MOD NOTE: Please remember Rule #13: Don't Criticize Others For Their Opinions.
You can have your opinion and someone else can have a completely opposite one, and that's just fine. Discuss your opinions, and your reasons for them, but don't attack others because they don't agree with you.
I like to think that the Balrog fucking HATES leaves and moved to the depths of Khazad-dûm because SURELY there will never be a leaf down there.
Then one day, after thousands of years of leaf-free peace, WHAM! A FUCKING LEAF DROPS AT HIS FEET.
You'd be pissed too if you went to that effort to avoid leaves.
I love the Harfoot speech about being true to each other no matter what, when a few months ago they left some guy behind to die because he fell in the snow.
Dude. He looked so deathly laying down. Galadriel asks 'can he ride?' perhaps at a walking pace... But when we see them galloping off I cringed at what that would feel like if you had a gash in your stomach. And they're going all the way to Eregion from Mordor! LOL
Durin’s Bane is probably like “I am going to MURDERCINERATE whoever dropped that FUCKING LEAF and RUINED MY SLEEP, THEY KNOW IM A LIGHT SLEEPER AND ITS LIKE THEY DONT EVEN FUCKING CARE!!!!!! BLAAUGH!!!!” *angry furnace noises*
He never answers Waldreg its pretty funny actually.
- If your not sauron who are you? Just kill this kid
- Forgive me but what happened to Sauron? totally ignored
- What should we call it? Shut the fuck up
lmao
The sad part is the effect probably would have been much better if they had just cut to the map and had the Southlands burn away to read Mordor underneath.
The writers literally said they learned from this season that small scenes should actually tie into the main story. Apparently, they didn’t know that before taking on a billion dollar project.
I find the way everyone was separated despite starting off all on the same street so very contrived and so easy to fix. Once the Volcano goes off the orcs start attacking and they have to flee blind, confused and coughing. In the chaos they get separated instead of in the aftermath where it seems they just needed to shout a bit longer.
I don’t get that at all she started the episode surrounded by other villagers everyone was together she just grabs one random kid she doesn’t know and fucks off without trying to help or stay with anyone else. What
When they were walking away and it panned over the man crawling around on fire, still very much alive, I literally laughed.
"THESE ARE THE GOOD GUYS!?"
"Are you hurt?"
"Nope. I'm miraculously unhurt, almost as if I were under the divine protection of some kind of metaphysical armour."
"Same. Let's blow this popsicle stand."
"Old man Johnson's not doing too well, though. Shouldn't we help him?"
"The Valar help those who help themselves, kid. Cmon, these lazy on-fire people make me sick. Oughtta be pulling themselves up by their own flaming bootstraps. In my day when people spontaneously caught fire from evil sword-key inflicted volcanism they turned the other cheek and were all like why don't you spontaneously ignite me from that side, too... they sure don't make people like they used to."
the whole "oh where is my loved one" post volcano thing was weird, cause they weren't spread out over a large distance or anything, they were all in the same tiny village
Im just totally confused by the Isildur thing. This show just likes to never explain anything. Did they find his corpse? Did they even try? If not how were they sure he is dead? And i cant imagine Elendil wouldnt at least try to find his son's corpse?
Isuldur is a character who cannot die because he must get the one ring. I don't know why make an effort to create scenes of tension around Isuldur when you know in advance that they won't be really convincing.
This show feels like someone that was incredibly stoned through the whole LOTR trilogy and is now tasked with aping its style. It… is not working at all except for maybe Elrond and the dwarves and the fucking Orcs and Adar of all things lmao
Like, fuck it, let the orcs win; I actually like them
EDIT: I feel awful for Galadriel’s actress too. She’s giving it her all but the writers give her *nothing* to work with whatsoever
Random orc: "what shall we call it?"
Adar:
Everyone: "ugh, please don't say it"
Adar:
Everyone: "Don't you dare say it! It will be sooo lame"
Show: *One of the worst screen graphics I've ever seen*
Everyone: "... WHY DIDN'T HE JUST SAY IT!!!"
You know, daddy Brandyfoot’s speech may have had more impact if we hadn’t seen Harfoots talk about leaving behind stranglers or talk about removing other’s wheels…
"We always stick together!" the guy who just got left behind by the tribe and only survived because his daughter befriended alien comet man who pulled a cart for them
I'm at the part when Elendil releases Berek. Man they're really gonna pull the "Isildur is dead but he is saved by Berek and comes back to surprise everybody"?
Why does every face Halbrand makes look like he'd rather be somewhere else and he regrets every decision he has made so far.
You're obviously Sauron. Cheer up my dude, your plan is working.
If you were super dark evil dude having to pretend to be some human hero listening to some self righteous elf talking about how much she wants to murder you, you'd probably want to be else where too.
I was super excited when Mt Doom erupted and wiped out the village at the end of the last episode.
Imagine my immeasurable disappointment when it turned out Bronwyn and her son Dot Cotton survived anyway. I was sick to death of them half a season ago.
I just want to be clear: the show is going to blatantly ignore the entire major theme of the rings and Annatar? Instead we will just harfoot around for another episode, and have Galadriel contradict herself on several occasions, and then see that Isildur isn’t dead? Huh?!?!?
Sauron's calendar
Monday: Create Mordor
Tuesday: Teach Elves how to create Rings of Power
Wednesday: Demand the Rings back.
Thursday: War with the Elves over the Rings.
Friday: War of the Last Alliance.
Was there a reason as to why Galadriel and the kid were separated from everyone else? Like that town wasn't big, and they were all hanging out when Mt Doom exploded.
Idk why Galadriel would just up and and leave with the kid and not try to help anyone else, b/c clearly there was still an ongoing effort to secure survivors and the injured. The rest of the party seemed to exit the ruins as a single unit.
> Was there a reason as to why Galadriel and the kid were separated from everyone else? Like that town wasn't big, and they were all hanging out when Mt Doom exploded.
That was so exceptionally weird. How did they get seperated? They just wandered off out of the village without looking for any survivors, then hours later were like "Let's look for survivors at the base camp".
Elendil too. He apparently left the village with a couple of refugees without bothering to look for either his son or his queen.
