Numenorian smiths seemed speechless examining his blade. The dude examining the blade isn't weeping tears of disbelief, but yeah, I'll grant you he probably thinks that Halbrand should advance to the next round of Numenorean Forged in Fire. Speaking of, that's a show that has a bunch of folks from different careers with different skill-sets who are also very good at blacksmithing even as hobbyists.
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Sep 23, 2022 23:07
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Why did Pharazon's son blow up the ship? I missed a couple of minutes and when I walked back in, he was sneaking onboard and I guess I missed the reasoning.
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Sep 23, 2022 23:14
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he's a sicko
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Sep 23, 2022 23:16
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MrMojok posted:Why did Pharazon's son blow up the ship? I missed a couple of minutes and when I walked back in, he was sneaking onboard and I guess I missed the reasoning. He's isolationist-nationalist, as opposed to his father's expansionist-nationalist philosophy. I think he was acting of his own volition, without Pharazon's orders or approval.
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Sep 23, 2022 23:23
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Yeah I felt like I missed something there too. But I guess he's just insanely, friendly fire-ishly opposed to the army going to middle earth, for elf hating reasons I suppose??
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Sep 23, 2022 23:24
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Hammerstein posted:After this episode about elven mithril junkies I cannot get this image out of my head: This was certainly an episode. 
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Sep 23, 2022 23:27
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MrMojok posted:Why did Pharazon's son blow up the ship? I missed a couple of minutes and when I walked back in, he was sneaking onboard and I guess I missed the reasoning. Tried to get Dad to call off the war, Dad said "poo poo son, this war stuff is PROFITABLE" (not to mention considering the source material, he wants to be king, so this is a good way to do that) and so he got mad and decided to force their hand (and almost blew his rear end up like a moron)
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Sep 23, 2022 23:28
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MrMojok posted:Why did Pharazon's son blow up the ship? I missed a couple of minutes and when I walked back in, he was sneaking onboard and I guess I missed the reasoning. There was a scene where Elendil's daughter asked Pharazon's son to make his father stop Numenor from sending soldiers to Middle-earth. For what reason? Nobody knows. The writers forgot to include a scene that explains this. My best guess is that she was scared for her father and brother. She could also be a hardcore elf hater, who knows?
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Sep 23, 2022 23:29
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Robotnik Nudes posted:I like the part where the bad people complain about the elves occupying them and keeping them under surveillance and elf guy is like “And from keeping you under surveillance we learned how strong and cool you are” and then the boring lady was like “You were right to do it” Hmmm. Another mystery. I mean the fact that she has a choice between "Give Adar what he wants or face the almost certain death of herself, Arondir. her child and pretty much everybody else she's ever known in a futile defense of that crappy tower" couldn't possibly be pushing her into fear and despair could it? DJ_Mindboggler posted:How long has the occupation supposed to have been at this point? At least 1000 years? The elves probably should have invested a little more in infrastructure if they didn't want continual resentment for all this time. At least. In terms of the books (and who knows how much time compression is a thing) probably like 3000 years. The Elves didn't give a poo poo about humans' resentment. They just wanted to make sure humans had no power to act on that resentment in any meaningful way. Hence the "checking to make sure the kitchen knives weren't too sharp." MrMojok posted:Why did Pharazon's son blow up the ship? I missed a couple of minutes and when I walked back in, he was sneaking onboard and I guess I missed the reasoning. A cute girl with a potentially accessible vagina asked him to stop the expedition. Why? Her father and brother were going on the expedition and she doesn't want them to die.
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Sep 23, 2022 23:30
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TheBigBudgetSequel posted:Tried to get Dad to call off the war, Dad said "poo poo son, this war stuff is PROFITABLE" and so he got mad and decided to force their hand (and almost blew his rear end up like a moron) Yeah, Pharazon's son, in the brief time we've known him, has been an extreme dipshit goober, always. He can't even muster being a likable shitheel like his dad.
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Sep 23, 2022 23:30
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BoldFace posted:There was a scene where Elendil's daughter asked Pharazon's son to make his father stop Numenor from sending soldiers to Middle-earth. For what reason? Nobody knows. The writers forgot to include a scene that explains this. My best guess is that she was scared for her father and brother. She could also be a hardcore elf hater, who knows? I think it's more her love for her father and brother. She looked heartbroken when she saw Isildur decked out in the armor marching to the ships.
