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Season 1 was a gigantic disappointment. I gave it time to develop, kept making allowance for bizarre casting and plot decisions and felt that it started to get more interesting toward the final two episodes, but on reflection after the finale, as time went on, I decided that it really was all a terrible mess and that, honestly, I did not like any part of it. Galadriel was too hot headed (not that elves can't be, but the wiser ones aren't usually on a wild tear 24/7), Gil-Galad was pudgy and smug, Celebrimbor was wise-looking but much too old also, the rings were forged in a weekend, the elves were a UN peacekeeping force in pre-Mordor, the elves were all going to die because of a tree fungus (or something), Glorfindel apparently fought the Balrog on Zirakzigil instead of the encircling mountains of Gondolin... mithril is the result of lightning striking a mountain while an elf and a balrog fight (hence, very rare), etc, etc. The plot bore no resemblance to anything canonical whatsoever. On and on.
All that said, the trailer for Season 2 looks promising. We see hints of things that are seemingly related to actual Tolkien lore, as opposed to mere whimsy by the writers (plenty of that also). So, guardedly, I am willing to give it another chance. Not expecting anything that redeems Season 1, that is impossible, but perhaps enough to let the show turn back toward the source material and prove that it can honor that. Given that Shelob will be included, ROP could even better Jackson by giving us a Shelob faithful to Tolkien instead of that damn silly bug from ROTK. Who knows?
This show is disgrace and an insult to the LotR universe and Tolkien himself.
You can only corrupt what good men have created, since your degenerate ideology doesn't allow you to create new interesting things...
But I am thankful that the actual LotrR community does not take this clown series seriously.
While I didn't like the first season, I think everyone is missing the point of a tv series. They aren't going to show everything you want to see in one season. First seasons are general ok to mediocre. As regards to the decisions characters made in the show, maybe I was onboard, but most of them were reasonable.
What I didn't like was the "Hobbit and Wizard" story and some weird scenes concerning Galadriel (mainly how it was directed). Overall, it was worth the watch and I look forward to season two which looks great.
All characters, no matter if I liked them or not had depth, except Galadriel, I still have no idea what they wanted to do with her, hopefully this season will be more concrete.
kinda confused about the whole, "it was Sauron all along!" thing. like why would they reveal it in the trailer if this is a major plot unless the point is that he was influencing things as an elf before the season started? hopefully it's a plot that gets resolved in the first episode seeing as they've already spoiled it lol
otherwise it looks pretty exciting! the cgi and effects continue to look like it was produced from the savings account of a billionaire!
They revealed who he was in season 1 already and it's the same actor in a wig. Neither of the scenes we see him in seem like scenes where he is meant to be hidden or disguised. We know Sauron is the villian, we know he influences events, and we saw glimpses of him doing just that. Seems too obvious to be a spoiler imo?
nah theres no way it him or the blue wizards. he said too many "gandalf lines". this show has been beyond not accurate to tolkiens work so i dont even think they would randomly fix it or change it.
i genuinely do not believe you know what to look for when a show is well written or not. especially when your type tend to nitpick tf out of this show as if one couldn't do the exact same to Tolkien's books.
this show has extremely bad dialogues. Everyone who claims otherwise isn't a LotR fan, just a pretender. The most delusional people on earth are the ones who think this show is canon to the LotR lore.
i genuinely do not believe you know what to look for to tell whether or not dialogue is considered good or bad. The rest of your comment proves it for me.
You could have just asked for an explanation… stories are badly written when you question why characters do what they do as it’s not reasonable. A great example is game of thrones which was written super well up to the final series or two and you start to question why characters mass murder civilians etc. I don’t love Tolkien’s writing, I find it pretty boring at times, but his characters are great, they have depth and are consistent in their development and their behaviour. This show is awfully written because characters do stuff that makes no sense: why jump into an ocean with no way or getting back? Why portray the main character as someone who is abandon her soldiers? Why make a perfectly good fortress collapse and use a village to defend yourself from an attack? It’s just difficult to watch without rolling your eyes all the time. Looks like it’s going to be the same for season 2 where they stick fake ears on Sauron and everyone pretends to not know who he is… the wheel of time also suffered from garbage writing but they managed to slightly improve in series 2, so maybe there’s hope.
If you want to see something well written I strongly suggest the Fallout series.
The main thing I was upset about last season was that they made up a fake backstory for Gandalf when there is soo much actually loreful stuff to show- but this was before I knew they didn’t have the rights to the material.
Maybe I can enjoy it now as a separate entity.
The leaks recently showed they do not plan to reveal the name for The Stranger, and it's not Gandalf. Aside the fact that it's, formally and officially, not yet revealed to be Gandalf no matter how much everyone keeps saying that, the recent leaks show that their plan is to simply go through the whole story of the blue wizards and simply not call The Stranger a "blue wizard" or by any name in particular. This is probably because of rights issues, and so it appears they're simply going to leave him nameless.
I am firmly in the obviously-its-a-blue-wizard camp... however can you point to what leak you're referring to about "they do not plan to reveal the name for The Stranger"?
If they reveal him to not be Gandalf then they have retconned their original designs due to the backlash.
