The horse is the best character in the series so far, probably because as a horse, he cannot speak and therefore cannot be given dialogue to make him an idiot.
Amazon writers never heard that saying "When someone suspects you're an idiot, the worst thing you can do is to open your mouth and confirm their suspicion". Otherwise they would be writing silent movies.
Idk about that, this horse managed to fight off Orcs but didn't even bother to try and fight off or buck off a human that wasn't it's rider and just let itself get "Stolen"
The fact Bronwyn wasn't recast is even more proof to me that there is no overarching plan or story being told, and they just come up with things as they go along.
@@TyrotoxismB That's exactly what I've been thinking. Killing Bronwyn off screen is so lazy and shows that they really were tagging along with no real plan.
Okay I coincidentally stopped on that exact line when he mentions the Orc baby like it's a change from the book. Um correct me if I am wrong but Orcs absolutely have children and families in the books. The movies changed it so it would be less genocidal. I am 99% sure that is more accurate to the books than the movies.
@@criss_xno, according to the books, orcs are created through the torture and deformation of elves. The Peter Jackson movies were actually fairly close though toned down quite a bit since most people don't want torture porn in their epic fantasy movies.
@@criss_x You’re right, they aren’t tortured elves but rather descendants of such, but it is debated whether they could leave or have compassion, as the souls of elves leave their bodies during trauma and therefore the orcs could be literally soulless
@@Ilquendil ha well let's just play Devil's Avocado here, is it immoral to treat something without a soul with kindness? I haven't seen evidence for a soul and therefore I don't believe in one but I assume you don't think animals have souls right? don't many animal species show kindness? grief? anger?
Well in ROP, I think Sauron is about as much as a threat as a crippled blind deaf man. Nothing he does is threatening or well thought out. Tolkien makes it quite clear how patient and cunning he is, 600 years he spends with Celebrimbor making progress towards the rings. In those 600 years, he does nothing that makes the elves twig on that he is Sauron. Oh sure Galadriel and Gil-Gilad don't trust him as Annatar but they have nothing of evidence to really back up their suspicion. They don't think he's working towards an ultimate power that would enslave them all. Cirdan thinks the rings are a mistake and tries to persuade Celebrimbor against making them but again he doesn't that the one ring is a possibility or that this is all for Sauron's ultimate plan. He likely thought that the power might cause wars or something of that effect, which is a problem but you can't fully act on maybes.
@@ardisgreenwater857 Now, now. Don't be so negative. It's also giving us high-quality, well-thought-out and cerebral entertainment... in the form of all of the UA-cam content tearing it to shreds. It's like the manure from which beautiful flowers spring forth. :P
I always have to chuckle when a dangerous "black forest" is mentioned in any fantasy world. We have a region in Germany with that exact name and it famous for cherry cake, smoked ham and the traditional hats with red pompoms on top. 😂
I remember travelling to Freudenstadt with my youth orchestra. At the potluck dinner all our host families brought schwarzwälder kirschtorte, a whole table of them. When you got up close to the table you were hit by a wall of powerful kirsch fumes 😄 I have made it myself in the past but apparently I severely underestimated how much kirsch was needed 😂 They were lovely people, very hospitable, and I had a wonderful time. However, I don't think I could ever get used to rye bread and cold meat and cheese for breakfast. Absolutely delicious, all of it, I would kill to have some right now - but for breakfast it's like a rock in the stomach 😄
Yep, thanks for the Schwarzwälder Schinken from across the border. That at least reminds me of pleasant dinner experiences. Not exactly the emotion I'm getting when ingesting Rings of Power.
In defense of the steriotype, the idea of the forest where evil dwells is burned into the collective mind of the West probably because of the Teutoburg battle and all the countless raids and ambushes the german tribes conducted from forests across their centuries of conflict with Rome
"sorry I strong armed you and your people into a war, and got them all killed, and you lost your eyesight. but I got this nice magic ring out of it."-Galadriel. Jk. Galadriel would never apologize.
In all fairness, this Galadriel would view humans as being slightly more useful and marginally more valuable than ants. She threw elves away without a thought, she wouldn't give a human life a second glance.
It was a magic volcano, okay! Sometimes, it kills people; sometimes, it covers them in Cheetos; and sometimes, it causes neurological vision impairment, not sensory vision impairment! Shut up!
Though I haven’t watched it, your comment is even funnier because Sauron was originally Tevildo, Lord of Cats before he was reworked into the Sauron we know today.
What I find hugely bizarre about ROP is how lacking of a threat Sauron is. In LOTR he is a constant overbearing threat, yes he doesn't do anything directly himself expect minor things but you constantly see him there on the tower and you constantly have the ring an invention and part of him whispering to Frodo throughout all three films/books. You have him directing everything, and he's winning everywhere that counts. It's literally only a matter of time before he wins. Sauron's only flaw/mistake was the belief that no-one could destroy the ring, he was partly correct in that judgement and if it wasn't for Gollum than Sauron would have won. The ring ultimately being its own and Sauron's undoing is such sweet poetic justice. You see and feel the destruction in the PJ and in the books, you see or read the dwarven genocide in Moria, nature being demolished and crushed, the unending armies pouring forth from his many fortresses. In ROP he is a wet fart of a threat. FFS Galadriel in S1 thinks she can beat him with a small squad of elves, not an army, a squad. You would think that Galadriel would know how powerful Sauron is, he's the same kind of being who taught her magic... if that even exists in this world. God knows if this Galadriel can even use magic considered she can't use natural abilities of her kind? Could you give those ears a tuck and make sure she's an elf and not someone pretending to be Galadriel. She would also know of Morgoths strength and Sauron would be of similar strength. She thinks she would ever land a sword blow against him? Nope. Why are the elves being so slow and sluggish and completely braindead? They literally know everything that unravel everything Sauron is working towards. You know he wants rings, and that he wants to control everyone. Oh god I wonder what he's planning! Oh what it could be! Could it be that the rings have some part to play! The elves are ultimately now to blame for everything, it's not Sauron's doing but theirs. This is the ultimate enemy and yet he's being treated as the same level of threat as an orc.
For me it's the problem of Adar. Him killing Sauron in front of the orcs would weaken Sauron's position massively as a dark Lord. They literally wouldn't even fear him if so. The fact he isn't even control of Mordor, his realm and fortress at this point in the second age is ridiculous. It makes him seem weak.
@@thomasalvarez6456 I totally agree. He's such a pushover... how the hell are Gil-Galad and Elendil. two powerhouses of this age for their respective races going to die to this Sauron? How? Although seemingly ROP doesn't have them anyway close to lore accurate either in terms of strength so I imagine a gust of wind could kill either.
@@MajorSmurf They'll kill Sauron and he turns into spaghetti. Tragically, they are wearing the Rings of Italian and have a sudden, insatiable craving for the forbidden pasta.
Well you are comparing a masterpiece, meticolously begotten by a Scholar and Professor at Oxford, as a love-inspired gift to his children and his country with ...a designed-by-comitee marketing gimmick for a retail corporation that seeks to bind you into consumerism forever only to see numbers go up.
Wouldn't it be hilarious if it turned out the "Sauron" in the show isn't actually Sauron but some non-canon Sauron wannabe, and the real Sauron is lurking somewhere manipulating everyone from the shadows - or disguised as someone else? I don't think that will happen but it would be funny
as a person who has played tolkien orc for many years on live action roleplay events, I was hysterically crying when grug and his wife and spawn were in (thankfully brief) focus in this masterpiece
In defence of that scene, it only shows one orc being not evil (or not warlike at least, he might still enjoy enslaving and eating humans in Mordor even if he doesn't want to go to war) while all other scenes involving orcs decipt them as evil and violent. So he might be the one exception to the orcs' warlike nature, not supposed to represent them as a whole. And I don't think that is the dumbest idea in the world - not moreso than an evil elf. If they do go with the idea that orcs in general are peaceful and decent then that is really really stupid
@@exantiuse497The issue is that we're making things needlessly gray for no gain. Glug and his family likely won't ever come up again and no matter how much they pander to the idea that orcs are just people like men and elves, they'll still act like it's heroic when Galadriel and the rest of our heroes slay them. It's a similar issue to Finn in the Star War Sequels. They open the door to Storm Troopers being victims of childhood indoctrination, but then go on to gun them down with glee and heroic music cheering them on.
I may not have liked Bronwyn as a character, or her boring romance or dollar store Eowyn arc, but I respect the actress for seeing how the wind was blowing, and dipping. Particularly since she made sure to clarify that her decision to leave the show was independent of her choice to return to humanitarian work. Rip Bronwyn. I'll always remember you for having one of the highest on screen Orc kill counts for a solid stretch of time. Truly; 'We can do it 💪' 😂
fun fact... the actress left the show to concentrate on her activism, so i suspect she thought of the show as being too conservative... ;o) and Bronwyn killed what, 3 orcs? - the one from the tunnels under her house. the Lemonlass-choking brute and the one at the cart from the ambush? - well, thats 3 times the orcs, Galadriel killed in S1... that was the one loney ride-by victim - and the only other creature Gauladriel (Gaul being a German derrogative term for a horse ) killed, was the ice troll.... and our patience i guess...
