S01.E05: Partings

[johntfs]

4 hours ago, Grimnar said:

As was mentioned in thread for previous episode, we need some timeline for how much time has passed since first episode. Southland arc seems as it is just week, Galadriel's arc few weeks and Durin and Elrond's can be few months.

Writing is still questionable. There is no sense, logic or emotional impact behind most storylines. Númenor is going to send 500 soldiers(with no experience and with very minimal training) to save people from orcs based on outdated information(no information about size of the enemy's army, etc), Gil-Galad is competing with Galadriel about most unlikable character, Elrond can't keep secret even for one episode and the plot with mithril doesn't make much sense, still unknown reason why Númenor hates elves, etc.

For me this show is just average. It is not bad but at same time it is not good enough and if it wouldn't be based(very very very loosly based) on Tolkien's work, I would probably stop watching it or if there would't be improvement I wouldn't watch next season.

Numenor is sending 500 soldiers on what is essentially a reconnaissance-in-force.  The Numenoreans are over-confident but let's pretend they're not utter morons.  A full mobilization and invasion fleet would be extremely expensive, time-consuming and labor-intensive.  So they really don't want to do that.  Instead they're sending over some enthusiastic troops to get a bit of combat experience and check out the lay of the land. 

[quarks]

The show is definitely not doing Gil-galad any favors here. 

The options are:

1. The mithril/Valinor light story is true, but rather than being open and honest about it with anyone, he's concealing the truth about this from most people, and trying to manipulate Elrond and the Dwarves.

Also, what about the Elves who never went to Valinor in the first place? Are they also addicted to this Valinor light?  If so, how did they manage to survive before Beren stole that Silmaril and finally let them glimpse a tiny bit of it? And if not, than what's with this "The Elves are dying," Gil-galad, since this sounds to me a long more like "The Noldor are dying."  And if the other Elves are addicted to Valinor light and need more than the Silmaril currently in the sky to keep them alive, then, why haven't you told them about this?

So, yeah, not looking great, Gil-galad!

2. The mithril/Valinor light story is a lie from Sauron, which Gil-galad has completely fallen for. 

Again, not looking great, Gil-galad!

3. Although the tree is very definitely having some light issues, Gil-galad is completely making up the mithril/Valinor story.

Again, not looking great, Gil-galad!

4. And this is leaving aside the other issues, like, going ahead with the plan to send not just Galadriel, but several other warriors off to Valinor despite knowing that the trees are turning black; suddenly announcing an end to war just as Weird Things are happening down south, like, you're supposed to be far-sighted and foresighted, Gil-galad!

5. And then there's this, from Bilbo's song about Eärendil, sung in Rivendell in front of an audience of Elves (and Aragorn and Frodo):

"A ship then new they built for him
of mithril and of elven-glass"

This in theory happens before the events of this show. And sure, I'm willing to fanwank that the Silmaril in Eärendil's possession at the time created the mithril, and that the Dwarves wouldn't necessarily know about this, or that Bilbo just got it wrong. But given that we are also in a period where ships can and do sail from Tol Eressëa to Numenor and Middle-Earth, that no one bothers to correct Bilbo on this (admittedly minor) point, and I'm kinda thinking that something is really off here. (Or that the showrunners/writers didn't bother to read any of the poems,) 

Regardless, again, not looking great, Gil-galad!

[mrspidey]

On 9/24/2022 at 12:34 AM, Affogato said:

And there has to be a reason why the dwarves are so pissed off at the elves.  Still it seems awkward to me. Unnecessary. Like propaganda. My impression in the books I’ve read was elves were entitled and like shiny things a d so do dwarves. Maybe I’m wrong. 

Beren stole a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown so Thingol (king of the Sindar elves, eventually ruled by Thranduil) would let him be with his daughter Luthien. The Silmaril was then fashioned into an amulet called Nauglamir. When some dwarfs came to visit and saw the amulet, they got greedy and killed Thingol over it.

Ever since then, the elves, and especially the Sindar, hate the dwarfs. This why Legolas, a Sindar himself, becoming friends with Gimli was such a big thing.

[silverstream]

Not sure how none of the other elves are supposed to not have noticed the massive, very visible tree-rot problem on the tree that's smack dab in what's apparently some sort of important meeting place. Maybe they just think it needs different fertiliser?