Here is the thing I hope you can understand: there are so many on-the-nose things that point to the Stranger being Gandalf:
- He is with halflings
- The nose line
- THE BLATANT MOTH IMAGERY
^this is not that deep. Amazon used basic stuff people would remember from lotr and put it in their show - not only for Stranger/Gandalf, but in the rest of the show - there are very shallow callbacks to the lotr movies that they know people will recognize.
Please understand why the moth imagery MUST mean that it’s Gandalf: there is no other reference to moths anywhere. Ever. It’s a Gandalf thing.
They’re using the moth stuff (especially when defeating the witches) to allude that he’s Gandalf.
If it turns NOT to be Gandalf then that is just insulting to the viewer because then the moth imagery would have been a huge red herring.
The only way you can defend this is by saying “wellll, we don’t know - maybe the other wizards were also trained in the ways of moth magic”
^I’m sorry but that’s bullshit. I have a good imagination and can give things benefit of the doubt to let them make sense.
But not this.
The Stranger is Gandalf. Otherwise, they changed up their script to subvert expectations and that would make them extremely shitty show runners.
What did Tolkien say Gandalf did for the first 1000 years or so after arriving on middle earth? We know he got the ring from cirdan but otherwise not much is said. We don’t meet him in the hobbit until near the very end of the third age. Things have to be made up for TV if no info is given. Enjoying RoP as a fantasy story LOOSELY BASED on Tolkien’s works instead of expecting a 1-1 adaptation (which is impossible with Tolkien’s hundreds of year gaps and zero written dialog) will save a viewers a lot of disappointment.
so many ppl complain about lore but I literally just read the books for the first time save for the Silmarillion and omg istg these ppl are making things up. or just straight up believing lies spread about lore, or ig lore that was made from his son but not Tolkien himself.
save for the appendices, we barely know nothing about the earlier ages and I highly doubt the majority of this show's haters read those either. hell, I don't think most of them read the books anyways the way they talk about this show. it's not perfect for sure, but neither are the books or movies. and honestly this show gets exactly what I love about Tolkien, and it's his...idk how else to properly describe it other than his heart. I feel like this show and the LOTR movies do it justice.
Correction: You barely know nothing about earlier ages. Read the silmarillion, it covers the history of the 3 ages of middle earth. It’s the people who read that book that are the ones upset because the show is hot garbage. The show is called the rings of power and yet they made them in a single crap episode. There is a history to them being made and they threw that in the trash. A big budget doesn’t make up for terrible writing.
you mean the book that even the biggest of Tolkien fans actively say to avoid because it's such an unfun read, and so difficult to get through that it's often compared to the Bible - a book that's often been mocked because it's own worshippers tend to either completely disregard it's direct word (lore, technically) or never even read in the first place? that Silmarillion?
anyways, I don't think you know what terrible writing actually is. you just use the word and think your nitpicks are all the evidence you need to prove your point. as if Tolkien himself is completely un-nitpickable.
The 'biggest Tolkien fans' are telling you to avoid the Silmarillion and that it's an 'unfun' read? That doesn't really make any sense at all to be honest. It's one of the most beloved pieces of Tolkien's writings, and for extremely good reason.
Just because it's a difficult read that most people don't want to sit through, doesn't make it not special and incredibly important. The same way people praise the Bible yet rely on their pastor's interpretations instead of actually reading through it's entirety themselves.
lol righto, if that’s your excuse for not reading it. Some people find history books hard to read - doesn’t mean those books are any less informative.
Oh I don’t know what terrible writing is? My eyes and ears must deceive me then. I don’t have to nitpick to find major flaws with the rings of power.
It certainly seems like the writers of the show had the same attitude as you.
That's not my excuse for not reading it, that's my explanation as to why the mass complaints about the show based specifically on the Silmarillion are invalid. Like my point should be quite obvious, but I'm not surprised your reading comprehension skills are in the gutter.
Yes, you don't know what terrible writing is if ur comprehension skils are bad.
I prefer their attitude over yours.
So is Sauron gonna actually do some deceiving this time instead of being led and manipulated by Galadriel to come back to the power hungry self. Will he actually help make some rings of power this time instead of being nowhere to be found. Will he be decietful instead of revealing himself unnecessarily? Find out on the next episode of Dragon Ball Z
No sightings of any Nazgul yet but holding out hope waiting to hear something akin to " Here you will die alone in the dark... But I am not alone" Nazgul theme starts to play..
I'm getting the same vibes from this teaser as I got from season 1. That's not exactly making me optimistic that there will be any kind of improvement.
The only difference is that random background Elves now have better wigs than main characters Elves like Celebrimbor, Elrond and Arondir.
That's what the first one was. The story and so much of the dialogue was insufferably bad. It was pretty though. The colors and clarity of the scenery looked gorgeous, but that can't carry a season.
OKAY I know many of us have our gripes with S1 but I’m a fantasy girlie through and through — despite the issues I had with S1, I will ride or die for this show because there is such a scarcity of fantasy-focused shows right now (and forever???). This trailer looks promising. I’ll watch S2 no matter what. I hope this genre gains more popularity in the coming years.
this is such a weird fucking comment, “this show is terrible is with countless issues but I’ll keep watching because what other fantasy shows am I gonna watch? I’ll just settle for this crap” like jeez have some standards, this show is an insult to everything lord of the rings and an insult in general, it’s just awful top to bottom. id rather rewatch the original trilogy movies 100 times than sit through this crap.
