Glorfindel died fighting a balrog to protect his kin, not suicidal. Gandalf died fighting the balrog to protect the fellowship, not suicidal. Ecthelion died fighting Gothmog to defend his kin, not suicidal. What the hell was King Durin thinking. Durin’s Bane is bringing down mountains by just climbing up it. Collapsing a small tunnel isn’t or shouldn’t stop him.
Bad sound quality aside, it is great to see all 3 of you together. On an interesting note I trust that you guys have seen the infamous clip with Amazon's Tolkien advisor claiming that there is no canon. As if that could be an excuse to write this absolute trash.
So the Durin III is basically Van Zan from “Rein of Fire”,except Van Zan’s death is more meaningful, and the spent to 2 seasons leading up to it? Yep they are JJ Abarms protégés with never a new idea just stealing from others.
I’m happy to see legitimate Tolkien channels care more about the brilliance of Tolkien’s life long passion over getting access to Amazon’s previews, parties and whatever else they do to buy off the shills which there are in the vast minority. I’m subscribed. Keep up the great and honest work guys.
@@RoninDave You clearly haven't been on Facebook. There's an entire group for fans of this show, some of them claim to also be fans of the books. Having spoken with them, I know that they know the lore 🤦To say that I'm disappointed in these "fans" would be an understatement.
@@TRivan-kx2bi how many are those are shills or bots? But despite that some people are easily attracted to shiny things and unearned emotional moments "because the music tells me to be sad...durr..durr..."
Was Durin singing "I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole; diggy diggy hole; diggy diggy hole; I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole; diggy diggy hole; digging a hole."
Bad writers/directors who are women might make characters cry all the time. The trilogy was adapted by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens and any tears there are well worth it. It's bad writers who create the shit that we saw. I agree with all your points. This season was a clusterfuck of half-hearted writing (which I still cannot fathom, how can you half-ass Tolkien? Christ) and it all became apparent in the last episode.
No, the division between the Faithful and the King's Men developed long before the death of Tar-Palantir. In Tolkien's uncompressed timeline, Númenor began imperialistic colonization of Middle-earth ca. SA 1800, and ca. 2000+ Tar-Atanamir says that the longevity of the Elves is the Númenóreans' right, and the divisions began. Elves were denied entrance to Númenor and their tongue forbidden (thus names like Pharazôn for the kings) in 3117. Ar-Pharazôn seized the scepter in 3255, with Sauron taken as prisoner in 3262. In 3310, the arming for invasion began, and in 3319 it all came crashing down. The Shadow fell on Númenor more than a thousand years before Sauron got there. The problem with the show's portrayal of Númenor is only partly because of the timeline compression; the big problem is that there is no establishment, no world-building, no history, that explains to the audience why these two factions are any different from Big-endians and Little-endians. Or why, more importantly, many Númenoreans turned away from the teachings of the Valar (life in Númenor was so joyful that mortality seemed a curse). Aside from a single line of dialogue from Ar-Pharazôn in this season, we hear nothing of the motif of the resentment of the Elves' immortality, and even there it seems like one man's quirk. In the Amazon version, the Númenóreans dislike Elves because of economic concerns (which is weird, because the show also failed to establish land colonies or trading partners). And the attitude towards the Valar is simply inexpicable, given the whole Big Animal Endorsement nonsense. Do the Kings' Men believe that the Valar are holy or not? No way to tell.
Thank you. I'm going to listen to the Martin Shaw audiobook tonight, because I really want to relive that story. Shame we waited six years for the Amazon version and it gave me dysentery.
What’s with the people who say they love this show? I can’t understand it. I once met someone irl who said he was a huge tolkien fan who loved Season 1. I asked him what specifically he liked about it, and he could not name 1 thing. Then I asked him about some basic lord of the rings things and he knew nothing…hadn’t even read the books and was claiming he was a huge fan. I was speechless. Still am. But there seems to be tons like him.