@@goodputin4324 and that's why I don't get why they didn't recast Bronwyn. They recast Adar and it wouldn't have been the first time to recast main character in a tv show. Her death off screen was so stupid.
You missed how they established Galadriel's unfounded theory that Sauron really has to touch something to defile it when he took the mithril out of Celebrimbor's hand to add it himself into the forge.
@@Sornemus If that's all he has to do, why does he need the rings... Just walk around touching things and people, as he was doing, and then hit them with ye old mind whammy. Seems to have worked with Celebrimborg
@@EliasMheart They seem to be implying that, with people, he can only do that with folks who, for some length of time, trust him. So I guess Adar never trusted him, even when they both served Morgoth.
What i dont understand in this whole series is : WHY have Sauron be so in inept?! He is a Maia, an Ainur, a creature of song. He was better at the power of song than the elves. He posesses the power to shape the laws of nature, manipulate anyone and anything, he can shapeshift himself to deceive, etc. He is immortal and basically at the level of a literal Angel or lesser god (don't feel like demi-god fits the maiar) In the show all he does is shapeshift, although he could probably level the city of Numenor if he wanted to, all he does is play the little smithy apprentice and that is it. On multiple accounts he has HELPED Galadriel, the people of Numenor and others that actually OPPOSE the orks and what he is trying to do. Why... for what reason besides a ploy to gather allies and manipulate them to follow him (which for some reason didnt work out because ... Galadriel just always wins somehow i guess?) would he sabotage himself and his plans? He is neither Loki nor Tzeentch, he can not accurately see the future in its fullest and know which path leads to certain victory, so there is no reason for him to gamble these high stakes away and prolongue the timeframe until he can achieve his goals. Galadriel in her "current state" is nowhere near his ... let's call it power-level, he should have disposed of her when he had the chance, which there were multiple of. WHY the writers decided to create so many moments where Sauron and Galadriel just "play friends" is beyond me, there is no reason for him to leave her alive, so why would anyone a story where they basically have a "will they - won't they" for multiple episodes, just to end it in a moronic and unnecessary reveal at the end of season 1 which ultimately STILL LEADS TO NOTHING?! Galadriel's actress is too short, unlikeable, she is written awfully, Sauron is apparently just f*cking around for funsies and wasting time, the harfoots are unbearable and unnessary, yet there are people that can turn their brain off, watch this series and then go on the internet to proclaim : oh i really liked it, it was great, on par with LOTR for sure! ... i just can't
also probably 99% of people knew from episode 2 where Halbrand first appeared, that he was Sauron same for Gandalf as the stranger the writers apparently suppose most people are as simpleminded as they are and therefor think their script is actually well written and nobody could see those CRAZY plottwists from a mile away
Probably the only source of sauran power level were lord of the rings movies and only parts where he is visible in full as his schemes werent noticed by amazon folk So they must be thinking that without full giant armor and ring he is just a funny magician with minor jedi tricks
I think you're overselling Sauron's power a little. He is strong, yes, and more powerful and cunning than in the show for sure, but he isn't invincible nor a god of any sort (the Valar are the only beings in Tolkien's works referred to as 'gods', with Iluvatar representing the capital G God although he isn't referred to as such). The reason why Sauron goes with the Numenorians as their "prisoner" and starts to manipulate them is because he has to "accomplish through cunning what he cannot do through force" (direct quote from Silmarillion). If he was an all powerful god who could raze Numenor and destroy its army with a thought... why didn't he do it? Of course in this show he is laughably inept and weak but that doesn't mean you should go too hard in the other direction and overblow his abilities. He might be the strongest individual in Middle Earth in the Second Age but he is far from being the strongest character in the Legendarium. He would lose (1 on 1) to many characters including Huan, Gothmog and possibly other Balrogs as well, large dragons, and many elven warriors like Fingolfin (who goes toe to toe with Morgoth himself), Ecthelion (who slew Gothmog), Feanor, maybe even Glorfindel. And he is defeated by Glorfindel and Elendil. Far from unbeatable
Celebrimbor; “we are going to give aid to the Dwarves” Durin: “Oh thank Valar food supplies, other necessities and helping with the tunnels! thank you Celebrimbor!!” Celebrimbor: “n.. no im going to give you magic rings!!’” Durin: “WHAT!!!??”
"What do they do anyway?" "Give you power." "To do what?" "Err...Anatar, what exactly will these rings do again? I forgot." "Oh, they'll give me, I mean the dwarves, power over flesh, I mean, uh, stone, or something."
According to the books the rings multiply wealth or something. Which is why Thrain's ring was useless when the dwarves were driven out of Erebor since the ring needs gold to breed more gold and the dwarves had nothing.
I have to say, I absolutely love watching your break downs of this series. Being in that weird space of interested in the story, but not willing to invest the time to watch it, having a creator focus on the merits of the show itself, rather than how it breaks the lore of Tolkien, has been such a fun and even educating experience. Mad props to how thorough and fair your critiques and observations are! I reckon you're definitely the fairest commentator on the series thus far, and it's been a treat! Thanks for all the time and effort put into your series!
As someone who mentioned the lesser magic rings in regards to that scene in the Fellowship video, I'll clarify that multiple magic rings exist there because they were made as practice/prototypes for the elves making the Rings of Power. But since Rings of Power is ... what it is, those rings clearly haven't been made. And might not at all, which now that I think about it would have ramifications for Gandalf's lack of interest in Bilbo's ring. I'm adding that to the list of lore problems this show creates.
Right, because they made lesser rings, then the 16, then after Celebrimbor has learned from Sauron from making those rings, he then made the three in secret. It should also be mentioned, the rhyme from LotR is an anachronism. They didn't make the 7 and the 9 for dwarves and men. Sauron literally steals them and re-purposes them. The great weakness of Sauron's plan is that he got Celebrimbor to make all of these rings for elves and they barely work on the elves at all. Then he tries with the dwarves and that doesn't go so well either. It is really only when he gives them to men that he gets a big payoff.
It occurred to me the total lack of Elven magic items. Elven rope, elven bread, elven camo cloaks, elven mirrors, elven water, daggers that glow blue around orcs, etc. like. EVERYTHING elven is nigh magical to humans, in tolkien and lord of the rings. Granted, the show runners couldn't possibly be trusted to actually invent new elven magic everyday items. this of course also plays into the Elves being ethereal and alien.. these writers really can't handle Elves. probably could have focused entirely on Dwarves.
The War of Dwarves and Orcs was an obvious candidate story from the Appendices, but that story has themes around masculine virtue, and manly men, we cannot have.
@@PrometheanRising You know what, if they really wanted to write the story "Tolkien never wrote", well, then, how about the Fourth Age story "The New Shadow" which literally he stopped writing after 13 pages? ... of course, if they were smart enough to pick up on that idea and not step on anybody's toes, they might've been smart enough to write a decent story in general. In case anybody doesn't know what I'm talking about, I quote from the Tolkien Gateway: The New Shadow is an incomplete sequel (approximately 13 pages) to The Lord of the Rings that J.R.R. Tolkien quickly abandoned. The manuscript was published as chapter sixteen of The Peoples of Middle-earth. The story is set in the time of Eldarion, Elessar's son. While various versions of the tale place the story from 100 years to 120 years after the Fall of the Dark Tower, Tolkien decided late in the process that the events would be set 100 years into the reign of Eldarion, in the year 220 of the Fourth Age. [...] Tolkien commented this on it in 1964: I did begin a story placed about 100 years after the Downfall, but it proved both sinister and depressing. Since we are dealing with Men it is inevitable that we should be concerned with the most regrettable feature of their nature: their quick satiety with good. So that the people of Gondor in times of peace, justice and prosperity, would become discontented and restless - while the dynasts descended from Aragorn would become just kings and governors - like Denethor or worse. I found that even so early there was an outcrop of revolutionary plots, about a centre of secret Satanistic religion; while Gondorian boys were playing at being Orcs and going around doing damage. I could have written a 'thriller' about the plot and its discovery and overthrow - but it would have been just that. Not worth doing. Letter 256, (dated 13 May 1964)
@@PrometheanRising I hear you. No debate. Somewhere in the Appendices I know he used the term "orc-minded" and I can't think of any better way to describe anybody and everybody involved in this Amazon horror.
"Bronwyn is dead." That might legitimately be the first time in this series I have just stopped and burst out laughing at a line. My brain legitimately broke at something so blatantly farcical not merely on sane human terms, but on the writers' own terms.
Well it turns out Numenorean horses have Full Self Drive and Valet Summon function, but only if you subscribe to the monthly service plan. The kick to death function is left to the horse to activate.
Despite being the card carrying National Socialist genocide enjoyer that I am, her wanting to buttfuck the Orks with a brutal and unforgiving genocide as a response to Adar’s explanation of wanting to give them a homeland, was genuinely disturbing Probably one of THE most unlikable characters of all time. Jfc
It will still have a lot of viewers as the show goes on. Why? Simply because can't help themselves, they just have to know how bad the show is gonna get. I will get my plot summary from this channel though.