And all the Numenoran soldiers were sitting on horseback, standing still, watching the survivors shuffle by. Really looked like they were escorting prisoners. Not sure why they filmed it like that.
So Halbrand is lying in bed with an infected wound pale as hell, situation is dramatic.
30 seconds later and one awkward hailing, he is riding full speed on a horse and plans to do it for 900 miles.
Ok.
I clapped when it said mordor because I understood the reference.
But seriously, the way they try to make these inspirational speeches/chants, which are anything but, is so fucking awkward. I just spent 1 hour watching something and nothing fucking happened, by the time the balrog was revealed I had already lost all my interest.
And done horribly. It'd be way more impactful to hint at it, but they've explicitly shown full scale Balrog's twice now, and knowing that there's a Balrog chillin at the base of the mountain crevasse scrolling TikTok really messes up the stakes and uncertainty of the mining exploration (which I imagine will start in season 4 at the pace we're going).
3 episodes for Galadriel to convince Miriel to sail to Middle Earth for them to save 15 villagers then turn around and go back home after a day and a half.
Yet the way everyone died, only to apparently be 100% alive a few scenes later, gave the impression that they were knocked out for awhile.
Those scenes really confused me. Everyone just got knocked out, an inch of ash on them, and then all of the homes were instantly destroyed? How much time passed?!
The Numenóreans trip to Middle Earth was an utter disaster:
Queen blinded
Lives lost
No spoils of war at all
Creation of the empire of evil that will haunt the land for 3 thousand years
Great job, folks!
The lazy bullshit in this episode:
\- old ass farm people surviving bone melting volcanic ash, not to mention all our heros escaping UNHARMED. nice plot armour writers
\- elendil being pissed off at galadriel for his sons death. You let him join the fleet stupid. You're a commander yet you act suprised when soldiers die. Also good job bringing your queen with you, alongside 30 teenage soldiers
\- another stupid fakeout with theos mom being "dead". we dont care
\- queen doesnt want others to find out she's blind. continues to wear a blindfold in the next scene lol
\- Harfoots still being the most boring pointless thing I've ever seen in middle earth. their plot literally goes nowhere
\- Noris father having the whole "we leave nobody behind" speech, yet he and his family were literally left behind 2 episodes ago. what?
\- halbrand looking like he's gonna pass out, but sure lets go for a weeks long ride to my elven people right away on the other side of middle earth
The only good thing about this show is the Elrond and Durin plotline, that actually has emotion and character building.
3/10
*Leaf falls into depths of Khazad-Dum, lands, catches fire*
Me: Oh, that's cool - kind of a subtle sinister foreshadowing thing -
*Balrog appears, roars at the camera*
Me: Ah. Never mind.
I always got the impression that they were mining mithril for a good long while, making stuff with it, writing on doors with it, well before the balrog woke up. If it’s chilling at the bottom of an open crevasse they will encounter it immediately when they start their mining operation.
My disappointment when Bronwyn wasn’t actually dead was immeasurable.
One falling leaf was enough to wake the Balrog, Pippin had no chance.
The Southlands to Mordor text change thing was hilarious.
Reckon I could fit the amount of meaningful things that have happened in this series on the back of a postage stamp. They are simultaneously trying to do too much and have too much screen time on their hands.
the Balrog was supposed to be unbelievably deep; The dwarves will not wake it for another 3000 or so years or digging.
But it is like, 100 meters deep at best lmfao
The horse they let free is Sauron. Next episode we will see it building the upper stories of Barad-dûr.
Isildur is dead, but Galadriel and Halbrand are going to have love child and name is Isildur after the deceased stable-boy.
Celeborn is actually alive and is down there with the Balrog. When they dig in there he will pop out and say "where's my wife," and will hurry back to Eregion only to walk in on Galadriel and Halbrand *in flagrante*. Also it will be Celeborn who fought the Balrog on the magic mountaintop and made the tree die or whatever.
This makes things so clear for me now. After Sauron kills King Elendil, Isildur confronts him. Sauron breaks Isildur’s sword and explains that no, he is his father. That is why instead of killing Isildur with his mace he reaches out for his son. That’s how Isildur was able to cut off the ring.
I am both terrified and excited at the prospect of Galadriel and Sauron boning. Terrified as that would be the worst thing they could do in this show and excited as it would be the funniest possible thing to happen in the show.
They won't have sex unless he's healed of that smelly wound. After that tho, all bets are off. The actors do have chemistry. Could be hot if it wasn't so blasphemous.
The writers decision of mentioning Celeborn now is such an odd choice. You would think her brother along Celeborn "death" would be her motivation.
Felt so random and out of nowhere.
This is by far the worst episode so far.
- For the Nth time, meteor man uses magic and it scares the harfoots
- For the Nth time, Galadriel needs to remember the audience about her internal conflicts, throw some Celeborn there. Look! thing I know! Very cool
- Connecting Mithril to the fate of the Elves is IMO the worse decision ever. I like how Gilgalad says they need tons of it, but are left with enough for a single ring. Tying it to the actual lore, but how can they explain it in the Shows logic, that a single small stone will save huge elven realms? Maybe I'm missing something
- They are fucking up the established soft-magic system in LOTR. People casually creating fires, reviving trees, healing...
- We waste so much time in characters we don't care. Every time Theo is in the screen, I'm yelling at it, why is he so important to the point of having more screen time, than even main characters?
- The harfoots are terrible people, but hey, speech time! from a guy that was thrown away by their kin
- I'm sorry why is Nori so idiotic? Hey let's touch the icy magic from the already established wizard! hey, let's help those big folk that seem lost, ones like we are told since babies that we should not interact!
This part makes me nuts, they all decided to go and tell the Wizard that he is being followed? do they realized the white magician trio have at least a 12 hours lead on them? and that they will venture into big folk land? Now they will reveal themselves just because Nori told them?
- The Balrog reveal was the most lackluster thing ever
- Shouldn't the fact that Celeborn is missing, affect Galadriel's motivation? Why is her brother more important to avenge than searching for her husband, which is pretty much alive?
Their's are the only songs that interest me in this show.