The fall of Numenor starts well before they capture Sauron. Their peak is around the time of the forging of the rings and then slowly over 1500 years they start to thirst for immortality, and start to question why they should die and elves and Valar do not. Sauron is then captured and he is able to corrupt them even further to the point the unfaithful start to worship Morgoth/Melkor and build the largest armada ever to assemble in Middle Earth. They then attack Aman which leads to the sinking of Numenor leaving only the faithful / and any Numenorians already in Middle Earth.
Yep. One could even argue that their fall started because they intervened in the War of the Elves and Sauron. Númenor's forces go to the aid of the Elves under order of Minastir (his aunt is still queen at this point iirc). Minastir loves the elves, but envies them. His son Ciryatan is full on envy, and war makes him greedy, seeing the power he can wield over the lesser men of ME. He later constrains his father to give up the sceptre before time, and from then on Númenor increasingly demands tribute. Ciryatan's son Atanamir is the first king not to willingly give up his life at the end of Vigour, living and ruling into his dotage at the age of 421. From there the lifespan of the line of Elros diminishes generation by generation until it becomes the same as the average Númenórean (except the Lords of Andúnië from which Elendil descends. Their lifespan also wanes, but at a lesser rate. I'm still trying to work out what that rate is, but Isildur and Anárion are the same generation from Elros as Míriel and Pharazôn). I believe it's Pharazôn's 3x great-grandfather (Ar-Adûnakhôr, self-styled Lord of the West) that bans the Elvish tongues from being taught or spoken, fully severing ties with Aman. So yeah. After about 1,400 years of going to the dogs, Ar-Pharazôn was just the last straw. Even then they didn't do anything about it until he tried to invade. Edit: I temporarily mixed up Ciryatan with Minastir's fleet admiral Ciryatur. Similar names related to ships (Ciryatur = lord of ships, Ciryatan is the Quenya version of Círdan = shipwright). Ciryatan was an avid sailor. I've removed mention of Ciryatan leading the fleet under his father's orders, since it was clearly incorrect.
With Ar Pharazan and the eagles hes Wind. Muriel and her fish best friend is Water. Kemen and his arson are Fire. Ilendiel can be Earth i guess because of the mud monster. And whatever the sister's name is will be Heart because her ample assets make her heart stand out. Then they can summon Captain Planet/ Aragorn to defeat sauron
I couldn’t connect with any of the characters in the show. It felt like I was watching a very, very poor copy of Peter Jackson's films. A Tolkien work couldn’t have been depicted this badly. I never thought I'd find myself rooting for Sauron, either. By the way, I can’t help but say this: I'm really curious what benefit a wizard who couldn't learn his name over the course of 2 seasons will bring to Middle-earth. He spent the first season just learning to speak.He can't even help himself! What I don't understand is, why did you make us endure this ridiculous mystery for 2 seasons?
Love the commentary, gentlemen. Just one thing though. Gandalf is a Maia, not a Maiar. Maia is singular, Maiar is plural. Similarly, Vala is singular and Valar is plural.
There is only one explanation for this show I've seen people saying: The whole point of this show was to boost Amazon Prime subs and using the show as a means to get people to buy stuff through Prime. There was no attempt at making a good show. Simply a means to get traffic through prime
A good show would get more subs and thus more people using Prime, though. From my experience at some large corporations, it's more due to the corporation becoming a bunch of SVPs ruling their individual empires. The Prime television team is doubtless full of woke people, so that's what's driving them. They don't get pushback in part because other senior VPs all have to pay lip service to it, but also because while they know it's a disaster, it's not _their_ disaster. That's toxic positivity: you utter supportive-sounding platitudes to your peers who are spiraling downwards in self-destructive behavior.
I really want a thorough investigation into what Amazon actually spent the money on. There's a lot of ground to be trod in the "tax writeoffs" discourse. Including purchasing/refurbishing an entire production studio in England, which will add to bottom line writeoffs.