6:12 this whole tangent about the Faithful and the funeral scenes really makes me wish for better writers or at the very least, for Amazon to have bought more rights since all of the stuff in late Numenor, especially with Ar-Pharazon, is really fucking cool and pretty metal essentially, Ar-Pharazon became a power-hungry warlord who lead the King's Men, who are the faction antithetical to the Faithful and are jealous of elves and their immortality (which to the show's credit, they did put in anti-elf sentiment in the show but not nearly well-explained enough to the point where the viewer can see them as a serious faction). He married Miriel after Tar-Palantir dies, goes after Sauron after hearing about his growing power, brings him to Numenor as a trophy, and then Sauron starts whispering into his ear and becoming an advisor to Ar-Pharazon which eventually culminates into Ar-Pharazon starting a cult worshipping Morgoth and offering blood sacrifices to him If any of this, or anything even remotely similar were anywhere near sufficiently set up in the first season other than just saying that Ar-Pharazon is a scheming bastard then the funeral scenes could have been way more interesting as an assassination attempt or something along those lines. And it's really obvious by now but the writer's obsession with Galadriel and having her be the main character in the first season, when by all rights it really should have been Sauron, is really weighing the show down and actively gets in the way of pretty much everything
Pharazon conquering Sauron is so key. Pharazon was wrong, but his hubris is born out of the evidence all around him that Numernor is a power to rival even a god. Part of Sauron's genius is his poisoned whispers in the ear of Pharazon. Turning his effortless victory over Sauron into a belief that none can rival Numenor.
It’s quite amusing to see whenever the writers are given the Wikipedia article for a character, faction, or story, because you can see them slamming the pieces together like it’s a square hole because they have 0 clue how any of these pieces should fit together.
Ar-Pharazôn's defeat of Sauron was so decisive, Sauron's own servants abandoned him at the sheer sight of the Númenoreans' power, which is shocking considering the Nazgûl should have been around at that time.
The eagle appears, and Pharazon approaches the Eagle- walking past like 10 people in front of him. Couldn't anyone have approached the eagle? Pharazon is the only one who walks up to it, and now he is king? Would it not make more sense that the eagle showed up to bless Miriels coronation? If the bullshit drama with the Palantir didn't happen, would not the eagle have shown up either way? Edit. I just have to add, in the actual lore- the great eagles of Manwë can TALK
My first thought during that part of the scene!! Bro legit went "if I run up to it first and it doesn't do any sudden absconding I can trick these idiots into thinking it favors me" lol, and the worst part is it Works??? It makes so much more sense that the Numenorians would be like "wow it blessed the new Queen's coronation" but nah this random guy that was hanging closer to the window it is 😂
@@cheeryPsycho I know right, and as Random Film Talk points out at 1:23:07 , "If an eagle made an appearance of hers (coronation) it would be seen as an auspicious omen". And then it happens, but now it means the first person to run up to it is the ruler??? wHaT dA fUk
The best running gag in this show is that Berek, the horse, has human intelligence. It never fails to make me laugh. It’s a shame they didn’t just admit their inability to write fantasy and fully edit the show for comedy.
I think amazon released three episodes in the same day because they measure their audience by minutes watched, not number of views. So if they put more of it out in the first day, people can binge all the three episodes before they decide to abandon it, than having to wait another week and simply choosing to watch something better. Because after season 1, there's no way their executives didn't expect the audience to drop massively on season 2 too.
I'm glad Berek got his own section, because he was unironically my favourite character in this episode. Maybe its because he's incapable of dialogue. Maybe its because he had a nice single minded mission for this episode that he accomplished. Maybe its because he's a good boy who kicked some butt this episode. But "Is the horse gonna be okay?" was the only bit of tension I felt in this glacial episode. Not that its without caveats. The whole idea of all horses of men of the west forging a profound bond with riders is fine in theory. Especially for a story a rooted in War as Tolkeins middle earth is. But i struggle to rationalise it, in the case of an island nation with no formal military. I know they just wanted to recreate the Aragorn scene but that worked because they showed the horse bonding with Aragorn in the EE, and talking to Horses is something Aragorn presumably learned growing up in Rivendell, since Arwen also speaks to her horse. And most importantly, I can believe Brego was bonded strongly with his rider because hes a horse of Rohan. Home of the HORSE LORDS. It feels weird seeing the land of "The Sea is always right!" Having this kind of lore attached to them. Like they just went with recognisable tropes of other parts of middle earth rather than giving thier version of Numenor its own identity and thinking about how thier culture would differ; with a strong religious origin and being a seafaring nation with little contact with middle earth. In Civ terms, this should be a high faith nation with a focus on a strong navy and trade. I'm probably reading too much into a few small lines, but it felt altogether unnecessary. You don't need to justify that the horse might miss his rider. Animals are smart. Pets love thier owners. I could have believed that a grieving Berek might want look for Isildur without needing a magic psychic bond explained in another Elendil word soup special. Anyway. Berek = Good boy. I hope he ends up in mostly functional when the final autopsy rolls around. Unless the writers somehow manage to mess up an inhuman character incapable of speech.
Okay, so here is another thing why what Arondir said about Beleriand makes no sense: Morgoth didn’t decided one day randomly to flood the whole continent and the elves tried to stop him. There were thousands of years of war between them and in the end it seemed like Morgoth was going to win, the elves were either enslaved or lived in small exile communities. Then Earendil (the father of Elrond) went all the way across the sea to valinor to beg the valar to help them save middleearth. They agreed and the ensuing war between them and Morgoth was so great that it flooded beleriand. It was a sad victory yes, but the only way the elves could have survived. So to just say Morgoth flooded my homeland and I’m angry I couldn’t stop him is just so immensely stupid and really shows, that the writers not even tried reading the silmarilion. Btw. I really hope earendil can stay out of this because he is my favorite character in all of tolkiens work.
He was already mentioned as being gone by Elrond when discussing fathers with Durin. But yeah, this show has condensed history massively, so the war with Morgoth feels like just a singular war, maybe lasted a few years.
I'd like to add about the orcs that Tolkien literally said they are what is suppose to a physical manifestation of "The Machine", the mindless cog that envelops all. Like a forest being torn down so a factory can be built in it's place. They are not suppose to empathized with in the slightest.
If I'm not misremembering it is also a fact in Tolkien's world that evil can't create, it can only destroy and corrupt it's it's nature. Witch is why Sauron needed the elves to create the rings of power.
@@anders479 In Tolkien's world? That's true in our world. "Evil cannot create, only destroy and corrupt what already exists" is something proven more and more true every day
I appreciate your argument against the “orc family”. While i have argued against it because of the source material, i appreciate you using their own storytelling to explain why it doesn’t work!
Finally the new epi is out... no disrespect but I use these to fall asleep at night... takes me a week or so to finish a video... been rewatching the season 1 review for the past couple months...lol... this channel really should have more subs by now cuz these reviews are some of the best
man i love your chin crimson variant, even the animations, the effort you put in, neat. we are living history, such phantastic flops produced in this time, marvelous.
Orcs are literally Elves that were corrupted into bloodthirsty beasts. If they're just like Elves, then what did Morgoth actually do when he corrupted them? Did he only change how they look?
The lore on what the orcs come from wasn't really set when Tolkien died. Orcs being descended from elves Morgoth kidnapped and enslaved and corrupted is just one thing. Another is that they are created from the filth and slimes of the earth. Jackson's movies went with both. The third explaination I know of is that they are corrupted Maiar, which is a really old rough draft explanation and ridiculous in more recent lore, and thus easily discarded.
Honestly your videos have become the highlight of my week... and I left this one on purpose till monday after work so I have something to look forward to while I teach morons.... thank you. You are awesome!
I cant wait until we see baby Aragorn. And maybe Sauron will invent some laser guns next. The harfoots are actually robots from the future, and throw in some space aliens too. Because at this point, why not? This is obviously not middle earth, so anything is fair game now.
25:21 Wouldn't Morgoth be considered the father of the orcs? What does Adar have to do with the creation of the orc? Is he simply the adoptive father, or maybe the stepfather, after marrying the mother of the orcs?
@@captainhurricane5705 the idea of an otherworldly being from before the world was created would have to cajole evil creatures to do evil is incredibly laughable. and that they would pick a screwed-up elf over a literal god is insanely stupid.
Did the writers from Rings of Power moonlight for Disney's The Acolyte? The dramatic cliffhanger conversations and the 'talk about it laters' and the just "people don't talk like that" dialogue... it's like they're sharing the same brain cell.
I suspect the white and red thing is because someone on the writing team heard about the Russian Civil War and knew that they were called The Reds and The Whites.
Definitely more Russian imo, I do understand the pov of the two houses of York and Lancaster, with this being about two royal families too. But the Russian civil war is more akin to the Fall of Númenor, with the Kings men and Faithful being kind of like the white and red. Not really, just more so in how they have split ideologically. Of course the red and white spilit society. Farmers would have supported the whites but factory workers would have supported red. I do believe the Nûmenorian spilit would have done the same. Sailor's, masonry and soldiers would have largely supported Kings men.
Nearly left a comment on EFAP (great to see you on there, btw) asking where this vid is since you gave away that it was ready (referring to making it in past tense) but I thought I'd be patient. You don't disappoint.