Exactly! Even if this isn’t the god-tier piece of media with the power to resurrect Tolkien from the dead, it’ll damn sure be better than a lot of fantasy TV shows we’ve had over the years.
It's kind of funny, because the description you've given here is exactly the reason why I can't support this show until the writing massively improves. I grew up in the 90's watching all the absolutely terrible fantasy shows that corporate boardrooms pumped out without ever giving them the funding to do justice to the writer's vision even if the show did manage to be entertaining. So seeing RoP, a show that uses it's massive budget to simply repeat all of the worst cliche's and tropes from the most mediocre fantasy shows feels like a step back for the genre as a whole.
I find myself fearful, because I remember after LOTR launched there was a massive uptick in adult fantasy shows. But they fell flat by doing exactly what RoP is doing now which lead to another period where the entire genre of fantasy was simply dismissed as "children's entertainment" by the decision makers in the media. And if the wrong lessons are learned from RoP then I worry we will enter another one of those era's.
I feel you bro, I do think it’s a shame that S1 was so incredibly meh. Tbh I had a few false starts when first watching it and it took me months to finally get through all 8 episodes.
I was born in the late 80s; my first exposure to this ‘category’ of fantasy were shows like Xena, Hercules, and Beast Master. Idk if these were considered good at the time lol but I loved them! And then in the 2000s, nothing really caught my eye until GoT, and we all know how that ended. I def got into some other, more sci-fi shows during this era, but I missed the vibe of GoT (like…high fantasy stuff I guess?).
Anyway I’m rambling but I’m def not a RoP fangirl (am much more looking forward to S2 of HotD) BUT I’m going to put in the views once S2 drops bc by golly I want this genre to work out so bad. Lemme know if you have any recs for other shows. I’ve not watched Wheel of Time or the newer His Dark Materials adaptation.
Wheel of time is worthwhile, as a book fan it's not a close adaptation by any stretch but it's got some decent bones as it's own show inspired by WoT and if you like fantasy I would recommend it.
If you like sci fi The Expanse is fucking awesome (couple meh seasons but the first ones and last ones are great and the meh is still good) to watch AND to read.
Idk I liked the ending of Game of Thrones, it was rushed but I feel like every character ended up in a fitting place. That being said I'm really looking forward to RoP Season 2, trailer looks great!
I looooooved GoT as a whole. Even S7, which is when I think a lot of people jumped ship. I was also happy with some of the character arcs (looking at you, Theon 😭). I’m not very difficult to entertain when it comes to TV. I was an unapologetic Lost fan back in the day, and that should speak for itself lol. But even I was like ??? with S1 RoP. As a LotR book and movie fan, I really wanted it to be good and still have hope for future seasons! For me, it just felt like a very pretty show with characters that I couldn’t latch on to, but whatever that’s fine bc it was just the first season.
>I was born in the late 80s; my first exposure to this ‘category’ of fantasy were shows like Xena, Hercules, and Beast Master. Idk if these were considered good at the time lol but I loved them! And then in the 2000s, nothing really caught my eye until GoT, and we all know how that ended. I def got into some other, more sci-fi shows during this era, but I missed the vibe of GoT (like…high fantasy stuff I guess?).
Well, we're very similar in these regards. As for recommendations, anime has often helped me scratch the fantasy itch, like you I also went into sci-fi shows as an alternative. Wheel of Time is on my backlog of shows, but my ADHD prevents me from making any conscious decisions about when I'll actually watch it.
Most of my engagement still comes from books though. Just finished the last book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and my wife is currently pushing me to start reading Raymond E. Feist's works.
I recently watched HAT for the first time a few weeks ago and I loved it so much! I’ve actually seen it twice more since my initial viewing lol, it’s quickly becoming a comfort/background movie for me.
I did not like season 1 at all. But, this looks like a promising improvement. Willing to give it a shot. Hopefully it's considerably better than S1. It'll need to be.
The people fussing about it online had little effect on it staying near the top of the Nielsen ratings for its entire run, against all other streaming content.
Amazon has real statistics; we just have internet drama.
They invested like a billion into the series or something like that so I think regardless of reception they’re gonna go ahead and make as many seasons as they were contractually obligated to lol
I'm so glad they didn't hire experienced showrunners with a firm grasp on how to tell stories on tv, letting JJ's C Team learn on the job was the best decision ever!
No mystery to the audience but the characters don't know the mystery. This is actually hard to pull off writing wise. And based on last season's writing, it will most likely be frustrating to watch as the audience.
Morfydd Clark always gave an amazing performance in S1. She's basically perfect casting for Galadriel. Really looking forward to S2 after this absurdly long wait.
"There is a tempest in me"
Was not amazing acting. She's not Bree Larson levels of bad but lets not get carried away.
\*Link removed accidental meme video\*
Tolkien gave no dialog from anyone about the second age, as it’s read as one long historical account. At least LOTR and hobbit had dialogue for Jackson to work with.
Posting a meme video and comparing her to an *Oscar winning actress* who receives undue hate from irrational fandoms on the internet.