I'm guessing they created Durin's brother because the father is dead, and he had been the main antagonist for Durin IV for 2 seasons now. They need someone new to oppose Durin IV in the Dwarven storyline. The brother will probably want to use the ring, or eventually put Durin IV into a situation where he uses the ring.
38:30 during this scene Elendil says Narsil is the "sword of white flame". The etymology for Narsil is given directly in the Index as "red and white flame", and in letter 347 Tolkien explained further that it is a symbolic name that represents the light of sun and the moon. I know it's a small detail and not important, but for me its it's a curious detail to get wrong--Do they just not care or does their license not cover the whole text of LOTR?
Crappy sound BUT a great discussion. Your reviews of RoP are the best. A gameplay of Hunt for the Ring by you guys would be awesome. I also have a copy of this game. Have you played War of the Ring?
Indeed we have. And sorry about the crappy sound this episode. Was the best we could do on short notice once we discovered we could make the time together work for all our schedules.
Do these authors undersand setup. HEre's Narsil becuase we nee dit ot be important. Oh, Durin has a brother who's a political rival that's been lurking unmentioned in the wings. Why didn't he become heir when Durin was disinherited?
As a female writer, I wouldn't have my characters cry all the time unless it was really worth it. The LOTR movies have characters crying. For that matter, so do the books.
Since Gandalf means "staff elf" and he was spending the episode trying to find a staff, why didn't they just keep things pure and explain it that way? I don't get why he'd become "grand elf," which is not what his name means and the story is pointing right at the correct wording anyway. Very weird.
21:40 It's not obvious because of how they set it up, but the "collect" refers to the rings. They are still on the late with Durin's, just laying down so his is the prominent one. I want to know how the Blue Mountain ambassadors got to Khazad-dûm, had their meeting with Durin in ep 6, went home, came back with "tribute", went away again, and now are coming *again* to collect, all while the bridge is broken, the Barrow-downs are haunted, and there is an army of orcs to the south. And why didn't they take the ring when paying the "tribute"? 38:30 The lineage of Andúril is now in doubt because of this scene. They are alone, and they cannot be in the royal grounds because there is no way they are getting back out again from there. Or maybe they are… this is RoP, guards are incompetent. Míriel gestures at the sword and tells him it is Narsil. Míriel is blind. Even assuming she has re-familiarised herself with her surroundings well enough to rummage for sword, how does she know that is Narsil unless she is intimately familiar with how it feels from before she lost her sight? Have they established her getting it out and playing with it? What they have established is Pharazôn acting familiar enough that he can waltz into her bed chambers unannounced and unchaperoned.
PJs LotR movies are just as much an abomination, and butchered Tolkien just as much. But PJ was clever about it; he hired all those Tolkien experts, who then created a smoke screen around the movies, so that more gullible fans were fooled into thinking that the movies are tolly faithful to Tolkien and respect his vision. What idiots, eh? Even to this day, the fans are coping, defending PJ and his crappy movies.
It almost seems like Arandil? Legolas guy was suddenly fully healthy enough to be Rambo when dwarves show up after being stabbed last we saw on purpose to troll online "nit pickers"!!! When i watched i was pretty sure i didnt miss anything but since theres not a lot to care about for him or all the other stuff, easy to go "whatever... i guess they are action movie heros"... no time to show first aid Elf Combat Medics carry him off the battle field... then i saw again in a review video how Adar even did the big twist the wide blade inside to rip guts apart thing too... Did i miss anything? That happens then next we see hes with the captured leaders and able to fight like Rambo or Neo!