I dont always like EFAP but this was a very funny one, especially the idea of Sauron digging in the frozen ocean and requiring more grannys to eat was hilarious. Plus Celebrombel and his shitty umbrella
I love how your "dwarven" accent sounds like the Saturday Night Live Sean Connery impression. Incidentally, I think some of the great eagles nested in Numenor until they decided to turn against the Valar and stopped feeding them. Then the eagles left. I think. It's been a while. But yeah, strange thing to just come out of the blue, especially if the non-licensed lore is already there. Love your vids, btw. :)
Imagine being an elite form of life created by the gods with strength, height, and intellect...only to be felled by the first battle by "Fakes" and "Mutations" of created life, corrupted by a child of god, leaving your demigod human queen blind, and demigod army broken. How in the actual fuck did Man with half the lifetime, half the physique...stand against Sauron in the Third* age? TRoP making Melkor out to be a better creator of life than Eru* Ilúvatar. *Thanks to @PrometheanRising, I had originally stated "Elu"
Do you suppose that at some point in the future, later generations will look back on RoP and think, "Dang, it was just ahead of its time, extolling ideas that Tolkien barely grasped in his dotage"? Na, me neither ¬_¬
The problem is the modern day sensibilities in the show needing a female main character with a name that people recognize from the Peter Jackson trilogy.
This is literally how I've been watching ROP. I refuse to support that shit and love supporting a great small UA-camr. Also, WHERE EXTENDED RETURN IF THE KING P3??
the power of one, the power of two, the power of enough.... caught me absolutly off guard and made me laugh tears 🤣 love your videos, been binge watching your analysis on season one and keept going
While I quite enjoy watching people tear down this travesty, I still get sad because how good this could have been. With the budget of some countries they couldn't produce a show halfway entertaining.
Great review, sad I missed the premier on this one, it was a blast hanging out with everyone the last 2 premieres. Man, getting hired to write for this show must include proving that you have marks from when you were dropped on your head as an infant.
I salute you for your sacrifice as always. Watching these videos I can't even imagine what a horrid time it must be to watch the actual episodes. Looking forward to the rest :P
It is actually a surprise to me that, given the penchant of the writers for utterly pointless references to Tolkien's work, they did not entitle the episode 'The Eagle and the Child'.
I was always surprised that when heading from the bar of that pub to one of the back rooms or beer garden that I didn’t end up in Narnia. That pub seems to go back for ever
The Durin plotlines biggest sin is that DURIN HAS NO REASON TO SUSPECT THE RINGS ARE SUS. There is no way Durin knows that Sauron helped make the rings as for all we know there are maybe 5 elves that know about Sauron and none of them are talking with the elves. It’s actually why I’m miffed that Elrond didnt take the rings to the dwarves and go “durin i was wrong your dad was right yeet these into the deepest chasm you have”
Eh, I'm not so sure. He doesn't trust Anatar, and ever since he helped Elrond, the mountain itself is acting strange and his wife's magic singing suddenly doesn't work. So they have reasons to use for Durin's decision, but they didn't bother actually explaining it.
I agree, I was surprised, but always pleased, he was a great addition to the juggernauts that make up the panel. He def added to it. Unlike some guests who rarely say anything. Just saying
That would have made an interesting plotline in a better show as lesser smiths hear about legendary rings being created, and try to replicate the success, with some smiths accidentally getting close, and creating a ring corruptable by Sauron.
Sir Dude, your channel has been recommended to me for ages. I'm so glad I finally listened to the algorithm 😅 and clicked. Love your content, humour and critique. Look forward to watching ALL the rest. Subscribed.
Imagine a scene of Allendale coming out of the forest to find his son on his knees broken, only to look out and see an entire battlefield, empty full of flags and clothing...all bodies buried beneath ash and rock. Sound like a great birth of a leader who used to be a coward...
Love your work man. Keep going! Ive read all the books, including Silmarlian. Im not a Tolkein fighter. Im here for your movie/tv reviews. Your awesome! Great Work mate! (You create sensibility!)
The horse is the best character in the series so far, probably because as a horse, he cannot speak and therefore cannot be given dialogue to make him an idiot.
Amazon writers never heard that saying "When someone suspects you're an idiot, the worst thing you can do is to open your mouth and confirm their suspicion". Otherwise they would be writing silent movies.
they did write him as a bloodhound though, like they watched tangled too many times.
Idk about that, this horse managed to fight off Orcs but didn't even bother to try and fight off or buck off a human that wasn't it's rider and just let itself get "Stolen"
How do you know how it identifies? Are you a biologist?
What a specist.
He is the Hodor of middle earth
I live in the black forrest. No orcs, just a lot of germans.
Lol, dein Nutzername 😂
Sounds nice.
Any of them named Glügling by any chance? 😁
@@TheLewisDawg Not anymore. Poor Glügling was stabbed at a festival some time ago
There's a difference? 😱 Just joking! 😅 I love your cake! 🎂 😋
isildur actually did die in that building and was immediately replaced by his twin isledoor
...who then died from a knife wound to his leg, and was immediately replaced by his other brother, Isleofmandalorian
@@VelvetYeti who then died to the swamp monster and was replaced by his brothers brothers brothers Istealdwarfs
Who then died by being swallowed by a sink hole and was replaced by his brother's brother's brother's brother isteelcarrot
@@boxfoxscoot1614 perhaps "Arse-el-durr" if we're being very cheeky.
Fits right in with Gigachad and Guyladriel, among others!
@@boxfoxscoot1614 omg this is so good
The fact Bronwyn wasn't recast is even more proof to me that there is no overarching plan or story being told, and they just come up with things as they go along.
But Adar was recast.
Maybe they do have a plan?
@@funkydiscogod so that point just proved they're willing and able to recast, but Bronwyn just didn't matter so they didn't.
@@TyrotoxismB Fair point.
@@TyrotoxismB That's exactly what I've been thinking. Killing Bronwyn off screen is so lazy and shows that they really were tagging along with no real plan.
I think Estrid is just the lines they were gonna use for Bronwyn, and they dropped the love triangle.
24:36 “He didn’t choose the Glug Life, the Glug Life chose him.”
5/5 Stars. No notes.
Okay I coincidentally stopped on that exact line when he mentions the Orc baby like it's a change from the book. Um correct me if I am wrong but Orcs absolutely have children and families in the books. The movies changed it so it would be less genocidal. I am 99% sure that is more accurate to the books than the movies.
@@criss_xno, according to the books, orcs are created through the torture and deformation of elves. The Peter Jackson movies were actually fairly close though toned down quite a bit since most people don't want torture porn in their epic fantasy movies.
@@criss_x You’re right, they aren’t tortured elves but rather descendants of such, but it is debated whether they could leave or have compassion, as the souls of elves leave their bodies during trauma and therefore the orcs could be literally soulless
@@Ilquendil ha well let's just play Devil's Avocado here, is it immoral to treat something without a soul with kindness? I haven't seen evidence for a soul and therefore I don't believe in one but I assume you don't think animals have souls right? don't many animal species show kindness? grief? anger?
@@ravencrovax no I'm sorry but that is incorrect
the fact a Troll thinks it can kill Sauron is hilarious and insulting
Well, to be fair, after how "Sauron" performed in the first episode, I can understand the troll's confidence 😄
Well in ROP, I think Sauron is about as much as a threat as a crippled blind deaf man. Nothing he does is threatening or well thought out. Tolkien makes it quite clear how patient and cunning he is, 600 years he spends with Celebrimbor making progress towards the rings. In those 600 years, he does nothing that makes the elves twig on that he is Sauron. Oh sure Galadriel and Gil-Gilad don't trust him as Annatar but they have nothing of evidence to really back up their suspicion. They don't think he's working towards an ultimate power that would enslave them all. Cirdan thinks the rings are a mistake and tries to persuade Celebrimbor against making them but again he doesn't that the one ring is a possibility or that this is all for Sauron's ultimate plan. He likely thought that the power might cause wars or something of that effect, which is a problem but you can't fully act on maybes.
@@TheLewisDawg the show is really pissing me off lol
I want to see troll wives and babies 😂
I mean. Adar killed him with a hat. So. Like?
This show is the gift that keeps on giving.
Cancer. It keeps on giving cancer.
@ardisgreenwater857 as @LRCW would say- aids...a bucket full of aids !
@@ardisgreenwater857 Now, now. Don't be so negative. It's also giving us high-quality, well-thought-out and cerebral entertainment... in the form of all of the UA-cam content tearing it to shreds. It's like the manure from which beautiful flowers spring forth. :P
I'll never stop watching UA-camrs tear this abomination to shreds
Eye aids. It gives aids of the eyes. Not HIV, straight to aids.
I always have to chuckle when a dangerous "black forest" is mentioned in any fantasy world. We have a region in Germany with that exact name and it famous for cherry cake, smoked ham and the traditional hats with red pompoms on top. 😂
Schwartzwälder Kirschtorte❤❤❤
I remember travelling to Freudenstadt with my youth orchestra. At the potluck dinner all our host families brought schwarzwälder kirschtorte, a whole table of them. When you got up close to the table you were hit by a wall of powerful kirsch fumes 😄 I have made it myself in the past but apparently I severely underestimated how much kirsch was needed 😂 They were lovely people, very hospitable, and I had a wonderful time. However, I don't think I could ever get used to rye bread and cold meat and cheese for breakfast. Absolutely delicious, all of it, I would kill to have some right now - but for breakfast it's like a rock in the stomach 😄
Yep, thanks for the Schwarzwälder Schinken from across the border. That at least reminds me of pleasant dinner experiences. Not exactly the emotion I'm getting when ingesting Rings of Power.