I wish we'd seen how/why Elrond showed off his piece of Mithril. We're very clearly supposed to think he didn't break his oath (and I honestly prefer it that way, I like his and Durin's friendship!), but I'm having a hard time coming up with a headcanon for how that fits together. If the slapstick part of the plot weren't Isildur's, I'd say he tripped and it fell out of his pocket.

[PeterPirate]

23 hours ago, quarks said:

2. The mithril/Valinor light story is a lie from Sauron, which Gil-galad has completely fallen for. 

Again, not looking great, Gil-galad!

I don't see how this theory is plausible.  Sauron would have to be responsible for the blight, and for the planting of the Song of the Roots of Hithaeglir in the minds of both Gil-Galad and Elrond.  

[JustHereForFood]

On 9/24/2022 at 10:46 AM, Anduin said:

Update! Two people had a crack at the map too. Looks like the Harfoots already passed Mordor on the northern side, and have now turned north-east, heading up to the Sea of Rhun. Which is a shame, because according to my path they'll bump into the other groups around Ostirith.

See map one and map two.

Looks like my geography skills are up there with my predictive skills. :(

When they showed Grey marshes, I thought if it's those that Frodo and Sam went through in Two Towers, after looking at the map they are called Dead marshes. But from your map it indeed seems it's those. So, will they get renamed after all those people die there?

It's weird thinking they might be in Mordor before it becomes Mordor.

On 9/24/2022 at 4:40 AM, Emily Thrace said:

I think the Stranger is Gandalf too. One thing to note is that when Gandalf show up in Middle Earth he already speaks the language and immediately starts talking to the elves. Which does suggest either he was much better prepared for the journey or he had been there before. 

Galadriel and Haldir do have fantastic chemistry.  I do wonder where her husband is though or if they are not married yet or just on a break right now. Why do I get the feeling Celebor will show just as Haldir makes a move? Or possibly Haldir's wife who he left for dead. If Theo was a little fairer I might wonder if Haldir was Bronwyn's AWOL ex. Its unlikely Haldir and Bronwyn would produce a kid as brown as Theo though it is possible.

I also thought if Halbrand might be Theo's father. They said that he left, otherwise we would probably assume that he died, so I expect we will meet him at some point. Who knows, he (the father) could also be Sauron. I don't think Halbrand is Sauron though.

And speaking of the Stranger, what if he is Sauron? That could be a huge twist. And it would explain why those creepy people follow him. I remember when one of them appeared in the trailer, there was already speculation about him being Sauron. I guess that is moot now? (I couldn't actually tell in the episode if that was a man or a woman, it looked like they were all dressed in female dresses.)

All this speculation about who could Sauron be, maybe at the end he will be played by someone completely different 😄.

[Camera One]

5 hours ago, JustHereForFood said:

It's weird thinking they might be in Mordor before it becomes Mordor.

To me, that's one of the cooler aspects of this show so far, to see the area that will become Mordor.  

Quote

 I also thought if Halbrand might be Theo's father. They said that he left, otherwise we would probably assume that he died, so I expect we will meet him at some point. Who knows, he (the father) could also be Sauron. I don't think Halbrand is Sauron though.

And speaking of the Stranger, what if he is Sauron? That could be a huge twist. And it would explain why those creepy people follow him. I remember when one of them appeared in the trailer, there was already speculation about him being Sauron. I guess that is moot now? (I couldn't actually tell in the episode if that was a man or a woman, it looked like they were all dressed in female dresses.)

All this speculation about who could Sauron be, maybe at the end he will be played by someone completely different 😄.

It does seem like the main speculation thus far has been about Halbrand or the Stranger being Sauron.  I suppose they could be tricking the audience but with each episode, both seem to be less likely.  Halbrand does seem to have the art of persuasion though I don't understand why Sauron would play the reluctant repentant? descendant of the king of the South landers.  I agree having him be Theo's father is more likely since it would no doubt result in drama.  As for the Stranger, if he were Sauron, he seemed to have wiped his own memory, but why?  The Stranger seems genuine with his interactions with Nori so far.  I too suspect Sauron will end up being a completely different character since it would make sense if he is already pulling strings behind the scenes.

Edited September 27, 2022 by Camera One

[quarks]

5 hours ago, PeterPirate said:

I don't see how this theory is plausible.  Sauron would have to be responsible for the blight, and for the planting of the Song of the Roots of Hithaeglir in the minds of both Gil-Galad and Elrond.  