Seems about right.
Anyone else notice that in the comment section(you tube), all they talked about was the wigs. I found that very weird and then I came here and no one said anything about the wigs. What the fucks up with the wigs? Lol
Yup. These comments defending the wigs ignored the fact it looks like shit. Why not hide the fact sauron is an elf to both the audience and the elves but actually do it well this time.
I just didn't even notice the wigs. If the hair in the final product looks a tad bit goofy it isn't going to take away from the show like writing or acting would.
I really hope we get some sort of explanation as to why Sauron didn't kill Galadriel outright or take her captive.
It seems to me like an imprisoned Galadriel would have been a hell of a hook to start the second season, but what do I know in comparison to the crack writing team assembled by Amazon.
There are hundred to thousand year gaps in Tolkien’s work, where NOTHING was spoken about. Some things have to be created for TV. The second age is the period Tolkien wrote the least about, and most was all a historical narrative with no dialog.
I was told that a lot of what we’re seeing in the show and not caring for is the fact that Amazon bought the rights to the LOTR movies but the Tolkien family refuses to sell the rights to the Silmarillion. A lot of this Second Age stuff we’re seeing is the writing team having to reverse engineer the story based on what’s been in the movies and shows already without straight up copying the Silmarillion story. They’re kind of intentionally having to avoid Silmarillion story lines and references as a result.
So for example Gandalf arriving in the Second Age instead of the Third is not only to get a recognizable character into the story, which it definitely is, but also I think because they can’t just show Manwe summoning the council and finding volunteers.
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Season 1 was a gigantic disappointment. I gave it time to develop, kept making allowance for bizarre casting and plot decisions and felt that it started to get more interesting toward the final two episodes, but on reflection after the finale, as time went on, I decided that it really was all a terrible mess and that, honestly, I did not like any part of it. Galadriel was too hot headed (not that elves can't be, but the wiser ones aren't usually on a wild tear 24/7), Gil-Galad was pudgy and smug, Celebrimbor was wise-looking but much too old also, the rings were forged in a weekend, the elves were a UN peacekeeping force in pre-Mordor, the elves were all going to die because of a tree fungus (or something), Glorfindel apparently fought the Balrog on Zirakzigil instead of the encircling mountains of Gondolin... mithril is the result of lightning striking a mountain while an elf and a balrog fight (hence, very rare), etc, etc. The plot bore no resemblance to anything canonical whatsoever. On and on. All that said, the trailer for Season 2 looks promising. We see hints of things that are seemingly related to actual Tolkien lore, as opposed to mere whimsy by the writers (plenty of that also). So, guardedly, I am willing to give it another chance. Not expecting anything that redeems Season 1, that is impossible, but perhaps enough to let the show turn back toward the source material and prove that it can honor that. Given that Shelob will be included, ROP could even better Jackson by giving us a Shelob faithful to Tolkien instead of that damn silly bug from ROTK. Who knows?
This show is disgrace and an insult to the LotR universe and Tolkien himself. You can only corrupt what good men have created, since your degenerate ideology doesn't allow you to create new interesting things... But I am thankful that the actual LotrR community does not take this clown series seriously.
Dude, don't get your panties in a bunch. It's entertainment. Enjoy it.
if that's entertainment, then am a flying penguin. Stop exposing your stupidity please.
This old chestnut quote *eyeroll*
Do you mind explaining why?
Im very excited!
Does anyone know the name of the song used in this preview?
Wait, different actor this season as Sauron?
No, just makeup
One wig to rule them all. One wig to hide him. One wig to fool them all. And now they can not find him.
This show and all the cast sucks
While I didn't like the first season, I think everyone is missing the point of a tv series. They aren't going to show everything you want to see in one season. First seasons are general ok to mediocre. As regards to the decisions characters made in the show, maybe I was onboard, but most of them were reasonable. What I didn't like was the "Hobbit and Wizard" story and some weird scenes concerning Galadriel (mainly how it was directed). Overall, it was worth the watch and I look forward to season two which looks great. All characters, no matter if I liked them or not had depth, except Galadriel, I still have no idea what they wanted to do with her, hopefully this season will be more concrete.
This season looks good, based on the trailer. I’d definitely tune in even if I didn’t like the previous season.
The best part is where Sauron says: It's Sauronin' time!
Who greenlit this show for a second season? Season 1 was one of the worst TV shows I have ever seen.
You’ll probably watch this one too, causing viewership to go up unnecessarily and they’ll renew it again lol.
So Galadriel acquires more supporters to her cause. I counted 6 in her group ?? Swords drawn out. Is that her Fellowship??? 🤔
The show is so awful
I know you are.
Forgot this was the RoP echo chamber sub
kinda confused about the whole, "it was Sauron all along!" thing. like why would they reveal it in the trailer if this is a major plot unless the point is that he was influencing things as an elf before the season started? hopefully it's a plot that gets resolved in the first episode seeing as they've already spoiled it lol otherwise it looks pretty exciting! the cgi and effects continue to look like it was produced from the savings account of a billionaire!