Battering ram makes a little sense if the Ring lets him "see" the mountain and he knows theres just a wall left to the next cavern, like battering a stone wall they are designed for. However so would a regular hammer/pick etc at that point. So many things dont make sense though - Why doesnt the Ring tell him theres a Balrog, only details about the mountain itself? Doesnt make sense to sacrifice himself, did he know getting stabbed would also cause a cave-in? He could just step down as king... And it doesnt make sense they are safe from a little cave in now that Balrog knows where a tunnel out is, hes got nothing better to do now than stab that spot with fire sword all day every day and dig out! And so much else doesnt make sense, like why did they need broken sword to open the dam with a fancy gate mechanism to make Mordor, just bash a hole with trolls or rams and catapults!???
That's the bit which jumps the shark in this plotline. He's scared. He knows his people are facing a demon of horrible power. So instead of.......... Taking five seconds to run back into the tunnel and calling "collapse the passage!" (As dwarves would definitely know how to do), he takes off the ring... Tells his son he loves him.... And charges the demon single handed, leaving them to uncertainty and turmoil..... What a great king! Then everyone chills and discusses the succession.
@@JackChurchill101 I was reading both our comments and it occurs to me the ultimate "re-write to make it better" thing some creators do, HE SHOULD HAVE BASHED THE WALL TO CAUSE A CAVE IN... its not as flashy as what they did though, so you make the balrog sword hit the caving rocks or Durin after the rocks start falling, and it makes sense his sacrifice has a purpose than a kamikaze you wouldnt know would cause a cave in etc.... The way he did it is like saying, Well good luck im out like Samurai honorable su#!cide, sacrifice that accomlishes nothing useful but abstract honor stuff, good luck trying to axe Balrog like me but with 200 dwarves next time! If he bashed the wall or ceiling with a running jump of glory too, then its like "The Ring is cool but I screwed up like you warned me son, theres no time to do it right someone has to block the cave NOW and its my time and duty of honor etc to do it!"
@@JackChurchill101 to illustrate my thing about how would he know jumping off the cliff with axe would end in a cave in useful purpose but not very useful since now Balrog has nothing better to do than dig there, What if Balrog just let him come flying and squished him like a fly between hands or wings or swallowed him or breathed fire right past him down the tunnel and smoked Durin IV too! Only by accident was it more useful than a Samurai Honor thing! Or i guess he read the Script.... So much about the 2 Durins and that scene was really quite good, then it just doesnt sit right or the big glorious finish is ruined with several "Uhhh... but... wha???"!!!!
Hearing you guys recap the plot lines in painful detail to an innocent bystander really underscores how utterly ridiculous this show has been.
Glorfindel died fighting a balrog to protect his kin, not suicidal. Gandalf died fighting the balrog to protect the fellowship, not suicidal. Ecthelion died fighting Gothmog to defend his kin, not suicidal. What the hell was King Durin thinking. Durin’s Bane is bringing down mountains by just climbing up it. Collapsing a small tunnel isn’t or shouldn’t stop him.
Bad sound quality aside, it is great to see all 3 of you together.
On an interesting note I trust that you guys have seen the infamous clip with Amazon's Tolkien advisor claiming that there is no canon. As if that could be an excuse to write this absolute trash.
Sound quality isn’t that bad
But isn’t great I suppose
So the Durin III is basically Van Zan from “Rein of Fire”,except Van Zan’s death is more meaningful, and the spent to 2 seasons leading up to it? Yep they are JJ Abarms protégés with never a new idea just stealing from others.
Dan will never come back after this "intervention" 🤣🤣🤣
The Balrog is now contained for one whole age. Such an epic sacrifice! 😉
The show is so dark that I didn't realise it was a battering ram instead of a pickaxe
I’m happy to see legitimate Tolkien channels care more about the brilliance of Tolkien’s life long passion over getting access to Amazon’s previews, parties and whatever else they do to buy off the shills which there are in the vast minority. I’m subscribed. Keep up the great and honest work guys.
I can't see any real fan hardcore or passive liking this crapfest. It butchers the characters, the lore, and overall themes of Tolkien
@@RoninDave You clearly haven't been on Facebook. There's an entire group for fans of this show, some of them claim to also be fans of the books. Having spoken with them, I know that they know the lore 🤦To say that I'm disappointed in these "fans" would be an understatement.