It's just - barely - possible. Not plausible, maybe, but possible. If we (ok, I) fanwank that at some point back in the First Age, Sauron or his minions found mithril, but realized that their whole OMG NOT LIGHT ANYTHING BUT LIGHT issue made it rather hard for them to mine. So they decided to have the Dwarves do the actual mining, and trick the Elves into getting the mithril away from the Dwarves and out in the open where it would be easy to steal. To do this, Sauron either disguised himself as an Elf and whispered this story to them, or told it to Adar, who told other Elves. Most Elves, of course, were like "yeah, that's ridiculous," but enough of them repeated the story that Elrond and Gil-galad heard it. And then, once the Dwarves started mining mithril, Sauron poisoned the tree. 

Great theory? No. Plausible? Also no.  But I like it more than "A Silmaril created mithril!"

[Affogato]

On 9/25/2022 at 12:13 PM, Grimnar said:

I think that bolded part can be problematic, for people who know timeline of Second Age or remember from Fellowship movie part where Gandalf found Isildurs' scroll, that we are at more than 3000 years since start of Second Age. If only thing Galadriel found since then was strange mark which she couldn't decrypt without Númenor's library, it is not difficult to believe that other elves will dismissed her as obssessed with Sauron. Without evidence for centuries, it is not hard to believe that others will ignore Galadriel. And it is not helping that Galadrielis writen as character without any people's skill.

This is of course undermined by Gil-Galad when he admitted to Elrond that if they will not have mithril, Middle-earth will be ocuppied by army of darkness. So if you know that Sauron is still threat and not obsession of Galadriel, then why you are sending her away and removing elves from Southland.

I think, as others have alluded, that Galadriel is written as someone with ptsd. She remains functioning because she continues the battle against Sauron, because her damage closes around her when she stops fighting. We tend to be more sympathetic towards male characters who are similarly driven. I think.

Gil-Galad, if I remember, tries to send Galadriel to the west. Not because she is wrong,  but because her continued need to hunt out Sauron and destroy him will cause him to rise up against her. So, yes, he knows and is hoping it will just all settle down and go away, which won't happen if Galadriel is raising armies against him.

[tv-talk]

2 hours ago, Affogato said:

I think, as others have alluded, that Galadriel is written as someone with ptsd. She remains functioning because she continues the battle against Sauron, because her damage closes around her when she stops fighting. We tend to be more sympathetic towards male characters who are similarly driven. I think.

Her character is the worst thing about the show, and yes I am trying to like the show and have gotten into it well enough. The way she is written however is just awful. No idea why they need to portray her as some kind of MCU hero (Punisher meets CaptMarvel maybe), who can apparently swim 1,000 miles but needs a ship for plot devices. Can single-handedly defeat 100 armed soldiers by the looks of it but needs to amass human armies and install a King. It just seems so forced. Btw are all elves super-heroes or just her? They manage to apparently live 10,000 years of constant battle but can be felled with a single arrow or slash from a knife? Havent all the elves experienced much of the same loss as her- but she is the one who seems to have gone insane over it and that is supposed to be a good thing? I swear if they just toned down the Galadrial omnipotent theme the show would be better off.

Stranger is clearly Gandalf and he just "created" the Hobbits when the Harfoot girl got caught up in his ice business. Gandalf's peculiar fondness for Hobbits explained, love it.

[quarks]

6 minutes ago, tv-talk said:

Btw are all elves super-heroes or just her? They manage to apparently live 10,000 years of constant battle but can be felled with a single arrow or slash from a knife? Havent all the elves experienced much of the same loss as her- but she is the one who seems to have gone insane over it and that is supposed to be a good thing?

Frankly, I blame some of this on Peter Jackson's "Ok, how we can top the Legolas stunt from the last film?" But as a more serious answer to your question, yes, pretty much all Elves are superheroes - we saw that with Legolas and Tauriel in the films, but it also happens in the books, where Finrod Felagund (Galadriel's dead brother) did all sorts of superhero stuff that this show doesn't have rights to.

That doesn't, however, mean that they can't be killed - they can. The small bit that the show is leaving out, though, is that most Elves also have a chance of being reincarnated at some point, either in Valinor or in Middle-Earth. So death isn't quite as final. Another superhero thing. 