In defense of the steriotype, the idea of the forest where evil dwells is burned into the collective mind of the West probably because of the Teutoburg battle and all the countless raids and ambushes the german tribes conducted from forests across their centuries of conflict with Rome
Bet there was a certain time in your history that forrest had the same reputation as all the other black forests...lol
The dialogue in this show is not forgettable. I wish I could sweep it from my mind like salt from a table but it haunts me.
"sorry I strong armed you and your people into a war, and got them all killed, and you lost your eyesight. but I got this nice magic ring out of it."-Galadriel. Jk. Galadriel would never apologize.
"Sauron deceived both of us equally, we're both victims here, let's not point fingers!"
In all fairness, this Galadriel would view humans as being slightly more useful and marginally more valuable than ants.
She threw elves away without a thought, she wouldn't give a human life a second glance.
@@Kyle-sr6jm This girl is pure evil even Sauron some what care about the Orc
The queen has been blinded by fire yet her eyes are impeccably clean. Are we watching a school play with no budget?
It was a magic volcano, okay! Sometimes, it kills people; sometimes, it covers them in Cheetos; and sometimes, it causes neurological vision impairment, not sensory vision impairment! Shut up!
Maybe it's just a mental block 😢
The fire was wet
@@Blazedreptile 😂 right or maybe it was evil fire so it wasn’t hot 😇
How dare you suggest that School Plays with no budgets are better then a 1 BILLION DOLLAR (Enter Description Here)
Annatar reminds me of that cat in Adventure Time:
"I have approximate knowledge of many things!"
Though I haven’t watched it, your comment is even funnier because Sauron was originally Tevildo, Lord of Cats before he was reworked into the Sauron we know today.
Zack trying to sneak in when grain is mentioned..😂😂😂👏🏻👏🏻
55:59 for those who missed this gem.😂
The queen’s eyes look extraordinary healthy for being blinded from a volcanic explosion 😂😂
What I find hugely bizarre about ROP is how lacking of a threat Sauron is. In LOTR he is a constant overbearing threat, yes he doesn't do anything directly himself expect minor things but you constantly see him there on the tower and you constantly have the ring an invention and part of him whispering to Frodo throughout all three films/books. You have him directing everything, and he's winning everywhere that counts. It's literally only a matter of time before he wins. Sauron's only flaw/mistake was the belief that no-one could destroy the ring, he was partly correct in that judgement and if it wasn't for Gollum than Sauron would have won. The ring ultimately being its own and Sauron's undoing is such sweet poetic justice. You see and feel the destruction in the PJ and in the books, you see or read the dwarven genocide in Moria, nature being demolished and crushed, the unending armies pouring forth from his many fortresses.
In ROP he is a wet fart of a threat. FFS Galadriel in S1 thinks she can beat him with a small squad of elves, not an army, a squad. You would think that Galadriel would know how powerful Sauron is, he's the same kind of being who taught her magic... if that even exists in this world. God knows if this Galadriel can even use magic considered she can't use natural abilities of her kind? Could you give those ears a tuck and make sure she's an elf and not someone pretending to be Galadriel. She would also know of Morgoths strength and Sauron would be of similar strength. She thinks she would ever land a sword blow against him? Nope. Why are the elves being so slow and sluggish and completely braindead? They literally know everything that unravel everything Sauron is working towards. You know he wants rings, and that he wants to control everyone. Oh god I wonder what he's planning! Oh what it could be! Could it be that the rings have some part to play! The elves are ultimately now to blame for everything, it's not Sauron's doing but theirs. This is the ultimate enemy and yet he's being treated as the same level of threat as an orc.
For me it's the problem of Adar. Him killing Sauron in front of the orcs would weaken Sauron's position massively as a dark Lord. They literally wouldn't even fear him if so.
The fact he isn't even control of Mordor, his realm and fortress at this point in the second age is ridiculous. It makes him seem weak.
@@thomasalvarez6456 I totally agree. He's such a pushover... how the hell are Gil-Galad and Elendil. two powerhouses of this age for their respective races going to die to this Sauron? How? Although seemingly ROP doesn't have them anyway close to lore accurate either in terms of strength so I imagine a gust of wind could kill either.
@@MajorSmurf They'll kill Sauron and he turns into spaghetti. Tragically, they are wearing the Rings of Italian and have a sudden, insatiable craving for the forbidden pasta.
Well you are comparing a masterpiece, meticolously begotten by a Scholar and Professor at Oxford, as a love-inspired gift to his children and his country with ...a designed-by-comitee marketing gimmick for a retail corporation that seeks to bind you into consumerism forever only to see numbers go up.
Wouldn't it be hilarious if it turned out the "Sauron" in the show isn't actually Sauron but some non-canon Sauron wannabe, and the real Sauron is lurking somewhere manipulating everyone from the shadows - or disguised as someone else? I don't think that will happen but it would be funny
as a person who has played tolkien orc for many years on live action roleplay events, I was hysterically crying when grug and his wife and spawn were in (thankfully brief) focus in this masterpiece
I think we were all screaming, crying, throwing up, etc, and not in the good way 🙃
You gotta adjust your roleplay events now - add whole dynasty of glug
In defence of that scene, it only shows one orc being not evil (or not warlike at least, he might still enjoy enslaving and eating humans in Mordor even if he doesn't want to go to war) while all other scenes involving orcs decipt them as evil and violent. So he might be the one exception to the orcs' warlike nature, not supposed to represent them as a whole. And I don't think that is the dumbest idea in the world - not moreso than an evil elf. If they do go with the idea that orcs in general are peaceful and decent then that is really really stupid
@@exantiuse497The issue is that we're making things needlessly gray for no gain. Glug and his family likely won't ever come up again and no matter how much they pander to the idea that orcs are just people like men and elves, they'll still act like it's heroic when Galadriel and the rest of our heroes slay them.
It's a similar issue to Finn in the Star War Sequels. They open the door to Storm Troopers being victims of childhood indoctrination, but then go on to gun them down with glee and heroic music cheering them on.
What's on the menu though?
I may not have liked Bronwyn as a character, or her boring romance or dollar store Eowyn arc, but I respect the actress for seeing how the wind was blowing, and dipping. Particularly since she made sure to clarify that her decision to leave the show was independent of her choice to return to humanitarian work.
Rip Bronwyn. I'll always remember you for having one of the highest on screen Orc kill counts for a solid stretch of time. Truly; 'We can do it 💪' 😂
Same as the actor who depicted Adar in S1. He left as well. 😊
@@goodputin4324 And all other are just glad to be working I guess.
@@goodputin4324 Chad actors.
fun fact... the actress left the show to concentrate on her activism, so i suspect she thought of the show as being too conservative... ;o)
and Bronwyn killed what, 3 orcs? - the one from the tunnels under her house. the Lemonlass-choking brute and the one at the cart from the ambush? - well, thats 3 times the orcs, Galadriel killed in S1... that was the one loney ride-by victim - and the only other creature Gauladriel (Gaul being a German derrogative term for a horse ) killed, was the ice troll.... and our patience i guess...
@@goodputin4324 and that's why I don't get why they didn't recast Bronwyn. They recast Adar and it wouldn't have been the first time to recast main character in a tv show. Her death off screen was so stupid.
I am incredibly invested in Rings of Power for all the wrong reasons, lovely.
hatewatching is a thing
The truly wrong reasons would be "because I genuinely think this is a brilliant show".
@@troffle Well it is making me laugh a lot so, comedy is great in this one.
@@troffle Actually I take it back, r. alter ego as Link makes me laugh, not the show.
You missed how they established Galadriel's unfounded theory that Sauron really has to touch something to defile it when he took the mithril out of Celebrimbor's hand to add it himself into the forge.
Yep, exactlt.
Moreover - he definitely touched the forge itself.
And he personally took Galadriel's knife from Eovynd and returned it to her.
*Elendil, pardon me
@@Sornemus If that's all he has to do, why does he need the rings... Just walk around touching things and people, as he was doing, and then hit them with ye old mind whammy. Seems to have worked with Celebrimborg
@@EliasMheart They seem to be implying that, with people, he can only do that with folks who, for some length of time, trust him. So I guess Adar never trusted him, even when they both served Morgoth.
Abibbidibobbidi dominationofalllife
What i dont understand in this whole series is : WHY have Sauron be so in inept?!
He is a Maia, an Ainur, a creature of song.
He was better at the power of song than the elves.
He posesses the power to shape the laws of nature, manipulate anyone and anything, he can shapeshift himself to deceive, etc.
He is immortal and basically at the level of a literal Angel or lesser god (don't feel like demi-god fits the maiar)
In the show all he does is shapeshift, although he could probably level the city of Numenor if he wanted to, all he does is play the little smithy apprentice and that is it.