@@TRivan-kx2bi how many are those are shills or bots? But despite that some people are easily attracted to shiny things and unearned emotional moments "because the music tells me to be sad...durr..durr..."
Was Durin singing "I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole; diggy diggy hole; diggy diggy hole; I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole; diggy diggy hole; digging a hole."
That song is a much more faithful adaptation of Tolkien's lore than Rings of Power can ever hope to be.
Bad writers/directors who are women might make characters cry all the time. The trilogy was adapted by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens and any tears there are well worth it. It's bad writers who create the shit that we saw.
I agree with all your points. This season was a clusterfuck of half-hearted writing (which I still cannot fathom, how can you half-ass Tolkien? Christ) and it all became apparent in the last episode.
That group earned their emotional scenes whereas ROP writers incompetently force emotional scenes with dull characters we barely know or care about
Aaah, finally! I was waiting all week for Jonathan's and Michael's review. Your RoP reviews and analyses are the best.
Michael speaks what we are thinking.
I've been eagerly waiting for this! Thanks for all you do, guys 😊
This is a cool scene!
Why!
Because I'm thirteen years old...
Appropriate tag-line for the whole show.
The Rings of the Power of Vulnerability.
How wonderful to see Dan again and all three of you together! Watching on
From this day on, I shall call thee Tolkien!
No, the division between the Faithful and the King's Men developed long before the death of Tar-Palantir. In Tolkien's uncompressed timeline, Númenor began imperialistic colonization of Middle-earth ca. SA 1800, and ca. 2000+ Tar-Atanamir says that the longevity of the Elves is the Númenóreans' right, and the divisions began. Elves were denied entrance to Númenor and their tongue forbidden (thus names like Pharazôn for the kings) in 3117. Ar-Pharazôn seized the scepter in 3255, with Sauron taken as prisoner in 3262. In 3310, the arming for invasion began, and in 3319 it all came crashing down. The Shadow fell on Númenor more than a thousand years before Sauron got there.
The problem with the show's portrayal of Númenor is only partly because of the timeline compression; the big problem is that there is no establishment, no world-building, no history, that explains to the audience why these two factions are any different from Big-endians and Little-endians. Or why, more importantly, many Númenoreans turned away from the teachings of the Valar (life in Númenor was so joyful that mortality seemed a curse). Aside from a single line of dialogue from Ar-Pharazôn in this season, we hear nothing of the motif of the resentment of the Elves' immortality, and even there it seems like one man's quirk. In the Amazon version, the Númenóreans dislike Elves because of economic concerns (which is weird, because the show also failed to establish land colonies or trading partners). And the attitude towards the Valar is simply inexpicable, given the whole Big Animal Endorsement nonsense. Do the Kings' Men believe that the Valar are holy or not? No way to tell.
Thank you.
I'm going to listen to the Martin Shaw audiobook tonight, because I really want to relive that story. Shame we waited six years for the Amazon version and it gave me dysentery.
"Burning cities are TIGHT" I caught that, Michael 😂😂
😂 You’re welcome. So many of these RoP episode reviews feel like they belong in a low-key Pitch Meeting video.
So there’s a brother existing. So we have Durin the 3rd, 4th and now 5th existing simultaneously. WOW.
The 3 Goats are back together like the 3 Elven Rings 😅.😊 ❤❤❤
😂
What’s with the people who say they love this show? I can’t understand it. I once met someone irl who said he was a huge tolkien fan who loved Season 1. I asked him what specifically he liked about it, and he could not name 1 thing. Then I asked him about some basic lord of the rings things and he knew nothing…hadn’t even read the books and was claiming he was a huge fan. I was speechless. Still am. But there seems to be tons like him.