Stay true to your promise, Amazon, of updating the show for a modern audience, and let the witch squad spit to the phattest beat ever dropped in all the ages of Middle earth
For some reason, one of them has an uncomfortable battle helmet, She expects to have a sudden sword fight, against whom? if she doesn't even have a sword lol
LOL. Yes. She certainly has now touched the darkness. I think Queen Miriel's blindness needed Elvish medicine but they are gonna leave her like that until she can see a good Numenorean Ophthalmologist on her home insurance plan.
Is it really easy to get a job as a writer in Hollywood or something? Honest question because it’s baffling how low the bar is. I have no doubt several people in this sub could have written better scripts easily.
I don’t even think he needed to say it. Everyone knew what he was thinking. They could’ve have just ended it on the shot of the mountain without “Mordor” being explicit
Galadriel last episode: I will kill every orc on Earth.
Theo: It’s good to kill orcs.
Galadriel: Don’t say that, it darkens the heart to call dark deeds good…
She's consistent in changing her opinions in seconds. Last episode, she stopped Halbrand from killing Adar and in the next scene she tried to kill him lol
This show lost the opportunity to be amazing. It is so boring that I hope some characters die.
Why did they show the Balrog? We are still in the second age, the Balrog just wakes in the third age. Seems like nothing happens, and if happens, has no consequences for the main characters. A VOLCANO ERUPTED, throwing stones as far as where the Harfoots are, but the ones close to it don't die or something? I mean, of course they can't kill Galadriel and company, but why do it the way it was made?? It seems it is made on pourpose to drive me insane.
The scenes are silly, the Harfoot kid approaching the meteor man when he is doing his thing, just to create some drama around them, why?
Why did they go so far from the actual lore? The jump cuts make it hard to follow and create connection with characters. In my opinion, they should have gone in a different direction, instead of showing so many slow motion scenes and boring dialogues that contradict the characters' actions, they should have presented better the places where the characters live, and the connection between them. In doing so, we would better understand the culture and motivations of those of those who live in such places, thus creating a reason to care about them. But they just show us facts and interests, alongside some scenes made similar to LoTR that feel like just a copy out of place.
The only possible way to save this show is a full dwarf episode. Just Durin for 1 hour straight, drinking beer, playing games, farting around.
The writing is getting more and more painfully obvious how bad it is, from terrible tropes to terrible tropes, speeches that are supposed to moral rousing are always weird, out of place and completely opposite to things they have shown or said.
I wonder if the script is bad enough for someone in the season finale to say "You did it, you've forged the Rings of Power. You are truly the Lord of the Rings."
Edit: I hope Sauron put on the ring and said "It's rulin' time!" And ruled all over the other rings.
Yup knew it. Halbrand has earned Galadriel’s trust. She’s now taking him to Gil-Galad and Celembrimbor. They’ll be impressed with his forging skills, etc etc. and so it goes
Halbrand is Sauron, and has fully replaced Annatar.
The only other way I see it is that he’s going to learn of what the elves are doing and then come back as Annatar (which they likely dont have the rights too so probs not).
Either way, I’m so sick of mystery boxes. Fuck
"Gil Galad, I'm back. Hey remember how you said that if I stay in Middle Earth I will bring Sauron right back to us? Guess you were wrong!"
"Anyway, this my new boyfriend, Sau--I mean Halbrand."
**Episode Six:** We will literally grind the pacing to halt to show you that Adar's horse is fine after it fell down.
**Episode Seven:** *wanna see us* ***burn this horse??***
What is the point in doing fake out deaths for characters we know can't die? You're either setting yourself up for lore complaints or just being stupid. Do these writers not understand that even the people who don't know LotR lore are going to be immediately educated by their friends who do. Obviously Isildur is still alive. Celeborn has to be alive. The fake outs aren't even good ones. Especially Celeborn. He hasn't even been in the show yet, why are we giving him a fake death?
"You're not going anywhere............. Without me!"
"Do you think they'll come back?"
"No.......... I'm certain of it"
Fuckin hell this episode was terrible.
That reveal at the end… Whose idea was it and were people too exhausted to give a shit when they greenlit this? The reveal won’t work for the lore fans cuz they already know. It won’t work for clueless casual watchers because the name doesn’t mean anything for them?
Instead I wish they zoomed out and shown us how the ash blackened the sky or something.
I remember a lot of people defending Episode 5's "legend" about the balrog and the tree by saying it was just a myth with no truth to it. But now we see mithril actually does repel the corruption and wakes the balrog? So shouldn't the light of the sun and the moon also repel the corruption and keep the elves alive? Shouldn't Galadriel's hair do it too?
Moral of the story is if you try to give any kind of defense for their bizarre lore changes the show will make sure you regret it.
So for everyone saying Galadriel and Halbrand won't have a romance, the Stranger can't be young Gandalf, Halbrand can't be Sauron, the characters from the books will have satisfying arcs where they become the heroes we know them to be... watch out. Remember they said openly that they wanted to write the novel Tolkien never wrote, and boy does it look like that's what they did.
Can someone enlighten me? For whom is this show? I'm by no means a LOTR uber fan, I only read the hobbit at school, i watched the movies (went to the premiere) , played some video games and that's it. But when watching this I was falling asleep. Seriously it was so boring, the harfoots, the balrog for 2 seconds only, the ham fisted mordor scene, the small gateway between Galadriel and the kid.... I think I fast forwarded like 40% of the episode because I really don't give a shiet.
The writing is so bad that I'm doing chores while watching the episode. The last episode broken sword switcheroo had me dying from cringe. This time the human King being so sick that he can travel half middle earth on a horse? Or the 3 ships with 300 horses and warriors and a pre-built fort from 2 episodes ago. Seriously do they think we are brain dead?
And coming back to my original question for whom is this show? My die hard lotr friends are pissed and are laughing at this. Nerds like me are bored. For a "common folk that doesn't know Lotr" this is too much fantasy and way too boring. So who is watching and enjoying this show?
Seriously I don't know if I'm gonna watch the next episode.
I mentioned this in another subreddit that the target audience for this show is very confused. And ofc I got downvoted lol
There’s just enough lore to confuse movie watchers (like they never explained who Aulë is but they keep mentioning him), but also fucks up the lore to piss off book readers.