On multiple accounts he has HELPED Galadriel, the people of Numenor and others that actually OPPOSE the orks and what he is trying to do. Why... for what reason besides a ploy to gather allies and manipulate them to follow him (which for some reason didnt work out because ... Galadriel just always wins somehow i guess?) would he sabotage himself and his plans? He is neither Loki nor Tzeentch, he can not accurately see the future in its fullest and know which path leads to certain victory, so there is no reason for him to gamble these high stakes away and prolongue the timeframe until he can achieve his goals.
Galadriel in her "current state" is nowhere near his ... let's call it power-level, he should have disposed of her when he had the chance, which there were multiple of.
WHY the writers decided to create so many moments where Sauron and Galadriel just "play friends" is beyond me, there is no reason for him to leave her alive, so why would anyone a story where they basically have a "will they - won't they" for multiple episodes, just to end it in a moronic and unnecessary reveal at the end of season 1 which ultimately STILL LEADS TO NOTHING?!
Galadriel's actress is too short, unlikeable, she is written awfully, Sauron is apparently just f*cking around for funsies and wasting time, the harfoots are unbearable and unnessary, yet there are people that can turn their brain off, watch this series and then go on the internet to proclaim : oh i really liked it, it was great, on par with LOTR for sure!
... i just can't
also probably 99% of people knew from episode 2 where Halbrand first appeared, that he was Sauron
same for Gandalf as the stranger
the writers apparently suppose most people are as simpleminded as they are and therefor think their script is actually well written and nobody could see those CRAZY plottwists from a mile away
Probably the only source of sauran power level were lord of the rings movies and only parts where he is visible in full as his schemes werent noticed by amazon folk
So they must be thinking that without full giant armor and ring he is just a funny magician with minor jedi tricks
Those 'on par' folks make me wish that hell was real.
@@Morfalath second sentence of Halbrand "Looks can be deceiving" - every Tolkien reader ever " oh, 100% Sauron, so why is Gauladriel so dumb?"
I think you're overselling Sauron's power a little. He is strong, yes, and more powerful and cunning than in the show for sure, but he isn't invincible nor a god of any sort (the Valar are the only beings in Tolkien's works referred to as 'gods', with Iluvatar representing the capital G God although he isn't referred to as such).
The reason why Sauron goes with the Numenorians as their "prisoner" and starts to manipulate them is because he has to "accomplish through cunning what he cannot do through force" (direct quote from Silmarillion). If he was an all powerful god who could raze Numenor and destroy its army with a thought... why didn't he do it?
Of course in this show he is laughably inept and weak but that doesn't mean you should go too hard in the other direction and overblow his abilities. He might be the strongest individual in Middle Earth in the Second Age but he is far from being the strongest character in the Legendarium. He would lose (1 on 1) to many characters including Huan, Gothmog and possibly other Balrogs as well, large dragons, and many elven warriors like Fingolfin (who goes toe to toe with Morgoth himself), Ecthelion (who slew Gothmog), Feanor, maybe even Glorfindel. And he is defeated by Glorfindel and Elendil. Far from unbeatable
Celebrimbor; “we are going to give aid to the Dwarves”
Durin: “Oh thank Valar food supplies, other necessities and helping with the tunnels! thank you Celebrimbor!!”
Celebrimbor: “n.. no im going to give you magic rings!!’”
Durin: “WHAT!!!??”
"What do they do anyway?"
"Give you power."
"To do what?"
"Err...Anatar, what exactly will these rings do again? I forgot."
"Oh, they'll give me, I mean the dwarves, power over flesh, I mean, uh, stone, or something."
stone apples? Maybe it’ll be the technology for potatoes.
According to the books the rings multiply wealth or something. Which is why Thrain's ring was useless when the dwarves were driven out of Erebor since the ring needs gold to breed more gold and the dwarves had nothing.
@@themightygruntproductions Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.
I have to say, I absolutely love watching your break downs of this series. Being in that weird space of interested in the story, but not willing to invest the time to watch it, having a creator focus on the merits of the show itself, rather than how it breaks the lore of Tolkien, has been such a fun and even educating experience. Mad props to how thorough and fair your critiques and observations are! I reckon you're definitely the fairest commentator on the series thus far, and it's been a treat! Thanks for all the time and effort put into your series!
This is the best episode in the whole show so far. There is not a single scene with Galadriel
The actor playing Arondir must think he's playing a Vulcan.
The ears confused him.
As someone who mentioned the lesser magic rings in regards to that scene in the Fellowship video, I'll clarify that multiple magic rings exist there because they were made as practice/prototypes for the elves making the Rings of Power. But since Rings of Power is ... what it is, those rings clearly haven't been made. And might not at all, which now that I think about it would have ramifications for Gandalf's lack of interest in Bilbo's ring. I'm adding that to the list of lore problems this show creates.
I always imagined that after the first 9 were created, other smiths hears about it, and tried creating rings.
Right, because they made lesser rings, then the 16, then after Celebrimbor has learned from Sauron from making those rings, he then made the three in secret. It should also be mentioned, the rhyme from LotR is an anachronism. They didn't make the 7 and the 9 for dwarves and men. Sauron literally steals them and re-purposes them. The great weakness of Sauron's plan is that he got Celebrimbor to make all of these rings for elves and they barely work on the elves at all. Then he tries with the dwarves and that doesn't go so well either. It is really only when he gives them to men that he gets a big payoff.
It occurred to me the total lack of Elven magic items. Elven rope, elven bread, elven camo cloaks, elven mirrors, elven water, daggers that glow blue around orcs, etc. like. EVERYTHING elven is nigh magical to humans, in tolkien and lord of the rings. Granted, the show runners couldn't possibly be trusted to actually invent new elven magic everyday items. this of course also plays into the Elves being ethereal and alien.. these writers really can't handle Elves. probably could have focused entirely on Dwarves.
Dwarves were created to be more resistant to corruption and Morgoth's / Sauron's evil. Those nutwaffles wouldn't know how to write around that.
The War of Dwarves and Orcs was an obvious candidate story from the Appendices, but that story has themes around masculine virtue, and manly men, we cannot have.
@@PrometheanRising You know what, if they really wanted to write the story "Tolkien never wrote", well, then, how about the Fourth Age story "The New Shadow" which literally he stopped writing after 13 pages?
... of course, if they were smart enough to pick up on that idea and not step on anybody's toes, they might've been smart enough to write a decent story in general.
In case anybody doesn't know what I'm talking about, I quote from the Tolkien Gateway:
The New Shadow is an incomplete sequel (approximately 13 pages) to The Lord of the Rings that J.R.R. Tolkien quickly abandoned. The manuscript was published as chapter sixteen of The Peoples of Middle-earth.
The story is set in the time of Eldarion, Elessar's son. While various versions of the tale place the story from 100 years to 120 years after the Fall of the Dark Tower, Tolkien decided late in the process that the events would be set 100 years into the reign of Eldarion, in the year 220 of the Fourth Age. [...]
Tolkien commented this on it in 1964:
I did begin a story placed about 100 years after the Downfall, but it proved both sinister and depressing. Since we are dealing with Men it is inevitable that we should be concerned with the most regrettable feature of their nature: their quick satiety with good. So that the people of Gondor in times of peace, justice and prosperity, would become discontented and restless - while the dynasts descended from Aragorn would become just kings and governors - like Denethor or worse. I found that even so early there was an outcrop of revolutionary plots, about a centre of secret Satanistic religion; while Gondorian boys were playing at being Orcs and going around doing damage. I could have written a 'thriller' about the plot and its discovery and overthrow - but it would have been just that. Not worth doing.
Letter 256, (dated 13 May 1964)
@@troffle The only problem with that idea is that the writers of RoP are literally the kids playing orcs from Tolkien's early notes.
@@PrometheanRising I hear you. No debate. Somewhere in the Appendices I know he used the term "orc-minded" and I can't think of any better way to describe anybody and everybody involved in this Amazon horror.
"Bronwyn is dead."
That might legitimately be the first time in this series I have just stopped and burst out laughing at a line. My brain legitimately broke at something so blatantly farcical not merely on sane human terms, but on the writers' own terms.
Glug just needs minerals to get the motorbike working
Well it turns out Numenorean horses have Full Self Drive and Valet Summon function, but only if you subscribe to the monthly service plan. The kick to death function is left to the horse to activate.
I loved when Guyladriel said "You have not seen what I have seen" and then tempested all over the orcs who just wanted to feed their families
Despite being the card carrying National Socialist genocide enjoyer that I am, her wanting to buttfuck the Orks with a brutal and unforgiving genocide as a response to Adar’s explanation of wanting to give them a homeland, was genuinely disturbing
Probably one of THE most unlikable characters of all time. Jfc
They released 3 at once to avoid as much viewer drop-off as possible.
Also pads their viewing minutes numbers, since I think S1 had a two episode premiere.
It will still have a lot of viewers as the show goes on. Why? Simply because can't help themselves, they just have to know how bad the show is gonna get. I will get my plot summary from this channel though.
Muriel had to be blind because no man could usurp a woman’s power in this universe.
The absolute ableism in that plot, I swear. Just because your eyes don't work right, that doesn't mean you can't see trouble coming.