Guys I could listen to your breakdowns for hours the longer the better !!!! 😊
“Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin good forces have invented or made” - J.R.R. Tolkien.
you guys are awesome, i love every single one of your videos
The fall of Numenor starts well before they capture Sauron.
Their peak is around the time of the forging of the rings and then slowly over 1500 years they start to thirst for immortality, and start to question why they should die and elves and Valar do not.
Sauron is then captured and he is able to corrupt them even further to the point the unfaithful start to worship Morgoth/Melkor and build the largest armada ever to assemble in Middle Earth. They then attack Aman which leads to the sinking of Numenor leaving only the faithful / and any Numenorians already in Middle Earth.
Yep. One could even argue that their fall started because they intervened in the War of the Elves and Sauron. Númenor's forces go to the aid of the Elves under order of Minastir (his aunt is still queen at this point iirc). Minastir loves the elves, but envies them. His son Ciryatan is full on envy, and war makes him greedy, seeing the power he can wield over the lesser men of ME. He later constrains his father to give up the sceptre before time, and from then on Númenor increasingly demands tribute. Ciryatan's son Atanamir is the first king not to willingly give up his life at the end of Vigour, living and ruling into his dotage at the age of 421. From there the lifespan of the line of Elros diminishes generation by generation until it becomes the same as the average Númenórean (except the Lords of Andúnië from which Elendil descends. Their lifespan also wanes, but at a lesser rate. I'm still trying to work out what that rate is, but Isildur and Anárion are the same generation from Elros as Míriel and Pharazôn). I believe it's Pharazôn's 3x great-grandfather (Ar-Adûnakhôr, self-styled Lord of the West) that bans the Elvish tongues from being taught or spoken, fully severing ties with Aman.
So yeah. After about 1,400 years of going to the dogs, Ar-Pharazôn was just the last straw. Even then they didn't do anything about it until he tried to invade.
Edit: I temporarily mixed up Ciryatan with Minastir's fleet admiral Ciryatur. Similar names related to ships (Ciryatur = lord of ships, Ciryatan is the Quenya version of Círdan = shipwright). Ciryatan was an avid sailor. I've removed mention of Ciryatan leading the fleet under his father's orders, since it was clearly incorrect.
Love this setup
Authors usually have pivotal scenes that are the spark for thier stories. Good authors work towards those scenes so they feel organic.
The Three Amigos are reunited! 😃
With Ar Pharazan and the eagles hes Wind. Muriel and her fish best friend is Water. Kemen and his arson are Fire. Ilendiel can be Earth i guess because of the mud monster. And whatever the sister's name is will be Heart because her ample assets make her heart stand out. Then they can summon Captain Planet/ Aragorn to defeat sauron
The writers don't know how a Trebuchet and a tribute works
We need more of you guys getting together in-person! This was great analysis guys
I couldn’t connect with any of the characters in the show. It felt like I was watching a very, very poor copy of Peter Jackson's films. A Tolkien work couldn’t have been depicted this badly. I never thought I'd find myself rooting for Sauron, either. By the way, I can’t help but say this: I'm really curious what benefit a wizard who couldn't learn his name over the course of 2 seasons will bring to Middle-earth. He spent the first season just learning to speak.He can't even help himself! What I don't understand is, why did you make us endure this ridiculous mystery for 2 seasons?
They've butchered the various Durins and diminished them just like everything else.
Love the commentary, gentlemen. Just one thing though. Gandalf is a Maia, not a Maiar. Maia is singular, Maiar is plural. Similarly, Vala is singular and Valar is plural.
It's nice to see all Tolkien fans united to make fun of this trashfire garbage show!
Fans of literature of the world: unite!
@@JackChurchill101 I mean anyone who likes this crap is either a paid shill or clinically retarded
There is only one explanation for this show I've seen people saying: The whole point of this show was to boost Amazon Prime subs and using the show as a means to get people to buy stuff through Prime. There was no attempt at making a good show. Simply a means to get traffic through prime
A good show would get more subs and thus more people using Prime, though. From my experience at some large corporations, it's more due to the corporation becoming a bunch of SVPs ruling their individual empires.