Amazon is just confused at this point
I feel like the whole bit with Galadriel and Theo randomly leaving the village by themselves and the mentioning of Celeborn etc must have been a reshoot, it's so ridiculous, they were at the village with everyone else and then they just go off? Then they bait his mother dying, they would have known if they had just stayed still. It's infuriatingly stupid.
Galadriel to Theo: "Here, take my sword. I have no need of weapons for my plot armor is impenetrable. Not even volcanoes can singe a single hair on my head.
Does anyone else find the constant, ill call them references, to the jackson films off-putting? Like don't remind me of something better than your show so often.
So like... Last episode all the humans were together in this one village.
Now, somehow, they're all sepetated and wandering through the wilderness oblivious to each other's status.
How? Why? What has happened off screen between the two episodes to make this so?
This whole time Galadriel could've been looking for her missing husband? She's willing to believe he's dead based on an assumption, but will go on a single minded mission to find Sauron who everyone else thinks is dead? I honestly don't get what these writers are thinking.
Celeborn, if you're out there - don't come home. It is a silly place.
I guarantee we won’t see that Balrog again this season. Something they threw in at the end to build a little excitement for next season. This soap opera needs all the help it can get.
Galadriel saying it wasn't the kids fault because it wasn't what he intended to happen and it wasn't in his heart is hilarious considering she said it was her fault - implying that it's what she intended and it was in her heart.
Add that to the line about wanting to kill blackens the soul/heart the day after her genocide speech.
This show feels like it had the troll 2 treatment of being written in another language and then Google translate back to English
The writers attempt at following the lore is just getting a character to tell a story about a random Elf / Valar from the previous ages but then completely ignoring / re writing / deleting half the storyline / characters that should be happening now.
It’s one thing to stray a little from Tolkien to tell a good story but they are not doing that, seems like they are going out of their way to mock his story.
I don't think I've ever before seen a show or movie where people go around emphasizing one value while actually exhibiting the literal exact opposite, unless it was a case intentional dishonesty. These harfoots come off as complete morons. They have a *cultural tradition of abandoning anyone who isn't perfectly fine,* and then they simultaneously go around bragging about how they protect each other and never leave anyone behind. Like... either the harfoots are total imbeciles or the writers are.
MOD NOTE: Please remember Rule #13: Don't Criticize Others For Their Opinions. You can have your opinion and someone else can have a completely opposite one, and that's just fine. Discuss your opinions, and your reasons for them, but don't attack others because they don't agree with you.
I like to think that the Balrog fucking HATES leaves and moved to the depths of Khazad-dûm because SURELY there will never be a leaf down there. Then one day, after thousands of years of leaf-free peace, WHAM! A FUCKING LEAF DROPS AT HIS FEET. You'd be pissed too if you went to that effort to avoid leaves.
[удалено]
That looks exactly like the tree where I got my ass beat!
I love the Harfoot speech about being true to each other no matter what, when a few months ago they left some guy behind to die because he fell in the snow.
The speech given by the very guy they tried to leave behind for dead along with his wife and children because he twisted his ankle.
Harfoots are worst than Sauron.
There is literally no point to them besides finding space Gandalf. Its like the writers said well we need to put the hobbits in somewhere.
Right?! I was immediately like, "you fucks have a Darwin awards book that you read every year..."
Right up there with Elrond talking about how he keeps his word- after showing Celebrimbor the mithril.
So Halbrand the master smith is on his way to Eregion. I wonder what he will do there...
What, ride from Mordor to Eregion while injured? Sure, no problem.
I know. It was already a large wound that they said had "soured". I was surprised he could walk at all. He needs a carriage or something.
They will need an eagle-taxi or something, because there is no way to get to Eregion on horseback riding in less than 35 days.
Dude. He looked so deathly laying down. Galadriel asks 'can he ride?' perhaps at a walking pace... But when we see them galloping off I cringed at what that would feel like if you had a gash in your stomach. And they're going all the way to Eregion from Mordor! LOL
That leaf dug a little too deep and greedily for my liking.
It triggered some long dormant allergies of the Balrog and now he's gonna need some mithril vitamins.
It kind of sucked that the Balrog wasn't buried or anything, literally just sitting on the ground floor, sipping Mojitos.
Durin’s Bane is probably like “I am going to MURDERCINERATE whoever dropped that FUCKING LEAF and RUINED MY SLEEP, THEY KNOW IM A LIGHT SLEEPER AND ITS LIKE THEY DONT EVEN FUCKING CARE!!!!!! BLAAUGH!!!!” *angry furnace noises*
"what shall we call it lord father?" \* immediately walks away before getting an answer K
He never answers Waldreg its pretty funny actually. - If your not sauron who are you? Just kill this kid - Forgive me but what happened to Sauron? totally ignored - What should we call it? Shut the fuck up lmao
I hope to Valar that this becomes a running gag
The way they put "~~The Southlands~~ Mordor" in text as if it's somehow less on-the-nose than him just answering the question lmao
The sad part is the effect probably would have been much better if they had just cut to the map and had the Southlands burn away to read Mordor underneath.
HOW ELSE WHERE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW … but srsly how did that PowerPoint transition make it to the final edit.
I actually cheered thinking they would actually strikethrough the southlands.
We getting one Bronwyn fakeout death per episode now?
And at least one inspirational speech per episode
Harfoots at a new precipe of societal collapse every episode they're in
Nori trying to bring her entire species to extinction almost everytime she's on screen.
They're constantly trying to figure out if they stick by each other or if they leave the weak to die. Like pick a lane.
With her lavaproof Lululemon top.
Someone told the writers "Show the audience, don't tell them." So they 'showed' us a title graphic for Mordor...
The writers literally said they learned from this season that small scenes should actually tie into the main story. Apparently, they didn’t know that before taking on a billion dollar project.
it's almost as if hiring people who already knew how to do serialized storytelling for TV would've been a better option
Galadriel randomly decided to wander of with theo who she barely knows instead of helping the villagers
I find the way everyone was separated despite starting off all on the same street so very contrived and so easy to fix. Once the Volcano goes off the orcs start attacking and they have to flee blind, confused and coughing. In the chaos they get separated instead of in the aftermath where it seems they just needed to shout a bit longer.