[rab01]

On 9/25/2022 at 5:06 PM, quarks said:

2. The mithril/Valinor light story is a lie from Sauron, which Gil-galad has completely fallen for. 

It looks to me like the tree is dying for the same reason that the tree in Numenor shed leaves, that the elves are abandoning their duties and turning away from honor by sticking their heads in the sand about the rising dark. It feels narratively wrong for it be something that can be cured by stuff, rather internal struggle and growth. 

I've only read the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and a few of the short stories so can someone more versed tell me whether this show's treatment of Mithril is in Tolkein's work?  It feels like a retcon invented by the Show.  Maybe to make Bilbo/Frodo's chainmail retroactively more special - like a Marvel movie's treatment of Infinity Stones or Thor's Hammer. 

[PeterPirate]

9 hours ago, rab01 said:

It looks to me like the tree is dying for the same reason that the tree in Numenor shed leaves, that the elves are abandoning their duties and turning away from honor by sticking their heads in the sand about the rising dark. It feels narratively wrong for it be something that can be cured by stuff, rather internal struggle and growth.  

I love this theory.  

9 hours ago, rab01 said:

I've only read the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and a few of the short stories so can someone more versed tell me whether this show's treatment of Mithril is in Tolkein's work?  It feels like a retcon invented by the Show.  Maybe to make Bilbo/Frodo's chainmail retroactively more special - like a Marvel movie's treatment of Infinity Stones or Thor's Hammer. 

The part about mithril being a by-product of the Silmarils is completely made up.  

There were three Silmarils--one was tossed into a fiery chasm and ended up "in the bowels of the earth", the second was thrown into the sea, and the third was placed in the sky.  In no way was a Silmaril hidden in a tree in the Misty Mountains.  Either they are going to invent a fourth Silmaril or they just won't talk about what happened to the others. 

It's possible Gil-Galad and Celebrimbor are wrong and/or deceived about their need for mithril to stop the blight.  But there's no way to justify their giving credence to the Song of the Roots of Hithaeglir.  One way or another, the show has crossed the Rubicon with this one.  

Edited September 28, 2022 by PeterPirate

[Emily Thrace]

On 9/25/2022 at 11:13 AM, Grimnar said:

I think that bolded part can be problematic, for people who know timeline of Second Age or remember from Fellowship movie part where Gandalf found Isildurs' scroll, that we are at more than 3000 years since start of Second Age. If only thing Galadriel found since then was strange mark which she couldn't decrypt without Númenor's library, it is not difficult to believe that other elves will dismissed her as obssessed with Sauron. Without evidence for centuries, it is not hard to believe that others will ignore Galadriel. And it is not helping that Galadrielis writen as character without any people's skill.

This is of course undermined by Gil-Galad when he admitted to Elrond that if they will not have mithril, Middle-earth will be ocuppied by army of darkness. So if you know that Sauron is still threat and not obsession of Galadriel, then why you are sending her away and removing elves from Southland.

I think Gil-Galad saw that Galadriel was his downfall not the elves. I think he saw his death at Saurons hand and due to the convoluted nature of prophecy Galadriel is a big part of the story. Although I suppose Galadriel is bringing Isildur to Middle Earth so the prophecy isn't necessarily wrong. Gil-Galad is trying stop a speeding train he just hasn't realised it yet.

I also think Sauron is already in Lindon and is certainly behind the dying of the light and is exerting influence on Gil-Galad. Sauron might have even encouraged him to get rid of Galadriel. I suspect Annatar (Saurons Elven Avatar) will be revealed in the finale. ( If their are any major actors who were cast but haven't shown up yet that's probably who it is.) Sneaking in to the inner circle in Lindon while his minions raise hell in the Southlands would be a solid strategy.

[Bruinsfan]

On 9/23/2022 at 11:27 PM, Camera One said:

We haven't seen Galadriel using any magic so far.  I wonder if they have the meteor man "teaching" her magic. 

We haven't seen any elves using any magic, have we? Except in the flashback to this unnamed elf hero who got in a magic tug-of-war with a balrog over a tree in the middle of nowhere that someone allegedly bedazzled a silmaril into. Even before the rings of power were crafted, weren't Galadriel and Celebrimbor supposed to have been among the mightiest and most supernaturally adept beings who weren't actual maiar/gods?