6:12 this whole tangent about the Faithful and the funeral scenes really makes me wish for better writers or at the very least, for Amazon to have bought more rights since all of the stuff in late Numenor, especially with Ar-Pharazon, is really fucking cool and pretty metal
essentially, Ar-Pharazon became a power-hungry warlord who lead the King's Men, who are the faction antithetical to the Faithful and are jealous of elves and their immortality (which to the show's credit, they did put in anti-elf sentiment in the show but not nearly well-explained enough to the point where the viewer can see them as a serious faction). He married Miriel after Tar-Palantir dies, goes after Sauron after hearing about his growing power, brings him to Numenor as a trophy, and then Sauron starts whispering into his ear and becoming an advisor to Ar-Pharazon which eventually culminates into Ar-Pharazon starting a cult worshipping Morgoth and offering blood sacrifices to him
If any of this, or anything even remotely similar were anywhere near sufficiently set up in the first season other than just saying that Ar-Pharazon is a scheming bastard then the funeral scenes could have been way more interesting as an assassination attempt or something along those lines. And it's really obvious by now but the writer's obsession with Galadriel and having her be the main character in the first season, when by all rights it really should have been Sauron, is really weighing the show down and actively gets in the way of pretty much everything
Pharazon conquering Sauron is so key. Pharazon was wrong, but his hubris is born out of the evidence all around him that Numernor is a power to rival even a god.
Part of Sauron's genius is his poisoned whispers in the ear of Pharazon. Turning his effortless victory over Sauron into a belief that none can rival Numenor.
It’s quite amusing to see whenever the writers are given the Wikipedia article for a character, faction, or story, because you can see them slamming the pieces together like it’s a square hole because they have 0 clue how any of these pieces should fit together.
Ar-Pharazôn's defeat of Sauron was so decisive, Sauron's own servants abandoned him at the sheer sight of the Númenoreans' power, which is shocking considering the Nazgûl should have been around at that time.
The eagle appears, and Pharazon approaches the Eagle- walking past like 10 people in front of him. Couldn't anyone have approached the eagle? Pharazon is the only one who walks up to it, and now he is king? Would it not make more sense that the eagle showed up to bless Miriels coronation? If the bullshit drama with the Palantir didn't happen, would not the eagle have shown up either way?
Edit. I just have to add, in the actual lore- the great eagles of Manwë can TALK
AND the Great eagles already have left Numenor decades ( maybe even centuries, not sure when exactly ) ago for good.
It looked like as if Pharazon just walked up on the eagle and scared it away and people wants him king for it. Its so retarded😂
My first thought during that part of the scene!! Bro legit went "if I run up to it first and it doesn't do any sudden absconding I can trick these idiots into thinking it favors me" lol, and the worst part is it Works??? It makes so much more sense that the Numenorians would be like "wow it blessed the new Queen's coronation" but nah this random guy that was hanging closer to the window it is 😂
@@cheeryPsycho I know right, and as Random Film Talk points out at 1:23:07 , "If an eagle made an appearance of hers (coronation) it would be seen as an auspicious omen". And then it happens, but now it means the first person to run up to it is the ruler??? wHaT dA fUk
@@Cherroxx Truly it all comes down to "Pharazon wins... because Eagle" 😂
The best running gag in this show is that Berek, the horse, has human intelligence. It never fails to make me laugh. It’s a shame they didn’t just admit their inability to write fantasy and fully edit the show for comedy.
I think amazon released three episodes in the same day because they measure their audience by minutes watched, not number of views. So if they put more of it out in the first day, people can binge all the three episodes before they decide to abandon it, than having to wait another week and simply choosing to watch something better. Because after season 1, there's no way their executives didn't expect the audience to drop massively on season 2 too.
Why not just drop it all at once, though?
I'm glad Berek got his own section, because he was unironically my favourite character in this episode. Maybe its because he's incapable of dialogue. Maybe its because he had a nice single minded mission for this episode that he accomplished. Maybe its because he's a good boy who kicked some butt this episode. But "Is the horse gonna be okay?" was the only bit of tension I felt in this glacial episode.
Not that its without caveats. The whole idea of all horses of men of the west forging a profound bond with riders is fine in theory. Especially for a story a rooted in War as Tolkeins middle earth is. But i struggle to rationalise it, in the case of an island nation with no formal military. I know they just wanted to recreate the Aragorn scene but that worked because they showed the horse bonding with Aragorn in the EE, and talking to Horses is something Aragorn presumably learned growing up in Rivendell, since Arwen also speaks to her horse. And most importantly, I can believe Brego was bonded strongly with his rider because hes a horse of Rohan. Home of the HORSE LORDS. It feels weird seeing the land of "The Sea is always right!" Having this kind of lore attached to them. Like they just went with recognisable tropes of other parts of middle earth rather than giving thier version of Numenor its own identity and thinking about how thier culture would differ; with a strong religious origin and being a seafaring nation with little contact with middle earth. In Civ terms, this should be a high faith nation with a focus on a strong navy and trade.
I'm probably reading too much into a few small lines, but it felt altogether unnecessary. You don't need to justify that the horse might miss his rider. Animals are smart. Pets love thier owners. I could have believed that a grieving Berek might want look for Isildur without needing a magic psychic bond explained in another Elendil word soup special.
Anyway. Berek = Good boy. I hope he ends up in mostly functional when the final autopsy rolls around. Unless the writers somehow manage to mess up an inhuman character incapable of speech.
"He didn't choose the Glug life, the Glug life chose him." - 13/10 masterpiece ROP review. Kudos my good sir. xD
Okay, so here is another thing why what Arondir said about Beleriand makes no sense:
Morgoth didn’t decided one day randomly to flood the whole continent and the elves tried to stop him. There were thousands of years of war between them and in the end it seemed like Morgoth was going to win, the elves were either enslaved or lived in small exile communities. Then Earendil (the father of Elrond) went all the way across the sea to valinor to beg the valar to help them save middleearth. They agreed and the ensuing war between them and Morgoth was so great that it flooded beleriand. It was a sad victory yes, but the only way the elves could have survived. So to just say Morgoth flooded my homeland and I’m angry I couldn’t stop him is just so immensely stupid and really shows, that the writers not even tried reading the silmarilion.
Btw. I really hope earendil can stay out of this because he is my favorite character in all of tolkiens work.
He was already mentioned as being gone by Elrond when discussing fathers with Durin. But yeah, this show has condensed history massively, so the war with Morgoth feels like just a singular war, maybe lasted a few years.
Durin: "Who is this suspicious Elf that just crawled out of the burning forge offscreen?"
The comedic moments in your videos are highly appreciated. This one had a bunch of excellently timed bangers that made me laugh several times 😂👍
I'd like to add about the orcs that Tolkien literally said they are what is suppose to a physical manifestation of "The Machine", the mindless cog that envelops all. Like a forest being torn down so a factory can be built in it's place. They are not suppose to empathized with in the slightest.
If I'm not misremembering it is also a fact in Tolkien's world that evil can't create, it can only destroy and corrupt it's it's nature. Witch is why Sauron needed the elves to create the rings of power.
@@anders479 In Tolkien's world? That's true in our world. "Evil cannot create, only destroy and corrupt what already exists" is something proven more and more true every day
Yeah I normally like having nuanced bad guys, but orcs… are not for that 😅
I appreciate your argument against the “orc family”. While i have argued against it because of the source material, i appreciate you using their own storytelling to explain why it doesn’t work!
Thank you Random for saving my Sunday again.
"Thank you for watching." You're welcome.
Thank you for taking this absolute turd and creating an hour and a half of enjoyable viewing experience.
Right? I love how I probably couldn’t stomach watching the actual show but these detailed breakdowns are amazingly entertaining!
The entirety of the coronation intro breakdown made me pause and laugh separately for each color. 😂😂
Has the incompetency train barreled through the station and plowed into an orphanage …. Possibly one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard.
this thumbnail should be taught in every film class
*: waits for Atticus Noble to drop in to Moria/Lindon to get some grain for the Empire of Balisarius:*
Finally the new epi is out... no disrespect but I use these to fall asleep at night... takes me a week or so to finish a video... been rewatching the season 1 review for the past couple months...lol... this channel really should have more subs by now cuz these reviews are some of the best
Turns out "the sea is always right"
man i love your chin crimson variant, even the animations, the effort you put in, neat.
we are living history, such phantastic flops produced in this time, marvelous.
I love rings of power so much
If not for the existence of rings of power I would’ve never found your channel random. Keep up the good work random.
What can man do against suck reckless writing?
@@Peak_Aussieman huh?? Succ?
let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy!
Send out riders my lord, you must call for aid, P. Jackson will answer.
Mac grate efurts tu spel thur wurds corectly
Suck may have been a typo but it was an accurate one 😆
Orcs are literally Elves that were corrupted into bloodthirsty beasts. If they're just like Elves, then what did Morgoth actually do when he corrupted them? Did he only change how they look?
The lore on what the orcs come from wasn't really set when Tolkien died. Orcs being descended from elves Morgoth kidnapped and enslaved and corrupted is just one thing. Another is that they are created from the filth and slimes of the earth. Jackson's movies went with both. The third explaination I know of is that they are corrupted Maiar, which is a really old rough draft explanation and ridiculous in more recent lore, and thus easily discarded.