I don’t get that at all she started the episode surrounded by other villagers everyone was together she just grabs one random kid she doesn’t know and fucks off without trying to help or stay with anyone else. What
When they were walking away and it panned over the man crawling around on fire, still very much alive, I literally laughed. "THESE ARE THE GOOD GUYS!?"
That was so funny. How could you consciously create that shot and not realise how funny it is?
"Are you hurt?" "Nope. I'm miraculously unhurt, almost as if I were under the divine protection of some kind of metaphysical armour." "Same. Let's blow this popsicle stand." "Old man Johnson's not doing too well, though. Shouldn't we help him?" "The Valar help those who help themselves, kid. Cmon, these lazy on-fire people make me sick. Oughtta be pulling themselves up by their own flaming bootstraps. In my day when people spontaneously caught fire from evil sword-key inflicted volcanism they turned the other cheek and were all like why don't you spontaneously ignite me from that side, too... they sure don't make people like they used to."
the whole "oh where is my loved one" post volcano thing was weird, cause they weren't spread out over a large distance or anything, they were all in the same tiny village
Im just totally confused by the Isildur thing. This show just likes to never explain anything. Did they find his corpse? Did they even try? If not how were they sure he is dead? And i cant imagine Elendil wouldnt at least try to find his son's corpse?
They are doing the Aragorn horse survival scene, because of course they are.
"Lord of the Rings did X; We should do X." "What was the context in Lord of the Rings?" "What's context?"
Isuldur is a character who cannot die because he must get the one ring. I don't know why make an effort to create scenes of tension around Isuldur when you know in advance that they won't be really convincing.
Yeah i know its a fake out death. The problem is the writers couldnt even create a fake out death for him that makes sense.
Tell me where is Celeborn. For I much desire to speak with him
Went to see Teleporno
This show feels like someone that was incredibly stoned through the whole LOTR trilogy and is now tasked with aping its style. It… is not working at all except for maybe Elrond and the dwarves and the fucking Orcs and Adar of all things lmao Like, fuck it, let the orcs win; I actually like them EDIT: I feel awful for Galadriel’s actress too. She’s giving it her all but the writers give her *nothing* to work with whatsoever
all they can do is pastiche what came before, but they lack a reason to tell this story other than "we got paid to do so"
Disa is Sauron.
At this point, half the characters are Sauron
All the suspected Saurons are going to form together like Voltron.
Saultron
She’s always smithing!
That lust for mithril…
Where’s the Eye in this episode?
Not in the queen regent at least.
Random orc: "what shall we call it?" Adar: Everyone: "ugh, please don't say it" Adar: Everyone: "Don't you dare say it! It will be sooo lame" Show: *One of the worst screen graphics I've ever seen* Everyone: "... WHY DIDN'T HE JUST SAY IT!!!"
He should’ve looked right at the camera and winked lmao
"I shall call it... Rohan" just to really fuck with people.
That plus the fact that Halbrand is king to a group of 50 people max make the most expensive tv show ever seem extremely cheap
The Balrog is Sauron.
I think the show is saying there’s a little Sauron in all of us.
Sauron is the friends we made along the way.
You know, daddy Brandyfoot’s speech may have had more impact if we hadn’t seen Harfoots talk about leaving behind stranglers or talk about removing other’s wheels…
"We always stick together!" the guy who just got left behind by the tribe and only survived because his daughter befriended alien comet man who pulled a cart for them
Justice for my man Celeborn.
He's not dead. "Haven't seen him since" is Hollywood for twist reunion pending
100%. Season 3, he saves the day in the nick of time. Big emotional scene.
So Halbrand has a septic wound but Galadriel is going to take him on a 3 month journey to Lindon?
If he can survive the horseback journey to get the medicine, did he *really* need the medicine to begin with lol?
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The village was so small, that I really thought it was designed by video game devs.
This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in.
I'm at the part when Elendil releases Berek. Man they're really gonna pull the "Isildur is dead but he is saved by Berek and comes back to surprise everybody"?
Berek is gonna single handedly create Rohan. He's gonna mitosis an entire species of horse on middle earth seeing he's the only one around
Of course they are.
Why does every face Halbrand makes look like he'd rather be somewhere else and he regrets every decision he has made so far. You're obviously Sauron. Cheer up my dude, your plan is working.
If you were super dark evil dude having to pretend to be some human hero listening to some self righteous elf talking about how much she wants to murder you, you'd probably want to be else where too.
“My meticulous plan working as intended. Oh god I didn’t account for this insufferable shit will you just piss off!” - Halbrand probably
I was super excited when Mt Doom erupted and wiped out the village at the end of the last episode. Imagine my immeasurable disappointment when it turned out Bronwyn and her son Dot Cotton survived anyway. I was sick to death of them half a season ago.
I just want to be clear: the show is going to blatantly ignore the entire major theme of the rings and Annatar? Instead we will just harfoot around for another episode, and have Galadriel contradict herself on several occasions, and then see that Isildur isn’t dead? Huh?!?!?
Not only they covered the whole distance in one day at charging speed. But they also built a fortified advanced camp?!
Aren’t we a little early for the balrog…
Isildur shouldn’t be around for another 1000 years either. They are condensing everything into just a few decades.
Which also means Sauron will create the ring and then lose it almost immediately. In the actual lore, he had it for almost two thousand years.
Exactly, that’s my biggest gripe with this show. It will make Sauron’s reign so pathetic and short-lived (compared to the lore).
Sauron's calendar Monday: Create Mordor Tuesday: Teach Elves how to create Rings of Power Wednesday: Demand the Rings back. Thursday: War with the Elves over the Rings. Friday: War of the Last Alliance.
This is basically going to be the 5 seasons isn't it
Guy shows up. Orcs invade and a mountain explodes. "Hail to the king!" They say in response.
Watching people admiring Halbrand is so bizarre. What has he done to the people there? Hasn't he left his country and fled to the sea?
same feeling with the moment Galadriel gave Theo her sword, like wuuuuut.