[quarks]

2 hours ago, rab01 said:

I've only read the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and a few of the short stories so can someone more versed tell me whether this show's treatment of Mithril is in Tolkein's work?  It feels like a retcon invented by the Show.  Maybe to make Bilbo/Frodo's chainmail retroactively more special - like a Marvel movie's treatment of Infinity Stones or Thor's Hammer. 

As Peterpirate said, this treatment of mithril is not in Tolkien's work, and has been invented by the show. 

In the books, mithril is around in the First Age - rare, but around - and is used to create Earendil's ship. Bilbo sings about it. It's a very valuable metal because it's both very easy to work with and can be used to create weapons harder than steel - a property that helps save Frodo's life in Moria - but it's not inherently magical, and has no connections with the Silmarils.  This is more or less the same in the films.

In the show, mithril apparently only appeared quite recently - in the Second Age.

1 hour ago, Bruinsfan said:

We haven't seen any elves using any magic, have we? Except in the flashback to this unnamed elf hero who got in a magic tug-of-war with a balrog over a tree in the middle of nowhere that someone allegedly bedazzled a silmaril into. Even before the rings of power were crafted, weren't Galadriel and Celebrimbor supposed to have been among the mightiest and most supernaturally adept beings who weren't actual maiar/gods?

We have sorta seen Elrond using the power to see something at a great distance - when he tells Gil-galad that Galadriel has passed beyond his sight. And Galadriel told us that she's used palantir before this, which suggests some magical ability, maybe.

But otherwise, no, and you're right - that's odd, especially since Galadriel is supposed to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of Elven women at this point, and Celebrimbor is the grandson of Feanor, and supposedly one of the greatest craftsmen of the Elves, second only to Feanor.  Both of them should also be physically stronger and faster than, say, Legolas and Tauriel. But we haven't really seen much of that, either, even given Galadriel's great swimming ability and that whole marketplace swordfight. 

[Affogato]

4 hours ago, quarks said:

As Peterpirate said, this treatment of mithril is not in Tolkien's work, and has been invented by the show. 

In the books, mithril is around in the First Age - rare, but around - and is used to create Earendil's ship. Bilbo sings about it. It's a very valuable metal because it's both very easy to work with and can be used to create weapons harder than steel - a property that helps save Frodo's life in Moria - but it's not inherently magical, and has no connections with the Silmarils.  This is more or less the same in the films.

In the show, mithril apparently only appeared quite recently - in the Second Age.

We have sorta seen Elrond using the power to see something at a great distance - when he tells Gil-galad that Galadriel has passed beyond his sight. And Galadriel told us that she's used palantir before this, which suggests some magical ability, maybe.

But otherwise, no, and you're right - that's odd, especially since Galadriel is supposed to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of Elven women at this point, and Celebrimbor is the grandson of Feanor, and supposedly one of the greatest craftsmen of the Elves, second only to Feanor.  Both of them should also be physically stronger and faster than, say, Legolas and Tauriel. But we haven't really seen much of that, either, even given Galadriel's great swimming ability and that whole marketplace swordfight. 

I thought the palantirs are magically made but useable by everyone.hobbits, for example.  So that would br evidence of magic i. The world but not necessarily that Galadriel is a magician. 

[Haleth]

It's sort of implied that Celebrimbor will be using a kind of magic with his giant furnace.  I don't recall what he has said in the show about the purpose of his project but I think even non readers can guess at this point that what he's doing will save Middle Earth.

[Cloudly]

I came here for everyone's theories about the white-clad weirdos, but I see nothing! So we have some off-book (?) beings with magical powers hunting the Stranger, eh? And since he's good, they must be evil. Or at least, their look and the soundtrack definitely suggested it. Elf-like, but with human ears. What gives?

 

Also, I'm not a native speaker, but find it so funny how the various races and peoples are portrayed through speech and accents, and how it correlates to their character(s).

Dwarves: Scottish accent

Harfoots: Irish accent

Elves: Fancy

Men: Bit of everything

Orcs: Down n' dirty London accent

Lol

[Affogato]

1 hour ago, Cloudly said:

I came here for everyone's theories about the white-clad weirdos, but I see nothing! So we have some off-book (?) beings with magical powers hunting the Stranger, eh? And since he's good, they must be evil. Or at least, their look and the soundtrack definitely suggested it. Elf-like, but with human ears. What gives?