The Prime television team is doubtless full of woke people, so that's what's driving them. They don't get pushback in part because other senior VPs all have to pay lip service to it, but also because while they know it's a disaster, it's not _their_ disaster.
That's toxic positivity: you utter supportive-sounding platitudes to your peers who are spiraling downwards in self-destructive behavior.
I really want a thorough investigation into what Amazon actually spent the money on.
There's a lot of ground to be trod in the "tax writeoffs" discourse.
Including purchasing/refurbishing an entire production studio in England, which will add to bottom line writeoffs.
I'm guessing they created Durin's brother because the father is dead, and he had been the main antagonist for Durin IV for 2 seasons now. They need someone new to oppose Durin IV in the Dwarven storyline. The brother will probably want to use the ring, or eventually put Durin IV into a situation where he uses the ring.
thank you
38:30 during this scene Elendil says Narsil is the "sword of white flame". The etymology for Narsil is given directly in the Index as "red and white flame", and in letter 347 Tolkien explained further that it is a symbolic name that represents the light of sun and the moon. I know it's a small detail and not important, but for me its it's a curious detail to get wrong--Do they just not care or does their license not cover the whole text of LOTR?
Sorry, Mr. Durin IV sir, you’re not the favoured heir of Durin III. His true heir is your brother: Mr. Durin V!
😂
So…they want their cut of the taxes they paid? Makes total sense ROP is a masterclass in economics!
Elendil is going to go find Anarion, who is apparently a political radical faithful and has been chilling in the West of Numenor...
Crappy sound BUT a great discussion. Your reviews of RoP are the best. A gameplay of Hunt for the Ring by you guys would be awesome. I also have a copy of this game. Have you played War of the Ring?
Indeed we have. And sorry about the crappy sound this episode. Was the best we could do on short notice once we discovered we could make the time together work for all our schedules.
A question comes too mind now that the dwarfs know that there is a Balrog buried below them why would they then later dig it up.
This has the energy of third graders telling their friend about a thing they saw😂😂😂
I hear your comments and I just go “Awwww, they are talking about RoP as if it was a normal show…” It’s not.
🤣🤣🤣
I have never seen an opening with such great visuals that was destroyed because IT MADE NO SENSE. Impressive Amazon, you idiots.
Do these authors undersand setup. HEre's Narsil becuase we nee dit ot be important. Oh, Durin has a brother who's a political rival that's been lurking unmentioned in the wings. Why didn't he become heir when Durin was disinherited?
Hasn't Dan suffered enough by living in CA?
As a female writer, I wouldn't have my characters cry all the time unless it was really worth it. The LOTR movies have characters crying. For that matter, so do the books.
Since Gandalf means "staff elf" and he was spending the episode trying to find a staff, why didn't they just keep things pure and explain it that way? I don't get why he'd become "grand elf," which is not what his name means and the story is pointing right at the correct wording anyway. Very weird.
It's astounding how much worse this bad show is when you take a step back
CANCEL THIS GARBAGE!!!!!
21:40 It's not obvious because of how they set it up, but the "collect" refers to the rings. They are still on the late with Durin's, just laying down so his is the prominent one.
I want to know how the Blue Mountain ambassadors got to Khazad-dûm, had their meeting with Durin in ep 6, went home, came back with "tribute", went away again, and now are coming *again* to collect, all while the bridge is broken, the Barrow-downs are haunted, and there is an army of orcs to the south. And why didn't they take the ring when paying the "tribute"?