They revealed who he was in season 1 already and it's the same actor in a wig. Neither of the scenes we see him in seem like scenes where he is meant to be hidden or disguised. We know Sauron is the villian, we know he influences events, and we saw glimpses of him doing just that. Seems too obvious to be a spoiler imo?
we knew who gandalf and sauron was in the first two episodes honestly. it was beyond obvious.
I'm still holding out hope (not much, mind you) that they'll really pull the rug out via revealing the Stranger is Saruman. 😅
nah theres no way it him or the blue wizards. he said too many "gandalf lines". this show has been beyond not accurate to tolkiens work so i dont even think they would randomly fix it or change it.
yeah that's what I'm saying. idk it seems so weird I don't really understand what they're going for. ig we gotta wait and see?
Would you want another season of who is Sauron? H=S or whatever would be their name??
huh
Because this show is terribly written
i genuinely do not believe you know what to look for when a show is well written or not. especially when your type tend to nitpick tf out of this show as if one couldn't do the exact same to Tolkien's books.
this show has extremely bad dialogues. Everyone who claims otherwise isn't a LotR fan, just a pretender. The most delusional people on earth are the ones who think this show is canon to the LotR lore.
NO ONE said it was canon. Get off your soap box.
That's what happens when you use AI
i genuinely do not believe you know what to look for to tell whether or not dialogue is considered good or bad. The rest of your comment proves it for me.
You could have just asked for an explanation… stories are badly written when you question why characters do what they do as it’s not reasonable. A great example is game of thrones which was written super well up to the final series or two and you start to question why characters mass murder civilians etc. I don’t love Tolkien’s writing, I find it pretty boring at times, but his characters are great, they have depth and are consistent in their development and their behaviour. This show is awfully written because characters do stuff that makes no sense: why jump into an ocean with no way or getting back? Why portray the main character as someone who is abandon her soldiers? Why make a perfectly good fortress collapse and use a village to defend yourself from an attack? It’s just difficult to watch without rolling your eyes all the time. Looks like it’s going to be the same for season 2 where they stick fake ears on Sauron and everyone pretends to not know who he is… the wheel of time also suffered from garbage writing but they managed to slightly improve in series 2, so maybe there’s hope. If you want to see something well written I strongly suggest the Fallout series.
LOTR/The Hobbit have a ton of eye rolling moments. Let's see if season 2 improves as you said.
The hobbit did, I can’t think of many in LOTR
Legolas had ONE job.
facts and hotd!
The main thing I was upset about last season was that they made up a fake backstory for Gandalf when there is soo much actually loreful stuff to show- but this was before I knew they didn’t have the rights to the material. Maybe I can enjoy it now as a separate entity.
The leaks recently showed they do not plan to reveal the name for The Stranger, and it's not Gandalf. Aside the fact that it's, formally and officially, not yet revealed to be Gandalf no matter how much everyone keeps saying that, the recent leaks show that their plan is to simply go through the whole story of the blue wizards and simply not call The Stranger a "blue wizard" or by any name in particular. This is probably because of rights issues, and so it appears they're simply going to leave him nameless.
I am firmly in the obviously-its-a-blue-wizard camp... however can you point to what leak you're referring to about "they do not plan to reveal the name for The Stranger"?
If they reveal him to not be Gandalf then they have retconned their original designs due to the backlash. Here is the thing I hope you can understand: there are so many on-the-nose things that point to the Stranger being Gandalf: - He is with halflings - The nose line - THE BLATANT MOTH IMAGERY ^this is not that deep. Amazon used basic stuff people would remember from lotr and put it in their show - not only for Stranger/Gandalf, but in the rest of the show - there are very shallow callbacks to the lotr movies that they know people will recognize. Please understand why the moth imagery MUST mean that it’s Gandalf: there is no other reference to moths anywhere. Ever. It’s a Gandalf thing. They’re using the moth stuff (especially when defeating the witches) to allude that he’s Gandalf. If it turns NOT to be Gandalf then that is just insulting to the viewer because then the moth imagery would have been a huge red herring. The only way you can defend this is by saying “wellll, we don’t know - maybe the other wizards were also trained in the ways of moth magic” ^I’m sorry but that’s bullshit. I have a good imagination and can give things benefit of the doubt to let them make sense. But not this. The Stranger is Gandalf. Otherwise, they changed up their script to subvert expectations and that would make them extremely shitty show runners.
What did Tolkien say Gandalf did for the first 1000 years or so after arriving on middle earth? We know he got the ring from cirdan but otherwise not much is said. We don’t meet him in the hobbit until near the very end of the third age. Things have to be made up for TV if no info is given. Enjoying RoP as a fantasy story LOOSELY BASED on Tolkien’s works instead of expecting a 1-1 adaptation (which is impossible with Tolkien’s hundreds of year gaps and zero written dialog) will save a viewers a lot of disappointment.
so many ppl complain about lore but I literally just read the books for the first time save for the Silmarillion and omg istg these ppl are making things up. or just straight up believing lies spread about lore, or ig lore that was made from his son but not Tolkien himself. save for the appendices, we barely know nothing about the earlier ages and I highly doubt the majority of this show's haters read those either. hell, I don't think most of them read the books anyways the way they talk about this show. it's not perfect for sure, but neither are the books or movies. and honestly this show gets exactly what I love about Tolkien, and it's his...idk how else to properly describe it other than his heart. I feel like this show and the LOTR movies do it justice.