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Sep 23, 2022 23:31
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I think for elendil's daughter it's more of an elf hating thing. Understandable reaction against your dad being the biggest elf weeb on the island honestly
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Sep 23, 2022 23:32
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Everyone posted:At least. In terms of the books (and who knows how much time compression is a thing) probably like 3000 years. I almost put 3000, then thought "no way, that's too long even for Tolkien for the situation to have been static." Like, drat, at this point whatever the culture of the Men of the Southlands is, it's entirely on the elves.
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Sep 23, 2022 23:34
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Everyone posted:A cute girl with a potentially accessible vagina asked him to stop the expedition. Everyone posted:Now, now, remember the rules of the Pinched Pee-Pee game. Women who clearly put an effort into their appearance are vapid sluts. However, women with so much as a hair out of place are gross and monstrous. In the Pinched Pee-Pee game women cannot win. Ever. You make me uncomfortable.
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Sep 24, 2022 00:03
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niethan posted:Sexiest man alive Hugo Weaving 
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Sep 24, 2022 00:10
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Barreft posted:You make me uncomfortable. The first quote was me being a jackass about teen hormones/love. The second quote is about straight-up misogyny and if that does not makes you uncomfortable then there's something wrong with you.
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Sep 24, 2022 00:10
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Have they revealed Sauron can be in two places yet
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Sep 24, 2022 00:17
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 06:04 |
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Man! You guys! This episode ruled a lot Echoing someone else who said I actually started to feel these characters as people. I started caring less about "how closely it hews to the lore" and more about "what is so-and-so-going to do next" All the mystery-box stuff is — you know what? I'm going to say it? Kind of fun. They're playing with the audience intentionally and I'm down with it. I could see them setting up each story beat — "Oh no! A wild animal attack! But The Stranger will save them, revealing his superpowers! That means he's Gandalf!" — but it's so point-by-point that you have to know the end result is going to be he is someone other than Gandalf, I'm still on team Blue Wizard. Lol that they're literally doing Dougie Jones with him though. Uncomprehendingly muttering the last line of dialogue he heard someone say. And Adar pointedly did not answer the question of "you ARE Sauron, aren't you?". That's 100% the writers giving us line and reeling us back in. Not saying it's the most skillful I've ever seen but I respect that they're being ambitious enough not to just make this story a cavalcade of bullet points and fanservice callbacks. Though of course it's full of those anyway; the "this wandering day" song is just a laundry list of fanservicey lyrics, but you know what, it does a fine job with it. I think it's a good song. I made the Obama-meme "not bad" face as it ended. Most importantly of all though: The episode has some moments of genuine laughs. The table fakeout had me lolling. And I felt my heart swelling for real during the last few scenes on the ship, Isildur's buds laughing at him, the sails hoisting against the sun, that fukkin awesome Númenor theme playing. It's taken a while but this is starting to really feel like something I can be proud to look forward to watching. BTW I'm going to go ahead and give the extra-credit points to the writers for all these aphorisms they keep coining. "You can't quench your thirst by drinking seawater" "A burden shared might be halved or doubled, depending", and all the Harfoot expressions, "quick sticks". That is some nice extra effort and I am going to give it some recognition. Oh yeah, one final lore-nerd point that I really think put this episode over the top: Arondir and Bronwyn's conversation where she despairs of her people's destiny and he tries to dissuade her from giving in to it. That is not just boilerplate. That is purestrain Tolkien. A thematic throughline of LotR is faith versus despair; trusting that there will be deliverance even if you can't see how it's possible. Denethor's great sin was to see only doom even when he had a literal crystal ball to see the future in; to give in to despair is the greatest failing in Tolkien's worldview, and the greatest triumph is to believe in providence and take a leap of faith. The word for it in Elvish is estel, which is Aragorn's name as a kid, and it is distinct from amdir, which is a kind of hope that means "you know you actually have a chance and are making a calculated gamble that you hope comes out good". It's a poorer-faced version of hope than estel, which is basically "you know you have no chance but you're going to try anyway". That whole scene and conversation felt like the writers were not just aware of that thematic thread but wanted to spend enough time belaboring it as to hammer it home.
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Sep 24, 2022 00:17
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