re: The Rings of Power Season 2 - first 3 episodes release August 29th, 2:00 AM Central

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So was PJ's take

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No it wasn’t. He point blank said he wasn’t trying to put his own points of view or vision into the film and adapt it as close to Tolkien’s vision (which millions of people understand) as he possibly could.

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Yes it was

There were significant changes to Fellowship, which you could argue was done for the sake of time. Fact remains, in deleting the Old Forest/Barrow Downs segment, PJ eliminated the significance of those blades being forged in Arnor, intended specifically to combat the king of Angmar- the Witch King. That is a point of emphasis later on when they battle on the fields before Minas Tirith.
Glorfindel was deleted and replaced by Arwen; ok it fleshes out Aragorn's love interest some. But Glorfindel was a Noldor from Valinor, mighty in both the visible and unseen worlds... Arwen wasn't. Nor is Elrond, Legolas, Celeborn, or anyone else in this tale with the exception of Galadriel. Frodo sees Glorfindel in the spirit realm then, as a being of shining light, which is what repels the Nazgul.
Glorfindel is also the one who prophesizes that the Witch King will not be slain by a Man.

In Two Towers, the changes are more open. Faramir initially decides to bring the Ring and Frodo to his father, as a "mighty gift", then changes his mind.
This is absolute crap. It's done to give us a cool visual, but it completely undercuts the effects of the Ring. Once the Ring gets a hook in you, you're done. There is no "I'll change my mind", you are good and fricked.
Not to mention that if Frodo is standing there for the taking like that, the Nazgul (all of them) converge and seize him and there is no 'war', Sauron wins. The Nazgul are no longer operating with one hand tied behind their backs in stealth mode, they're openly declared and flying around on pteranodons (or giant deformed buzzards).

And on the Rohan side of things, PJ intentionally twists the dynamics of Gandalf and Theoden. In the book, when Gandalf frees him from Saruman and Wormtongue's deceit, Theoden is instantly and completely all-in on Gandalf. He acknowledges the White Rider and does everything Gandalf suggests. Gandalf tells him to go to Helm's Deep, so he goes despite initially wanting to ride out on the open field. In the movies, Gandalf tells him to ride out to open battle, and Theoden instead goes to Helm's Deep. It may seem trivial, but it undercuts the point that Theoden is following Gandalf without question, while Denethor later challenges Gandalf's wisdom.

ROTK, in the book Aragorn refuses to use the Dead in battle, only using them to terrify the Corsairs so that they abandon their assault and ships. It's a fundamental part of Aragorn that he does NOT employ the methods of his enemy Sauron, which is what keeps Sauron from correctly anticipating him (and also displays Aragorn's virtue). PJ drops that for another "cool CGI" scene, which then begs the question- if you're going to use them, why not use them for the entire course of the war? They'd have been useful at the Black Gate.
But again, it was the valor of Men that won the day at Minas Tirith, not a green horde of ghosts.

Those are intentional splits from Tolkien's tale, which didn't need to be done. They were PJ giving his own take on things.

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Unmmm, no. Yes Orcs are descended from elves, but Morgoth long tortured and bred out any remote capabilities of love and compassion that they can have. Orcs and Uruk Hai are merely built for war, and that’s what they like doing. Killing for the sake of killing. They are not capable of genuine kindness or moral decency.

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Morgoth could not create the race of orcs. He could only corrupt them. They were made through Eru so all had purpose within the song. Just like Aule created the race of dwarves, only Eru could grant them genuine life.

It is quoted several times throughout the Silmarillion and The Lay of Beren and Luthien they followed Morgoth and Sauron out of fear, not love or loyalty. They were not created for the purpose of conquest. They were manipulated over ages for that purpose. That doesn’t exclude them from having genuine emotions.

Back to this actual show now:

1) I'm pretty certain the guy commanding the witches in Rhun, is, well, the Witch King . I mean, they're lobbing that out pretty heavily. It could make sense if you combine with Kamul... a sorcerer devoted to Sauron who is helping to pave his way. In return, Sauron grants him a Ring, which bumps his power and extends his lifespan. Yes, he's now entralled to Sauron, but he basically was willing that way any way.

2) Just finished Ep 3. The eagle appearing at Numenor in support of Pharazon... someone is going to have to explain that. I can't come up with a reasoning, because Pharazon was already in opposition to the Valar and Elves prior to taking the crown.
Now, Elendil's traitor/daughter had a plan, which was not shown onscreen, and this clearly was it. But how do they get the eagle to come, that's the question. Does she know via the palantir that the eagle was coming, and they staged the commotion to make it seem the eagle (and Manwe) was favoring Pharazon?