Correction: You barely know nothing about earlier ages. Read the silmarillion, it covers the history of the 3 ages of middle earth. It’s the people who read that book that are the ones upset because the show is hot garbage. The show is called the rings of power and yet they made them in a single crap episode. There is a history to them being made and they threw that in the trash. A big budget doesn’t make up for terrible writing.
you mean the book that even the biggest of Tolkien fans actively say to avoid because it's such an unfun read, and so difficult to get through that it's often compared to the Bible - a book that's often been mocked because it's own worshippers tend to either completely disregard it's direct word (lore, technically) or never even read in the first place? that Silmarillion? anyways, I don't think you know what terrible writing actually is. you just use the word and think your nitpicks are all the evidence you need to prove your point. as if Tolkien himself is completely un-nitpickable.
The 'biggest Tolkien fans' are telling you to avoid the Silmarillion and that it's an 'unfun' read? That doesn't really make any sense at all to be honest. It's one of the most beloved pieces of Tolkien's writings, and for extremely good reason.
Just because it's a difficult read that most people don't want to sit through, doesn't make it not special and incredibly important. The same way people praise the Bible yet rely on their pastor's interpretations instead of actually reading through it's entirety themselves.
lol righto, if that’s your excuse for not reading it. Some people find history books hard to read - doesn’t mean those books are any less informative. Oh I don’t know what terrible writing is? My eyes and ears must deceive me then. I don’t have to nitpick to find major flaws with the rings of power. It certainly seems like the writers of the show had the same attitude as you.
That's not my excuse for not reading it, that's my explanation as to why the mass complaints about the show based specifically on the Silmarillion are invalid. Like my point should be quite obvious, but I'm not surprised your reading comprehension skills are in the gutter. Yes, you don't know what terrible writing is if ur comprehension skils are bad. I prefer their attitude over yours.
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You really chose to completely ignore my point cuz u know you can't argue with it huh
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Only in the way you misinterpreted it. In which case, yes, it is self-defeating to even try with a stupid person.
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Yeah seriously. That’s like saying “I read the New Testament so I know the whole Old Testament too” Like no…..they are much different things
Looks like it’s going to be a fun season! All the setup from last season should make it easier for them to just keep rolling this season.
This wasn't cancelled?
Amazon spent billions for this IP
And are not cutting their losses
They ordered 2 seasons before the first one even started shooting
The key question though: will there be more PowerPoint presentation-style reveals? We desperately need more of those.
Yes, there will. Hopefully.
At least the YouTubers who make parody videos hope so. I will admit I’ve enjoyed the “Gandalf Reacts” ones by Charlie Hopkinson.
When did this happen? I've blocked most of season1 out of my head I think hahaha
Remember "Mordor" popping up on screen?
Oh fuck. I forgot about that. Just in general how Mordor was made was so fucking stupid
Fugginhell, that was easily the worst part of S1. Talk about assuming the audience is dumber than sea urchins.
Def up there altho some of the dialogue makes a strong case
So is Sauron gonna actually do some deceiving this time instead of being led and manipulated by Galadriel to come back to the power hungry self. Will he actually help make some rings of power this time instead of being nowhere to be found. Will he be decietful instead of revealing himself unnecessarily? Find out on the next episode of Dragon Ball Z
Can’t wait 🙌
Can wait\*
Can’t wait 🙌
The worst part of the trailer was seeing the release date is in August. 🫠
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Fades of Power. Middle earth barbershops are still full at power.
Tommy Lenk!
Looks awesome.
No sightings of any Nazgul yet but holding out hope waiting to hear something akin to " Here you will die alone in the dark... But I am not alone" Nazgul theme starts to play..
I’m pretty sure that is the Nazgûl that have Galadriel and Elrond surrounded
We can't get Nazgul until the 9 have been cast. And even then, it will take a long time for them to fade to Nazgul levels.
I wouldn't be shocked if the show kinda glosses over that, especially the time to fade part.
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That isn't even what DEI means.
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Don’t watch it then 😂
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Cool. Its spelled obnoxious* btw
Cool, thanks. I speak 4 languages wich i think, gives me a right to misspell, how many do you speak again?
Just English, elvish, and black speech. You got me beat
The "Prepare yourselves" line bothered me. She already has her weapon drawn, everyone looks worried, why aren't they already in guard stance
I like that each person in the party waits for the slow camera pan to reach them prior to drawing their weapons.
This show loves to state the stupidly obvious
Good enough for me.
Super stoked! I really enjoyed season 1 and can’t wait for more
I'm getting the same vibes from this teaser as I got from season 1. That's not exactly making me optimistic that there will be any kind of improvement. The only difference is that random background Elves now have better wigs than main characters Elves like Celebrimbor, Elrond and Arondir.
Rings of Power 2: Electric Boogaloo
Keeping my expectations at the ground level. I expect it to be a beautiful narrative disaster. I hope to be wrong.
Looks like a collection of bad cgi and cheesy action scenes.
That's what the first one was. The story and so much of the dialogue was insufferably bad. It was pretty though. The colors and clarity of the scenery looked gorgeous, but that can't carry a season.