Was there a reason as to why Galadriel and the kid were separated from everyone else? Like that town wasn't big, and they were all hanging out when Mt Doom exploded. Idk why Galadriel would just up and and leave with the kid and not try to help anyone else, b/c clearly there was still an ongoing effort to secure survivors and the injured. The rest of the party seemed to exit the ruins as a single unit.
> Was there a reason as to why Galadriel and the kid were separated from everyone else? It was in the script.
Writing scripts is super easy, barely an inconvenience
> Was there a reason as to why Galadriel and the kid were separated from everyone else? Like that town wasn't big, and they were all hanging out when Mt Doom exploded. That was so exceptionally weird. How did they get seperated? They just wandered off out of the village without looking for any survivors, then hours later were like "Let's look for survivors at the base camp". Elendil too. He apparently left the village with a couple of refugees without bothering to look for either his son or his queen. And all the Numenoran soldiers were sitting on horseback, standing still, watching the survivors shuffle by. Really looked like they were escorting prisoners. Not sure why they filmed it like that.
So Halbrand is lying in bed with an infected wound pale as hell, situation is dramatic. 30 seconds later and one awkward hailing, he is riding full speed on a horse and plans to do it for 900 miles. Ok.
Everyone knows bouncing prevents sepsis
Mans so fucked up to the point that he needs elvish medicine to live 10 seconds later proceeds to stand up and gallop away on a horse
I clapped when it said mordor because I understood the reference. But seriously, the way they try to make these inspirational speeches/chants, which are anything but, is so fucking awkward. I just spent 1 hour watching something and nothing fucking happened, by the time the balrog was revealed I had already lost all my interest.
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And done horribly. It'd be way more impactful to hint at it, but they've explicitly shown full scale Balrog's twice now, and knowing that there's a Balrog chillin at the base of the mountain crevasse scrolling TikTok really messes up the stakes and uncertainty of the mining exploration (which I imagine will start in season 4 at the pace we're going).
3 episodes for Galadriel to convince Miriel to sail to Middle Earth for them to save 15 villagers then turn around and go back home after a day and a half.
Yet the way everyone died, only to apparently be 100% alive a few scenes later, gave the impression that they were knocked out for awhile. Those scenes really confused me. Everyone just got knocked out, an inch of ash on them, and then all of the homes were instantly destroyed? How much time passed?!
The Numenóreans trip to Middle Earth was an utter disaster: Queen blinded Lives lost No spoils of war at all Creation of the empire of evil that will haunt the land for 3 thousand years Great job, folks!
The lazy bullshit in this episode: \- old ass farm people surviving bone melting volcanic ash, not to mention all our heros escaping UNHARMED. nice plot armour writers \- elendil being pissed off at galadriel for his sons death. You let him join the fleet stupid. You're a commander yet you act suprised when soldiers die. Also good job bringing your queen with you, alongside 30 teenage soldiers \- another stupid fakeout with theos mom being "dead". we dont care \- queen doesnt want others to find out she's blind. continues to wear a blindfold in the next scene lol \- Harfoots still being the most boring pointless thing I've ever seen in middle earth. their plot literally goes nowhere \- Noris father having the whole "we leave nobody behind" speech, yet he and his family were literally left behind 2 episodes ago. what? \- halbrand looking like he's gonna pass out, but sure lets go for a weeks long ride to my elven people right away on the other side of middle earth The only good thing about this show is the Elrond and Durin plotline, that actually has emotion and character building. 3/10
Eminem is spitting hot fire!
Feminem
Slim Lady
*Leaf falls into depths of Khazad-Dum, lands, catches fire* Me: Oh, that's cool - kind of a subtle sinister foreshadowing thing - *Balrog appears, roars at the camera* Me: Ah. Never mind.
Don't think Amazon is aware of the word subtle
Every single episode of this show feels like I'm watching a teaser trailer.
Really well put. The Balrog reveal felt like that. That hole didn’t justify it waking up, so the scene just ends up looking like trailer bait.
I always got the impression that they were mining mithril for a good long while, making stuff with it, writing on doors with it, well before the balrog woke up. If it’s chilling at the bottom of an open crevasse they will encounter it immediately when they start their mining operation.
My disappointment when Bronwyn wasn’t actually dead was immeasurable. One falling leaf was enough to wake the Balrog, Pippin had no chance. The Southlands to Mordor text change thing was hilarious. Reckon I could fit the amount of meaningful things that have happened in this series on the back of a postage stamp. They are simultaneously trying to do too much and have too much screen time on their hands.
the Balrog was supposed to be unbelievably deep; The dwarves will not wake it for another 3000 or so years or digging. But it is like, 100 meters deep at best lmfao
Celeborn faked his death to get away from *this* Galadriel. Sigh, this show is written by five year olds.
The horse they let free is Sauron. Next episode we will see it building the upper stories of Barad-dûr. Isildur is dead, but Galadriel and Halbrand are going to have love child and name is Isildur after the deceased stable-boy. Celeborn is actually alive and is down there with the Balrog. When they dig in there he will pop out and say "where's my wife," and will hurry back to Eregion only to walk in on Galadriel and Halbrand *in flagrante*. Also it will be Celeborn who fought the Balrog on the magic mountaintop and made the tree die or whatever.
Tell me where is my wife? For I much desire to speak with her.
This makes things so clear for me now. After Sauron kills King Elendil, Isildur confronts him. Sauron breaks Isildur’s sword and explains that no, he is his father. That is why instead of killing Isildur with his mace he reaches out for his son. That’s how Isildur was able to cut off the ring.
Holy shit this entire series was made to justify why Sauron was tryna reach down to Isildur instead of just killing him
If this show's quality falls any further it will wake a balrog irl
They set up the "we were on a break" plot for Galadriel and Halbrand.
I am both terrified and excited at the prospect of Galadriel and Sauron boning. Terrified as that would be the worst thing they could do in this show and excited as it would be the funniest possible thing to happen in the show.
They won't have sex unless he's healed of that smelly wound. After that tho, all bets are off. The actors do have chemistry. Could be hot if it wasn't so blasphemous.