Honestly your videos have become the highlight of my week... and I left this one on purpose till monday after work so I have something to look forward to while I teach morons.... thank you. You are awesome!
As someone who hit their mature hairline this year, that jab at Sauron actor calling him 5 head felt personal lmaoooo
I have to give you credit for putting so much thought and research into trying to make sense of this. More thought than the writers did writing it.
"he didn't choose the glug life, the glug life chose him!". Comedy gold my man!
I cant wait until we see baby Aragorn. And maybe Sauron will invent some laser guns next. The harfoots are actually robots from the future, and throw in some space aliens too. Because at this point, why not? This is obviously not middle earth, so anything is fair game now.
They can give him a Sword That Was Broken baby rattle.
25:21 Wouldn't Morgoth be considered the father of the orcs? What does Adar have to do with the creation of the orc? Is he simply the adoptive father, or maybe the stepfather, after marrying the mother of the orcs?
@@captainhurricane5705 the idea of an otherworldly being from before the world was created would have to cajole evil creatures to do evil is incredibly laughable. and that they would pick a screwed-up elf over a literal god is insanely stupid.
Ha little Gluglings. Id watch that. Kids cartoon of the orcs as kids
This is awesome. You took my feelings and made them into a video. Thanks! Randos forever! ❤
Did the writers from Rings of Power moonlight for Disney's The Acolyte? The dramatic cliffhanger conversations and the 'talk about it laters' and the just "people don't talk like that" dialogue... it's like they're sharing the same brain cell.
I suspect the white and red thing is because someone on the writing team heard about the Russian Civil War and knew that they were called The Reds and The Whites.
Could also be the English "War of the Roses"
The white rose of York and the Red rose of Lancaster.
@@MediumRareOpinions That is definitely another option.
Definitely more Russian imo, I do understand the pov of the two houses of York and Lancaster, with this being about two royal families too. But the Russian civil war is more akin to the Fall of Númenor, with the Kings men and Faithful being kind of like the white and red.
Not really, just more so in how they have split ideologically. Of course the red and white spilit society. Farmers would have supported the whites but factory workers would have supported red. I do believe the Nûmenorian spilit would have done the same. Sailor's, masonry and soldiers would have largely supported Kings men.
Not gonna lie - I didnt expect those series to make a stance about freaking commies vs monarchy
@@thomasalvarez6456 as Pharazon looks quiet like a Karl Marx lookalike i go with russian, too :o)
Nearly left a comment on EFAP (great to see you on there, btw) asking where this vid is since you gave away that it was ready (referring to making it in past tense) but I thought I'd be patient. You don't disappoint.
I dont always like EFAP but this was a very funny one, especially the idea of Sauron digging in the frozen ocean and requiring more grannys to eat was hilarious. Plus Celebrombel and his shitty umbrella
I love that alter ego is a different kind of elf every EP 🤣
All i know is... no matter what im watching if i have autoplay on one of your videos is n3xt. Especially if i fall asleep 😂😂😂😂
And i hought i am the only "weird" one😂😂
Oh, Random. Don't you know Theo clearly ran into an Ent?
Yes, the axe will piss you off in ways you can't yet understand
1:28 left the hoarse to 'die of starvation' he says while showing an entire valley full of grass
It's gonna be eating all day everyday to meet those nutritional requirements and when Winter rolls around... probably R.i.P.
It ran into Mordor...
The evolution of randoms avatar has been wonderful to see
I love how your "dwarven" accent sounds like the Saturday Night Live Sean Connery impression. Incidentally, I think some of the great eagles nested in Numenor until they decided to turn against the Valar and stopped feeding them. Then the eagles left. I think. It's been a while. But yeah, strange thing to just come out of the blue, especially if the non-licensed lore is already there. Love your vids, btw. :)
Love these bro! I re-watch them all the time
Time to roll one, kick back on the couch with my dog on my lap, and watch/listen to a thorough rinsing of an abomination. Perfect Sunday evening.
Like a spring rain over the bones of a carcass!!!!
Imagine being an elite form of life created by the gods with strength, height, and intellect...only to be felled by the first battle by "Fakes" and "Mutations" of created life, corrupted by a child of god, leaving your demigod human queen blind, and demigod army broken. How in the actual fuck did Man with half the lifetime, half the physique...stand against Sauron in the Third* age?
TRoP making Melkor out to be a better creator of life than Eru* Ilúvatar.
*Thanks to @PrometheanRising, I had originally stated "Elu"
I think you mean Eru. Elu created Luthien which has generally been accounted by all as excellent work.
@@PrometheanRising Aye, thanks for that. I'll correct it! o7
@@PrometheanRising You, good sir, have a rare wit--unlike the showrunners, who have but half of one, and that shared between them.
Props to you for sticking with the show. I was gong to do every episode reviews, but after the first one, I just couldn’t do it anymore.
Do you suppose that at some point in the future, later generations will look back on RoP and think, "Dang, it was just ahead of its time, extolling ideas that Tolkien barely grasped in his dotage"? Na, me neither ¬_¬
The problem is the modern day sensibilities in the show needing a female main character with a name that people recognize from the Peter Jackson trilogy.
Dotage is an excuse that these 'writers' will never have. Wrong Dosage, perhaps, or so autocorrect would have me believe.
@@funkydiscogod They need to starve out masculine virtue ahead of the coming hordes.
This is literally how I've been watching ROP. I refuse to support that shit and love supporting a great small UA-camr. Also, WHERE EXTENDED RETURN IF THE KING P3??
You aren't alone! I refuse to let them have my viewing time.
Apples.
Horses think about apples.
the power of one, the power of two, the power of enough.... caught me absolutly off guard and made me laugh tears 🤣 love your videos, been binge watching your analysis on season one and keept going
While I quite enjoy watching people tear down this travesty, I still get sad because how good this could have been. With the budget of some countries they couldn't produce a show halfway entertaining.
Thank you for the videos, dude! :) Always a pleasure listening to an intelligent person.
Numenor shares political traditions with Gravity Falls; selection of leaders by blessed eagle. Not sure what to think about this.
I loved the part where Pharazon says "Make Numenor Grear Again!"
"Delightfully Devilish plot device"
The way this show is going I fully expect to find the Aurora Borealis under Khazad Dum
At this time of year?
Great review, sad I missed the premier on this one, it was a blast hanging out with everyone the last 2 premieres. Man, getting hired to write for this show must include proving that you have marks from when you were dropped on your head as an infant.
31:25 😂😂😂😂 I love your notes!
I salute you for your sacrifice as always. Watching these videos I can't even imagine what a horrid time it must be to watch the actual episodes. Looking forward to the rest :P
It is actually a surprise to me that, given the penchant of the writers for utterly pointless references to Tolkien's work, they did not entitle the episode 'The Eagle and the Child'.
I was always surprised that when heading from the bar of that pub to one of the back rooms or beer garden that I didn’t end up in Narnia. That pub seems to go back for ever
Or as that pub was also called, "The Bird and Baby".
1:21:59 I am eternally grateful for this black screen pause cause I had to have a moment to shriek
The Durin plotlines biggest sin is that DURIN HAS NO REASON TO SUSPECT THE RINGS ARE SUS. There is no way Durin knows that Sauron helped make the rings as for all we know there are maybe 5 elves that know about Sauron and none of them are talking with the elves. It’s actually why I’m miffed that Elrond didnt take the rings to the dwarves and go “durin i was wrong your dad was right yeet these into the deepest chasm you have”
Eh, I'm not so sure. He doesn't trust Anatar, and ever since he helped Elrond, the mountain itself is acting strange and his wife's magic singing suddenly doesn't work. So they have reasons to use for Durin's decision, but they didn't bother actually explaining it.
Your channel deserves way more followers!
It was so cool to see you on EFAP! 🎉
I agree, I was surprised, but always pleased, he was a great addition to the juggernauts that make up the panel. He def added to it. Unlike some guests who rarely say anything. Just saying
@@LucyferSkyleshe's a great fit for EFAP, willing to roll with the jokes and offer commentary on the topic in even measure.
@@MediumRareOpinions I hope he becomes more of a regular on the show. That would be epic.
Who knew Sauron was in fact Butters creamy goo all along
1:09:38 I believe you are the only person to actually find out why sauron freed the slave. Good job man
The lesser rings were made at the same time as the rings of power
That would have made an interesting plotline in a better show as lesser smiths hear about legendary rings being created, and try to replicate the success, with some smiths accidentally getting close, and creating a ring corruptable by Sauron.
Sir Dude, your channel has been recommended to me for ages. I'm so glad I finally listened to the algorithm 😅 and clicked. Love your content, humour and critique. Look forward to watching ALL the rest. Subscribed.
Imagine a scene of Allendale coming out of the forest to find his son on his knees broken, only to look out and see an entire battlefield, empty full of flags and clothing...all bodies buried beneath ash and rock. Sound like a great birth of a leader who used to be a coward...
Love your work man. Keep going! Ive read all the books, including Silmarlian. Im not a Tolkein fighter. Im here for your movie/tv reviews. Your awesome! Great Work mate! (You create sensibility!)
54:01 They finally brought back Don Leman.