 

Also, I'm not a native speaker, but find it so funny how the various races and peoples are portrayed through speech and accents, and how it correlates to their character(s).

Dwarves: Scottish accent

Harfoots: Irish accent

Elves: Fancy

Men: Bit of everything

Orcs: Down n' dirty London accent

Lol

I’m mostly accent blind but this is a great observation. 

[PeterPirate]

The Southlanders speak with a Manchester accent, according to various online commentators.  

[QuantumMechanic]

On 9/27/2022 at 11:08 AM, Affogato said:

Gil-Galad, if I remember, tries to send Galadriel to the west. Not because she is wrong,  but because her continued need to hunt out Sauron and destroy him will cause him to rise up against her.

If Gil-galad believes that then he's the new dumbest person on the show. Perhaps the dumbest person in Middle-earth.  Sauron was the right-hand-man (well, Maiar) of the supreme force of evil in the universe.  And all the elves know that and many of them actually lived it. Sauron isn't going to hide in a corner somewhere playing nice just because Galadriel stops looking for him.  His independent goal is to impose (his view of) order on Middle-earth, with him as the controller at the top.

[Affogato]

44 minutes ago, QuantumMechanic said:

If Gil-galad believes that then he's the new dumbest person on the show. Perhaps the dumbest person in Middle-earth.  Sauron was the right-hand-man (well, Maiar) of the supreme force of evil in the universe.  And all the elves know that and many of them actually lived it. Sauron isn't going to hide in a corner somewhere playing nice just because Galadriel stops looking for him.  His independent goal is to impose (his view of) order on Middle-earth, with him as the controller at the top.

Well i haven’t time to rewatch. Perhaps he indicates that he wants the elves and middle earth to have time to regroup against evil. But he definitely wants Galadriel in the West where she won’t keep on trying to find Sauron and rile him up. 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Affogato

[quarks]

3 hours ago, Affogato said:

I thought the palantirs are magically made but useable by everyone.hobbits, for example.  So that would br evidence of magic i. The world but not necessarily that Galadriel is a magician. 

Yeah - I mentioned it mostly because it's the closest thing to magic that we've seen Galadriel do.

And the palantirs can be used by anyone, but even before Sauron took the Ithil Stone and began manipulating people through it, the level of control (for instance, telling the palantir to "show me this thing, not that thing") depended upon the strength of the mind using the stone.  Which is why Pippin couldn't control anything in the vision, and why Denethor kept seeing what Sauron wanted him to see.

Galadriel didn't seem able to control the palantir, though she said that she had used them previously, and clearly thought she could control this one. 

[johntfs]

7 hours ago, QuantumMechanic said:

If Gil-galad believes that then he's the new dumbest person on the show. Perhaps the dumbest person in Middle-earth.  Sauron was the right-hand-man (well, Maiar) of the supreme force of evil in the universe.  And all the elves know that and many of them actually lived it. Sauron isn't going to hide in a corner somewhere playing nice just because Galadriel stops looking for him.  His independent goal is to impose (his view of) order on Middle-earth, with him as the controller at the top.

I didn't read it as that.  Gil-Galad wants Galadrial to go West in part because he doesn't want her fanatic obsession with hunting Sauron to infect other Elves.  It's the fanatic obsession that concerns him because he remember Feanor's obsession with reclaiming the Silmarils, which led to the Kinslaying and a bunch of other horrid stuff.

[Anduin]

So Adar wants to blot out or otherwise get rid of the sun. And per Shadow of War, Shelob can change shape. I wonder if he's actually Ungoliant. That'd be a hell of a twist! I'm calling this confirmed. Adar is Ungoliant. You heard it here first.

[nokat]

On 9/23/2022 at 6:56 AM, Anduin said:

I agree about a map. When I rewatch, I'll get the Fonstad atlas out to work out where the Harfoots are. As for the tower, no. It's on the north side of the Mordor mountains. Minas Morgul was a proper city located in the western mountains.

Not at all. They probably want to deliver a late birthday present or something! Actually, yes. It's very suspicious behavior, that and the forming of ice. I'm starting to think he's not a good guy after all. Maybe Saruman?

He fell from the stars, and is very powerful.  I was guessing Gandalf but maybe Saruman. Gandalf though is a friend to Hobbits.