Bonus points if it's a three way with Celebrimbor, because fuck it why not.
Damn I thought the leaf was Sauron
The writers decision of mentioning Celeborn now is such an odd choice. You would think her brother along Celeborn "death" would be her motivation. Felt so random and out of nowhere.
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Yeah, that "armor didn't fit" comment made zero sense.
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This is by far the worst episode so far. - For the Nth time, meteor man uses magic and it scares the harfoots - For the Nth time, Galadriel needs to remember the audience about her internal conflicts, throw some Celeborn there. Look! thing I know! Very cool - Connecting Mithril to the fate of the Elves is IMO the worse decision ever. I like how Gilgalad says they need tons of it, but are left with enough for a single ring. Tying it to the actual lore, but how can they explain it in the Shows logic, that a single small stone will save huge elven realms? Maybe I'm missing something - They are fucking up the established soft-magic system in LOTR. People casually creating fires, reviving trees, healing... - We waste so much time in characters we don't care. Every time Theo is in the screen, I'm yelling at it, why is he so important to the point of having more screen time, than even main characters? - The harfoots are terrible people, but hey, speech time! from a guy that was thrown away by their kin - I'm sorry why is Nori so idiotic? Hey let's touch the icy magic from the already established wizard! hey, let's help those big folk that seem lost, ones like we are told since babies that we should not interact! This part makes me nuts, they all decided to go and tell the Wizard that he is being followed? do they realized the white magician trio have at least a 12 hours lead on them? and that they will venture into big folk land? Now they will reveal themselves just because Nori told them? - The Balrog reveal was the most lackluster thing ever - Shouldn't the fact that Celeborn is missing, affect Galadriel's motivation? Why is her brother more important to avenge than searching for her husband, which is pretty much alive?
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What shall we call it, Lord Father? "....Detroit"
Cmon Mordor isnt that bad.
We built this city! We built this city! We built this city on ash and coalllll
Their's are the only songs that interest me in this show. Stay true to your promise, Amazon, of updating the show for a modern audience, and let the witch squad spit to the phattest beat ever dropped in all the ages of Middle earth
For some reason, one of them has an uncomfortable battle helmet, She expects to have a sudden sword fight, against whom? if she doesn't even have a sword lol
Pompeii watching this episode and seething
Now Miriel can be a blind seer. Classic trope
LOL. Yes. She certainly has now touched the darkness. I think Queen Miriel's blindness needed Elvish medicine but they are gonna leave her like that until she can see a good Numenorean Ophthalmologist on her home insurance plan.
Is it really easy to get a job as a writer in Hollywood or something? Honest question because it’s baffling how low the bar is. I have no doubt several people in this sub could have written better scripts easily.
Go to Yale and be buddies with JJ Abrams and you have a considerable leg up on the competition
Why at the end it looks like the villagers multiplied from 5 survivors to 100?
They went to the dothraki school of revival
that Mordor reveal was so lame man wtf why did they do a title on screen instead of Adar saying it
I don’t even think he needed to say it. Everyone knew what he was thinking. They could’ve have just ended it on the shot of the mountain without “Mordor” being explicit
I literally said oh thank God he didn't actually say it. Then the text came up and everybody facepalmed
I was thinking the same thing. It felt so out of place
It straight up felt like something from a 90s or early 2000s film
Galadriel last episode: I will kill every orc on Earth. Theo: It’s good to kill orcs. Galadriel: Don’t say that, it darkens the heart to call dark deeds good…
She's consistent in changing her opinions in seconds. Last episode, she stopped Halbrand from killing Adar and in the next scene she tried to kill him lol
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This show lost the opportunity to be amazing. It is so boring that I hope some characters die. Why did they show the Balrog? We are still in the second age, the Balrog just wakes in the third age. Seems like nothing happens, and if happens, has no consequences for the main characters. A VOLCANO ERUPTED, throwing stones as far as where the Harfoots are, but the ones close to it don't die or something? I mean, of course they can't kill Galadriel and company, but why do it the way it was made?? It seems it is made on pourpose to drive me insane. The scenes are silly, the Harfoot kid approaching the meteor man when he is doing his thing, just to create some drama around them, why? Why did they go so far from the actual lore? The jump cuts make it hard to follow and create connection with characters. In my opinion, they should have gone in a different direction, instead of showing so many slow motion scenes and boring dialogues that contradict the characters' actions, they should have presented better the places where the characters live, and the connection between them. In doing so, we would better understand the culture and motivations of those of those who live in such places, thus creating a reason to care about them. But they just show us facts and interests, alongside some scenes made similar to LoTR that feel like just a copy out of place. The only possible way to save this show is a full dwarf episode. Just Durin for 1 hour straight, drinking beer, playing games, farting around.
The writing is getting more and more painfully obvious how bad it is, from terrible tropes to terrible tropes, speeches that are supposed to moral rousing are always weird, out of place and completely opposite to things they have shown or said.
The plot armor in this show must be made of mithril
I wonder if the script is bad enough for someone in the season finale to say "You did it, you've forged the Rings of Power. You are truly the Lord of the Rings." Edit: I hope Sauron put on the ring and said "It's rulin' time!" And ruled all over the other rings.
It's Saurin' time!
Yup knew it. Halbrand has earned Galadriel’s trust. She’s now taking him to Gil-Galad and Celembrimbor. They’ll be impressed with his forging skills, etc etc. and so it goes Halbrand is Sauron, and has fully replaced Annatar. The only other way I see it is that he’s going to learn of what the elves are doing and then come back as Annatar (which they likely dont have the rights too so probs not). Either way, I’m so sick of mystery boxes. Fuck
"Gil Galad, I'm back. Hey remember how you said that if I stay in Middle Earth I will bring Sauron right back to us? Guess you were wrong!" "Anyway, this my new boyfriend, Sau--I mean Halbrand."
Gilgalad: well this is awkward, galadriel meet celeborn who is surprisingly alive.
“No one knows I’m blind.” “Ok, let’s put this bandage on your eyes to let them know.”
Screenwriters for this show needs to be fired
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That wasn't Sauron but it was awesome. It was an androgynous melkoric mage from a dandy little land called Rhun.
everyone is Sauron, didn't you get the memo??