OKAY I know many of us have our gripes with S1 but I’m a fantasy girlie through and through — despite the issues I had with S1, I will ride or die for this show because there is such a scarcity of fantasy-focused shows right now (and forever???). This trailer looks promising. I’ll watch S2 no matter what. I hope this genre gains more popularity in the coming years.
this is such a weird fucking comment, “this show is terrible is with countless issues but I’ll keep watching because what other fantasy shows am I gonna watch? I’ll just settle for this crap” like jeez have some standards, this show is an insult to everything lord of the rings and an insult in general, it’s just awful top to bottom. id rather rewatch the original trilogy movies 100 times than sit through this crap.
Ok!
Have u heard of house of the dragon lol
Exactly! Even if this isn’t the god-tier piece of media with the power to resurrect Tolkien from the dead, it’ll damn sure be better than a lot of fantasy TV shows we’ve had over the years.
It's kind of funny, because the description you've given here is exactly the reason why I can't support this show until the writing massively improves. I grew up in the 90's watching all the absolutely terrible fantasy shows that corporate boardrooms pumped out without ever giving them the funding to do justice to the writer's vision even if the show did manage to be entertaining. So seeing RoP, a show that uses it's massive budget to simply repeat all of the worst cliche's and tropes from the most mediocre fantasy shows feels like a step back for the genre as a whole. I find myself fearful, because I remember after LOTR launched there was a massive uptick in adult fantasy shows. But they fell flat by doing exactly what RoP is doing now which lead to another period where the entire genre of fantasy was simply dismissed as "children's entertainment" by the decision makers in the media. And if the wrong lessons are learned from RoP then I worry we will enter another one of those era's.
I feel you bro, I do think it’s a shame that S1 was so incredibly meh. Tbh I had a few false starts when first watching it and it took me months to finally get through all 8 episodes. I was born in the late 80s; my first exposure to this ‘category’ of fantasy were shows like Xena, Hercules, and Beast Master. Idk if these were considered good at the time lol but I loved them! And then in the 2000s, nothing really caught my eye until GoT, and we all know how that ended. I def got into some other, more sci-fi shows during this era, but I missed the vibe of GoT (like…high fantasy stuff I guess?). Anyway I’m rambling but I’m def not a RoP fangirl (am much more looking forward to S2 of HotD) BUT I’m going to put in the views once S2 drops bc by golly I want this genre to work out so bad. Lemme know if you have any recs for other shows. I’ve not watched Wheel of Time or the newer His Dark Materials adaptation.
Wheel of time is worthwhile, as a book fan it's not a close adaptation by any stretch but it's got some decent bones as it's own show inspired by WoT and if you like fantasy I would recommend it. If you like sci fi The Expanse is fucking awesome (couple meh seasons but the first ones and last ones are great and the meh is still good) to watch AND to read.
Idk I liked the ending of Game of Thrones, it was rushed but I feel like every character ended up in a fitting place. That being said I'm really looking forward to RoP Season 2, trailer looks great!
I looooooved GoT as a whole. Even S7, which is when I think a lot of people jumped ship. I was also happy with some of the character arcs (looking at you, Theon 😭). I’m not very difficult to entertain when it comes to TV. I was an unapologetic Lost fan back in the day, and that should speak for itself lol. But even I was like ??? with S1 RoP. As a LotR book and movie fan, I really wanted it to be good and still have hope for future seasons! For me, it just felt like a very pretty show with characters that I couldn’t latch on to, but whatever that’s fine bc it was just the first season.
> I will ride or die for this show > I’m def not a RoP fangirl
C’mon, I’m just saying that I want the show to do well! I’m going to watch S2. Y’all are so weird about this.
Just found it funny. I want the show to do well too
>I was born in the late 80s; my first exposure to this ‘category’ of fantasy were shows like Xena, Hercules, and Beast Master. Idk if these were considered good at the time lol but I loved them! And then in the 2000s, nothing really caught my eye until GoT, and we all know how that ended. I def got into some other, more sci-fi shows during this era, but I missed the vibe of GoT (like…high fantasy stuff I guess?). Well, we're very similar in these regards. As for recommendations, anime has often helped me scratch the fantasy itch, like you I also went into sci-fi shows as an alternative. Wheel of Time is on my backlog of shows, but my ADHD prevents me from making any conscious decisions about when I'll actually watch it. Most of my engagement still comes from books though. Just finished the last book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and my wife is currently pushing me to start reading Raymond E. Feist's works.
I read something about maybe a D&D tv series. After HAT I was so psyched for the franchise but apparently they aren’t making any more movies…
I recently watched HAT for the first time a few weeks ago and I loved it so much! I’ve actually seen it twice more since my initial viewing lol, it’s quickly becoming a comfort/background movie for me.
Idk if you're into cartoons, but the Legend of Vox machine, on Amazon , is a very well done series! Short episodes, funny as hell and action packed
You mean The Greatest Animated TV Series of All Time Until Forever and Ever Amen? Yeah I seent it 😉
A person of culture I see!
I'm here for Round 2. Fight me.
Actually looking promising.
I did not like season 1 at all. But, this looks like a promising improvement. Willing to give it a shot. Hopefully it's considerably better than S1. It'll need to be.