3) speaking of the palantir, why does it repel Elendil? They can't possibly be trying to say Sauron had one already... Elendil brought them over after the flood.

4) back to earlier episodes, Cirdan tosses the Rings overboard, the sea actively rejects them and throws them back into his boat. I guess the sea is under Ulmo's command, and Ulmo/the Valar are saying the Rings of Power are for Middle Earth only. No sea, no taking to Valinor etc; which is why Elrond is so certain in LOTR that they can't just toss the One Ring into the sea. Ulmo won't allow it, they need to deal with what they've done.
*note, Elrond does like destroying some Rings . It's his go-to move, I guess.

5) Cirdan, after returning with the Rings, decides to shave . That's noteworthy, because Cirdan is the one Elf known to have a beard... are the show-runners doing that to signify "this ain't the story you know"? That actually made me wonder, as he supposedly always has that beard.

6) so, Elf-loving chick is now dead to open the season, after season 1 finale had her leading her people to Pelagir.
Did the actress bail out unexpectedly?

Just watched Nerd of the Rings' reviews of the episodes, gives me a small hope they can fix some things...

he pointed out the black goo on the tree in Lindon looks a bit like Sauron's black goo protoplasm state (after he was 'killed' by Adar and the orcs).

Maybe, just maybe, he's been playing the long game the whole time, with part of his malice fricking with the tree and the Elves. Creating the supposed crisis they fear, and pushing the Elves (Celebrimbor in particular) to make the Rings to solve said crisis. And keep in mind that while Elrond recounted the tale of the origin of Mithril, he also said it wasn't fully believed (or something to the case); could have been a lie spread by Sauron to push this.

It really wouldn't be out of lore, if that's the case.
Remember, the Noldor WERE arrogant and naive, and even the Valar said so. They presumed they could return to Middle Earth and reclaim the Silmarils by force from Morgoth, and Mandos told them not a chance. They didn't begin to comprehend what they faced. This show has been rather clumsy, but it could be attempting to show the Elves are still not fully aware yet of what's actually happening.
Most of what people are bitching on (lore being off) could be Sauron's bullshite, still confusing the Elves and everyone else.

If that's where they go, the Elves will be much wiser (and sadder) by the end of this show, and that IS how they are described during LOTR.

I have so much confusion from this show. Maybe yall can answer.

Sauron is an all powerful sorcerer. I’m assuming he is manipulating the plights of the races so that he can create the rings to fix them. When is he doing this? Why aren’t they showing this? When did he get people to cut off the messenger to warn about Sauron? Just seems there are very large inconsistencies in Sauron’s power. I feel he could just break the will of the orcs by force if he can do all that is said. How can they just stab him? Isn’t he basically a Demi god and as strong or stronger than the wizards?

Why do they so much mithril to make small rings?

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5) Cirdan, after returning with the Rings, decides to shave . That's noteworthy, because Cirdan is the one Elf known to have a beard... are the show-runners doing that to signify "this ain't the story you know"? That actually made me wonder, as he supposedly always has that beard.

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I thought that was weird too. Cirdan, to me, is such a cool character. An actual Cuivienen elf still around for the duration of the entire story. So old he makes Galadriel look like a baby, and on the downslope of his life cycle to the point he could grow a beard. Shame he never got to see the two trees up close and personal.

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Centralby Hu_Flung_Pu
I have so much confusion from this show. Maybe yall can answer.

Sauron is an all powerful sorcerer. I’m assuming he is manipulating the plights of the races so that he can create the rings to fix them. When is he doing this? Why aren’t they showing this?

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I can't swear this is the case, but:

Sauron has always been known as a deceiver... and also smart and plays the long game.

MAYBE, they are first showing his deceptions, with the viewer also fooled (we are given misleading or false info).
Then, as they did a few times this season, they go back and show what Sauron was really doing.

If so, all the "that's not canon!" raging becomes irrelevant: no, it wasn't correct, but it was done intentionally to show how he fooled everyone.

This is confusing to me too. Kellabinbor(sp?) can’t be that fricking stupid. Galadriel gonna have a shite fit when she finds out he was taken back in with open arms.

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Did the actress bail out unexpectedly?

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Yes. She does work with an advocacy group that I think works on women’s rights in Iran and she wanted to focus on that.

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Yes. She does work with an advocacy group that I think works on women’s rights in Iran and she wanted to focus on that.

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She can't do both? Work a few months (weeks?) out of the year to make s billion dollar streaming series and then also 'focus' on women's rights things?


Weak.