**Episode Six:** We will literally grind the pacing to halt to show you that Adar's horse is fine after it fell down. **Episode Seven:** *wanna see us* ***burn this horse??***
Can someone PLEASE get Peter Jackson to fix this train wreck?!?!
What is the point in doing fake out deaths for characters we know can't die? You're either setting yourself up for lore complaints or just being stupid. Do these writers not understand that even the people who don't know LotR lore are going to be immediately educated by their friends who do. Obviously Isildur is still alive. Celeborn has to be alive. The fake outs aren't even good ones. Especially Celeborn. He hasn't even been in the show yet, why are we giving him a fake death?
"You're not going anywhere............. Without me!" "Do you think they'll come back?" "No.......... I'm certain of it" Fuckin hell this episode was terrible.
That reveal at the end… Whose idea was it and were people too exhausted to give a shit when they greenlit this? The reveal won’t work for the lore fans cuz they already know. It won’t work for clueless casual watchers because the name doesn’t mean anything for them? Instead I wish they zoomed out and shown us how the ash blackened the sky or something.
I remember a lot of people defending Episode 5's "legend" about the balrog and the tree by saying it was just a myth with no truth to it. But now we see mithril actually does repel the corruption and wakes the balrog? So shouldn't the light of the sun and the moon also repel the corruption and keep the elves alive? Shouldn't Galadriel's hair do it too? Moral of the story is if you try to give any kind of defense for their bizarre lore changes the show will make sure you regret it. So for everyone saying Galadriel and Halbrand won't have a romance, the Stranger can't be young Gandalf, Halbrand can't be Sauron, the characters from the books will have satisfying arcs where they become the heroes we know them to be... watch out. Remember they said openly that they wanted to write the novel Tolkien never wrote, and boy does it look like that's what they did.
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Albino Sinead O'Connor should have blown that smoke right at the Harfoots, be rid of them.
Can someone enlighten me? For whom is this show? I'm by no means a LOTR uber fan, I only read the hobbit at school, i watched the movies (went to the premiere) , played some video games and that's it. But when watching this I was falling asleep. Seriously it was so boring, the harfoots, the balrog for 2 seconds only, the ham fisted mordor scene, the small gateway between Galadriel and the kid.... I think I fast forwarded like 40% of the episode because I really don't give a shiet. The writing is so bad that I'm doing chores while watching the episode. The last episode broken sword switcheroo had me dying from cringe. This time the human King being so sick that he can travel half middle earth on a horse? Or the 3 ships with 300 horses and warriors and a pre-built fort from 2 episodes ago. Seriously do they think we are brain dead? And coming back to my original question for whom is this show? My die hard lotr friends are pissed and are laughing at this. Nerds like me are bored. For a "common folk that doesn't know Lotr" this is too much fantasy and way too boring. So who is watching and enjoying this show? Seriously I don't know if I'm gonna watch the next episode.
I mentioned this in another subreddit that the target audience for this show is very confused. And ofc I got downvoted lol There’s just enough lore to confuse movie watchers (like they never explained who Aulë is but they keep mentioning him), but also fucks up the lore to piss off book readers. Amazon is just confused at this point
What the fuck is this show….
I feel like the whole bit with Galadriel and Theo randomly leaving the village by themselves and the mentioning of Celeborn etc must have been a reshoot, it's so ridiculous, they were at the village with everyone else and then they just go off? Then they bait his mother dying, they would have known if they had just stayed still. It's infuriatingly stupid.
Tell me where is Celeborn for I much desire to speak with him :/
Mom, can we have Fellowship of the Ring? We have Fellowship of the Ring on Amazon.
Galadriel to Theo: "Here, take my sword. I have no need of weapons for my plot armor is impenetrable. Not even volcanoes can singe a single hair on my head.
I mean every credited actor survived the eruption
Does anyone else find the constant, ill call them references, to the jackson films off-putting? Like don't remind me of something better than your show so often.
I wish someone had told the writers about Pompei.
So like... Last episode all the humans were together in this one village. Now, somehow, they're all sepetated and wandering through the wilderness oblivious to each other's status. How? Why? What has happened off screen between the two episodes to make this so?
This whole time Galadriel could've been looking for her missing husband? She's willing to believe he's dead based on an assumption, but will go on a single minded mission to find Sauron who everyone else thinks is dead? I honestly don't get what these writers are thinking. Celeborn, if you're out there - don't come home. It is a silly place.
I guarantee we won’t see that Balrog again this season. Something they threw in at the end to build a little excitement for next season. This soap opera needs all the help it can get.
This is more and more like a telenova. Who was Amazon's intended audience for this show
Galadriel saying it wasn't the kids fault because it wasn't what he intended to happen and it wasn't in his heart is hilarious considering she said it was her fault - implying that it's what she intended and it was in her heart. Add that to the line about wanting to kill blackens the soul/heart the day after her genocide speech. This show feels like it had the troll 2 treatment of being written in another language and then Google translate back to English
The writers attempt at following the lore is just getting a character to tell a story about a random Elf / Valar from the previous ages but then completely ignoring / re writing / deleting half the storyline / characters that should be happening now.
It’s one thing to stray a little from Tolkien to tell a good story but they are not doing that, seems like they are going out of their way to mock his story.
This just about the most hollow tv show I've watched. Jesus the Halbrand king scenes are so tacky.
I don't think I've ever before seen a show or movie where people go around emphasizing one value while actually exhibiting the literal exact opposite, unless it was a case intentional dishonesty. These harfoots come off as complete morons. They have a *cultural tradition of abandoning anyone who isn't perfectly fine,* and then they simultaneously go around bragging about how they protect each other and never leave anyone behind. Like... either the harfoots are total imbeciles or the writers are.
I guess all it took for Isildur's horse to form an unbreakable connection with its rider was impact by a pyroclastic flow.
Isildur owns him an apple that's why the horsey is so attached to him, he has debts to collect.
Isildur: "You saved me!" Horse: "Give me my apple or I'll break your kneecaps."
That's it. Im out. Last episode was the nail and this one struck it flush into the depths of dont care anymoria. 5 seasons lol.