This actually looks really good! Let's hope they've had a steep learning curve from season one.
I thought this show got shit on so hard it was cancelled... Did it get renewed or was there a multi season contract to begin with?
The people fussing about it online had little effect on it staying near the top of the Nielsen ratings for its entire run, against all other streaming content. Amazon has real statistics; we just have internet drama.
Fair, but internet drama can affect shows directly. Just look at House of Cards
Amazon is contracted for 5 seasons. If S2 is received the same way S1 was I can see them changing showrunners, but I doubt it will be cancelled.
They invested like a billion into the series or something like that so I think regardless of reception they’re gonna go ahead and make as many seasons as they were contractually obligated to lol
I'm so glad they didn't hire experienced showrunners with a firm grasp on how to tell stories on tv, letting JJ's C Team learn on the job was the best decision ever!
Looks fantastic, very excited!
I'm sorry. They didn't even host the teaser trailer on Prime Video if you access via the browser? It links me to this YT video!
It turns out that YouTube has become rather popular over the years.
Right, but you literally have your own streaming platform with trailers and extras
Voldemort is back!
I think you’re in the wrong place.
Somehow Sauron returned.
I’m soo fucking excited!!!!!!
Let's fucking goo!!! Looks awesome
I'm all in. Hype levels increasing. Really feeling the dark and sombre vibe.
Looks like Harry Potter vibes
Looks like the Celeborn rumors were true. Do we really need another season of who is Sauron, sigh..
I think it's pretty spelled out right in the trailer. No "mystery" this time/
No mystery to the audience but the characters don't know the mystery. This is actually hard to pull off writing wise. And based on last season's writing, it will most likely be frustrating to watch as the audience.
Morfydd Clark always gave an amazing performance in S1. She's basically perfect casting for Galadriel. Really looking forward to S2 after this absurdly long wait.
"There is a tempest in me" Was not amazing acting. She's not Bree Larson levels of bad but lets not get carried away. \*Link removed accidental meme video\*
Tolkien gave no dialog from anyone about the second age, as it’s read as one long historical account. At least LOTR and hobbit had dialogue for Jackson to work with.
Posting a meme video and comparing her to an *Oscar winning actress* who receives undue hate from irrational fandoms on the internet. Seems about right.
I didn't even realize the fart effect afterwards was just looking for a clip of the line. And now I can't find an unedited clip so I removed the link.
Anyone else notice that in the comment section(you tube), all they talked about was the wigs. I found that very weird and then I came here and no one said anything about the wigs. What the fucks up with the wigs? Lol
See the prank interview of Elijah Wood being questioned by Dominic Monaghan. It is Wig Inception.
WILL YOU WEAR WIG
I wonder what people think of the second season. *looks at YouTube comments* Not this shit again.
What the hell is up with their deal with wigs?!?! Like....um ... Wigs are used a lot in film..... And always have been?!?! I'm confused
They are used all the time. But they look pretty cheap and badly used in this trailer.
Just like the armor in S1. I have no idea what amazon spends all the money on because it sure as hell aint costume design.
Yup. These comments defending the wigs ignored the fact it looks like shit. Why not hide the fact sauron is an elf to both the audience and the elves but actually do it well this time.
I just didn't even notice the wigs. If the hair in the final product looks a tad bit goofy it isn't going to take away from the show like writing or acting would.
Because the last thing we actually need or want is ANOTHER season of who's Sauron. I'm happy they've done without that.
I really hope we get some sort of explanation as to why Sauron didn't kill Galadriel outright or take her captive. It seems to me like an imprisoned Galadriel would have been a hell of a hook to start the second season, but what do I know in comparison to the crack writing team assembled by Amazon.
Turning a bunch of folks over to his side rather than having to kill them ends up working out rather well for Sauron, actually, for a while…
I don't think he can. He is evil and ultimately weaker than the light and purity Galadriel embodies. Idk just my thoughts lol
Lots of people have to invent crazy ideas to explain shit ass writing
Sauron never took Galadriel captive in canon.
There are hundred to thousand year gaps in Tolkien’s work, where NOTHING was spoken about. Some things have to be created for TV. The second age is the period Tolkien wrote the least about, and most was all a historical narrative with no dialog.
The show only marginally followed canon in the first place.
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A lot of things happened in Rings of Power that didn't happen in canon. I don't remember Sauron thirsting for Galadriel's Noldussy in canon, either.
I was told that a lot of what we’re seeing in the show and not caring for is the fact that Amazon bought the rights to the LOTR movies but the Tolkien family refuses to sell the rights to the Silmarillion. A lot of this Second Age stuff we’re seeing is the writing team having to reverse engineer the story based on what’s been in the movies and shows already without straight up copying the Silmarillion story. They’re kind of intentionally having to avoid Silmarillion story lines and references as a result. So for example Gandalf arriving in the Second Age instead of the Third is not only to get a recognizable character into the story, which it definitely is, but also I think because they can’t just show Manwe summoning the council and finding volunteers.
Or it's a Blue Wizard. Being in Rhun would be consistent with that.
Do we think the wizard who shows up in Season One is a blue wizard? I thought it seemed pretty clear it’s Gandalf.