38:30 The lineage of Andúril is now in doubt because of this scene. They are alone, and they cannot be in the royal grounds because there is no way they are getting back out again from there. Or maybe they are… this is RoP, guards are incompetent. Míriel gestures at the sword and tells him it is Narsil. Míriel is blind. Even assuming she has re-familiarised herself with her surroundings well enough to rummage for sword, how does she know that is Narsil unless she is intimately familiar with how it feels from before she lost her sight? Have they established her getting it out and playing with it? What they have established is Pharazôn acting familiar enough that he can waltz into her bed chambers unannounced and unchaperoned.
PJs LotR movies are just as much an abomination, and butchered Tolkien just as much. But PJ was clever about it; he hired all those Tolkien experts, who then created a smoke screen around the movies, so that more gullible fans were fooled into thinking that the movies are tolly faithful to Tolkien and respect his vision. What idiots, eh? Even to this day, the fans are coping, defending PJ and his crappy movies.
It almost seems like Arandil? Legolas guy was suddenly fully healthy enough to be Rambo when dwarves show up after being stabbed last we saw on purpose to troll online "nit pickers"!!! When i watched i was pretty sure i didnt miss anything but since theres not a lot to care about for him or all the other stuff, easy to go "whatever... i guess they are action movie heros"... no time to show first aid Elf Combat Medics carry him off the battle field...
then i saw again in a review video how Adar even did the big twist the wide blade inside to rip guts apart thing too... Did i miss anything?
That happens then next we see hes with the captured leaders and able to fight like Rambo or Neo!
Battering ram makes a little sense if the Ring lets him "see" the mountain and he knows theres just a wall left to the next cavern, like battering a stone wall they are designed for.
However so would a regular hammer/pick etc at that point. So many things dont make sense though - Why doesnt the Ring tell him theres a Balrog, only details about the mountain itself? Doesnt make sense to sacrifice himself, did he know getting stabbed would also cause a cave-in? He could just step down as king... And it doesnt make sense they are safe from a little cave in now that Balrog knows where a tunnel out is, hes got nothing better to do now than stab that spot with fire sword all day every day and dig out!
And so much else doesnt make sense, like why did they need broken sword to open the dam with a fancy gate mechanism to make Mordor, just bash a hole with trolls or rams and catapults!???
That's the bit which jumps the shark in this plotline.
He's scared. He knows his people are facing a demon of horrible power. So instead of.......... Taking five seconds to run back into the tunnel and calling "collapse the passage!" (As dwarves would definitely know how to do), he takes off the ring... Tells his son he loves him.... And charges the demon single handed, leaving them to uncertainty and turmoil.....
What a great king!
Then everyone chills and discusses the succession.
@@JackChurchill101 I was reading both our comments and it occurs to me the ultimate "re-write to make it better" thing some creators do, HE SHOULD HAVE BASHED THE WALL TO CAUSE A CAVE IN... its not as flashy as what they did though, so you make the balrog sword hit the caving rocks or Durin after the rocks start falling, and it makes sense his sacrifice has a purpose than a kamikaze you wouldnt know would cause a cave in etc....
The way he did it is like saying, Well good luck im out like Samurai honorable su#!cide, sacrifice that accomlishes nothing useful but abstract honor stuff, good luck trying to axe Balrog like me but with 200 dwarves next time!
If he bashed the wall or ceiling with a running jump of glory too, then its like "The Ring is cool but I screwed up like you warned me son, theres no time to do it right someone has to block the cave NOW and its my time and duty of honor etc to do it!"
@@JackChurchill101 to illustrate my thing about how would he know jumping off the cliff with axe would end in a cave in useful purpose but not very useful since now Balrog has nothing better to do than dig there,
What if Balrog just let him come flying and squished him like a fly between hands or wings or swallowed him or breathed fire right past him down the tunnel and smoked Durin IV too! Only by accident was it more useful than a Samurai Honor thing!
Or i guess he read the Script....
So much about the 2 Durins and that scene was really quite good, then it just doesnt sit right or the big glorious finish is ruined with several "Uhhh... but... wha???"!!!!